Entrepreneurs often are adept at combining a personal skill or interest with business savvy to create a new enterprise.

But what happens when a person's area of expertise is a little, well, unusual? As in fire-eating and snake-charming type of wacky.

The enterprising performers on this list have created businesses out of teaching their special talents to others. And as it turns out, the businesses behind these schools are growing.

Revenues in the fine-arts schools category, which as unlikely as it may sound includes such training, are projected to increase by nearly 3 percent this year to $4.73 billion, says industry research firm IBISWorld. By 2015, revenues are expected to jump to $5.72 billion.

That's a lot of clowns, dancers, musicians, sideshow performers -- OK, you get the idea.

This post originally appeared on Entrepreneur.

New York School of Burlesque

Feathers and fringes and pink stockings -- oh my! Longtime provocative dancer Jo Weldon founded the New York School of Burlesque in 2005 at New York's The Slipper Room burlesque club.

Weldon says that she and her team of experienced entertainers instruct hundreds of students each year, ranging from bachelorette and birthday partygoers to individuals who are interested in becoming professional performers.

Scratch DJ Academy

Founders: Rob Principe and Jason Mizell (Jam Master Jay)
Year opened: 2002
Locations: New York, Los Angeles and Miami
Fee: $350 for a six-week course, $110 for a private lesson

Rob Principe met Jason Mizell -- better known as Jam Master Jay, the DJ for legendary rap group Run DMC -- aboard a flight from New York City to San Diego. Principe was only 12 years old.

Fast forward 17 years and Principe found himself standing before Mizell once again, this time pitching him an idea to transform the traditional one-on-one DJ apprenticeship into a classroom experience. That's when the Scratch DJ Academy was born.

Catering to the hordes of young music enthusiasts (students generally range in age from 19 to 34), Principe says more than 100,000 students have come to the academy to learn the ways of spinning and scratching records.

The New York Goofs Clown School

When the official Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College shuttered in 1998, director Dick Monday teamed up with fellow clown and choreographer Tiffany Riley to pick up where the college left off and opened the New York Goofs Clown School.

While other clown schools may focus on make-up and costumes, Monday and Riley stress a "well rounded" clowning education that includes teaching skills such as gag structure, character development, dance, improvisation and, of course, juggling. The "goofs" teach approximately 150 students annually.

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See Also:

• 15 People Who Were Fired Before They Became Filthy Rich
• 20 Blogs Every Entrepreneur Should Read
• See How Smart You Are And Solve These 15 Impossible Brain Teasers

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/KYgqkGpOllU/the-eight-wackiest-schools-ever-2011-4

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