Most new clubs in this country start the same way: an instructor with a grade, a rented hall on a Tuesday night, and a carrier bag of pads. The martial arts part is the part you already know. This guide covers the other part - the checklist that turns a Tuesday night session into a club that pays its own way.
It is written for the UK specifically, because venue licences, safeguarding expectations and Direct Debit are where generic advice falls over. We build club software, and the last section says plainly where that does and does not matter on day one.
Before the first class
- Instructor insurance and qualifications: your association or governing body will have minimum coverage requirements for teaching. Sort this before anyone steps on a mat - venues increasingly ask for the certificate.
- Association affiliation: joining a recognised body gets you gradings that mean something, licensing for members, and usually insurance routes. It also answers the first question cautious parents ask.
- Venue: leisure centres and school halls are the standard start. Ask about storage for mats, minimum hire blocks, and what happens to your slot in the summer holidays.
- Safeguarding: if you will teach under-18s, you need DBS checks, a named welfare officer and a written policy. The CPSU publishes templates; associations often provide their own.
Pricing your membership
Look up what nearby clubs charge and price within sight of them. Across most of the UK a junior class membership sits somewhere between £25 and £40 a month, seniors a little higher, with family rates common. Monthly rolling beats termly for cash flow and beats pay-as-you-go for commitment; keep a drop-in rate for visitors and give it a price that makes membership the obvious deal.
Resist the urge to launch cheap and raise later - a £5 increase on fifty members is an awkward email that pricing fairly from day one never has to send.
Collecting fees without becoming a debt collector
Cash and standing orders will carry you to about twenty members before the cracks show - underpayment on old prices, missed weeks, a treasurer reconciling personal bank statements. Our fee collection guide covers the mechanics in depth; the short version is that card and Bacs Direct Debit through a platform collect on schedule, retry failures automatically, and keep club money out of personal accounts from the start.
Whatever you choose, decide the arrears rule before you have arrears: how many missed payments before training pauses. Write it into your policies on day one, when it is nobody in particular’s problem.
Your first twenty members
New clubs fill from three places: the instructor’s existing students following them, local search, and word of mouth from the first families through the door. You control the middle one. A Google Business Profile with your class times, a page that says clearly who the classes are for, and a join link that works on a phone will beat a leafleting weekend.
Run a beginner course as your intake rather than open enrolment - a named six-week block with a start date gives people a reason to commit now instead of someday, and it batches your admin.
Where software matters on day one, and where it does not
Declared interest: we build OurClub. Honestly, a brand-new club with eight members does not need software; it needs students, and a notebook will hold the register. The moment it earns its keep is when money starts moving - memberships, grading fees, kit - because collection, arrears and record-keeping are where founder hours vanish.
The reason to set up early anyway is pricing shape: OurClub has no monthly fee, one all-in rate from 3.25% of what you process with card fees included, so an empty first month costs nothing and the system is already in place when the intake course fills. Clubs registered before 1 November 2026 keep the founding ladder permanently. Set up in draft, launch when the first course does.
