Get a billing company

I think this is by far one of the most important steps for a school to be professional. In the beginning this might seem like an unneeded expense. Sure you can handle collecting from 5 to 30 students. You know your students well, of course they will pay..... The reality is, they don't. And don't get mad at them for it. People forget, stuff comes up. And yes, some will try to take advantage of you.

Having the billing company does a few things. First, it removes you, the owner and teacher, from the equation. Its not "you" billing them anymore. Its another company. And for some reason, people pay way more often this way. Also by taking yourself out of the equation, you are never the bad guy when it comes to money. The teacher should avoid all dealings with money with the students. Of course you have control, but you don't want to always be asking students to pay on the 15th or whatever. Sets a weird mood and you will actually collect less. If possible, you should even have someone else trained to sign up new students. And of course, most martial arts teachers are good at their art, thats why we started this right? But usually we are terrible at handeling money. My billing company is one of the strongest members of my team. Its just energy I don't have to spend on worrying about collecting and recording monthly dues.

Choosing a company-

There are many billing companies out there and I've used a few. The first one was terrible. The owner actually called me "retarded" on the phone because I had some questions. Needless to say I cancelled them. As of now I use ASF and I'm transitioning to Mind Body online. There are many others out there. Shop around. Some have high set up fees, some zero. Check all the fees on credit card transactions. See what the full system does for you and if it fits your needs. How scalable is it? How good is the customer service?

Again, I can't stress the importance of this no matter what size your school is. Get a billing company in place even before you get your first student. You will collect more money each month. You will be less stressed doing it. And your students will never have to be bothered by the teacher for money. Sometimes students have money problems and feel embarrassed for not being able to pay and so just stop coming.

If you have any questions feel free to post them.