Presentation Matters - How to Present Yourself and your Brand

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. Bec, so happy to see you, my lovely friend. How are you today?

I'm super good. I'm in my studio, as you can see today, so a bit of a different background, but yeah, super awesome. Loving term too. It's all happening. How are you going?

Really, really well. We moved house last week. We had a bit of a big week. It was all very spare of the moment to move house, so. Moved house, put the other house on the market, got open houses, doing all the things. You know what it's like. I like to keep myself busy.

Yeah. I'm so impressed with how quickly you moved into that house, though. That is like next level. You just.

What was it? Six days notice, I got to move house. And yeah, we did it quick, but.

Then through a birthday party for Sass the week after, to make yourself unpack quickly. Like, that's. That's really cool. I love that.

I love that I do things quickly and fast and I go all in. Right. That's how I roll.

Yeah.

How I roll.

It's working under pressure. Right. Like, I always work best under pressure as well.

Absolutely, absolutely. I like a good deadline. Makes me work better. So, so good. Anyway, we're not here to chat about my new house or me on unpacking boxes as much as we should, but.

Today we wanted to do a bit.

Of a podcast on presentation. It's something a little bit different to what we've talked about before. Right. Becoming.

Yes. And I think we can look at this in lots of different ways. You know, presentation of yourself, presentation of your studio, presentation of your brand. Like, there's so many different ways that you're presented in the world, and I think we should look at each one and how important they are.

Absolutely. So let's start on presentation of ourself. Now, that is a really big thing, and I've got to tell you, that is something. Oh, my mom. Oh, my mom is so, so hard on this. And you might have heard me on the podcast talk about my mum before. My mom is very old school, corporate. Like, women must wear stockings and pantyhose at all times. It doesn't matter how much your feet hurt. You should be wearing those heels. Like, lipstick on at every single moment. She's that old school person. But, you know, she always really, really talked to me about dressing for the job you want. We've all heard that saying, and in the dance world, you know, it's like, you know, dressing for the part you want. You go to the audition in, you know, a character outfit, or, you know, you go to the cruise ship in the full, you know, undies and whatever it is in the bra or whatever that is. Right. Dressing for the part you want, not the part you currently have. And I think that's really something big for studio owners to remember, right?

Yes. And I think, you know, just remembering how important first impressions can be at anything in life and what that impression can say about you, your brand, everything. And I know that, you know, in today's day and age, we don't want to judge pe Judge a book by its cover and all that sort of stuff, but that's not real. We all do. I know if I go into a shop, for example, I'm. A takeaway shop's a perfect example. Amanda. Okay, so you can go into a takeaway shop and, you know, the ones I mean, that are really old, they've been there for forever. The floor's rotting, the sinks are feral. The guys looking like he has not washed his hair for a month. Do you know what I'm talking about, though? We've all been there. Yeah, I'm not really keen to go into that and order food, but then you can have another takeaway shop, like the new Acai shop down the road from me that's really bougie and has a beautiful outlook and look. It might have the exact same food at both shops, and maybe the chef of that shop is really amazing, but the presentation of that is not making me feel comfortable.

Absolutely. So let's talk about how this responds to you and your personal appearance and how you present yourself. Look, the reason I wanted to do this podcast is to be completely, completely honest. You know, it's winter here. We've had some cold, rainy days, and I used to find as a studio owner that my appearance would slip in winter. Do you have that? You know, you're cold, you want to put on the hoodie. You know, you don't really feel like doing your hair as much, perhaps because you didn't get out of bed as early in the morning. Look, there's that big temptation to wear your ugg boots to the studio. Like, we've all had those moments. Do you have that bear? Because it's probably Freezing where you are.

Sometime is so cold. So cold.

Absolutely. And, you know, I always found in winter that my presentation and my staff's presentation would drop. And that's what made me do this podcast because I really wanted to, you know, really to explore the importance of how you present yourself to your clients. And, you know, there's something we've been talking about with a few of our SJC members, you know, is like, let's. We were talking about heels at concerts. It was a silly conversation, but we were talking about heels at concerts and spending the day in heels at concert and, you know, whether heels are right for you or not, that's not really part of the conversation. But some studio owners that were talking about the importance of getting in front of our parents when they're used to seeing us in our activewear, as we are in the studio wearing the activewear, but then to see us as a professional business person take being taken really seriously at that concert, at that MIDI concert, when you're emceeing or whatever that is. Right. How much of an effect that can have on what the parents think of you?

Yes, absolutely. I love this so much. And really thinking about the impact that that can have on how the parents see you represented because it's like about them taking you seriously and about it being a serious job and all, all that sort of stuff that we all talk about all the time. But doing that at your concert day, that can be a real game changer, I feel. Anyway, I'm all about it.

Absolutely. I completely agree. If you are having trouble with parents at your studio not taking you seriously as a business owner, dress for the part that you want. You know, go to the comp in the blazer, you know, dress in the heels, do your hair nicely, whatever that is. And it's not always about how much money you spend, but how much effort you put behind that for them to take you seriously. If you look quite young and you feel that your parents don't take you seriously enough, fix your appearance to do. Make yourself look more serious, more grown up. Make sure that you always have your makeup on at the studio. That's a really important thing. If, you know, if you're finding that the parents sometimes think that you're still 13 or one of the kids or whatever. If you're wanting to be taken more seriously as a hip hop studio, dress the part. Dress the part of the hip hop dancer. Dress in those fashions. If it's the ballet, whatever that is. I feel like dressing the part can play a Huge, huge part in how people perceive you. Right. Rightly or wrongly, it's just the world we live in.

Well, it is. And it isn't. Like, what would you do if a doctor wasn't dressed correctly? What would you do if a teacher was at school and had a CR top on? That was quite revealing. Like, I don't know. It is. You know, you do need to think about the environment you're in, the appropriateness of what you're wearing, who you're trying to impress. I think that's just life. I think that's in general is very important. And, you know, it is a part of our world today and we definitely need to think about it. I mean, I wanted to talk about, you know, and I hope you don't mind me talking about this, how much time and effort you put behind what we look like at Expo, because that is like, those pink suits of those of you who are at Expo was a high. But that's a highly planned, you know, I mean, I can't take any credit. You are so amazing at finding all of that stuff. But, like, you know, you've really searched for that. You've thought about the impact it would make. We're very on brand at Expo, as you guys will see. Like, we're in white pink all the time. In fact, I feel like I've changed my entire life to be on brand for Dance Principles United now. We have.

Yeah, absolutely.

We. We are on brand all the time. And I think that in itself is really impactful. And I remember I never used to be on brand for pause. Ever, ever. And I remember seeing someone at an Estadford who was in their brand jacket and I thought, how daggy is that? That's so embarrassing. Right? Didn't say it out loud, but that's what I thought in my head. And then when I went home and thought about it, that person is so amazing at their brand in their local area and everyone constantly wearing it, which is why they were one of the biggest schools, because it stands out and that I changed my thinking on that and now look at me like, I wear my paws stuff if I'm in my local area 247 for that reason, or if I'm at the studio or anywhere that I am. And I feel like now with Dance Principles United, we're the same.

Absolutely. I think, you know, telling a story, right, with your clothes. We're all creatives. We want to express ourselves. We want to do that. But how do you want to express yourself? How do you want to come across do you want to come across as the, you know, cool, young, trendy person? Well, then that's gotta. Like, is that what you want? And, like, that's a completely acceptable answer. Yes is a completely acceptable answer. If you want to be the really cool, young, trendy teacher that all the kids, like, are obsessed with what you're wearing. Absolutely. Do you want to appeal to the mums? Do you want to be like. Like what all the mums wish they could be? Then think about what you're wearing based on that. You know, I think that's so important. Do you want to be, like, the boss bitch? I'm sorry, I hate that word, but I'm going to use that word today anyway. But is that what you want to be, like, at the comps? Like, really lean into what you want to get out and go for it? Like, that's what I would want to be. I'd be. If I was representing Paws in the Red, I would have that red blazer that I wear with black jeans and bright red shoes to every single computer to really, like, you know, stand out, to look professional, you know, whatever that is. I think it can be great ways to kind of lean into it. Right.

And isn't it interesting because, like, you and I are so similar in so many ways, and that would be your jam and how you would like to represent. And I am. And I don't know if I'm just in a different place with pause now, but I am like, this is what I'd wear. I wear the studio jacket with everyone else. My team's wearing that. I'm, like, in there with the kids doing all the things, and neither is wrong.

No. They're just different.

Yeah. And so I guess what we're trying to say to you guys is we're not trying to say you have to be the blazer person or you have to be person. We're just saying be something and represent that brand with pride every single time that you're doing it and think about what impacts that can have on your brand in general. Right. That's kind of where we're going with it.

Absolutely. I think it's. Yeah. What story are you trying to tell with how you're presenting yourself? Like, you know, I don't think there's right or wrongs. I think activewear works. I think professional corporate gear works. You know, I think there's so many layers in between, but putting effort into your appearance actually matters. So regardless of what it is, it's the effort and that that matters, and it shows the parents that you care, especially when you're asking them to put effort into how their children look. If you're at a comp, for example, I think that's a big thing or.

Yeah.

Or a constant. You're telling them how important makeup is at the concert. So do you look presentable and like you're ready to go on stage? You told them all that stage lighting, you know, affects makeup. So have you got stage makeup on to walk onto stage?

Interesting.

The same thing, right?

Yeah. Is your hair immaculate? Are you. Yeah, Very interesting.

So that would be my suggestion in terms of presentation is just really thinking about what you want to portray. But then I want to talk about the presentation of your studio as well. And you know, once again, no right or wrong answers. But, you know, what are you trying to get across? If you're trying to get across that you're a family friendly, you know, there for the kids, that kind of stuff. What have you got in your waiting room? What have you got on your windows that show that, you know, does. If, if that was what I would be going for, I'd have play equipment for the kids or toys and stuff. You know, if I want all the parents to stay, I'd have bright colors. Or are you going for really high end stuff? If that's the case? Does your waiting room reflect that? Does the outside of your building reflect that? Like there's so much, you know, there's no right or wrong answers. But is what you're trying to attract, Is that what you're putting out into the world?

I guess, yeah. I, I, you know, I'm so passionate about this, Amanda, because I think true parents really value their children and they value the building that they're putting their children into. Well, a parent like me anyway. And I think, you know, when I go to a preschool or when I found my children's preschools, if I went into a preschool that felt dirty and run down and not friendly at all, then I definitely did not send my child to that preschool. But if it felt clean and beautiful and crisp, that's the preschool that I'm going to send. And I feel like we think we don't think about that enough in dance. And you know, we used to have the dingy old studios back in the day, but I think things have changed now. And I feel like that first impression when you walk in is so, so important. And I've seen so many studios where I walk in and you know, even when I've gone and done staff training and stuff like that, Amanda. And I've walked in and gone. I can see why. Yeah, I can see where the problem is straight away because got the dingy staircase, the rotting carpet, the old fashioned desk that's run down that, you know, and it feels icky. And I just think a few even signs on the stairs saying, come on, we're so excited to see. I know one of our SJC members has, I don't know if you know this, but like a frames leading up, they're like three steps to the best day of your life and blah, blah, blah. And blah, blah, blah. Yeah. So as kids are walking up or parents are walking up, it's these positive things before they go in. There's little that you can do that's going to create that environment to make it feel so much more special.

Absolutely. I was talking to a studio owner last week about this. They were moving their fit out to a new studio space. And I was saying, like, you know, yes, they were talking about the studios, the size of the studios, the lights they were going to do, what kind of flooring they were going to have, blah, blah, blah. All important choices. However, the most important thing is that waiting room or the front, the front desk or whatever that is for you. And it doesn't have to cost a lot. Look, I know that the reality is, and, and both Beck and I, and if you'd seen pictures of our waiting rooms, especially like, you know, my, I, I don't know exactly the age of your building, Beck, so I'm going to talk about mine. My building's like 60 years old and like falling down or like it's old. However, you'd walk into that waiting room and it did not look like that. It looks beautiful and fresh. And it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Like, I know both of us have spent a lot of money on our wedding rooms. I'm not pretending we haven't. But what can you do? You can go to Kmart and get some fake plants. You know, you can paint the walls. You can put, you know, I was chatting to one studio about putting rugs down. Like, because their carpet was so gross and they didn't own the building and they couldn't afford to do the thing, put a rug down over it. Like, there's so much you can do to make the space look great. Great.

Yes. And I agree. Like, and it's so cheap these days to fit it out. Gosh, there's that Facebook page. I don't know if you're on it. Like Kmart hacks Or something like that. But it is. That is totally what it is. It's like if you put on a page like that. Hey, guys, I'm trying to fit out my dance waiting area. Help me. Like, they would have so many cool ideas of very cheap ways that you could make it look special. But look, our front desk is a toolbox from Bunnings. I think I've talked to you about this before, and I love it because it's got heaps and heaps of drawers, and all the drawers are lockable, so I can keep stuff in there. But it looks really funky because it's got like a metallic look and then a wooden thing. It was so cheap. Like, so much of buying a desk from, you know, freedom or something like that. But it's really funky and fresh and there's. There's always ways to do it. But absolutely, Amanda, that, you know, like I said, even if it means putting a few a frames up to start with, or even if it means a couple of plants, fake plants in from Kmart, it will make a difference and it'll make your parents feel welcome.

Yeah, especially those first people when they walk in like you were talking about with that cafe before, you know, it makes a big difference also the cleanliness and how, like, what the walls like in studios. I don't know about you, Beck, but, like, our walls would get, like, holes in them all the time. Why? Kids cartwheel into walls and go through the gyprock. Oh, my God, are they picking bits? And it just. Like the walls would have constant holes in them or scuffs from bags or, you know, dirty marks, all that kind of stuff. So even if you can't afford, you know, to do a full refurb of it, give you get a really good clean. Like, a really, really good clean can make a big difference. Making sure that it's vacuumed before people walk in every single day will change people's opinion on how they see you. I think it's a really important thing.

Yes. Especially when we're talking to you guys about who is your ica? Who are you trying to appeal to? Just try today to walk into your waiting area with fresh eyes. Just stand and have a real good look around and see what you think fresh eyes would feel like in that space. And that will give you your first instructions on, okay, what do I. What can I do? And change one thing. You know, you don't need to change everything, but change one thing and go from there. And then each week, even change one thing about it, because it will Truly make all the difference. Amanda, before we finish this up, I wanted to talk about one more thing, and that is presentation of your staff. Yes, I just think so. We've done presentation of your space, presentation of yourself. But how important is it for your staff to represent your brand immaculately? Because they're the ones teaching the kids. They're probably the ones in the waiting area. And how do you want them to look and make the feel of your building be.

Absolutely. I think it's so, so important, you know, if you go to any of, you know, a clothing shop. Let's talk about. Let's talk about a high end clothing shop. They have very strict guidelines on what they're allowed to wear and what they're not allowed to wear. You know, I know that it has to be, you know, current season. It has to be, you know, all of this kind of stuff. It can't even be older stuff from the season. You know, like, it has to be immaculately pressed. They have to make sure everything's ironed. You know, there's so many things that you can put in place with your staff. And look, it might just be that they all wear a studio T shirt that is a completely acceptable studio uniform. But is their studio uniform? Is their black T shirt faded black? Is it ironed? Have they got nice black trousers on with it? Have they got appropriate footwear? Have they got like, you know, appropriate makeup, earrings, hair, all of those things? Or does it look like they just rolled out of bed? And don't get me wrong, you know, once again, like, use their styles. I really do think you should lean into their styles. The hip hop teacher should be presenting as a hip hop teacher. You know, the young teacher can totally be wearing something cool and trendy and have, you know, trendy hair and style and fashion, you know, have fashion choices and all of those things. But putting effort into how they look is important.

Amanda, it's winter here and it's getting cold, and I have a lot of new staff members this year. So I put on our little channel, hey, guys, who needs a new jumper for winter? Because exactly that I'd noticed that some of our staff are wearing their paws T shirt but with a green jumper. And I hate that. Right? I hate it. So then that was a very silly choice for me, wasn't it? Because every staff member then said, me, me, me. And I can't say yes to one and no to another. So I just bought 30 jumpers for my staff, a lot of jumpers. And the invoice came in and My bookkeeper was like, I can't believe you're spending this much money on uniform. But to me, that is so important. How important is that for my staff to look immaculate when they walk in, you know, green jumper on over their red thing, but to have the beautiful new jumper that I've just bought them, which is also stock. So now, hopefully kids are going to see those teachers and go, oh, Jacob's wearing that jumper. Cool. I want to wear it now because Jacob's wearing it. Like, I just think that is money well invested, in my opinion.

Absolutely, I totally agree. And. But being strict, and not even strict, clear in your guidelines for your staff, if your staff aren't wearing their uniform every day and are wearing it some days, but not other days, do they know it's compulsory? Maybe not. Maybe you've never told them. Whereas they wouldn't show up to McDonald's in a different T shirt because their other one was in the wash, because they've been told that that's not acceptable. So really be clear. Like, whatever it is that you choose, that's correct for your staff, that's fine. But make sure your expectations are clear with them. You're super clear with what they're to wear, what footwear they're to have on, how their hair is to be presented, how they're general. And, you know, you can be generalized because, don't get me wrong, like, I don't like, you know, no discrimination about how people wear different choices and things like that. However, you know, putting effort into their appearance is important, regardless of what kind of style they want to have. Right?

Yes. And also remembering who they're teaching, because we can all be all inclusive, and I'm totally about it. But at the same time, like I said at the beginning of this podcast, if a school teacher was in a crop top and tracksuit pants with her stomach hanging out, is that okay? Of course it's not, because she's in an environment teaching children. And I know we wear activewear for dance, and I totally get that. But just to give you an example, Amanda, I don't let my preschool teachers wear crop tops because I just don't think it's appropriate. That's my choice. You might all think it's fine for them to wear it, and that's your choice, but in my studio, I want my preschool teachers in a T shirt. And, you know, I like their hair to look funky. I like them to have really bright stuff on so that they look really exciting.

Absolutely.

That's. That's. But they Know that. So then when I do pull them up and say, hey, I don't like you to tuck your T shirt. Because I've got some young preschool teachers.

Amazing. And they want to look cool and they want to do all those things. Yeah.

I say to them, hey, I don't want you to tuck your T shirt up into your crop top for preschool. And they know the expectation was there, and so they say, yeah, fair enough. It's harder when you're going to them and you haven't made that expectation in the first place. That's trickier.

That is tricky. Absolutely. Look, I hope you got something out of this. I think what Beck and I are trying to say with all of this is what you put out into the world matters, and how people see you matters. So really think about how you're presenting yourself, your business, your studio, everything you do to your ideal customer, because that's what it all comes back to, right? What you. What you want out of an ideal customer who you're trying to attract. And are you being what they need you to be?

Yes. And love your brand. If you love your band, if you encompass your brand with everything, it is just going to make you push forward so hard.

Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. Hey, if you like it, we'd love for you to leave us a review. You can do that on Spotify or Apple. It would mean the world to us because it's nice to know that, you know, you're getting something out of it. So please click that button and do that for us. But we cannot wait to be back in your ears next week.

Thanks, friends. Bye.