Thoughts on private lessons

[RevIV]

Originally Posted by John Bishop

It's all relative to what you and others think your teaching is worth. I've willingly given away hundreds of hours of private lessons over the years. One particular person got 2 hours of privates with me every friday for 6 months. And I drove out to his dojo to do it. Enjoyed his company, and discussions. And we took turns buying lunch after each session. I'm sure he would have been happy to give me privates in his system if I had asked.
And then there was the school owner that refused to pay me anything less then $150.00 a hour for the 6 hours of privates he had.

There are no black and whites and I do the same thing. I have not paid my teacher a penny since I was 14 for lessons. I do treat him well when he is here and when he helps me with testing or seminars I give him as much as I can. Same goes for some of my students and friends some pay some do not. Some get twice as many privates for the same price.

[SteffenBerg]

During my American Kenpo days we got one private per week in addition to the group classes. I always like that format. You got to learn and review the curriculum during the private lesson, then get to "train" during the regular classes. I think it's key to train in a group setting (even if it's a small group of three or four individuals) since everybody moves differently, hence your timing and distancing will be different with every person.

Even now, most of my learning is done privately, but I train in a group setting to work on what I've learned.

Just my 2 cents.

Stef

[jarrod]

Originally Posted by GBlues

Just to be the jerk in the forum, what's wrong with 10-15 dollars an hour for a lesson? Hell, I have to work all day long for 14 dollars an hour.

not being a jerk at all, never hurts to have a devil's advocate.

At the height of my drilling carreer i was making 17, and that was a good company. So why are prices so expensive for hourly private lessons. Yes your getting one on one attention, but the same is true if you asked me to paint your house.

if i were doing 6-8 consecutive hours a day of private instruction i would consider $10 an hr. but a 1 hour lesson isn't really 1 hr, there is time driving to the gym, setting up & cleaning the mats, etc. plus i've found that if you don't charge a little more people don't take it seriously. i used to teach for free but got tired of people not showing up. started charging & suddenly had dedicated students.

You would ask, well, your just painting the outside why does it cost a thousand dollars? The answer cause that's what it costs, course you could buy the paint for 400 bucks rent a rig for 75 a day, get the masking machine which is about 30 bucks plus, the masking paper another 20-30 bucks a couple rolls of tape for maybe 15 and walla for roughly 5 to 600 bucks your painting your house. Course I could do it better, but you saved yourself 400 bucks. And it would only take me a day, where some one that doesn't do it all the time it might take you two. So when people start talking about 30 dollars per half hour, and 60 dollars an hour, or half hour, your talking a half a day or full days wage from somebodies pocket book for you to do an hours worth of work. How is that right? Just playing devils
advocate. Here.

teaching is one of 3 jobs i have so it needs to be worth my while to miss out on sleep/wife time/my own training/whatever. then there is the fact that i have 15 years experience in martial arts which cost me thousands of dollars to acquire. plus i have the ability to communicate principles & concepts better than most. not intending to brag, but i have more knowledge than most instructors in the area as well as the ability to teach. so i charge $30 an hour for private instruction & if someone doesn't think it's a good deal they don't have to hire me. it's the beauty of the free market.

all the best!

jf

[seninoniwashi]

Originally Posted by SteffenBerg

During my American Kenpo days we got one private per week in addition to the group classes. I always like that format. You got to learn and review the curriculum during the private lesson, then get to "train" during the regular classes. I think it's key to train in a group setting (even if it's a small group of three or four individuals) since everybody moves differently, hence your timing and distancing will be different with every person.

Even now, most of my learning is done privately, but I train in a group setting to work on what I've learned.

Just my 2 cents.

Stef

That's a real good idea! Unfortunately I haven't come across a place that will do that. It's typically $20 additional to the monthly fee per class. I would take that approach if I was to have a school of my own, I think the students would feel more engaged. I have been to a few schools where the instructors barely know your name. It seems like some places privates are the only way to get ahead.

[kosho]

I charge $30.00 for 1 hour. If you pay for 10 all at once I charge $200.00
so thats $20.00 per class and you have 1 year to use them up from the date paid for. If you are a current student. If not I charge the $30.00 for 45 min. for just my Private students. The avg. time frame that a student use's the private class in about 6 weeks. then they get 10 more. for the $200.00 price tag.
My self I have paid 30, 50 and 100 for a 1 hour class before...

Kosho