is $10,000 a month means your "mcdojo"?

[thekuntawman]

i saw a very interesting article in martial arts industry article, "10,000 buck a month means your a McDojo? my home boy says it does, i say it dont.

i dont think so. everyone has to learn business in order to survive. i think i was told by everyone in 1991, when i was planning to open my school, this wont work that wont work. thank GOD for competition karate. i been in business 14 years, and anybody who been to my school will tell you, i have my windows boarded up, i do not have childrens class (teen boys only), no visitors to the main class, no women. students gets bruises when they spar, they train very hard. my website is built by a 13 years old kid. this year i only have a two line ad in the yellow pages. and i am not rich, but i have a pretty good income.

you learn as you get older and make mistakes, and i can learn a lot from the ones we call "mcdojo". there is no reason a good teacher has to live like a poor man. i dont make 10,000 a month, but if i did, i believe i could do it doing the same things i do today. maybe my advertising gets smarter, or my tuition collection changes, or maybe changed a little bit in the classes. a sincere teacher can still make decent living and not sell out his art. but its hard learning it. you have to learn to talk to people, espcially when they look at your school is in the "hood", your students are "ghetto", it sometimes scares new people, or the equipment is old. you have to learn what to say when a guy wants to "thnk about it". dont just say, okay call me later, ask why? theres a lot of techniques a commercial school uses to bring students in the door and you could use it instead of water down the class.

i have seen some teachers make lots of money just by changing the sign on the building, or moving down the street. sometimes you could change your ad, and get lots of people. i always criticize the ones who sell a whole program on tape, that's fma mc dojo, you dont see to many guys with a school. i even saw arnis dancing! (hip hop), that's mc dojo!

but if some guy opens a school and he is teaching good art, and he has 100+ students doesnt make him a "ronald mcguro"

i dont have a point, i was just thinking about a conversation i had with a friend on the phone. i thought i could share it with you guys.

[eXcessiveForce]

anybody who says it means McDojo, is jealous that they have been unable to do it themselves.


I know many people who make well over that amount. Dan Inosanto comes to mind

[lionleo]

it all boils down to passion.I have not attained even the first step of my desire, but what is important is passion..either with one or 100 students as longs as the passion of sharing what youbeleive will save your life in an eventuality is what matters!
my two cents. and i agree jealousies arise..but instead of making it negative, use it as a driving force to do better and have more passion...

[Karl_]

I think the problemm with the so called mc dojos is that the quality of teaching will decrease because the Intsructor teacher or whatever you call him will not have the time to go throug every student....so he will be force to have some instructosr under him who agyin will have some under and so that everything will be watered down....
Im not saying that it happend with all but I think most of the time these can happend.....

[thekuntawman]

i am not making 10 grand a month, but i use to think 50 students was too many, and now i see i can handle that many students and they can still learn. if i double my enrollment, and get 100 students i will have way more than 10,000 i believe i can still get the same quality, but it will be hard work.

i think the real mcdojos, are true "mcd" because they are not paying attention to the studetns they teach, and they push them through too fast too soon. the curriculum is full of techniques that need the bridge between training and street, and they dont have it. i agree that its hard to keep the quality good when you have a big class, but it can be done. many schools have large numbers, look at the schools owned by masutatsu oyama, and his boys were bad! from pictures it looks like a hundred in one room at the same time! if the teacher cares to make good quality students he can get it. it will take more time, and more work, but its possible.

i think more school owners should learn the recruting techniques and the talking techniques of the large schools. they can show a small guy a lot about improving the bottom line. and its up to the teacher if he's going to make money AND good fighters, or make money and, oh well!

when i first came to california, a very rich teacher told me, mustafa your dreaming. either go into business to make money, or go into business to make fighters, impossible to do both." i dont agree.

and yeah, i agree i think lots of people who say McDojo are either not understanding business, or they are jealous.

[Karl_]

I dont say that if u have 100 students you have a mcdojo, mc dojo for me means that you have a lot of schools (many citys in the country u live and even some abroad)....these is a real mc dojo and dont get me wrong Its nothing wrong to make money so but what I say before is still true, the quality will not be the same because you cannot be in many places at one time...thats all what I say.....

[William]

Something one of my instructors once told me....

Though I don't necessarily like the quote, it often rings true when running large groups (depending on socioeconomic location).

"Develop a small group of fighters to make your name, and the cream-puffs (the rest) to keep the doors open."

I agree, you can run larger groups and still keep it real. It helps to have advanced students to lend a hand. And hard sparring to test the tools and keep the theoretical mindset checked. If you can run a large group without having to water things down to make it palatable to the masses, then more power to you.



William

[thekuntawman]

william and karl

i agree with both of you. a teacher will have much better success if he has a few students instead of a lot. but when you only have a few students you cannot pour all of yourself into the teaching because you have to work another job, you are tired from your another job, or you are worried about money...at the same time, a teacher with lots of experience can do better then a young teacher when it comes to big classes. today, i can handle a classroom of 20-30 students better than when i was starting out at 22 years old. back then i was more concerned with my own training and looking tough, instead of teaching a new guy to become a good fighter. when i had a student who had no courage, or he was lazy, or weak, i did not want this kind of students, and they didnt stay long anyway. today, i learned to motivate the lazy guy, and baby up his bravery until he got tough. these are the kinds of things you see as a teacher, and you learn to develop the slow learner, not just the fast learner. in a large class, an inexperienced teacher could not do it.

i been struggling with, maybe i should have a tae kwon do class / kids class to add to my income, just to have the school i really want. i am glad i didnt. you know, with prayer, God allows me to have the school i want, and still make money, and i dont have any students i am ashamed of! so it is a slow process, to make a traditional school work. i dont have the education, i dont do forms, i am not flashy, and i dont have money. plus i am in a seminar town, where the best FMA people bart hubbard, guy kinanahan, and others) do not have schools, where the seminar guys (wont mention there names) have the big pretty schools.

[thekuntawman]

also,

i think as long as the teacher cares about if his students learn, and he trains them hard when he has them in front of him, then he can avoid the McDojo image. but if he is giving black belts to 10 year old kids (in 2 or 3 years), doing arnis to rap music, and making kids run around saying "yes sir" and called that discipline, then, he is a McGuro...

[Karl_]

Its true what you say, If u cannot take the money to live for u and family from teaching than u have to work extra and as u say the time is no more on your side to teach as u would like.....I know what u mean and I hope you will be more and more succesfull everyday with your school.......
Best regards
Karl

[McDojoJKD]

LLOYD IRVIN OF MARYLAND IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF A MILLIONAIRE MARTIAL ARTS owner whose students kick but in MMA, and BJJ grappling. There students are awesome and he makes the money, its because he really puts a lot of time ORANIZATION AND EFFORT. Most martial arts instructors are too busy eating sandwiches, talking on teh cell phone or trying to get in some female students panties to even realize who is paying or not. I was in Brasil and i trained with a bjj instructor who was living in his car because he could not pay his bills and his wife divorced him and took all his money. I have trained bjj in the states wtih instructors who were broke , disorganized and were scared to compete because they wanted to save face. I will pay $250 a month if my instructor is tight organized, good and cares about me becomeing a real good martial artists.
Get paid nothing wrong with that.

[DragonsWay]

Not at all if you are getting $10,000 a month or more it doesn't mean you are Mcdojo but good at business. Not many earn that much a month from a martial arts studio.

[thekuntawman]

i agree!

business is what keeps the martial arts growing. but i know it can become the spread of bad martial arts. but a teacher who is not worried about paying his light bills can focus more on teacing.