Martial Arts in a Small Town

[Samurai]

Do you think a small rural town of about 1500 people could support a martial arts school? About 8 miles away in a bigger town of about 20,000 or so. Then about 20 miles west is a college town of about 80,000 or so.
Thanks,
Jeremy Bays

 

[The Kai]

The thing I heard was a rurual town has less people, but also less things to do-so you could build a following of dedicated students-that don't have the distractions of city

but I never lived in a small town

 

[jkn75]

I think it can be hit or miss like any other business. The people that I know have been successful in small towns are successful because 1. no competition, you are the only game in town. But the disadvantage is if you get some bad word of mouth when you start, it may hurt early. 2. Generally space is cheap, if you can find it. 3. It is easy to get into the community because smal towns seem to have lots of small town activities where lots of residents show up.

That leads to some othere questions though: 1. Is your town an "old" town or a "young" town? If there aren't a lot of people in your target demo (kids, 18-25, 18-45,etc) then that could be problematic. Do you have a lot of younger 25-35 people who commute to the bigger towns around you?
2. Finding space. There may not be a lot of store front space and if there is, is it a high traffic area? Every little town has a Main street, if you are on that you could be OK.
3. What art do you teach? If it's something like Karate or TKD that most people "know" you may be OK, but if you teach drunken monkey kung fu that could be a tougher sell. However, this is counterbalanced by being the only game in town.

The town of 20,000 being 8 miles away may be a better bet because there are more people but that is counter balanced by competition. Check to see how many MA schools are there and what they teach. You could try to draw people from the smaller town by locating it near the edge of town closer to the smaller town and offer a discount for the small town students for their added travel time. If you teach a unique art that may be more of an advantage in a larger town because you can set yourself apart.

Finally there are some questions that every instructor should check: What are your goals as an instructor? How many students do you want? How many will you need to cover your expenses? What percentage of the population do you need to come to classes? How much of the population can you reach with advertising?

 

[still learning]

Hello, I had an instructor who travel over a hundred miles two times a week to teach on the other side of the island. (note his mom lives there) than drives home next morning 100 miles (two hours of driving ) for a couple of years. He was a very dedicate instructor. If he can do it, than 8 miles is nothing. .....Aloha

Note on the Big Island of Hawaii, Kona to Hilo is 100 miles or two hours of driving. Approx 8 hours to drive around the Island.

 

[Randy Strausbaugh]

Consider that you will have a lot of turn-over in a martial arts school. Many people are attracted to the idea of studying martial arts, but when they find out that there's work involved, they don't stay long. A college town has the advantage of a periodic fresh influx of new potential students. Just something to think about.

 

[TigerWoman]

Well with only 1500 people, and the national average of 15%* of adults actually doing any exercise-walking etc. that makes it about 225 possible candidates of all ages. Not enough for a full business, but a class maybe. I would choose the college town for a base and branch out from there.

If there is a community education program going that is good to bring them in. If there is a kickboxing workout without committing to a martial art program, that helps.

*just heard it on TV-can't recall what program probably CNN, but looking at our town, that seems about accurate. TW

 

[47MartialMan]

The option is also based on financial means.

If starting in a small town, with little support or not many promising students, venture out with advertising.

This reminds me of a Johnn Cougar song...

 

[jkn75]

One more thing to add: If you are in a small town you are less likely to have a YMCA or health club to start out in. These offer cheap space and are a good place to start teaching.

 

[Jade Tigress]

I live in a small rural area. My school is located only about 4-5 miles from my home. The next largest area, which is a college town, is 30 miles away. But that town is the location for the headquarters for my school. There are several big towns located within an hour radius of where I live. My instructor runs 3 schools located in each general area. My school (the most rural location) has mostly children. There's only about 8 regulars in the adult class with alot that come and go. He runs 2 childrens classes a week and 2 adult classes a week at my location and has a ton of privates ranging in all 3 location areas. He also does seminars here and there, and an occassional series of classes (tai chi) at the community center. He'll do like an 8 week course or something there. He keeps pretty busy but works hard and does a lot of traveling for it. Good luck! :asian:

 

[lvwhitebir]

Well with only 1500 people, and the national average of 15%* of adults actually doing any exercise-walking etc. that makes it about 225 possible candidates of all ages.

The last average for MA students I heard was about 1%, which is only about 15 people. Way too small for a rented location, but not bad for a low-rent place with 1-2 classes a week.

Try to get census information on the area to see if it will support you based on age and income. I would definitely find somewhere else that would draw this crowd, but would draw in the larger population as well.

WhiteBirch

 

[altondragon]

Owning a dojo in a small town is challenging..very good points made by all...turnover rate..etc...Fortunatley we have been able to support the dojo in this town of less than 5000 ppl with little advertising...but notice i said support the dojo...and i mean just that..we dont make any money! We maybe could if we offered kickboxing...aorobics etc...but not my forte...and i have issues with sharing my space....thats another thread perhaps. One thing I think has helped is we go to the local school and we are the gym class at least once a year for a week at a time. This does generate some interest. Good luck to all.

 

[dubljay]

I am from a fairly small rurual area 7000 people in the main town. The nearest big city (anything over 10,000) is atleast an hour away, and there is a MA school here that has roughly 200 students. The owner charges a fee of about $40 a month and does fairly well. He has a great team for competition and offers a wide variety of material: like kickboxing classes (targeted for the parents of the kids karate class), weapons classes, competition sparring classes (prep for tounaments) and soon he will be offereing jujitsu as well. I think the variety makes it easier for him to attract more people.

 

[Zepp]

Samurai,

Perhaps before you invest in your own school you could teach a leisure class (not for credit) at the college. This might give you a chance to feel things out, build a following of students, and be a good way to advertise your future school. I can tell you from personal experience that college students are lazy, and will need some incentive to make the 20 mile drive.

 

[Sifu Barry Cuda]

Hey Guys, small rural towns are the best.Students are hungry and eager.I do a lot of seminars teaching JKD and Kali in small towns from KY to IN to IA and they eat it up.I travel to more rural places than big cities and I really dig it.Barry . www.combatartsusa.com

 

[47MartialMan]

It depends if there enough young people verses older people. Generally, young people want to leave the town first chance. Taking with them other generations. It depends on the groeth of the town per permanent residency.

 

[lonecoyote]

Here's another thing to consider: people from small towns are used to driving to get what they need. My mother lives in a small town out away from any cities. People regularly drive 50 mi to nearest Wal Mart, 150 miles to shop at nearest city (pop. 100,000) 40 mi. to bowling alley or skating rink, etc. So if you can set up a nice place with good instruction you will be drawing from all these little towns around you, and don't forget advertising in them or trying to drum up interest there, too. I traveled 30 mi. for good instruction, and that's not too far at all.

 

[47MartialMan]

Here's another thing to consider: people from small towns are used to driving to get what they need. My mother lives in a small town out away from any cities. People regularly drive 50 mi to nearest Wal Mart, 150 miles to shop at nearest city (pop. 100,000) 40 mi. to bowling alley or skating rink, etc. So if you can set up a nice place with good instruction you will be drawing from all these little towns around you, and don't forget advertising in them or trying to drum up interest there, too. I traveled 30 mi. for good instruction, and that's not too far at all.

How long was the drive one way?

 

[Blindside]

I live in Wyoming, total population 450,000, the largest city is 50,000. The town we are in is about 13,000 and another town is 15 miles away with 19,000. Between the two towns there are no full time instructors. There are two studios that rent/own their own studio locations (one in each town), the rest (probably 4 or so) operate out of various rec centers or city facilities or at the community college. In cities this small this seems to be about the right number, I can't imagine splitting the student base any further.

Lamont

 

[Han-Mi]

Han-Mi TKD has been in Marysville(a small town if you've ever seen one) for 20 years. Not the biggest money maker though.

 

[47MartialMan]

Han-Mi TKD has been in Marysville(a small town if you've ever seen one) for 20 years. Not the biggest money maker though.

Hey, does it provide a "roof overhead" and a place to train?,,,,,,,