New Path, should I open a school?

OULobo

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I recently am going through a bit of a life change, and have been faced with an interesting opportunity. As I was progressing through life, I have noticed that there seem to be four types of activities that people take; what they like to do, what they want to do, what they have to do and what they end up doing. In the context of business, I think of it as hobbies, dream jobs, petty jobs and realistic jobs. Most of us have our hobbies, strive for our dream jobs, tolerate the petty jobs and end up in realistic jobs. My personal situation is that my hobby/passion is MAs, my dream job is explosives and energetics formulation and production, my petty jobs are chores and taxes, and my realistic job is as a formulating silicone chemist. So I seem to see that it is best to let hobbies be, and not try to make them a job because they become responsibility and work, which often makes them less enjoyable. Like game players who try to design games or go on a pro curcuit, until the stress and responsibility leech the fun out of it. My oppotunity is that my best friend and I always had a pipe dream of opening an MA school, but I always passed it off as fantasy. Now the opportunity has arisen where we may have the time and money to actually give it a shot. My question is, if I start up a school with him, will it become to much work to remain enjoyable?
 

terryl965

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That is strickly up to you and your friend are you going to keep the intigity of the Art or start a money pit with it. A money pit is time consuming a MA school is just plan hard work no thrills just alot of hard work. The money pit is going from school to school to get students: demo's, flyers, and alot of mouth to mouth. For the Art just do your workouts and let people come as they will.
 

Jade Tigress

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That's a tough decision to make. One one hand it would be great because you'd be doing what you love for work. On the other hand you will lose some time for yourself in the hobby because you will have a business to run. I find that if you love something enough though, you don't mind the work that goes along with it. Some questions to ask yourself...if you don't do this, will you regret forever not having tried? If you do it and it's successful and you end up losing some personal time practicing your art, will you regret it? If you do it and it's not successful can you survive financially from a business failure and will any of your love for the art be diminshed because of it?

My Sifu obviously enjoys teaching and is very good at it but he did one time say he rarely has time left for practice himself anymore. I didn't get the impression he is unhappy in his choice, it was just a statement.

I used to be very involved with horses for pleasure and competition. My coach who loved horses and has a BA in horse science almost never rode herself because she was so busy coaching.

I loved what I did so much that I opened a tack store. (saddle shop) I loved it but was hard work, took alot of time from my family and from training. So I closed the store after 3 years. It didn't burn me out on horses but I was happier not being being in the horse "business".

However, had I not tried it I would have always regretted it, so I'm glad I did. I also became certified to instruct handicapped children and adults in therapeutic horseback riding, which I did twice a week in addtion to everything else. I let my NARHA certification expire (there were annual requirements to fill in order to retain certification). I sold my horse and stop competing. Not because of my business venture or teaching obligations but because horses and showing take a tremendous amount of time and money and I have a family to take care of on one income. So I gave it up.

All that to say, it is a very personal decision with lots of pros and cons to weigh. Alot of people love making money doing their hobby, others would rather not have any business obligations connected to their passion. Good luck in whatever you decide.
 

Ceicei

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Also remember there may be times when you may feel burned out or lose some motivation. These times will pass if you persevere and remind yourself of your reasons. Be sure to give yourself occasional breaks doing something different or unique if you choose to turn MA into an occupation. [This is in the same way MA as a hobby refreshs you now from your current occupation.]

- Ceicei
 
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OULobo

OULobo

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terryl965 said:
That is strickly up to you and your friend are you going to keep the intigity of the Art or start a money pit with it. A money pit is time consuming a MA school is just plan hard work no thrills just alot of hard work. The money pit is going from school to school to get students: demo's, flyers, and alot of mouth to mouth. For the Art just do your workouts and let people come as they will.

Neither one of us is into the idea of doing this for money. His mentality is that it is a great way to do something we love and get a tax deduction for it to boot. I am thinking of inviting a few other instructors that we know and respect to teach on certain days. At the same time I can learn from them. I know from aquaintances that run schools in the area, that most of the schools in the area make money and stay afloat by "stroking" students and getting a health children's class following. Most of the arts we would teach don't allow for much stroking and aren't really appropriate for children. My biggest concern is staying at the school to teach instead of going to another teacher to learn more.
 

terryl965

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OULobo said:
Neither one of us is into the idea of doing this for money. His mentality is that it is a great way to do something we love and get a tax deduction for it to boot. I am thinking of inviting a few other instructors that we know and respect to teach on certain days. At the same time I can learn from them. I know from aquaintances that run schools in the area, that most of the schools in the area make money and stay afloat by "stroking" students and getting a health children's class following. Most of the arts we would teach don't allow for much stroking and aren't really appropriate for children. My biggest concern is staying at the school to teach instead of going to another teacher to learn more.
Well Sir with your quest I wish you the best of luck a school is a wonderful thing I have mine and do not stroke either. I hope your quest will be fulfilling.
smileJap.gif
 
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OULobo

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Sil Lum TigerLady said:
Some questions to ask yourself...if you don't do this, will you regret forever not having tried? If you do it and it's successful and you end up losing some personal time practicing your art, will you regret it? If you do it and it's not successful can you survive financially from a business failure and will any of your love for the art be diminshed because of it?

I don't really think I will regret having not tried. I figure that time I am not teaching, I am learning that much more, possibly to teach later. Your second questionis the key one. If I lose that time that I treasure to proggress further in the arts, then I may regret that. My issue is that if things work out well, I will have a level of dedication and responsibility to my students and will then be required to stay on. The financial issue is pretty good right now, which is why this subject has been brought up as realistic instead of just a pipe dream. I think if I gave it a good run and lost some money, I wouldn't have any regrets.
 

Jade Tigress

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OULobo said:
Neither one of us is into the idea of doing this for money. His mentality is that it is a great way to do something we love and get a tax deduction for it to boot. I am thinking of inviting a few other instructors that we know and respect to teach on certain days. At the same time I can learn from them. I know from aquaintances that run schools in the area, that most of the schools in the area make money and stay afloat by "stroking" students and getting a health children's class following. Most of the arts we would teach don't allow for much stroking and aren't really appropriate for children. My biggest concern is staying at the school to teach instead of going to another teacher to learn more.
Were you thinking about doing this in addition to your regular job or in place of it? I didn't mean to imply you would were thinking of it for money reasons, just that if you give up your current job to do it, it will have to be able to provide a source of income for you and your friend to live on in addition to business expenses.
 
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OULobo

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Sil Lum TigerLady said:
Were you thinking about doing this in addition to your regular job or in place of it? I didn't mean to imply you would were thinking of it for money reasons, just that if you give up your current job to do it, it will have to be able to provide a source of income for you and your friend to live on in addition to business expenses.

No, this wouldn't be a real income source. I and my friend would keep our regular jobs and teach at night and some weekends. It may be a bit of a suppliment job if either of us were to be laid off or for any reason found ourselves with out a job. Among other things it would be a place to hold seminars and private training.
 

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Remember, making money from training people doesnt necessarily mean you are offering poor training, or that you have to 'sell out'. Good training is good training, regardless of the price.
 

shesulsa

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I think you should go for it.
 

TigerWoman

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Little late in the discussion but I think you should go for it too. Just plan on investing x amount of money and time and what will be will be. But divide up both between you and your friend. Sometimes one or the other takes on all and then if there is a split later, it will be an even split. Saw that happen. But don't expect too much, a few students to start would be great as opposed to 30 new white belt kids and adults. But you need to figure out what it takes to break even at least. MA are not an easy business. TW
 

Sin

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When i get older and decide to retire from whatever it is that i am doing, i am going to open up a dojo or take over my current Sensei's, reason being he's in his thirties now and by the time I am ready to retire he will either be dead or too old to do the hardcore stuff that he has taught me. Continuing the legacy. Who knows something might happen to where I will have to take over before I retire. I will really never know. But its not something i want to do anytime soon. i like to keep the stress of keeping a place open seperate from my art, i will take that responsiblity when its time, but I can wait for that day. Just so you guys know I am 17 turning 18 in 4 days and will not have my black belt for a couple of years so i will not be able to run a school anytime soon anyways, so i have plenty of time to get my life straightened out get a carrer and keep on training. should you open up a school? It all depends on where you are right now in your life.
 

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