Written by Brearin Land, a Financial Planner in Irvine, California and Orange County who authors the Black Belt of Finance Blog. He is the CEO of Irvine Wealth Management, and world renowned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt at the Gracie Barra Headquarters.

Are you an instructor that wants to know how to make more money teaching martial arts? Are you a school owner that wants to take your sign-ups to the next level?

We all got into the business of teaching martial arts for more than just making money. Not only does it give us an outlet to give back, but if you are like me you want to assure your family will be surrounded by the discipline and family oriented atmosphere as your kids grow up.

Regardless of the reason why you started teaching one thing is clear; making more money doing it is going to make you and your family a hell of a lot happier.

If you’re in the business of teaching martial arts, you’re probably more concerned with living the bjj lifestyle than you are chasing your next million, but with so many businesses struggling to just keep their doors open it makes sense to be able to figure out not only how to better monetize your craft, but how you can help attract more people into your classes.

Here are the tips you need to know for making more money teaching martial arts:

Dominate Your Martial Arts Niche

First things first, to be the very best and what is that you do I’m not talking about being a world champion, I’m talking about what differentiates you from your competitors.

For me, my niche has always been running kid’s programs. At the Gracie Barra Headquarters in Irvine I’ve helped build one of the most successful kids programs in the world.

By successful I don’t just mean size, or medals, but student retention. Our student retention is through the roof. Kids that sign up at three years old tend to stay for a very long time. Kids that started with me in the more junior programs are now finishing up high school and going off to college.

We all know how difficult it can be to retain teenagers in martial arts, and we’ve been able to maintain one of the largest teens programs that I’ve ever seen.

You have to find whatever it is that makes you tick and become the very best in the world at it. From the intro class, to the class curriculum, to the protocols and procedures in your academy, you need to focus your initial energy on becoming the foremost expert in your niche.

To Make Money Teaching Martial Arts People Need to Know You

Once you have a stronghold on your niche people need to know who you are. I’m not talking about spamming any and everyone you come across. I’m talking about truly engaging on social median and in your community.

Which social media platform should you be on?

All of them

In the world of financial planning I’m restricted to just a few sites that I’m able to post content on. As a martial artist you don’t have any type of restrictions like this so you should be out there as your own personal brand evangelist.

When you truly feel like you dominated your space there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be sharing what it is that you do with the rest of the community.

It doesn’t matter if they know your curriculum or your techniques. Academies have been biting each-other’s curriculums for years but doing so isn’t going to replace the atmosphere and family environment you’ve developed from dominating your niche.

You Do Not Need to Be World Champion to Make More Money Teaching Martial Arts

In fact being one could be a hindrance. All too often you see top competitors open a gym and forget that they are in business as a school owner and not an athlete.

One example I have of this is a friend of a friend who opened an academy up North.

Everyone thought he was crazy because he was a no-name guy, had never competed, dare I say slightly awkward guy (sorry bro J); yet he set up his academy less than a block away from a multiple time world champion.

As the first couple years went by, the competitors were away from their gym traveling the country and entrusting others to keep their business afloat. Long story short the gym ended up out of business.
Now, in the same two years our friend had a solid, organized curriculum, and took ownership of the entire business process. He taught the classes, he cleaned the mats, he cleaned the toilets, he did the intro classes, he made the sales.

He has never competed in his life, but his gym is THRIVING on the same street of an abandoned world class gym.

You need to master what it is that you are good at, and that doesn’t have to be kicking people’s ass. You need to dominate your space and get people to know who you are.

If you are working your tail off while your competitors are traveling the world, you are going to win that battle every time.

Increase Your Martial Arts Income with Private Lessons

This is a topic I spoke of in great detail in a recent article 7 Tips to Scheduling More Private Lessons for Martial Arts Instructors.

In short, you have to not only improve the amount of lessons you are teaching but improve the lesson itself so you have long-term reoccurring customers.

The lesson needs to be so good that it would be ridiculous not to take them on an ongoing basis.
Further, you have to make the lessons as efficient as possible to the point where you do not have to be the one getting cauliflower ear.

We teach several hours a day and anytime you go past 3 hours straight, it’s hard to teach a great class. Maximizing your efficiency allows you get around this by bringing others to help you out for the same amount of money.

If you haven’t checked out my article on private lessons it is a must read for Jiu-Jitsu instructors and has been very well received in the Jiu-Jitsu community.

To Make Legit Money as an Instructor You Need to Walk the Walk

If you want to be known as the foremost expert in your niche, you have to be known as someone who walks the walk.

You can’t be the foremost expert as a women’s instructor and take pictures with a new girl every week. You can’t be the foremost kids instructor in your space and be doing a bunch of crap outside of class you wouldn’t want your kids to see.

To be the average guy that struggles to get by, you can get away with whatever you want. To be the leader in your space you need to be known as a person of character, because if you are not rest assure that it will show in your demeanor.

I have personally seen academies DIE overnight from not taking this message to heart. As I say in finance, one of the first steps to becoming financially successful is to get insured.

Your best insurance for your business is keeping your nose clean and truly embracing the BJJ lifestyle.

Want to Make Good Money Teaching? Volunteer for Everything

This is as true for the up and coming instructor as it is for the established business owner, volunteer for everything.

I’m still volunteering to this day. Free content, Free content, Free content, Oh hey I’m a Financial Advisor, Free Content.
Not only does this help you get your name out to the people you need it to, it helps you setup the building blocks of mastering your niche and dominating your space.

When I started out as an instructor I volunteered for every class I wasn’t training in; fundamental classes, women’s classes, kids classes, you name it.

I wasn’t being paid, I wasn’t getting any discounts, and this went on for over 4 years before I made a dime. I was scraping change for the gas money to get to practice and volunteering 2-3 hours of my day.

That is how you succeed in anything, by working more than you are paid for.

That hustle got me out of the corn and into the Headquarters of one of the largest martial arts organizations on the planet. When I got here I kept volunteering, “can I come in and answer phones, can I route the calls to my cell phone, can I sell memberships, can I paint the walls; anything.
Dominate your space.

The same goes for business owners. Gary Vaynerchuck famously calls it Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. If you want to makes sales you need to volunteer an incredible amount of your time to helping others. Whether it is in the community, through instructional videos, lifestyle blogs, whatever.

Take what you are good at and use it to help others. If you aren’t good at anything, pick up a damn broom.

Go Out and Dominate
This is more than enough ammo to get you started. Use these tips and I assure you that you will become much closer to reaching your potential bottom line. If you have any questions on the material, whether it be sales, managerial, instruction, or anything personal finance, I am an open book. Just send an email to: Bland@irvinewealth.com

5x world champion Bernardo Faria, has released his Foundations of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu which will give you the best solid foundation for your game at any level and give you plenty of new material to work on.  Check it out at BJJ Fanatics!