Commercial Hung Gar / Kung Fu School Owners

[ginosifu]

I am especially looking for Hung Gar Teachers who run commercial kung fu schools. However, all are welcome to comment.
How many of you keep 100 students or more at any given time? How do you keep all 100 happy and continuously paying tuition? Do you teach children? What age do you start? Whats your secret to keeping more than a 100 students in your school?

ginosifu

[Yogicmotion]

I do not run a kung fu studio but I do run yoga studio and I do nearly have 100 regular members.

Here is what I do and I would do even if I had a martial art studio.

I have an introduction offer of unlimited beginner classes for 1 month. I charge $30 US.

all the classes on my schedule are beginner classes so it is pretty sweet deal for newbies. I spend the month building repore' with the new person. I focus on building the persons basics really well and give them alot of personal attention.

Once the offer is over I have a couple of options for them to choose membership.

Here is the link to my pricing page

http://calyogacompany.com/pricing.html

Most will sign up for the gold membership or orange. I only sell Limited amount VIP packages a year and those become my personal projects for the year (they tend to buy extra services and pay for additional workshops).

I use a database service called mindbody online http://www.mindbodyonline.com/ that handles the monthly easypay, which are on the first of the month. It also handles accounting and other admin features you need to know to run a successful studio. Such things like how well attended are certain classes or class times.

For more advanced classes or other forms exercise (for instance Kung Fu)
I do in a workshop format and give members and VIP discounts.

Since I adopted the member idea in my business, my retention went up 75% in 6 months. Members are the ones who will pay the bills and feed your family. Students are the ones who want deeper knowledge and will help you build the studio.

Now as to programming, what I am planning on doing to build my martial arts program, will be start beginners with Kung Fu Basics class (conditioning, stances, basic punches, stretching) in workshop format to build a crowd, but the end of the summer I should people have enough to have it as a regular class and not additional.

Once the get better, I'll do the same thing with forms, More then likely Lau ga or Mui fa. Workshops first, once a month and they can practice between after the basics class. After awhile I should have enough people who know forms to have regular class.

The key in any fitness business is consistency. If you have beginner classes at 6 pm then during the week the should always be at 6 pm. If you split the days, Mon, Wed and Friday pair well. Tues and Thursday generally do well as pair also.

It also has to be a little fun and newbies need ALOT of personal attention at first.

It would help to know the type of crowd you are trying to attract. Are you looking for guys only? Do you have a good amount of women, what about kids? What type of groups are you good with?

If the class is good, a little structure in pricing and consistent schedule your studio WILL grow within a year.

[ginosifu]

Thanks for the reply Brian. I have been running my kung fu school for the last 13 years with an average of 80-100 students at all times. I have usually 50-60 adults and 30-40 kids.

I have 1 trial class, the cost is only $10 USD and usually the people who can afford it sign up right after their class.

We have had a lot of success with our Northern Shaolin class. The basic class is geared for all beginners, women and even the elderly. Then there are seperate classes for intermediate and advanced students.

I also have Black Belt club for students who want a bit more. It offers additional forms, weapons, sparring etc for an additional price.

Then I have Weapon master which solely focus on weapon forms for those who crave that saber / spear etc etc form.

The kids have kung fu basics and alot of Shuai Chiao. Wrestling will eliminate some young girls but is good overall for the most part. All kids love to wrestle. Shuai Chiao or wrestling offers contact without the brutality that sparring has in the eyes of parents.

Only advanced kids spar and as they grow in the style, fighting just is a natural progression from Shuai chiao.

My only set back has been Hung Gar. My classes in the past have been kind of rough and most quit after a couple of months. No women have made it past the Trial class.

I have decided that I will "lighten up" on HG class. To survive in this modern world I need all classes to filled with students staying more than a day or a month.

Right now I have 2 HG students and 2 Monkey students... not enough to warrant their time spot. I need to work on the currculum to make it like the Northern Shaolin curriculum.

thank again
ginosifu

[Yogicmotion]

If it not broke why fix it then? Do you personal want to teach more Hung the northern?

Maybe the special event idea could work here for you well.

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[ginosifu]

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