Ask the masters: The Business of Martial Arts

[Eddie]

I know there are tons of topics like these, but I’ll post this anyways.

As everything has gone up tremendously down here, I need to try push my student numbers in order to keep head above water.

I need advice on:
Marketing ideas – how to get more students?
Money making ideas – how do I make more money from my school?

Obviously I know all the usual, like handing out pamphlets, putting up posters etc, and I know all about running seminars etc, but I’m sure people like Lkfmdc and lama pie sifu can give us more advice.

I have a full time facility located in a suburb. I have a garden and a fully equipped studio.

One thing I haven’t tried is day care.

You guys have some awesome ideas. Please share some.

Hoping to keep this serious. if you're not realyl interested in this topic, just ignore it. Im really hoping to hear from great business masters such as the people i mentioned.

[lkfmdc]

The two shorts answers are always

1) increase your traffic flow so you have more chances to sign up new students. That doesnt' just mean putting a flyer out, it means putting it out with something that will attract attention, etc

2) make sure your tuition represents your "need number" accurately. You need a certain monthly income to not only pay your bills but to survive, feed your family, etc. once you have your "need number" you have to examine how you are doing things.

Hate to sound like a used car salesman, really but a minimal investment in the San Da training Systems Instructors' Network and you'd have access to a lot more info

[Eddie]

I have no problem in investing in your network, only thing is, I dont have (and dont even have access to) a credit card. We cant just send money randomly from here, and we cant exchange our cash into foreign currency without having a plain ticket and a visa. When we get back, you have 30 days to exchange all your money back into ZAR, and its actually illegal to keep foreign currency.

Paypal doesnt work in SA unless its connected to a Credit card.

But I'll actually try to do just that.

Thanks for the input, all advice are always welcome.

Anyone doing an after school service thing? How would one go about doing that?

[lkfmdc]

I have no problem in investing in your network, only thing is, I dont have (and dont even have access to) a credit card. We cant just send money randomly from here, and we cant exchange our cash into foreign currency without having a plain ticket and a visa. When we get back, you have 30 days to exchange all your money back into ZAR, and its actually illegal to keep foreign currency.

Dear lord man! That sounds like the old Soviet Union

[MightyB]

you can also look at ways to maximize your business by simply making sure you utilize your floor space properly and watch the clock.

What I mean is that you can put measure out and actually mark out your floor with small dots or squares. These squares are for students to stand on to warm up. Make sure there's adequate but minimal space between squares. This way you can fit a lot of people into a class.

- The next thing is to really watch the clock- designate times for beginners, intermediate, advanced and stick to those times so that you can get a good rotation of students. The more categories you make with an appropriate time- the more students you get paying tuition. You can have designated weapons, san shou, fitness, and children's classes along with the traditional beg/int/adv classes.

with those two things implemented- see what classes are doing well, which need help, and which need to be eliminated. Too many people spend too much time trying to save a poor performing class rather than using that time to offer more opportunities to enroll students in your stronger programs. For example- if tuesday night san shou from 7-8pm is full and you can't get anybody on your wednesday 6-7pm cardio class, drop the cardio and ad recreational san shou.

[Eddie]

Dear lord man! That sounds like the old Soviet Union

Seriously?!! You have NO IDEA!

Im just trying to make it happen for just long enough so that I can have enough money to leave. I can start a whole new topic on this, and could even have hardened americans in tears.

Mighty B -
nice ideas. Thanks