No BS School Management forum

**bodhistate** · Posted On: 2/10/2007 2:08pm

All pricing of training (both group in private), depends on what the area can support. In a small town/city, where the average living place (2 bed/1 bath kind of place) rents for $600, charging $50, $60, or $100/hr for a private class may be way too expensive considering the living costs. In a place like NY, where the same living place rents for $1800 or more, charging $100/hr or more could be more reasonable. It's a matter of finding a balance of what your clientele can support and what you expect to get paid. When I first taught private classes, I charged $20/hr; four years later (with lots of training and my own money spent), I had no problem charging $60 or more an hour, depending on what it was for.

And in the end, the customer decides how much is too much regardless of the median income and expertise of the instructor. Some will whine and complain about $20, others will pay $200 or more without batting an eye. Whether or not it's BS training or not is secondary to what the person looking for training wants. Maybe they aren't interested in real fighting, they just want to work out in a way more interesting then riding a stationary bike or doing aroebics, in a one on one class. Then it doesn't really matter if it's TKD or BJJ or whatever. If it makes them happy, who cares?

***JohnnyCache*** · Posted On: 2/10/2007 4:01pm

Instead of making this about a given slant on socialism or the free market or trying to set an arbitrary price for things, why don't we focus on ways to market and run your school WITHOUT resorting to the practices we don't like?

It would also be nice to hear from people that have taught and owned schools on things like liability and insurance.

**USMC0351** · Posted On: 2/10/2007 4:28pm

Marketing is kind of easy if you do a little looking around. I had a part time pressure washing business for a couple of years. I used fliers (I cut a deal with a Mom and Pop office store for 5000 in exchange for pressure washing their building), radio (we have 'the Bargin Channel 92.5 FM) that ran 30 second ads for me for about $50 a week. TV commercials were something I was begining to look into, but was too busy and they were expensive since I didn't have the equipment to do my own and the AV places charged an arm and a testicle for a 30 second blurb. I didn't talk to any cable access places, though. Business cards are fairly cheap too. I don't know how much of this could be used for a martial arts school, but hopefully it helps.

**USMC0351** · Posted On: 2/10/2007 4:53pm

Also dealing with Mom and Pop places sometimes means you can wheel and deal a little. Free privite lessons for them can mean a reduction in marketing overhead. 'Service swapping' can be very useful in regards to a budgit since the expenditure is mostly time, not money.

**Coach Josh** · Posted On: 2/12/2007 8:38am

Question on private lessons. Why? Aside from the money making oppuritunity how does this benefit someone? What would you do in that session for an hour that you couldn't do in a regular class? Do they bring thier own training partner? I am asking about this cause I just tell people to that if they have a question to ask me in class. Now grant it my class is small 8-12 people so I can handle the instruction no problem. Is this mainly in the bigger schools with 20-50 people per class?

Marketing tips are always welcome the more ideas people see the better decision they can make. Quite honestly thats all you get from the Olivers is just that. A snazzy flyer or radio spot maybe a TV promo and then some inspirational story about how they signed up 20 people at a wonder woodchuck meeting one Sunday.

**shinbushi** · Posted On: 2/12/2007 1:08pm

Originally Posted by jkartigue

Question on private lessons. Why? Aside from the money making oppuritunity how does this benefit someone? What would you do in that session for an hour that you couldn't do in a regular class?

The privates I have are usually someone who does not like the group atmosphere and is willing to pay to have the one-on-one training. I don't push the privates on regular students.

**Sam Browning** · Posted On: 2/12/2007 1:47pm

For someone who is having trouble grasping the material, a private allows the instructor to closely supervise their body mechanics.

**datdamnmachine** · Posted On: 2/12/2007 1:52pm

Originally Posted by jkartigue

Question on private lessons. Why? Aside from the money making oppuritunity how does this benefit someone? What would you do in that session for an hour that you couldn't do in a regular class? Do they bring thier own training partner? I am asking about this cause I just tell people to that if they have a question to ask me in class. Now grant it my class is small 8-12 people so I can handle the instruction no problem. Is this mainly in the bigger schools with 20-50 people per class?

Marketing tips are always welcome the more ideas people see the better decision they can make. Quite honestly thats all you get from the Olivers is just that. A snazzy flyer or radio spot maybe a TV promo and then some inspirational story about how they signed up 20 people at a wonder woodchuck meeting one Sunday.

Some people don't have the time for lots of classes, maybe only two classes a month. They use privates as a means of getting more one-on-one instruction that helps bridge the gap with those students that can train regularly. Take a look at BJJ for example. There are many of purple, brown, and even blue belts teaching at some out of the way locations. Some of these people use privates as a way to continue their training and improve if they don't have access to classes themselves.

My instructor is a brown belt but he drives about an hours each week to the location he is affiliated with to train with those students who are more at his level. If he didn't have a place that close, say the nearest place was about 3+ hours away then going on a weekly basis would not work. Doing privates would work cause he could get top notch personal instruction during the times that work for him. Not everyone can schedule their day based on a 3+ hour drive and the class schedules of the instructor.

**ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE** · Posted On: 2/12/2007 1:59pm

I'd be asking myself if its really worth it to have any form of private lesson. The prices when compared to the prices charged for a normal lesson seem to be extortionate to me. It seems like the prices can be nearly ten times as much as a regular class and I really doubt that the lesson will be ten times as beneficial as attending the one class.

What I could see a fairer market for would be extremely small classes where you have two or four students working in 1 or 2 pairs. Then I think you would have nearly as much supervisiona and they would only need to be double or tripple the price of a normal lesson to bring in the same amount for the instructor.

**Kempo Chris** · Posted On: 2/12/2007 2:20pm

I think we kind of got a little off topic here but I'll throw in my two cents on privates. Private lessons can be good, you get personal attention an get to work on the specific things you want. Privates cost a lot because it is taking up the instructors personal time while he is not teaching a regular class. Some places milk the **** out of private lessons and make a ton of money. Some places only do it by request and don't even really offer it. Some places give out privates for free to help a struggling student.

Here's an old karate story about private lessons.
It was a white belts first class. There was a great black belt in class as well. After class the white belt went over to the black belt and asked him how he got so good, and the black belt said he took private lessons. The white belt thought wow that probably cost a lot of money, so he asked the black belt how much he paid for private lessons. The black belt said he paid nothing. The white belt became confused. The black belt went on to tell the white belt that in every regular class, he treated it like a private lesson. Listening carefully to the instructor and treating all the teachings as if they were persoanlly for him.
You don't need private lessons if you go to class regularly, it is about how hard you train and the effort and focus you show in class.