View Full Version : Stop working in one school for starting your own
Has anyone ever been teaching at one school (one you were not actually training at) and want to start one of your own. How do you stop working at one school to start your own without breaking good feelings with the first one.
I know there are many schools that do not like it when students or teachers start their own school. How do you break the work bond without breaking social bonds?
I have the experience, rank, and interest to do it, but I do not want to break friendships because of it.
What about explaining your situation to the owner of the school where you teached? Is he or she a friend?
Is it concerning the same style or what could be the problem?
My old BJJ coach moved to Santa Cruz and started his own school where he keeps all the profits, not sending n% to his coach.
I don't know exactly how he did it but it was not easy.
I believe he had been telling his boss that he was not earning enough money to support his family (he just had a kid) for a while, so the need was not sudden.
Also, he moved to an area that was far enough not to compete with any of his boss's current schools.
He also groomed a replacement (a good guy) and did not leave until that replacement was up to speed running the academy.
This took some time and seemed to be a gradual process.
That's all I know.
Greetings neighbor!
Break all ties, stay in touch with the students you normally socialized with.
It is never easy to walk away from students that you have worked so hard to mold into good Martial Artists. I do understand that.
If you don't mind me asking, what is your rank and how long have you been teaching at your location?
Best of luck to you. :)
DragonMind
01-07-2008, 10:08
Has anyone ever been teaching at one school (one you were not actually training at) and want to start one of your own. How do you stop working at one school to start your own without breaking good feelings with the first one.
I know there are many schools that do not like it when students or teachers start their own school. How do you break the work bond without breaking social bonds?
I have the experience, rank, and interest to do it, but I do not want to break friendships because of it.Just do it. Any hard feelings on the other school's part are due to problems with their ego and immaturity. This is business. So long as you are not taking any proprietary information or underhandedly recruiting their students, they should welcome you as a new business. Too many school owners have the stupid idea that they are in competition with each other. That kind of thinking is a recipe for failure. Your competition is all the other things that vie for a person's free time and disposable income. Instead of looking inward as if there are a finite number of MA students and all the schools have to split them up, you look outward at all the people who are not participating in MA and market to them. The more MA schools that exist, the more marketing there should be to raise awareness of MA in general and that benefits everyone.
The best advice that I can give you is simply to be honest with the owner of the club that you are teaching at and let them know your heart. If you are open with them there is less chance of their being resentment. Also, make sure you do not steal their students as was mentioned earlier in this post as that will definately lead to resentment. Do not bad talk their club or use first hand knowledge to compete with them.
As for your friendships simply stay in contact with those that you were socializing with. If they are truly your friends then they will stay in contact with you (and you with them); nothing can get in the way of your friendship. If they don't stay in contact with you because you open your own club then they are not truly your friends and it is their ego getting in the way, not yours, as already suggested in this thread.
Just do it. Any hard feelings on the other school's part are due to problems with their ego and immaturity. This is business. So long as you are not taking any proprietary information or underhandedly recruiting their students, they should welcome you as a new business. Too many school owners have the stupid idea that they are in competition with each other. That kind of thinking is a recipe for failure. Your competition is all the other things that vie for a person's free time and disposable income. Instead of looking inward as if there are a finite number of MA students and all the schools have to split them up, you look outward at all the people who are not participating in MA and market to them. The more MA schools that exist, the more marketing there should be to raise awareness of MA in general and that benefits everyone.
Barry nailed it!
You can never predict how another person will react. Being honest and forthright, maybe even replacing yourself and moving away as Eric detailed, but in the long run, especially if teaching MA is how you provide for your family, then you do it as above and don't worry about hurt feelings.
Imagine if there were MA schools of all styles all within a 30 minute drive of each other, each with 100 to 200 students. What kind of cooperative seminars, shiais, etc. could occur. Imagine an MA owners association similar to the AMA or other professional organization where you could get inexpensive and good liability insurance and products through bulk purchasing (there are some orgs. like this but they are not that big).
Peace
Dennis
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