My Instructor journey began in 2013, when I first decided to become a firearms Instructor. I pursued the NRA's nationally recognized instructor training being a non-law enforcement civilian. I truly enjoyed learning from my NRA Training Counselor, Tom, who set the bar high for Instructor training. Although Shooting for Women Alliance had begun training instructors in 2011 nationally, there were not as many women seeking training from me. In 2017, I acted on an opportunity to become an USCCA Instructor to teach courses that were not like those offered by the NRA; and in 2018 I received my USCCA Training Counselor certification. In 2022, I wanted to increase my course offerings for civilians and to better teach women and SFWA presented me with an invitation to do so. Then in 2023, I earned SFWA's Master Instructor Certification. Timing has a substantial impact in determing choices in any joourney.
A very intregal part of being able to use the credentials you have acquied it to have access to a shooting range facility. Indoors or outdoors, it is most often very hard to get a shooting range facilty to permit Instructors who are not employeed by the range use of the range and for varying reasons that are often beyone the control of the newly certified instructor. NRA pretty much leaves instructors to their own task of securing the use of a range. USCCA does as well, even though they have range partner programs wherein the range promotes its association with USCCA but that has nothting to do with indiividual instructors. The result can completely shut down an instrucotors ability to teach students and ultimately recoup any investment made to become instructor certified. The alternative is to make a very substantial investment in develooping/building your own range. SFWA offers hands-on assistance in getting a range in the instructor's demographic to permit use of the range by the SFWA Instructor as part of the Instructor support received without charge offered by SFWA as a non-profit.
The NRA and the USCCA require Instructors to pay per-student fees for materials and annual fees. Such fees are often collected when the student registers for your class on the NRA/USCCA Instructor's course offering listing on the NRA/USCCA website. SFWA is a 501(c)3 non-profit entity that does not require membership fees, per-student purchases of material fees or require that Instructors continue to purchase course curriculum/books/materials. SFWA permits Instructors to make copies of the curriculum for use by the students in their classes to keep more profit going to the Instructor and to allow Instructors to offer students the lowest possible cost to take their classes. Continuing instructor fees can be the difference in sustainability for Instructors initially and over time.
At the heart of any Instructor training is the course curriculum offered by the credentialing entity. NRA has excellent basic longstanding courses that are designed for civilians. For decades, the NRA was the only nationally recgonized course curriculum for the public. Although the NRA has made some additions to the way they offer courses and the subject matter, for years, if an Instructor wanted to teach more than the basics, they had to gain experience from other experienced instructors who most often had military or law enforcement background and write their own curriculum which has resulted in a plethor of training philosophies. USCCA's curriculum is designed for those who are interested mostly in carrying a handgun for personal protection and often their curriculum mixes subject matter into one 3-hour course with a basic overview of different subjects. SFWA's curriculum is exclusive of any other and is designed to increase the odds a civilian will prevail in a self-defense encounter based on critical thinking and critical timing. There is great benefit in teaching vetted and nationally recognized curriculum for many reasons, including Instructor liability.
It is imperative to understand that all credentialed curriculum contains copyright restrictions. The benefit of having access to courses that are natioanally recognized will open up your offerings to students in your demographic who may be looking locally for a course that they learned about on social media or from a friend in another city/state. One of the benefits of SFWA's Instructor Certifications is that they do not permit saturation of a city/state marketplace by multiple instructors competing for the exclusive classes offered by SFWA.
NRA and USCCA helps Instructors market their classes on the association's websites. SFWA helps Instructors increase business profitability with customized marketing options for Instructors, helps create and maintain their classes on the Insttructor's own websites without the added cost of hiring IT people, graphic assistance and other outside business services, all within the Instructor's own demographic. SFWA also has exclusive national propriatary lead generation tools that direct potential students to the Instructor FREE and proven methods to increase the number of students in your classes and keep them coming back.
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Curriculum Description
Upon successfully completing this course, you will become a USCCA Certified Instructor uniquely authorized to teach the USCCA course, Concealed Carry and Home Defense Fundamentals. When it comes to firearms fundamentals and concealed carry and home defense concepts, you will provide your students with high-quality material and help them understand the ‘why’ behind training concepts.
Class Preparation: You must complete the corresponding online learning course. (Automatically sent to you upon registering for the class.)
Day 1: you’ll be taught by a USCCA Training Counselor on a number of valuable topics including: Top ten instructor mistakes and how to avoid them; Teaching best practices; Running a safe live fire range
Day 2: You’ll have a chance to: Demonstrate your knowledge of the USCCA training material through seven short presentations to a group of your peers; Run a live fire range, guiding your peers through the safe completion of the USCCA course of fire
By combining the knowledge of the USCCA and your passion for training more responsibly armed Americans, you can be assured that you’ve found the instructor certification for you.
Instructor Certification: Important, this class does require participation to pass. Being present does not guarantee that you will leave with a USCCA Instructor Certificate. If you attend the course and do not receive certification, refunds will not be given.
First, SFWA has a very comprehensive Instructor training program that truly prepares you to teach women and the men they bring with them how to increase the odds they will prevail as a civilian in fight for their life that may include the use of deadly force; but that is not all. SFWA Instructors have access to more than 10 different course curriculum materials that are exclusive to SFWA that are not the typical course materials that others offer; and more than 40 mini-courses, too.
Second, SFWA does not saturate the marketplace with instructors competing with each other within the same demographic. SFWA does not leave you to your own resources [or lack thereof] once you have your certification in hand. You will have access to the marketing and business tools that resulted in the Founder having taught more than 100,000 students a comprehensive course and then kept them coming back for more classes.
Third, SFWA has a FAST-TRACK Test program that an Instructor who has other qualifying credentials can take for $28 and upon passing will have access to all SFWA's benefits. This is a great opportunity for Instructors to increase their appealability to women and the men they bring with them.
Importantly, SFWA Certified Instructors are selected By Invitation Only and are comprehensively trained.
We are 100% dedicated to your success!
JEFF NIX, Certified Instructor and Training Counselor
CALL: (630) 552-8815 / TEXT: (630)-229-8255
EMAIL: jeff@foxriverfirearmstraining.com
Location: 10 N. Hugh Street, Plano, IL 60545