Thread: Being asked to teach in competiton with yourself!

I've had yet another request from a community centre to teach classes right next door to my existing classes. For about 1/2 the price. Grrrr. What usually happens is, the Community Centre/gym decides to run bellydance classes, searches the internet for a teacher and realises that I'm offering classes nearby. "Great," they think, "She'll want to teach for us, given she's so close!" But then, I'm charging $15 per class, and they can only charge their students $4, because they're a community centre. So they're in effect asking me to undercut myself! When I point this out, they say that it'll just be a short course, and the students may then flow onto my classes. But how many students who come to a class because it's only $4 are likely to then go to a $15 class?

The problem is, if I decline, it opens the way for another teacher to enter my area. So far, I've declined all such offers and they no other teacher has popped up, but it's only a matter of time. And also, I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't be more giving to the general community and teach a few classes for less. But then, this is my living, and I know that after a while I'll just resent it....

Hmmm, thoughts? I know my business head says 'no' to these opportunities, but I'm interested in other peoples' perspectives.

Hmm, if you make it a beginners' class that is just like a taster, then people who DO like what they experience are more likely to go to your main classes than if they're getting much the same thing as they might normally get from you, but cheaper. I suppose it's akin to cheap/free drugs till the kids are hooked, lol.

Is it worth it for you financially, is the other thing. Will the money you get for teaching this be worth the time and work?

It might be different in Australia, but in the US community centers receive funding - which then can be used to supplement what the teacher gets paid, so he/she can be paid a fair wage. I had NO idea this was the case until recently a local dancer pointed it out. Maybe you could ask about this.
IF that is the case- you could stave off resentment by getting a fair wage, and maybe bringing in new dancers. They might start off with the cheaper class- but...well, we're all evidence here of how hooked we get.
I know quite a few people who use community center classes as "feeder classes" for their upper levels. They reach a wider audience with all their advertising.

Could you teach a periodic class there, at a low rate, just for the exposure? I offer a free 1-hour class at the studio where I teach, once or twice a year, to get more students hooked. Mwahahaha! It works. I usually pick up a few students this way, and then others who heard about the class but for some reason didn't attend also sign up for regular classes.

This is an easy way to advertise, and it's cheaper than the newspaper.

Make it a little different, like the beginners teaser suggested or a belly dance aerobics class, so if those rec center students want to progress or have performance opps, then they have to attend your reg classes!

(sorry for the grammar)
There is another problem coming out from teaching in a community center and running our own school at the same time... how do you justify to students who ask: why am I paying 100$ for like a 10 classes session for being in your school if I could pay 40$ for the same amount of time with a community center if it's the same school/teacher teaching? It supposed to be the same "education" for not for the same price?????

I use community centers as 'feeder' classes -- but the difference in pricing isn't that great. City residents (or health club members) get a discount off the basic rate, but that basic rate compares to the rate I charge at my studio.

People who get the discount are willing to pay a couple more dollars when they want to move up to a higher level -- I only offer beginner classes at other venues. And I offer amenities at my studio that aren't available at the other venues, like...mirrors, in one case!!! Plus loaner props like veils, canes, finger cymbals etc that make the class lots more fun.

BUT if the difference in price were going to be THAT great, I'd lean toward offering only a short taster workshop, too. That seems like a great win-win -- the center gets to offer the class at the price they want, you get to promote your business, and there's no opening for a competitor or 6-week-wonder to move into your turf.

the "teaser class" is a great idea. you can hold your ground geographically and get more students into the regular classes.

Speaking as one of those "rec center students" I am VERY glad that the teacher I started taking classes with offered "discount" classes at the rec center, otherwise I would not have even started belly dancing, as I took the class on a whim! That whim has become a 3 year passion, and when I am good enough I want to teach and offer classes to others that just want to check it out without committing a lot of money.
On a non finanacial aspect, it was the first time I had even seen anything about belly dance classes, I had seen performances but never anything about classes. So it is very good advertising to people that may not otherwise be exposed to our art.

Thanks for all your replies. You've given me some really good points to think about. It was mentioned there's a problem in offering the same class for so much cheaper - exactly. I don't want my regular students feeling totally ripped off. I think the on-off taster workshop idea is a good one. I might propose that to the centre, even though they wanted a short course.

Or I could teach a really crappy class at the Community Centre, and say "Now, if you want me to teach well, come along to my much-more-expensive regular classes!" NOT!!!

Can you ask the Community Center if they would offer classes "off site"? then students could come to your place for the same price? It might encourage them to join if they get interested?

First of all determine if the community center can pay you appropriately. They usually pay just fine, considering they do all the work of filling your class and you just show up to teach it. If so, I think that if you titled the community center class "Introduction to Belly Dance" or "Basics of Belly Dance" and make the class so basic and simple that it would bore the pants off of any of your existing students, no one would question the lower class price. Most people know (or if they don't, you can inform them) that community centers are subsidized by the city to some degree, which is why classes are so cheap.

Personally, I would jump at the opportunity to use it as a "feeder class" to my more serious training at the private studio. For those students who are just taking belly dance to get off the couch for an hour, the basic class may be all they ever need or want. For those who want to advance beyond the very basic, they will need to "graduate" to your next level classes. It sounds like the community center is even encouraging you to use the class that way, so if I were in your position, I'd find a way to take advantage of that.