Most School Owners Fail This Test, Do You?

Let’s talk about the least sexy topic in martial arts business growth:

🪦 Student attrition.

Everyone loves talking about how to get new students

(I’m guilty of this too, I’m even hosting a FREE masterclass on Monday 7/28 on how to HACK your way into the public and private school system so you can recruit new students this upcoming school year. Want in? Click here to register).

But if you want to grow your MRR (monthly recurring revenue), you HAVE to get serious about attrition.

If you get 10 new students a month, but you lose 9, that’s a recipe for burnout. 

If you're newer to the game, attrition is just the number of students who quit your school, usually shown as a % of your total active members.

Let’s break it down:

You have 100 active students in July.

Five students quit (either stopped paying or haven’t shown up in 3+ weeks).

➡️ That’s a 5% attrition rate.

So… is that good?

Here’s my grading scale after talking with a bajillion school owners:

• A+ = 1–3% attrition
  
  

• B = 4–5%
  
  

• C = 6–7%
  
  

• F = 7%+
  
  

For context, the average gym in the U.S. loses 10%+ per month. But you’re not a gym. You’re running a relationship-driven business with way more touchpoints per member. Your numbers should be way better.

Here’s the simple formula:
Attrition Rate = (Students Who Quit ÷ Total Active Students) × 100

If you don’t wanna do the math, just ask chat gpt “I have 180 students, and 9 quit last month, what is my attrition rate?”

[but seriously, you gotta use your brain sometimes] 

BUT HERE’S THE TRAP MOST SCHOOL OWNERS FALL INTO 👇

They say: “Oh yeah, we only lose 1–2 students a month.”

But then they forget the month they removed 20 ghost students from their active list.

That counts.

Attrition isn’t something you calculate only on your best months, it’s a 12-month average.

Sure, summer might be rough. But maybe you crush Jan–March and bounce back.

If your attrition is too high, no matter how many students you enroll, your growth will stall. It’s like sprinting on a treadmill. Eventually, you burn out.

✅ Want to lower your attrition immediately?

I made a 1-page Student Retention Guide with my top 3 easiest-to-implement strategies.

These are the same systems that help our schools retain more students in less than 2 hours a week. 

If you want a copy for free, reply “attrition” below and I’ll send it to you.

BTW- You can’t fix what you don’t track. Start measuring this. Then fix it.

Don’t forget to register for the Monday 7/28 masterclass on how to HACK your way into schools and enroll new students without ads:

👉 https://www.doubleyourdojo.com/registration-page