Yesterday I wrote to you about various common methods of setting up a class schedule, and the advantages and pitfalls of each.
Today I'm going to start showing you how to set up a schedule that is scalable, and also convenient for your clients.
Let's get started...
First, let's talk numbers.
If we go with the same average number of attendees per class that I gave you earlier in this series (15 - this is not a hard number, just an estimate), then we can extrapolate how many students our dojo can enroll at max enrollment, based on our class schedule.
Remember how I explained that, if your classes are too long, you may only be able to fit one kid's class and one adult class in your schedule per night?
And, if you're teaching on a Mon/Wed and Tues/Thurs schedule, that would mean you'd be limited to just four class slots TOTAL per week... or 60 students at max capacity.
Then I explained how, if you can set up your schedule to double that number of class slots per week from four to eight, that you'd also double your max capacity from 60 to 120 students.*
This is the first step we want to take as a NEW school owner... to set up our evening schedule with enough class slots to allow us to grow our school, comfortably, to over 100 students.
- Ages 4 to 6: 30 minutes long
- Ages 7 to 12: 45 minutes long
- Teens and Adults: 60 minutes long
- Fitness classes: 45 minutes long
For kids ages 4 to 6, based on their attention span you are going to want to run their classes no longer than 30 minutes, with a very short break in the middle to allow them to recharge and regroup (two minutes, tops - I let them get some water, as an excuse for this break).
Older kids can train longer, but I suggest you give them the same two-minute break at the halfway point. For teens and adults, you want to keep your classes under an hour; longer than that, and people will feel it's too much of a time investment, and your retention will suffer.
Setting Up Your Schedule
We're looking to have eight class slots total for the week in our evening schedule. That means four class slots on Mon/Wed nights, and four class slots on Tues/Thurs nights.**
So, your class schedule is going to look something like this:
6:00 pm - Ages 4 to 6
6:30 pm - Ages 7 to 12
7:15 pm - Fitness Kickboxing
8:00 pm - Teens and Adults
Granted, I'm assuming that you're starting your dojo and that you already have some students. I suggest that you start right away with splitting your existing and new, incoming students into beginner and intermediate classes, in order to train them to attend on specific days.
Also, this will ensure that you have students attending in every class slot. That way, when someone walks in your school, it doesn't look empty. A school that looks dead turns people off.
If You're Starting From Scratch...
If you're starting from scratch (bad idea - read
Small Dojo Big Profits before you decide to go that route), then you should NOT start with this many class slots.
Instead, I suggest that you START by splitting up your kid's classes by teaching ages 4 to 6 on Mon/Wed, and ages 7 to 12 on Tues/Thurs. Likewise for your adults. Teach kickboxing on Mon/Wed, and teen and adult martial arts on Tues/Thurs... or vice versa.
Then, as your school grows, you can add the extra class slots later when you have more students, and you need to move some up to a more advanced class. Typically, you'll need to expand your schedule at around the 40 to 50 student mark.
Again, this will keep your school from looking like it's dead. It's very important to avoid having an empty floor during a scheduled class!
So, your schedule might look more like this:
Mon/Wed -
6:30 pm: Kids ages 7 to 12
7:15 pm: Teens and Adults
Tues/Thurs -
6:30 pm: Kids ages 4 to 6
7:00 pm: Fitness Kickboxing
Coming Next...
These two schedules are pretty much what you're going to do when you are first starting out. If you're starting from scratch, you're going to start with just the four class slots per week that I showed you in the second schedule.
And, if you're following the SDBP approach to the letter, you will start with the first class schedule, which will afford you eight class slots per week, as well as plenty of room to enroll new white belts and accommodate your existing students.
But what do you do after that? How do you fit 175 students in the same sized school? I mean, after you hit 120 students, do you go find more space?
That, my friends, is the topic of tomorrow's email. Stay tuned!
