Opportunity Seldom Knocks Twice
As I have periodically mentioned, I am a taekwondo instructor. This isn’t something I make a huge amount of money at (generally, since my children were born, I teach just enough to cover the cost of my lessons and other expenses) but it is something I simply adore. When people talk about finding their passion, I know without a doubt what mine is, and it is taekwondo. I love it for the life skills I’ve learned from it, as well as from a competitive standpoint, and also teaching it to others, especially kids.
The instructor that owns the school I teach at also owns two other schools and has recently opened a third (so four total). When my daughter was two months old (so about 14 months ago) my instructor was looking into the idea of opening this new school, and asked me if I would be interested in leaving the school I am at (where I am a part-time instructor) and moving up to lead instructor at the new school. I wanted with every fiber of my body to say yes, but I knew logistically, with a very small baby, I wouldn’t be able to juggle that kind of commitment. At the time, he was thinking it would be about 4-6 months until he got the school up and running. So, with a lot of second-guessing and endless discussions with my spouse, I eventually regretfully turned him down.
Part of why it was so hard to turn down the opportunity was because the new school’s location was just about ideal for me in terms of where new schools could be opened (it is in the other direction from where I teach now, but about equidistant from my house) and because this would be a major stepping stone to owning a school of my own someday. In fact, there could be an opportunity to buy part of that school at some time in the future and become a part owner. But I knew even though it was the right opportunity, it was simply the wrong time.
Well, the school took more than twice as long to open as planned due to a number of different factors, and the lead instructor situation that he came up with to run that school isn’t working out because he needs to move that instructor back to his original school, so last week, opportunity knocked for a second time. My instructor talked to me about becoming lead instructor at their new school (opened just last month) and this time, after discussions with my spouse about adjusting his work schedule to accommodate things, I accepted the position. The pay is better than my instructor position now, which is of course a factor, although I will also be committing more hours to teaching as well as the overall running and promoting of that location. There is an incentive structure as well for signing new students that can as significantly add to my debt snowflaking depending on how well I do. I start at the new location tomorrow in fact, and I of course don’t know yet how things will go, but I know that this is a really positive step for our family as a whole in ensuring a bright financial future as well as for me in realizing one of my long term goals and dreams. For now I will continue to tutor part time, and I of course, will be continuing with the blog (what would I do without all of you to keep me focused?) but I am really excited about this and I think that we may be able to make serious progress on our debt this year, to the order of eliminating my spouse’s student loan, with this increase in income.
Opportunity seldom knocks twice. This still isn’t the perfect time, but it is close enough that I can’t let it slip away again. Sometimes your dreams happen at inconvenient times, but if you wait for the perfect time you may never have that chance again.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
March 24th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I’m happy for you.
Hope you get a ‘kick’ out of the new job…
Mike
March 24th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Great!
I am jealous - I used to do Kyokushin Karate but stopped when I went to college, and haven’t picked it up again. I have wanted to for a while but time and other factors have always stopped me.
This post made me think about starting up again, again… I think I am going to finally stop in the local school and sign up for classes.
Enjoy teaching!
March 24th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hooray for you! I love it when something opens up to validate my long-term dreams. Good luck!
Amy
March 24th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Go for it! So glad to hear that opportunity knocked on your door and you welcomed it in!
March 24th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! (I am jumping for you in my best cheerleaders fashion!) Congrats! I love excitement and opportunity! Yeah!
March 24th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Yay!!! You know I am so thrilled for you that you are taking on this new challenge. You’ll kick butt
March 24th, 2008 at 10:59 am
If only I had the time and money, I’d love to pick up taekwondo again. It really irks me that I got my purple belt and then had to quit because I didn’t have the time anymore and I haven’t found it again since. I miss the exercise a lot, but most of all I miss the people and the support. =/ Congrats on the position, though! It sounds like a lot of fun! (One of my old instructors was always urging me to become a junior instructor so I could become a black collar someday.)
March 24th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Congrats! Looks like it was just meant to be.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Congrats! This sounds like a great opportunity for you!
March 24th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Congrats on your opportunity! The aikido dojo I went to closed down not long ago and we haven’t been able to get a new location up yet. The opportunity is there if I wanted to jump in and possibly open one myself but it would mean quitting my job and committing full-time to the business (unfortunately a dojo needs to be a business in order to pay the bills). Can’t say I’m up to that commitment now (it would be a huge pay cut). Still I’m jealous (in a good way).
Good luck in your new position! Out of curiosity, where is your dojo located (city/state, you don’t have to say exactly where)?
March 24th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Perfectly wonderful. How exciting! I’m truly happy for you.
March 24th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
That is fantastic! Congratulations on taking a step towards your dreams.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Delurking for the first time to say Congratulations! I’m really happy that something so right for you has come around at the right time!
Since I’m typing, I should also say that I really enjoy the positive attitude of your blog. It always gets me motivated to work toward my goals, financial and otherwise. Thanks for a good read!
March 24th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Congratulations! I wish you lots of luck and success in your new position!
March 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Congrats on the new position!!!
I just started in Taekwondo myself last month, however both my kids have been in for a little while and are now green belts. The school we go to are part of the phoenix group, who are members of the ITF. What organization does your school belong to?
March 25th, 2008 at 10:15 am
@Jeff - my school is in the ATA. I actually did tkd through an ITF school first though when I was a kid. But when I restarted in my 20s an ATA school was what was near me and I have been in the ATA ever since. Congrats!
FFB - I’m not really comfortable disclosing my location, even state, for I have a few internet stalkers it seems lol, but we are in the midwest.
March 25th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Behind on my reader, but I wanted to drop by an say congrats!
March 25th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Congratulations! This sounds like a great opportunity for you!
March 26th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I hear you. Just wondering if it was a location that could be rented out. Guess not since it would be too long of a commute - I’m in NYC.
Good luck!