TKD money and morals

[terryl965]

Has any TKD instructors or school owner ever been able to do this without sacreficing your Integrity and still be able to have time for yourself and if so what was the steps you started out with.

I'm asking for the simple reason my school seems to get to the mountain but can never get over it financially so I thought it might be me.

I run other companys and they make a profit without given in or watering down what we deliver. So why is it in MA you need to waterdown to get to that point or it just seems that way. Five years doing a commercial school and still I can't break even!


Anyway if you have any good suggestins please pass them along.

Terry

 

[tshadowchaser]

Sorry i cant help on this one

Watering down what you teach to keep money coming in has been done by many. Giving rank with watered down requirements has been done.
Sometimes these things can keep a school open because the average person gets their rank and thinks their little rug rat is realing learning bUT do what do you do to your inner self by doing this. Somethime even watering down every thing can not keep a school open

 

[terryl965]

Sorry i cant help on this one

Watering down what you teach to keep money coming in has been done by many. Giving rank with watered down requirements has been done.
Sometimes these things can keep a school open because the average person gets their rank and thinks their little rug rat is realing learning bUT do what do you do to your inner self by doing this. Somethime even watering down every thing can not keep a school open

Sir I will not waterdown my system to keep the doors open and I will always have my school for my sons and wife will always be training with me so the money is not an issue with me, I was wondering how do school owners keep the doors open and get over the hill instead of going backward all the time.
Terry

 

[FearlessFreep]

Two lines of thouhgt that occir to me ( a non-school owner, non-instructor )

1. Stop thinking of it as MA and think of it as a business. Step back and think of it as "I'm selling a service..what does it take to make that profitable?" Ignoring for the fact that it is MA (because it seems more MA business models don't work very well anyway First off, are you charing too little for your service? Are you at maximum capacity and still not breaking even, then probably so. How about expenses? How much do you pay for rent on your location? Could you do equally well at a cheaper location? If your location is good, ar you taking advantge of it? How many students (of MA schools) enroll as a result of...walk-ups, web advertising, print/radio advertising, seminars, etc...etc.... If he answer is 'walk-bys' thne mayb your location is good but you need to maximize it...or maybe your location is bad and you need to move to a more public...maybe more expensive place?. I dunno, I don't own a business, but it seems like a lot of business manage to succeed and still offer quality tohappy customers so maybe the MA School business model is just wrong. Then again, many good people start business that fail, in and out of MA, so maybe not every BB who wants to open a school can actually run one in the black.

2) Give up. I don't mean gve up teaching, just give up trying to make it financially sustainable. Look at it this way. I do music as a hobby, for the most part. I've been doing it for a long time and do it very well and occasionally get called up to do it for money, and I love doing it. But the money I spend on it is never made up by the money I make from it. I just do it for the fact that I love doing it. It's a 'cost' in my life but...*shrug*, I don't mind because it's something I enjoy doing enough to do it anyway. Maybe you should give up worrying about breaking even and just consider it a hobby that costs more than it makes and enjoy it as that. (Assuming you are not relying on the income to feed your family)

Or ion short, you could try to stop thinking of it as "MA Instruction" and think of it as a business, "How do I make a busines profitable (given you may have to think outside the "MA Instruction" box...which seems to suck anyway)" or You can stop thinking about it as a business and just think of it as a hobby operating at a loss (as most do..._

 

[rmclain]

I've been a school owner and operator in Arlington since 1996. It is very difficult to make it as a professional school owner. But, it can be done.

Try to apply your martial arts to the business aspect as well. If you are fighting or sparring an opponent and none of your techniques seem to be working against them (and you still want to win), you need to either 1) take away some of their techniques from them, or 2) increase your arsenal of techinques.

In the case of business, your enemy is the $$$ amount of your expenses going out each month. You need to decrease this as much as possible, while increasing your monthly $$$ income. Each opponent (situation) is different, so you need to figure it out for your situation.

Also, however you portray yourself in the dojang and community - this is the type of student you will attract. You need to be a role model inside and outside of your school - for the type of student you wish to attract.

R. McLain

 

[tshadowchaser]

Not sure if you sell items at your school but coffee cups, t-shirts, jackets, you name it, all bring in money and parents love to buy stuff tha shows that their child is in the martial arts
you can put up a different iem evey few months or so and the expensive ones at christmas

 

[Makalakumu]

Terry

How much do you advertise? I've noticed that you lack a website for instance. Perhaps you should talk to Bob Hubbard and get something up for your school. IMHO, every professional school owner who is trying to run a business NEEDS some sort of web based way to get themselves out there.

FWIW

upnorthkyosa

 

[terryl965]

Terry

How much do you advertise? I've noticed that you lack a website for instance. Perhaps you should talk to Bob Hubbard and get something up for your school. IMHO, every professional school owner who is trying to run a business NEEDS some sort of web based way to get themselves out there.

FWIW

upnorthkyosa

Upnorth Bob built my website it is www.twindragontkd.com take a look and see what you think.

And no I really do not do the Coffee mugs or specialty item, but I do for all my other businesses
Thanks Terry

 

[Makalakumu]

I did not know that. That is pretty cool. Terry, you should put that site in your profile, in your signature, and maybe in the signature of all your e-mails.

Cool site btw. I liked your media gallery. Some videos of your students in class would give people a clue as to what you are doing.

Also, you could use this to show just exactly what is unique about your TKD school. Why should someone pick yours over anothers? How could you show that?

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I did not know that. That is pretty cool. Terry, you should put that site in your profile, in your signature, and maybe in the signature of all your e-mails.

Cool site btw. I liked your media gallery. Some videos of your students in class would give people a clue as to what you are doing.

Also, you could use this to show just exactly what is unique about your TKD school. Why should someone pick yours over anothers? How could you show that?

That is a really good idea. Now, you teach just one art and that is Tae Kwon Do. What about adding grappling, weapons, etc to your list of courses. If you are not proficient in any of these you could learn or import an instructor. If your school is matted you could probably easily find a BJJ blue belt or above in your area looking to open up a school and sub lease space and time to them. How about Tai Chi for the older crowd. Find a Tai Chi instructor and sublease time to them. Those are just a few ideas and they do not require that you sell out or change your Tae Kwon Do curriculum. These definately seem to be the trend for schools interested in becoming profitable.

For my Training Hall, I am interested in breaking even with maybe a small profit. However, that profit would go right back into Research and Development, equipment, etc. Where I tend to make do quite well is with my store on my website. My last book and DVD's keep the cash flow coming in and free me up to just concentrate on teaching and training. Good luck it is quite challenging.

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com

 

[matt.m]

Terry, I looked at your website. It is really quite nice. It is graphically apeasing, the main thing is that it is easy to navigate.

Now to answer your question: I know of two Tae Kwon Do school franchises here in St. Louis. One is called World Martial Arts Academy and Y.S. Rho Tae Kwon Do. Both Schools are ran by brothers. They don't like each other, that is why the two different schools.

Back on point. I know that the set up electronic funds transfer monthly and have three year contracts. This is all upfront. To promote their schools they do demos in malls around the more affluent areas of St. Louis County on Saturdays.