Planning for Success in Your Dance Studio

Hello, everybody. Nathan here. Just a little footnote. Before today's episode, the audio quality, I had to use the backup audio on this episode as the original audio had some issues. So you just have to excuse the slightly poorer than usual quality of the episode. But as always, it was absolute gold with Beck and Amanda on today's episode. And the in person podcasts are always just that little bit extra special. So rather than trying to rerecord and recapture the magic, decided to push ahead with today's episode as was because there was so much gold in there. Hope you enjoy today's episode with Bec and Amanda.

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. Hey friends, and welcome to the Dance Principles United podcast.

I am so excited to be here actually with you in person, looking out at this incredible view that we have. If you guys follow us on Instagram, make sure you check it out or on YouTube because your new house is incredible.

Oh, thanks. It's nice not living in the city.

Things that you can do when you're down the south coast, right? Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

We've been together for the weekend doing a big planning weekend which we really want to do to reflect on our business at Dance Principals United. And we find it really, really valuable. We've been going through what we're doing well, what we need to improve on our goals, all of those things over the weekend because I think it's so important to remove yourself sometimes from your business to be able to look at that big picture stuff.

Yeah. We wanted to chat to you guys today about the importance of brainstorming in and around different things. And that's really what we've been doing. We've been self reflecting and then we brainstorm on different ideas. I have to admit, over a glass of champagne last week, absolutely. But you know, I think that doing that in your business and as Amanda said, taking yourself away can be such a game changer. And we are creative when we take ourselves away from the day to day drudge of doing everything. I think when you're in it day to day, it's so hard and like.

As studio owners, we know what it's like. You've got to do the choreography, you've got to plan that advanced tap class. As the email to respond to. There's all of these things. And you get so busy with the day to day work inside your studio that sometimes it's really hard to be thinking about exciting projects for the new year. And so removing yourself from the day to day can be a really valuable tool to do that, right?

Absolutely. So the first thing that we think you need to do if you are doing this is self reflection on whatever it might be. You might be self reflecting on concert, you might be self reflecting on re enrollment, you might. Whatever it might be, it needs to be that self reflection first things you did well, that's what we did.

Right.

Like what are we crushing, what are we not crushing and what do we need to change up to make sure we're crushing it, improving it.

Absolutely.

So what I'd be doing at this.

Time of the year, and I think it's the perfect time of the year, right. Because it's a little bit quieter. It's a good time to sort of get some things, you know, some ideas kind of going, whether they're for next year, whether they're for later in the year. But sometimes it takes a little while to sit on some ideas to sort of get it excited. So the first thing, like let's talk about concept, for example, and the brainstorming that you'd be doing around concert. I know you're doing this with SGC members in a couple of weeks at their session, is that right?

Yeah, we are for our staff training and I know it is going to be so powerful because I truly believe that when you bring your staff into something like this, when they feel involved in the concert, they one, are going to do a much better job for you and two, are less likely to leave because they feel like they're a part of things. Absolutely.

They are included.

Yes. I think that's going to be super amazing. So the first thing that I will be getting them to do is literally that. So self reflection.

Absolutely.

You know, what happened, what didn't happen, and it's good. They're the ones backstage most of the time anyway. So they'll know what they're doing and what they're not doing, right?

Yeah, absolutely. And so I think that's a really valuable thing. So I'd be looking at all the different parts of the concert experience, breaking them down into different sections and different parts so that you can really, you know, make sure you self reflect and brainstorm on each section. So let's talk about the different sections. You know, number one, I'd be doing, you know, the backstage.

Yep.

How was it? For the kids, were they bored? Were they excited to be backstage? How was the management? How are the quick changes? All of that kind of stuff.

I'd be looking at that.

I then be looking at, you know, the drop in and off drop, you know, whatever you do, sign in, sign out, whatever you're doing around that. But that drop off and what it's like from the parents perspective. Yes, that's so the parent's perspective.

Yes. I'm quickly gonna go off on a tangent here, but I know that when Tim and I were coming to an event, like it was a big concert event for schools, Right. And it was a big game changer for me last year, actually. We're just getting tickets to the exact same event at the moment. We were running late because the parking, it took us like half an hour to park. This is a venue that I use for my concert, Amanda. And I would never ever think about that. But the parking was so crazy that, that it made us run late. And then we were scared that the kids would get in trouble for being late. So it's just like, I think when it's that drop off thing, you've got to think about those little moments that you just don't realize as a studio owner because you've been in the venue all day. And why are children turning up? How dare they turn up half an hour later? You know, so it's just. Yeah, self reflection of that stuff. Absolutely.

So, yeah, I'd be looking at that. I'd be looking at things like the choreography and the costumes and all of that self reflecting. What did we do? Well, what didn't work? What do we need to fix the ticket sales? The communication beforehand with the parents so the parents know what time that they.

Have to show up.

Was there lots of questions? What was the questions you were getting a lot of? Because if you're getting a lot of questions, that's probably because you didn't communicate it well enough.

Right.

So I've been looking through all of those kind of aspects of the concert and, you know, reflecting to start with and then brainstorming how can we make it just that little bit better for this year.

Yes. And I want to talk about the parent thing because, you know, I think we forget that parents don't know what we know. And our saying to my team the other day, Amanda, like, why do we think it's normal for parents to know that stockings go under a leotard? Because, like, seriously. But like, if kids are at school or you yourselves, like, would you wear stockings then undies or would you do undies then stockings? Yeah, point.

Yep, I get it.

So like it's little things like that that we think they're probably like, oh.

My God, that's so 80s to put your stockings under your looter. Right. Or something like that.

That's crazy.

I never thought of that. Y.

But like I just. Because my ballet teachers got really. They were like, how dare she? Can you believe that? How embarrassing that that child came in with her stockings over her leotard. I was like, hang on, let's just think about this logically.

That's so funny. I'm not thinking about that. Like for me, like if I was wearing, let's say a bodysuit and then stockings and a skirt, obviously I put the stockings over the top of the bodysuit.

Well, I would never wear stockings. I would never wear stockings without undies.

Yeah, absolutely. I love that we're getting off on a tangent, but it's because it's true. Because like we just know that obviously when you're dancing your stockings go under and then you put your leotard or your tutu or whatever that is for a little child over the top. But yeah, you're right. Why would parents know that if you hadn't explained it?

And then also why would parents know that, you know, hair has to be sleeped. Why would parents know that their 6 year old should be wearing mascara? Why would parents know? Like they don't know those things. And we have to spoon feed them and help them to know those things.

And the education and the benefits around it too, right?

Yes, absolutely. So yeah, FOMO around tickets.

Absolutely.

You know, like did you create that FOMO up to the ticket sales or did you just get there and sell the tickets two days before because you thought all about it and that sort of stuff as well. So much to self reflect on with concert.

Absolutely. I, you know, with an event like concert and this can be for anything and we're going to talk about different things as well, but I would literally be going through every kind of like facet and aspect. Both the business ones, the parents view, the kids view, you know, the creative view, all of those things and looking at all the different facets and kind of like self reflecting and brainstorming. You know, we talked about getting together with your team and I think this is a really great thing. But don't forget this is something you can do by yourself as well. If you're a team of one or even if it's just wants to be you, like you know, taking some Time to really reflect on that. These holidays is a great time to do it or this kind of time of the year.

You know, as we said, we like.

To remove ourselves, we like to go somewhere and whether that's going to your favorite coffee shop and spending a couple of hours taking yourself away for a weekend, whatever, doing some journaling. Because I think the power of writing it down. Oh my God, our post. Its. How cute are they? It's funny. Yeah, yeah.

So we actually like got these massive posters that you can get from OfficeWave guys and we're still sticking them up on the window and kind of brainstorming that way. But that worked really well. It was fun. It was, you know, and writing that stuff out is really, really cool.

I think it's creatives like that's important to us as well. And I think, you know, taking the time to write those things down, write those notes down, whether that's you buy the pretty new notebook or whatever. Because we are visual people, we're dance teachers, we're visual people. That's the reality of it. So really doing some journaling and reflecting and remember, like, what were you happy with? What do you need to fix and taking the time to do this.

I love what you're saying about the journaling because as you know, I adjudicated a few weeks ago and as soon as I adjudicated they sent me a feedback form to say what they thought we did well, what they thought we needed to do. You as an adjudicator, any suggestions for their event?

Oh, great. For their event.

But they really pushed us to do it straight away. And in the email she said, we know after a couple of weeks you'll forget about what the event was about, so if you could please do it now, we'd really appreciate it. I thought that was clever. And you're talking about journaling like we really as studio owners, not saying that I do this, but you know, I do need to do it. Probably the day after an event should actually sit down and write down, here's what I did. Well, here's what we needed to work on. Here's where things went pear shaped because self reflecting on the concert a year ago, you've got to really think about that. What happens in a year, right?

In six months? Absolutely. It's not too late, but it's even better to. On the day I try to do it, my notes app as I go on the day. So like expo, I was writing things in our notes app as I went because I, you know, things like next year make sure I do this next year. Make sure I do this. Yeah, yeah. Because otherwise, as you said, you forget. So, you know, really taking the time out with yourself or your team to, you know, do things. The other thing I'd be doing at this time of the year, which I think can be really, really valuable, is, you know, self reflecting on your timetable.

Yes. Because this time of the year it's.

Kind of like, hey, you know, look, you know, the hip hop class on a Wednesday night isn't working. And it's not working because they're only all doing the one class and they're not doing back to backs.

Why is that?

Is that because I put two next to each other that don't quite work? Is it because I've done it a little bit too late? What do I need to do next year to make that timetable better?

Well, I know the biggest game changer for me was when you said to me, because I was struggling with timetable one year and you said, throw all that away, forget about your teachers for a second and write your timetable that would be best for parents and for your class placements. Yes, that was a game changer because when you're putting three classes together that should go together and then all of your students are doing those three classes now, that is a huge, I mean, class placements is where it's at, right?

Absolutely, absolutely. And so looking at that, at that at the moment is a really great thing to do. And look, obviously we know that you do have to take in a little bit of teacher availability and all of that, but at this time of the year, you don't know that. So you can really sort of start to plan your perfect timetable. Does that look like that all of your kids have three classes that they can do back to back on one night. What is it for you? And like self reflecting on what's working and what's not working at the moment and making some notes of it as you sort of start to get towards that time, as we get towards the end of the year when it starts getting crazy.

Right.

As well and you start planning your timetable, you start talking to your teachers, you start doing all those things. If you already have spent the time reflecting now and know what your perfect thing would be, how much easier is that to then manifest it for next year and make it happen?

I love that last thing we think you should be self reflecting on right now is re enrolment.

Absolutely.

Because it gets so crazy. Like, you know, I know people out there are like, but it's only halfway through the year. I can't believe you're talking about re enrolment already. But we know how quickly that comes around. As to your owners, like, you know, things just go so quick and self reflecting on that now, thinking about that now, do you think that's something? Absolutely.

I'd be looking at that and how you did it. If you did it well, if you created enough fomo, if, you know, you really got the people in. Like there's. Look, there's a whole heap of things I'd also be doing. I'd be looking at exams and comp teams at the moment. You know, I think that's a really great thing because, you know, as motive business owners, we sometimes need a little bit of time to sit with ourselves. We're all very emotional studio owners. Like, you know, our studio is our baby. I get that. And sometimes we really need a bit of time to sit with big decisions.

Yeah.

So, you know, thinking now about the changes you want to make to your comp teams or how you run your exams or any of that kind of stuff, it's a really great time while you've kind of got the bandwidth at the moment to be thinking about it and start getting it ready. You know, do you want to change and offer more styles or separate the classes out or, you know, have more minimum requirements or less minimum requirements or, you know, do you want to combine 8 and 10 so that it's a bigger group next year, like all of that kind of stuff. It's a great time to kind of be thinking about that now and brainstorming those changes.

Do you want to put your feet up? Do you want to create a director?

Yes.

There's so many things that we know, you know, sometimes students also overthink it and think that all these parents are going to get so upset about it and it's going to be. And you always do have one or two cranky parents. We know that for sure. But it's how you sell it to people, right?

Yeah. Benefit driven. Always benefit driven. Yeah. And you know, it's funny, we've been talking to a couple of our SGC members and in the last few weeks we're planning now their changes for next year in terms of fees. You know, like, you know, we have a few of them, you know, putting their fees up, taking away like, you know, sibling discounts or something like that, you know, adding like a comp levy or a, you know, uniform deposit, costume deposit, you know, things like that and sort of like planning that now for how they're going to change it, the direct debit thing as well, rather than it be making those decisions, the big decisions in the middle of constant craziness. If you can really sort of start to plan some of those decisions now so that you can sit with it and make sure it's the right decision for your business and then when you're ready to sort of announce it in November, December, whatever that is for you, January, it's ready to go. And you are really comfortable with that decision because you've had that decision made for a couple of months in your mind already.

Yes. And I love that you said it's the best decision decision for your business.

Yes.

You've got to really self reflect and think about what's best for your business. Also, I think we overthink what parents are going to react to, you know, like everything's on membership now directive. It's so much easier for them. You just want it to be like you said, benefit driven.

Driven, driven. Absolutely. So, you know, we would love to see some of you taking some time out, stepping away from the day to day of your business. That's what we've done this weekend, you know, and really looking at every different facet of your business and self reflecting the biggest thing like what am I crushing and what do I need to improve on as well and then brainstorming some ideas because as business owners sometimes we're just so busy in that day to day running that we forget that.

And we forget that we've got to.

Dream big, we've got to make changes, we've got to keep evolving and doing those exciting things. And so having that opportunity to step away, doing a bit of journaling, getting out the post its whatever that is for you can be so, so beneficial. We've had a great weekend doing that ourselves this weekend.

We have, it's been super amazing. We are doing lots of new and exciting things because we've had this time to do that and I think we'd love to hear from you guys. Let us know. Are you gonna do some big post its for your concert? Are you gonna rethink how you're doing re enrollment? We'd love to hear, hear from you. Let us know. Yeah.

We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Dance Principals United Podcast. We can't wait to see you, hear from you, listen to you, whatever it is, next week. Thanks guys.

Bye.

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