Why I Think Martial Arts Business Consulting is a Farce

Posted by Mike Massie on February 17, 2009

Honestly... are you being serious? For $500 an hour, I'd expect better...

I’d like to elaborate on something I wrote in yesterday’s post…

Namely, that I think martial arts business consulting is a farce.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I think it’s actually advisable that you seek good solid business information from reliable and proven sources when starting a martial arts school.

And, you should continue to educate yourself and expand your business knowledge and acumen for as long as you operate your dojo…

However, that doesn’t mean you need to hire some hotshot “consultant” to show you how it’s done. In fact, that can be a huge mistake on your part.

Allow me to illustrate with a just a few real-life stories regarding close calls with that most dangerous of species, martialis bidness know notus, a.k.a., the “martial arts business consultant”.

Exhibit “A” – One of our members at Starting-a-Martial-Arts-School.com recently related to us how he hired a big-time martial arts business consultant for advice on starting a school. The advice he received? “Finance your school on credit cards, and then come back and talk to me when you can afford my more expensive consulting package.” Seriously, that was the advice he was given.

Exhibit “B” – Some friends of mine got hooked up with a martial arts billing company that also offered consulting services (it was how they justified the “vig” of 10% on collecting your own money for you). They were advised to flat out lie to their customers by telling them their registration fee was for insurance, even though the only insurance they had was liability that protected the school, not the student. My friends, of course, never actually implemented the advice…

Exhibit “C” – Back when I was availing myself of the services of a similar organization (how do you think I formed my opinions?) I was advised that a good way to find people to teach your classes was to hire high school coaches and personal trainers off the street… even if they had zero martial arts experience. Apparently, the idea was to give them a crash course on “coaching martial arts”, have them “coach” your students, and then the black belts would come in to test the students for rank and collect the cash.

Needless to say, I never acted on this advice.

Moronic Advice Isn’t The Only Reason You Don’t Need Them…

Granted, some of the advice you may get from these consulting companies is solid advice – I don’t argue that point. As with any service business, you have some bad companies, and some good ones. I think that’s just common sense.

However, the thing is you don’t need to pay $500 an hour for some person 1,000 miles away to tell you how to run your business.

In fact, your best option is often to simply do your own research, and then follow what your research and your gut tell you to do.

Nobody knows your business and market like you do. Sure, you need to learn and follow industry “best practices” in order to hedge your bets in your favor. But, you can get that information from inexpensive, reliable sources for much, much less than what an expensive “consultant” will charge you.

That’s Where M.A.S.A.I. Can Help…

And that’s where The Martial Art School Alliance International can help – by providing you a place where you can get solid, reliable business information, education, training, and resources, and at a price that won’t break the bank.

At just $149 a year (yes, that’s correct – I said “one-hundred-forty-nine dollars a year”) you can’t beat the price. Compare that to programs that are in excess of $200 – $1,000 a month and I think you’ll see that M.A.S.A.I. membership just makes sense for your school.

Now, stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, because I am going to explain the details of how M.A.S.A.I. membership will help you and your martial arts school.

Until next time,

The Difference Between Billing Companies and Payment Processors

Posted by Mike Massie on March 14, 2008

Using a payment processor can automate tuition collection and improve your cash flow

Q: What’s the difference between billing company “X” and companies like Easy Payment Processing?

A: Traditional billing companies invoice or electronically bill your accounts, and then call your clients if they’re late and attempt to collect. They used to be a good idea, since most offered useful business advice in addition to the billing services.

However, when you consider the 7-10% of gross tuition collections they charge it is painfully obvious you pay dearly for that advice. Compare that with using a payment processor for a gateway fee of just $20 – $30 a month (plus your CC processing fees) and you can see why I say it just doesn’t make sense to use them anymore.

Besides, good business information is everywhere – you really don’t need a billing company to tell you how to run your business when you can just read the information on sites like this (not to mention the conflict of interest involved).

The other issue is how poorly these companies can treat your clients when they are late… something you cannot afford, especially in this economy.

Easy Payment Processing is a payment processor, not a collection agency. Everything is handled automatically through an online control panel (completely secure and encrypted) and you do the calling if a client’s payment doesn’t go through.

The upside includes low cost, complete control over your accounts, and ease of use; plus, you don’t get a lot of bad blood between you and your students because no one is calling them to harass them about paying. The old fairy tale about “you don’t want to be the bill collector” that the billing companies tell is a crock. The truth is, NO ONE HAS TO BE THE BAD GUY.

Note: If you decide to handle your billing in-house (wise choice), my advice is to just be friendly and polite when you call and just let them know something went wrong with their payment – if they like you, people understand and appreciate your calling them personally and they generally pay as soon as they can.

Downside to some payment processors is that you might have to wait to get your EFTs in your account – we’re seeing a 5-10 day turnaround on ours; however, our CC pmts are processed and in our account in just 48 hours. My wife loves it though – she says her life is much easier since we started doing our billing this way.

—

For more information, visit http://easypaymentprocessing.com/.