Start a training outfit or join one?

Corpral_Agarn

Corpral_Agarn

Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Messages
3,630
Location
Northern CA (the good part)
Hey All,

I'm at a crossroads. I have been training folks in advanced handgun and rifle shooting for close to 10 years now. I've enjoyed a lot of success. I was made fun of for my "following" of people who only came out to my classes (humble brag, I guess).

I left the training company I was working for a few months ago. I wish them the best but it was not a good place to work.

The saddest thing for me was stepping away from the clientele that I had built up. I absolutely want to get back to it. Helping new shooters get started and advancing the skills of seasoned shooters is provides a lot of satisfaction for me.

Yesterday I was invited out to a new outdoor range not far from my house to take a look and provide ideas and feedback.

It's got two 25 yard bays and one 100 yard bay. The folks there want training classes and shooting matches, the sky's the limit.

I'm currently in between training companies (I'm in talks with one outfit) and am struggling with whether or not I should start my own, or sign on with one.

I need to flesh out the options.

Anybody have any insights on starting their own training outfit?

If it matters, I'm in northern California and the range is located in a place where the county is trying to become a 2A sanctuary county. A lot of support for the 2A up here.
 
Sounds cool to me. I can’t offer any insight other than running your own business is a blessing and a curse. You’re responsible for everything. Taxes suck.

Any my first thought was the issue of insurance/liability. Does working for a training company offer any protection or are you still SOL in case of a psycho or lawsuit? I don’t have any knowledge of this subject; just asking questions to hopefully encourage thought and research.

I’d love to take one of your classes, I know that…

Good luck whatever you decide. 😎
 
Start one. If you join one, you'll always be grumbling about the jack wad in charge. If you start one, you won't. ;)

Seriously, you'll get bogged down in admin and all that other fun stuff unless you already have all that in place beforehand. Then you can go out and play like Taran.
 
Corpral_Agarn said:
Anybody have any insights on starting their own training outfit?

If it matters, I'm in northern California and the range is located in a place where the county is trying to become a 2A sanctuary county. A lot of support for the 2A up here.
Click to expand...

Widgets are widgets, services are services. Running a business is it's own animal and has absolutely nothing to do with the "work".

If you enjoy the actual "work" of training, hire on with another training company. But if you feel that you'd enjoy running a business - start a business and hire others to do the "work". (you know, like the last company you worked for did and the company you're considering working for does) 👍
 
The Night Rider said:
You're never going to get rich working for the other guy
Click to expand...

I'm not wealthy but if this venture does even a little over cost that's okay.

I worked for very little the last 10 years but the people I helped made it all worth it.

Growing the local shooting community has it's own value/rewards
 
Mostly Lead said:
Widgets are widgets, services are services. Running a business is it's own animal and has absolutely nothing to do with the "work".

If you enjoy the actual "work" of training, hire on with another training company. But if you feel that you'd enjoy running a business - start a business and hire others to do the "work". (you know, like the last company you worked for did and the company you're considering working for does) 👍
Click to expand...
That's a really good way to look at it.

I like doing the work and helping to expand businesses but I'm not much of an admin guy.
 
I was part of a group that started a force-on-force class. I also own my own business (nothing to do with guns or fighting).

Truly starting your own business, especially in California, is a massive undertaking. I would not do it unless I was fairly sure of making it into a full-time ( and full profit) venture.

The force-on-force class was purely organic: a group of guys sharing an interest, getting together before and after hours in a fighting gym as basically a hobby. Gradually it attracted more folks, and complexities - waivers, dues, etc. - were addressed as needed. Eventually it turned into a real thing, though Covid killed it dead.

I'd strongly suggest going the latter route as much as possible. It was fun, rewarding, and very low risk. The former route involved lawyers and bankers and hundreds of thousands of dollars and really wasn't fun at all. I would only pursue such stuff if I fully intended to turn it into my life's work.
 
entropy said:
Start one. If you join one, you'll always be grumbling about the jack wad in charge. If you start one, you won't. ;)
.
Click to expand...

Depends…sometimes I am a jackwad

J/K you are right, it can be really frustrating when one has the skills to do themselves and has to match at the beat of another’s drum
 
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We have a few people who run CCW licensing classes and piggyback their advanced classes on that. It’s a good feeder into clientele that need training and it provides a good first exposure to your style for new shooters.

A lot of them use pin boards at local gun shops, and attend gun shows and events for their advertisement.
 
Corpral_Agarn said:
It's got two 25 yard bays and one 100 yard bay. The folks there want training classes and shooting matches, the sky's the limit.
Click to expand...
What kind of matches?

With only 3 bays, they really aren't set up for USPSA/IPSC, IDPA, or Steel Challenge. I've shot 4 stage indoor USPSA, and IDPA, matches, but only if I can't make it to a 6 to 8 stage match, and am a little desperate to squeeze in a match. I don't know anyone who would sign up for a 3 stage match, but maybe attitudes are different in that area.. You absolutely need to be able to run 8 stages for Steel Challenge.

You would have the same problem with multi-gun, tactical games, etc, and with 100 yard max you're not really set up for any rifle matches, even the rimfire matches, like NRL22 & PRS Rimfire, as even those regularly go out past 100 yards.

It just doesn't seem like that range is set up to host matches, in its current configuration, but maybe I'm missing something.
 
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Is this the new range near Artois? I've talked to them but haven't been out there yet. I realize a new range can't build everything they eventually want to have immediately. Last I checked they're only open on Saturday. Already a member at the clubs in Red Bluff, Redding and Gridley. (Mark H. at NVSA). Two of those clubs have only 3 bays and we partially reset to shoot 5 or 6 stages. More bays would be better but we're able to hold matches. Shot today in Gridley.
 
DMF said:
What kind of matches?

With only 3 bays, they really aren't set up for USPSA/IPSC, IDPA, or Steel Challenge. I've shot 4 stage indoor USPSA, and IDPA, matches, but only if I can't make it to a 6 to 8 stage match, and am a little desperate to squeeze in a match. I don't know anyone who would sign up for a 3 stage match, but maybe attitudes are different in that area.. You absolutely need to be able to run 8 stages for Steel Challenge.

You would have the same problem with multi-gun, tactical games, etc, and with 100 yard max you're not really set up for any rifle matches, even the rimfire matches, like NRL22 & PRS Rimfire, as even those regularly go out past 100 yards.

It just doesn't seem like that range is set up to host matches, in its current configuration, but maybe I'm missing something.
Click to expand...
3 bays means 6 stages, where I'm from. They have plans to go to 200 yards and I saw an easy way to add another 2 25yrd bays when I was out there.

The nearest multi gun is almost 2 hours away.

I think we could have a blast at 100 yards.

When I was training at the old place I had 8-10 guys every month coming out to a 25yrd indoor range for 2gun practice. We have the people wanting to shoot.

No one else in our area offers any shooting like that.
 
Smokin Gator said:
Is this the new range near Artois? I've talked to them but haven't been out there yet. I realize a new range can't build everything they eventually want to have immediately. Last I checked they're only open on Saturday. Already a member at the clubs in Red Bluff, Redding and Gridley. (Mark H. at NVSA). Two of those clubs have only 3 bays and we partially reset to shoot 5 or 6 stages. More bays would be better but we're able to hold matches. Shot today in Gridley.
Click to expand...
Hey neighbor! Yeah the one I Artois is what I'm talking about. They've only been open 6 months but what they've accomplished so far is pretty cool.

I'm certain we've shot together before at NVSA. I haven't hit a uspsa in a while but I am hoping to add it and red bluff to the schedule here soon.
 
Yes. You'd know me. We've shot a number of times at NVSA. Big old Single Stack shooter although I've been shooting LO for a while. I shoot IDPA there occasionally but primarily USPSA.
 
Corpral_Agarn said:
Hey All,

I'm at a crossroads. I have been training folks in advanced handgun and rifle shooting for close to 10 years now. I've enjoyed a lot of success. I was made fun of for my "following" of people who only came out to my classes (humble brag, I guess).

I left the training company I was working for a few months ago. I wish them the best but it was not a good place to work.

The saddest thing for me was stepping away from the clientele that I had built up. I absolutely want to get back to it. Helping new shooters get started and advancing the skills of seasoned shooters is provides a lot of satisfaction for me.

Yesterday I was invited out to a new outdoor range not far from my house to take a look and provide ideas and feedback.

It's got two 25 yard bays and one 100 yard bay. The folks there want training classes and shooting matches, the sky's the limit.

I'm currently in between training companies (I'm in talks with one outfit) and am struggling with whether or not I should start my own, or sign on with one.

I need to flesh out the options.

Anybody have any insights on starting their own training outfit?

If it matters, I'm in northern California and the range is located in a place where the county is trying to become a 2A sanctuary county. A lot of support for the 2A up here.
Click to expand...
Insurance alone kept me working for other people
 
The market is extremely saturated right now with most of the business going to the guys who sell the best "experience" rather than actual skills.
 
In California and other states with CCW training requirements it appears that CCW training and basic skills is the biggest market. More advanced skills especially competition focused are often offered by top trainers who travel the country doing classes. Both tactical and competition focused. I know that there are training outfits who offer offer beginner through advanced classes. Those are optional. For many shooters the CCW training is mandatory in their state.
 
I would suggest as resources:
Shooting Industry Magazine
Web sites from Karl Rehn, Tom Givens and Greg Ellifritz who have discussions of how to conduct training. They may have business hints also. Dunno about that.

You can get more stages in a bay if you design a larger stage that then takes down for a smaller stage with moving some targets.
 
GEM said:
I would suggest as resources:
Shooting Industry Magazine
Web sites from Karl Rehn, Tom Givens and Greg Ellifritz who have discussions of how to conduct training. They may have business hints also. Dunno about that.

You can get more stages in a bay if you design a larger stage that then takes down for a smaller stage with moving some targets.
Click to expand...

That's what we do at our 3 bay clubs. We shoot the first 3 stages. Then move or remove some walls. Remove poppers, change target arrays. Change start positions. Usually smaller round count. It would me nice to have 5 or 6 bays but we do the best we can.

At first we tried tearing down and nearly completely rebuilding but it took to much time.
 
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