The core that makes up Aikido of Lincoln have been practicing together for a long time. I started practicing with them in 2000, while they were still a part of the Sho Rei Shobu Kan dojo. The group has recently built and relocated to its own dojo, however, and affiliated itself with the United State Aikido Federation.
Aikido of Lincoln has an enthusiastic and loyal membership, which is unfortunately too small to support the costs of running even a small dojo over time. The answer is to increase the size of the membership! Simply sharing our —
Words fail me here. Sharing our interest in aikido
seems too detached, like its a thing to be considered and studied,
rather than practiced. Sharing our love for aikido
is
being too gushy. Sharing our devotion to aikido
gives it
a cult-ish feel...
Sincerely sharing our dedication to the practice of aikido with others helps to the support the dojo.
The dojo is pretty well situated with regard to the basics, as my old friend, Paul Belle Isle, who has an MBA in marketing and is, coincidentally, the ranking instructor at Japan Karate-Do Ryobu-Kai St. Louis, calls them: we have a yellow pages listing, a website, flyers, business cards (want one?), and signage visible from the street. Unfortunately, Aikido of Lincoln's location is not great for foot traffic.
We also have promotions for new students, as well as student and family pricing.
I've created a Facebook group and a Craigslist ad, hoping to increase the exposure of the website, the dojo, and the art.
The next step, it seems is genuine community outreach, with demonstrations and seminars. We must find a way to get mats to use when providing demos, though. Places we could provide demos include:
Just off the top of my head, there are a few other places we should contact:
Our priority has to be getting mats, or putting together a good presentation for display. Mats would be better though.
I've got some other ideas. I'm working on mug and t-shirt designs through Cafe Press or Zazzle, with the intent that proceeds go to the dojo. Aikido of Lincoln is about to send a delegation to a big seminar in St. Paul, Minnesota; we should probably put out a press release.
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