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View Full Version : Starting up a school. Need some help, please.



Ender
08-30-2004, 14:11
Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm finding it very hard to find a place. Our class isn't very big, so money is a problem. But space is not.

My sensei has wanted to find a place since he became a family man. With a new kid and a wife to take care of everything's becoming a little too much to handle for him. Priorities must be set, but he's trying to work everything out. At first this meant he was going to quit teaching, but he's realized that he loves it too much to give up. So he's asked me and another high ranking student to help find a place where we can continue class with us being the teachers. So far, most places have been way too big/too expensive for us.

There's also the problem of recruiting more students. In order to recruit students, we need a place for them to meet. But in order to have a place, we need students. >.< It's a vicious cycle.

For a while, we had the help of a church volunteering a place for us, but that has long since fallen through. Right now we merely go to the park across from sensei's house or use his living room on a rainy day. You can see how this wouldn't cut it since we want to expand.

You can see just how passionate we are about this, for the easy way would be to give up, but we're trying to make things work out. Even though sensei has so much to worry about, he's still willing to try, and I sincerely want to see him succeed.

So, again, does anyone have any suggestions for us? Maybe even some stories of how you started out? Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

tkdcanada
08-31-2004, 07:46
What about school gyms?

John Bennett
08-31-2004, 11:59
Few landlords are willing to rent space to non-commercial MA schools. They envision lawsuits, destroyed walboard, and weirdo ninja types hanging about the place. Churches can be the same way.

Alternatives I have done:

- Sub-let space at an existing martial arts school. If they have time periods when they aren't having classes, ask for it. Give the school owner a small base rent that you can afford now, plus a per-head cut of your dues. This will motivate him to help you increase your head count.

- Rent some anonymous storage space like at a self-storage facility that has units big enough to store Recreational Vehichles.

- Agree to mow or fix up some really shody neglected downtown awful warehouse space on the condition that the owner let you hold classes there.