How to start a kids’ club: pricing, rent and your first members

I started Kanvas Academy in 2017. If you’re thinking about starting a club of your own, this is what I’d want someone to tell me: what to sort out first, how to make sure the rent and coaches are covered, and how to get your first families through the door.

From idea to first members

1. 1One class, one age group
2. 2Check what you need
3. 3Find a hall
4. 4Set your price
5. 5Free trials

1. Decide what and who

Start narrow. One style, one age group, one evening. “Street dance for 5 to 8 year olds, Tuesdays” is far easier to fill and to explain than “dance for everyone”. You can add classes once the first one is full.

2. Check what you need to work with children

Insurance, background checks and policies for working with children all need sorting before your first class. I’m not the expert on the rules, so ask your sport’s governing body what applies to you.

3. Find a hall

School halls, community centres, church halls and leisure centres are all worth asking. Most charge by the hour. Start with one or two evenings, and ask about holidays and whether you can store kit.

4. Work out your price before day one

This is where a lot of new clubs go wrong. They pick a low price to get started, then find the rent and the coach take most of it.

Work it out the other way round: add up your rent, your coaches, your insurance and what you want to take home for the year. Divide by 10 months, then by 80% of your spaces. That’s your price. We’ve written up exactly how to do the sum, with an example.

And don’t be afraid of a proper price. When I charged £16 a month, it was very quiet. At £50 we were close to fully booked.

5. Get your first members

• Offer a free trial. It’s the easiest yes for a parent who has never heard of you.
• Make it easy to find you. A simple website with your class, ages, day, time and area, and a Google Business Profile.
• Reach local parents. A small budget of local Facebook and Instagram ads goes a long way. Our first four weeks cost £145 and brought in 24 trial bookings.
• Make sure trials turn up. Confirm and remind every booking. We send four messages before every trial.
• Make joining take one tap. Send the link to join the same day as the trial.

6. Start the way you mean to go on

It’s tempting to start with cash, paper forms and a WhatsApp group, and sort it out later. Later never comes, and by then you have fifty families to move. Card payments, online booking and proper registers from day one save you hours every week.

If you’re about to start, talk to me

This is the bit I enjoy most. If you’re planning a club, message me and I’ll help you work out your price, what you can afford for rent and coaches, and how many members you need to break even.

If you’d like, we can then set everything up for you on Kanvas One: your website, your own app, trial bookings and payments, run for you. Your first 3 months of ads are on us, up to £100 a month, so free trials come in while you get going. If those ads bring fewer than 10 trial bookings, your next 3 months of One are free.

It’s £250 a month, with no contract. At £50 a month, five members cover it. Your ads start once your website and app are live, which is usually 4 to 8 weeks after you join, so it’s worth starting before your first class.

Questions