Starting and Running Your Own Martial Art School
By Michael Massie
So, you want to know what starting and running your own martial arts school takes? For starters, a lot of guts, plus a willingness to do what it takes to make it a success. Plan on spending the first year or two working harder than you ever have in your life.
Now, if you can handle that, here is a bare-bones breakdown of what you need to do to start your school...
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Planning
The very first thing you need to know about how to launch
a martial arts school that is how to write a martial
arts business plan. There are
two very good reasons for this:
1. If you are going to seek outside funding, there isn't
a lender in the world that will consider giving a prospective
entrepreneur a loan if they don't have a solid business plan.
2. More importantly, you need to have a clear picture of
the steps you will take to successfully launch your martial
arts school, from start-up through the first 3-5 years you
are in operation.
For details on what a good business plan includes, you should visit the following website: http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/writingplan.html
We discuss planning and budgeting in chapter seven of my
manual (and I also provide a sample business plan in the appendix).
Financing
Most people only consider one or two choices when they choose
their financing options for launching their martial arts school:
their personal savings and bank loans.
However, there are many other options to consider, such as
borrowing from a private investor, government grants, and
using your personal credit. Each of these methods has it's
pros and cons; it'll be up to you to decide which will best
suit your resources, needs and goals.
You should know that there are options available to you for
financing your studio that require much less financial risk.
You can refer to chapter 4 of my martial arts business manual
to find out more on this subject.
Choosing a Business Structure
The next step to consider is to choose a business structure.
Will you operate as a sole proprietor, a corporation, a limited
liability company, or a partnership?
If you spent the time to write a good business plan, this
is something that you have probably already given a great
deal of consideration. Be advised, some business structures
have tax and legal advantages that you'll want to consider
before you choose.
If you decide to operate as a corporation or LLC, you will
most likely require assistance with filing for recognized
status as a legal business entity in your state. In that case,
you'll want to speak with a local attorney in your area for
assistance.
Also, in chapter five of my manual I talk about what you
need to do to avoid legal pitfalls, limit your legal liability,
and protect yourself from lawsuits.
Finding the Right Location
There are many things to consider when choosing a location for your new martial arts school. Is it better to be in a high-foot-traffic area, and pay considerably more in rent?
Or, should you get a location that is a bit off the beaten
path, and spend the money you save in rent on advertising
and marketing?
Although we discuss this in great detail in the "Small Dojo,
Big Profits" manual, suffice it to say that we have found
the latter option to be the most risk-averse. Keeping expenses
as low as possible is often the wisest path, especially if
you are someone without much experience starting and running
your own martial arts school.
On a related note, you'll definitely want to find someone
to help you negotiate your lease, like a real estate agent
or an attorney. Commercial leases are generally long, complicated,
and contain a lot of legal jargon, making them difficult to
understand for the average layperson. In addition, they are
often written to weigh heavily in favor of the property owner.
Even so, with any lease the terms are often negotiable, so
be sure to get someone who understands real estate law to
help you interpret and negotiate your lease. (This is all
covered in more detail in chapter six of my
manual.)
Advertising and Marketing
Effective marketing and advertising for your new martial
arts school can mean the difference between long-term success
and imminent disaster. This is the one aspect of starting
a martial arts school that is perhaps least understood by
new school owners.
Why? Well, because there are a lot of factors to consider
when you set out to market your studio, things like your budget,
your intended audience, marketing channels and media, what
type of promotions you're going to offer, public relations,
special events and appearances - the list goes on and on.
Once again, informed planning is the key to effective advertising,
so if you don't have any experience in this area you might
consider reading up on the topic or getting outside help.
I devoted chapter 10 to this topic in my manual; you might
also take a look at my Martial Arts School Marketing Mini-Course,
both of which can be purchased and downloaded in the "Products"
section of this website.
Pricing Your Services
This is actually a component of your overall marketing strategy,
but it deserves a separate mention because it's so crucial.
Do yourself a favor and read our three-part series on this
in the "Articles" section of this site. For more
detailed information, you can also read chapter eight in my
manual.
Billing and Collecting Tuition
First off, you don't need to hire a billing company - at
least, not right away. However, you might consider using one
from the get-go to avoid having to convert your members over
to third-party billing later on.
Although I once used a full-service billing company, I've
since switched to a semi-DIY company that allows me more freedom
and control of my billing, and I save money on fees as well.
Chapter nine in my "Small Dojo..." manual goes into detail
about the pros and cons of hiring a third party billing company
to collect your tuition.
Inventory and Equipping Your Location
Now, about inventory... it depends on how many students you
will have (to buy equipment from you) when you open. If you
won't have but a few dozen, then just stock your place with
2-3 uniforms in each size, so you can have them on hand when
new students enroll.
I use several companies for equipment, and have wholesale
accounts with each (it ususally just takes sending them a
copy of your resale certificate or business license - some
will even accept a business card or advertisement). Century
and Asian World of Martial Arts have great prices, and Tiger
Claw is close behind. The thing to do is to find the lowest
prices on uniforms and order all your stuff from that company
- after you've done this a while, you can ususally negotiate
even better prices.
My current school is 1600 sq ft. with 1000 feet of training
floor. About 200 sq ft up front consists of the entrance,
viewing area, and office. Another 400 sq ft in back is used
for the bathroom, a small room for our after school kids to
do home work in (we found it necessary to offer after school
pick up due to the demographics of our town, something I plan
to write an article on soon), a storage room, and a changing
area.
We have our entire floor covered in mats, but we started
with carpet and waited until we had enough students to afford
to buy mats (AWMA.com's wholesale site has puzzle mats super
cheap now - $13 bucks a mat). I have 8 Wavemasters (needed
them for the kickboxing class, otherwise would only have
2-3), 6 large kicking shields (reminds me I need to order
a few more), about a dozen square hand targets, a few clapper
targets, and 5 pairs of muay thai arm shields.
However, I recommend you start with the cheapest equipment
- and that would be the square hand targets. As you get new
enrollees, use their registration fees (should be about $100
a person, if you're not running a special discount) to buy
new equipment as you grow. That way, you keep your start-up
costs really low.
Finally, spend some money on posters (put them in frames
from Wal Mart or Target), flags, potted plants or even rubber
plants, and so on. Spending a $100 or so on things to make
your school look exciting and inviting will really make a
difference in your enrollments.
Customer Service, Curriculum and Retention
Retention is a key issue for your martial arts school, one
that your long-term success will likely rest on. You'll want
to make sure that you have a great curriculum, excellent teaching
and motivational skills, and outstanding customer service
- all these factor in to your retention and attrition rate.
Chapter 11 in the my manual has a lot of useful tips and techniques
for retention that will help you keep your students around
for the long haul.
Other Considerations in Starting and Running Your Own Martial Arts School
Bookkeeping - Hire a bookkeeper and find a
good accountant to do your taxes at the end of each year.
Trust me, it will save you some serious hassles.
Hiring Employees - Without getting into the
particulars, I would advise that you try to avoid it if you
can. Employees are a hassle and payroll can easily become
your biggest expense. For more on this, you'll want to read
chapter 7 and chapter 13 in my manual.
Additional Income Streams - There's more on
this topic on our articles section. Also, I spent a whole
chapter writing about this in chapter 12 of my "Small Dojo..."
manual.
Enrollment Procedures - More on this topic can
be found in other articles on this site. If you don't have
any sales experience, you'll want to do some role-play with
a friend before you open your doors. Just sit down and pretend
you are enrolling them for classes. You may also want to read
chapter 8 in my manual if you need more help on this.
Contracts - Too complicated an issue to get
into here. I suggest that you read chapter nine in my manual,
then talk to some successful, experienced school owners (note
the qualifying adjectives) to get their take on it.
I hope this article at least gives you an idea of where to
start and what steps to take to get going. If you're serious
about starting a martial arts school, please, read our manual
- it'll save you a lot of headaches and confusion when you
are starting and running your own martial arts school.
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Mike Massie has been a full-time school owner for more than 15 years of his 25 years in the martial arts, and has started two successful martial arts schools from scratch. Mike provides business coaching for instructors who are starting their own martial arts schools via the members area of this site.