1 Year Anniversary

We just celebrated our 1 yr anniversary. May not seem like much of a milestone, yet having lived in Dallas nearly all my life, I've seen many a dojo come-and-go, not even making it past the first 6 months! Now with 100-200 schools and clubs in the Dallas area, and 5 other schools within a 3 mile radius of mine, I think we're doing alright! Especially if you consider we went against-the-odds with an adult-only school, and didn't go the kiddie McDojo route.

Many people say that for each adult in a school there are typically 10 kids. If that were the case, and we'd done kids, I guess we'd have almost 150 students. Let the McDojo's who want to babysit them and gouge parents by charging 2-3x what we do, have them. Personally, I'd rather see parents take their kids to a city sponsored Recreation Centers kids karate program, or one at a YMCA. Heck, if I never gain another student, and just keep the ones I've got, I'd be content. Plus, our school is getting a bit full and we're running out of space.

Reminds me how I heard that Bruce Lee initially envisioned having 100's of schools over the U.S. when he started out, but eventually decided he couldn't really teach what he wanted to if he went that route, because what-he-taught and the-way-he-taught-it required individual interaction with each student. I must admit, there are often days when I'm thankful our class isn't much bigger than it is.

In fact, I'm thinking of capping the class size if it gets much bigger, and creating a waiting list should someone be interested in joining our group.