Cost

[jfarnsworth]

Originally posted by jeffkyle

Ok! I will go for it....What incident in the weight room???

A few weeks ago when in the weight room my weight lifting partner had reached for my arm to grab it or do something right after doing a set. Not being in right frame of mind I was just about to start gift of destruction on him. I backed off after coming to my senses and knowing Buddy wasn't trying to really attack we laughed off the situation. A couple of minutes later he had asked my opinion about what I was doing. Buddy ended up with a 5 minute lesson on G.O.D. Well he apparently told another guy about what i had said to him. A few days later this other man showed up in the weight room, while moving on to the next machine he had grabbed my arm from the flank side and said "hey that crap you telling Buddy ain't gonna work for nothing. Is that the kind of garbage you guys practice in your art". It was then he got an impromtu kenpo lesson. I have no idea how long he had been studying TKD for, I never asked and actually didn't care. We covered G.O.D. as well as muscle dysfuctions, weapon destructions, and moved into leaping crane. When I told him his 15min. lesson was over he looked at the floor and said """""um, can you teach me some of that stuff""""""". I then kindly said no I really don't teach outside of the classroom and went on to finish my work out.
Jason Farnsworth

 

[jeffkyle]

Originally posted by jfarnsworth

A few weeks ago when in the weight room my weight lifting partner had reached for my arm to grab it or do something right after doing a set. Not being in right frame of mind I was just about to start gift of destruction on him. I backed off after coming to my senses and knowing Buddy wasn't trying to really attack we laughed off the situation. A couple of minutes later he had asked my opinion about what I was doing. Buddy ended up with a 5 minute lesson on G.O.D. Well he apparently told another guy about what i had said to him. A few days later this other man showed up in the weight room, while moving on to the next machine he had grabbed my arm from the flank side and said "hey that crap you telling Buddy ain't gonna work for nothing. Is that the kind of garbage you guys practice in your art". It was then he got an impromtu kenpo lesson. I have no idea how long he had been studying TKD for, I never asked and actually didn't care. We covered G.O.D. as well as muscle dysfuctions, weapon destructions, and moved into leaping crane. When I told him his 15min. lesson was over he looked at the floor and said """""um, can you teach me some of that stuff""""""". I then kindly said no I really don't teach outside of the classroom and went on to finish my work out.
Jason Farnsworth

Cool Story!!! :rofl:

 

[RCastillo]

Originally posted by Kalicombat

First of all, kenpo and one's quest for kenpo proficiency, can not and should not be measured in dollars and cents. Kenpo is a passion for some of us, and regardless of cost, we will continue to seek out the knowledge, practice, buy the little trinkets that state to the world that we are kenpoist, travel to the seminars, camps, and tournaments, and, all the while, not run a talley sheet to get the sum total of a lifetime of love, sweat, and passion.

Just my opinion,
Gary C.

My sentiments exactly. Well said Gary!:asian:

 

[RCastillo]

Originally posted by Kalicombat

Gou,
The NAPMA is a joke. Blood suckers that are out to get the cash, period. My statements are my own, I dont believe in keeping track of the amount one spends on a true passion. Read my previous post. But, I dont believe in dropping money by the handfuls either. If you are gonna try to get a return on your investment, invest your money in something more marketable. In South Texas, kenpo is not a marketable endeavor. Down here, most people stick to TKD, for some unknown reason, the TKD schools keep opening, and keep packing in the students. All the while, the kenpo schools are either closed orstruggling to stay open. Some of the previous posts have claimed as much as $165 a month for kenpo lessons, maybe that is why it's not marketable. In this area, martial arts instruction that I am familiar with average around $45 to 50 a month.

Gary C.

Gee, Gary must be keeping an eye on me for DC!

Well, he's right, Kenpo does not does not do great here. But, I'm trying nontheless.

 

[Seig]

Originally posted by Chronuss

sweet lord...my car didn't even cost that much. you're paying almost $1000 every six months...crikey.

Maybe I need to charge more........

 

[GouRonin]

Originally posted by Seig
Maybe I need to charge more........

I see you've understood american kenpo with ease weedhopper...

 

[Seig]

Originally posted by RCastillo

Gee, Gary must be keeping an eye on me for DC!

Well, he's right, Kenpo does not does not do great here. But, I'm trying nontheless.

You have to build your reputation, the students will come. I do not know how many of you are in business for yourself. I have been told by several "Large" business owners not to expect to make any money for the first three years. The government doesn't expect me to make any for 7. The problem I have seen with a lot of martial arts scholls, especially Kenpo. We expect to open a Kenpo studio and for people to flock to it within a week. Business ebbs and flows. And unfortunately, as a very small business, you sometimes have to do things you swore when you were an underbelt you would never do i.e., teach children, call people when they don't show up, etc... My advice is this, if you are not already in an area where kenpo has an established reputation like TKD does, if you are going to open a Kenpo school, make sure it is not your only source of income and that you have a means of paying the rent/electric if you sign up no new students that month. And last but not least, find a mentor.....

 

[RCastillo]

Originally posted by Seig

You have to build your reputation, the students will come. I do not know how many of you are in business for yourself. I have been told by several "Large" business owners not to expect to make any money for the first three years. The government doesn't expect me to make any for 7. The problem I have seen with a lot of martial arts scholls, especially Kenpo. We expect to open a Kenpo studio and for people to flock to it within a week. Business ebbs and flows. And unfortunately, as a very small business, you sometimes have to do things you swore when you were an underbelt you would never do i.e., teach children, call people when they don't show up, etc... My advice is this, if you are not already in an area where kenpo has an established reputation like TKD does, if you are going to open a Kenpo school, make sure it is not your only source of income and that you have a means of paying the rent/electric if you sign up no new students that month. And last but not least, find a mentor.....

Well said, Seig!

As far as mentor, I gave some money to Mr. Conatser, haven't heard from him, his phone disconected, left no forwarding mail address.

:soapbox:

 

[Chu-Chulain]

Originally posted by rmcrobertson

Green after a year?

Either a) you're on the mat five or six days a week, for several hours every day; b) you've already got a black belt in another art, and you're in there for several hours a day several days a week, c) you're a kenpo genius.

Took me about three-four years, practicing a lot. And I'll just add that I train in So Cal, and the prices were nothing like that: roughly half.

Hm.

It could be I am fooling myself (has happened before!). I graded to Orange in about 3 months (we do not cover yellow) based on 24 techniques.

I am not a black belt, but do have a number of years experience in jiu-jitsu, kung-fu and TKD (I move a lot and hence have to take what I can find locally), so I find the basic techniques fairly straight forward (although every art has its own slight variations, e.g. stance positions, block height, etc.).

My main challenge is learning and remembering (the grey matter being not as sharp as it used to be!) forms and techniques, so I practice most days at home whether I am training that day or not; in all I probably train around 8-10 hours per week.

In the final analysis, it will take as long as it takes and that's OK, I certainly prefer quality over quantity (or belt colour).

If you are aware of any good SoCal clubs with reasonable fees, then I would appreciate any reccomendations. I have also thought of looking for some local practice partners, to alleviate the obvious limitations of self practice at home.

 

[Chu-Chulain]

BTW I am in Orange County, if anyone can reccomend good, reasonable cost schools.

 

[Seig]

Originally posted by RCastillo

Well said, Seig!

As far as mentor, I gave some money to Mr. Conatser, haven't heard from him, his phone disconected, left no forwarding mail address.

:soapbox:

That is because to make up the money you gave him, you sold his name, number adn addy to the Tracies and they put him on their mailing/phone list......:rofl:

 

[meni]

Originally posted by Seig

That is because to make up the money you gave him, you sold his name, number adn addy to the Tracies and they put him on their mailing/phone list......:rofl:

What?
Some more info please?
he did what?

 

[ikenpo]

It was just a bad joke....

 

[RCastillo]

Originally posted by Seig

That is because to make up the money you gave him, you sold his name, number adn addy to the Tracies and they put him on their mailing/phone list......:rofl:

Man, nothing gets by you Seig! You da man!:soapbox:

 

[Goldendragon7]

And I get Newsletters from Ky, with a bill for my promotion to 9th. Wow. Now, I can really push Ricardo around. With my scroll in hand he HAS to listen to me.

I did have my name and phone number removed from all the ad lists and mortgage slams.

:rofl:

:asian:

 

[Seig]

Originally posted by meni

What?
Some more info please?
he did what?

Meni,
It was a three way joke between Mr. Conatser, Mr. Castillo and myself. Apparently Mr. Bugg did not find it nearly as funny as we.

Originally posted by jbkenpo
It was just a bad joke....[/B]

 

[meni]

thank you !

it still funny!

 

[ikenpo]

Originally posted by Seig

Meni,
It was a three way joke between Mr. Conatser, Mr. Castillo and myself. Apparently Mr. Bugg did not find it nearly as funny as we.

the part where Richardo said,

As far as mentor, I gave some money to Mr. Conatser, haven't heard from him, his phone disconected, left no forwarding mail address.

was the bad joke....Someone that didn't know them might take this the wrong way...but it may have just caught me in one of those too serious moods. You know how I am when that happens (I start sending emails out and people start thinking I don't like them)..lol. No big deal. Hey Mr. Castillo when are you inviting me down to Corpus to do some training?

jb :asian:

 

[meni]

thank you all

 

[warriorsage]

Hey Chu-Chulain, check your private messages.

ron