Dojo members ?!?

[manhattan1]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me what are the normal member amount of a martial arts club ???
,and is it on the membersships alone that a martial artist make his living ???

Sincerly,

Jan.

[KenpoKev]

Jan,
Welcome to the forum.
You will find that the majority of folks here aren't in the martial arts to make a living, but a number of them can comment fairly accurately on the business aspects of commercial dojo.

Personally, I teach for free, in an outreach program with my church. We have about 75 active students and we ask for a $20 monthly donation. About half the students actually donate to the program, but that's not my concern.

The average commercial dojo in the USA uses some type of tuition collection service or "billing company" and charges anywhere from $50-$100 or more per month. Commonly, there are also fees for testing. There are financially successful schools I'm aware of that the owner earns in excess of $75,000 net, before income tax. (figure that the federal government will take about 35% of that and perhaps another 7-10% to the state)

Hope this info helps, and again, welcome to the forum.
Respectfully,

[Davemdh]

Wheter or not a Sensei will make living of teaching depends entirely on the individual. My JuJutsu insructor for example teaches more or less in his spare time, where as my Kenpo Sifu teaches 8 or 9 hours a day and makes a respectable living out of it.
Hope this helps

Dave

[red_fists]

Hi.

It also depends on where and how the Classis being taught. Teaching Full-time most probably will require a dedicated Dojo, whereas partime see below.
Over here in Japan, a lot of classes are taught in School gyms, community centers, Sports Gyms or simply even in a Park on the Weekend.

My current Sensei instructs at 5 Locations/Dojo's and the fees vary according to location.
I train at a Buddhist Temple, where we get the use of the Dojo(Tatami and all) for FREE so I only pay 2.500 Yen a month. Which is NOTHING in japan.
We have about 50 people split over 2 Classes, but Sensei graded nearly 100 Students at the last exam.
Sensei also instructs at a Sports Gym and needs to rent an Aerobics Hall, here the monthly Fee is now 23.000Yen a month (Club Fee & Dojo Fee).

Other Instructors made arrangements with their local muncipalities and offer courses via them using muncipality facilities.

A fixed dedicated venue might attract more students, but than the monthly outlay is bigger and migh result in a smaller profit margin.

red_fists
-------
aka P.A. Cech

[john rey saavedra]

Hi all,

It is not bad to collect monthly tuitions or whatever on you dojo. Even exponents of old martial arts (koryu bujutsu) like Sokaku Takeda of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu accepted three yen from the students as a fee.

No other thing could express gratitude nowadays except money. It could be used for the dojo to survive and, of course, for the sensei's taxi fare, snacks, and other stuffs for the dojo.

In the Philippines, my dojo collects 300 pesos (i.e. US$5) per month. But this amount, as I observed, burdens most of the students who have the heart for budo but do not have the money for monthly fee.

That P300, you could hardly believe, just goes to the rental of my dojo.

But I do not mind if I am not making money out of my budo life. The payments that I am receiving from my students are just their simple attitude towards the techniques and their seeming nod and smile as expression of their gratitude after each technique. You will not be forgotten this moments, I assure you all.

John Rey Saavedra
Cebu, Philippines