Starting your own Martial Arts School
- Thread starter Azulx
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Yes.
First find people dedicated to learning martial arts from you or one of your instructors. Build interest and relationships first. Once you have a solid group then you can use that core group to help you attract new students. This is just one of the ways you can start a new school.
Before you do any of that, you'll need to do research on a variety of things to ensure that you don't make the common mistakes. The link in my signature points out some of the things you'll need to really understand and not take likely. The worst thing you can do is just assume it's going to be easy because it's not and it takes a lot of effort. You'll want to take time to plan well and delegate.
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hoshin1600
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- Learn all you can about business
- Learn a little about accounting
- Know all of your competitors and what they offer and why
- Have at least 6 months expenses in savings
- Get permission from your teacher
- Find a location. ..don't be in a rush..find a good one
- Have your city approval for the location, zoning and such
- Learn about leases..I would start with a one year renewable
- Understand your budget, rent, utilities, insurance
- Understand your start up expenses, modifications to the building, equipment ...mats can be a deal breaker$$$$$
- Don't neglect advertising
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I just want to stress that the relationships you build with people and organizations is one of the most important things you can do to help grow your school. Sometimes those relationships can be the difference between success and failure. I know the school that I used to teach out wouldn't have existed if I wasn't able to connect with someone from linked in and build enough trust with him so that he would feel comfortable to rent out a room at the school that he and his wife operates.
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Good list. I wish that was all one had to do lol. Here's some more.
- Understand your market and your target market.
- Understand why student's want to learn martial arts and not why you want to learn martial arts.
- A good location is not always a cheap location
- Get help. Don't do it all by yourself even if it means that you need to contract some of the tasks outs, flyers, wording for advertising, marketing in general.
- Identify what you need to make it through the year. Base your plan on the worst case scenario. Usually martial artist get too excited and base things on the best case scenario. When the best case scenario doesn't happen they end up being screwed.
- register as an LLC and get insurance. People start martial arts schools without these things, but the longer you go without it, the bigger the risk you are taking. It's only a matter of time before someone get's hurts.
- Seek donations from crowd funding after you have built some relationships with others.
Yes, I have. A couple of times.
Advice - don’t do it. Not if you really love training Martial Arts.
Where does one start? See a psychiatrist.
My phone won’t post a smiley face for some reason.
Advice - don’t do it. Not if you really love training Martial Arts.
Where does one start? See a psychiatrist.
My phone won’t post a smiley face for some reason.
- Thread Starter
- #7
Now I definitely, gotta go for it !
Jaeimseu
3rd Black Belt
If you don’t have a pretty big pile of money, be prepared to start small.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Never done it, but check out the book in this thread. If/When I do, I'm planning on using it almost as a checklist. The book itself is only 3 bucks ebook, 6 bucks paperback, so not a huge investment.
Teaching the Martial Arts Review
Teaching the Martial Arts Review
Depending on your location, you might be able to qualify for a small buisness grant to help out! Another thing not mentioned, not on the technical side, is make sure your know how to structure your class, how your plan to approach teaching. Another thing, is I've looked into this myself, if you have a local recreational center, you might be able to get in there for pretty cheap.
Balrog
Master of Arts
And be prepared for many, many sleepless nights.
- Thread Starter
- #13
That bad eh.....
You already did it, don't you?
I had full support from my organisation (and some charges). It helped a lot.
Otherwise,
1. You need to make someone believe you are the best option available and that your training worth some time and $$$, at least for a few people (marketing).
2. You need to spend some money before any aventual return and know how to make money or, at least, how to pay the bills (business).
3. Then, you need to know who is going to make the rules: you, at the cost of loosing some students, or your students, trying to keep many (policy?).
Great posts before mine, so I am just putting a few things in different words.
I had full support from my organisation (and some charges). It helped a lot.
Otherwise,
1. You need to make someone believe you are the best option available and that your training worth some time and $$$, at least for a few people (marketing).
2. You need to spend some money before any aventual return and know how to make money or, at least, how to pay the bills (business).
3. Then, you need to know who is going to make the rules: you, at the cost of loosing some students, or your students, trying to keep many (policy?).
Great posts before mine, so I am just putting a few things in different words.
Balrog
Master of Arts
That's just the beginning.
But there are rewards. One can make a comfortable living teaching m.a. And there is absolutely nothing to compare with seeing a student grow from being so shy that we practically had to crowbar her off mom's leg into a confident, self-assured young lady who put the fear of god into the boys in sparring class.
I wish I would have seen this thread when you initially posted it. I've been off MT for about a week or so. This is a subject that I have personal experience with so I can share first-hand knowledge with you. After proof-reading this, I realized that my response was rather lengthy. I apologize for this. Hopefully some of what I share will be valuable to you.
I owned a full-time dojo for twelve years and many of my friends were/are dojo owners. What mean by full-time is that my dojo was my sole source of income, as opposed to having a job during the day and opening my dojo at night. I don't like telling people what they should do, because my experience or circumstances may be different than what you will experience, so I will just share what I went through (and many of my close friends), what I learned, and what I would do differently if I ever opened up a dojo again. I'm going to bullet point my thoughts, as I am writing this in many sittings. Take or leave anything that I say.
I don't know how much martial arts teaching experience you already have, but hopefully you have taught some classes at the school where you train (all types of classes: kids, teens, and adults.). That really helps. The dojo I came up through had multiple locations so I was able to teach a lot of classes and friend's dojos for awhile before I opened up my own.
- My dojo was opened from 12-9, 6 days a week. If you want to do it full-time you have to be open all day so you can sign up new students. I had a 1300 square foot dojo and consistently had 125-150 students, both group and private lessons. I was pretty maxed out with that amount of students and probably could have had more if I had expanded, but there wasn't any suite that was a perfect size for me (mostly they were too big and I didn't want to take on the overhead.) Plus, I always taught all of the classes and didn't want an assistant instructor. My students paid for me to teach...that's how I looked at it. I remember one day looking out into my beginner's class and thinking, I don't remember half of the students' names here...that's when I thought that I was at the max students that I could handle myself.
- There are stages, or humps, that most dojos go through. It took about 4 months to get my first 40 students. Once you hit 40, your overhead is being paid consistently. Once you hit 65 students your dojo is beginning to make decent money, Once you reach 100 students you personally are making good money.
- Probably the best advice that somebody has already said here is to start teaching at a community center first and get 40 students before opening your own school. If you can open a dojo with having 40 students already, you have overcome the most difficult part of running a business (getting to the break-even point.)
- Make sure that you get insurance. I have had a couple of friends get sued at their dojo. They both lost even when it was clearly student negligence. The waivers that will have your students sign don't mean a lot. A good lawyer can tear right through them.
- Getting an LLC is a great idea. Protect yourself legally.
- My dojo was in a high-traffic family shopping center with a major grocery store as the anchor. I paid more in rent, but made up for it with increased exposure. If you are in a small town, you don't need high visibility as much because everyone knows when a new business opens up and will search you out. Especially if there aren't any other dojos around.
- You will probably have to sign a three year lease minimum. I asked for three months free rent, and got it. You can also ask for tenant improvement money. I got $5000 to build out my dojo, which was pretty much carpet, padding, signage, mirrors, office, and dressing room. For the most part the money was enough. My father, who is a contractor, built my office so I saved on labor. Be prepared to have the city inspect the building of your offices. I have had friends just put up a screen as a make-shift office to avoid that. Also, if you are not opening a grappling school, industrial carpet with a high quality pad will be fine...although mats are great to have.
- The general public doesn't really care about what specific martial arts you teach. That is more for the people like us. I found that when I tried to explain the history and specifics of my art, it more confused people. Most people that walk in just presume that they will learn self defense. I guess what I am trying to say is that you don't need to explain every little detail about what you teach. Just explain generally what you do and the benefits that they will get. If they have specific questions, or are looking for something specific (like ATA or Arnis) they will ask you.
- You will become a much better martial artist by teaching because you have to know the concepts of your art to be able to completely answer all of the questions that you will be asked, however you will probably be limited to your own art for awhile. Being at your dojo 60+hours a week doesn't give you much time to train outside of your art. Don't forget that you are still a student at heart, and therefore you need to balance your own learning time.
- This may sound funny to most, but be careful about dating your students. I have many friends who own dojos, and most of them ended up dating students. Eventually you will lose their tuition, or lose them as students if/when you break up. Plus you don't want too many rumors going around your school. When you are at work for so many hours a week, the only people who talk to will be your students, thus the dating pool becomes your students. I don't say that jokingly...be careful. You will seem like a god to your students, be careful about that. Single moms will love you.
- Understand how much you will influence your students (hopefully positively). One parent said to me once, "Next to dad and Jesus, my son looks up to you the most." That's powerful. Respect that.
- You will have to make 20% more money than "salaried" people. Self-employed have to pay extra taxes, buy their own health care, and create their own retirement account. You won't get a 401K match or have your employee pay most of your healthcare costs.
- Someone earlier said to expect many sleepless nights. I never experienced that. Usually the first two weeks tuition covered all of my dojo expenses. The rest was take-home. I put money aside to make sure that I had enough for any lean months.
- I tried to treat every student like they were my only student. People stay because they like you...not the art. They will stay because of how you treat them...not how high you kick.
- Owning a dojo can be very taxing on a relationship. I don't say that lightly...it can be very difficult to maintain a healthy relationship while owning a full-time, successful dojo. Some dojo owners that I know got divorced (or split-up) because of the job. There are many reasons for it. First, you will be at your dojo a lot. Your significant other may not always be cool with that. If you have kids, you will be missing a lot of their home-time. You will be admired by your students...jealousy can set in. Vacations will be limited. I could go on and on regarding this topic. This isn't a 9-5 job. You will be missing dinner every single night....and kids pick-up from school...etc. The successful dojo owners that got through this were usually husband and wife instructors whose kids were already grown up.
The above reason was why I sold my dojo. I wanted to start a family and I knew that I couldn't be the husband or father that I wanted to be if I owned a dojo. For years my priority would have been my business, and I wanted a family. I sold my dojo while it was still at its peak enrollment. I found that owning a dojo was a great job for a single person but I was ready to start a family. As far as my dojo went, the new owner ran the dojo like it was a hobby and not a full-time job, and it closed down a year and a half later.
I could go on and on, but I think this post is getting too long. I wanted to explain what I would do differently if I had to do over, but that will have to wait for another post. I'm sorry if this went so long. None of this may apply to you anyway if you were just considering running a part-time dojo. Hopefully some of this was pertinent information. Again, my experience could be different from others, so take from it what you'd like. PM me if you have any other specific questions.
- Thread Starter
- #17
Please tell me everything you can , you hooked me and then stopped..... lol
Firstly, I have not been in a position to start a MA school. However, I have noticed some things from classes I have attended and I have studied business so I can maybe help there.
-Make sure you are familiar with what may be required (by authorities etc. why someone suggested getting a basic knowledge of accounting)
-Do research on how much it will cost, because there is a chance you will be operating at a loss at first. (revenue v expenses, for rent/insurance)
-Consider making social media presence, in case you need to cancel classes at short notice, and this could also be a free form of advertising.
-This has already been said, but to emphasise it, do not neglect advertising. MA is something where people come and go, so you should try get a good amount of students.
-Do research on other MA schools in your area. Why should people choose yours? Do you do something drastically different, have more experience or are cheaper?
Also, if you are going to be buying belts, gi's etc. try use the same supplier and see if you can get a trade discount.
-Make sure you are familiar with what may be required (by authorities etc. why someone suggested getting a basic knowledge of accounting)
-Do research on how much it will cost, because there is a chance you will be operating at a loss at first. (revenue v expenses, for rent/insurance)
-Consider making social media presence, in case you need to cancel classes at short notice, and this could also be a free form of advertising.
-This has already been said, but to emphasise it, do not neglect advertising. MA is something where people come and go, so you should try get a good amount of students.
-Do research on other MA schools in your area. Why should people choose yours? Do you do something drastically different, have more experience or are cheaper?
Also, if you are going to be buying belts, gi's etc. try use the same supplier and see if you can get a trade discount.
I'd add that it's important to have a business plan. What's the mix of kids/adult classes, and what are the successful schools in similar styles in your area doing? Know in real numbers how many students you need to just survive (including your salary, if this is to be your primary job). Understand what turnover rates are for schools in the area.
Consider whether you could build the program partially before starting the school (and having all those expenses). I've seen multiple schools started (especially those who teach lots of kids) as a YMCA program. They spend a year or so teaching there, build up a heavy following, and then talk to students/parents about opening a school. They'll lose a large number of students in transition, but starting with 20 students is easier than starting from zero. And that time with low overhead at the Y gives you a chance to practice marketing and find out what brings in students. It also allows you to build up your equipment stash (including part of your mats) to reduce the big hit when you open a school. If you take this tact, know where you want the school to be (geographic area) and choose a Y near that.
Think about things like what might cause you to miss classes (especially if this is not your primary job), and how to cover those classes in a way that's safe, good for students' development, and acceptable to students/parents. This might mean having a senior-enough student who can cover the occasional class, or even recruiting an instructor-friend you know from somewhere else.
You use traditional uniforms, so get a wholesaler account with someone like AWMA.com. You'll be able to get uniforms way below retail, and can sell them at or near the online retail price to increase revenue, while still giving your students a good deal. This also gives you the opportunity to have a "pro shop" with gear for sale (just remember anything you buy for inventory is money you can't use until they sell).
Make sure you do your accounting. Track all money in and out (see Hoshin's comment about learning a bit of accounting). Get a separate account for the business. My standing recommendation for any business venture is to form a separate entity (LLC is usually sufficient in the US). Don't mix business and personal funds; if you need money, pay yourself, then use that to pay personal bills. Understand what is and is not a legitimate business expense, and make use of all the deductions you have available to you.
Talk to a qualified tax/accounting professional for advice. And maybe a lawyer.
