How to be More Efficient and Effective as a Studio Owner

Hello, friends, I'm Amanda Barr. And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan. And welcome to Dance Principals 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, and welcome to the Dance Principals United Podcast. We are in Las Vegas, still filming, recording. What are we doing? Are we recording? Are we filming? A bit of both.

We're recording and filming our podcast, but we're in Las Vegas having a great time and, you know, it's been an awesome week together and we've learned lots of things at the Dance Teacher Web, which has been awesome.

Absolutely. Make sure you check out last week's podcast podcast for a few more of our takeaways. But today we're talking about proactive verse, reactive tasks. As a CEO, as a business owner, as a studio owner, what kind of things that we should be doing and when to focus on proactive tasks and when to focus on reactive tasks. And then we're going to talk about not reacting too quickly as well. So we've been talking with a lot of our members about and really encouraging them to start the day with proactive tasks instead of a reactive. Do you want to give us a bit of a, like, explanation? What kind of tasks inside the studio are reactive?

First reactive tasks would be answering emails, answering parents, I guess, if they've inboxed you or something like that. Can't even think of anything else right now. Amanda.

Yeah, checking it like, you know, doing anything that is on someone else's time frame is back. Basically reactive tasks. It's like, hey, I have to do this because someone else has told me I have to do this. Or, you know, the opposite. Like being reactive around, you know, like, oh, my gosh, one parent complained about the ballet exam. So quickly, let's all. There wasn't a note out about it, so let's quickly send a note out because one parent said to me yesterday, we, we don't know anything about ballet exams, so, oh, my God, I better send it out right now. That's being reactive to things.

Yeah. Or like that. Parents Quick has messaged me and they need their music. I need to cut their music right now and I need to send it to. It's like, there's so much of that in the studio, it's crazy.

Absolutely. Whereas proactive tasks are things that are actually going to move the needle forward in your business and doing it early, doing things that, you know are setting you up for success, right?

Yeah. I mean, this can be something so simple. And I mean, I don't know if you remember this, but we've listened to people who are like, I get up at 5am and have a lemon water and then do a walk and then I, you know, and like, not just what I do well and like, but we have kids and things and moving parts and I just, I know a lot of business coaches teach all of that. It's just not. It's not realistic in our world. Most of us are moms, most of us are getting kids up and ready. But I have to say that, you know, when you do get rid of the kids and do all of that, or if you've got toddlers around, just sitting down and making yourself a list is a great thing to start the day of. Well, we always talk to our members about what are your needle movers? Rather than just making a list of answer emails, answer phone, do this, do that. Like, what are some needle movers that you can do that are going to actually pivot your business?

Absolutely. And what happens as the day goes on in the life of a studio is the. The reactive tasks start building up. So starting the day with proactive tasks, starting whenever that is, if you're starting working at 9 or midday or whatever that is for you. Right. Starting the day with a proactive task is so much more beneficial. So what that looks like is not opening Facebook, not opening your email, not going, oh, I've just got to write back to that parent first. I've just got to do that from last night. That parent asked me to send that music through, whatever that was. But actually starting the day with something that's going to move the needle forward in your business. And that's, you know, because I feel like if you don't start the day with it, all of a sudden, you know, the rest of the team come in to teach the preschool class, they have something they want to say, the parent comes in, you have to answer the phone and all these other things all happen. But if you can start in the quiet by yourself with proactive tasks, that's how you move the needle forward in your business.

Absolutely. It's hard to do, though. It's so easy. It's so easy to. The first thing that generally I people do is open their social media up when they get up in the morning. And then the second thing they do is look at the social media inbox and this reactive start stuff's just going to start happening right then and there so you do have to really discipline yourself in this. And I think. I think the thing that I find really important is I have my goals next to me when I wake up in the morning. I don't have some big vision board or anything like that. They're literally written on a piece of paper or on the back of a photo in my case, but they're there when I wake up in the morning. And I think that is the. That is the thing that says to me, you need to make every day count. And I think that's why I have it there, because otherwise I would. I literally would just go straight to my inbox and start, blah, blah, blah. Whereas that reminder is like, okay, is it really going to matter if I don't answer that parent for another hour? Like, is it really going to be that big? It's not life or death. You know, I can spend an hour putting together my social media and scheduling it or, you know, looking at my numbers for the day and seeing where we're at, or there's so many great things you can do. That's a much better start to your day, I think.

Absolutely. And like you said, like, it's not not getting back to the parent. Like, we're all about customer service, but it's also important that we start the day doing something for us in our business. And we've been talking to, you know, one of our studio growth club members. I was chatting to her and she was saying that she, like, she really struggles with this and she struggles to, you know, carve out the time to do things. She wants to grow her studio. She actually wants to double her size. So she has really big goals. But she said that she just struggles to, you know, know what task to do first. I'm like, cool. Let's just say for the first hour I'm like, what? So we had a big conversation about it and you know, as she started work, usually about nine, she said, I'm like, cool, so let's go nine till 10. Every day you're going to do, you know, one thing to move the needle forward in your business. That's it. And then from 10, then you can be reactive and open the emails and do all the other things that you've got to get done you in the life of a studio owner. So we just started with that one hour and I think that's making a huge difference to her. So, you know, some days she's, you know, planning out her social media and scheduling it because we know that actually matters and that's what is marketing? To get people other things. She's planning marketing plans, you know, like you said, looking at her numbers and really having a good deep dive into her numbers so that she knows what her goals are, know, knows where the issues are. You know, so doing things like that, you know, thinking big about her concert and how she wants to change up. That was one thing we were talking about with this member, like, you know, making some big changes so that she can get the financial rewards from her concert, you know, and being really proactive rather than just like answering emails. We're going to keep coming back to that. But God, those emails, right?

Yep. I love it. So if you think about it, if you don't do this, you could just do it right now and you could put I love a good Google Calendar on your phone and you could put from 9 till 10 every day what you're going to do. So I personally, I think Monday should be. Look at your numbers. You know, how many kids do you have? How many class placements do you have? Which means how many total classes is a child doing? So if a child does jazz, tap and ballet, they're doing three classes, but they count as one in your number count. Looking at how much money you've got coming in. You know, there's so many studio owners that we talk to who don't have any concept or idea about how much money is actually coming into their business. And that's so, so important. So that could be your Monday. Tuesday could be your social media. Wednesday could be marketing, which probably includes looking at your Facebook ads and maybe you're going to bring a new item of clothing or uniform in or something like that. What other two could we have? Thursday could be concert. I mean, you've always got work to do on your concert.

Yeah. And you know, stuff that moves the needle, I think that's the big thing with the concert, right?

Yeah.

Picking a costume doesn't move the needle.

No.

But you know, other big things like, you know, planning how you really going to maximize your profits through your concert fee, for example. That moves the needle.

Yep.

Makes a huge, huge difference.

Or putting together countdowns on the tickets so that people get excited about those tickets, putting posters up and around about those ticket sales. Like that's a needle mover.

Absolutely. So just really thinking about what can I do every single day in my business to move the needle forward, to make it, make it a difference to my business. And you know, put that focus mode. God, that focus mode is so good. I have my focus mode on all the Time, as you know, because you call me and I just don't answer because it doesn't ring.

Yeah, but that's good.

But because I'm in the zone working and not being distracted by the Instagram, flash up. The message that came through that was, you know, a gift from a, you know, a mum, friend from school or whatever that I just don't need to see at that time because that distracts us. And it's something I obviously do want to see, but not right then, because it just pulls us out of our focus zone. So even just putting that on for an hour every day. The other thing that I really think is important, and this is my tip, is making sure, like, you know what we're like on our laptops. Do you have, like, 4,000 browser windows?

Never. I don't know what you talk about. It's so bad when I'm on Zoom, because we do all our coaching stuff on Zoom, guys, and. And when I'm like, oh, I'll quickly share my screen. And then I have to say to everyone on the coaching call, don't. Don't judge me. Because I have so many browsers open. But. Yep.

So one thing that I've been really trying to do is because, yes, I'm the same. I have 4,000 browser windows open, as we all do, but I'd really make sure I close the Facebook tab and my email tab at night, because otherwise I open them and they're open and I see it. Right. So I think that it's important because that's like setting me up for success the next morning. I love using that because otherwise it's the first thing and you're like, oh, I wasn't gonna look at that email, but you can see that email sitting there and it's like, oh, yeah. So I think, you know, just simple things like that. Closing those, you know, for me personally. And look, I. I don't think this is right for every studio owner because I think it's super important that you get back to new leads quickly, always. But for me, it was not having access on my phone to those leads coming through for the studio. That was for me personally, because I had a team to do that for me, but I didn't need to see it and I didn't need to see the studio inbox coming through on my phone. Yeah, I didn't need to see the band messages on my phone. I looked at them on my laptop for sure. But then I open them deliberately rather than them just popping up on my phone all the Time.

Yeah. I love it. I love it. So inspiration, guys. We really want you to block that 9 till 10am out every morning. I love that, Amanda. And just put in a different thing each day of what you're going to do and then that's a great start. And you know, that's a, it's a great place to start. And as you do then start to get bigger and see the growth from doing that stuff, you can make it a little bit longer because you can give someone else some of your tasks to do and then you can make that time a little bit longer. And that's how we grow and become, you know, great studio owners and business owners. So I think that's so inspiring. Now, the other thing we wanted to touch on today was studio owners being reactive and reacting to things straight away. There's two sides to this. I'm a big believer in not dwelling on things as well as, you know, and so why don't we just use an example of a cranky parent? Because I think that's the easiest one to do. Okay. So I think you do have to address that cranky parent straight away. I think that's important because if you don' then things can go pear shaped because they don't want to be left in the lurk either. However. Correct. However, the way that I would deal with it, Amanda, is I would call the parent and say, I'm so sorry that this has happened to you. I do need to investigate things a little bit further. I want to hear your side of it. So I definitely will listen to what they have to say and I try and say fair call in my head because I think most of the time they it is warranted and then take some time to investigate it rather than just calling them and being like getting cranky with them straight away.

Absolutely, yeah.

What other like reactive things that we've seen some of our clients do that we're sort of like, yeah, you could have just waited with that. Like staff members. We've seen stuff with staff members. Right.

Sometimes when we're reacting too quickly, it's due to the emotions. I, I feel like that's a big thing. And if you know that you're quite an emotive person, which a lot of us are as studio owners, we're creatives where all the things we feel, all the feels that what, that's what makes us an amazing creative. But if you know that you are quite emotional, whether it's angry or sad or whatever that is, you know, sometimes giving yourself a bit of time to sit on something is important because if you're reacting out of emotions rather than reacting out of good business choices, it's going to be a problem. So we've seen that happen a few times with staffing, sorry. Studio owners getting really angry with their staff over something and you know, telling them off that night, firing off a text message at 11 o' clock at night going, I can't believe you did this, blah, blah, blah. Then the next morning going, was that really the best choice? I could have waited until the next morning, calmed down a bit. You know, we've seen that with parents as well. The same thing. I'm a big believer that nothing good happens after in business should be happening after, you know, 8 o' clock at night. No, you should not be doing any business. Kind of like, yeah, discussions with clients or staff at that kind of time of night, it's not a good idea because you're too emotional and it needs to wait until the next day. But yeah, I think that it's very important not to let our emotions make us reactive to things that happen.

Yeah. And just like sitting on it, thinking about it, talking to, you know, people that you trust about it. I think that's really important. And getting some, if you've got business mentors or something like that, definitely reaching out to them or other studio owners and just saying, hey, this is the situation. What are your thoughts? I mean, I love that about our community because we, we see it all the time and I think it is important for you to feel like there are people that you can chat to about that stuff and then help you with a. But also not letting it go for too long as well. That's the other. Yeah, like you don't want it to go on for weeks and weeks and you, you know, still overthinking it, overthinking it all the time. You just, you do need to deal with it, but you need to deal with it with a cool head and you need to deal with it with clarity. I think that's the two main things. Right.

Yeah, I love those things. Both of those things. I think it's important, you know, if it's a dance based thing. The other thing that I really value is getting input from people outside the dance industry. You know, I think that that's important and because if you start explaining it to somebody else. Look, it depends what it is. Right. Like obviously, you know, if it's because a kid can't land their triple pirouette, there's no point explaining it to somebody else.

Yep.

But I have found myself, you know, with one of my closest girlfriend, who has nothing to do with dance, explaining something to her that I thought was a big drama. And as I'm saying it out loud, you know, even just the. Sometimes it's just even say it out loud.

Yes.

I'm like, this sounds so stupid. She's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, she's like that. Why, why is that a problem? Why shouldn't that parent have said that? Why should have like. And I think sometimes it's like that clarity that we need, I think that could be really important as well, hearing other people's opinions on things. Because she's like, look, I don't know what the dance thing you're talking about is. But of course the mum felt like that or of course this, you know, staff member, like whatever that is. Right. And I think that can be a really great thing for us as well.

Yes, I think that's the other thing. I think there needs to be more understanding for parents and how they're feeling. And you know, every parent's feelings need to be validated. And I always think about like at school, okay, if someone goes to school and has a complaint, well, I don't know, we've never had this at our school. People, they get listened to. They certainly don't get told that they're stupid or that that's a stupid way to feel or anything like that. And you know, and their feelings are valid, their child's probably come home upset and you've got to just recognize that. And when I've changed from being really cranky at parents all the time as I used to be, to having complete understanding and also teaching my stuff to say, I'm really sorry that happened to you today. Because we all say that then straight away now. And I think that is such a big game changer to just self reflect and realize that someone else is allowed to have a different opinion to you and can have a different opinion.

Absolutely, absolutely. Hey, can I tell it's a little bit off, off topic? Sure, let's go for it anyway. And I think it comes into that having understanding for parents and the fact that dance is a small part of their lives, not their whole lives and that we don't know what else is going on. Like even when I became a mum as a dance studio owner, I'd always be like, know my eldest daughter was so well behaved, she walked into dancing really happily all the time. She wanted to be there. So when other parents, you know, walked in Frazzled, were late, whatever. I was always like, you know, can't believe that mum, she's always late. You know, we all have those kind of thoughts, right?

Yep.

But, you know, our listeners may or may not know that I'm going through quite a bit of stuff with my youngest daughter's health and it's affecting our whole family. It's not just her that's being affected, it's everybody in the family. And, you know, with that means that there's a lot of stress in our house. You know, we're quite, you know, bit frazzled and I'm a bit frazzled a lot of the times if, you know, we've had bad days with her and all this kind of stuff. And I am now that mum that's, you know, sometimes dragging my kids up into dancing classes, that's late, that didn't read the email properly, that didn't do whatever, and that's now me, where it never used to be me because I was always like, oh, I've got my shit together. This mum stuff, I've got this together. But the fact that there's all these things going on behind the scenes in my family at the moment, you know, means that I don't. And I think that compassion to parents is so, so important because I've self reflected on it going, look, I probably was a bit like, oh, look at me, I'm a mum that's got all my shit together on my high horse.

Yeah.

And now that I don't, I can so say it from other people's perspective when I can't even get my kids to class on time sometimes when we have bad days with sass, having seizures, et cetera. Yeah. Like, I don't know, it's just a. This is not about reactive, but I just do think it's about compassion.

Oh, it is about reactive, though, because again, like, we will react to that parent when they're running late. I've done it before as a teacher, multiple times. And we will react and get cranky with the child or get cranky with the parent or whatever. And as you're saying, we don't know what's going on in their life to make them be late. And so, you know, it's. It is that reaction that you're just like, okay, I shouldn't have done that. I've had to self reflect on that multiple times. The last time I can remember, I was, believe it or not, teaching a tap class. Amanda, I never teach tap, but the teacher was sick and I had to take the class, it was the week before comp and I just cleaned all of their arms and this 12 year old walked in late to class and I got really cranky with her. This was only a couple of years ago. And I got really cranky with her and the mum called me and said that was really unfair. And I was said, yep, fair call. It was unfair. I just reacted in the moment because I just changed the moms. And she then came in and I didn't even realize that she wasn't there until she walked in and she wasn't gonna know them. And the mum said, well, you know where I was? I was at your school organizing your little boys 100 days of kindy. And I felt so bad cause she's like the principal of that school and you know, and that's the thing, like we just don't know what people are doing. They've got busy lives, works, crazy. They might have difficult children like you're saying, or difficult things that are happening. And you do have to try to not react for that reasons because you've got to be understanding of that.

Absolutely, absolutely. Anyway, that was my TED Talk for the day reactions. But I do think closing up this podcast, I think it's really important for us not to be too reactive with our emotions, with things that sometimes we just need to, you know, I always think sleep on it. I'm a big believer. I know sometimes you do need to get things done in the moment, but I am a big believer on sleeping on some things. If I'm feeling quite hot headed about it, I need to sleep on it and deal with it the next day without leaving it too long because once that's enough. Ten weeks of this still going on is ridiculous.

Or absolutely.

Or three even three days.

Absolutely.

So there's that. So really making sure that you're not reacting with with emotions. Super important. But don't forget what else we were chatting about is starting your day with proactive tasks rather than reactive tasks. So, so valuable. So really make sure you, you know, carving some time out to do that.

Absolutely. Guys, we hope you enjoyed today and got some inspo from it. Let us know. We love to hear from you all and we will talk to you soon. Bye.

Friends, 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 right now. To get two weeks free in Dance Principles United Tribe, we would love to see you there.