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.
- 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.
- Manager-Structure your manager’s pay based on
the growth of the school, so that you are both working toward
the same goal.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 |
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