Whats Wrong Making A Fine Living From Teaching Martial Arts

[leighchilds]

Why is it that so many martial artist have a problem with making money in the martial arts. In my experience the people who have the biggest problem with it are the people who quite simply cant make a living from teaching it because they are not that good!

Or they dont really believe in what they do, if they did they would have no problem in spreading the good word about their martial arts school.

[bushido_man96]

Making money in the MA is not the problem. The problem arises when instructors and school owners care more about the quantity of the bodies that they put into their classes and tests, as opposed to the qualitiy of those that they are teaching. When everyone tests, even though some are not ready, and the like...those things bring down that image.

[Elky]

Why is it that so many martial artist have a problem with making money in the martial arts. In my experience the people who have the biggest problem with it are the people who quite simply cant make a living from teaching it because they are not that good!

Or they dont really believe in what they do, if they did they would have no problem in spreading the good word about their martial arts school.

Mr Childs, what exactly are the complaints that you've heard regarding making money in the martial arts?

Most of the complaints that I've heard relate to the fact that optimising financial gain through the martial arts does not equate to optimising the standard of the martial arts taught. In essence, you have to compromise on the quality of the training offered in order to maximise revenue. Obviously this is not necessarily the case, but in the less scrupulous cases, it undoubtedly is.

[KamasandSais]

Making money in the MA is not the problem. The problem arises when instructors and school owners care more about the quantity of the bodies that they put into their classes and tests, as opposed to the qualitiy of those that they are teaching. When everyone tests, even though some are not ready, and the like...those things bring down that image.

...Do you always have to be right? (except for Currency converting lol)

...hes right.

[bushido_man96]

Making money in the MA is not the problem. The problem arises when instructors and school owners care more about the quantity of the bodies that they put into their classes and tests, as opposed to the qualitiy of those that they are teaching. When everyone tests, even though some are not ready, and the like...those things bring down that image.

...Do you always have to be right? (except for Currency converting lol)

...hes right.

I am not always right! Believe me; not even close!

[KamasandSais]

*mostly right

[Sensei Rick]

Funny, I was just thinking about this tonight. I make okay money for a karate instructor, But I can see where I'm about to top out. I have almost maximized the size of my classes. I don't want to work Friday nights, and I work Sundays for a good portion of the year. I am simply running out of space and time for more classes. At least at class times those students will attend. I am planning on adding an adult class into my Saturday schedule. One area that I am concerned with is my BB's. I have 42 of them but only one Nidan. Many of them have quit the arts all together. Like BB was the end. Even students that got there BB and said they were gonna just take a (insert short amount of time here.) break from training. I Have less than half still with me. My instructor has a ton of black belts, but very few low ranks, and has almost no white belts. I'm rethinking a lot of my training, but that's how it goes.

I hand out copies of my curriculum to my advance students, but it changes all the time. I am constantly reevaluating my results. The problem with instructing is that it takes a while (sometimes 2 years or so) to see your results and readjust if needed. I am pretty focused on the instructing end and not on the marketing end right now. Oh well, so it goes.

[leighchilds]

Making money in the MA is not the problem. The problem arises when instructors and school owners care more about the quantity of the bodies that they put into their classes and tests, as opposed to the qualitiy of those that they are teaching. When everyone tests, even though some are not ready, and the like...those things bring down that image.

How do you determin quality in the Martial Arts? Is it physical, mental a development of the person over time? And if it is not physical who are we to judge, shouldn't we train and encourage them all?

[Sensei Rick]

How do you determin quality in the Martial Arts? Is it physical, mental a development of the person over time? And if it is not physical who are we to judge, shouldn't we train and encourage them all?

Because there is a definative standard that must be met. I can see it. I can tell ya what rank you should be by watching you do kata. In as many arts there are, there are minimum standards and critical aspects that must be met. (loose fist, bent wrist, snap, etc.. ) and these must be met by every person and they must be able to meet these standards.

[bushido_man96]

How do you determin quality in the Martial Arts? Is it physical, mental a development of the person over time? And if it is not physical who are we to judge, shouldn't we train and encourage them all?

Quality can be seen in technique. That is the most obvious place to see it. It isn't the only place, but it is a good place to start. When you look at varying ranks, you should be able to see the difference between their skill levels. An even better judge of this kind of quality can/should be recognizable from watching a class of students that are not wearing any belts at all. One should be able to tell who is closer to which rank, by watching how they do moves, how they focus, and how their demeanor in the class is.

What should not happen is this: two months in rank, then test. Two more months, then test again. The time spent in rank should be evaluated, per student, to see if they are meeting certain requirements as to their level of skill.

Now, I am not saying that each one has to be a superior tournament competitor in order to be allowed to continue on. Some will be good in competition, and some will not. However, certain skills can be evaluated in order to see if they should be allowed to test for promotion or not.