thinking of trying to start a daytime chess club in columbus or grove city area although there is isue i dont know anyone else that plays chess during the day “this could be isue”. so up for ideas on where to move forward with my idea and generate intrest??? mikefeasel1977@yahoo.com
With any marketing idea, one of the first things you need to figure out is who your target market is.
Who’s available to play chess during the weekdays? Not students, except possibly during the summer. Not those who work during the days. That leaves the unemployed, the retired, and those who work different shifts, I guess.
you may want to consider “daytime” hours starting at 12 or early afternoon into the evening. Of course, there are other variables to consider. As was mentioned before - depends on your target market- and is there such a target?
I am a Columbus player who is not available during the day.
If you have time during the afternoon, you should consider teaching chess one day a week in an after school program.
You would –
get a reputation as a nice guy.
meet chess-playing parents of your students.
have four other days free to play against said parents.
get paid.
The good part is some of your students will really take to the game. The bad part is they might become better than you.
Sorry, I don’t think you will ever get a club off the ground, although I have been wrong about plenty of things so don’t let me stop you. People at home during the hours you mention are pretty much all taking care of kids. But you might be able to create a network of chess “buddies” (or sisters), where you go to their home or office for an hour of chess. The trick is to meet enough people. An after school program would make a good calling card.
There are already a couple of clubs here in Columbus, but only one currently has daytime hours, although they are on Saturday (Mulligan). While it would work for summer hours with students who are out of school, I can’t imagine there are enough adult players to sustain a club. I’ve often thought that if I had time, I would like to see if local senior centers or assisted living facilities would be interested in providing chess to their residents, so that might be an idea as well.