Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Don't do it all yourself. Get a team!

This is huge for me. I love my martial art. But I really suck at most of the stuff involved in running the school. So what do I do? I get others to help me! There is definitely something to be said for "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself" But for me, that doesn't mean necessarily that I go and actually do that thing. I just have to make sure that I arrange so that whoever is doing it, does it how I want it. You never see the owner of 7-11 when you walk in do you? Why? Because he/she is off doing bigger things like growing the company as a whole.

Martial arts schools are tricky when its comes to this though. Its really easy to go straight to your top students for their help. And of course most will be willing. Avoid this as much as you can. In my experience mixing business with training usually doesn't work. At least I haven't figured it out yet. Mostly because a student is there to destress, get in shape meet friends, etc. They aren't there because they want a career in martial arts. If you do get a student to help with something, make sure its a very minimal commitment and don't stress if they can't meet it. You won't get your work done and you'll lose a great student.

Examples of team members you might need:
1. Accountant
2. Cleaning staff
3. Marketing
4. Retail manager
5. Contract manager
6. Kids program manager/adult program manager
7. Assistant instructors

At first, write down every single job you can think of in your school and leave a space for a name. If you are just starting out, and its just you, plug your name into every position. Now, as you get more team members, plug their names into those positions. The idea is to work towards eliminating yourself from as much as possible and leave yourself with only the jobs that you truly enjoy and want to do (for example teaching!!)

Time is your most valuable asset. The dollar worth per hour of your time is infinite when you work for yourself. Because its dependent on YOU how much you make. The more you maximize your time the better! You will also be less stressed and can enjoy your students, your school, and your outside life even more.

Research Research Research

You have your mental image now. Time to really dig in and get your hands dirty.

Opening a new martial arts school or any new business requires lots and lots of research. My first school I opened I just plunked down my deposit on a warehouse and hoped for the best. Wow was that a bad idea.

For this new school I'm opening now, I'm moving clear across the country. I know the general area but not exactly. I really recommend reading "The Art of War". Contrary to popular belief its not just for presidents, warmongers and moral-less businessmen. One of the ideas in the book is to know the lay of the land so to speak. If you are looking to open in a new city, look to see what the best cities are for what you want to do. Are you targeting families, kids, college kids? (More on target groups later) From there, look within the city to see where other martial arts schools are centered. Look at gymnastics schools, dance schools, gyms, etc as well. A great tool I use is google maps. You can center in on an area and look up all the schools there. You can also put your own pins for particular schools you want to be near/far from or possible locations for your school. You can get street view as well to scout out the area.

Another good thing to research for your new martial arts school is lease rates in the area you want to open. Its kind of a past time for me to constantly pop my head in windows in shopping centers and cool buildings for lease. Get an idea for what is a good deal in your area for lease rates. Do this over a few months while you are getting all of your other things in order to open. So when you come across that "gem" you can act fast. I'm always looking at craigslist.org as well. The last school I opened I had to move a lot faster than I would have liked because of my previous lease arrangement. Thank god I had a good idea of the area. I was able to move out and into a new school in less than two weeks from start to finish. And I got one of the best deals in the area.

There are tons of things to research of course. There are interest rates on loans, equipment purchase prices, mats, mirrors, pro shop items, insurance... The list goes on and on. The important thing is to do as much of this as possible up front. This will save you tons of headaches and money in the future.

Where to start?

Just to put it out there, I'm one of the least original people on the planet. I love to use other people's ideas. Starting a martial arts school is nothing new so why would I try to reinvent the wheel? In everything I do in life, I look for advice from those that have the results I want. In running my martial arts school, I don't ask my parents for advice because they have never owned a school. I don't ask for marital advice from people that fight a lot or are divorced.

Opening a new martial arts school can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life, it has been for me. You will touch the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people. You might save lives with your self defense teachings or with giving kids a place to go after school instead of getting in trouble with gangs or drugs. You will give people mental and physical health, the best investment anyone can make in their lives.

Here's the catch. Just because you are good at your art doesn't mean that your business will do well. Being a good teacher and being a good businessperson/school owner are two VERY SEPARATE skill sets. I highly suggest you read "The E-Myth" before you go any further with your plans to open a school. You might be horrible at business and that's ok. You can learn just like you were probably horrible when you started your art, you learned. Just make sure you recognize that you will have to train your business skills if you don't already have them.

Ok. You read E-myth. You are mentally ready to open your own business. Now what?

Start with the end in mind. You have to give yourself an ultimate vision of what you want for your new school. That way you can work backwards and plan efficiently how to get there. No one ever plans to fail, but we very often fail to plan. Imagine what your school will look like. What color are the mats, the walls, the bathrooms. Do you have an office? How is it decorated? Sketch out your ideal floor plan. Don't be afraid to dream big. Is every class packed with tons of students? Or do you have multiple sessions with smaller more intimate classes? Form a vivid mental image and also write all these things down in a notebook you can reference later. You can change your mind as you go of course, but when you do, make it a conscious decision and write it down.

With your plan in hand you can start making decisions that bring you closer and closer to your goal.

Starting a martial arts school from scratch

Hello everyone. This blog is my way of documenting my process of starting a martial arts school from scratch. I'm going to blog all of my ideas, things that work, thing that don't work, in the hopes that this will help anyone new in the martial arts world. I have opened a few schools in the past and I'll be taking all of my experience and putting it all into this new project. I plan on generating enough income to adequately support myself and my family but by no means am I looking to create a "belt factory" or take advantage of anyone. I practice Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, but this blog is meant to be style neutral and hopefully everything I present in this blog will be able to help anyone looking to open a martial arts school. Feel free to email me with comments or questions at capomico@gmail.com