First official business license

[powerof0ne]

Applied for my first official business license. Even though where I live, you are supposed to have employees, and make over $12k USD, I chose to get it because I'd like to have people make checks out under the dojo name, not my name..just seems more professional....and, you can get business accounts with martial art suppliers when you show proof of having a business license, at least over here in the USA, you can. This means, hopefully in the next few months I can buy and offer martial art gear to my students at a better price than they can receive on their own.

Just wondering some of the hurdles any of you dojo operators have had to go through to get a business license, and if any of you have gone the LLC route...which I'm leaning towards, just to cover my ass. I do realize this may not exist outside the USA, or maybe called something else. I'm also interested to know outside the USA what's required to legally do business as a martial art instructor .
Osu!

[shugyo]

I suppose I was just lucky because I had no problem getting said license's. To be taken serious, I knew I had to get a business license, but once I filled out the application and paid the fee, I was good to go!!

If any obstacle I encountered was researching just what license's, if any, that I needed. Checking all of the laws surrounding them was wild, so wild, because I'm no lawyer, I had to visit a lawyer to break them down to me in layman's term. After the lawyer, I was more equipped to handle each and every office that I had to visit to obtain said license's.

[senshido]

It's not required in the UK, here you can be registered as a "club" which means you don't have to go down the business route, being registered as a club also lets you get trade accounts with suppliers etc.
It seems like there is much more red tape and hoops to jump through in the USA?

[shugyo]

That has a lot to do with, imho, the USA being sue happy about the craziest thing. What one does in passing, is not what one does with a business in the USA. I wish that the USA was much more stricter than it is now because it seems that just about anyone can open a dojo, just as long as they've the money to pay for said license.

The USA doesn't do any type of background checks, they believe what is written on the said application as the gospel truth. However, if you want to do any business concerning kids, well, they run you through a microscope, and they should in that case; the more the better.

[powerof0ne]

I've been complaining about this for many many many years. I know in some other countries (France and Brazil come to mind) that to teach certain martial arts or martial arts, period, you have to be authorized to do so by being "vetted" by the organization that is tied to the government. Like you said, anybody in the USA can teach martial arts, which unfortunately cons many people. The average beginner with no friends or family that are in a legit martial art system have no idea if what the owner/instructor(s) say is true. They see a black belt, a bunch of trophies and typically assume it's the place to be. There is a Judan that is walking distance from my condo that was a white belt when my Dad was a blue belt under the same sensei. My Dad isn't 60 yet and no doubt my Dad could still beat up this "Judan."

This past year I almost threw up after seeing somebody I used to know have his own MMA gym in Idaho. For one, this individual never even fought MMA, and second I don't believe he ever won a kickboxing fight (he never fought MT). He was horrible but always had the attitude that he was great (why I will never forget him). I remember my first year in Muay Thai, there was a student that again never fought, but was a body builder, and became an "assistant" to some club that taught a "family style" of Muay Thai from some small country (that wasn't Thailand or close LOL)...

I know some very nice people that I used to waste time on trying to show them how their instructor and lineage is so wrong, it's not even funny. I'm done doing that, I have better things to do now. I will say this, if somebody claims a 7th dan/nanadan in something like Kyokushin, BJJ, Shotokan, etc. and nobody within that style has heard of them, there's a reason. I won't even entertain debating that, that's the bottom line.
Osu!

Jan 1, 2014 23:05:26 GMT -5 shugyo said:

That has a lot to do with, imho, the USA being sue happy about the craziest thing. What one does in passing, is not what one does with a business in the USA. I wish that the USA was much more stricter than it is now because it seems that just about anyone can open a dojo, just as long as they've the money to pay for said license.

The USA doesn't do any type of background checks, they believe what is written on the said application as the gospel truth. However, if you want to do any business concerning kids, well, they run you through a microscope, and they should in that case; the more the better.