Posts Tagged ‘martial arts business’

Is Bigger Better When It Comes To Martial Arts Schools?

When it comes to running a martial arts school, size is an important consideration. Of course, everyone wants to have a lot of students and nice, spacious facilities. But how big is too big when it comes to running a martial art school?

To answer this question, first we have to determine exactly what our end goal is or starting our school. Then, once we can “begin with the end in mind”, we can determine how large we can get without hindering our progress toward our goal.

What Kind Of Lifestyle Do You Want?

This is perhaps the most important question to ask ourselves when we first set out to open a martial arts studio. You see, your lifestyle as an instructor will be largely determined by the size of your facility.

Now, this speaks not only to the amount of money you can potentially make, but also to the number of hours you will need to work to manage your school and staff. Obviously, the more students you enroll, the more gross income your school will generate.

However, at some point the law of diminishing returns will kick in; this is an economic principle that basically states that, when work output increases beyond a certain point, the relative return will begin to decrease. In other words, after a certain point in growth your profit margins will get more and more narrow.

That’s why size deserves careful consideration when you’re doing your initial business planning before opening your school. Let’s look at this topic in a bit more detail to see how size impacts profit margins in martial arts business. Read the rest of this entry »

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Your Members Want More – Just Make Sure You Give It To Them With Integrity

Having some sort of elite membership in your school is a must in this day and age.

You have to do this… I’ve tried having a school without an elite membership level, and it just doesn’t work.

As you probably already realize, those folks become your “core” and help keep the school together. Plus, it gives the really serious people something more.

Not to mention that it allows you to increase retention in your martial arts business. That’s a big one. We all want to keep our best students around longer, and a good BBC program can help you do exactly that.

How To Have A Successful BBC

Three things you must do: Read the rest of this entry »

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Honesty And Integrity As A Central Approach To Customer Service In The Martial Arts Industry

Many years ago when I started training in the martial arts, customer service was definitely not a closely examined issue. You paid your tuition, attended class, practiced at home, and that was enough. From the student’s perspective, as long as the school was open and classes were held as scheduled, all was well. And, from the instructor’s perspective as long as the students paid tuition on time and showed up for class, he or she was satisfied with the arrangement. However, for better or for Read the rest of this entry »

“Building It” Fast Is Simply A Matter Of Following What Works In The Majority Of Successful Martial Art Schools…

Starting a martial art school is tough – and growing a martial art school is even tougher.

That’s why I spent a lot of time in my first school analyzing my operations and comparing them to what successful school owners did. I traveled and spent time with them, observing first-hand what they were doing to grow their schools.

From those observations, I compared what successful instructors were doing, and settled on the activities that were most common among the schools I observed…

It’s not like I kept a bunch of data tables and graphs; it was nothing so complicated as all that. Basically, if I saw a lot of successful instructors doing something, I figured it was important and made note of it.

Then, I made sure I was doing those exact same tasks and activities in my own school on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Now after 15 years of doing this, I’m able to boil down the key elements to martial arts business success into a very simple formula and very thorough checklists, ensuring that I’m hitting on all eight cylinders in my martial art school operations.

This month, I’ve decided to share that formula and most of those checklist items with you in the remainder of this article. Want to hit 100 martial arts students fast, and then continue that growth? Read the rest of this entry »

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Chances Are It’s What You’re Not Doing That’s Hurting Your Business…

Let me start this article by stating up front – the following may sound like one big long pitch for my stuff, but hear me out. I’ve advised hundreds of martial arts instructors over the last seven years, and indirectly helped thousands more via my newsletter, websites, blogs, and instructional materials. In that time, I’ve come to identify certain traits successful martial art school owners seem to all share, as well as traits that unsuccessful instructors share (or lack) as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Wanna’ Crush Your Competition?

Crushing your competition right out of the gate is a hard thing to do…

Especially if you’re opening your school in a tough market with lots of competitors.

Even so, there is only one nearly surefire way I know of to crush your competitors…

And that’s to compete on a totally different playing field than the ones they are running their businesses on…

Here’s how you can do exactly that, and secure your school’s financial future by carving out a niche in your market that is uniquely yours and yours alone. Read the rest of this entry »

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Part II of “Doing A Lot With A Little, Or A Little With A Lot!”

This is the second part of my martial art school startup interview with Jim Mahan. In this section of the interview, Jim explains how he is starting a martial art school despite some very unique challenges. Also, you can check out Part I of this interview by clicking here. Part III of this interview will be posted to the private Member Video Content section on the site later today. In the final third segment, Jim and I get deep into examining and explaining how Jim has taken my martial arts business system and used it to go from 3 members to 26 members in just two month’s time teaching out Read the rest of this entry »

Proof You Can Either Do A Lot With A Little… Or A Little With A Lot!

This is the first part of my martial arts business interview with Jim Mahan, a MASAI member who is doing amazing things by following my coaching advice. If you’ve ever said “I can’t” about starting a martial art school, you MUST see this! (Note: The audio is patchy in a few places, but it doesn’t detract from the information, which is priceless…) I’ll post the second part of the interview tomorrow, where Jim explains how he is managing a successful martial art school launch in spite of not having the “perfect” facility. Stay tuned! Read the rest of this entry »

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How To Increase Your Martial Arts Enrollments in 2010

2010 is finally here, and it’s time for martial art school owners everywhere to leave 2009 behind and focus on what’s important in the here and now… getting new students! To help you with this, here’s a list of ten things you can do to jump-start your enrollments in 2010:

1. Make sure your school is in tip-top shape. First impressions are everything. It won’t do any good to get a ton of people in the front door, if the front area of your school looks like a dump. Make sure everything is cleaned, mopped, dusted, and polished at least twice a day, and that all equipment is Read the rest of this entry »

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Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

In the 14th century, a Franciscan friar and logician by the name of William of Ockham came up with one of the most famous rules of logical deduction… a rule that is still being applied today in a variety of fields and vocations.

The rule is popularly referred to as “Ockham’s Razor”, and it is often expressed like so:

“Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.”

In other words, the simplest solution is generally best. This principle, when applied to business systems, will help keep you sane while reducing your workload immensely.

One of the most common mistakes well-intentioned school owners make is to create complex, complicated systems to manage and run their schools. If you’re doing this, here’s how to fix it… Read the rest of this entry »

As a martial arts school owner, you need to recognize the relationship between price and value. I feel that it’s important to share this with you because when you raise your rates, you can rest assured that there will be some people who will say that you are “too high” or “too expensive” or whatever… However, the fact remains that: 1. You get what you pay for. 2. Value is always related to perception – therefore, the perceived value of a product determines what a person will be willing to pay. Read the rest of this entry »

Oftentimes, prospective martial arts business owner start their schools without ever taking the time to write out a specific game plan for their success. I know that I was guilty of this mistake when I made my first few attempts at opening my martial arts business. Oh, I did all the “business owner” things; I secured a location, had business cards printed (they made me feel like I was officially in business), put an ad in the paper, and told everyone I knew about my programs. Yet, my first few attempts at opening a martial arts business were Read the rest of this entry »

(Note: Although this article is not specifically written to those of you writing a martial arts business plan, remember that lenders and investors are all looking for the same things no matter what the business is. I suggest you read this article carefully, and if you’re stuck, refer to the resources listed at the end of the article.) The best way to show bankers, venture capitalists, and angel investors that you are worthy of financial support is to show them a great business plan. Make sure that your plan is clear, focused and realistic. Then show them that you have the tools, talent and team to make it happen. Your business plan is like your calling card, it will get you in the door where you’ll have to convince investors and loan officers that you can put your plan into action. Once you have raised the money to start or expand your business, your plan Read the rest of this entry »

license – “a grant by the holder of a copyright or patent to another of any of the rights embodied in the copyright or patent short of an assignment of all rights”

franchise – “a right or license that is granted to an individual or group to market a company’s goods or services in a particular territory under the company’s trademark, trade name, or service mark and that often involves the use of rules and procedures designed by the company and services (as advertising) and facilities provided by the company in return for fees, royalties, or other compensation”

Over the last year or so, we’ve seen several martial arts franchises pop up in the industry. In fact, I even had one company approach me to write their operations manual for their school owners (And no, I didn’t write it).

John Graden told me he’s been approached for the exact same reason several times over the last couple of years by companies that were launching martial arts franchises.

Of course, we’ve been seeing the “cookie cutter” approach to martial arts schools for years. Many martial arts organizations have already been in the business of licensing their name, logo, business systems, etc. to their member schools and instructors. However, there is a huge difference between holding a license agreement to represent a style or system and entering into a franchise agreement with a franchisor.

For better or for worse (mostly worse, in my opinion) martial arts school franchises are here to stay. And while other martial arts business writers might disagree with me, I believe martial arts school franchises are a really bad idea for the the individual school owners that buy into them.

Here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, I had a guy walk into my school to inquire about our programs. After I found out where this guy lived, my curiosity was immediately peaked. Why? Well, the guy lives in a posh, upscale neighborhood about 7 miles from our studio. Typically, most martial arts schools only draw students from a three-to-five-mile radius, which made me wonder why he drove so far to check us out. Furthermore, there are at least four martial arts studios within a three-mile radius of this guy’s neighborhood. So, I asked this gentleman straight-up why he Read the rest of this entry »