Saturday, September 14, 2013

All that glitters

         I apparently have a problem asking people for money when it comes to teaching. I suppose it's because I want training partners more than money, but that seems to create some sort of paradox as when you offer something for free people are skeptical but if you charge for it they think it must be worth more. When I was training I was driving almost two hours each way a few days a week to get to an hour and a half class of Judo or Aikido. My instructor cut me a break on most of my classes and I don't know how I would've afforded to train without that and it compels me to attempt to pass that on.
       Reading up on the subject of charging for classes I have come across a few people experiencing similar issues. They offer classes cheaply and people willingly go to the more expensive training areas. I am sure some of you have experienced the same thing, so what did you do? Just start charging more? If so, what about your students that you either weren't charging at first or were charging much less for?

3 comments:

Patrick Parker said...

that's a tough one that i've never solved satisfactorily. and it pisses me off that people seem to value learning opportunities based on their monetary cost rather than their potential gains in the artform.

Lately I've been telling more folks, "pay whatever you think it's worth to you."

John Wood said...

that's an interesting answer, I may use that one next time.

John Wood said...
This comment has been removed by the author.