How One Dance Studio Owner Built a Business That Runs Without Her

Hello friends, I'm Amanda Barr and I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan, and welcome to Dance Principles United, the podcast.

Together we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.

Join us as we talk everything from marketing, systems, studio culture, motherhood, life, and everything in between.

This is the Dance Principles United podcast.

Well, hello friends, it's Bec here from Welcome back to the Dance Principles United podcast. I am joined today by an incredible Studio Growth Club member. Her name is Candice. We met actually a very long time ago. We're going to tell you that story. Um, but she owns Footloose Studios in Hornsby. How are you, Candice?

I'm very well, thank you.

Amazing. So you and I met before Studio Growth Club or Dance Principles United, before COVID Yeah, all of it, before all of those things. Um, back in the day when we were in another business coaching group and, um, we were just We were talking before about, you know, how shy you were then and probably how shy I was actually. Do you remember those days?

Yeah, they were, they were days. It's certainly been a journey. I've come a long way since then.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's just to remember back to what I was like in those rooms because, you know, I'm very big on professional development and attending those conferences. And I remember the first few that I went to, I was terrified. But now I'm pretty good at, you know, getting in there and having conversations with people where I normally would just kind of hold back and not do it.

Yeah. Or even coming on the podcast, I feel like, you know, yes, and same as me, I would do it. I never thought I would run a podcast. Like, I think, you know, back in the day we were these tiny scared little mice that, you know, and I, and I get the studio owners out there that are like that because I was that, you were that, you know. And yeah, it's just such an interesting transformation for both of us, I guess. But I want to start with asking you about your studio. How did it come about? Have you always had it? Were you a teacher first?

How did all that work?

Tell me that.

Yep, so I was a teacher first. I started student teaching at the studio I grew up at when I was 14, 15. Yep. And probably by the age of 16, me and one of my best friends at the time, we both were like, one day we're going to own a studio.

Yeah.

And funnily enough, we both do now. Oh, she owns one on the Northern Beaches.

Oh, does she?

We both, uh, ended up with our dream. Yeah, right. Um, but always loved performing. And so I knew that I loved teaching and was really good at it, but I also did like the performing side. And I did full-time for a bit, and then I performed for a little bit, but I had both knees reconstructed by the age of 21, so performing wasn't really in the cards for me.

Yep.

Um, and I also, after my first gig overseas, I kind of— I didn't not enjoy it, but I just knew that I missed teaching a lot. And so that's kind of where my heart really was.

Yep.

And so when I got back home, I then opened my studio, and that was about 16 years ago. Oh wow, 10 years ago. Yeah, right, that I first opened in a little church hall with 12 students, as you do. And, um, yeah, it kind of grew from there.

And then you ended up getting your own premises.

Yeah, kind of a long journey to there though. So we, um, I started in the church hall and then for a couple of years only had about 40 students, and it kind of got to a point where I was like, something's got to give. I either need to like go all in or can it?

Yep.

Um, and so I invested in a business coach, the one that we both met together, and in a year I went from 40 students to 160.

Yep.

So that was the kind of like, I'm going all in, and it grew. And so then I was like, great, this is what I'm going to do. And then, um, yeah, we kind of just kept going from there. But I was at the time running out of community halls, and it's really hard to build when you've only got one hall several hours in the afternoon in different locations to build that real community. And so it was always the dream to have a space where we could do that. And so it wasn't until I was approached at the end of 2018 by a lady who was retiring, who had a premises in Hornsby and basically said, you know, do you want to buy my studio? And yeah, so I bought her studio and took over the lease and merged the two studios. and then it kind of, yeah, all fell into place.

Wow, that's such an incredible story, and it's, it's such a story that we hear so much. But I just want to go back to— you invested in business training when you only had 40 kids. And we've, we've had a few studio owners lately that have been the same path as you, that have joined Studio Growth Club. But I know when I joined, um, that business place that we're talking about, I also couldn't afford it. There is no way that I could afford it. I didn't have 40 kids, I probably had 100 kids, but I had very high-end teachers in there. I wasn't paying myself a wage, you know, I was barely covering rent, like I was making no money, yet we both somehow found the money to sacrifice, and it's the best thing we ever did.

Yeah, 100%.

And I think that's like— I don't know if you saw on the Studio Owners page the other day, someone was writing that like, I'm at the end of my tether, and you know, and, and I need help, and, and The thing with help is you have to invest in help. You've got to spend the money. It sounds—

I know it sounds obvious, but you have to spend the money to make them.

You do. Like, it's just such a— yeah, we've both learned that. But trying to get other people to understand that is tricky sometimes.

And like most studio owners, we all started as dancers. We didn't start as business owners. We started as people who danced, who loved to dance, who loved to teach, who loved to share that joy of dance. Had no idea about how to market a business, how to, you know, do the admin side of it, how to create processes and systems. So it's like, you know, while people go to university to study medical to become a doctor, we needed some sort of platform to learn how to run a business.

I love that. I absolutely love that. It's so true. I want to talk— before we go on to things that you're super amazing at, I want to talk about your confidence, because we both said we were very shy in that room. And then just before we started podcast, you were saying there was a defining moment in your life as a studio owner that you were like, whoa, and it really flicked a switch in you. Do you want to tell everyone about that?

Yeah, so it was actually our first ever SGC event. Yep, um, retreat. Yeah, it was— well, it was kind of like the— because it was the first year you'd started SGC, so I had like in September it was like a meet and greet type, right, in person, got it, one day, like a Connect kind of thing. Yeah, like a Connect. Yeah, so we all came in there and there was about, I don't know, 50 maybe, I'd say.

Yeah, when we first started there was quite a few.

Yeah, it was quite a few. And we were in like a U-shape and there was studio owners there who like I'd seen from afar and like held on a pedestal. I was like, oh my gosh, that person's amazing. Like, I can't believe I'm in the same room as them. Like, what am I doing here? I've always suffered from imposter syndrome. That's been huge as a personal thing, as a business thing. That's just like, I'm always like, oh, you know, I can't even compare to them. Like, they're so much better than me. And I know that it's all in my head.

Yes, absolutely.

It has been a process to get to that point. So we actually had a speaker that day, Will Centurion, who is a musical theater performer, now mindset coach. And he spoke about his imposter syndrome. And I kind of sat there and went, what do you mean? You know, you don't have imposter syndrome. You're like, you're a musical theater performer. Like, everyone knows who you are. How can you have imposter syndrome? And he was like, you know, I have imposter syndrome. And I was like, oh, wow. And his speaking was so powerful that there was not a dry eye in the house. Like everyone was crying. Everyone was like emotional. People that I held on pedestals and thought they were amazing talked about, you know, their issues with not being good enough. And I'm like, whoa, hang on a minute. Like everyone here thinks that they're not good enough. And that for me, because I've always thought that I'm not good enough, I'm like, well, hang on, if they don't think they're good enough, maybe it is all in my head, and maybe I do need to start, you know, telling myself, no, that's not true, and just kind of not get over it but like come to terms with it and move on. Yes, that makes sense. And in order to become the business owner that I wanted to be, instead of holding back because of fear of failure, I needed to actually just go all in and commit to it, basically.

And then you've had this insane journey ever since, and us just seeing you every single year just growing confidence. You're quite a leader in group now, you know, like it's— but you are, yeah, you know, you're a leader in the group. If there's a table discussion going on, you are a leader at that table. Like, you've become that leader that you've always wanted to be, not just in your studio but in Studio Growth Club as well. It's pretty incredible.

It is, it is, to see where I was and where I come to. Like, even speaking on a podcast, like, I never thought that that would be a thing that I would do because I've always been terrified of public speaking. I— my least favorite part of being a studio owner is the end of your concert speech. Really? Hate it.

Hilarious.

Terrified of talking. Like, put me on a stage, give me a character, I'll like give you all the confidence. Yeah. But ask me to be myself and talk as myself, terrifies me.

That's crazy. It's my favorite thing to do is get up on stage with a microphone. I don't care where I am, if I'm up on stage with a microphone, I'm happy. That's so crazy.

Yeah.

But I, again, I probably haven't always been that way. Yeah, you know, and I think, I think seeing that journey and seeing that confidence is, you know, we want it in our students. We need to do it for ourselves as well. Yeah, yeah.

And I want to— like, growth doesn't sit in comfort, you know, everyone says that. And if I don't do things like this, or like presenting at the retreat like I did last year, which also terrified me, then, you know, I'm not going to grow as a business owner because I'm not putting myself out there in that way, and I want to continue growing. Like, one of our values at the studio is growth. And yes, well, if I'm not growing as a person and a studio owner, then how can I encourage my teachers to grow in their professional development? How can I encourage my students? How can I encourage my own children to grow? You know, I've got to be modeling that behavior and, you know, instilling that value in them.

Yes. And I think, like, business development with that stuff is where it's at. And it's interesting because you've been in SGC for 4 years, but you still are learning every day. Always.

Yeah, I feel the same.

Like, I feel like even you know, and I know obviously I'm one of the owners of Studio Growth Club, but I also feel just by talking to you guys, I learn stuff. Listening to your, um, session at retreat, listening to like, we are all learning from each other all the time as well, you know? And that's what's so incredible about it, I guess. So when you first started, were you good at systems? Because you are very, very, very good, probably our best studio owner at systems now. Is that something you had to learn? Or have you always kind of had that headspace?

Yes and no, right? So I have always been quite good at tech side of things, numbers. Like, my dad's a banker, my brother was a banker, right? Um, I did— so at high school we didn't have dance on offer, but I did drama, English, and then I did maths, information processing and technology, which is like a computer-based subject, and physics.

Wow.

Always been that sort of math brain.

Yeah, right.

And I did 3-unit maths, not just 2 units. So it was like real maths brain.

Yeah.

So I've always— like, numbers have always excited me. I've always been really good at that kind of thing and understanding how technology works and how computers and stuff works. Obviously, there's had to be some learning along the way with using different platforms and products, but I'm very good at picking things up and seeing how things work. And I think that's why I was always so good at the maths stuff of like I didn't actually like English at all, um, because it was always open to interpretation, whereas I was always like, but no, X plus Y equals Z, like it has to make sense. So I think that that kind of way my brain works, yep, is what makes me so good at seeing how the processes work and fit together.

Yeah, right. So what do you think's been the biggest game changer for you, um, system-wise in your studio?

Uh, the CRM we use. In SGC.

Yep. And what sort of things about that do you think has really made it amazing?

It's because it's kind of an all-in-one. Like, previously we had softwares that was like, this was the email software, and this was the one that you had to host your website on, and this is the one that you, you know, booked your workshops through, and all of— like, they were all separate, and you use Zapier to connect.

So true.

And it was just so messy and like just never made sense. Um, whereas the all-in-one software that we use, you can do it all in the one thing. You can create, you know, workshops, you can sell the workshops online, and then you can put them into an email sequence within the one thing. You can make a Facebook campaign and have the forms go into a funnel that then leads to the, you know, emails and the text messages. You can send text messages and emails and send them Facebook messages through this platform. Like, it's just so powerful. What you can do with it and how you can use it without having to change different softwares.

Yeah, and it's different platforms. It's interesting because I would never go above and beyond with that program. So, you know, because we use it at Paws obviously, and Nate has set it all up for us. And so we would do the absolute basics of what that is, and we follow the video tutorial, and that is it. I would never ever touch it because it is so confusing for me as a studio owner to even think about that. Um, and Nathan's done an incredible job with that, but you do go a bit above and beyond. Yeah, I just think I go all in. Yeah, you do.

For example, we, um, I also run this, some of the school dance groups at some of our local public schools.

Smart.

Um, we invoice the parents. Um, but it was, I was using a different software to do that and it was taking forever because I'd have to manually create all the invoices and send them off and I'd have to like input, like import the emails. So what I actually did last week, and it took me about 20 minutes, was I created a new form, created an automation, which then tags them with a thing, created a template invoice that now all I have to do is add them to the funnel and the invoice will go out. Um, and all they have to do is to sign up with the form so that then they'll go into the software and it's all done. So now what used to take me an hour or an hour and a half will now just be a click of a button.

Wow. That's so amazing.

Saving myself a heap of time.

Tell me more about that. Like. Do you teach their dance group? Do you teach actual classes? And so we teach their extracurricular dance groups during lunchtime, or when do you do it?

Or school and after school.

Wow.

And before school, um, we have one group that does after school, but most of them are before school time.

And is it the school that's promoting it for you?

Yeah, so it's, it's, but it's the school's dance group, so they perform at Grandparents' Day, they perform at assemblies, they do the because they're public schools, they do the Sydney North Dance Festival.

Yep.

Some of them do a Steadfords as well. So basically I come in, my, me or my teachers, yeah, I mean, we teach the routines, we organize the costumes, we rehearse them, rehearse them, and then they go and perform at their various things.

And how much do you charge for that?

It's $100 per term per child. Wow.

And they all pay it?

Yeah.

That is incredible. And do you then get some of them coming and joining your school as well?

Yeah, some of them do.

That is so smart. I didn't know you did that. Yeah, that's really, really smart. Have you always done that, or you've like heard someone who reaches out to schools and thought, I'm gonna do that?

Um, it initially started because when I was teaching for someone else, they had it, but it was too much for them to manage. And so then they said, look, do you want to take over this? And that was, I think it was like back in 2012 or 2013. So I've done it for many, many years. And from there it's just been word of mouth that I've then got into another school Um, from someone who knew me and knew that I ran this school. And then from there it's, you know, other people that have reached out and seen that I've done the groups at other schools.

And yeah, that's so good. And I think, you know, reaching out to your local schools and doing stuff like that, it's a direct feeder. It's extra money. It's before school. Like you said, like, I love that. That's so, so smart.

It's before school. It gives the preschool teachers a little bit extra because otherwise they're kind of coming in for 2 hours.

An hour and a half. Yeah. Exactly.

So they're starting at 8, finishing at 11:30. It's a bigger block for them.

So smart. So, so, so smart. Now, speaking of teachers, staff training, I wanted to bring it up and you still don't think you're good at it, but I completely disagree. So I know when I first met you and started— well, not when I first met you, but when you joined Studio Growth Club, I came into your studio. Was it before that when you were a Tribe member? I don't even know. It's been such a long friendship between the two of us.

Studio Growth Club.

Was it? Anyway, I might have still been doing staff training there, so I came in a couple of times to your studio and did some staff training.

Yep.

And you never thought you would be capable of doing that?

No.

But tell me what happened.

My staff training before that was literally— it was kind of like drill sergeant. Like, it was just come in, tick off, make sure you mark your rolls, make sure you did— it was just the what you need to make sure you're doing. And it was never inspiring or motivating, right? It was kind of missing that sort of mark, right? Um, and then someone— I don't remember who it was, but someone had mentioned that they'd gotten you in. Yep. And I was like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to do this. I'm going to get back in. And yeah. So then you came in and I was like, that was amazing. And you sort of like went through all the different things, but then also inspired them in other ways and not just what they should do. It's like, you know, things like how to clean a routine that sometimes it's like, it's really tricky to know how to clean routines, particularly for beginner dancers. Yeah.

Yeah.

No, those staff trainings that you did were really good and I've just kind of been making notes along the way.

Yeah. And now I'm so proud of you because you're running it for yourself. So you didn't even come in on the Zoom because we do Zooms with everyone can come in and listen to me do the whole shebang. But you actually did it by yourself. How did it feel?

It felt really good. Yeah, it felt— yeah, it felt good because, um, I felt like I was a bit of more of a leader. Like, when you're on the Zoom, you're still there, but you're still running it. And so I felt like because I was running it, I was like, no, like, I'm in charge, I'm running it. Like, we did some topics that, um, I wanted to cover, um, to sort of, you know, improve our customer experience and all that kind of stuff and sort of focus on what we wanted to improve on.

Yeah.

Um, so yeah, no, it was really good.

I'm so proud of you. That's amazing. And you're standing up in front of them. I assume you had slides. You ran it like a proper boss.

Like a proper boss. Look at me go.

Look at you go. That's incredible. All right, last thing I want to chat to you about is— you don't know that we're chatting about this— you've got, you've got 3 kids.

I do.

Your littlest one, we were just chatting, has just started kindergarten.

Yes.

The craziness of life, and I get you because, you know, you know how many kids we've got.

Yeah.

How are you juggling that and studio life and being a partner? And, you know, because it's so hard, isn't it?

So, so hard.

There's so much overwhelming, to be perfectly honest.

I probably don't juggle it very well most of the time.

Yep.

Um, I do my best. I, I remember one of the conferences I went to— it's funny, all of my like lessons in life have been at the different conferences that I've been to— and one of them I remember being in the room and everyone was talking about all the amazing things we were doing. I think my— so my kids are in year 7, year 4, and kindy now, but I think my middle child was like 2 and the older one I was like 4 at the time, so it was like, you know, the hardest kids under 5, the hardest age group. I was still doing everything myself. I'm pretty sure we weren't in the premises at this point.

Yeah, no systems like the CRM that we use.

Yeah, I was floundering, like absolutely fine. And everyone's talking about how amazing their studios were doing, and I'm pretty sure— I don't know if you remember it, but I like just burst into tears about how bad my studio was doing. And, um, one of our coaches at the time, I sort of talked to her the sort of morning tea time. And like, one of the things she said that really stuck with me is like, you don't have to be going forward all the time. Because I was like, everyone was making all these big leaps and I was like, I'm kind of like, just, I'm just treading water and I'm just kind of staying afloat. And I know that you and Beck, you and Amanda have also said, you know, you go through the different seasons.

Absolutely.

Yeah. When, when she said, you know, yes, they're doing amazing things, but where you are at life, it's okay to just stay afloat, 100%, keep your head above water, and then eventually it'll sort of peter out and you'll be able to go back up again. But, um, yeah, it's just, it's important to remember that, you know, there are ebbs and flows and that you've just got to go with the flow sometimes. And I mean, even now, like, my eldest started year 7, my youngest has started kindy. It's been a big 3 weeks with all the different things and like adjusting and stuff. That I kind of feel like I haven't been as present business-wise. I've got my full-time girl Aria who is amazing and does all of the things with me, um, and she's sort of like held it together. But I feel like I said to her the other day, I was like, oh hey, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages, um, just because where I'm at right now in the last 3 weeks I've needed to be there for the kids.

But you've trained your staff well, you've got incredible systems in place.

That's it.

If this was you 10 years ago, there's no possible way that you could have given your kids that time. But because you've implemented the systems—

I was able to go to the Year 7 thing, I was able to go to the Hindi thing, my other child had an Ash Wednesday mass on Wednesday, and then he had a swimming carnival. And she's like, I was able to go to all the things knowing that the business was still working without me.

And that is like the most amazing feeling ever when you get to that point of going, you know, I like being in my business, I like being there, but I don't have to be there 100% of the time. And that takes time. Time to build, don't get us wrong. Don't think that that happened overnight for either of us. It did not.

No, but long journey.

Yeah, it has been a long journey, but how incredible that you now have that stuff in place. But I, I do think family balance, all of that stuff is so hard if you don't have any of that stuff in place. It's just, I remember back in the day when I had none of that in place and it was cray cray.

Yeah, and another thing we do is is, um, like we do school holiday camps during the school holidays because we don't run classes through the holidays. Um, but my staff all run that because I know that school— like during the term time between school and me at the studio, like I don't really get to see my kids a lot. So then I'm like, you know, I have to prioritize them.

Yes.

So there is a balance of, you know, I know that during the school holidays they get me. And, you know, and we're going to Japan in April and then we're going to Fiji in Japan at the moment.

Every person I talk to is Going to Japan, it's like the place to go right now.

It's the place to go.

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, so it— you've just got to balance it. And then, you know, the mum guilt is real, let's— like, always gets it. But you've just got to not let it overtake you and just, you know, weigh up. Okay, I did this with them, now I've got to do this. Um, you know, sometimes it means working till 11 o'clock at night and scheduling those emails to go out the next day, but you just got to do what you can so that you can be there for them.

Yeah, I love it. I love that you're doing workshops in school holidays too, you know. And I'm sure And again, you've trained the staff in how to do it. You've got the systems in place so you can go and do that, but your studio is still making money whilst you're not there. That is so smart because so many studio owners break for 12 weeks of the year and have nothing happening in their studio for those 12 weeks and no money coming in, which is a crazy business decision as far as I'm concerned. Back in the day though, we both used to do that.

Yes.

That's, that's how much and how far we've come.

Yeah.

It has been incredible chatting to you, Amanda's. I'm sure you guys got so many takeaways from that. I absolutely loved this podcast. I know you guys will too. Reach out if you have any questions about any of the things, and we will talk to you soon. Thanks, guys.

Thanks for having me. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dance Principles United podcast.

If you'd love to learn more from us, we have a special offer just for our podcast listeners. Go to the link in the show notes in the notes right now to get 2 weeks free in Dance Principles United Tribe. We would love to see you there.