The class is Mon. - Thurs. 8-4. For the most part it moves along pretty fast. The DPS officiers are great and you will really grow to appreciate them.
Friday morning they break the class up into relays and each relay gets a time to come out to the range to qualify. Wow, the range, very nice and VERY professional. It was a real treat to shoot at the DPS range.
As for demand. I guess that all depends. I'm a school teacher and I put on a class about every 6 weeks or so and I have a "full" class, 5-15 participants, everytime. I'm about as full as I care to be as are the other few instructors I know around town. We don't seem to be hurting each other's business at all. As a matter of fact, I often send people to another instructor if I can't fit my classes to their availability. I may lose a client but I want them to get their CHL.
I do it all on a Saturday. It is a long day but I have found that most people would rather get it all done in one day then try to schedule around two or three days.
I am blessed to have a place to hold class and a friend's private range to shoot at for no cost. That in turn allows me to keep my prices reasonable. I don't do prints (online app. and FAST is the way to go if you can) and I let Walgreens or CVS take care of my pictures. It may not be quite as conveinent for my students but the prints and photos are done right and it doesn't lengthen the class day. Seems like most folks in my parts live or drive by at least one CVS everyday.
I did create a "build-your-own" website (Moonfruit I think) to get a little exposure and to have a place for folks to reference. I have gotten about half my student contacts from the website. The other half are friend's and word of mouth, by far the best way to get customers. I also printed up a few business cards and hand them out to interested people and post them on bullentin boards at Academy, Gander, and where ever else I happen to think someone may look. (I do ask permission from the establishment.) If you run your class right, I believe your graduates will bring you as much business as you can deal with as a weekender guy.
Get a DBA and print you up some of the CHL-100 forms in at least duplicate. I chose triplicate so I could give the student the original to send in, they could have a copy, and I keep the last copy. May not be necessary but it didn't cost that much more to do.
All my lessons are on powerpoint so I have a laptop and projector (thanks to the school I teach at.) I really just made PPT slides of the DPS handout they gave us at the instructors class. Of course I worked it over and pared it down (leaving out non-CHL issues). Added some pictures, graphics, and my own touches. Every class I rework something but I'm getting it streamlined.
All totalled I probably have about $1000 into the instructors class/room/board and my cost of materials. I made most of that back on my first classs and went into the black on my second class. I'm coming up on my 4th class next month so I'm feeling pretty good about this.
You can also see this is not a mortgage paying business. I'm doing for the love of doing it, getting people out there with CHLs, and I get a little spending money on the side. Those funds can allow me to take my wife away for a weekend or purchase a new gun every couple of classes. (I won't say which one I did first.)
You'll just have to find a range that will work with you and a place to have class. One in-town range won't let other instructors use their range so anyone that needs a range must drive 20 min to another small town. They are very helpful. I am lucky to have the friend with the range.
As for places to meet you may check to see if the local library branch has a meeting room or your church may let you use a room, maybe even a school. Maybe you know someone private school that would let you use a room. You may even be able to get into a public school but it may not be worth the hassle. Community Centers, Sr.Citizen's centers, and the local VFW. Get creative you can probably find a place for little or no cost.
I hope this helps. I know I'm not going to get rich at this or be able to quit my day job...and that is fine, that's not why I do it. I really like doing the classes, meeting the students, and getting more CHLs on the street. I am worn out by the end of the day but it is a fabulous feeling.
Good luck to you.