Good business or Good Martial Arts? The Passion vs. Profit Debate

I’ve heard it said often that you can’t make money at the martial arts unless you’re ripping your students off.  I don’t totally agree but there are truly two sides to teaching martial arts. 

 1. A passion for teaching martial arts

     2. The business side of things

There are fantastic martial artists and teachers who fail at running a school or dojo and there are so-so ones that succeed and make a fair amount of money in the process. 

Is it ok to make enough money to teach martial arts full-time?  I’ve always been around people who had full-time jobs and taught on the side.  They often criticized anyone who ran a big school.  I originally agreed, shunning the bigger, flashier schools with lots of merchandise, fees for stripes, strips, stickers etc.  It seemed wrong somehow.

Now I’m not so sure.  Running a club (for profit) is a business.  A business must have a plan.  When we compare what we pay for other services, it’s surprising how little we want to pay for martial arts training.  Many people wouldn’t hesitate to pay much more for yoga, exercise classes in the park, spinning etc.  These are all great pursuits by the way, but to many, $100.00 a month for 1 and ½ to 2 hour classes, 3 times a week seems on the high end.  That’s 12 classes a month minimum if you went to all of them.   That’s $8.33 per class, or a little over $4 bucks and hour.  Your average yoga/meditation/mindfulness class will run you much higher, often 3 to 4 times as much (per hour).

Still, you aren’t going to get a lot of people signing up for a martial arts club willing to pay $200-$300 a month.  So you’ve got to do other things.

Merchandise is one way.  Most uniforms, pads etc. can have a decent markup.  Kids are good money makers.  Parents tend to be willing to pay lots more for their kids to be in martial arts than they are for themselves.  Compare other children’s activities, sports, clubs etc. and martial arts are a bargain.

If you could make a living teaching martial arts, is there anything wrong with that?  If you continued to improve your own skills to give your students the best possible training you can provide, isn’t that a good thing?

I’ve revisited this topic due to some recent visits I’ve made to some clubs in hopes of supplementing my current training regimen.

I watched a class, and was struck by…how shall I put this…poor the instruction was.  There was clearly no real knowledge base about how an attack might come in, or how a defense could be applied.  The people were, in my estimation, well intentioned.  I just felt they lacked the depth of knowledge surrounding the realities of violence.  They had clearly learned the techniques and were doing their best to pass them on, but I’m not sure they really understood them.  

And the students were serious about their training (which is good) but I felt they were getting technique that might not translate to the real world.  And they clearly didn’t know this.  I may sound overly harsh and don’t mean to be, but that’s what I saw.  Well intentioned instructors, hardworking respectful students, and positive energy.  The only thing lacking was consistent street worthy technique.  I should mention that some was decent.

The original point of all this was that this business was successful, with charts for grading fees, schedules, merchandise, t-shirts, gym bags, jackets, books, magazines etc.  This particular club has been successfully running for well over a decade.

There are (in my opinion), better qualified people to teach in the area, but few know how to make money in the arts.

Is it ok to make a living at the martial arts?  Does doing so mean an inferior training experience for students? 

Can you still find the depth of knowledge in the arts in a commercially successful martial arts school? 

It would be the dream of many to make a decent living in the martial arts.  Is it possible to do so without ‘selling out’?

Thoughts?

How to judge a martial arts school in less than 15 minutes

I recently had a very positive experience visiting a martial arts school.  A seminar was being held by a very skilled practitioner that was in the area for a couple of days before continuing on his cross country circuit.  I had heard of him and had seen online clips which were impressive.  My Sensei also spoke highly of him, which was reason enough for me to seek him out.

The problem?  It was being held at a dojo that I had never been to.  Add to that I was going solo and knew no one who was attending.  And it wasn’t a Jiu Jitsu dojo.

It’s always a little daunting to go to a strange location full of strangers.  Would I be allowed to attend?  Would it be awkward?  Would people be standoffish?  Would they want to test me to see if I deserved my ranking?  Would I stand awkwardly off to the side while everyone paired up?

So many questions.

So what did I do?

First, I checked the school’s website/Facebook page.  It said “Open to all schools and styles”.  Good sign.

Next, I called on the way, speaking to the owner/head intructor.  I asked him if it was ok if I just showed up and paid on arrival (you could pay on-line on his site – great idea!)  “Sure”, he said, asking only if I had any martial arts experience and if I had a gi or would be in street clothes.   Sounded friendly.  

Another good sign.

Arrival.  I found my way in.  Being a new face, I was immediately approached by the owner who introduced himself and welcomed me.  He introduced me to his second in command (only on paper, I suspect – his wife).  They both shook my hand, asked me to fill in the standard waiver.  I offered my payment, which was nice, they didn’t’ ask for it right away. 

Third good sign.

The owner introduced me to one of his students who offered to show me where to change/stow my gear etc.  Very nice person, let me use his locker so I could lock my valuables away.

Back to the mats.  Lots of people in attendance.  Crowed place.  Mainly students from the same school, but a couple visiting schools were represented with different gis, crests etc.

As we stretched awaiting the start of the seminar, I was approached by most of the students from the school who all welcomed me to the event.  Really made me feel at ease.  

Very good sign. 

As the warm up began (little was I to know it would last over an hour…), there was general good humour and positive energy, with humorous glances and looks during the more intense part of the torture, er warm up as we experienced the ‘shared suffering’. 

Once the seminar was underway, each time the visiting teacher told us to mix up partners, I was always the one approached by someone from the hosting school with an offer to work with them. 

The seminar itself was very good, with some good solid technique and some great things to think about.  A good time was had by all.  At the end I thanked the owner and his wife for allowing me to attend.  I was told that I was always welcomed and they thanked me for attending.  When I was getting changed, most of the students shook my hand saying that they hoped they would see me again.

I tend to judge a teacher by their students.  Good students, good teacher, generally speaking.

I didn’t get a chance to critique the pure martial skills of the owner, but I got a pretty good indication as I watched him taking the seminar.  No standing off to the side not taking part.  Worked hard, looked pretty sharp.  Yet another good sign.

I may not take the style of martial arts that they normally teach, but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the club as a place to check out for those that do.  And I’ll be back.

As I was driving away, I realized that in the course of one short afternoon, I had made a whole bunch of new ‘martial’ friends.  I also realized that even though the whole process spanned over several hours, I knew as soon as I walked into the school that it was a good one. 

It took less than 15 minutes.

A reminder what the martial arts are all about. 

A good day.

Train well.