When you should (and should not) raise your rates

I’ve gotten this question so many times and it really makes my blood boil. Not so much at the question itself, but at the underlying psychology behind it.

And the question is: Should I raise my rates?

My answer: YES! Stop over thinking it. Stop it. Just raise your rates.

Here's why. You are worth more. In fact, 95% of you reading this right now are UNDERCHARGING!

The first digit in your monthly tuition price should be a 2. As in $200+ per month.

You owe NO ONE an explanation... (unless your plan is to raise current active paying member rates-which I'll discuss below)

As you already know, everything else in our world increases in price every year, heck, some things even increase every month. Yet, too many martial art school owners don't increase their rates.

Seriously, think about it, gas, milk, electricity, dry cleaning, beer, wine. water, airline prices, gymnastic lessons, health insurance, college tuition, gym memberships, rent, mortgage, payroll, internet, cell phones, Netflix.... Have I made my point?

The truth is simple but hard to hear.

The real issue for many school owners about raising rates is actually about our own self worth.

In our industry we constantly undervalue what we offer and the life skills we provide. What we do CHANGES (and potentially saves) LIVES!

I could go on for another 4 paragraphs about how we as an industry do that and how students come back to us years later and tell us how we impacted their life or parents who tell us that if it wasn't for what we taught them they would've never have become (successful, happy, on track, productive... the list goes on, but if you've been teaching for more than 5-10 years you already know this....)

Many of us grew up with this dogma around a poverty mindset because our instructors and their instructors got into teaching because of their love for the art- and that's important and truthfully it's why I do what I do today, I LOVE this!

But many of these old time instructors also knew next to nothing about business ....

So instead of learning how to better run their business they adopted this blame game BS mentality that anyone who was making money somehow was "selling out" in the arts-when the fact of the matter is that nothing could be further from the truth!

This "poor me" mindset has effectively crippled our industry and the lives of so many great teachers. In my opinion it needs to change. I've been sounding this horn for a few years now and I won't stop until all of us are earning what we deserve and what we are actually worth.

And before any of you "old schoolers" start complaining ....

Yes, of course, it's important to uphold our traditions and standards. Yes, we have to teach the highest quality arts. Yes, legacy and heritage are important to teach.(especially for our company as we have over 50 years worth...) It's all important-but all of that has zero point zero to do with our pricing!

Listen, our landlord, our mortgage holder, our car dealer, our electrician, our doctors, our vendors, and yes even our employees, could give two shits about our art, our legacy, and our great grand master.

What they care about is simple: When are they getting paid for their work?

And how do we pay them?

MONEY! (and crypto & NFTs but that's another post topic....).

Money makes the world go'round.

And let's also discuss those of you who say: "The people in my area can't afford it."

This is yet another limiting belief you developed around and about money.

There is a lot to discuss on this topic. But lets make it simple. In "your area" do people drive Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, Infinity, Audi, Toyota, or do they own boats, jet ski's, or ATV's etc?... There might even be a dealership within 5 miles of your studio. Do they go to the movies, play hockey, gymnastics, cheer?...  The truth is, people will "afford" what they put a value on. Period. This is doubly true for parents when it comes to their kids. And if you are a parent, you know. If you are having trouble showing the true "value" of your studio, that is another discussion and it's important to know that it is also something we can help you with.

There is an awakening and a mindset shift that needs to take place in our industry and this very mindset is one of the first things we help all our Elite mastermind clients overcome. All of whom are charging upwards of $200 a month from Kansas to Canada from NYC to Mississippi and everywhere in between.

Now, what about raising rates to current active members? I strongly discourage you from doing this without a system in place. The system is a better way that requires a bit more detail and I will cover this topic in an upcoming email or video blog post.

To summarize: Yes. Raise your rates. If today you are charging 150 a month. then tomorrow just go to $175-180 a month. That's only about $5 a week or $1 a day difference from where you are now.(keep in mind Starbucks charges $5 for their coffee.)

2022 is here and this can be a new era for all of us! You've got to make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change.

If you want to get more detail on how to raise membership rates and keep your members coming back for more so you create a community of "raving fans?" We want to get you there. Click the link  http://bit.ly/BKhotline and let's chat. This could be the 30 minutes that changes everything for you.