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I also own my own school, and as Ryan and Hammerfist have said: at the end of the day this is still a business and if we don’t treat it as a business pretty soon the you won’t have anywhere to train. There are costs involved in testing, some places more than others. Sure the material is the same, the cost of the certificates are the same, but that’s about it. We are licensees, not franchises. Each school has very different business challenges. I’ve been to schools who don’t charge anything short of the certificate, I’ve been to others that charge a significant amount of money for the test. Fortunately you as a consumer has the option to test or not. I am a new school and have not conducted any testing yet, but when the time comes there will probably be a charge because I have overhead that is directly effected by the amount of time I spend on the mat, not to mention (as Hammerfist pointed out) the investment I’ve put in to make such training available. However, I won’t require anyone to test, but I will encourage it. For those of you who have never taken a Krav Maga level test let me tell you it’s more a test of your ability to persevere under grueling circumstances and afterall isn’t that why we train? I truly believe that every instructor on this board has made the sacrifices we’ve made to train in this system because we believe in it and we want others to succeed in it as well, but if we were to ignore the obligations to our businesses we’d also be ignoring the obligation to our students.
Look no one wants to be parted with their hard earned dollar, and unfortunately there are those unscrupulous types out there who will try to take advantage of you, but just because someone is trying to run a successful business doesn’t mean they’re out to rip you off. Bottom line: it’s your money, ask questions, if you’re not satisfied with the answers or you don’t see the value, then excersise your consumer muscle!
Kurt
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quote \”hammerfist\:Thanks Ryan, I know You understand what I was saying, KMstudent doesn’t.Kmstudent,I never said I had more overhead than any other school. Maybe I should have said if you don’t like the price don’t test. Bottom line, there are reasons for charging for services rendered in a service oriented business .Guess no one understands this unless your self-employed. I’ve spent thousands of dollars getting my KM certifications, traveling to & from California, in licensing fees, continuing education and will continue to spend to bring new information to our school. I have paid for all my testing. Why should students test for free?
Mark Myers
Hammond, LAFirst, KMstudent and myself attend the same school in Norther VA. We can’t complain cuz ou instrucotr is not charging us for the test. The only fee is the 30 bucks for the cert. So mad points to our instructor for that. Plus it is a regular day the school is open so the lights would be on regardless.
what is ludacrious is charging 100 bucks. So we have 10 students test, that is 1K. Ya can’t tell me electric for that day’s test is 1k? C’mon!!
Good for you for spending all that money. Cuz you spent mad money, u wanna take it out on your students by charghing them for test fees? Sounds like you are trying to get your money back.
IMO the test for a test should not be for school cost. The \”buisness\” cost should be based on the monthly fee. Cuz you can’t count on testing. People can choose not to test and if so, then you loose money if you figure testing fees to cover a schools expense.
Sorry one more thing. As an illustration: if your school conducts a level test every three months, and charges $50 per person and there are 10 people testing that’s a grand total of $500 per quarter. I don’t plan on getting rich that way 😆
Seriously, even though $50, or $100 seems like a lot of money (and it is), I doubt your school is getting rich through testing. There’s a reason you don’t test often in Krav Maga: because we have higher standards, more is expected of the Krav Maga practitioner.
Ok, all done.
\”Good for you for spending all that money. Cuz you spent mad money, u wanna take it out on your students by charghing them for test fees? Sounds like you are trying to get your money back.\”
Ummm, I’m not \”taking anything out on my students.\” I’m providing a service and asking what I think is a fair price in return. And not only am I trying to make my investment back, I’m trying to turn a profit. Isn’t that how business works? Would you be satisfied to go to work and only make enough to cover your gas expenses for getting there?
I’m taking a big risk by trying to make a living at something I love to do, and I’ll never be able to live that dream if I don’t consider the very unforgiving business side of it. Just because you love your job doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be compensated… I hope.
SexyBald & KMstud, just to let you know this money hungry madman doesn’t require the tests to move up in levels, and I don’t charge $100 per test. Mark Myers 😈
I think it’s okay to charge something for the test. At the NTC, we always have workshops before the test, at higher levels these can be two or even three days in a row (for brown belt). The workshops are usually several hours long, without a break, mostly on the weekends, in the afternoon, when they would normally be closed. So, you are getting several hours of very intense training with (most of the time) a smaller group of people than you would have in regular class. So, for that, I think it’s worth paying some extra bucks.
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Giantkiller\”Sounds like you are trying to get your money back.\”
Imagine that, trying to get a return on an investment. What nerve?!
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quote \”Ryan\:\”Sounds like you are trying to get your money back.\”Imagine that, trying to get a return on an investment. What nerve?!
Once again, I will go back to what i know. I have an instructor that put in years, like 20 years, which is a good investments and the monthly fee never goes up and neither do charges for tests. They make enought money to cover cost for the school and that it. That is the way it should be. They love doing what they do and they give back by no breakign the students and just keeping the doors open.
\”They make enought money to cover cost for the school and that it. That is the way it should be.\”
Fantastic, but they obviously have money or work other jobs. Those who aren’t independently wealthy or don’t work other jobs need to turn a profit to live, as well as to better the school and it’s programs. If he makes just enough money to cover costs, I assume there are never upgrades to the facility or it’s programs, and he must not do much training for himself (unless, again, he has money or other sources of income.)
The second sentence is just hilarious. It’s nice of you to decide that people who invest their time and money in an endeavor, often at great risk and sacrifice, shouldn’t reap any monetary benefits, simply so you can train for less.
\”The only fee is the 30 bucks for the cert.\”
Do you really think that certificate costs $30, or do you think there may be some profit there?
\”why does one school ask for $100 dollars, and another school ask for $30???\”
Capitalism, free market society…United States of America!
I was in Las Vegas recently for a convention. It cost me more than twice as much to eat at a McDonald’s there as it does in NC. I wonder why? It sure didn’t taste any better.
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quote \”Ryan\:\”why does one school ask for $100 dollars, and another school ask for $30???\”Capitalism, free market society…United States of America!
I was in Las Vegas recently for a convention. It cost me more than twice as much to eat at a McDonald’s there as it does in NC. I wonder why? It sure didn’t taste any better.
supply / demand … it’s the economy stupid! (Just kidding 😉 )
Why would you spend $8 on a Big Mac – Must be making a killing on those tests!!! (again – kidding) …
Just tryin’ to lighten things up a bit!
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quote \”Ryan\:\”They make enought money to cover cost for the school and that it. That is the way it should be.\”Fantastic, but they obviously have money or work other jobs. Those who aren’t independently wealthy or don’t work other jobs need to turn a profit to live, as well as to better the school and it’s programs. If he makes just enough money to cover costs, I assume there are never upgrades to the facility or it’s programs, and he must not do much training for himself (unless, again, he has money or other sources of income.)
The second sentence is just hilarious. It’s nice of you to decide that people who invest their time and money in an endeavor, often at great risk and sacrifice, shouldn’t reap any monetary benefits, simply so you can train for less.
\”The only fee is the 30 bucks for the cert.\”
Do you really think that certificate costs $30, or do you think there may be some profit there?
u wanna invest in something, play the stock market.
Now I know where the money from those testing fees go…
COME GROW WITH US!
That’s right, RHEK is moving to a bigger and better location. New amenities will include (be patient!), multiple training floors, boxing ring, more heavy bags, kids play area, parent/student lounge, and more!
We’ll open at the new facility on October 3. More information will be posted as it becomes available.The new location is a portion of the building formerly known as Starburst Skating Rink, 2 miles north of the current school, on Union Road.
Check out more photos in the gallery!
Nice website…. 😈 😯
\”Now I know where the money from those testing fees go… \”
You’re exactly right, it goes back into the school, in order to provide a better training environment for my students and their families. Nice how you skirted ALL of my points, though.
\”u wanna invest in something, play the stock market.\”
Yeah, you’re right, why invest in something you love, that you can have ownership of, that can change people’s lives, and at the same time provide for your family. You’re obviously a MENSA member, and I’m way out of my league here, so I’ll move on, genius.
BTW, for you commoners (like myself) who aren’t MENSA members, a few tidbits (courtesy of SBA) about small businesses (such as martial arts schools):
–provide approximately 75 percent of the net new jobs added to the economy.
–represent 99.7 percent of all employers.
–employ 50.1 percent of the private work force.
–provide 40.9 percent of private sales in the country.
–account for 39.1 percent of jobs in high technology sectors in 2001.
–account for 52 percent of private sector output in 1999.
–represent 97 percent of all U.S. exporters.Luckily, not everyone is as smart as SexyBaldMan, or there would be a lot of unemployed and very hungry people out there.
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