How to select a location for your own space

This is the holy grail for a lot of people starting their own school.  Its a big benchmark.  You are going to be on the map now!  Its so exciting you can taste it!  This is also the thing that can crush your school and all your hard work that got you to this point.  Make sure you take your time and do it right.

First off, as I mentioned before, make sure your programs are all within close range (less than 5 miles driving) of where you want your space to be.  You should have a good idea of what part of town you want your space to be in before you even start teaching anywhere.  I've seen a successful school with over 100 students fail completely after they moved just across town.  They wanted to expand to a bigger space but when they moved, they lost almost their whole client base.

Next big thing, make sure you have plenty of money in the bank and plenty of students to support not only the expected expenses, but also your salary and also unexpected expenses.  Plan to be able to afford to lose some students in the move.  And if you don't have money in the bank for all the deposits and all the basic remodeling needs of the new space- DONT DO IT!  Trust me.  I've done it twice.  If you have gotten this far, then you are smart enough to figure out how to get the money you need.  Be patient.  Its worth it.  I won't even think about opening my own space again unless I have at least 10-50k in the bank and enough students to cover expenses plus my salary (even if its small to start) and extra for unexpected things.  Its just not worth it to me and it just isn't smart.  You will spend all of your energy just trying to stay afloat.  Money is the lifeblood of any business.  If you don't have cash on hand, your business won't have the fuel it needs to survive the first years which of course are the hardest.

OK. You have your plan and you have your cash- or will have it by the time you are ready to make the plunge.  Now what?  How do you qualify your potential spaces?  How do you know if a space is good for you or not?

1)Location Location Location- Can't stress this enough. Don't be tempted by that big cheap space that is hidden in a maze of side streets.  Trust me, you will make up the extra rent easily just in the extra number of students that will see your sign on a more busy street.
2)Curb appeal- Drive by your space during what will be your peak hours.  Is there parking? Is it well lit? Does it look nice?  If you have women and kids training, can you envision them being ok with coming to your space at night?  Martial arts teachers and hard core students will train anywhere but they don't pay the bills.
3)Inside remodeling-  How much work will you have to do to get your space looking good on the inside?
4)Price per square foot-  Is the space a good deal compared to others in the area? Shop around and don't be afraid to offer less than what the owner is asking.  Don't be afraid to walk away either.  The more emotion you can take out of moving into your own space at this point, the better for you.
5)Are there other complimentary businesses close by?  Schools, restaurants, bars, shopping, dance, gymnastics, other martial arts schools?  This will help with getting more traffic to your school.
6)Are you close to major roads or freeways?  Depending on your city it might be nice to be near a turnpike or a major throughway of a town.

You can add any number of factors depending on what exactly you want to offer at your school.  Again, the best thing is to plan ahead, have money in the bank, and be patient.  Your time will come.

If you have any specific questions feel free to email me or leave a comment on the post!

Basic Marketing Tips

"If you don't have a marketing plan, you just have a hobby"

I just heard a business consultant tell us this the other week. Its really true. You can be the best at your art, a super nice guy, great at keeping books, and have all the best intentions in the world.. and still fail miserably if you don't have a good marketing plan.

Look at McDonalds. Worst hamburger on the planet. But everyone knows them and they rake in the money. Why? Because among other things, they are always marketing and marketing well. Its unfortunate but true. So what can you do?

Before you do anything else, read some books and articles on basic marketing concepts. The basics go a long way. I'm going to assume you know the basics or are about to learn about them. These ideas I'm about to present aren't super advanced or anything so don't worry. Here are some things that have worked for me.

1)Google rank. Get a website and get your google rank up. Google rank is the importance that google puts on your site. The formula itself is complicated and secret. But it pretty much comes down to how many people clink and link to your site. When you have a higher rank, your site will appear higher on searches. Learn about SEO. "Search Engine Optimization" This will help your google rank a lot. My websites have always been my best marketing tool.

2)Web site. Make sure you are really getting the most out of your site. Does the feel of the site appeal to your target audience? Do you have call to action phrases with links to promotions or sign up pages? Is it easy to navigate? Does it look good? Making a good martial arts website really needs its own blog post.

3)Have a marketing budget. Take a percentage of your monthly revenue and always put it into marketing.

4)Marketing isn't just advertising. An ad is what you expect to see on TV or in a newspaper. Marketing is the whole plan. How are you presenting your service (your art)? What are the stages? What media outlets are you using? Just passing out a flyer isn't marketing.

5)Track your marketing. There are many ways to do this and this could really be its own post as well. Just make sure you know how many people are calling you or coming in from your marketing efforts. This is so you can know which ads to keep running and which to pull.

6)Be great at what you do, and be different from your competition. This is very important. People want to train with talented teachers. You don't have to be a Michael Jordan of your art but you should be constantly working on improving yourself. Students like to see that. At the same time, you need to find a way to differentiate yourself from your competition. Do you appeal to a female audience? Kids? Do you like to teach inner city kids while everyone else is in the burbs? Or vice versa? Do you give an amazing workout? Find your niche. People might really like one particular art but not really fit in at a particular school. I have gotten tons of kids in my 3 to 5 year old program simply because no one else in my city offered classes for kids that young. People drove literally an hour each way for a 45 minute class for their kids.

I'm a big fan of looking at what everyone else is doing, then doing the opposite. I like filling in the vacuums left by other schools. Its great business for me and its great for keeping a good relationship with other schools. Its great to see what other schools are doing right, but if they are all gung ho on college kids, no problem! Look to see about starting teen classes or family oriented classes. Or vice versa.

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.

One month in...

So I'm one month in to starting my new marital arts school in the big city. Here are some things that I've been doing that seem to be working so far.

1)Walking A LOT. I live in a place now where thankfully I can walk everywhere. You get to see a lot this way, things you might miss speeding by in a car. I have found a lot of spaces to teach and start programs this way.

2)Talk to A LOT of people about starting programs. Be prepared for a lot of people to say no. Its a numbers game. If 8 out of 10 people say no, you just have to ask more people. Talk to schools, other martial arts schools, gyms, parks, etc. Depending on your schedule, you can offer free intro classes during the day at public or private schools.

3)Offer to volunteer. I am now in pretty well with the city parks and rec department because I offered to come in for free for some intro programs. After only a couple weeks, we have moved to how I can be a consultant to make money from these new programs with the city. They also want to expand to other sites.

4)Give a lot and participate in related activities when possible. To create something from nothing takes a lot of energy. You have to really put yourself out there.

5)Try to recognize and go with your gut when you know a program won't work at a particular location. Sometimes it just takes talking to the right person. Getting passed the "Gate Keeper". This is usually the case with most places. Some gym manager is really busy and could care less about your martial art. Be polite, don't waste your time or theirs. If its a spot you really want, keep trying in a polite way to reach the person who will say yes. If someone doesn't actually say no, keep sending nice emails now and again to remind them you are there. Eventually they might call on you if they need to fill a time slot.

6)Be strategic with where you teach. Sometimes you take what you can get in the beginning. But don't spend your energy in a part of town you don't want to be. Think about the future when you eventually open your own space if that is your goal. Will your students drive to your new location? Most people wont drive more than 5 miles for a martial arts school.

As always, feel free to leave feedback. If you have any questions just shoot me an email!

More posts to come.