10 Tips for Running a Dojo
So, you’re thinking of starting up and running a dojo of your own. Power to you! But be aware that it’s not an easy business. Here are 10 tips for running a successful dojo that I’ve gleaned from my years of running my own dojo. Much of it I learned through trial and error. They’ve worked well for me. They might work for you too.
1. Be good at what you do. If you want to run a martial arts school, you’d better be a capable martial artist yourself. You don’t have to be a top-level champion on anything like that but you have to be competent. In the age of social media, people will be taking videos. If it doesn’t look like you know what you’re doing, you will be called out online.
2. Set up a proper business. If you’re going to open a business, set things up properly. Register your company, set up a bank account, have lawyers and accountants go through all the documentation and paperwork, get a property agent to help you secure a good location. Do all these things properly.
3. Get your students to commit. This means getting them to sign for a set period of time. We do 3, 6 and 12 months here at our dojo. If they want commitment from you, to teach them properly, you need commitment from them that they won’t suddenly quit on you.
4. Keep track of metrics. You should know how many people are inquiring about membership, how many actually show up to check out your dojo, how many sign up, how many stay on. These are all important metrics that you should be away of. If the numbers are falling, you need to know and to immediately find out why, so you can correct the situation.
5. Set up a website and use Google Ads. People are going to find you through the Internet. So, you’d better have an impressive website with good content. Use Google Ads to get prominent placement when people search for keywords like “judo”, “dojo”, “martial arts” and so on.
6. Motivate the kids: Kids, especially very young ones are not necessarily there because they want to learn judo per se. They are there because their parents want them to learn judo. So, you have to find ways to keep them interested and motivated. External rewards like ranking stripes and patches can do wonders to motivate them.
7. Keep the community culture positive: Adults are motivated by different things than kids. Many adults do recreational judo because they enjoy the community aspect of it. They get to meet friendly faces and work out together with friends. Don’t let some bad apples ruin it for everybody. If someone is behaving badly or saying hurtful things, you need to reprimand them and stop this from carrying on.
8. Hire internally. If your club is growing and you need more help to manage the business, the best people to hire are the ones who are from your club because they are familiar with the system, they are in tune with the culture, and most importantly, they care about the club. It is their club.
9. Create online content. The dojo is not just a physical location anymore. The Internet allows you to extend your dojo into cyberspace. You push out all kinds of content through YouTube and social media. If you develop a good following, you can even generate income from advertising. And you can sell products like videos and e-books to your followers.
10. Enjoy what you do. Running a dojo is hard so it’d better be worth it. Don’t do things for the wrong reasons. Make decisions that are in line with your values and what you really want to achieve. Then it will be all worthwhile.