| Friend,
Today is Labor Day in the States... it's a national holiday, a federal holiday (meaning the government more or less shuts down), a bank holiday, a school holiday, and typically the last day for everyone to head to the beach or lake and work on their next hangover.
And while my partying days are long gone, I do enjoy a day off now and then. But before I started my first successful martial art school (I use that "successful" qualifier purposely, because there were quite a few stops and starts early on), I rarely enjoyed holidays.
Why? Mainly because I always had to work them. I was an aspiring healthcare worker back then, trying to complete nursing school (because "it's a stable career, Mike!") while working my way through school working a string of near-minimum wage jobs.
Well, one thing they don't tell you in the brochures (besides the stuff about cleaning bed pans and mopping up vomit) is that you work a lot of holidays in the healthcare field. Strangely enough, it seems that people don't stop getting sick just because it's Christmas or Thanksgiving or the 4th of July.
In fact, I worked as an ER tech for a while (graveyards, no less), and surprise, surprise... we actually got busier on holidays. And being the low man on the totem pole, I worked every single one of them.
At first I didn't mind it, because time-and-a-half is great when you're only making $6 bucks an hour. But after a while, it starts to get to you.
"Are you coming over Christmas Eve?" "No mom, I have to work." "Christmas Day?" "No mom, I have to work." "The day after Christmas?" "Just save me some turkey and dressing."
Maybe you can relate. Perhaps you're working today, when everyone else is enjoying a day at the park, beach, or lake, barbecuing and having a good ole' time.
And if so, I feel for you... even on a lame-ass holiday like Labor Day.
But here's the cool thing that I haven't really talked about yet. After I got my first successful school up and running, I never worked another holiday again that I didn't want to.
Granted, at first I worked for three years straight without taking a single sick day (that's a story for another time). And I worked many a New Year's Eve running lock-ins for the kids in our youth programs (good for retention, and for extra revenue).
But that was all because I wanted to work, not because I had to work those days. See, once I got it through my head that I was working to build my own dream and not someone else's, I worked my fingers to the bone to make that dojo a success.
And the best part was, it was the time of my life. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, let me tell you*. But, I wouldn't trade that time in my life for anything.
And the real kicker? Within two years of starting that dojo, I was making more money than I ever would have made as a nurse... a lot more. A few years later I got married, and my wife and I took a killer honeymoon in the Caribbean, something I never even dreamed of having the money to do just a few short years before.
We also were able to buy a nice little starter home (I miss that house). Home ownership was another thing I never saw myself doing before, because to me people who owned houses were "rich." Crazy, I know. But that's how small my world was back before I started that first dojo.
Basically, discovering how to run a successful martial art school changed my life, in so many ways. And never mind the increased income; my life also became much richer for it, because I was finally able to do what I loved.
So, if you're struggling right now in your dojo...
If you're working every holiday at your "day job"...
If you aren't sure whether working all day and teaching at night is worth it anymore...
My advice to you is stay the course. And obviously, if you're struggling financially in your school, get some guidance on how to turn your dojo around. But, stay the course.
I assure you, it will pay off. And someday, you'll be able to look back at where you are right now and say, "Sure, it was tough... but it was also the time of my life. And I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Until next time,
Mike Massie MartialArtsBusinessDaily.com
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P.S. - *True story: Not long after I opened my dojo, I had to sleep in the storage closet for a month because I couldn't afford the rent on my dojo and on my apartment both... so bye-bye huge apartment, hello cot in the dojo storage room. I only had to do it for a month, and I think the hardest part was eating all that ramen and canned food. After that, I got smart and rented a 12 foot by 20 foot dorm-style efficiency unit for--get this--$180 a month, all bills paid. It was only slightly bigger than the storage room, and (bonus!) came with a hot plate and a shared bathroom. I stayed in that place for a year while I was growing my dojo, and was thankful just to have a roof over my head. Like I said, it was the time of my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
P.S.S. - Tomorrow I'll wrap up that series on teaching intros. Stay tuned! | 