Dojo start up tips
Excerpt from Martial Arts Business Daily
Starting a martial art school? Wondering what to read, where to start, and what steps you need to take to do this running a dojo thing right? Need some guidance to take those first steps?
HOW TO LAUNCH YOUR MARTIAL ART SCHOOL FAST, WHILE MITIGATING YOUR RISK
Here's what most people think they need to do to start a martial art school:
Write a martial art school business plan...
Get a loan, either from the SBA or a local bank...
Find a huge commercial location in an expensive, busy shopping center...
Spend large amounts of money on building out the interior...
Run huge ads in the local paper or do an expensive radio remote to promote a grand opening...
...and then hope and pray you get 100 students in your first three months so you can pay your overhead and still pay back that loan.
And that's completely and utterly the worst way to start a martial art school. Well, it might be a good way to go if you already have a ton of experience in small business management and marketing. But unless you're the Warren Buffett of small business, you should probably rethink that approach.
Why?
Because it's the absolute riskiest approach to starting your school! But there's a better way...
HOW TO GET AHEAD BUSINESS WISE...
If you want to run a small, highly profitable school, the Small Dojo Big Profits way, then the hard thinking has already been done for you. Over the last ten years since I first wrote Small Dojo Big Profits, I've developed a complete system of martial arts business materials based on what's worked for me for over twenty years in three commercial martial art schools.
Here's how the system works, and which resources you'll need at each step to know what to do and how to do it (bookmark this page, because you'll want to come back to it as you complete each step):
The Foundation: Start with Small Dojo Big Profits; read it and implement the simple system in the book (I know it's an investment, but honestly... this is your financial future we're talking about here - now is not the time to skimp on preparing you for success). Reading SDBP will take care of your foundation for growing a successful and profitable business. Then, I suggest you consider becoming a member at MAbizU.com to get low-cost business coaching on how to run a Small Dojo Big Profits school.
Getting More Students: Then, you need to focus on boosting your leads and increasing your conversions (leads to enrollments). So, get the martial arts marketing course and the martial arts sales course.
Keeping The Students You Have: Next, you need to look at your retention. I suggest you implement the martial arts character education program, and that you add some pizzazz to your kid's classes with the martial arts drills and games guide. You might also want to implement a rotating curriculum, if only to make your life easier.
Stabilizing Your Income: An optional step would be to stabilize your income by offering after-school and summer martial arts camps. It's a lot of work, but done right kid's martial arts camps can easily double your profits. Plus, it'll stabilize your income so you don't have to worry about seasonal slumps ever again.
Maximizing Your Profits, Honestly: Finally, you need to learn how to get the maximum profit from your school without screwing over your clients or driving them away. Read The Profit-Boosting Principles to see how to get 80% more profit from what you're already doing, all while better serving your students.
