Starting a dojo

[Koke]

My husband and I recently moved to a different state and we would like to open our own Karate school. Neither of us have ever started a business before of any kind so advice from people who have already done so would be much appreciated.

[Montana]

How about some info on your martial arts background would be helpful, and your goals in opening a dojo. For fun, or to make a living? I've done both.

[Koke]

We started karate when we were 12 and 13, we got our black belts at 15 and 16. My husband is at the rank of Nidan (second degree) and I'm a Shodan (first degree). He taught classes for our sensei for a few years. I assisted in classes for a couple years as well. We got married a year ago, and now we'd like to teach karate for a living. Our sensei is very supportive. He's given us some pointers but we would also like to know how other people have gotten their schools up and running.

[Lupin1]

Disclaimer-- I've never opened my own dojo or even my own business before except for a lemonaid stand when I was a kid, so this is all just advice garnered from my observations of other people in your shoes. Take it or disregard it as you see fit.

What ever you do, find an instructor in your art and KEEP TRAINING after opening your own dojo. Don't let the responsibilities of owning a dojo get in the way of your own training. Nidan and Shodan are still pretty beginner levels and if you leave it at that, your students are going to catch up to you very quickly. Keep learning and advancing yourselves-- study more often and have fewer classes at your own dojo for the first years and as you personally advance as well as gain more students, you can start concentrating more on them and go to formal classes yourselves less and less, but NEVER stop going. A good sensei is always growing and learning so really only the most dedicated and long-term student should ever catch up to him/her.

As for the business end of this, especially since from your story I'm assuming you're both very young-- don't worry about buying an actual dojo building yet. With this economy and with the credit you probably have at your age, that's a HUGE risk. New dojos around here have been closing like screen doors in a tornado lately. Start by seeing if you can rent a big room in a community center or local school a few nights a week while you get started and people get to know you and you concentrate on continuing your own training and get some regular day jobs to support yourselves for now. Then as the years go by, you save money and build your credit, THEN you can worry about buying a building and doing this full time. They say one of the biggest risks for new businesses is growing too fast. Take it nice and slow and safe and I'm sure eventually you'll get to where you want to be.

[Patrick]

That sounds like pretty good, reasonable advice, Lupin1.

[Koke]

We plan to keep training. We haven't been able to find any dojos around here that are the same style, but we can keep training under our instructor and go back when we need to test. Hopefully by the time we have any students getting near our ranks we'll be going for third and fourth.

Yes, we're both pretty young. We were thinking of finding a recreation hall or, maybe since it's almost summer we could just start in a park. We have work, no bad credit, and a couple thousand dollars to put into getting whatever licensing and insurance we may need. I would be the one taking care of the school aspects for now while my husband works. Then once we get to where we're making the same amount of income from the school as he does working, he can quit and we can work on the school together. Thanks for the advice Lupin1. =)

We're looking at the different kinds of business to make; such as an LLC or INC. subchapter S, and what is best to begin with. If we went with LLC would it be possible to incorporate later as our school grows? I'd like to know how other people have done it and what mistakes to avoid.

[KarateGeorge]

Each type of business structure has benefits and disadvantages, ie, C-Corp, S-Corp, LLC, sole proprietorship, etc. It is possible to change from one type to another. It basically requires you to submit a new filing with your state's Secretary of State or Department of Corporations office (different states call them different names, but they perform essentially the same function). The corporate name does not need to be the name on the door either, you can operate as a dba, so if you filed under John Doe, Inc. for example, you could still operate as John Doe's Karate. Some states will require a fictitious entity filing for a dba and some don't, it really depends on the laws of the state you are in. Also, if you incorporate in a state other than where you're operating out of you'll need to make sure you register in the both states, one as the "home" state, ie, where you filed, and then you register in the state you're located within as a "foreign" corporation. Since each state's laws vary, and in many cases fairly significantly, so ultimately, if you're thinking of incorporating in some form or another, you'll need to familiarize yourself with the laws in your state and decide what type of corporate structure is best for you.

Anyway, there's a lot of legal things surrounding each type of business entity and as I mentioned above, each state's laws on the subject differ, so I'm not going to tell you which type of company structure is best for you, but hopefully that helps you with the basic mechanics of corporate filings. As to which one is best for you, that's probably something you should discuss with an attorney or CPA who specializes in these matters, weigh the pros and cons and how they relate to your situation and then make a decision that you feel comfortable with. They would also be able to go into more depth about the process of registering your business, add more to what I've talked about above and answer any questions you may have as you make the decision of how to structure the business.

[Throwdown0850]

We started karate when we were 12 and 13, we got our black belts at 15 and 16. My husband is at the rank of Nidan (second degree) and I'm a Shodan (first degree). He taught classes for our sensei for a few years. I assisted in classes for a couple years as well. We got married a year ago, and now we'd like to teach karate for a living. Our sensei is very supportive. He's given us some pointers but we would also like to know how other people have gotten their schools up and running.

What style of Karate?

[Koke]

Thank you KarateGeorge.

We practice the Shudokan style of karate-do. It's from Okinawa.

[ninjanurse]

Tell us were you are and maybe one of our members can help you find a local dojo. Lupin's advice is important-you must continue to train (IMO working out on your own is not the same).