What is you or your school doing to survive the economy?

[Todd]

I posted this to see what my fellow practioners were doing to survive the economic times. Also thought it would be a good idea to share idea's. How is everyone doing out there? Myself here in Tucson AZ , having to delay opening my trainning school due to high rent rates. I offer private instruction , but owning or renting a location is to much for the wallet. When times are tough we need to adapt and overcome. What is everyone doing to make it?

[kungfujoe]

I'm very fortunate to be teaching at a RECenter that allows me to teach with no overhead. They take tuition from my students (they also set the rates), pay me a modest hourly wage (at three hours per week, it obviously doesn't amount to much, but it covers the club's expenses and some of my other training expenses), and take care of all of the administrative stuff (scheduling, insurance, running the facility, etc). Teaching this way has its disadvantages, but as long as I meet my modest minimum enrollment (5 per enrolled class), it does mean that I don't have any pressure to attract students in order to meet expenses.

It also means that I can't even think of teaching martial arts as a career, but the way I teach doesn't lend itself to very big groups. The number of students I'd need to consider using martial arts as my primary income source would not only be impossible for me to attract and retain, but it's be unmanageable and not remotely enjoyable.

So what am I doing to deal with the tough economic times? Nothing, basically.