Commercial Dojo

[shugyo]

Please define...

What a "Commercial Dojo" IS to you?

To me, a commercial dojo is one that has a storefront, whether it's free-standing or if it's in a mall type setting; pays rent, pays utilities, pays for an overhead, and pays for having a staff. That's it!

I don't sell belts! I don't sell certificates! I don't sell my integrity! I don't sell promotions! Things of this matter must be EARNED, and I reserve the right to decide if ANY and ALL students have earned the right to be invited to any said testing cycle; not the parents/guardians, not anyone!! I don't guarantee that any student will ever pass any testing cycle. I'm NOT a McDojo! If my students want a McDojo, they're free to join them whenever they want to. In that, students are free to go whenever they choose to because I don't sell contracts, and I don't charge for any testing fees either!!

My dojo is a business, and it is because I've responsibilities to a landlord, to the city, to my suppliers, to my staff, and to my students, to mention just a few of my business responsibilities. My students are my customers and my customers are my students, for the most part. I do have a martial art supply store at the very front of the dojo, and therefore, I've customers that aren't my students.

Is having a "Commercial Dojo", as I've described, a bad thing? Hopefully it's not, but if it is, as I've described, then so be it!!

Your thoughts, please!!

[kyokanrik]

You, sir, are a McDojo!












































..just kidding    


I see nothing wrong with a, no, your commercial dojo.

Yours sounds quite awesome, and more importantly authentic. 



Regarding having a storefront/supply store, etc- you are providing a service, and it sounds to me that you provide a great atmosphere for that service to be provided.

Not only that, you aren't some local "belt factory" churning out black belts after just 1 year of training.

 

If I were someone in your area looking to train in knockdown karate I would gladly choose to train at your "commercial dojo",  

[GJEC]

Nothing wrong with being paid if you're giving good coaching.

Gary

[MMX]

Yes there is a difference between a well run "commercial" dojo and a pure money making belt factory McDojo.

It is probably much easier and more profitable to do the McDojo though unfortunately.

[Kurisu]

Shugyo,

I operate the same way that you do. There is nothing wrong with running a commercial dojo, especially when the integrity is intact. A commercial dojo provides a stable environment in which students know where and when their training sessions are to be held.

As instructors, we put in many years of training, pay fees for seminars, promotions, dues to organizations, etc. Why shouldn't instructors get compensated for their time and knowledge? I don't think most knockdown based instructors expect to get rich of teaching karate but we should still get a little something for our time and effort. Running a dojo isn't just teaching and like you said we have to pay rent, utilities and taxes.

[powerof0ne]

I separate commercial dojo and "kroddy"/McDojo as two separate things. I attempted to go commercial at one time and was semi-commercial within the last few years. The latter was just so I could at least break even with rental fee of space and to pay insurance.

As Gary said, nothing wrong with getting paid for an honest service. A "kroddy"/McDojo isn't always about $ neither, sometimes it's about somebody's ego. I once knew somebody that was borderline McDojo but not on purpose, it was because he earned his black belt from a McDojo 'master.'

When there is mandatory 'half belts' or a belt test every 4-6 weeks for everybody there's a good chance it's a McDojo. There are the McDojo instructors that are in it for the money and those that are in it for the ego...and those that are in it for both.

[shugyo]

I've been wrongly accused of being a McDojo because I operate my dojo in a commercial setting. And no matter what I say or do, in their eyes, I'm still a McDojo. Am I too meet their expectations? No...I won't! Many well thought out posts in response to my opening post; I thank each of you for your honest and candid replies. I was thinking that I might've been wrong in my thinking all of these years.

[meguro]

Every Kyokushin dojo in Japan meets the criteria for commercial dojo, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It's time the conversation moved beyond this. It would be better to focus on whether the dojo makes a measurable change/improvement in its students and not just a dent in their wallets.

[GJEC]

Alongside which, you are not there to please other stylists or general knockers and wannabees.

If your students are improving and you enjoy what you do, then money is a perfectly acceptable by product. The only 'wrong' way (IMO) is to put money first and have no standards or pleasure in it.

Gary

[shugyo]

Aug 25, 2014 10:38:53 GMT -5 meguro said:

Every Kyokushin dojo in Japan meets the criteria for commercial dojo, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It's time the conversation moved beyond this. It would be better to focus on whether the dojo makes a measurable change/improvement in its students and not just a dent in their wallets.

I agree wholeheartedly!!

[shugyo]

Aug 25, 2014 10:42:56 GMT -5 GJEC said:

Alongside which, you are not there to please other stylists or general knockers and wannabees.

If your students are improving and you enjoy what you do, then money is a perfectly acceptable by product. The only 'wrong' way (IMO) is to put money first and have no standards or pleasure in it.

Gary

I agree wholeheartedly!!