Having a succesful studio and business

[Hapkid0ist]

This is a sore topic to me. So many people seem to frown on a succesful studio, so I am posting this artice I ran accross. i hope you all enjoy.

Budo & Business: Dispelling A Myth . . .

by Gary Gabelhouse

In my conversations and interactions with martial artists over the years, I have consistently observed that budoka equate business, business executives and commercial success with a number of distasteful and/or negative attributes . . .

Dishonest
Quick Talkers
Greedy
Money Grubbing
Aggressive
Slick

Many budoka associate a kind of anti-dojo kun with successful business and business executives. This is a myth-and a tragic myth, in that this perception-this discriminatory view of business and good business executives, can forever limit the budoka with regard to the growth of a prosperous, yet traditional dojo.

In my nearly thirty years as a business owner and business executive, I have had the opportunity to work with many extremely talented and successful business executives. As well, I have worked within the corporate cultures of many successful businesses-both large and small. The things I find in common with regard to successful executives and successful businesses are antithetical to the prevalent budoka view. I find . . .

Honesty
Intelligent
Integrity
Great Listeners
Belief
Mission
Focus
Courtesy
Commitment
Giving
Nurturingv Philanthropic

. . . the list of positive attributes can go on and on. The corporate cultures and the business leaders who manage them, are made up of good people who have a penchant to work hard, smart and are not afraid of commercial success.

[[Read the rest here]]

 

[ArmorOfGod]

Excellent find. Thank you for sharing!
Rep point coming your way.

AoG

 

[ArmorOfGod]

You know, you probably should have put this in the "School Management" section. This could really help some of the school owners here, regardless of style.

AoG

 

[exile]

Very good, very suggestive article, HKDist! There's only one quibble I have with it, and it's not really that what the author is saying is wrong... but I do think there's something left out. S/he gives a figure of 24% for the component of the client base that are interested in MAs. But while that number might be true for the adult portion of the clientele, it seems to be the case quite generally that children and young people make up the greater part of the school's student body. And the percentage of parents who want to see their children train persistently in the particularly nasty street-effective applications of the MA's technical base that make for genuinely useful street defense is, I strongly suspect, probably a lot less than 24%! So a realistic assessment of just how many MA schools can afford to provide such training, let alone make it the core of their curriculum, is almost certainly going to be rather small.

I just bring this point up because it's relevant to some of the discussion on other threads bearing on the SD effectiveness of MAs and the availability of training for maximally effective defense....

 

[Miles]

A very interesting article! Thanks for posting it!

Miles

 

[WMKS Shogun]

Great article from what I read. I particularly liked the "Let the field goal kickers kick the field goals." Too often instructors try to wear too many hats that are outside our area of expertise. Practice makes perfect, but too many of us try to do it without a teacher/mentor. We did not learn our arts without a teacher, nor should we expect that business should be any different. So a good plan for success would be to have a business manager for a school AND a good business mentor. This way you are learning on your own, but have someone to make sure that while you are learning, the business does not suffer.

 

[Iamamadad]

Very interesting article. Thank you for posting it for all to read.

Vic

 

[jacktnicol]

Great find, alots of good and honest info.

/he gives a figure of 24% for the component of the client base that are interested in MAs. But while that number might be true for the adult portion of the clientele, it seems to be the case quite generally that children and young people make up the greater part of the school's student body. And the percentage of parents who want to see their children train persistently in the particularly nasty street-effective applications of the MA's technical base that make for genuinely useful street defense is, I strongly suspect, probably a lot less than 24%!

I agree that maybe the parents don't want hardcore 'nasty street-effective applications' but i think they want them to be able to perform atleast a basic set of SD. It doesn't have to be nasty persay but the parents i have dealt with over the year want them to be able to protect them themselfs (though not always the case). This being what the parents want (in my opion) i think that without getting too hardcore you can please them with a few SD tech. at each level.

Just my respectful opion what are others thoughts on this?

JT

 

[MBuzzy]

I know that there have been quite a few people speaking out against profit from martial arts, but the bottom line is that an MA school is a business like any other. The author has this dead on. I fully agree. The problem that too many schools run into is when the Martial Arts and business aspect mix. The idea of having a separate business manager is genius. When dealing directly with the owner or head instructor, it can serious impact a student's ability to handle the business aspect.

What most instructors forget, as the author says, is that their students are clients. They must be treated as clients as well as students, but separately. They are paying for a service and will leave if the service is not provided to their satisfaction.

 

[miguksaram]

Great find, alots of good and honest info.



I agree that maybe the parents don't want hardcore 'nasty street-effective applications' but i think they want them to be able to perform atleast a basic set of SD. It doesn't have to be nasty persay but the parents i have dealt with over the year want them to be able to protect them themselfs (though not always the case). This being what the parents want (in my opion) i think that without getting too hardcore you can please them with a few SD tech. at each level.

Just my respectful opion what are others thoughts on this?

JT

I would agree that very very few parents want their kid to be the next MMA fighter or the next deadly weapon on the street. The vast majority that I have interacted with want their kids to have self confidence in what they are doing. If you can teach their kid how to avoid or, when push comes to shove, defend to a point of escaping then they will be happy.