Re:Chitownmantis
What style have you studied?
D*mn, this is gonna be more fun than
http://www.churchofspongebob.org
To learn to run a school got to The Martial Arts Industry Association http://www.masuccess.com/
Chitown Mantis,
Could you tell us a little more about your background? Styles studied (Mantis is a good guess), years of experience, etc.?
If you try to tackle martial arts as a business before first tackling it as a course of study, you’re going to fall into the very trap that many martial arts businesses do. Charging people money for too much flash and not enough substance.
Stuart B.
Once upon a time…
A friend of mine purchased a shop in a mini-mall. He had a dream…the dream to rake in cash by teaching Martial Arts. Little did he know one must know a martial art, or at least know somebody who knows a martial art. When opening day came, he still didn’t have a sifu/sensei, so he grabbed the first to low-life punks he could find. A beginner in BJJ and a guy who read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Very few people signed up because of its shaky ciriculum and lack of a base style. To make matters worse the two “teachers” had quite the attitude and started bitter rivalries with other ligitamate schools. The school closed two months later and the “teachers” never showed thier faces again.
Moral of this story:
“Martial Arts is not made to be a cash cow, its an art. Treat it as such”
If you run your school primarily as a business venture, you may get lots of customers, but I wouldn’t count on getting any students; but, then, I doubt if you care about that.
don’t want to sound mean, but i agree with MasterKiller(strongly). would this be your main source of income? if it is, is your curriculum hardcore? my shrfu has lost students because of an infamous shin conditioning drill that hurts a lot. but, you know, anything that’s worth anything is not easy. plus, you should be a very accomplished martial artist if you want to start teaching.
You’d make more $$ if you got into a different sport
Convert it to a health club. There’s a lot more money in that. One of my buddies works at a Curves franchise. Now there’s some long green.
OK chitown, assuming that you are already a master of gong fu, my suggestion would be to take some straight-up business courses at your friendly college extension. Also, visit the SBA website for some basic business tools and a calendar of business events & cheap-as-free courses.
Learning business basics won’t guarantee you riches, and it won’t compromise your traditional training focus. It will keep the wolves (and the IRS) from your door when it comes to money management.
(Chitownmantis bowing in)
Sorry if I have not chimed in on your theads but from what I see, there are alot of you assuming that I am bring this up because i want to rack in the dough.
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If you think of running an business you would want it to be successful. (i.e the amount of revenue generated,customer base,the amount of profit generated over the months and years,etc)
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Do don’t right off assume that I have not studied the arts just because I ask this question. (Eventhough, I do understand that some people have an school and do not know the art they are teaching. And if you would have went to the link i post earlier on you would have gotten an different view on the matter)
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I studied Northern Shaolin 7 star praying mantis, I am not an master ,nor do i think one can be an master. Only an highly devolped student. (in which, again the article on the site i post earlier would again give you insight)
4 I brought this up because I feel that I could get good feed back from senior students like you out their and with some of you I gotten pointless feedback. (Really sound like Charley brown’s teacher, wa, wa, wa. wawa wa .wa)
5.And if you also read before I asked if any one know of an good school in jacksonville. I think that would have been an clue that I wasnt an master.( I dont believe that an so called master would be ask were an school would be)
But thank the ones who gave great feed back, Dark Knight,gene ching, sa mantis, captinpickaxe
Please let keeps it intellecual, not sinical. If you have some great info to give, constructive feedback, i would be honored. If not, just don’t say anything. Let’s give this discussion the true spirit of what martial arts is. 
But in all I thank everyone for their input.
(ChitownMantis bows to all)
- I studied Northern Shaolin 7 star praying mantis, I am not an master ,nor do i think one can be an master. Only an highly devolped student. (in which, again the article on the site i post earlier would again give you insight)
IMO You should train more and become better in your art. Not open up a school of your own. That’s just disrespectful in my eyes.
kristoffer you dont listen well do you?
- I said in my future plans.
2.I am look for input
- I am look for good input for senior students
If that is not you , shut your cake hole!!!
and again I have that same problem with you you before read it all the way thru so you can u.n.d.e.r.s.t.a.n.d.
Thank you
Your not a master?
You don’t think you’ll ever be a master?
Hmmm… Yeah I’d really wanna train with you 
What are you gonna teach? How to tie your shoes? I’m sorry that you can’t take criticism.. I wasn’t planning to bash you, nor flame you in pety arguments but you come of sounding very naive, and very ignorant. Many here have already given you hints but you obviously don’t care to listen, only here what you wanna here. It sounds like you have made up your mind already so why are you pesting these boards with this novice money hungry crap?
ChitownMantis.
Not to rain on your parade here, but you come here and ask the exat question that we criticise flakes, frauds and mcdojos for.
And than when you don’t get the answer that you like you tell people to shut their cake-holes and to get lost.
As far as I am concerned till you got permission from your Sifu you ain’t got NO business about even thinking open your own school.
Unless you are breaking away from the styles you studied to teach your OWN style which is based on YOUR experience and studies.
Of course you can’t claim to be teaching style/s that you ain’t qualified to teach.
Being a good MA does not mean that you will be a good teacher.
Being a good teacher/MA does not mean that you will be a successful businessman or Kwoon owner.
I know many a Sifu that started their own kwoon only to have a handful of students for the first few years and teaching from community hall or similar because they could not afford their own property.
Just some thoughts.
The both of you are very rude and I hope that I never get to the point were my arrogance out weights my knowledge of the arts.
Thats why I try not to come to boards because I cant learn or carry on an intellectual conv because of a-holes like you.
Excuse the misspells and type-o’s
if you take the time to listen you would be better off
Originally posted by ChitownMantis
[B]The both of you are very rude and I hope that I never get to the point were my arrogance out weights my knowledge of the arts.
Thats why I try not to come to boards because I cant learn or carry on an intellectual conv because of a-holes like you.
Excuse the misspells and type-o’s [/B]
You can call me names and rude, it sure as hell won’t get you anymore respect from me or other people reading your posts.
You don’t want to come online, fine by me.
But maybe the problem is with your attitude and not the MA that you meet online.
Maybe when you have spend 20+yrs on MA studies like the guys you call a-holes & rude and some of those are kwoon owners and teachers your viewpoint will change a bit.
Till you got teaching permission you better spend your energy on perfecting your skill and less about thinking of your own school.
Have a good day.
ChitownMantis,
It’s clear that you haven’t liked many of the answers you’ve gotten so far. Mine included by the sounds of it. But I think you’d benefit from hearing your own advice. Listen and understand.
Telling people to shut their cakeholes is the wrong direction to head in. You should know better.
Originally posted by ChitownMantis
(Chitownmantis bowing in)
This is a personal thing, but that’s really not necessary. I’ll assume you’re being respectful based on the tone of your messages. Not this ritual. And typing that you’re bowing to people then going on to tell them to shut their cakeholes (even if it is in a subsequent post) is just daft.
Sorry if I have not chimed in on your theads but from what I see, there are alot of you assuming that I am bring this up because i want to rack in the dough.
Personally, I don’t think it matters. Obviously, I don’t want to attend a school where the teacher is obsessed with making cash, regardless of his excellence at his art. But by the same token, I don’t want to attend a school where the teacher isn’t experienced enough to teach, regardless of how pure his motives are.
I may have missed it, but I’m going to ask again. What’s your experience so far? If you’re planning on running a business in the future, power to you. I’d give you any advice if I were a successful business owner myself. But I can advise you a little on being a teacher. Have enough experience to be confident with 1) what you know and 2) what you DON’T know. If you get into it too early, you’re likely to fall into all sorts of traps in order to preserve your own sense of teaching authority.
- If you think of running an business you would want it to be successful. (i.e the amount of revenue generated,customer base,the amount of profit generated over the months and years,etc)
Absolutely. And I’m glad to hear that you’re going to take that aspect seriously. Nothing worse than finding a school you like that just can’t stay afloat.
- Do don’t right off assume that I have not studied the arts just because I ask this question. (Eventhough, I do understand that some people have an school and do not know the art they are teaching. And if you would have went to the link i post earlier on you would have gotten an different view on the matter)
Or you could just answer the question and tell us your experience. I believe I checked your profile yesterday and found nothing. If I’m mistaken about that, I apologize.
- I studied Northern Shaolin 7 star praying mantis, I am not an master ,nor do i think one can be an master. Only an highly devolped student. (in which, again the article on the site i post earlier would again give you insight)
How highly developed a student are you? How long have you trained?
4 I brought this up because I feel that I could get good feed back from senior students like you out their and with some of you I gotten pointless feedback. (Really sound like Charley brown’s teacher, wa, wa, wa. wawa wa .wa)
There’s a fair amount of cynicism on this board. But I feel like perhaps you just didn’t hear what you wanted to hear. You wanted to hear unwavering support. And you didn’t get it. So you’ve decided that there’s no merit to these comments.
5.And if you also read before I asked if any one know of an good school in jacksonville. I think that would have been an clue that I wasnt an master.( I dont believe that an so called master would be ask were an school would be)
People read and understood that. That’s what lead us to believe that your primary focus at the moment should be your own education. Not other peoples’.
But thank the ones who gave great feed back, Dark Knight,gene ching, sa mantis, captinpickaxe
Please let keeps it intellecual, not sinical. If you have some great info to give, constructive feedback, i would be honored. If not, just don’t say anything. Let’s give this discussion the true spirit of what martial arts is. But in all I thank everyone for their input.
Perhaps people are overly cynical, but it generally stems from a love of martial arts, just like your actions do. People hate seeing them b*stardized. So sometimes we overreact. But I think you should be careful not to dismiss the advice here too quickly. Even the advice you don’t like.
(ChitownMantis bows to all)
Write with respect. Bag the rituals. My opinion.
Stuart B.
i dont see why any respectable sifu should give you any percentage of thier hard earned money for doing nothing.
you make me want to puke mantis.
Mantis guy: