So yesterday I listed the pros of running a minimally staffed dojo...
- Less overhead -
- More profit (or just as much) with fewer students -
- Fewer classes to teach -
- Less admin work -
That all sounds great (and it is), but before you decide that this is the route for you, let's look at the cons of running a minimally staffed school...
For starters, in a minimally staffed school you are going to be responsible for a lot of the workload. Sure, once you get to the point where you have an office person and a teaching assistant trained it will take a lot off your plate, but you'll still be doing a lot of work.
Most of this will involve teaching classes, making sure the admin (billing and collections) work is handled correctly, bookkeeping (although you can outsource it), and handling your marketing.
For most school owners who are running a dojo of 150 - 200 students, this is going to amount to between 35 and 60 hours a week of work... depending on how efficiently your dojo is run.
Also, there's always the issue of losing a critical staff member. When you only have two employees and each is responsible for a critical area of your operations, when one of them gets sick or quits you're going to have to take up the slack.
It's not like you won't be able to step in and take the reins, it's just that it's going to mean longer work hours until you find and train someone to replace them. (Incidentally, this is why you need to take care of your staff members by paying them well and treating them right.)
Finally, there's the issue of taking time off. If you've trained your staff members well and if you've hired well, you should have no issues with taking a week off for a vacation, or taking a few days off if you get sick (flu season, anyone?)
However, if you haven't trained your staff correctly and set up systems to help things run smoothly in your absence, you're going to have a hard time leaving your school in their care.*
So what's the alternative?
Obviously, the alternative would be running a school with a larger staff, giving you more people to pick up the slack. But of course, that route has its pros and cons as well...
...and that's what I'm going to cover in the next few emails.
