Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Benjamin Liu]

I think it's more false ideology and jealousy then anti-capitalism. I think you'll find it in any group that teaches morality or spirituality in one form or another. Of course no one should make money unless of course it's mostly heading back to the home office.

That is part of it, but jealousy is also a big part of anti-capitalism.

Just look at the common words and phrases these types use to slam other martial arts instructors or prop themselves up:


"I'm not in it for the money" -  I usually see this used by someone who makes no money and uses it as an excuse, someone who says it to mean that he is morally superior to those who do make money, or to try to justify his teaching.  I've seen good instructors say this to try to justify charging some money to cover expenses while IMO a good instructor should not be ashamed to charge what he thinks he is worth.  On the bad side, I've seen people use this to demand blind loyalty from their students.

"He's a good businessman" - While this might be a compliment in Entreprenur Magazine, on martial arts forums it is almost always an insult, implying that the instructor in question is a bad instructor and just good at business. 

McDojo - Taken from McDonald's, a common cultural symbol of capitalism.  At first this was used to refer to schools that milked as much money out of each student as possible, promoted people prematurely so they could set up franchise schools, and usually had poor training.  Now they apply it to anyone who makes money, they think makes money, or just people they don't like.

[Bryant]

on pricing...
I have noticed some interesting psychology.
If you don't charge anything people either think what you are teaching is useless or that there has to be some sort of catch. If you charge enough to imply quality instruction without stepping into what would be considered exorbitant you can at least get people to take a look. For private instruction it's even more so, if you don't charge enough for private lessons you will get no interest.
-B.

[TLE]

Excellent point. Better to charge more than less. Cut rate prices do not generate students who stay, pay and recruit others. Iv'e been there. If you don't highly value your time and expertise, then why should your perspective student?

[Webby]

The best of both world's is when you get, paid but your students attend for free.
You get a local authority ( council, town hall dept. ) to fund you to teach or you get a grant from a charity/church group/charitable trust or in the U.K from the national lottery. It's not easy to do, it takes time and effort. You have to have a spotless business plan and action plan as well as a sound understanding of the process. You could also try business angel's for funding and/or a soft loan to cover some of your student's cost's from a cooperative society. 

Serious fiscal crisis and fincanal down turns create opportunities for socail enterprise's, community interest companies and the like. It's worth being a where of the options even if it's not your cup of tea.           

[Hock]

That becomes ye ol "capitalism" problem...at least in theory. I do see where that would work for some. (we don't have ANY of those programs in the USA by the way) I aspire to make more money that any government set standards. That desire pushes me on to inspire, change and create. But for many people stuck in certain situations, the idea of getting a set fee is smarter and attractive for them. I can understand that.

Here is a weird deal on this very subject I discovered in Germany. Maybe unintended consequences?

     One of the weeknights last October in Germany I did one of this one-night clinics at a jujitsu school. This particular JJ school is like one of these non-profit, government operated kind of deals. 67 students came in for the clinic. It was a 3 hour clinic and they each paid something like...I don't know...15 Euros? 20? I can't remember. People drove in from three hours away!
     I asked Christof, who had organized it, why we have never seen any these people in my regular seminars there, yet they came in from afar and were all excited to be there. He said that many of these people are of a different mindset about martial arts. It is like a government program of sorts. They pay little and they would NEVER ever dream of paying 150 to 200 Euros to attend a 16 or 18 hour, two day seminar. But this smaller amount for a few short hours, was okay.
     The group was run by a police officer and they all were wonderful people. You can imagine that it is hard for me to teach anything significant in this short period of time, but we had some fun. A few did swear they would attend regular weekend seminars.

     We have normal-sized seminars all over Germany. But, maybe never over 40 people. (The police ones I do there are also government funded/supported so to speak.)

     These people pay normal, standard seminars fees. But this government-supported mindset for many, caused all these other people to never come see me or any other in a seminar by traveling folks.

     I just that was interesting side issue.

     I heard a great line the other day, "Bankruptcy is to capitalism as hell is to religion."
If Americans could adhere to this? As in no bailouts? People would have to be more careful. Have to actually fix problems, not postpone them.  

Hock


 

[Webby]

Hock I'm with you, but must point out that there are socail enterprises in The States, I know of a group linked thought British Business Angel's called American Business Angels ( there on Face book ) We call it development funding, but in the states it's socail contract and third sector citizens. There's some state side info. on capital for social ventures and third sector fundraising on Google. Walmart for example have a charity trust, my advice is dig deep and there's community award schemes and development funds out there.
When it comes to grants, loan's or general finacing my advice is : leave no stone unturned.
Midsummer I went to the London Branch of The European Regional Development Fund. They had a conference on funding. I was not invited, but turned up and refused to leave. I was a pain in the ass and would not take no for an answer. They gave me a grant to shut me up ! Where there's a will, there's a way !!               

[whitewolf]

Web man---you are  ok-WW