Posted by Mike Massie on July 16, 2008
The other day, a parent of one of my intermediate students came into my office. I could tell by the look on her face that she had something to tell me.
“My son won’t be coming back after his membership is up.”
I began to explain to her that at his belt level, kids often get discouraged due to the increased expectations, etc…
But she cut me off. “Actually, Mr. Massie, I think you’re too easy on him. I don’t think he’s being challenged enough, and he’s getting bored.”
I thought about it, and realized I HAD been too easy on that class. Although I normally tend to ask a lot of my students, I had been laying off on them since the end of the school year when all the kids get “Schoolitis” and just want to focus on play and fun.
This is an important point to remember:
In our efforts to help our students succeed, sometimes we help them too much. And in the process, we forget that the vast majority of students who come to martial arts don’t just want a challenge, they crave it.
That’s why they’re at your school instead of soccer practice or swimming lessons. Those activities don’t offer the same rigorous mind-body exertion that martial arts does.
So, back to this student…
Monday, I dogged all my classes out. And, they all left smiling and sweating. And even though all the kids
came in the next day complaining about being sore, they were smiling about it…. bragging about how hard their class was the previous day.
I’ll bet dollars to donuts that kid sticks around after his membership is up – and I bet I end up keeping a few others that I had no idea were leaving…
So long as I remember to challenge him and the rest of my students, every single class.
Posted by Mike Massie on March 6, 2008
To fee or not to fee?
After much deliberation, I recently decided I would no longer charge testing fees at my school.
Why? I’ve seen way too much abuse of this practice in other schools, and decided to implement a “no testing fee” policy as just one more thing that sets our school apart from other schools.
However, my students will still be responsible for paying the retail cost of their belt at the time they are promoted (about $7).
Now, I know that martial arts belt testing fees are a considerable source of income for many martial arts schools. But you have to ask yourself what kind of message it sends your students when you’re basing a good deal of your budgeting on income that comes from bumping them in rank.
I think it’s pretty obvious… there’s a subtle message there that says, “If you pay me, you’ll get your belt.”
Now, I know that many of you out there are very attached to those “promotion and testing” fees…
Maybe you started it because you needed the extra money, maybe everyone else in your organization does it so you feel obligated to toe the line… or maybe you’re the type of school owner that runs a belt factory where you attract students by charging half of what the other schools do, then hit your students up for sky-high belt fees every couple of months or so to make up the difference.
(Here’s a thought… why not just charge enough to cover your expenses and salary in the first place?)
Whatever the case may be, I think you are doing yourself and your students a major disservice by continuing to charge promotion fees.
You may disagree with me, but personally I like how it feels to test a student when we both know that the only thing influencing my decision is their performance on their exam.
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Mike Massie is the author of Small Dojo Big Profits and runs a martial arts business coaching website for new instructors and small school owners, StartingAMartialArtSchool.com.
