Was looking at becoming an instructor to teach people on handgun safety and home defense. Something I believe I would enjoy doing. After speaking to a representative I found out that it would only give me the certification and I would be independently working for myself. I dont even know where to start with advertisement (other than Facebook and possibly on here) for a venue to teach, paying for multiple students at a range, ect. I was wondering if there are some of yall that had gone through the course and have any advise on those topics. Did you find a company to work for are you independent, how is business going, any tips on how to get started. Just thinking about putting all that time, money, and effort into the training to only loose my certification in the first year not being able to get students or going under due to fees from the range and classroom settings.
Hey @tommy17, these are some good questions and where as it is a fun rewarding hobby there are expenses and logistics to consider. I was in a class of about 10 other fellow instructors and myself and 2 other folks had their own land or facility to host classes. That has been the biggest hurdle for most of them. I know this as many have contacted me asking to use my range “if” they get a student, or know of a range in their area that may let (rent to them) use their space.
Try and reach out to local ranges 1st. If none are willing, than that should answer your question. You’ll also need an indoor area for powerpoint presentations if it is CCHD.
I have a website and facebook page and piggy back the training along with deer, hog and varmint hunts, as well as some deer leases. So it is all kinda tied together. I have a pistol, long distance and 3 gun range on about 100 acres.
The next biggie if you secure a facility will be insurance. I have range/instructor insurance and it costs me about $650 per year.
Let’s look at it… How many ranges are in your immediate area? There are none near me but then again I’m pretty rural.
How many USCCA instructors are near you. There are none near me, but then again I’m pretty rural and there is not a big metro area for me to draw from either.
Tommy,
Wow looking at most of your questions they are answered during the instructor class, USCCA has tremendous instructor support and I don’t know a Training Counselor that doesn’t help their students get started. I end all my instructor class with a invitation to have them come co-teach a class with us, or to come to them and co-teach also they have my phone number for any kind of questions.
As to a teaching location, Cindy (my wife and fellow instructor) do lots of small private classes in our home or go to the students location. We do have an arrangement with a local range that has 3 different instructors teach classes there, we can either rent the classroom and range time or if it’s one of our private classes just renting range time. Get creative it can work. Also I bet other training counselors do something like I do in my student handouts I include lots of information on items you need for teaching that we have found to work great, over the years we have made lots of mistakes so hopefully our suggests eliminate some equipment mistakes. More questions I’ll be glad to answer. It would be a drive for you but I do have a instructors class in early January here in mid-Florida.
Bill
These folks are who I have mine with. I’ve heard some stories about the other company that folks have referred people to on here, I for get their name but would recognize it if I saw it, that they are very cheap but are very very resistant to paying claims.
As my dad used to say, an insurance company loves taking premiums it’s how they pay their claims which makes them a good company or not.
A piece of advice for anyone just starting out. Secure your location or locations where you will conduct both your classroom and your live fire FIRST before shopping insurance. Those locations have their own specific requirements that they will want to have met before they agree to allow you to use their premises. They also will have to be named as an insured party.
You may think that you can go with a lower or middle tier of coverage but I guarantee you, your host range and or facility may and probably will want the maximum coverage. I spent weeks going back and forth between the underwriters and my host facility before we got it correct. That was weeks that I didn’t post classes because I wanted to make 100% sure that I was insured.
Do your homework before you hang your shingle out there. Being in a hurry will get you burned, embarassed and probably give your fledgling business venture a bad reputation right out of the gate. Just my 2 cents.