As I said, I think that a martial art school is among the best small businesses you can run as an owner-operator.

However, I will also reiterate that the above benefits only apply if you know what you're doing--you have to educate yourself in order to fully leverage the above benefits of this business model.

Now that we've covered the benefits, let's talk about the things no one ever really discusses... the not-so-pleasant side of starting and running a martial art school that you aren't going to hear about in mainstream industry channels.

Starting with...

Why I Took A Break From Running Dojos

When I'm between martial art schools--which I am now, in fact, for the third time in my life--some jackass will inevitably show up in the comments section of my site and say, "But you don't run a school..."

*Sigh*

The reason why people bring up this non-issue is because a certain consultant likes to tell people they shouldn't take advice from someone who isn't currently running a dojo. 

This is flipping stupid--it's like saying that if you stop competing, you're no longer qualified to teach your students how to be successful in martial arts competitions. Right.

Anyway, after I explain that yes, I have spent 20 years of my adult life running martial art schools, and yes, I know what the hell I am talking about, the next question is inevitably, "Then why aren't you running a school now?"

A Martial Art School Is A Demanding Mistress

And that, my friends, is a fair question that I am always happy to answer. And while the reasons have varied as to why I've sold studios in the past (health issues, burnout, having a kid) what it really boils down to is this:

A martial art school is a demanding mistress.

Here's what I mean when I say that. For one, and this is something I tell EVERYONE when I coach them on how to start and grow a school, you can expect to work 50-60 hour weeks for the first couple of years after you start your school.

This means 15-25 hours a week teaching classes, and another 35-40 hours a week doing all the other things necessary to growing a successful martial arts school. And for the first year at least, 80-90% of those outside classroom hours will be spent marketing and recruiting students.

The 100-Hour Workweek

Now, if you also have to work a day job (which I recommend if you're bootstrapping your dojo) that means you're going to be working a lot of 16 hour days. Sundays will likely become the day of the week that you sleep all day long, just so you can drag your ass out of bed and do it all over again on Monday.

Yeah, Tim Ferriss can kiss my ass (incidentally, even he couldn't make the "Four-Hour Work Week" work).

Now, if you're lucky you have a wife or husband to share some of the workload with you, and that will make it easier on you, significantly cutting down on the hours you have to work. And if you're into living dangerously, you'll take on a business partner for the same reasons.

If not, you just suck it up, because that's what it takes to start a successful business... and you'll also bust your butt to hit 100 students so you can afford to hire some full-time help.

But even if you get over that start-up hump, here's another thing no one ever tells you about running a martial art school...

Dojo Life Becomes Family Life

Ever hear the term "dojo widow" or "dojo orphan"? Yeah, you won't hear it a lot, but old-timers will know what I'm talking about. The terms refer to a spouse or child that never sees their husband/wife/parent, because they're always at the dojo.

A few years after we married, my wife decided she'd had enough of helping me run my school (I'm going to talk about that issue more in a later email), and she decided to go back into the work force.

Well, I'm here to tell you that we almost never saw each other during the week after that. She'd get up and head off to work before I woke up each morning, and I'd leave for the dojo long before she got off work each night.

We might see each other in passing for an hour or so every night, but by the time I got finished up at the dojo, came home, and showered, she'd be headed off to bed. 

So, I'd be sitting in the kitchen by myself at 9:00 or 10:00 at night, eating a reheated meal, and thinking, "The hell if I'm going to do this when we have a kid." In fact, that was sort of a promise I made to myself, that I wouldn't run a dojo during my kid's formative years.

"I Never Get To See My Kids"

Early in my career as an instructor, I had a friend named Joe who ran a successful small school. In fact, he was the person who first introduced me to good solid martial arts business principles.

Well, about the same time I was getting my first school off the ground, he was selling his school to two of his students. This dumbfounded me at the time, and I stopped by to see him at his school one day, to ask him why he was selling his school.

"I never get to see my kids, Mike. For the last eight years, they've been growing up without me. I never get to make their games, or their events at school, or help them out with their homework, because I'm always here at the dojo."

Obviously, this is the side of running a martial arts school that no one ever talks about. As martial arts instructors, we're supposed to be all about family values and building stronger families. I mean, "The family that kicks, together, sticks together!" Right?

Yeah, no school owner wants to admit that their dojo has become more important to them than their marriage or family. I know that I didn't, but the truth is that I was once a very one-dimensional person with very skewed values.

I'm going to explain what I mean by that more tomorrow, and later this week or next week I'm going to discuss some strategies for dealing with these issues when you're running a dojo. Stay tuned.