By Rob Colasanti

Research indicates that the majority of instructors in our industry teach part-time. Many of these individuals can be considered small school operators; they teach between 50 and 150 students. Some keep their schools at this level by choice. Others are struggling to grow, but simply haven’t learned how to do it, yet.

NAPMA FREE OFFER

If you happen to be in the latter category, then I’m glad you’re reading this article, because you will learn five dangerous trends in our industry and the one solution to avoid them.

1. Large Schools Are Becoming Larger
When NAPMA was founded in 1994, the staff was quite impressed if a school owner mentioned he had 250 students. Now, school owners tell us all the time that they have 400 – 1,000 students, or more. In fact, a recent issue of NAPMA’s Martial Arts Professional Magazine featured the Chang’s, a NAPMA member husband and wife team, who teach approximately 2,000 active students under one roof! They are one of countless examples of large schools becoming larger. It’s clear that the big schools are continuing to grow; and this trend is resulting in less market share for the smaller schools in the same geographic areas.

2. Widening Financial Gap
It’s clear that many of the well-run, larger schools have many more resources to allocate towards the strategies and tactics that will further fuel their growth. For instance, they have the cash flow to afford much nicer looking schools, better locations, more expensive marketing and higher quality staff members. Smaller schools often cannot afford these luxuries, because they do not have the resources. This trend is becoming more obvious each year, as the financial gap between big schools and small schools becomes wider.

3. Large School Expansion
Many larger schools have the resources to expand into multiple locations and that’s exactly what more of them are doing. It’s very common today for instructors to systemize their first school very well and then expand into a second, third or fourth location. In fact, there is serious momentum to license and franchise more schools. This is a trend that can make it more challenging for small schools to grow. Clearly, it can become more difficult for a small school to compete in a particular market if a chain of competitor schools surrounds them.

4. Large Schools Dominate Market Perception
The owners of large schools are generally more business minded, aggressive, innovative and financially skilled. They are better self-promoters and better marketers; therefore, these individuals are generally very focused on creating a strong image or recognizable brand within their communities.

Because of these factors and others, they create the perception that they are the martial arts “expert” in their area. In fact, it’s best for business when you’re considered THE martial arts star in your town.

Truth be told, many times the so-called “expert” is not the most experienced martial artist or toughest fighter. Who is, or isn’t, is generally a matter of opinion anyway. The key point here, however, is that the perception is usually the reality, and more and more larger schools are creating the best perceptions in the public domain. Naturally, this is another factor that adds to their growth and diminishes potential market share for smaller schools.

5. Instructors Are Becoming More Business Savvy
Never before in the history of the martial arts has there been so much quality information on running a school. In addition, this information has never been more affordable or easy to acquire. Plus, a whole new generation of instructors is emerging; and those instructors have a totally different mindset than their predecessors. They’re much more business savvy. This trend will continue indefinitely and result in more schools becoming larger. This, too, could obviously make it more challenging for certain small schools to compete.

In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with having a small school if that’s what you so desire; however, if your school is small and it’s not by choice, then you really should do something about it, before these five trends begin to threaten your survival.

In my introduction, I promised you a solution. I believe that solution is education. The fact is that our industry is constantly evolving. You, too, must evolve or you risk being left behind. You evolve by learning, growing and investing in your education…and then taking massive action to achieve the results you want. For this reason, I encourage you to visit NapmaFreeOffer.com to learn more about how to begin receiving the best school growth information in the industry, for an investment that any instructor can afford. It’s time to build the martial arts school of your dreams.

Rob Colasanti is the president of NAPMA, a veteran black belt of more than 20 years, the author of How to Build the Martial Arts School of Your Dreams, an ACMA certified instructor and a popular speaker on the subject of martial arts school operations. You may join NAPMA’s Maximum Impact Program and receive $2,312.10 worth of free gifts at NapmaFreeOffer.com