How to go about teaching?

Your Sifu just might help you get started. So definitely ask his advice. He will also have the experience and know what works in your area and what doesn't to help your school grow. It is sad that he didn't just let someone take over the school and continue the teaching. He really could have helped the students with transitioning to a new teacher.

The biggest mistake people make is rent the biggest storefront they can find, get a business loan, buy mats and lots of equipment and then in a year or two they close, their credit ruined because they could not make ends meet. Be humble and start small and grow with your students. Rent a space two or three times a week for your classes. Don't get locked into long term leases. Renting a space from one month to the next would be best. Town halls, recreation centers, churches, are all great options. When you are ready for your own place the combination of rental office/storage areas are great for intermediate before you go to the full blown store front. Also consider renting a space together with other martial artists of a different style or rent a space from an already existing school on their days off. If there is respect for each other this can work. If you have a space consider subrenting it to other teachers on your off days. Yoga and martial arts is a good combination too.

Don't know where you live and if this is an option but most of my Kung Fu training has been outdoors in a park. In the winter we have a space in a church for about 3 months but then we go train outdoors again. Most everybody in China trains outdoors whenever possible. The park rangers have gotten so used to us that they will keep a special area mowed especially short just for us to train on. Out there we are their weekly entertainment and people will stop and watch and ask questions. It's great free advertisement.

If you like to teach, then you need to get better yourself in terms of skill AND understanding of your art and you need to learn how to teach. Teaching is in itself a separate art, and knowing something does not automatically give you the ability to teach it well. So, you need to work on both areas.

Several other thing you need to consider:

1) Insurance. I don't know where you live, but if you are in North America, or some western European countries you are taking a huge financial risk if you don't have insurance. All it takes is one lawsuit from an injured student (or their parents) and you are ruined for life.

2) Business is a b***h. A brick and mortar school costs money and depending on where you are located, you will need a minimum number of students in order to just break even - and that may be all you can really expect. One of my teacher taught for over nearly 30 years before he closed his school. I found out years afterwards he had actually been running the school at a loss in that he was paying close to $3,000/yr out of his own pocket to keep the school running. He was able do it because he had a day job and he taught for the love to the art.

You may be thinking of teaching at your home or your student's home, but the problem with such private lessons is that unless you are well known or have a reputation as a good instructor, you are not going to have many if any students. Private lessons are more expensive than regular classroom room lessons. Most young kids do not have that kind of money and very few of them are going to be able to persuade their parents to pay for such lessons. Adults who can pay are going to be VERY particular about who they choose for private lessons; they are going to want to know what is your qualifications. And if you don't have one or one that impress them, they are not going to bother.

Study

Are you looking to teach for your main source of income? If so, definitely take some courses in business management. Also, be prepared to have to compromise the integrity of your method if it is deemed too difficult for the general public to grasp; you'll have to dance a fine line between staying true to your art while simultaneously turning a profit.

My sifu is a fantastic martial artist AND a fantastic teacher - I hope to be more like him every day in that regard. However, when he actually had a school, his then wife handled all the business transactions. When they split, he was up the creek without a paddle. He had no idea how to run a business and the school folded shortly thereafter.

What he does now, though, and what may be a viable option for you to get started, is he teaches through his city's parks & rec department. It's sort of like being half-way between being a school owner and then just teaching privately for fun because you're still held accountable for a lot of the business practices, but you have virtually no overhead.

If you're looking to teach for fun, just do it. If you have growing clientele, you're doing great, but the opposite is also true. Be sure to buy insurance. Maybe teach in this manner until you build a large enough student base to actually open a school and gain more experience.

Good for you for ensuring you get your teacher's blessing first. It isn't necessarily a question of legality, but rather, ethics. Good luck.

Teaching is a learned skill, go to school for it...one semester enough, then take a business class, you need also to take a management class. Now, you can do all this on-line or order the school books and study on your own. Being 'good' at something does not make you a good teacher, or business manager. Do research also in starting up a business, if you except school children after school everyday, you may qualify for an educational grant to pay for your entire start-up! Do your research.