Familiar with Wah Lum? Need advice

[Chop Socki]

Mantid1's post really hit home on the sad reality of this industry; many instructors regret the business 'necessities' and would rather have a more traditional relationship with their students based on mutual respect, but all too many of them have been taken advantage of month after month by students who think walking out on a bill is a victimless crime. Not only does it literally take money out of someone's pocket, but in many cases, the affect it has on the instructor, whether it's a knee jerk reaction or a 'last straw' deal winds up hurting all the students.

There are alternatives; the school's I'm affiliated with don't have a long term contractual requirement, but have instead gone with an autopay program, which automatically deducts the amount from your bank account on a day of the month that you select. The guys who offer those billing services are reputable, they won't change the monthly billed amount without your approval (to protect you from an unscrupulous teacher) and if you cancel your payment plan, they'll notify the instructor immediately.

Good luck with your training, wherever you wind up.

- CS

[mooyingmantis]

CS,
Good suggestion!
A friend of mine runs his contracts through a short term loan agency. The student must finance the yearly lessons. The instructor receives his money from the loan agency up front after the student has signed the contract. The student pays the loan company, not the instructor. If the student stops paying, the loan company deals with the student, not the instructor. This has worked very well for my friend.
Richard

[yu shan]

Your first paragraph mentioning a respectful relationship between teacher and student was right on in my view. This way is just how I feel, but unfortunatly in these days and times it does not seem to work. For cryin out loud, I have senior students paying late, very late. And I just keep letting it slide. My older students (age wise) pay up front on time, it is the guys in there 20`s that seem to have this disregard for paying me on time. If I had the stones like Mantid, I`d just kick them out!

[Chop Socki]

Yu Shan -

I sympathize, and really wish I had some magic advice that would help. At my 1st school, things were a nightmare. The sifu had become far too close to the students and they took full advantage with their monthly 'sifu, I'm kinda short this month, how about I get you next month?' crap. By the time the sifu left town, I think me and the friend I had signed up with were the only ones paying him, and the school had degraded to the point that classes were being taught in a warehouse that I'm pretty sure we were sneaking into illegally.

Is there an opportunity for you to take advantage of an auto-pay billing agency like the one I mentioned in my previous post? Not only does it guarantee a steady stream of income based on direct billing against bank accounts, but it takes you out of the 'bad guy' role of having to chase students around for late dues. About all you'd have to do is stand up to the students who show up after the agency calls you and tells you they didn't pay; be sympathetic, be compassionate, but above all, be firm, i.e "I'm sorry that things aren't working out right now, I wish you the best of luck and I look forward to seeing you again when things settle down in your life".

It's not a contract and there's no long term commitment. My understanding is that this is a 'pay ahead' program, and where I've seen it used, the numbers work out well enough so that you can offer a small discount for people who sign up for auto-pay, which still gives you a little flexibility if for some reason someone doesn't have an account that will support the auto-withdrawals.

Good luck to you, friend. You're obviously in business for all the right reasons, now you need to protect yourself from those who would take advantage of your trust.

- CS

[yu shan]

Chop Socki

I work a full time day gig & coach kung fu at night. I do a sort of "kungfu club" if you know what I mean. I do not have a school, rent space. But what I make from kf helps with my family`s needs and funds my trips to learn. Thank you for sharing this idea auto pay.

[Yao Sing]

The Wah Lum Temple used a loan agency at one time but dropped it for reasons unknown to me. Seems like a good idea.

It certainly takes out a lot of the collection headaches.