Why Martial Artists Quit. What is the root cause of this epic fail?
Why Martial Artists Quit. Today I am going to take a look at the appalling number of people who train in the martial arts to the Black Belt level and then walk out the door. And the possible things that can be done to keep them training for a lifetime.
If you are a Dojo owner you are very familiar with the problem. Students stop training and often never return. And in order to build a school you need a quit rate of 3% or less per month.
If it is higher than this it will be very difficult to build your school. Also if you have a bad month, and it hits over 10% you may not make it at all.
Why Martial Artists Quit
I coached under 2 amazing martial arts business mentors. Stephen Oliver and Keith Hafner. Not only are they amazing marketers but also understand how to keep people training.
In a conversation I had in 2004 with Grand Master Oliver in Chicago he said to me "I can do your marketing and bring 100 students in the door in one month. But what will you do with them? If you are not prepared you will loose them and others."
So I built my Dojo, Art Mason's Peaceful Warriors Martial Arts the RIGHT way, focused on student service.
Why Martial Artists Quit
So why do students quit? When it comes to new students it can usually be traced back to the instructor involved in their teaching. Now I operating 6 days per week, including day class. I had one instructor who cost me a lot of students overtime. And I should have fire this man on the first offense. But I was foolish and felt bad for him.
I had parents come to me and complain, asking what nights he was not there because that is when their child would come. The final straw for him came after I had sold my Dojo to Sensei Borshuk, and he got into an argument in with the ranking floor instructor, in front of other students. Three people quit that night! He was removed from the school.
Rule: Be slow to hire and quick to FIRE.
Why Martial Artists Quit - Goals
Another big issue is goals. I have over the year had several students quit right before their Black Belt tests. The only place I can point the finger of blame is me. I was not doing a good enough job of running the place, and teaching the goal of Black Belt and BEYOND!!
It takes 3.5 to 4 years to reach a probationary Black Belt level in my former school. And for a student that is a long time. Without constant reinforcement to the student of the importance of goal setting you will lose a lot of people at Black Belt.
I had one adult male student, and he was a great student. He worked very hard, had great attendance and when he hit 1st Dan Black Belt I never saw him again. I did manage a few years later to get him to come to a seminar. There I asked him why he stopped training. He told me after he reached Black Belt he lost his motivation. Bad goal setting. He did not see the martial arts as a life long path. My fault, I should have seen this!
There are many reason Why Martial Artists Quit.
Why Martial Artists Quit in Conclusion
Why Martial Artists Quit, there reasons are beyond just these. But, if you run a school you must find out every shortfall that loses you people.
Now sometimes there is nothing can be done. People move away, lose jobs.
But if you can control the rest you must. And I have found martial art teacher hide from the hard facts.
Now, NO BS here, do you know your quit rate? When someone quits do you send out an exit survey to find out why? This is how I learned about an instructor problem I had, but I did not act upon it. And today, if I went back to running a Dojo I certainly would!
Did I quit the martial arts? No I sold my Dojo and did for the first time in my adult life something for me. My children were adults and my grand children have a great father. I moved to Romania, and it was the best thing I ever did for myself.
Why did I sell the Dojo? My older son left the school for his own reasons, and my youngest also wanted out. I founded the Dojo for them, not me. This caused me to burn out teaching. Plus my personal workload more than doubled. But I did not training and walking the path.
Will I open another Dojo again? No, nott commercial for sure. I am building a private Dojo called the Wolf's Den Dojo. But it will not be public. I will and pick students who wish to attend. If I spend the rest of my life training in it alone that is fine. But I do hope for it to be the location of the RMATC in 2023.
And do not be afraid to ask for help from people more successful than you are. Today I am in a coaching group with Lee Mllteer to continue to develop my business skills and with Hanshi Bruce Juchnik for martial arts. Learning should never stop!
Be prepared!
Chance Favors the Prepared Mind
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