life of the school

[hskwarrior]

Hey,

i wanted to hear what most of you believe the life expectancy of your typical martial arts school is today? How many years would it take for you to call something a very old school?

thanks

hsk

[TenTigers]

gee, I never thought of it in that way. I have had my school open for about twenty years. I know that most small businesses go under within two years, and most Martial Arts schools fold within six months, so in that respect, I'm freakin ancient. But in NYC, there have been schools since I was a child.

[hskwarrior]

****, if you're ancient and our school has been around for about 80 years or so than what does that make us? dinosaurs? :mad:

:mad: hsk

[Ben Gash]

See you've just brought a new factor into the equation. It's the same school, but it's had 3 different instructors. Also there are schools here that have been around for 15 years, but have constantly changed venues and had short breaks. I suppose much depends on the nature of the buisness. For example I only need 5 students per class to break even, and it's not my living, so Icould probably go on forever like that :o

[hskwarrior]

for my self, I am not sure i want to open a commercial school. I don't like commercialism unless i am trying to survive off of martial arts. i think it is good to have a full time job and then dedicate yourself to your students after work, much the same way my sifu has always done. He had a studio added on to his home so there is no real overhead except for electricity. thats the good thing about it, when others have to close down due to lack of students, all my sifu has to do is go upstairs.

Right now i teach at a local park and my students like it. during the rainy season my sifu will allow me to bring them over to the studio. But if i get a strong number of students, i will most likely try to open a school in chinatown since i am sort of known there and also bring our school "back to chinatown."

However, i am afraid of opening a commercial school because of going under in about 2 years. i have seen even my si-sooks open schools and close them hella times. however, i plan on taking our schools name into the "next millenium"
and hopefully through my own son or daughter.

oh, you say it s that same school but had three instructors. thats true, but the school was passed on the each when the teacher either died or retired, and that is how my sifu plans on doing it, and hopefully me. but it has stayed continous for that long no shut downs, or breaks in between.


cool!

hsk :)

[X-Warrior]

I am just working on putting a school together. It takes a long time and a lot of work for sure. The more I do it, the more I am justified that planning is a key element for starting. I had to realize many things during this phase, for example dividing classes into different sessions; some people are interested more in just the health espects of martial arts (weight loss, cardio workout, breathing, meditating ... etc.), some want to go to advance levels with higher technical skills. So I am trying to break up each class and offer different levels in each. I also have a plan for a kid's class.

It's a lot of work. Have at least a comprehensive school material (what you teach, test materials ... etc.), budget, cost, revenue, number of students you'll need to break even ... etc. I am also designing my own website and want to have this up before I start. Plan, plan, plan before you start!

I have also seen students from my old school starting their own and failing fast (despite their high skills as martial artists). They all started with no plan, they thought they'll just lease some space and the rest will take care of itself. Not true! Be smart and start with a definite plan. It is a key element for long term success.

-X-

[hskwarrior]

one thing i would never do is open as chool without having any students first. But i do agree, it takes planning and dissecting what you already learned to make it easier for the new students to learn.

when i was first learning CLF, we had no real structure to the learning at our school. it was more of a back alley thing. but today with my students, i have started to standardize my previous training to give them more structure. it is turning out well.

from a teachers point of view, it is really nice seeing the fruits of your labor live and in living color.

so, pls tell me, in a commercial school is insurance necessary?

hsk

[X-Warrior]

Unfortunately yes and it gives you a great deal of limitation to what you can do. In my old school sparring was prohibited because of insurance reasons (of course we would spar but we were advanced and trusted students and knew better that suing the school would only harm ourselves). If you allow sparring, your insurance goes up drammaticaly. I also do spar with my private students - I only teach privately at this time - but they're also all friends of mine and I know them for years and can trust them. We do it as safe as possible, we don't spar for who is better but for learning experiences.

LOL, I remember when I first started to teach and had to realize I had to break things down. I held my first classes the way I was training at the time and my student almost quit, couldn't handle the high physical and mental demands. I had to realize it was my fault, that I needed to step on the break and slow down. Things are much better now and I only give as much as they can handle while still pushing them to their very limits. They all love to train now and that is the best way to measure an instructor's skills :)

-X-