Had an interesting turn of events this evening. It’s something that made me realise that it’s time for me to start teaching again.
OK, here’s what I’m doing, with little to no $$, and only a park to practice in, I am going to start a Kung Fu club. I am looking for people to work on the Tai Tzu material I have been researching for the last few years. I may do it as a study group, or I may do it as a class where I teach Kung Fu according to me.
Anyone got any ideas on how I can do this, and get students quickly? I need low cost marketing ideas. I need ideas to raise awareness of the program, and get people involved.
The goal would be to build a group that, in time, will be the core I need to support a viable commercial school someday.
Saturday, if not as soon as I’m done working tomorrow, I’m going to go start scopeing out some local parks, and picnic areas to see what may work.
Help sif you have one or more friends who are interested in learning. Start training with them at home or in a park. As they get more competent, encourage them to bring friends. As you get a larger group, move classes into a hall somewhere and start charging money.
The reason I recommend training with a small group first and getting them competent is that it is hard to run a school on your own, so you need help from other competent players.
One way to build your numbers that I have seen work very well is to start teaching at community colleges etc. and use those classes as feeders into your school.
website (free if you can do it yourself which is not hard)
flyers / posters (design them yourself or a talented friend, cost of printing thousands just a few hundred $)
doing demos (at every local event, tournament, etc)
I did the above when I started my school in October, and have gone from 1 to 21 paying students in 4 months. Currently I’m getting an average of 2-4 new students joining per month, so I’m looking at 50 by the end of the year, which is a good target given that I’m only paying a % to the gym where I use the room 3 nights per week.
Do any of your parks have indoor sports/meeting rooms? Ours’ do and they will rent them to you at VERY low rates. You do have to have insurance but that is affordable and you have a nice floor and people going by that can become students. There are also several schools in this area that use church gyms to train in. Since these are mostly sitting empty you might be surprised if you ask at a couple to find one that will work with you.
If we practice outside in the parks here we still have to be insured. No MA practice allowed on city property without it. Just something you might need to look into.
What is listed above, demos, word of mouth and the rest are a good start.
find a YMCA or other health club that regularly has a lunch-time arobics class in the gym. let them see you work your forms. if the arobics instructor asks you to explain what you’re doing explain that you didn’t mean to disturb thier class.
i did this once in boston and was sharing the class with the areobics gal the next meeting and getting half her monthly fees.
they learned two forms in a month (and well, too!). but they weren’t looking for lengthy workouts or long forms…
first thing you need is a plan - get a lesson plan together - something you can talk to and show people should they ask for specifics. Next, find a student and rely on word of mouth from there. Since it’s only a “small study group” and you’re not insured (or are you?) then you may not want to advertise too much.
Another option may be to visit some local gyms. You may find one that wants to institue an MA program. If so, con…um…persuade them to let you run one for them. Churches are another option. I’ve recently been approached to start a program at my church and also at a local gym.
A lesson plan is a good idea but an even better one is a business plan. Creating a business plan really makes you think about what you want from your business. What do you want to do in the first 3 months, 6 months , year and so on. you can also create you definition of success with your business plan. If you’re not meeting your own expectations then you know that you have to change something.
-Put flyers up at the community college.
-Give some free classes at elementary schools and have the kids take flyers home.
-Do the old flyer on the windshield trick at any large parking lot near the park where you will be practicing.
-Make one of those folding signs that says “Royal Dragon Kung Fu” and put it out when you’re giving classes at the park so people who pass by can get info.
I actually have agood lesson plan, many infact. I have a pretty deacent, and progressive curriculem to work from.
>>Put flyers up at the community college.
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A Great idea! There is one not too far form where I’m thinking of going.
>>Give some free classes at elementary schools and have the kids take flyers home.
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Another great idea! I know just the schools I’m going to do this at. I may take it one step further and hit the High school too.
>>Do the old flyer on the windshield trick at any large parking lot near the park where you will be practicing.
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Not a bad idea, but there are no major parking lots nearby most of the locations I have been scopeing out. It’s alot of residential, with many small buisnesses on the main drag. I’d have to hit all of them.
>>Make one of those folding signs that says “Royal Dragon Kung Fu” and put it out when you’re giving classes at the park so people who pass by can get info.
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Hee he he, I actually have a banner from when I was doing this before.
From the site
"For example, you’ve probably heard of Steve LaVallee. Steve had 90 students when he joined EFC in 1983. Now he has 4 schools and over 2,000 students.
You may also have heard of a guy in Ann Arbor named Keith Hafner. Keith’s school was hanging on by a thread when he joined EFC in 1983. Today, his single location grosses over $100,000…each and every month."
i really like the idea of having pamphlets available while you are training. gives passers by a message “yes we are accepting new students, you are welcome to join us”
I have heard of people renting out time from an existing MA school.
You use the times when they dont have class, these times are rare but good enough for someone starting out. also if they like your program they may add your services to their advertising because it brings people through the door all day. They already have insurance and if their not using the space at that time it is smarter to have it make a little money rather than none. so you can probably get this cheap, most of the equipment is there already. you will be working under their name, but eventually you will have your own place and people will remember you.
Actually, there is a TKD school right in the area I want to be in. They have a basement that is in the process of being remodled. I am going to ask them about it in the next few weeks or so.
As for insurance, I’m going to renew the policy I had before, reguardless, just for good measure.
