Becoming an instructor/ school owner

[pgsmith]

First I think you have to figure out exactly what it is you're after. You mentioned being a good instructor, then you mentioned a career change. Are you wanting to figure out how to become a good martial arts instructor (difficult) or are you wanting to figure out how to make a living as a martial arts instructor (even more difficult)? While the two are in no way mutually exclusive, they do have different goals and so require a bit of a different mind and skill set.

Well if you want to start your own place you need collateral in addition to all the stuff you mentioned. You also have to have a business sense.

That is incorrect. I've run my own dojo for close to 15 years without any collateral and without much business sense. How long have you been running your dojo, or are you just guessing?

 

[PhotonGuy]

That is incorrect. I've run my own dojo for close to 15 years without any collateral and without much business sense. How long have you been running your dojo, or are you just guessing?

Without collateral how were you able to afford the building that you use for your dojo? And how were you able to afford setting it up as a dojo? That's just common sense. As of right now I have yet to run my own place but I do work as an assistant instructor.

 

[Tez3]

I strongly recommend formal training in teaching physical education.

I think this is a good idea, alongside the martial arts classes running fitness classes may be a good way to bring in the extra income you will most likely need plus it does give you more qualifications which is often what customers look for. The difference I think between being an instructor is that you have students, become an owner and you have customers.
Lots of good advice on this thread.

 

[Andrew Green]

That is incorrect. I've run my own dojo for close to 15 years without any collateral and without much business sense. How long have you been running your dojo, or are you just guessing?

Then you are doing a poor job to be honest. If you are running a dojo you owe it to yourself and your students to learn how to manage a business. This seems like saying "I've been teaching for 15 years without any skill as a teacher." Learn how to run a business or work for someone who does, it doesn't do you or your students any good to not have a professionally run facility to train in.

Just suppose you gained some business sense and where able to increase your cash and student numbers. You could then offer nicer facilities, better trained staff, newer and better equipment. You could afford to further your own training and education better, have more classes available to students, etc.

Business sense isn't just about making money, it's about increasing the value you provide and offering superior service to your customers. Just a as a instructor has a obligation to improve their knowledge as a instructor a business owner has the obligation to improve their knowledge of business so that they can provide better service.

 

[WaterGal]

Well, you need to talk to your teacher to see how to become an instructor. They may have certain requirements - a certain rank, special teaching classes, background check, etc - that we don't know about. Just talk to them about it and see what they say. I bet they'd be happy to let you take over a class or two if you pass whatever requirements they have.

As for owning your own school, that's... jeez. First, teach for a a couple years and take some business classes. They probably have some at your local community college or SBA office. Learn about making a business plan, accounting, marketing, sales, stuff like that. Then, you need to make sure you find a good location for your school (has a lot of people with disposable income nearby, not too much competition, good real estate, etc). Talk to an accountant and a lawyer to work out how to do your books and cover your rear end legally, and a real estate agent to look at some locations and get a sense of the cost of doing business.

Then, if you're planning on doing this full time instead of your current job, I'd strongly recommend you get together enough money to pay all your personal bills (if you have a working spouse they may be able to help support you) and all the bills for the business for at least 2 years, plus some extra to renovate the space and buy all the equipment/furniture you'll need. How much that is will depend on your location, but probably somewhere in the $100k-300k range. You'll probably have to put your house down as collateral on a business loan. If you're only going to teach part time - maybe sublet a dance studio or gym a few hours a week - you'll still need some cash to pay for marketing etc, but probably only a few grand. You can always start with that and then later open your own school, like some people recommend.

 

[Andrew Green]

As for owning your own school, that's... jeez. First, teach for a a couple years and take some business classes. They probably have some at your local community college or SBA office. Learn about making a business plan, accounting, marketing, sales, stuff like that. Then, you need to make sure you find a good location for your school (has a lot of people with disposable income nearby, not too much competition, good real estate, etc). Talk to an accountant and a lawyer to work out how to do your books and cover your rear end legally, and a real estate agent to look at some locations and get a sense of the cost of doing business.

I think one of the biggest benefits to going to business school over self-study is networking opportunities. For a small business I can't see it being worth it. Educate yourself definitely, but if you want to spend money for live training get connected with a group like MAIA, the skills taught will be directly applicable and the networking opportunities will mean a lot more.

Then, if you're planning on doing this full time instead of your current job, I'd strongly recommend you get together enough money to pay all your personal bills (if you have a working spouse they may be able to help support you) and all the bills for the business for at least 2 years, plus some extra to renovate the space and buy all the equipment/furniture you'll need. How much that is will depend on your location, but probably somewhere in the $100k-300k range.

Your numbers are a little high, and financing is not as difficult. Mats are the biggest expense when it comes to outfitting a building and some manufacturers will set up finance them for you (like buying a car from a dealer), otherwise the bank may be able to do it as it is for equipment, and the equipment is held as collateral (like buying a car with a bank loan). $100-300k would be to outfit a very large facility, for a school starting out $20k could do it quite easily, plus build out costs if needed and not handled by the landlord, and even those can sometimes be part of your lease terms.

A lot of schools start off with the owner still working full time during the day, then quitting the day job once the school can support them.

You should definitely be careful with finances, but I think the majority of schools get bootstrapped with very little cash out of the gate. Start small and grow.

That said most schools fail and close down, being able to cover the costs until your tuition payments can is very important, but I think most fail from lack of knowledge about how to run a school. You can probably rent a small floor space for a few hours a week and be covered with 5-10 students and very little risk, its growing that is hard and bitting off more then you are ready to chew that does most in.

 

[pgsmith]

Without collateral how were you able to afford the building that you use for your dojo? And how were you able to afford setting it up as a dojo? That's just common sense. As of right now I have yet to run my own place but I do work as an assistant instructor.

I've not purchased a building. I've done various things over the years to ensure practice space for us. At the moment, we are renting what used to be a racquetball court. I've more than enough common sense for both of us apparently thank you. It all comes down to WHY you are teaching. That's the question that I asked the OP. You've made an assumption that is erroneous, and judged all others by your own criteria. That's something you should work on overcoming if you ever wish to become a good instructor.

Then you are doing a poor job to be honest. If you are running a dojo you owe it to yourself and your students to learn how to manage a business. This seems like saying "I've been teaching for 15 years without any skill as a teacher." Learn how to run a business or work for someone who does, it doesn't do you or your students any good to not have a professionally run facility to train in.

Just suppose you gained some business sense and where able to increase your cash and student numbers. You could then offer nicer facilities, better trained staff, newer and better equipment. You could afford to further your own training and education better, have more classes available to students, etc.

Business sense isn't just about making money, it's about increasing the value you provide and offering superior service to your customers. Just a as a instructor has a obligation to improve their knowledge as a instructor a business owner has the obligation to improve their knowledge of business so that they can provide better service.

You've no idea what sort of job I am doing. You are making the same erroneous assumption as PhotonGuy. I've no desire to increase my cash flow or student numbers. That's NOT why I teach. I practice a koryu sword art, and it is not something that can be practiced alone. I was given the choice of quitting or running things a number of years back, and I chose to run things since I wasn't ready to quit. I have no interest in a professionally run facility or a better trained staff. I do not provide a service (superior or otherwise), and I do not have customers. I go to practice with other like-minded individuals who wish to practice the same art. We all pitch in to pay the rent. I just happen to have been at it longer than they have. Sometimes it costs me more, sometimes less, but it has been worth the costs in my opinion.

I have no desire to teach professionally. I have a job that pays me well. I'll retire after a few more years, and can then spend more of my time training. There's a lot of difference between "instructing" and "running a dojo as a business". There is a lot of knowledge that is necessary for running a business that has nothing to do with instructing. That's why I asked the question that I did.

 

[K-man]

That is incorrect. I've run my own dojo for close to 15 years without any collateral and without much business sense. How long have you been running your dojo, or are you just guessing?

I have a similar experience to Paul although I am already retired. About ten years ago I pretty much started instructing and running a school at the same time. I won't go into the details of why. I did inherit enough students to break even, all I've ever wanted to do. I didn't need any collateral to do that. We rented a school hall for a few years then I gave away the kids to a friend who was in the process of starting up and needing students and moved into another friend's back room where I continued to teach only black belts. Then I had more students wanting to train so we went back to hiring a school hall and easily covered the costs.

Two years ago we moved into permanent premises and I am still subsidising the business to a small extent. I could easily cover the difference and even make a profit if I were to take on children again but I have no desire to do that.

Sure, I have capital available and I have had many years experience in owning and managing small to medium sized businesses, but I think that a bit of common sense goes a long way in running a small dojo. Of course the situation changes dramatically if you are looking at making money out of the operation.

Initially I just wanted to continue to train with my peers. Now I am happy to take on newcomers but that comes at a huge cost to my personal training unless I'm prepared to put in more time at the expense of family time.

I guess what I'm saying is, there are many reasons why someone would want to instruct and many reasons why someone would open his own school. Money is not always the main reason or even a major concern. Personal satisfaction is, for me, the main thing.

 

[Andrew Green]

You've no idea what sort of job I am doing. You are making the same erroneous assumption as PhotonGuy. I've no desire to increase my cash flow or student numbers. That's NOT why I teach.

Then you are not a business owner, and I gather you understand and are comfortable with that. That's perfectly fine, but you are running a club, not a business. For someone looking to own a business saying that you can manage without business skills is very poor advice. I do make a living teaching and owning a school, it is my full time job.

So lets clarify, if you want to own a school and operate it full time you need business knowledge. If you instead want to teach a small group a couple nights a week, things are much simpler. Simply by existing most schools should be able to grow to 35-50 members... but thats not going to pay the bills and to get beyond that you need a little business sense.

 

[PhotonGuy]

I've not purchased a building. I've done various things over the years to ensure practice space for us. At the moment, we are renting what used to be a racquetball court. I've more than enough common sense for both of us apparently thank you. It all comes down to WHY you are teaching. That's the question that I asked the OP. You've made an assumption that is erroneous, and judged all others by your own criteria. That's something you should work on overcoming if you ever wish to become a good instructor.

You still have to have access to a building or some other place to train. To do so would usually require you to at least rent the space which would cost money. Also you would need to set it up, you would need training gear, advertisements, ect. all of which costs money. So that's why you need collateral.

 

[PhotonGuy]

That's perfectly fine, but you are running a club, not a business.

A club usually is a business.

 

[Andrew Green]

A club usually is a business.

Not quite what I mean. its the difference between hosting a Ppv party at your house and having everyone through I'm $10 to cover costs vs running a sports bar.

Your charging money, and providing a service, but calling it a business is not really what the mentality behind it is.

 

[Tez3]

A club usually is a business.

No it's not. Ours is a club, we are rent free because it's on an army base and charge only enough to cover things like insurance, no one takes any money. I've been to many places where the subs cover the rent of the premises, insurance etc where no profit/money is taken by the instructors. I think it's still the most common form of martial arts (and other sports actually) training in the UK. We do have commercial ie businesses here but they aren't the same as clubs.

 

[Chris Parker]

What does it take to become an instructor and possibly a school owner other than :certification, credentials, sound knowledge and martial arts experience?

This might be not what you expect, but you need nothing of the kind to become an instructor… all you need is people willing to learn from you… whether you have anything genuine to teach or not. Just look at examples like Ashida Kim, or Frank Dux… these people made up completely fabricated "arts" with completely fabricated histories, and completely fabricated ranks, but still get students. They only needed to convince people that they were giving something of value… often by playing to people's fantasies… no certification, credentials, knowledge (sound or otherwise), experience, training, or anything else required.

And, as far as being a school owner, all you need there is to be able to afford to own a school.

Here's the thing… there is no such thing as a requirement (across all martial arts) to be a teacher. Some systems and organisations will have some… others will have different ones (such as some Japanese systems only having one instructor per generation, others not considering you a teacher until you're at least 5th Dan, some BJJ schools are run by people with as low a rank as blue belt, and so on)… and some won't really have anything formally at all.

I have had the itch to seek an instructorship at my school for several years. I decided I must understand and agree with the mission of my school. Also, that I must strive to know and understand my style as well as to find where I fit within that style.

Then the only answer is to ask within your style and organisation, and ask them what they require.

I am good personal friends with all leadership in my style and the head of the style has let me know that he wishes me to gain title as an instructor.

"Instructor" isn't a title… it's a role. It's important to remember the distinction.

My perspective is that if I choose to follow that path, to strengthen and build up others as has been done to me, I must dedicate myself to a deeper knowledge, understanding and passion of the martial arts. In that pursuit, I would like to inquire of those already dedicated and more experienced than myself. Looking down the road, if I am going to do this I want to do this right.

Look, all of that is quite laudable… but it's also highlighting that you're focused on a romanticised ideal, rather than looking at the realities involved.

There are a few home truths that might be important to consider when it comes to teaching… the first can be quite heartbreaking:

Students do not share your values. Dedicating yourself to some ideal for the benefit of your students, honestly, is the very definition of a fruitless endeavour. I know, it's kinda the opposite to what you'd expect… but it leads you to losing the reason for your training in the first place.

Students don't share your commitment. Don't expect that, just because you see the value in your classes, and wouldn't dream of missing even a single training session, that your students will be the same. They won't be. They'll be flaky… they'll be inconsistent… they'll simply stop turning up one day, and never let you know why… there'll be changes in their lives, and you (and your classes) won't be their priority.

Student's will want to see you as a substitute parent figure. They'll expect you to provide for them, selflessly, the way a parent would if you let them. You have to maintain a healthy distance from them in order to avoid this (and the pitfalls of the previous two points, actually).

You have to teach and train for one person, and one person only: yourself. Make the classes the best you can, but remember that it's your class, your offering… if it appeals to the students, they'll attend, if not, changing for them won't help anything.

There's a lot more, obviously, but the major upshot is that, as Paul (and others) have said, you have to figure out your motivation for teaching, and what you're hoping to get out of it. You're also going to have to come to terms with reality… class planning, skill development structure, grading methods and implementation, personal training and keeping your skills sharp, and far more. The actual classes themselves are, when all's said and done, the easy part.

I will offer one more piece of advice, though. Find a mentor. Find someone who has been teaching for a while already, someone who you'd aspire to be like, and learn from them. Ask them questions, become their shadow, gain everything you can. But be prepared for your ideas of what teaching is really like to not match up to the reality… it never does.

It is not quite for personal satisfaction, I do believe in a calling placed on one's shoulders. on the other hand, I have been wanting a career change. I currently work in construction but I am considering ,in time, to create a profession from my martial arts training and understanding.

Then I wish you all the luck you will definitely need… making a living is really far from an easy task. You'll be in a better position with some arts than others… but that's about it.

perhaps an additional question is required, what separates instructors into the average, the good and the great?

That, really, is a matter of perspective. Some perspectives have been given already (and I have mine, obviously), but in the end, it's up to you the way you wish to interpret it.

They don't pay, they don't stay.

That's how they often treat school teachers. There is a difference though, when you're with children for just an hour or two a day vs. being with them all day, as school teachers are.

If I felt a child student didn't want to be there I would ask them if they really want to do this or if they're being made to do it by parents, ect. If its the latter than I would talk to the parents about taking the child elsewhere and pursuing something else.

I wouldn't take students that young.

If they don't take it seriously I would ask them to leave.

The world isn't that black and white… this hardline approach smacks to me of a real lack of experience in, well, dealing with people.

Then you are not a business owner, and I gather you understand and are comfortable with that. That's perfectly fine, but you are running a club, not a business. For someone looking to own a business saying that you can manage without business skills is very poor advice. I do make a living teaching and owning a school, it is my full time job.

So lets clarify, if you want to own a school and operate it full time you need business knowledge. If you instead want to teach a small group a couple nights a week, things are much simpler. Simply by existing most schools should be able to grow to 35-50 members... but thats not going to pay the bills and to get beyond that you need a little business sense.

When did Paul say anything about running a full time dojo?

Here's the thing, Andrew… there are many, many models of "running a school"… my set-ups are closer to Paul's than yours are, or, I'd suggest, the OP's idea of "running a school"… but that doesn't make Paul's (or my) structure any less of running a school. Frankly, the idea of mass teaching, full time centres etc are rather antithetical to what we do… it's kinda the opposite of how we prefer to do things.

 

[PhotonGuy]

No it's not. Ours is a club, we are rent free because it's on an army base and charge only enough to cover things like insurance, no one takes any money. I've been to many places where the subs cover the rent of the premises, insurance etc where no profit/money is taken by the instructors. I think it's still the most common form of martial arts (and other sports actually) training in the UK. We do have commercial ie businesses here but they aren't the same as clubs.

Definition of club: "a group of people who meet to participate in an activity (such as a sport or hobby)"

So a club doesn't have to be a business, it can just be a group of people who regularly hang out and take part in an activity together. But often clubs do charge memberships so then it becomes a business. A club doesn't have to charge membership but most of the ones I've seen do.

 

[Tez3]

Definition of club: "a group of people who meet to participate in an activity (such as a sport or hobby)"

So a club doesn't have to be a business, it can just be a group of people who regularly hang out and take part in an activity together. But often clubs do charge memberships so then it becomes a business. A club doesn't have to charge membership but most of the ones I've seen do.

It would surely depend on what the 'membership' is for, if it just covers expenses of the club and no one was earning anything, it's still a club. A business is by definition a commercial venture where someone is hoping to earn from it.

 

[pgsmith]

Then you are not a business owner, and I gather you understand and are comfortable with that. That's perfectly fine, but you are running a club, not a business. For someone looking to own a business saying that you can manage without business skills is very poor advice. I do make a living teaching and owning a school, it is my full time job.

So lets clarify, if you want to own a school and operate it full time you need business knowledge. If you instead want to teach a small group a couple nights a week, things are much simpler. Simply by existing most schools should be able to grow to 35-50 members... but thats not going to pay the bills and to get beyond that you need a little business sense.

I never gave any advice. I simply told the OP that he needed to figure out what he was actually wanting to do because, depending upon his answer, the advice that he needs can be quite a bit different. I agree with you completely that you can't operate a business without business skills. I was simply trying to get the OP to figure out whether he was simply wanting to be an instructor, or whether he was wanting to start a martial arts business.

Definition of club: "a group of people who meet to participate in an activity (such as a sport or hobby)"

So a club doesn't have to be a business, it can just be a group of people who regularly hang out and take part in an activity together. But often clubs do charge memberships so then it becomes a business. A club doesn't have to charge membership but most of the ones I've seen do.

You've got an awful lot of very strong opinions for someone without much experience. In my opinion, you should be a lot more concerned with learning about yourself and others rather than trying to make others understand you. Just my opinion though, so it's worth what you paid for it.

 

[Andrew Green]

Frankly, the idea of mass teaching, full time centres etc are rather antithetical to what we do… it's kinda the opposite of how we prefer to do things.

If running a full time gym is not your interest that is fine, it's not for everyone. But this claim seems a little odd, but perhaps you can help me out. What is GM Hatsumi's career outside of the martial arts? Is the Hombu Dojo not a full time facility?

Calling it antithetical to what you do when that is what the head of your lineage does seems a little odd to me. It might not be what YOU do, but there is nothing inherently wrong with it as it relates to martial arts. All it really means when it comes to classes is that there is more of them. My school, for example runs over 40 classes every week, they aren't necessarily bigger classes and we don't lower our quality as a result. I'd argue that we can even increase it by separating classes to better suit each persons needs. We get a dedicated facility with lots of equipment, something that can't be had in a smaller "club" model.

But I can't see how any of that could be antithetical to what any school does? Apart from the instructors having other interests that keep them in full time jobs, what about approaching it with a business mentality to offer a full time program do you find objectionable within what you do?

 

[WaterGal]

IYour numbers are a little high, and financing is not as difficult. Mats are the biggest expense when it comes to outfitting a building and some manufacturers will set up finance them for you (like buying a car from a dealer), otherwise the bank may be able to do it as it is for equipment, and the equipment is held as collateral (like buying a car with a bank loan). $100-300k would be to outfit a very large facility, for a school starting out $20k could do it quite easily, plus build out costs if needed and not handled by the landlord, and even those can sometimes be part of your lease terms.

My figure of $100k-300k was for everything - the two years of business & personal expenses (which of course are going to vary hugely based on local rent & cost-of-living) and the startup costs. You're right that $20k should be enough to buy mats and furniture, get a sign made up, paint/clean up, and get permits.

You should definitely be careful with finances, but I think the majority of schools get bootstrapped with very little cash out of the gate. Start small and grow.

That said most schools fail and close down, being able to cover the costs until your tuition payments can is very important, but I think most fail from lack of knowledge about how to run a school. You can probably rent a small floor space for a few hours a week and be covered with 5-10 students and very little risk, its growing that is hard and bitting off more then you are ready to chew that does most in.

I think there's something to be said for both approaches, but you do have to make sure that if you're going to jump into having a full-time school that you do have the finances.

 

[Chris Parker]

There's a few things to clear up here…

If running a full time gym is not your interest that is fine, it's not for everyone. But this claim seems a little odd, but perhaps you can help me out.

Yeah, I get that it seems odd to you… but we're coming from very different backgrounds and contexts here.

What is GM Hatsumi's career outside of the martial arts? Is the Hombu Dojo not a full time facility?

First things first… Hatsumi and the Bujinkan is not really relevant to me. Secondly, that side of things is not what I was referring to when I referenced "what we do"… I was talking about what Paul and I do in common… Koryu sword arts.

That said, Hatsumi's "day job" was as a seikatsu practitioner (traditional doctor/bone setter… the "Dr" in his name isn't honorary), however these days his day job is "being retired". The rest of the senior membership of the Bujinkan (Japanese instructors) are also not full-time instructors in any form. As far as the Bujinden (Bujinkan Hombu) being a full time facility, well, no, not really. It's a dedicated one, sure, and they do run a larger number of cases than many standalone dojo, but that's again something quite different. In many cases, a particular instructor might only run one or a few classes a week… and the Hombu serves as a location that various instructors can utilise.

Calling it antithetical to what you do when that is what the head of your lineage does seems a little odd to me.

He's not the head of my organisation… he's the current lineal head of the systems I study, but that's quite different as well.

It might not be what YOU do, but there is nothing inherently wrong with it as it relates to martial arts.

And… where did I suggest it was inherently wrong for anything other than what Paul and I do?

All it really means when it comes to classes is that there is more of them. My school, for example runs over 40 classes every week, they aren't necessarily bigger classes and we don't lower our quality as a result. I'd argue that we can even increase it by separating classes to better suit each persons needs. We get a dedicated facility with lots of equipment, something that can't be had in a smaller "club" model.

Yeah… you got no need to defend your methods. What I was doing was highlighting that Paul's approach is not a case of him doing "a poor job"… it's that he's got a very different approach to yourself.

But I can't see how any of that could be antithetical to what any school does? Apart from the instructors having other interests that keep them in full time jobs, what about approaching it with a business mentality to offer a full time program do you find objectionable within what you do?

You need to understand Koryu to understand that. But trust me, it's quite the norm to have the attitude I've described in those systems.

But, to give some insight, there is a common (not universal, but common) approach in these systems to have everything done as kinda non-profit… the belief is that focusing on the financial side of things, looking to commercial success, attempting to cater to students etc all leads to a perversion and altering (watering down) of what is taught. It's seen as disrespectful to do that to something that has managed to survive centuries to come to you… so such temptations are avoided. I know of some systems where even the head of the art is admonished not to make a living from his art… so they work in universities, or in other unrelated fields.