Talking Moo-Lah

Coming to terms with your T’ai Chi Chih Teaching Budget

By Pat Flynn

We are taught how to effectively practice and teach the T’ai Chi Chih form. However, very little is said about the financial aspects of teaching. It is left up to the individual to make the appropriate decisions for their own classes. This is as it should be because there are many variables to consider when arranging for classes. Many of you may find the following information useful when making these decisions. Many things will be left out, such as the art of depreciating equipment (i.e. CD players and CDs) for ease of calculating the budget. The idea is to introduce you to basic expense and budget calculations so the figures used here are strictly hypothetical as is the story.

Recently, I was approached about teaching a class at a local center. It was about 10 miles away and the center quoted an hourly wage of $15/hour. They said they preferred doing an hourly salary for their sub-contractors for ease of paper work. I explained that the entire course would take about 12 hours divided into 8 classes of 1 hour and 15 minutes. The center went ahead and advertised the course for 8 weeks each session for 1 hour. I would get paid $180 for teaching the course and calculated my expenses accordingly:

Travel expenses — $55.20

10 miles one way equals 20 miles round trip at the IRS standard of 34.5 cents/mile = $6.90 per class or $55.20 for the entire course.

Travel time — 5.3 hrs

I travel 20 minutes one way to get to the class — a round trip of 40 minutes for 8 classes. I spend 5.3 hours in travel time.

Insurance — $15.00

The annual insurance fee is $150. On average, I teach 10 courses per year. $150 divided by the 10 courses equals $15 per course.

Supplies and equipment — $13.00

I bought a new CD player this year for $40 and divided it by the 10 courses which equaled $4/course. I bought 2 new CDs for the classes at a total of $40 which came out to $4/course. I supply some handouts to the students. Five double sided handouts per student at a cost of 5 cents per side = 50 cents per student. Since I average 10 students per course, I spent a total of $5 for the course.

Total expenses — $83.20 plus 5.3 hrs

I would spend $83.20 to teach the course and get paid a total of $180.00. My total taxable income would be $96.80. My hourly taxable income would be $5.60 for 17.3 hours (12 hours of teaching plus 5.3 hours of travel) of work. Now, if the center paid me $15 for only 8 hours because that is what they advertised in their flyer, I would have made a lot less. I would have only gotten paid $120 ($15 x 8 hours) but still would have had the same expenses. I would have cleared $36.80 or $2.13 an hour.

Using the preceding example, you can quickly calculate expenses. If you happen to work classes on a percentage basis, simply calculate your percentage per student and multiply that figure by the average number of students.

These calculations are not set in stone but can definitely help you understand and manage the financial end of your teaching experience.