Developing a Business
Many Tai Chi instructors teach for the love of it. But, we need to pay the bills, so it’s important that our classes not only pay their way, but generate enough income to live comfortably. But, how do you start and where do you start?
Below is a summary of how I began my Tai Chi instructing career, and it may shed some light on how to start, what to do, and perhaps what not to do! It is hoped that it will illustrate that building a community takes time and commitment. Many Tai Chi schools start from nothing but an idea. However, with continued study, practice, passion, enthusiasm, good work ethic and commitment to your students, the seed you planted can can grow organically.
After I had successfully completed a Teach Tai Chi course, I asked my neighbour if I could teach her, at no charge. This was invaluable experience, as I soon realised I had a lot of work to do! I then began teaching Tai Chi at a fitness centre. I was lucky enough to have a mentor who continued teaching me the basic principles of movement. First teaching a modified 10 Form to the group, my mentor challenged me by teaching me the Beijing 24. After about 18 months of learning and practising the Beijing 24, he suggested the group at the fitness centre enter a Tai Chi competition, which we did, with great success. From there, my classes went from strength to strength and when my mentor moved away, I wondered what I should do - I decided to start private group classes at the local community house. The first class had 2 people. It was a Beginner class, because that was my level of competency. I charged $15 and felt guilty taking the money. Gradually, mainly through word of mouth, numbers grew and I added more classes to the timetable. I realised I needed to keep records of students and payment details so I created Excel spreadsheets. I became confident that I could run Tai Chi classes elsewhere so I hired a different venue and advertised in the local school’s newsletter. For about 4 weeks I went to the new venue, but no-one turned up! Deciding on focussing on just my local area, I hired the local church hall as well as the community house. Numbers were growing and I needed to distinguish between a Beginner class and an Intermediate class, now that my own skills were improving. Payment options were made available - single class at $15 and a 10-Session Pass at $130. Classes continued the whole year, without term breaks. At this stage classes were only run Monday - Friday, with no evening classes or Saturday morning classes. Students signed a book as they entered and when numbers became too many, a folder with alphabetical tabs was introduced. This made it easy to keep a record of attendance and payments made.
During the early years, my income was supplemented by group exercise classes at various gyms. This provided guaranteed monthly income while I built the business.
In 2016 I invited Master Jesse Tsao to Australia to present a weekend workshop with not only her students, but students from other schools. This was a great honour, as Master Jesse had not been to Australia. He taught Tai Chi Bang, and awarded me with Advanced Instructor certificate. This enabled me to add a ‘weapons’ form to the timetable. Master Jesse returned in 2018 to teach Beijing 24 Double Bang, and I was able to introduce this to the students who had learned bare hand Beijing 24.
Realising the importance of professional development, I continued learning with other Masters, including face to face classes with Master Deming Liu (where I was awarded a teaching certificate for Beijing 24) and Master Su Rule (where I was awarded a teaching certificate for Wudang Bamboo Form). I was fortunate enough to learn Shibashi 1 and 2 with Master Wing Cheung when he visited Melbourne, gaining teaching certification in each. After a number of years practicing the Long Form, I successfully completed an instructor certification with Master Jesse Tsao.
I developed the Rising Moon Tai Chi website which gradually grew to a resource for all Tai Chi instructors. Around this time, I began making videos for my students so they could practice at home. These have been very popular and students now have about 60 free videos to access, via the Student Portal on the website.
I began advertising in the local paper, which, although expensive did not result in many leads. I looked at options and decided on the local magazine (distributed free to residents and businesses), with great success. A three month contract includes an editorial and photo - and the local community often comments on these. I also tried different ‘free community’ newspapers and the local radio but with no success.
During this time, I was attending classes as a student, travelling over an hour each way to be trained by a well respected Master. She was also learning 42 Form and 32 Sword, in preparation for introducing these Forms to my classes..
In 2018 I received a phone call from a student from another School whose instructor was retiring and was asked if I would take over the group. They ran Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning classes. I was happy to agree to taking on this role. A couple of years later, I received another phone call from a different group whose instructor was retiring and I was asked to take on that role. Neither group operated in my local area, so it provided the opportunity to ‘spread my wings’.
I was asked to take a Tai Chi session at an open day at a Lifestyle Communities, which was a great success. 5 years later, I am still taking weekly classes in 2 locations for Lifestyle Communities villages. I have also been asked to take sessions at the local library, as well as corporate team building days at local wineries and golf clubs.
I decided to take Tai Chi classes on a voluntary basis at the local aged care facility. This gave me a great sense of ‘giving back’ and I realised that you don’t have to do Tai Chi or Qigong '‘perfectly’ to get benefit from practising. These groups had limited mobility but they enjoyed the sessions, which were more breathing, relaxation and coordination exercises. I became quite adept at modifying exercises and using terms that made the group could relate to.
Becoming quite busy, with classes most days as well as Saturday mornings, I decided to run classes during the school term only. However, wanting my students to remain engaged, I offered Holiday Programmes 3 . These became very popular and they now run every term break. The payment options changed, with a Term Pass being introduced. With a Term Pass, students could attend up to 2 classes a week, encouraging them to attend more than once.
At one stage, I had three instructors taking classes, but unfortunately, (through no fault of their own), these classes dwindled. It was a good example of the need to have a broad knowledge of Tai Chi - even to teach beginner students. An instructor with limited knowledge will not be able to maintain students’ interests.
I began learning the Long Form and successfully completed a teaching accreditation with Master Jesse Tsao
Once when visiting, my son saw her Excel spreadsheets and was astonished at the mass of information - student payments, attendance, highlighting different groups, different dates, venues, etc. He suggested an online booking platform and we decided on Punchpass which, for Rising Moon Tai Chi, is perfect. Students now book online, they pay online and I can bulk email from class lists. Not long after this, the COVID pandemic hit and Jenny went online for the first time. Students learned how to use Zoom and two classes were held 5 days a week for the duration of lockdown. Many students attended every day. During lockdown, I was approached by two companies wanting a ‘wellness’ session for their employees.
After lockdown ended, I realised that many students would attend more than once or twice a week if they could afford it. I decided to make the Term Passes, valid for up to four classes a week. My pricing in 2023 is: Term Pass (10 weeks) $195, 10 Session Pass $200 and a Single Pass $25 (Single Passes do not grant access to the Student Portal videos).
Rising Moon Tai Chi School began in 2015 and after 8 years has 150 active students and offers 20 classes a week. This is more than enough for me to manage. Classes include Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced (bare hand) and 32 Sword, Tai Chi Bang, Short Stick and Yang Fan. The growth of the School has reflected my own personal and professional development.
The ethos of Rising Moon Tai Chi has always been to respect and care for the student and it was surprising to discover, through the last survey, that word of mouth was the reason for new students to join RMTC.
One of the main decisions an instructor will face is where to hold classes - whether to hire a venue or lease/purchase a studio. I hire three types of venues - a dance studio, a church hall and three different community halls. There are advantages to hiring - you only pay for the hours you’re there, you can hold classes in different locations. If class numbers drop, you can easily cancel the hall booking. Having your own venue also has its merits. It can be purpose built and fitted out. You can create a beautifully peaceful space and you can hire it out to other wellness businesses when you don’t have classes. Of course, there are disadvantages to hiring - it may become unavailable, it’s not a peaceful space and hire costs constantly rise. There are also disadvantage to having your own studio - rent/repayments are costly, it’s wasted space if it’s not used and students may have to travel a fair way for classes.
Here are some things that helped me build the Rising Moon Tai Chi brand.
do research and avoid setting up a business in direct competition with another school
establish a name for the business
research appropriate venues
have appropriate insurance
teach at a level that you are comfortable with
if you are new instructor, continue with your professional development so you will be able to offer more classes in the future
start small, with just one or two classes a week
decide if you want to do face to face, or live online classes or on demand videos, or a combination of these
if you are fitness professional, suggest the Group Ex coordinator adds Tai Chi to the timetable
do volunteer teaching at a school, retirement village or community centre
create a logo
purchase a flag/signage for outside the venue
develop a website
advertise in the local newspaper or magazine
design business cards and flyers
continue your own professional development
care about your students (most new students are from word of mouth)
start organising events such as lunches or excursions to places of Tai Chi interest
research purchasing an affordable booking system (I use Punchpass)
keep accurate records of students, attendances, payments
decide on payment options - Term Pass or 10-Session Pass or Single Session Pass - this will depend on venue costs, etc
decide whether you will offer discounts to pensioners/health card holders, etc
factor in taxation requirements when setting a pricing schedule
be generous with your time
be fair with your costings
establish trust by being fair and consistent with financial decisions (including refunds)
during the holidays, offer a Holiday Program
organise an end of year lunch
develop your social media footprint
subscribe to Canva (or similar) for social media posts/flyers
use Mailchimp (or similar) for bulk emails and surveys
provide resources for your students, including PDFs and videos so they can practice at home
encourage a love of learning
enjoy teaching
have fun with your students
be punctual to class (this means arriving well before your students - at least 10 minutes before the scheduled start) and have the room set up before students arrive
start on time - don’t wait for late comers. It’s a sign of respect to your students to start on time
never have a ‘bad day’