So, you're opening a new school...

[Serpent]

It's your first time out, you want to open a school, start off small and see how you go.

How do you take that first step?

Let's say you've found a community hall or a room in a gym that you can hire out a couple of times a week and you want to have classes there to start with. How do you get the word out and get up and running?

Hypothetical, but an interesting topic that came up in a drunken conversation over the weekend. :)

BTW, we're assuming here that the person in question is properly trained and qualified, let's say he has his teacher's blessing to branch ou ton his own, so his ability as a teacher and practitioner are a given for the sake of argument.

[Laughing Cow]

Serpent.

Ok, once you got the place you need to get some advertisment out.

1.) Put up notices in the local muncipality newspapers.
2.) Put up notices at local community centre boards, Supermarkets, etc,
3.) Contact your local muncipality to see if they are interested in kind semi-sponsoring you with ads, word of mouth, etc.
4.) Visit your local schools and speak to the teachers and principals about offering classes to their students.
etc.

You don't want too much advertisement or students in the beginning.

Those flyers should be about A5 and can be done quickly on any PC, don't go fancy or flashy.
This keeps the cost down and allows you to settle in slowly into your new role and location.

I always found priamry schools very helpful in obtaining locations for practices.


If you work out in a park or similar have some flyers on you so that youc an give them to people that come and ask about what you are doing.

"Word of Mouth" is the best, cheapest and valuable advertisment you can get.


Cheers.

[thekuntawman]

when i came to the west coast, i competed in tournaments for the first 6 months, and visited other teachers in my town. this way a lot of people know there is a new philippine martial arts teacher in town, and some of my first students got to see me fight. also, some of my fellow competitors became my first students.

but i put fliers in the local martial arts supply store, all of the asian stores, and did some advertisements like pennysaver, and the tv guide. i had classes in three different parts of town so i can see where i get the most people from. one was in the school of a friend, i taught sunday afternoon, when his students are not there. i taught in a park near my house (two days a week), which lots of people saw us because we're outside. then i taught in a VFW i rented two days a week. during this time i did not work except for a bouncer job in a bar near my house, which is late at night, and only 4 days a week.

all day i was doing fliers near all 3 areas. i spent about $25-$30 a week for the summer time. in 3 months i had almost 60 students,and i put my school near the VFW where i had the most students.

i didnt want to work, because i saved money already and i had a little income from my school in the east coast. i wanted to put all my attention to the new school, which i think its better to do anyway.

[Serpent]

OK, so now you're heading straight into the crux of our conversation the other night. Word of mouth is by far the best way of attracting people as you tend to get a better group, but how do you start that!

LC, you've partially answered that anyway with your post. Any other ideas on the subject.

By the way, Bush only invaded Iraq for oil.*





















*That might at least generate a bit more traffic on this thread! ;)

[Serpent]

So kuntawman, did it work? Are you teaching for a living now?

[thekuntawman]

yes i been teaching full time for 11 years. i dont teach children (only ages 13 and up) so business goes down somtimes, so i will get a second job if i have to. but my enrollment will stay around 50 people. and i have classes in two other cities, and we dont pay rent there.

i am in a low rent place so only 10 students pay the bills. i have other ways to make money so i dont have to sqeeze my boys. i sell weapons and equipment to other instructors, i throw tournaments, and i will guest teach in other schools sometimes.

i am not worried to get rich, but as long i have my school, and my family is taken care of, i'm happy.

[Guile]

Why dont you teach little kids?
They drive you insane? (cant blame you).
Its almost like baby sitting sometimes:(

[Water Dragon]

I'd be happy if I could figure out how to get them to come back for the 2nd class :(

[MasterKiller]

We give them a Tootsie Roll after every class. That way, they leave with a good impression, and aren't thinking about how hard it was on the way home.

:D

[Water Dragon]

I'm talking about adults. Maybe I'll try tootsie rolls anyway :D

[Robinf]

If you have space in a gym, workout in that gym during high traffic times and be helpful to folks--or just plain smile. Let them see you as a pleasant, competant person. That will start a little word of mouth.

Fliers and local ads are about it. People have to take lessons before the real word of mouth will start. And then, people say, "Yah, I"ve always wanted to learn "Name of Martial Art"." But, then they never sign up, not even after a free intro.

Teaching kung fu to kids is difficult. Taekwondo with its jump kicks and simple forms is easier and attracts lots of kids.

But, 50 active students quite a successful school without having kids classes or any kind of "cardio" specific class. Good going! That's a school that I would actually check out, but you're not near me. I'd like something a bit more quiet to learn--though I love teaching in all the activity.

For anyone interested in a building a large school or an Empire of sorts, you need to teach kids. Come up with a kids' curriculum.

[ZIM]

It sort of depends on whether or not you want to make a living off of teaching, I'd say. If you want that, then you gotta cheapen things pretty fast, retain students by fooling them, etc. MA is not the path to riches for most! :D

An idea came to me while reading this thread- shoot me at your leisure!

Most schools do what, 3 classes a week? maybe 2 hours each class? So thats 6 hours total, on average, probly.

So what if you did 1 class a week, but ALL DAY? And I mean hard-core, no nonsense, keep going til you puke, *8 frickin' hours straight* of nuthin' but KF. I wonder what kind of students you'd get?? And would it be any cheaper to do it?? Flame away. ;)

[Water Dragon]

Originally posted by ZIM

So what if you did 1 class a week, but ALL DAY? And I mean hard-core, no nonsense, keep going til you puke, *8 frickin' hours straight* of nuthin' but KF. I wonder what kind of students you'd get?? And would it be any cheaper to do it?? Flame away. ;)

This is pretty much how we did it. Nobody shows up, but the ones that do get a lot of benefit.

[MasterKiller]

We do 6 classes a week, 1.75 hours (4 days), 2.5 hours (1 day), and 1 hour (1 day). While it isn't "fight till you puke," it does provide an adequate workout. With schedules such as they are, people like the flexibility of being able to come in anyday and work out, rather than be restricted to Mon.-Wed.-Sat. type scheduling.

[ZIM]

6 classes a week sounds great! Does everyone attend all of them, or do they choose between say, 3 classes out of the lot?

WD- cool! But was it one day a week only, or were all the classes like that, however many there were? My question concerned the nature of compressing the time spent vs. spreading it out over the course of a week.

[MasterKiller]

The adults can attend as many classes as they want. Typically, we get about 25 adults in each kung fu class. Most people come twice a week, but others come as many as 5 or 6 days a week.

Tai Chi is a separate class, and held only twice a week, though the Tai Chi students can come in and work on their own anyday.

We have 4 kids classes each week. They can also come to as many, or as few, as they want.

Again, this leisure is provided by the extra income of teaching kids. We have a large facility that can accomodate a lot of students at once.

[Water Dragon]

One day a week Zim. I had to drive an hour to get there.

[ZIM]

And here I was, thinking everybody would give me grief for that... :rolleyes: You ppl are so unreliable! :p

OK, make it worse, then! 24 hours of straight KUNG FRICKIN' FU!!!
No sleepin' ya slug! Get hopped up on choklit & caffeine and ROLL!


Once a month. :p :p

I call it the 'PMS style', 'cuz it appeals to wimmins. :eek: yeh, i'm just trolling at this point, leave it be...

[Water Dragon]

Originally posted by ZIM


I call it the 'PMS style', 'cuz it appeals to wimmins.

ROFLMAO!

[Serpent]

Interesting posts, all. Anybody else have any opinions?

(About the topic! ;) )