What does it take to start a school?

[thaiboxerken]

Besides knowledge of the martial arts and ability to teach, I mean.

[Drunken Monkey]

this is going to sound really cynical but i think friends in high places help.

 

of course i'm talking about already established and respected individuals, not just the dude on the panel of whatever association.

 

i mean, when someone who genuinely is respected for ability/knowledge/experience is truely willing to say good things about you, well, that says a lot.

 

now i know that this isn't really neccessary,

 

as at the end of the day,

 

your rep is down to you

 

but you'd have to be a bit naive to think that it doesn't help.

 

and y'know, anything to help things go smootly is good

 

as long as it is genuine.

 

on a more personal level, i think patience is vital.

 

i know that i'm a bad teacher cos i am known to go through things too quickly, mainly cos i want to have more people around me that i can train with a bit harder.....

 

it's easy to say that you should work the basics forever but when you're teaching someone, there's always the want to see them do everything.

 

i always have to fight the urge to show people things they're not ready for.

 

and then there's patience for those who aren't learning as quickly as you'd like them to.

 

again, this is similar to the above situation.

 

integrity.

 

stick to your guns, as it were.

 

there will be lots of pressure to do such and such.

 

when money's involved things get complicated.

 

which leads nicely to 'be realistic'.

 

in an ideal world you can pick your students

 

but if your club depends on the income to survive then maybe you need to keep that annoying kid who talks too much and works too little.

 

a little simplistic but i think you get what i mean.

[thaiboxerken]

I'm really more talking about business wise, like legal stuff and starting costs.

[Drunken Monkey]

ahhh, i get ya.....

 

sorry for walking down the wrong alley.

 

hmm, not sure if i can help much on that front.

 

i have absolutely no idea what things cost.

 

well, i do know that my solicitor costs me £20 per phone call i make.....

 

which is why i normally let things drag on until he can't wait any longer he calls me instead.

 

[Sasori_Te]

Legally here is what I did. It would be nice to be able to trust that none of your students would ever try to sue you but you can't count on it. That is exactly why I opened my scool as a LLC. Limited liability companies/corporations only allow the student to sue the school as an entity and not you as a person. You are simply representing the school.

 

Also you need to get good insurance coverage for a school. There are several good companies that offer fair coverage. You want to be able to find one that doesn't put many limitations on how you can run contact drills and sparring.

 

Starting costs depend on the kind of school you want to open obviously. A big commercial school with a kick boxing ring and all the bells and whistles is going to cost you some nice coin. You might consider a fairly substantial small business loan for this. You'll also want enough capital to carry you through your start up phase. Getting a good student base to carry the school can take a long time. Other than that you can save up and play it by ear.

 

BTW the LLC doesn't cost as much as you might think. If you have a lawyer set it up it will cost around $1300. I had a paralegal company set mine up for me and it cost me $400. Setting up an LLC will also give you some added benefits. You will have a tax ID number and will be able to use this to get substantial volume discounts on equipment from MA suppliers. You also get the benefit at tax time of being able to write off a LOT of your expenses. A good accountant can help you with this for about $120 to prepare your yearly return.

[Shane]

Okay I just opened my school 6 months ago. It really was not that difficult to get into. I had to ofcourse find a location and get my state business lic. covering what services I have (I have more than just MA training), then there is the insurance part lucky for me my wife is a Ins. Broker so that helped me toreally understand the importants of my insurance coverage. So after you get your Business Lic (state), and your insurance you still need to get a city business lic. (most places) apply at your city hall for this. This whole time you need to be getting the word out about your school ADVERTISING like crazy. I find the best advertising is word of mouth in my area, but I'm not in a large city. The local paper etc. I did not jump into this business with everything I wanted to. I had experience business owners who gave me the advice to slowly let it grow, so thats what I'm doing now I just brought in more gear, and I'm getting ready to expand the training area no later than Jan 1st 2005 but I'm taking in nice and slow and its working for me great. Martial Arts is only half of my business my location use to be a tanning salon so I kept two tanning rooms and beds and those are great since there is no other tanning place in this town. So depending on what your location is you might want to consider bringing in another service.