Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Discussion on the three big Chinese internals, Yiquan, Bajiquan, Piguazhang and other similar styles.

Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby yeniseri on Tue Dec 07, 2021 10:03 pm

So I was following up on a local tai chi job opening at a gym and was shocked to see the purported salary of someone who teaches tai chi! WTF
The salaries reported remind me of the "qi internal purists" who claim everyone but themselves know the real tai chi. Of course, I am a low level, non professional dunce but there is no way in hell that the salaries are as profiled per the following link: https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/T ... n-Illinois

I have taught tai chi at a senior center park district, presented at a few conferences, taught tai chi as part of an alternatibe medicine curriculum class at a medical school and at a local VA (temporary) and the salaries no way reflect the linkied information. Perhaps I need more bells and whistles and some preposterous lingo to appear as if I deserve the aforementioned pay.
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby GrahamB on Wed Dec 08, 2021 12:58 am

That link doesn't show any salaries - can you just post the amount here?
One does not simply post on RSF.
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby origami_itto on Wed Dec 08, 2021 5:01 am

Image

Well, it tracks if they're posting the salary for their day job
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby Michael Babin on Wed Dec 08, 2021 7:14 am

I taught public classes in a premises I rented for that purpose for 16 years. While doing that I was also teaching slow form classes in a variety of fitness and community centers. If you divide my annual income in those years by the number of hourly group and private classes that I taught per week; I rarely made more than the minimum wage per hour in my part of Canada [1990s-2010]. My experience was not unusual when compared to the other local kung fu and taiji school owners at the time who either sold equipment, t-shirts to supplement their income or did unrelated work the rest of the day and only taught evenings and/or Saturdays. In other words, you taught at least in part because you loved the arts you were teaching or you did something else part-time.

On the other hand, I knew several instructors who went on to be famous and quite well-off financially from running workshop "empires" and doing a lot of travelling to see all their satellite branches at least once a year. I did that on a smaller scale for a few years and it was the only time I made serious money from teaching taiji... but I hate travel and missed being away from family [my kids were younger then and still living at home].

If I was going to offer any advice to a person contemplating teaching for profit... it would be "think about this carefully". In my experience and from what I have seen in my contemporaries; it's difficult to hang onto your ethics in the teaching business if you are trying to earn a decent living, much less make good money.
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby Giles on Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:40 am

Michael Babin wrote:In my experience and from what I have seen in my contemporaries; it's difficult to hang onto your ethics in the teaching business if you are trying to earn a decent living, much less make good money.


A few months ago I was asked to make a pitch for "online tai chi training" for certain staff of a wealthy multinational. Could be interesting, I thought, after have been compelled to hone my "online yin-yang gong fu" during corona lockdown - actually did quite a good job under the circumstances, I think. So I did the online pitch to the decision-makers and set out how (even) online tai chi exercises might help with back/shoulder/neck pain, with stress reduction and with the sense of being grounded. Naturally this would have been very basic, but it would at least get the participants off their butts for 10 minutes, moving the whole body etc. And maybe turn on a few participants for something more authentic...
A couple of days later I got the feedback: "Nice presentation and offer, but we've decided to go with another 'tai chi for business expert' who provides 'office tai chi' in a chair. We think we can make tai chi more accessible to our staff if they don't have to get up out of their seats."

Well, no competing with that... ::)
Last edited by Giles on Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby co-lee on Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:54 am

$35 an hour is definitely in the ballpark of what I've seen. Local rec center was paying $25 an hour in the before times. Hospital where we taught some classes to cancer patients paid about twice that. Including rent and all our costs, a decently attended class (10 people) nets us quite a bit more than that.

The problems are that time in class is only a third or a half of total time spent to have that hour in class and that you can't spend all that much time actually teaching. For a brief period of time, I taught about 20 hours a week across some univ classes, cancer center, and our own classes. That was unsustainable. And even then didn't bring in all that much money.

For tjq, the successful business model seems to be a franchise operation w/ traveling seminars/workshops as marketing and business dev. The seminars themselves can be fairly lucrative but the real winner is finding existing schools that already have a student base and getting the lead instructors to join your organization and send a tithe of their revenues to you for "indoor teaching" and licensing of the branding. At least that's how I've seen some high profile folks do it.

For MA in general, it appears to be kids classes and belt/testing/competition fees. Get the studio off the ground, find some assistants who will teach the kids, get parents on automatic payment plans, and build a ongoing process where longterm students not only pay tuition but pay regular add'l amounts for testing, belts/merch, and competitions.

Getting someone else to pay you for teaching at their facility, e.g. at a rec center or as an adjunct to someone else's MA school, is not going to ever result in much money.
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby everything on Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:33 am

local Target seems to pay $15/hour. Zumba instructors maybe between that and the Illinois tai chi listed salary.

I'm paying about $10 for a yoga class with a friend. There are 3 of us, so that's about $30.

So maybe $34 as "gross pay" isn't unreasonable depending on if it's "salary" or "revenue".
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby Bhassler on Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:13 am

Tai chi is probably lumped in with all sorts of exercise and fitness instructors, including personal trainers who own their own gym and charge $105/hour and yoga teachers who teach 5 classes a week with 60 students at $15 a pop on a 50% split. If you're good at marketing yourself, you can make a lot of money as a fitness instructor. These websites make money by encouraging people to find new jobs, and part of that is taking the most optimistic view possible of what a person could earn in any given position. Best not to take it too seriously.
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby Formosa Neijia on Wed Dec 08, 2021 1:27 pm

Bhassler wrote:Tai chi is probably lumped in with all sorts of exercise and fitness instructors...you can make a lot of money as a fitness instructor.


I made alot more after I switched my taiji class to fitness. I was struggling and had 4 students, switched to fitness because they were too out of shape anyway, earned 5 kettlebell certs and taught kettlebells 8 hours a day, set up my own cert and then got hired by a major gym chain to train their trainers at $300 a pop. All of that was pre-covid, of course, around 2011.

Taiji like most styles of kungfu is it's own worst enemy. Waaaaaaayyyyyy too complex, no clear definitions of anything, no tangible results and a curriculum that is all over the place. Anyone that tried to fix those problems would find ankle-biters at every turn waiting to hit them over the head with taiji classics. "Adapt or die" and "failure is not an option" were my mottos so I got out of the martial arts ghetto and I'm very glad I did. It was a fun ride while it lasted.
Last edited by Formosa Neijia on Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby yeniseri on Fri Dec 10, 2021 12:01 am

Anyone who can make the equivalent of $35.00 for Tai Chi classes is way superior in that regard per said instruction.
I, personally, have never been that lucky depsite my own limited exemplary work history and I salute those fortunate to be in those shoes.

Praise be to the fine level of excellent instruction and training of fellow enthusiasts!
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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby origami_itto on Sat Dec 11, 2021 12:01 am

Formosa Neijia wrote:
Bhassler wrote:Tai chi is probably lumped in with all sorts of exercise and fitness instructors...you can make a lot of money as a fitness instructor.


I made alot more after I switched my taiji class to fitness. I was struggling and had 4 students, switched to fitness because they were too out of shape anyway, earned 5 kettlebell certs and taught kettlebells 8 hours a day, set up my own cert and then got hired by a major gym chain to train their trainers at $300 a pop. All of that was pre-covid, of course, around 2011.

Taiji like most styles of kungfu is it's own worst enemy. Waaaaaaayyyyyy too complex, no clear definitions of anything, no tangible results and a curriculum that is all over the place. Anyone that tried to fix those problems would find ankle-biters at every turn waiting to hit them over the head with taiji classics. "Adapt or die" and "failure is not an option" were my mottos so I got out of the martial arts ghetto and I'm very glad I did. It was a fun ride while it lasted.


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Re: Taijiquan (Tai Chi) Instructor salaries: Multiverse pay

Postby origami_itto on Sat Dec 11, 2021 12:01 am

Formosa Neijia wrote:
Bhassler wrote:Tai chi is probably lumped in with all sorts of exercise and fitness instructors...you can make a lot of money as a fitness instructor.


I made alot more after I switched my taiji class to fitness. I was struggling and had 4 students, switched to fitness because they were too out of shape anyway, earned 5 kettlebell certs and taught kettlebells 8 hours a day, set up my own cert and then got hired by a major gym chain to train their trainers at $300 a pop. All of that was pre-covid, of course, around 2011.

Taiji like most styles of kungfu is it's own worst enemy. Waaaaaaayyyyyy too complex, no clear definitions of anything, no tangible results and a curriculum that is all over the place. Anyone that tried to fix those problems would find ankle-biters at every turn waiting to hit them over the head with taiji classics. "Adapt or die" and "failure is not an option" were my mottos so I got out of the martial arts ghetto and I'm very glad I did. It was a fun ride while it lasted.


You're either innovating and improving or entropy will ensure you're getting worse. Nowhere is that clearer than in the practice of museum arts.
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