I'm going to share something with you today that's not in The Profit-Boosting Principles.

When I started my first dojo, I worked several odd jobs (and at odd hours, too) so I could pay my own bills and reinvest all the profits from the dojo back into the business.

But after a while, I got sick and tired of working nights, coming home to sleep until 2, and then getting up to go into the dojo only to do it all over again. So, I decided to find ways to make additional money teaching both in and outside the dojo, to replace the income I made from my regular jobs.

Now, I'll talk more about how I generated more money inside the dojo tomorrow, but for today I'm going to talk about how I made money finding gigs outside the school.

Working 50-60 hours a week on top of running the dojo sucked. And I knew that I'd rather be teaching martial arts than working security, healthcare, construction, as a pawnbroker, or any of the myriad other odd jobs I had during that time. So, I decided to find as many part-time gigs teaching martial arts as I could.

Sure, I already had my own studio. But, based on my current rate of growth, it was going to take me another six months to a year to get to the point that my dojo could support itself AND me at the same time. I just wasn't enrolling students fast enough at the time to grow it rapidly (I hadn't figured out the marketing thing yet).

But, I figured if the students weren't coming to me, then I'd go to the students.

The first step was getting a gig teaching at the local rec center. I'd gotten my start there the year before, so I had an in with the manager already. I didn't want to compete with myself by teaching karate there, so I offered to teach a fitness kickboxing class during the day. Boom! That was an extra $400 to $500 bucks a month.

Next, I started hitting the daycares in town, offering to teach karate classes to their current students on site. I got a gig with a local daycare and picked up another ten to twelve students teaching one day a week. That was good for another $300 to $400 a month in tuition.

After that, I got curious about whether the school district would work out a deal with me. After asking around, I worked out a deal with the local after-school enrichment program, teaching two separate karate classes one day a week each. That was good for an additional $800 a month.

Finally, I started networking on the local college campus, and got to know the department chair for the kinesiology department. I started out teaching free self-defense classes for them, but they already had a tae kwon do instructor teaching as adjunct faculty. 

So, I asked them if they'd like me to teach something else instead. Sure enough, they wanted a kickboxing class. I ended up teaching two sections and over 80 students a semester for several years after that, for $1,500 a semester (little did I know that I was getting hosed, but I was happy for the extra income).

All told, I ended up making more money from those part-time gigs that I was making working a full-time job. Needless to say, quitting that job and finding those part-time gigs made it a lot easier for me to grow my school.

Was I hustling? I was grinding non-stop, 12-16 hours a day. Was it worth it? You bet! I was doing what I loved, and getting paid for it. 

But was it easy finding those gigs? Nope. It took a lot of footwork, a lot of rejection, and a lot of persistence to open those doors. And, I had to learn how to look the part, how to be professional, how to talk to people, and how to offer a win-WIN deal.

So, how does this relate to you in your current situation? Well, often I find that martial art school owners get too focused on growing their programs within their school, and they miss out on opportunities that they might find in the local community.

Sometimes - especially when you're just starting out - you have to find opportunities to grow your programs out in the community. I can tell you for a fact that a lot of those students from my part-time programs ended up at my dojo. Plus, it helped get my name out in the community, and I got a lot of referrals from building those relationships.

Eventually, I did have to let those programs go, and it was hard to do. But, as my dojo grew I found that I didn't need the extra income anymore, and the doors I opened created opportunities for other instructors to teach as well after I let those positions go.

So, if you're struggling to make ends meet in your dojo, try thinking outside the box. Look for opportunities to create win-WIN relationships in your community, and leverage those opportunities into growing your dojo.