Posts Tagged ‘Thousands Of Dollars’

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 »

Simple Steps You Should Take To Protect Yourself

Here’s one of the main reasons that you should hire a good attorney to assist you with starting your business. Being a business owner makes you a prime target for a lawsuit, especially in our industry.

You absolutely must take measures to protect your assets by limiting your personal liability in case you are sued. Simply filing a “Doing Business As” certificate with the county or state you are operating in will not be sufficient to protect your personal assets if you are sued in a court of law.

However, there are some very simple steps you can take to help limit your liability as a small business owner. Here are a few simple tips for reducing your liability in your martial arts school. Read the rest of this entry »