Martial Arts ROI (Return Over Investment)

[karatelok]

Hi guys, I had been trainning for 4yrs in karate, and had always been thinking in all kinds of MA issue...

 

I'd been Read Only in here for serval months,

 

Now I got an Questions, Please teach me.

 

As Captioned,

 

"Martial Arts ROI (Return Over Investment)"

 

What is your investment?

 

What is your return?

 

How much do you value them?

 

Wht do u expect others to invest in MA training?

 

Wht do u expect to get from MA training?

 

How long did you take to become break even? (Did you??)

 

How do you measure a break even?

 

In terms of an indivdual, it is very difficult to answer all of the above questions...(at least for me)

 

However, my true concern is, in terms of an dojo, an organisation, or a business, how would you track / measure the over all growth ??

 

how do you value the skill sets, technique within, coach/staff, growth over time and effort input from all teaching coach/assistant ??

[Sasori_Te]

I suspect that you will find that the people in here art die hards like me.

 

I would guess that they are all going to say that the wards versus investment are immeasurable. Because really, how do you measure health, quality of life, confidence and peace of mind? I personally don't believe that there is any way of doing this, especially in terms of money.

 

Granted that money is very important in our society, especially if you have very little of it. But, I don't think that I could ever pay my current and former teachers enough to balance what they have taught me. Fortunately for me, I've been very lucky in that aspect of training. If I had to give an estimation of what I've spent over the years on training, I'd have to say somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000.00 over 14 years. Now I am able to train for "free" except for seminars and things like that of course. I usually teach classes as well as attend them though. On a side note, I would like to say that I find that I learn more in the classes that I teach than I do in the classes which I attend as a student. I'll stop rambling now.

[delta1]

...I would guess that they are all going to say that the wards versus investment are immeasurable. Because really, how do you measure health, quality of life, confidence and peace of mind?...I don't think that I could ever pay my current and former teachers enough to balance what they have taught me....I usually teach classes as well as attend them though. On a side note, I would like to say that I find that I learn more in the classes that I teach than I do in the classes which I attend as a student. I'll stop rambling now.

 

Well, for a ramble, that wasn't too bad!

 

I think we pay our instructors back by doing the best we can, and passing the knowlege on to others, as you are doing.

 

Good point about learning from your students. I used to be in charge of all the ambulance crews in a hospital district, trained the crews initially and for CE. I also tought basic first aid to the public. I have never given a class that I didn't learn something from my students! You get out of anything what you put into it.

[delta1]

karatelok, are you talking about opening a school?

 

Most of the instructors I know don't earn their primary living from their school.

 

Your return over investment will depend on several things:

 

Market in your area- are there people who want to learn your martial art? Do they have enough disposable income to pay for instruction? Is there a large enough population base to support the inevitable turnover?

 

Overhead- does your climate require a heated building part of the year? Can you make most of your own training equipment, or must you buy it? Can you teach out of your home, or a park? What about insureance? If you are in a large town, you may have to advertise to get people in.

 

Your skills and abilities- are you proficient enough to instruct? Do you have good teaching skills? People skills? Are you a good business manager?

 

Are you financially in a position to operate the school ata loss while you build it up? I don't think anyone can tell you how long it will take for you to turn a profit. But most will tell you that, initially at least, you are going to have some lean times. And there is no guarantee that you will make it. Are you prepared to deal with this?

 

Most importantly, do you love what you are doing? Do you have a desire to pass your skills on to others? If not, it will show in your instruction, and you will loose students. It will also be easier to get discouraged. There is nothing wrong with being in it for the money. But, if that's all, or even just the primary reason you are in it, then your chances of making it are slim. I'd say also that if you absolutely don't care about the money, you won't make it either.

 

These are the first questions I would answer if you are thinking of investing in starting a school.

[aefibird]

But most will tell you that, initially at least, you are going to have some lean times. And there is no guarantee that you will make it.

 

Reminds me of the saying that "to make a small pile of money from martial arts you need to start with a large pile of money..."

 

Karatelok, good luck to you if you are thinking of opening a martial arts school! I hope that it is sucessful.

[STR33T GUY]

I think McDojos make money.

 

I think that hard core kickboxing and MMA clubs where the owner also promotes fights makes money. The club is money looser but the events that the owner puts on make money. The club becomes his talent pool.

 

I think the owner of a club between these two extremes needs to have a real job to keep it going.

[karatelok]

Well thank you for all of your reply...

 

never can I receive such rich response from other sites/forumns

 

Actually I am NOT considering opening my own school...(I am 4yrs old only!!~~in MA training.)

 

What I am thinking of is,

 

What do you invest in MA?

 

Time? Money? Effort? Mind focus?

 

Then what do you get in return?

 

like this:

how do you measure health, quality of life, confidence and peace of mind

Is there any more you would consider as a return from MA training?

 

then how much do you need them to become EARNING from MA training...

 

I think we pay our instructors back by doing the best we can, and passing the knowlege on to others, as you are doing.

So do I...Just take it as kind of social contribution...but am I giving out when I am debit balance?

Most importantly, do you love what you are doing? Do you have a desire to pass your skills on to others? If not, it will show in your instruction, and you will loose students. It

desire to pass your skills on to others...Surely it is a important element as an instructor...

 

at this stage the investment become "desire to teach" and "teaching time", but the return should be on the student side, till they win competitino, till they assist in teaching, till they teach their own student...

 

How would you meaure the overall growth of you school?

 

Number of student? Cash in flow? Trony Won? Number of class?

 

say the talent pool:

"to make a small pile of money from martial arts you need to start with a large pile of money..."

The club becomes his talent pool.

 

For these two opinion together, you can see the money invest would be measureable, but not the return, so how would you up track the growth in the "talent pool" and yet make good use to it. (unlike Mcdojo is making money out of the pool, the one with highest talent shall make largest money, I think most school is training student to create no value to others.)

[WorKshoP]

im not sure what the actual question(s) is/are, but i can tell you that you won't find a mathematical equation that give you what you have earnt from years of training in martial arts, and if you can't see what you gain from your training, you might want to find something more fulfilling for you.

[pineapple]

I once trained a 10 year old boy who went to a tournament in Las Vegas. He returned with a 2nd place trophy. His grandfather who I had never met, walked into my dojo and he said that he came just to meet me and thank me as he shook my hand.

 

Once just as I was closing class, An adult female said, "Stop, I want to say something. Clinging to my arm with tears in her eyes, she told my students, "you are so lucky to have such a good instructor. I would never have done so well in the tournament if it wasn't for him teaching me."

 

I told my friends, these things are worth more than money.

 

The small number of people that I teach barely covers my expenses.

 

What is my return on teaching? PRICELESS!!!!

[Nick_UKWC]

The return we get on our 'investment' is really unquantifiable, something deeply personal.

 

It could be said that if you are happy in yourself then you are getting a good return, even if you attend a $10,000 a year McDojo which teaches you little more than boxer-cise. If you are happy you are getting a good return.