How to open up your own Dojo.

[Mark Jorgensen]

Thanks- that's a lot of good advice....


The location is about 5 minutes north of one of the most affluent and fastest growing communities in suburban Pittsburgh It's not unusual to see 500,000- million dollar homes and even higher in the area, and new middle-class level developments are constantly going up.


The location isn't what I'd call prime, but there is a ton of traffic by it every day that would see the sign. I think my current 35 students has more to do with lack of space and promotion right now than anything else. In the small room I have now, I can't fit many more students than I have now. If I open up the main floor, I could easily reach 200 students or more, and I expect to reach 100 fairly quickly with the right promotion. I also believe the YMCA program will escalate to at least 50-60 students in a short time.


Mats and furniture for office and viewing space would be my biggest initial cost, I already have most of the equipment I need. After that would be signage, paint, and advertising.


I'm also considering renting one of the adjunct rooms out to a yoga or tai chi instructor, something to appeal to a "lower impact" crowd...

As far as competition- There is an ATA studio and a Tae Kwon Do studio in the area doing most of the business, each charges over $100/month and is successful. I have talked to students of both schools, and what I have to offer is more traditional and less sport oriented in both cases (not bashing TKD, just saying that those 2 schools are more competition oriented, and I'm not).


The only potential obstacle is my wife...she doesn't liek doing anything she considers a risk...so she's my conscience, so to speak. The fact that she hasn't outright said no is a good sign, though.


Looks like it's time to do a lot of research and number crunching.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[bcbernam777]

Although I haven't opened my own Dojo, (though I am planning on doing so in the very near future) I have owned and operated 2 successful businesses in 2 seperate fields.

Some of the advice I am giving may have already been given so I apologise if I am repeating.

1.) Decide on your purpose. What is your mission for the school, why does it exsist, a clear understanding of why your school exists will be a strong foundation for success, eg my business currently is to provide supervised contact for government welfare agency. My mission is simple "connecting families" I want to provide a way for families to connect, and relate together so that the child/children can form proper attachements while they are out of the paternal home.

2) Create a branding. Create a look and a theme that will be instantly recongnizable. This provides consistency in your communications, not only to your current students but also new potential students.

3) Create a system. You school is a system, like anything else, a lot of MA schools seem to be held together with a wing and a prayer, by creating a system for everything you do, you are able to create a high quality, fairly predictable result for everyone concerned.

4) Create a business plan. If you haven't done so already. Some teachers in the MA field shy away from this because they see the cheap and outrages gimicks that other MA schools employ, and see that for some MA teachers it is all about the business and not about the students. Yet how I see it, If you create a business that lives to fulfill a mission that is about others and not simply about making money, then you can have a business that is harmonious. A Business plan will help you to plan for success so that you can have a larger bottom line that you can invest back into the school with the students gaining the benefit of this, e.g. bigger facilities, newer equipment etc.

As for your wife, when she sees that you have a solid plan in place and that you are detailed in your thinking, and that this is the real deal, it may be easier for her to come on board

 

[Jumper53]

When you do you initial Grand Opening Campain, I would suggest you get someone to help you answer the phones (which you hope are ringing off the hook). The phones should be manned from 8 in the morning till 10 at night seven days a week and that is a lot for one person to be responsible for. Also during class time the instructor should not be spending a lot of time answering calls. You can offer this person a wage for being on call, or give them something like $20 for every student you get from their work.

Make sure you get callers names, phone numbers and some info about them like male/female/child. Then the person who is helping you can do follow up calls while you teach class. You will sign up twice as many people if you do follow up calls.