Adult only School???

[kaliace]

I was wondering if an adult’s only Martial arts/Fitness school can survive. So much of what I see in my neck of the woods are McDojo’s geared only to children. I know that is the life blood of any successful school, but I wanted to see if there is a chance an school would survive on adults alone?

[pressureguy]

Mine is doing pretty well, but it is not all-adult. I limit class to ages 10 and up, but this may pertain to you. I do not teach any younger than ten because the really young ones are just being babysat and the 7-9 year olds are going to quit when they find out they have to learn a lot (I am generalizing--this does not include every child).
Also, I run out of a community center where I have close to zero overhead. In my area, if you calll the rec and community centers, having a black belt (or teaching certificate) is like gold. If you call enough places, you will have one or more centers here wanting you to teach.

pg

[kaliace]

where in missouri are you located?

Capital City, The Jewel of Missouri......

I am not sure I can make the numbers work, but who knows?

[owarujitsu]

adult classes ususally fizzle b/c of lifestyles and work.....ditto onthe kids under 10 thing....baby sitting is not fun when kids get no discipline at home

[ObiRonKnbi]

i think an adult-only school can work in the right location.

in los angeles, for example, there's a krav maga for adults only and they've been around for a while. rickson gracie's school is in that area too and i've only seen adult men in there. my guess is that it works probably because of all the corporate offices nearby and UCLA college campus is nearby as well. if you're trying to open up in a suburb... you'll probably need kids to survive.

if you don't like to teach kids, you can sublease your space and an early timeslot to another teacher who can handle kids. in my school, parents like to sign their kids up for early classes (3 or 4 p.m)..... and adults like later at night (7 p.m.)

good luck

[kaliace]

I had thought about that as well. lease out time slots to people who had systems for kids. Now I just need to find that dude or dudette.

[jonbey]

Often the money is with the kids, but an adult school can survive, you just need to promote it well.

[thekuntawman]

yes, it can. i been all-adult since 1992. i now have a school accepts kids, but i just own it, i hired a teacher to teach the classes. in my school, i just focus on what we are good at. it makes me happier, and i can develop my specialty and get better at it.

see this website, www.goodtogreat.com , he wrote a book, and my consultant adviced me to read it. its a really good business book and they have something called "hedgehog concept", means, if you do ONLY your specialty, which you are best at it, you love to do it, and it makes you money, your going to succed. i tried all that business stuff before, EFC, MAsuccess, and none of them believe adults only will work. but it can.

[Ryan Wheaton]

You Can Be Successful with Adults Only

I realize I'm answering an old question but for those that are finding this topic for the first time I definitely believe you can have a studio that only teaches adults. I know because I have run an adults only studio for 8 years in Salt Lake City Utah. I don't know if you can have a studio as large and profitable as one with kids, but that doesn't mean you can't be successful on some level. This approach has given me many rewards and I can say from experience if that's how you want to run things, run after it with everything you have! You might not have the largest in town, but you will have a lot less drama in your life combating disgruntled parents.

[thekuntawman]

ryan,

i saw your website for school owners, and i think your site is the best i seen already. its very good stuff there. i'm sendint the link to all my friends who teach.

[Ghost]

i have no idea who in their right mind would want to teach kids, you should be fine teaching adults.
I mean if you cant make a gym teaching adults then there is just no point at all.

[Ryan Wheaton]

ryan,

i saw your website for school owners, and i think your site is the best i seen already. its very good stuff there. i'm sendint the link to all my friends who teach.

Thank you for the feedback. I do appreciate it!

[thekuntawman]

ghost,

teaching kids dont mean the guy is selling out the art. every serious art or sport starts with some kind of training for kids. look at boxing, gymnastics, wrestling, even military (rotc) has a kids part. the problem is, when people certifies them as experts, now you're looking at selling out the art.

some of our best fighters, started out training as kids.

if you go to any muay thai gym in thailand, any kyokushinkai school in japan, or in the USA... palmer park gym (sugar ray leonard's boxing gym), round one gym (where many champions started), even the gracie headquarters, what is making the bills get paid? kids. and many kids from those classes will grown up to become some of the baddest fighters around.

[8stepmantis]

I have an adult only school. In fact, I also don't have a BS cardio class or anything other than combat kungfu and qigong. The people there love it and I cultivate an environment I want to be in. It takes much better marketing skill to draw the right crowd. There is enough market for what I am doing to sustain it and for it to grow. I know the things I could do to make a lot more money, but I wouldn't love the classes, and so, neither would the students.