Whether they are in Taekwondo, Karate, Judo, or MMA Millions of martial arts fans dream of becoming full time martial arts instructors, getting away from the daily grind of their regular, dull day job and doing something they really love. Whether or not it is feasible to make the jump from student to instructor really comes down to the dollars and cents. So how much can you really expect to make as a martial arts instructor?

According to Salary.com’s Salary Wizard average annual base salary for fitness and martial arts instructors in the US averages between $38,000 to $69,000 per year. However keep in mind that when starting out you will probably be beginning at the bottom end. Pay does vary quite a bit depending on where you work. For example base pay in South Florida is estimated at $46,668, while those in Los Angeles, California can expect a median annual income of around $51,970. On the bright side Salary.com does go on to show that when taking into consideration benefits you could be looking at an additional $20-30,000 per year.

No matter how big your martial arts school or MMA training center is it has it’s revenue limits. Even if you have really tapped into the best marketing strategies, have pumped up same customer sales and are even drawing martial arts fans and MMA competitors from across the country you can only fit in so many students. That means you have to expand your martial arts empire and branch out with new schools in order to really hit the big bucks. But where are the best places to open new martial arts schools.

While you may at first be tempted to go as far a field as possible with a new school in order to expand your reach and market as far as possible you also have to consider the intricacies and demands of launching and initial management of a new school. Even if you take a back seat and are no longer involved in day-to-day instructing you will want to be there to make sure everything goes smooth and will likely have to jump in when things come up, which they will. So with this in mind consider that you may want to begin branching out with schools that are closer to home base in order to make management and control easier. This will also help you develop stronger brand recognition and make further expansion easier.