ONE LOCATION, OR TWO?

By Sharon Tosten
AMERIKICK® Martial Arts
Amerikick.com

You are doing great, you have a high student count, great staff and are ready to expand and open that second location. But should you? Many school owners have found that when they opened the second location the first location suffered terribly, mainly because they discounted the value of their own presence at their first school. The time to open a second school is when you are no longer needed at your first school. This is a tough decision for anyone. Many of your high ranking students may feel slightly deserted when you spend time at the new location. Getting a new location off the ground is difficult enough, and even more challenging when your focus is divided.

If you can comfortably take a month off at your first location, you most likely have enough solid staff memberstoexpand to an additional location. We have found that when opening a new location it’s better to slightly over staff and make sure there is more than one instructor for all the classes. You don’t want to burn out your best instructors, and you may find that some people can’t handle a promotion. Sometimes the person that you think is ready to lead - is not, they may be great as a part of a team, but fail at when they are not guided on a daily basis, and are inept at managing multiple tasks. Having back up is essential. When you own one school you can always jump in and cover if a staff member is out. Before you open a new school, you’ll need to have one or two people available for when the unexpected occurs.

The next question is- Do you really want to expand? Do you want to work basically double the hours and spend more time managing people than teaching? If all that you really love to do is concentrate on teaching, than you will probably be happiest in one great school. However, if your management skills are as strong as your teaching skills, than opening multiple locations can be rewarding and life altering. It also gives your young instructors a chance to stay in the martial arts as a career and gives you a chance to help them. Here are a few tips to starting a great second location.

1. Distance - Be sure to place your second school close enough to your first school so that you benefit from joint advertising, and far enough away to avoid drawing from the same population base.
2. Manager-Structure your manager’s pay based on the growth of the school, so that you are both working toward the same goal.
3. Be prepared- Resolve yourself to going back to basics. All the time, effort and energy that you put into building your first school, you will need to double building your second school.
4. Financing- Be realistic about the cost of opening the new location, salaries, and the salary you will have to pay someone at your original school to cover for you. Be very, very conservative on how long it will take to see a profit. The last thing that you want is to see is all of your profit from one school going to support the other.
5. Have Fun- Even though you will face many new challenges when opening a second location, the rewards can be excellent and the journey memorable.

Sharon and her husband Dennis Tosten are the founders of AMERIKICK® Martial Arts. The Fastest growing Martial Arts Franchise in the Country. She is also author of the award winning fiction series Troy’s Amazing Universe K for Karate. Find out more at Amerikick.com