The sales rep was well meaning, but obviously knew nothing about the
martial arts business.
I was placing and order for my first ad in the yellow pages when he
asked me what I'm sure he thought was a casual conversation
booster. "So what are you plans?" he asked. "Open up a school, hire a
couple of teachers, then expand and open up a couple more schools?"
Yeah, right. It's all just that easy.
Ever wonder what motivates a martial arts instructor to open a
school? Money? Recognition? A chance to show off your skills in front
of a captive audience four nights a week? Hardly. Every good martial
arts instructor'and I mean the good ones'is motivated by something
much less tangible and far more valuable than money or fame. I call
it the moment of "Surprise Achievement." It's that special experience
when something you've been teaching clicks in a student. It's when
they "get it."
And you can't put a price on that.
But, like it or not, the difficulties of trying to build a prosperous
martial arts school threaten every school owner's success. Most
instructors know there really isn't much money to be gained in
teaching the arts. Given the costs of maintaining a facility, a web
site, creating and printing flyers and brochures, promoting or
entering tournaments (including travel expenses), and buying books,
DVDs, and magazines to stay up on the latest trends (not to mention
sorting the genuine ones from the hoaxes), a good instructor stands
to make only nominal financial profit from a martial arts school....

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