Starting my own school in a few months - need advice

Hi! I am really looking forward to creating my own MMA dojo. I've already started talking to a few gyms to see where I can have my own classes. Right now it looks like it is going to be at a health studio and I am going to send a proposal to the studio to share the profits 50/50 provided I get to use the room for my classes with no costs.

It's going to be based primarily on kickboxing and BJJ with some clinching.

A few questions.

1. How do I weed out the street fighters and wannabe gangsters? I know MMA has a tendency to recruit some of these people.

2. What do you consider the necessary equipment? I am buying boxing gloves and mats, and some accessories people should buy, like mouthpiece and their own gloves, knee protection and a protectors for the nuts.

 

How much experience have you in Martial arts ?

How are you going to sell yourself?

Have you any experience in running a club or business?

Have you thought thru the marketing strategy ?

Class times and numbers needed to break even etc. ?

Smurf

 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ?

 

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Literally speechless.

 

You're right, they don't stay for very long usually. That's true.

Brilliant! Thanks

Okay, back to the toolkit.

I am 22 years old now. I started out with Judo in 1995 or so, which sparked my interest in martial arts. I was 6 or 7 at the time. I decided to give Greco Roman wrestling a go, and I trained in Greco Roman wrestling for 4-5 years, from approximately teh age 7-12. I competed in Greco Roman wrestling and did fairly well, and I trained with guys that went to the olympics.

I started taking up Tae Kwon Do for about a year, but it wasn't for me, so I started boxing, which I did for a couple of years. In late 2008 I started doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. And in 2009 I started doing kickboxing. My current trainer in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has been to the ADCC and is a professional MMA fighter.

I've been to a seminar with one of the guys that started the Brazilian Top Team and was the jitz instructor there.

Problem: Other than that, I am probably going to be a blue belt in a few months (our head instructor hasn't been for some months because he is in Brazil), which means I am still a white belt (even though I spar and submit BJJ blue belts and judo black belts).

And I haven't been able to do the belt test at the kickboxing academy because I've had knee rehabilitation, but I am fine now. That could be a problem, I guess, since I don't have the credentials in that sense?

I am going to compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and kickboxing this summer, and get something to show on my resume.

I am going to bring in a blue belt from my club which specializes in armbars and triangles to give a few lessons (he is really good). Also a couple of other friends from the BJJ class. I might also bring in a few of the guys that trained in the olympics in Greco Roman wrestling.

I have not been an instructor before, but I am very positive that I will give these people quality training. I will also get some experience instructing before I start the MMA camp (see below, next post). I am always very technical and I know I can teach my students many great things.

After I've got a few students under my belt I will start taking up Greco Roman wrestling and boxing again and I consider start training Muay Thai in a nearby city.

 

I have been investing seriously since 2007, and I've good a good grasp on balance sheets, income statements, cash flows, efficiency ratios, sustainable competitive advantages etc. My other job as an investor is to know what to look for in a excellent company and I know a lot about making a successfull company.

The only MMA classes which were in the city belonged to our BJJ camp. But when they changed location they changed their business model of sorts and closed down the MMA section, which was only available to the blue belts anyhow.

We have a bunch of MMA fans in this city, but there are no MMA club in all of our city. None.

Phase 1:
My plan is to first start a self defense course. I will then try to recruit some of these students to our camp and make it familiar to them. I will set up posters and get a local article in the newspaper. After that I will get a gauge of the interest in the community in relation to the marketing expenditures. It will give me some experience as an instructor as well.

Phase 2:
I thought of marketing as a combination of kickboxing and brazilian jiu jitsu, a fun and dynamic form of training, wording it so it is suitable for many demographies, yet showing people it is effective for getting in shape, as well as in self defense situations. And get people to know it is the only MMA gym in our city.

Practically zero, if I can close a deal with the local health studio. We will split the income 50/50 after taxes, and I will train there for free. I talked to the CEO for a bit and she asked me to send a presentation. I am also considering of sharing expenses 50/50, with me buying 100 percent of the equipment at the end of the contract.

Because if all goes to plan, after the 12 month contract, I plan to move the location to buy my own place, with equipment and a cage.

 

They [the gym] are seriously considering an income split arrangement on a young, untried and not in any way famous instructor? Business must be ssssllllooooowwww.

So, you have some infant Judo and Greco-Roman wrestling and you've bummed around other MA's for a year or two apiece. And now, with no competitive record and no coaching experience of any kind, you're opening up shop as an MMA coach.

I'm lovin' it.

 

TKDMitch, taken from your own perspective, then yes, I wouldn´t use TKD (aka belt shop factory) as a basis for a self defense course. But yes, there are martial arts that are effective for self defense, others less so. Some people actually train martial arts to defend themselves. Even more incredibly, a lot of martial arts were developed to defend themselves from physical assault. What is self defense? It is the defense of self against an attacker. Do you see a link between martial arts and self defense then, just as you see a link between self defense and defending yourself?

I have had my share of physical assaults performed on me, unfortunately, and I know what works and what doesn´t. In a city where crime is not very frowned upon because of lack of resources by the police, I have been so lucky to come out of five of them last year without a scratch. How did that happen? It wasn´t by a jumping reverse hook kick or breaking cardboards or bricks with fists, that is for sure.

And some people have actually used these skills to defend themselves on more than one occassion, and believe in helping people feeling safer when walking outside. You certainly have a strange view of martial arts, TKDMitch.

Yes, it is so slow that.. it is the most modern gym in the city, located in the most modern part of the city, and one of the largest health studios also. It is quite fancy with televisions on the bycicles and stuff. With lots of customers.

This post has been a sarcastic rant so far, excuse me if I stepped on someone´s smelly toes.



I might also bring in two family members: One is a black belt and instructor in Shorin Ryu, the other is a green belt in Kyokushin. I think starting up in just a few months is going to be quite exciting.

 

You'd have to have a serious mental problem to not catch the fact that, as presented, most martial arts are not set up in such a way as to provide a dedicated self defense course independent of regular style specific study.
What would make your self defense classes different from your MMA classes?

Not helping your case. Those types very rarely go for genuine martial arts practice. They market to the lowest common denominator. That particular bit indicates something more like cardio kickboxing or a club owner who does not vet their trainers well at all.

 

Wait, wait... You're a white belt who runs with blue belts in BJJ, and you're unranked in a belted Kickboxing school with no competition record to speak of and zero instruction experience...?


Ask your teacher if you can teach a class once a week for him. You have no business taking anyone's money to teach them anything yet. Just send them to a genuine coach and don't start up another dead end feeder mill or cardio kickboxing house.

Have you considered taking at least one MMA match before teaching it?

 

This in my view, is probably going to be the best course of action for yourself. Even with the capital you have / business skills you state you have to open a gym, without qualifications on teaching MMA, there will be no students there. As they would prefer to pay and learn from a qualified, vastly experienced coach. (no offence)

It'll be like learning how to drive from a person who is still learning how to drive.

What you could do is possibily open a gym and hire it out. Quite a few do this.
"Here is a MMA gym - Wanted : Coaches" and then take a percentage for room hire.

Asking your coach to assist with teaching a class would be more helpful to you as a MAist right now, rather than hatching a grand scheme of a MMA gym.

 

Just so you know... opening a gym is running a business... which is pretty different to training. Keeping the books and doing the admin is big time eater. Making sure your safety protocols are in place and work is a big deal. You also want to work out any liability issues with the gym and building before training people. Health and fitness waivers are a must.

Scheduling is a big deal. There are peak hours and there are down times. How doe that jive with the rest of the people using the gym?

 

Also what is your location?

 

Now this is what I expected.. The MMA circus has evolved (should say dissolved) down to where anyone with a minimum amount of training and experience is opening up a school.. Guess it was only a matter of time before the PT Barnum saying about a sucker being born has started making its appearance..

 

Listen. To. This. Man.

However...I would say that with a bit of training almost anyone can give basic self defence classes where they essentially say "be aware, be proactive about your own safety, hit and run if you really need to do and seek better training than I can give you".

 

I'm about to open my own hospital. I've read slip's thread and have equipped myself with handwraps and a small penknife. I'll be open for business next month for simple operation etc: I'll probably specialise in plastic surgery as there's good money in that

Any tips or long waited operation required then give me a shout. If I'm busy nurse Frodo will be able to take a message :love: