If you are thinking of becoming a karate teacher, chances are that you have been studying for many years. You love karate and how it has changed your life. Now you would like to help change other people’s lives, doing what you love.
It is Possible
Before we begin, let’s be clear. It is possible to become a full time Karate instructor, make a comfortable full time income and not compromise on your beliefs or teaching style. There are plenty of examples of karate teachers who have achieved just that. Teachers who have been in business for decades. So if you have any limiting beliefs, about it being impossible you need to understand that they are false.
Fundamentally Sound Business
Another important concept to understand is that the Karate instruction business is fundamentally sound. It is based on a model of recurring income. That means that in order for your revenue to grow month on month, you only need to be acquiring more students than you are losing.
Low Start-up Costs
If you want to be a karate instructor full time count yourself lucky. Why? Because the amount of capital you will need to risk to get started is very low compared too many other businesses. Imagine that your dream wasn’t to teach karate but to open your own restaurant. You can easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars before you even open the door. And if your restaurant doesn’t prove popular with customers? Say goodbye to your hard earned savings.
Many businesses required similar sized investments to get started. Even lower start-up cost businesses like landscaping or painting, usually requires at least a few thousand dollars in equipment and a work vehicle.
Becoming a karate instructor has none of the costs to begin with. Many karate instructors have started their business by renting space from a school or community, and run it on a class by class basis. Then they used the existing student base and cash earned to open their actual school. Other than your advertising costs and some basic gear, the expenses associated with getting started are very minimal. In fact usually your biggest investment is your time.
Getting Qualified
What rank do you need to achieve before you can teach Karate? The short answer is that there is no rank or qualification you must have before you can start teaching. Being a black belt should be seen as a perquisite but really it is a matter of experience and whether or not you are a good teacher.
Many of the best Karate practitioners are poor teachers. And some Karate practitioners, whose skills could be best described as modest, are good teachers. Being a good teacher is as much about patience, enthusiasm and effective communication, as it is about your actual Karate skills.
This does not mean that you should start teaching prematurely. But at the same time don’t feel that you need to be an ancient master before you can become a karate teacher.
