How Rich Instructors Charge For Their Programs

By Leigh Childs

When most instructors decide to open a martial arts business they have no idea of what they should charge in order to run a successful school, stay in business and make a profit.

Most instructors will do their calculations in reverse. They will start with what they think they CAN charge rather than what they actually need or prefer to charge.

After studying over 1000 school owners, some of them multimillionaires I will uncover the formula for exactly what you need to charge to run and maintain a highly successful and profitable martial arts business.

Sadly, when deciding what to charge most instructors will actually look towards some of their competitors and base their decision on what they are charging (and normally decide on charging a little less!)

Price is actually one of the worst ways in which to determine the sale of your programs in fact, for that matter in almost any business. Price is only a concern until real value is established.

So how do we establish real value within our martial arts business? First of all it's making it look smart, clean and professional. Next it's ensuring that everyone is treated appropriately when they walk in or make that initial enquiry over the telephone, another words being professionally trained and schooled in the business. So how does this all work towards uncovering what you should actually charge for your programs?

Once you have established that you are going to run a professional school the next step is to choose how much you should charge, but you first need to decide how much is it that you want to make from your Martial Arts business? - and you can do this by using a simple formula:

  1. 1. Calculate what your monthly expenses will be. Make sure you include ALL expenses, rent, cams, utilities, insurance, maintenance, staff wage, etc

  2. 2. Calculate what your personal expenses are right now: Mortgage, rent, utilities, vehicles, insurance, savings

  3. 3. Decide how much money you need each month to enjoy the lifestyle you really want.

Add the three numbers together. It this point you should have come up with a number that will probably be in the $10,000 range or more! The average Karate school in the United States has less than 100 students in it. But I know that you are going to be above average, right? So lets say you will have 100 students in your program. You simply then divide your monthly total by the number of students you think you will have for example:

Total monthly budget needed to cover costs and my lifestyle : $15,000

Divided by 100 students: $15,000 / 100 = $150.00 per month.

Just for your reference the most successful instructors or Rich instructors as I like to call them charge between $150 and $200 a month for tuition
in their schools.

Good luck in making some more informed decisions about what to charge for your martial arts tuition.