Working for a "Franchise" Health Club???

Posted by: Ronin1966

Working for a "Franchise" Health Club??? - 07/22/08 04:15 PM

Was asked to submit my credentials to a new local franchise (national chain) opening in the fall for a job as a "Karate Program" Instructor.

My question do any FA members (or guests) have experience working in such a position for a national franchise? Wondering what others experiences might have been, what PRO's and CON's might exist?

Anybody????

Jeff
Posted by: cxt

Re: Working for a "Franchise" Health Club??? - 07/22/08 06:07 PM

Ronin

Have you had any EMT training?--that often goes a long way in a professional setting....not that something is going to go wrong..its just if it does people are more comfortable with folks that can handle basic sport related injures...CPR etc.
As does any specifc classes in exercise science etc...."reads" well when your looking at people that might have no clue how to handle people in training.

Some business courses might also help....most franchises want to make money and business skills are often lacking with "start-ups" of any kind...its why so many fail.

Course that depends on just how professional the organization might be.

My guess is that since they don't seem to be looking for a specific "style" of martial art--they won't be selling such...probably looking for a experienced person to sell a "program" they have developed and they are looking for a person with certain skills/skill sets rather than a specific martial art.

Which could go both ways......IMO such is like wanting to start a food franchise but carring NOTHING about the actual items to be served or what is going to be on the menu...were just looking for a "cook."

I think I need more details...if you have them.
Posted by: Ronin1966

Re: Working for a "Franchise" Health Club??? - 07/22/08 11:45 PM

Hello:

I was walking out of the facility (after a class) I've worked at for a few years and happened to encounter the fellow wearing the "General Manager" ID of a national chain. I had been told that morning there had been a change in management, the facility was being bought and schedules being prepaired for the fall... and that I might wish to talk with "whomever" from said chain to discuss additional (sic new) classes. The old classes would remain in place run by a completely different group that now merely shares the building.

I would have wished for a bit more time and might have choosen the time and place of our meeting, but he seemed decetly interested... and gave a ~good~ vibe.

I have zero experience teaching within any "franchise" so thought I'd ask folks with far more experience, the pro's & potential cons teaching thereof. I cannot imagine the facility being hugely or obscenely successful given a huge number of factors, but hey that's not my job .

As long as they do not require any kind of "music", or interfere with the material I teach. I can't think of anything that should raise alarms yet anyway. But having checked other facilities relatively locally that seem to offer a parallel martial arts program they do market martial arts rather bizarrely...

That specific marketing I could see being truly problematic , if mandatory from "corporate" to offer "martial arts" classes...

Jeff
Posted by: JAMJTX

Re: Working for a "Franchise" Health Club??? - 07/23/08 12:09 AM

I used to teach Taichi at a ladies club here.
My material was too high level for them. What they wanted was someone who would entertain the ladies for about 30 minutes by playing chinese music and have them wave thier hands around.
They were looking at numbers and dollars. There was no interest at all in the proper teaching of Taichi.
I would suspect that most clubs would be the same way with anything.
Posted by: NewJitsu

Re: Working for a "Franchise" Health Club??? - 07/23/08 05:02 AM

Hi Ronin

There are 4 health clubs in my local area and one of them is a franchised operation. The other three are independent and hold martial arts classes; the thing they have in common is that they let the MA instructors teach how they want to teach. Pretty much a free rein, as if the instructors are simply renting dojo space off them. A francise club, however, tends to work under 'brand consistency', i.e. all teaching should be the same. Without knowing anything about the club you're talking about, I'm guessing things will be very tight and you will have a lot of rules to follow.

Perhaps contact another of these franchise health clubs which already has an MA instructor onboard and see what s/he thinks.
Posted by: cxt

Re: Working for a "Franchise" Health Club??? - 07/23/08 12:12 PM

Ronin

That sounds like it might be worth a sit down....worst case situation that you make what might be a good contact and get some more information.

Best case could be something.
Posted by: eyrie

Re: Working for a "Franchise" Health Club??? - 07/23/08 08:19 PM

Quote:

I used to teach Taichi at a ladies club here.
My material was too high level for them. What they wanted was someone who would entertain the ladies for about 30 minutes by playing chinese music and have them wave thier hands around.
They were looking at numbers and dollars. There was no interest at all in the proper teaching of Taichi.
I would suspect that most clubs would be the same way with anything.


Jim... that sounds like a good deal... getting paid to entertain the ladies, listen to chinese music and wave hands for 30mins... damn... where can I score a gig like that?