we are doing Buddy Week this week where students bring in a buddy and they can train for free. Most classes let us down, except the Adults, they brought 3 friends in! It sounds like all 3 will enroll with us, too! Traditionally, that is the hardest demographic for us to get new students in, so that's a win!

We just calculated our new pricing structure last night. We have a menu of options like Tony Ingram posted. We have three levels of students as well. Basic is someone that is here as an activity. Black Belt Training is someone who wants to achieve that rank. Black Belt Leadership is someone who looks at Martial Arts as a lifestyle. Leadership Students are also who we look to when hiring assistant and lead instructors. Each of those three levels has an menu of options to choose from. Option C is the baseline membership with no discounts. Option B has about 10% discount for a bigger down payment. Option A is a 15% discount for an even bigger down payment. This leaves us room to give a 25% discount for Seasonal Specials and the one day only Christmas Event Special of 30% discount. I haven't printed them up yet to post here, sorry. Essentially, our Basic Membership Option C was valued at $2000 for a 12 month membership. We are bumping that up to $2300. So it will be paid with $200 down and $175 per month. The sales psychology here is everyone likes feeling like they got a deal, so the options give them that. Every level of student follows this same convention. Oh, and we offer Family Discounts. First Student Full Price tuition, Second 25% off, Third 50% off and all others free after that. We're hoping we are targeting a good price range for everything we offer. Our American Karate system incorporates Standing Self Defense, Kick Boxing Combos, Judo Throws and Take Downs, Jiu Jitsu and of course Kicking Combos. We have to have students here minimum twice a week to get that full curriculum taught. A lot of our BBT and BBL students are here 3-5 times a week. Yeah, we're taking a leap of faith in this increase.

We're working on this same issue. What we are working on is getting some of our teens who are in our Leadership program ( they get more training and the distinctive black uniform ) to come in and help the Lead Instructor, which is either me or the only other adult instructor I have. The incentive for them is to eventually be put on pay roll at minimum wage with the idea that more capability gets more pay. I've talked to them about it in the Teen & Adult class, I've talked to the parents of these teens. They come sometimes. I'm thinking two things: 1. I can't handle everything. I need to delegate it to the other adult instructor. 2. I need to go Army on them and establish a duty roster. What else would help?

@Jerimie Fry How expensive is commercial real estate in your area? It may be a scary leap to take, but could be worth it in the end for the impact you could have on your community. Figure besides rent you will have about $2000 in other overhead and then whatever payroll you need to pass out. That would help you set your goals for student body count and then your desired average tuition. Can you handle all that plus the initial construction costs for a while till you get over 50 students? For us 50 students was the mark where the dojo pays for itself.

I don't know that we have had a toxic person per se, but a similar issue has come up. Meaning having to say good bye to people for an equally frustrating reason. Hopefully it's okay to ask about that here? I am a retired Army Officer. I am strict, while as a Dad of 5 I still like to have fun with the kids we train (and the adults, too. We have an awesome contingent of adults). I simply cannot promote someone on the basis of time they've been with us. I have refused to promote kids who don't practice on their own ( I can see it on the mats ) and don't show up to Belt Promotion Ceremonies ( they are letting their team mates down ). To me, these are all crucial Leader traits. These 4 kids I have in mind have quit. Part of me says, "Oh, well, not everyone can get to Black Belt." The business owner in me knows that hurts our monthly tuition totals. I'm facing it again with two kids in my Junior Advanced class (8-12 yr olds). I can tell they aren't practicing on their own. It's painfully obvious and it's slowing the whole class down for those that DO practice and ARE ready to learn more. When I see them next, my plan is to pull their dads on the mats and try to impress on them how everything we teach is integrated and you have to become proficient in all of it, even if you are really good at one or two of the 5 aspects we train. This should help dads understand why I'm so strict on these requirements and give them drills they can practice at home. What else would you all suggest? What else am I not thinking of?

I am blessed to be a part of one of Utah's most well known American Karate systems. We teach Carlos Mochado Jiu Jitsu as part of our curriculum. This means we have a premium product to offer. While Self Defense is the core of what we train, our real out come is teaching Leadership through the Discipline of Martial Arts. The confidence and capability increase the average parent sees in their students is what really has built our brand loyalty. We just moved to a new facility; our plaza owner exercised their right to relocate us within the plaza. This finally pushed us over the edge with our pricing. We are executing the first increase in the short history of our school in May. We've been open for about 3 years now. We are targeting the mean monthly price of $180 per month. We've been looking at our average monthly income per student ratio and need to drive it up. Your vids both confirm that we are on the right track with a defined curriculum and a focus on Self Defense and Leadership; and they pushed us to stop underselling our premium product. Thank you for the encouragement.