Ok...here is a tough one...

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tobi Addams on June 10, 2009 at 4:55pm

My inexperience may not provide much insight but I would imagine that the ideal solution would be for your friend to partner with a business-savvy entrepreneur who knows how to market products and services effectively. Genuinely gifted and passionate instructors are, themselves, a precious resource and I don't think we want to necessarily detract from that by forcing them to pick up business skills they have no interest in anyway.

To find the ideal match, you need to network. Use this community and other networking resources both virtual and in person. Get out there, talk to people, form relationships - you don't need to talk endlessly about business, but mentioning it as a garnish to the main course of formal training and teaching could help.

Permalink Reply by Sensei Nick on June 10, 2009 at 5:06pm

Shihan,

I would love to meet him. There aren't many people I know who just love to teach and don't care about the money. I think his best bet is to look for a school where could teach that has close to the principles that he had in his school. It might take him awhile and he might have to visit schools that are further away, but someone out there would love to have someone like him.

I also would suggest that if that's what he is looking for that he put an posting on craigslist for a martial arts instructor and see if anyone replies. If not, he should look for a school where he can just continue his training, and assist from time to time.

Nick

Permalink Reply by Franz Shihan on June 10, 2009 at 11:26pm

This was discussed and he simply has no interest in taking on a partner...even someone he knows that would manage his school. I believe it is because he does not feel that selling the martial arts is needed and he was burned about 10 years ago by doing this same thing. I also recommended he may want to pay a consultant and he just scoffed at that idea as well (which I can somewhat understand) but in all honesty I do not think he wants to own a school again and would just rather teach.

Ryan said:

My inexperience may not provide much insight but I would imagine that the ideal solution would be for your friend to partner with a business-savvy entrepreneur who knows how to market products and services effectively. Genuinely gifted and passionate instructors are, themselves, a precious resource and I don't think we want to necessarily detract from that by forcing them to pick up business skills they have no interest in anyway.

To find the ideal match, you need to network. Use this community and other networking resources both virtual and in person. Get out there, talk to people, form relationships - you don't need to talk endlessly about business, but mentioning it as a garnish to the main course of formal training and teaching could help.

Permalink Reply by Franz Shihan on June 10, 2009 at 11:33pm

Nick,

I actually brought that up as well but I am not sure he would be able to find such a school since he believes that training is the core of what we do and his teaching methods are often not what a school would look for if they were to think about hiring him...at his age he is very unlikely to change his ways unfortunately. He has no interest in moving away as this is his home area where he grew up and he loves it here. I am not real sure why he never taught for his Sensei but I think it is because his Sensei's school is not as strict / traditional as his mind set is (over the last 15 years they have changed many times and now they teach more like the big business schools do).

One thing that he did tell me is that he has no interest in customer service, selling programs, dealing with people...he just wants to teach his way and if people don't like it then he does not care if they leave....

All these things are very normal in some of the old school Sensei that I know and have met but I have spent years trying to help understand that if he wants to own a school he needs to understand that not everyone is in the martial arts for hard core training in the traditional ways but to no avail.

I just got off the phone with him again after a few minutes as he is attending a workout next week with me and some of our friends. I mentioned the Craiglist thing to him but he said that he is not sure anymore that he wants to teach and would just rather enjoy training...which I think would be good for as well. One thing to note is that he has a very good job and only has about 5 years left until he can retire. He does not want to give up that security and has never wanted to teach full time but I am going to work with him so when he retires perhaps he will jump on board here and teach since my adult students enjoy his classes but we will have to see.

Permalink Reply by Tobi Addams on June 11, 2009 at 12:58pm

I can relate to that desire just to teach and practice, and the thought that pursuing wealth detracts from that. Your friend may wish to consider ways to generate passive income streams. There is certainly a difference between being self-employed and owning a business and often we mistake one for the other. When you own a business, it should be working for you rather than the other way around (self-employment).

So what are some ways to generate passive income? There's tons of ways, but it takes a willingness to learn and an attitude that conquers fear because it does not follow the traditional model of "go to work, make money, repeat." It's about finding ways to channel your passion so that it creates opportunities to have money come.

When you have the "why" the "how" seems to come naturally, but you can't let fear stand in your way. You need to go around, over, under or through fear, but never retreat.

Franz Shihan said:

This was discussed and he simply has no interest in taking on a partner...even someone he knows that would manage his school. I believe it is because he does not feel that selling the martial arts is needed and he was burned about 10 years ago by doing this same thing. I also recommended he may want to pay a consultant and he just scoffed at that idea as well (which I can somewhat understand) but in all honesty I do not think he wants to own a school again and would just rather teach.

Permalink Reply by Benjamin Moriniere on June 13, 2009 at 5:52am

I would have to say that if you do not care about making money or doing it full time then do not open a school. Teach at a YMCA or community center. Supplement your income from a different career. Otherwise you just have to outwork the mcdojo with a positive influence in the community and great work ethic.

Permalink Reply by Susan on June 27, 2009 at 8:02am

I would say one possibility would be the idea of specializing in instructor/black belt only training.. First of all, if all of his students already had a black belt, then the whole "Black belt goal" would not be an issue. Also, since such a small percentage of students continue training and learning after reaching black belt, he would have a more dedicated pool to build from. I, for one, am constantly looking for instructors who want to share their knowledge with me.. Pure, raw martial arts knowledge that has NOT been clouded by the mcdojo mentality. One really great thing about it is that if someone comes to him from one of those places, he may be able to "fix" past mistakes made in their training.. I think it would be a shame for all that knowledge to go to waste, so it might as well go to those who want it!!

Just my humble opinion...
Susan

Permalink Reply by Franz Shihan on July 7, 2009 at 12:50am

Just to let everyone know that my buddy was very pleased when I handed this report (printed it off for him) at lunch the other day. He is now teaching at the YMCA and loves it. Thank you everyone for your advice for him.