Greetings all. I had somehting come up that I'm not too sure on how to handle and thought I could gain the council of the many. All informed replies are very much appreciated.
I am though my second week after having opened a dojo in a local gym where I teach jujutsu. I have partnered with the gym owner in doing so. He provides training space, mats and ammenities to the students. I provide all other equipment and the training. We've worked out an amicable agreement on compensation and are doing better than I anticipated after only two weeks.
I had a gentleman come into the dojo last night and introduced himself as someone who was seeking my council on what steps to take to run a school. Due to the fact that my adult class was starting, I told him that we could schedule a later time and invited him to train with us for the evening. After class he advised me that he wanted to teach Shotokan Karate classes in the same training area that I teach which would, in my opinion, put him in direct competition for students (people who are members of the gym and the children of those people) from the same pool of people. Currently, I am competing with little league, gymnastics, soccer, etc...as it stands. Adding another M.A. teacher to the mix may only make the student pool more shallow.
I'm also worried about the care of the equipment as I am very meticulous to clean the mats and the training area to the point of being spotless before I leave each night. I want the equipment to last.
On the flip side, I learned in college economics and from successful business people that competition is good for the market. Thus the quandray.
~How would you handle this? Would you encourage the direct competition to run classes out of the same facility that you use? Or, would you try to force them into another facility or out of that market all together?
Agian, thanks in advance for any and all replies.
~Bill Richardson