copyright 2008
Should You Open Your Own Dojo?
By Shihan Anthony Sampson
Also read my blog on what is a Sensei
Here are a few guidelines
What Do You Want To Do?
Not 'What do I want to be?' or 'How do I want to live?' or 'What Kind of Status do I want to have?'
At least two possible answers are -- 'I want to teach' and 'I want to run a successful business', perhaps a combination of these two. But ask yourself these questions;
• How often can I teach the yellow belt curriculum and still enjoy it?
• Can I do my own financial books or am I able to hire someone?
• How big should my dojo be?
• If I'm teaching, when am I training?
If you want to teach, why not teach at your master's dojo; or at the local YMCA? Maybe should I get a room at the local high school?
Because if you only want to teach dedicated, hard working, self-motivated students you have to consider only 20% of your students will fit that mold. Teaching is taking the little child from his/her parents for what ever times allotted and shape them into a prime product of your school. Team players are what you want for ideal students. Today students come for the entertainment of the art not like we did about 10 years ago. Back then it was an honor to join a dojo now it is considered a single mothers way of putting a man in their child’s life or baby sitting; not all but a large some.
You should also be aware that most full time dojos rely on children to be their bread and butter. Typically you'll get them when they're 5 - 8. If you're really good they won't leave until they discover the opposite sex or go to university or their parents move, or the name brand pro sports offer more options. The older adults may be steady but they won't be the dominant source of revenue.
So, are you the kind of person who 1) enjoys children, 2) actually has the ability, the charisma, to motivate the little ones, and 3) can commit to the research needed to keep your students? You don’t have to be great with children but you have to have patience and a sense of humor.
How Much Money Do You Want To Make?
Getting rich should not be your goal. Getting paid for service should be your standard. Set your rates at a fair price. Start at $30 a week not including the uniform. Influence parents to make a six month commitment and deduct to funds from a credit card or checking account automatically each month. If you allow a cash only policy believe me you will starve and loose your school with half of your student owing. Now the most important advice I can give you on this subject is to put someone in between you and the payments. You shouldn’t chase money nor discuss why you charge that much for classes.
What about my competition?
My dojo is jogging distance from my home and there are actually 15 other schools in the same area. But it doesn’t matter if you open a school next do to a Kim’s Karate or MMA training center. You separate yourself from the rest by the quality you provide. The role is that any fool can get 40 students (not necessarily at the same time). Keeping them is the trick.
Well, you get the idea. It's competitive out there. What do you have that people are going beat a path to your door?
In my area schools open and close every month and a new one opens the next. The key is being consistent and true to the craft to of a Sensei. Remember to visit the other schools and give the utmost respect to the Sensei of that school especially in front of his students. Invite them to your school for birthday parties every month. Refer people to their class and watch the fruit of your kindness come back in great rewards.
Are You a People Person?
Operating a dojo is all about people. Customer service is the key word. You must have the ability to gel with everyone. Practice smiling and eye contact as if it was a kata. Remember names and special dates. Call parents personally to congratulate them on their child’s success. Make every effort to find the best in your students their parents and tell other parents how great they are. Have parents of the month roster on the dojo wall for committed parents (who pay on time and have perfect attendance).
Build Your Support
Become a team player? Create a Parents Black or Brown Belt Club. I give parents honorary black or brown belts who are apart of these clubs. The belts are too short to tie around their waist, are never to leave the dojo and are only a symbol of a class above the non active parents. They head committees for parties, tournaments, field trips, rank testing and price increases. Getting them involved on this level provides a tremendous amount of support. Just like the students, parents can be elevated as well. But the joy for you as the sensei is that you have the power to take the belts away too. If you can remember when your belt was taken by your sensei then you can imagine how they will feel when you take theirs. And without a doubt this must happen in order to create a sense of pride and value for such an honor.
Remember micro management kills an organization. It is professional wisdom to inspect what you expect but don’t look over people shoulders.
Now the actual the business.
To thrive in the martial arts community you'll have to make networks. Trade seminars from time to time to strengthen friendships. Attend each others tournaments. Go to testings and have them come to yours.
Watch Your Mouth?
No one is worth bad mouthing. It is poor form and very distasteful. Always be the bigger person. You will get students from other dojos that should never have opened. But don’t let that come out your mouth. Listen and offer the solution. Don’t fall into their traps and make sure they understand you won’t trash another sensei. Because the truth maybe that the parents or student could be the problem.
And little things can mean a lot. Just the thought of being a genuine person can keep your doors open for decades. Do good and good will be done unto you. Watch your mouth because the walls have ears.
Do You Really Want to Make Your Avocation Your Vocation?
Do you really want to turn your hobby into your job?
What about sick time? A day off for good behavior? A 1 week vacation every 3 or 4 years? You can't cheat on the boss if you're the owner.
When are you going to train? A great deal of dojos, some would even argue most, is taught by people who have full time regular jobs. The space is donated or cheap. The instructors are volunteers or they charge just enough to cover basic expenses.
So a full time dojo as a way to make your living could be challenging. A dream for some, and a nightmare for others. Know Yourself.
How Proud Are You?
Too proud to ask for help and advice; too bad. If you've earned your salt in the martial arts, gone to the tournaments and seminars, then you know lots of people in the business. They'd love to help as long as you've demonstrated that you are a person of integrity and they don't feel threatened. People love to talk about their successes. And don't forget the obvious -- if you want to set up a dojo where it won't interfere with your Sensei’s business, odds are they'd be delighted to help and advise you. After all, they taught you pretty much everything you know about the martial arts, they probably know a fair bit about the business as well.
Get An Education
Number one get an education. You'll need it to cope with the real world. You'll need it set an example for your students. The truth is that most students want to be like their instructors.
Ensure your martial arts education. Do have enough skills to keep your students coming back to learn more? How are you going to learn more? Join an organization or two that gives you access to a wide array of knowledge people? Network with a group of martial artists and cross train to gain teaching skills.
Ensure your business education. Yes, this puts bread on your table. You need to constantly be updating your business skills -- maybe a degree in commerce or economics for #1 might be a good idea. Network with other small business owners -- they share a lot of your problems and concerns.
How Motivated Are You?
If you are not a high energy person whose idea of a good time is spending 12 to 16 hours a day working -- well, just forget about the whole idea. You may not have to work that hard for the rest of your life -- but for the first 10 years for sure.
What About Your 'Private' Life?
If your whole life revolves around the dojo, how do you feel about constantly rehashing topics on the martial arts? Doesn't it get a little boring after 10 years or so?
Can you resist the temptations of the dojo? Now I don't mean that you're a bad person or anything, but when some fresh young stud or student idolizes you and thinks you can do no wrong hits on you, can you avoid temptation? Aside from the obvious problems with power imbalance, etc., think of the impact on your dojo should the relationship turn sour.
If you're already partnered -- after being 'The Master' at the dojo all day, how will feel when your significant other tells you to take out the garbage, pick up your socks, and for God's sake, get a haircut.
And if you're working at night and on the weekends, when are you going to meet or see this significant other? What about your kids who'll know that their dad is real strong and real fast but aren't sure what he looks like?
Do You Have Any Credibility?
Are you a 6th Dan in a recognized system? Do you want to be? Do you need to be?
A lot of this, again, is personal choice.
But if you want fighting credentials, and a stack of 6 foot trophies from big tournaments in your window, don't drift away your prime fighting years, usually 20 - 30, thinking you can do it later. The training time it takes to compete in top level tournaments is really hard to find when you're running a full time business. And you won't be able to do it on raw talent -- because the big tournaments you'll loose to someone with just as much talent who worked harder.
Alternatively, if you’re a better coach than you are a fighter, you can put your student’s trophies in your window, but that won't help until you train a few winning students.
Do you need to belong to an organization to give you credit -- a lot of people think they do. There are literally hundreds of associations out there specifically designed for free spirits, people that couldn't or wouldn't get along with the traditional organizations. This gives you an upward path if you want a higher ranking and it also gives your students a sense that they have ranking in a larger community than just your dojo. Now a lot of that is theoretical. But enough people believe that the organizations thrive.
Money, Money, Money
How are you going to get yours?
Something like the Educational Funding Company (EFC) is probably not a bad idea. The contract that your student signs is with them. They collect and pay you. This saves you all kinds of headaches.
Still, you need to know a few things. If little Kieshia has signed up for a year of lessons, what happens if she moves to a new city, her parents become unemployed or he just doesn't want to come anymore. Do you stick her with paying for the rest of the year or do you have some way for them to opt out. People will want to know this and it will play a big part in their decision to sign up or not.
Think about the ancillary streams of income -- birthday parties, summer camps, weekend retreats, challenge days movie nights and parent’s night. Do you have the staff, the energy, or the time? Many dojos make money from multiple gi’s. Making the uniforms seasonal offers an opportunity to grow the treasury. You patch should be a separate purchased item. Therefore every gi begets a new patch.
And while we're at it how are you going to support yourself while you're building your martial arts business? Think about it. Let's say that you've found a suitable space in the right part of town, however you define it. Let's say it costs $2,100 a month. Let's say utilities (heat, water, power, phone, web access) are $400 a month. Let's say that you've hired an assistant to teach the little ones at minimum wage, $10 an hour, for 30 hours a week -- that's $300 a week or $1,200 a month. And you need a few bags, mats, pads, mirrors on the walls, and a few posters.
But it doesn’t end there because you need a marketing budget. So, how many students do you need to support the dojo? Let’s say you charge $100 per student per month. So you need an average of about 36-40 constant students per month.
Are you going to start off with 36 students for the first month? Are you going to end up with 36 students at the end of the year?
Want to upgrade the facilities, hire a business manager, another assistant teacher, a few more heavy bags? You get the idea -- how are you planning to support yourself until your business is actually turning a profit?
Remember that one way to do it is to start small. Find someone who let you use some space for free -- a church basement, a YMCA, the local sports arena. Maybe you have skills you can barter for the space. Keep your day job. When you out grow the space and need to find something commercial, maybe you can take your students with you -- that's the plan anyway.
Who Do You Want To Teach?
This is a very personal decision. You could teach on a military base and get lots of really polite, well behaved children. You could teach corporate bankers who want some stress relief. You teach inner city kids, latch-key kids, disadvantaged minorities, abused women. What's the nature of your calling?
But...it's the people with the drive and vision to teach others that get the greatest rewards. Let's face it. The well-behaved, well-adjusted kids and adults are going to be just fine, with or without you. It's the others where you'll see the growth, the victories over odds and circumstances, the enhanced self-esteem, lives going in new positive directions at least in part because you were there.
How Emotionally Resilient Are You?
Are you resilient enough to at least cope with the things that working with people brings? The people who will betray your trust by training with you and then going to a competitor? Gain a loyal following at your dojo and then try and take them away from you? Become the idol of all the kids and then just disappear one day leaving all the munchkins to wonder what happened, and where did the love go? It may not happen often if you've chosen your associates well, but stay in the business long enough and these kinds of things are bound to happen
Can you cope with watching people you care about making bad decisions and not be able to help them? Watch kids full of promise turn to drugs no matter what you do or say? See a kid not doing well because of the home situation and not be able to do anything?
For all the helpin' there's a lot of hurtin'. If you can't cope, go get a job.
So, Is There An Upside?
Well, of course.
You will help people. You'll help them become all they can be in spite of their backgrounds. You'll help little kids with scumbag parents get the drive and ambition to go to college. You'll see little bundles of furious energy grow up into accomplished, successful teens and adults. You'll help give people the courage to leave abusive relationships. Maybe they'll even learn a martial art. If you're the right person for the job -- you will make a difference -- for some people you could be the difference in their lives.
So -- Should You Open Your Own Dojo?
Ask yourself, could I do this for free? Do I want the life of another human being on my shoulders? What is it about me that says I can do this?
Because to open your own dojo, to teach martial arts full time, without a safety net -- it's not a job, it's a calling. Frankly, it's not a life of status and ego -- largely it's a life of service. The people who do it, who do it right, are a breed apart, bless them -- because they make the world a richer, better place.
The decision is up to you. I have been blessed from the day I said yes to my calling. There is a great reward for those that teach. Thank you for taking the time to search for the answer and I hope this helps you. Keep in touch and I wish you the very best.
OUS!
Grandmaster Anthony Sampson
Force & Power Academy est. 1996
