My first class

[TSUalum05]

I was scheduled to have 10 people for tomorrow...They began dropping like flies -- I have 2 now...

[Charles L. Cotton]

I don't take deposits, but I've never had a no-show rate that high for Texas classes. (Utah is another matter.) You might consider taking a deposit and then deciding on a refund policy.

Chas.

[Greybeard]

Yep, that's a disappointing fact that a lot of guys learn early. It's a whole lot easier for most folks to talk about it than to actually do it. Time, money and motivation. Getting all three together at the same time is sometimes tough for many people. Our "no show" rate and 11'th hour cancellations dropped dramatically with CHL classes by requiring pre-registration paperwork and a deposit. With the much lower cost of hunter ed. classes, we went to 100% payment in advance and it's kept the "show up" percentage above 90%.

[TSUalum05]

One person ended up showing up but we both learned a lot – I think it was a blessing in disguise. It gave me a lot more confidence…

[garcia946]

Congrats of your clas , just a shame only one showed but everything works out for a reason. At least you got some practice in with a student.

[gpeloq]

I don't take deposits but I do require online registration and I send e-mail reminders. Our no-show rate is 20 percent on the average. If they "no-show" and try to sign up for a later class I require full payment in advance. Once they have an investment made they usually show.

[DoubleActionCHL]

I make the students pay up front. The no-show rate on those who don't pay is probably 80% or better. The no-show rate on those who pay is maybe 1%. I find the whole "deposit" scenario cumbersome. By having them pay up front, I'm sure they'll show up and we don't have to deal with money issues during class time.

[TSUalum05]

Instructors,

How much does it cost to run your website? How many hours per week are you working on your website (maintence, etc.)?

[Crossfire]

Instructors,

How much does it cost to run your website? How many hours per week are you working on your website (maintence, etc.)?

$15 per month web hosting fee, includes more email addresses that I will ever use.

About an hour a month to update and maintain.

It was set up for me by our very own The Annoyed Man. He is http://www.whamproductions.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DoubleActionCHL]

Instructors,

How much does it cost to run your website? How many hours per week are you working on your website (maintence, etc.)?

My web hosting is about $15/mo, but I'm running 4 sites and about 20 domains. Maintenance is minimal. Normally, I might spend a 10 minutes or so per week updating my calendar. It probably takes a half hour or so to import my roster and verify payments. That's about it, except for updating information, fixing bad links, etc.

[Catfight]

My first real class is this weekend... 7 students including my wife. 4 have paid the 50% deposit, 2 are saying they are going to 'show up' so we will see how it goes. Ive had a hard time getting people to part with the money..everyone is interested in the class though. Im hoping word of mouth will take off.

Has anyone had any luck advertising at gun shows?

[Greybeard]

Our web site has been hosted by Bizland since the get-go with few issues. Somewhere in the $10 a month range when paid for each year in advance. Especially during hunter ed. season, one of us often updates it daily, sometimes twice a day.

Gun show tables can be hit or miss. A problem can be being in the midst of so many toys, it's easy to spend more than one makes. We keep a table at a few of the primary shows (Dallas Market Hall and Denton), but often just set things up on Friday night and come back and pick up whatever business cards and flyers that are left on Sunday night. When time, someone will work the table during most of the show hours, but I often wind up doing classes on the same weekend - sometimes with students who picked up business cards or flyers at the prior show.

With tables typically costing only around $65, one does not have to pick up a lot of business to recover the investment - but sometimes it also results in working the whole weekend for real cheap. But ya do get to meet a lot of nice people. Ya may want to pack a lunch, as the food and drinks at the shows can dig into your wallet - and your digestive system.

[Catfight]

Thanks for the advice GB!

[Greybeard]

P.S. Gune shows in the fall typically have the best traffic. Absent another "democrat administration" scare. shows in May, June and July are generally the slowest - some seemingly with more vendors there than customers.



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[Catfight]

Well, everyone showed up that was supposed to including the two maybes...we had a good first class and I learned a lot about getting something like this organized. Of course, the class was not without its problems... First guy to show up owed me the other half of his fee ($40) and whipped out a $100 bill

Thankfully he was able to come up with the money in smaller bills. Then I find that the borrowed projector Im using FOR MY ENTIRE PRESENTATION is missing all the cabling. Basically its a doorstop. I had to read the entire course outloud while everyone took notes.

Thankfully the people in the class were all known to each other so I think that kept the frustration level down. We ran over our intended finish time by almost two hours, but everyone passed both the test and the proficiency.

So, anyone want to tell us how their very first class went?