Starting a club from the ground up

[Royal Dragon]

100,000 a MONTH???? Damm, I just wanted to net that in a year!

[neit]

i really like the idea of having pamphlets available while you are training. gives passers by a message "yes we are accepting new students, you are welcome to join us"

[Royal Dragon]

Yes, that is a good idea. I have had success with that in the past myself.

[45degree fist]

I have heard of people renting out time from an existing MA school.

You use the times when they dont have class, these times are rare but good enough for someone starting out. also if they like your program they may add your services to their advertising because it brings people through the door all day. They already have insurance and if their not using the space at that time it is smarter to have it make a little money rather than none. so you can probably get this cheap, most of the equipment is there already. you will be working under their name, but eventually you will have your own place and people will remember you.

[Royal Dragon]

Actually, there is a TKD school right in the area I want to be in. They have a basement that is in the process of being remodled. I am going to ask them about it in the next few weeks or so.

As for insurance, I'm going to renew the policy I had before, reguardless, just for good measure.

[GeneChing]

How would I start a club/school? First I'd look around the neighborhood. Location is everything. Find a place where people can get to conveniently. See what other schools are around. Go into those other schools, break their sign, and steal their students. OK, just kidding about that. Don't do that.

Most schools make there money on the front end - that's what a lot of those business programs will teach you. Capture the kids because it's a huge market. Sign everyone to contracts so they have to pay even if they quite in a few months because that's what will happen - no matter how good a teacher you might be, martial arts isn't for everyone and a lot of people quit. Those business programs urge you to take the money of those quitters regardless.

The other big unseen moneymaker is merchandise - uniform sales, equipment sales, etc. A resale license is crucial for this. Once you get that license, contact Tiger Claw. We have lots of programs available to get you rolling.

Teaching is a lot of work and usually not very profitable, but it's the best thing you can do for humanity.

[Royal Dragon]

Actuallly, a few posts up we discovered MA schools make $100,000 a month!

Yeah, mechandising is a big thing. I was with another outfit before, but I will gladly go with Tiger claw if you can give me a good deal on unifrorms!

[Losttrak]

If you want to really make the money, you need to accept the fact that: Kids = $$$.

Thats where the vast majority of money in MA is at... and signing their parents after you win over the children. However, handling children can be some of the most draining instruction you can imagine. My sifu happened to work magic with them so I learned alot from him.

Or, like Gene was saying... Just call your opposing school's instructors "The Sick Men of <Insert town name here>" and proceed to attack repeatedly with samurai swords until you are their only option.

Of course I am kidding. As long as you are utterly focused the personal goals of each student (which is hard with 100+ members) you will win everyone over. After all, no one wants to be just a number and a paycheck...

[Royal Dragon]

I used to teach kids, and was very good at it. I never found it drainig at all. Kids have alot of energy, and it rubs off on you.

You know, I'd love to teach kids starting about 3:30 or 4:00, and have an adult class start at 6:30 or so and go to 8:30.

All adults start at 6:30. Beginners leave at 7:30, intermediates leave at 8:00, and advanced leave when I'm good and done. By doing this, the advanced adults would get a review of the basics as I teach the same to the beginners, and so forth up the line.

That's a ways down the line though. Right now, I'm thinking like a high shool aged group would be good. They are very trainable, and become loyal easily. AND they are big enough to feed me attacks so I get some practice too.

[Losttrak]

Sure, if they follow instructions and are respectful to other kids, it is very energizing. However, I have frequently had a very different experience. =p

[GeneChing]

...I took more injuries teaching kids than any other part of my training. Mostly because I'd show how not to do something or not warm up properly. Some people are naturals at teaching kids. Not I. I sucked at it. I did train one national champion kid, Michael Louie, but he had a lot of raw talent and those were one-on-one private lessons.

As for the schools that make $100,000 a month, my hat is off to them. Just do the math - let's say $100 tuition per month and that's 1000 students. That's a big freaking school. But then again, let's say another $100 in gear/hidden costs. So we're still talking 500 students. Then again, we could work out something like $500 black belt exams (not unheard of) and tip the scales some more. But you have to subtract out operating costs, rent, electricity, insurance, all sorts of things. In our 2003 Shaolin Special, I interviewed GM Liu Baoshan, headmaster of Taguo, which had 13,000 students at the time (now it has more). I asked him what his secret was. He said, "To be a shcool heamaster, you have to consider every expense. Students need instructors. For cleaning, you need to buy at least one broom. Just getting rid of the trash is a huge expense." That's where a lot of schools fail. They don't calculate how much it costs to get rid of the trash.

If you want to make big money teaching martial arts, the secret isn't kids, marketing, contracts or products. The real secret moneymaker is privates. When you have the reputation that you can charge several hundred for your private lessons, you can get bank.

[Losttrak]

"The real secret moneymaker is privates."

What sort of school was this!?!?!?

Why not specialize in private lessons at a gym, rec center, or similar fitness institution, and cut the overhead of having to lease your own place? I mean, if thats where the money is....

[Royal Dragon]

I'm not sure the big $$ is in priviate lessons. When I did this before, I catered to kids, because I'm good at teaching them. At Champion youth we often had 65-75 a night at $6.00 a head. That's almost $400.00 a night from the local. Times that by 3 times a week, and it adds up. Unfortunetly, I only got $1.00 per student as my commision, but on my own, if I could grow it that bg, it would ll be mine.

Now, on my own I usually had about 20 a night once a week, and then 10 a night two other times. I was paying $12.00 an hour for 2 hours to rent a Grade school gym at the time. Equipment sales pretty much covered my insurance. This was with minimal advertising, and mostly from dropping flyers at 3 local grade schools, including the one I taught at. Summers were slower though, I useually only had about 8 students.

I think a good marketing plan would have to bring me enough to at least make a livng in time.

I have been looking, I found a marketing outfit that does a local buisness/community news mailer that is delivered to 5400 homes in the area I'm looking to teach in. A double buisness card sized ad is $75.00 to ALL the residences in the township. For another $130.00, they will ad my flyers to the mailer for me. Tomorrow, I will see if I can find similar in surrounding communities.

In the meantime, activly investigateing my options has me reviewing my entire Tai Tzu system again, so this is at least motivateing me to practice in ernest again, wich is, in large part, why I'm doing this again.

[Royal Dragon]

If you want to make big money teaching martial arts, the secret isn't kids, marketing, contracts or products. The real secret moneymaker is privates. When you have the reputation that you can charge several hundred for your private lessons, you can get bank.

Reply]
You know Gene, in all honesty, I think it's a bit of everything. It's going to be a long time before I could build the type of rep needed to get much more than maybe $50.00 for a priviate. I need to cater to the main streem crowd who's looking for a cool way to stay active, and learn some sound selfdefense methods. I'm not in a position to run a hard core fight club, and I'm certianly not of Chinese decent from a well known, and prestigious lineage. I have to cater to what I do have, and can do. For me, that means mainstream programs, kids Kung Fu, Tai Chi for health, and recreational Kung Fu and self defense programs.

But ultimately for now I want a small core group that will fund itself so "I" have people to feed me attacks so "I" get practice in my system. In return I'm going to teach them the results of my research into Tai Tzu since 1998, and Chao Tai Chi if they want.

[SPJ]

Where there is a will, there is a way. So they say.

I think an affiliation with a high school, a church, a youth organization, or a gym etc. would help you to have "core" students.

My brother used to start by teaching Tai Chi for free in the church and nearby community center. And then he was more known. He would recruit the students for more intensive and other Kung Fu lessons from the same pool of students in the church and community center.

Eventually, he had his own private Kuo Shu Guan in Taipei, Taiwan. And he still taught free Tai Chi in the church.

Best of luck.