Selling my Dojang - any tips welcomed

[japper]

Hello everyone,
I'm thinking to sell my Taekwondo school in Chicagoland area or even partner up with someone. Any tips where to post? I cant just start advertising it on Facebook, I don't want to loose any students.
Any ideas or experiences are welcome!
Thank you!

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Ask around your circle/style, see if anyone who already has a dojo would want to franchise out.

 

[dvcochran]

Welcome to the forum @japper.

That is a very hard question to answer with the limited information given. I am going to give an indirect answer that I hope will be food for thought if nothing else.

Is there the possibility of selling to a high ranking student or someone inside your association?

I am not aware of a martial arts specific conduit for selling your business. There are realty companies that cater specifically to entrepreneurs. Possibly you could find someone interested in buying the business as a silent partner? A lot would depend on your dojang's structure to make this work.

Is the business in the red or black?
What is the enrollment size?
TKD style and association?
Do own the building or lease?
What real property would you be selling?
Is the current enrollment base contractually obligated?
Are there franchise costs up front to be taken over?
Annual data on profit margin?

There could be more questions.

 

[Buka]

Welcome to Martial Talk, Japper.

 

[Flying Crane]

Coincidentally, we had a fellow here recently looking to buy an established dojo. Maybe he is still hanging around. He had some ideas on what direction he wanted to take the senior students.

I dunno, though...

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Coincidentally, we had a fellow here recently looking to buy an established dojo. Maybe he is still hanging around. He had some ideas on what direction he wanted to take the senior students.

I dunno, though...

he said he lived in a big city too. @333kenshin , any chance the big city you live in is chicago?

 

[333kenshin]

alas I'm based in Southern California - but thanks for thinking of me @kempodisciple!

 

[JR 137]

alas I'm based in Southern California - but thanks for thinking of me @kempodisciple!

I wouldn’t leave SoCal for Chicago. In all fairness, I wouldn’t leave SoCal for anywhere. Not on purpose anyway. Maybe if I lived right in the middle of the LA riots back in the day, but that’s about it. And I would’ve just moved to a different neighborhood/city in SoCal if I could’ve.

My brother lived in Orange County a while back. I planned on moving out there with him after grad school. Everything was set until I met my wife. No regrets, even though I just cleaned up 2 inches of ice from my driveway about an hour ago.

 

[dvcochran]

I wouldn’t leave SoCal for Chicago. In all fairness, I wouldn’t leave SoCal for anywhere. Not on purpose anyway. Maybe if I lived right in the middle of the LA riots back in the day, but that’s about it. And I would’ve just moved to a different neighborhood/city in SoCal if I could’ve.

My brother lived in Orange County a while back. I planned on moving out there with him after grad school. Everything was set until I met my wife. No regrets, even though I just cleaned up 2 inches of ice from my driveway about an hour ago.

Well, I have been to L.A. twice and can honestly say I will not mind if I never see it again. Just not my kind of living.
I have been to New York once (Grand Island). It was pretty cool for a southern boy to visit, especially the falls, but I would not want to live there either. It was a nasty, wet, cold. One of the strangest things I have ever seen was being on an island literally covered in snow and learning that they are not allowed to plow the snow into the water to open up the roads.
To each his own.

 

[japper]

Thank you guys for some of the ideas!
I can't ask anyone in our dojang, as the oldest student is 15 years old. We are WT (even though I have a strong ITF background) and currently have 38 students, the rent is high as it's in good residential and corner location. This school was doing alright with After School program. But I wanted to run proper TKD school, not a McDojo type of school. I have another full time job and honestly I was over my head when purchasing this already running school. I spent $20k for the purchase, security deposit and making it presentable. I know I won't get the money back, I just don't want to declare bankruptcy and let all those kids down.

 

[Tez3]

You could advertise for a partner though without scaring off the students? if you found one you could be the sleeping partner then let them buy you out after a suitable length of time.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Thank you guys for some of the ideas!
I can't ask anyone in our dojang, as the oldest student is 15 years old. We are WT (even though I have a strong ITF background) and currently have 38 students, the rent is high as it's in good residential and corner location. This school was doing alright with After School program. But I wanted to run proper TKD school, not a McDojo type of school. I have another full time job and honestly I was over my head when purchasing this already running school. I spent $20k for the purchase, security deposit and making it presentable. I know I won't get the money back, I just don't want to declare bankruptcy and let all those kids down.

Being WT I assume there's some sort of organization near you that is in charge of the local areas? I would contact them, and see if there is anyone who would want to take over.