I run a small grappling/MMA club in a town of about 12,000 people. Just down the block from me is a TKD school (ATA, if you're wondering). Tonight, as I and my students were closing up, we bumped into our neighbor, the TKD instructor. What could have been a rather awkward moment turned out to be a pretty pleasant little meeting. We talked about his bread and butter (families, kids, etc.) and mine (college-age guys who've grown up watching UFC) and ended up agreeing to refer people back and forth. No sense in being competitors since we do NOT offer the same product, right?
Anyway, I know this isn't about Eddie Bravo or fighters' wages, but I thought the anecdote might interest at least one or two of you.
Just curious... are you right by a bigger city? It seems like you'd be hard pushed to fill a grappling/mma gym with that small of a population to draw from.
nice my son goes to an ATA school he is 5 and it is a good place for him to start. I did have to snicker a little when they tried to recruit me for the adult classes. Talking about the "full contact sparring" I almost choked. Good to see a friendly exchange between the school and referring for each other.
Omura: Actually, you'd have to drive an hour away from us to hit a decent-sized city, but there are a TON of small towns clustered close together in our county. As such, our commercial traffic is actually pretty good for a town of 12,000 people. Besides, our overhead is low, so it's not like we need 200 students to keep the doors open. :)