This is the most important step and surprisingly easy to do!
You are not a business owner until you have clients, rights.
To get our business started I put an ad on Kijiji. In Canada Kijiji is an online classified site, what I love about kijiji was its SEO. If anyone looked up riding lessons in Central Alberta our Kijiji ad would come up at the top of the google search, my website took a couple years to catch up to my Kijiji ad.
If you do not live in Canada find the alternative to Kijiji in your area and put it out there that you have a program starting.
Most important thing to do is pick a day. This will make you stop talking and start doing.
Pick your start day, decide if this a once per week program and what day of the week it falls on. Pick a start time, will it be a one hour session or longer? Will you want them to come early and learn to tack?(This will make your life easier in the long run) What age group are you running this program for? Is it a beginner, intermediate, advanced session? Create a description of what your clients can expect to do during the program. Decide if it will be ongoing registration or if the program has a set number of weeks. Decide how much the cost is.
My first add was for beginner riders, it was a 1 day per week program for 8 weeks. Cast was $300 for the 8 weeks. The program was 1/2 hour stable management and 1/2 an hour riding. We ended up with 8 - 7 to 10 year old who were beginners around horses. We taught them how to groom, tack and basic care of their horse and they learned to ride and we were in business! That Kijiji ad cost me $25, just $25 to start my business. That is crazy when I think about it now.
For pricing your programs I would look at other similar programs in your area. Find out what other stables are charging and go from there. In my area the average is $40/lesson for group lessons and $60 per lesson for private. We charge $42.50 per lesson if they pay for one month at a time and $45 if the pay at each lesson (This encourages them to book more that one lesson at a time. We do not really do private lessons anymore as our programs are to busy now with groups)
You are not a business owner until you have clients, rights.
To get our business started I put an ad on Kijiji. In Canada Kijiji is an online classified site, what I love about kijiji was its SEO. If anyone looked up riding lessons in Central Alberta our Kijiji ad would come up at the top of the google search, my website took a couple years to catch up to my Kijiji ad.
If you do not live in Canada find the alternative to Kijiji in your area and put it out there that you have a program starting.
Most important thing to do is pick a day. This will make you stop talking and start doing.
Pick your start day, decide if this a once per week program and what day of the week it falls on. Pick a start time, will it be a one hour session or longer? Will you want them to come early and learn to tack?(This will make your life easier in the long run) What age group are you running this program for? Is it a beginner, intermediate, advanced session? Create a description of what your clients can expect to do during the program. Decide if it will be ongoing registration or if the program has a set number of weeks. Decide how much the cost is.
My first add was for beginner riders, it was a 1 day per week program for 8 weeks. Cast was $300 for the 8 weeks. The program was 1/2 hour stable management and 1/2 an hour riding. We ended up with 8 - 7 to 10 year old who were beginners around horses. We taught them how to groom, tack and basic care of their horse and they learned to ride and we were in business! That Kijiji ad cost me $25, just $25 to start my business. That is crazy when I think about it now.
For pricing your programs I would look at other similar programs in your area. Find out what other stables are charging and go from there. In my area the average is $40/lesson for group lessons and $60 per lesson for private. We charge $42.50 per lesson if they pay for one month at a time and $45 if the pay at each lesson (This encourages them to book more that one lesson at a time. We do not really do private lessons anymore as our programs are to busy now with groups)