Scale your Dance Studio Part 4: A $1 million Dollar Dance Studio

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. Hey, friends, and welcome to another episode of the Dance Principles United podcast. Hello, lovely Beck. How are you today?

I am super awesome. All. It's all happening. I've got.

It's concert season.

Concert season. Got my four Little Groovers concerts this weekend and then my troop concert, and then I'm done.

And it's Christmas.

And it's Christmas.

Oh, I'm excited for your little Groovers concerts. They look amazing. Four concerts will be amazing.

Yeah, we're going all out. The theme is out of this World. And we're really, like, going into the whole theme of it this year and making it quite immersive for the kids. So I'm super excited about it.

Oh, that'll be amazing. And is it the first time you've put some of, like, the new styles that you're offering in Little Groovers into it? Are you doing, like, ninja and stuff at the concert?

We sure are.

I want to know about this. I actually. I don't know anything about it. Share all the things.

Yeah, no, Ninjas is, like, really popular. So, like, I guess the same as they do acro, you know, they do like a little demo of some of the stuff that they do in ninjas. It's super, super cute. Yeah. So. But some of the stuff they do is so fun. I actually want to do the ninjas class, actually. Phoenix did it last year and it keeps asking, when am I doing ninjas again? When am I doing ninjas again? So there needs to be, like, an even older program because it brings in a lot of boys a lot.

So, so good. And it's just good to get them used to being in the studio and. Yeah, so much fun. Anyway, that is so exciting. Love that for you. And then it's Christmas time, which is so exciting for everybody. So today's podcast we wanted to share with you is the last of our series, and today's podcast is titled Lessons to Grow over that one million dollar a year mark for a studio. It's a big one, right, Beck? We've both owned studios that do over a million dollars for quite a period of time now. But it's such a. It's such a big accomplishment when you first get there. I remember that moment so well. Do you Remember it? Yes.

I feel like I don't celebrate things enough like that. Like I think I get there and then I just keep running.

Yeah, what's next?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I don't even, I don't know, I feel like I don't look at it enough. But it is a huge achievement and it's, it's massive. Like it's a massive operation and yeah, there's a lot that goes into it, obviously. Did you really celebrate it?

No, probably not. But I do remember feeling accomplished. Hey, can I tell you one of the most interesting facts? I shared this with a couple of our studio growth club members that are currently doing over $1 million the other year to really celebrate them. Did you know that only 2% of women led businesses ever break $1 million revenue? Isn't that crazy?

That's insane. And yeah, I didn't know that. And yeah, that is really, really crazy. It is a big achievement though. And I feel like, especially when you're offering classes that are 18, you know what I mean? Like it's not like we're selling, I don't know, it's not like we're selling.

Ten thousand dollar products or something like that. Yeah, yeah.

Then I think to get to a million revenue is much easier. But when it's like such a small amount, it's, you know.

Yeah, it's crazy when it's $18 a week or $15 a week or whatever, it takes a lot of units to get to that million dollars. And I have always been super proud of that, that only 2% because we know that most dance studios are owned by females. Not all of course, but majority are. And yeah, to hit over that $1 million mark, if you're only in 2% of women that are actual business like that are business owners, that's, that's a really impressive achievement. So if you are there or if you are striving to get there, congratulations. Like what a big achievement. What a big moment. Yeah, I think it's such a huge number and I'd love to see more women and more dance studios hit that number. I think that should be our goal, right?

Yes. That's what we're so passionate about because everyone works so hard. But being able to make good, good, decent money off this is what you should be aiming for for sure.

Absolutely. And I think, you know, both Beth and I have both found that there was, we spoke about on last week's podcast. There's definitely that difficult situation like that period when you know there's a fair bit of money, but God, you're working hard for it. And once you kind of get over that million dollar mark, I feel like it does get that little bit easier. Whether it's easier because you're more established, but also, you know, you can afford to pay some more staff. I think you're more experience. Well. And hopefully all these lessons are going to help you today. But it does, it gets that little bit easier, right?

Yes, I think so. In some parts.

In some ways.

In some way, really hard work, though. Like, it's absolutely, you know, it's not like we're just chilling by the pool every day.

Absolutely not. It's still super hard to be running a business of that size. And there's more, more responsibility. Right. I feel, I always felt that, I felt like a big sense of responsibility to my team, to all of my staff that had mortgages and families and all of that that had to. That I had to provide for so that they could provide for their families. I found that sense of responsibility was huge. But then it was a little bit easier in terms of I didn't have to teach every single class and I didn't have to do every little thing. I could afford to get a cleaner. I could afford to do, you know, little things like that.

So. So true.

Yeah. All right, so today we've got our six lessons that will really help you if you're trying to push through this goal. And things that we really found made a difference in our business. Right. Bec, do you want to kick us off with lesson number one?

Well, lesson number one is what got you here won't get you there. And this is you, Amanda, that came up with this. So you tell me what your thoughts are on this.

Absolutely. And I think, you know, to me that's a really big one. I think about that all the time. What got you here won't get you there. And what that means to me is, you know, you can hustle your way to a hundred thousand dollar studio without a problem. You can get there, you can get in, you can teach all the classes, you can do all the things, but it's not going to get you to the next level. You, you know, it's not going to get you to the $500,000 studio. And then even at 500, you can get some really good team members, some really good choreographers, you know, have some great concerts and stuff, but that's not going to get you to the next level because every time you, you know, up level, you have to up level your business as well. And you have to change and adapt to get there. I think that's the biggest thing, especially things I think like in terms of like your backend systems, I think that's a big thing that sometimes you've got to up level, but also your mindset and so many other things that have really got to change, you know, just because it got you as far as it got you in like the first place. Some of those systems, some of those ways of doing things, some of those mindsets, it's not going to get you past the next level and you have to change yourself to get to the next level. Do you agree?

Oh, I totally agree. And I even think when you're at that level, you have to keep changing and adapting and learning new things and going, okay, now we need to do it this way. And you know, a perfect example I'm going to use now, Amanda, is tick tock. Now I was so like, oh, I can't be bothered with tick tock. There's enough happening and we've just started it and it is so good and you know, like it's little things and everyone's watching the TikTok stuff that we're putting together now. And so it's like, you know, when you start to get older, I don't know if you feel this, but it's just like, oh, I don't want to be bothered with that new faint angle thing that's coming out. But you have to if you want your business to keep growing, if you want your business to adapt. And that's just one small little thing. There's, there's so many things like that. Like we still talk to people who haven't got their direct debit set up. And so it's not that consistent money coming in. That's just such a game changer. And if you, you know, that's something that can get you to this level because it automates things and so many things.

Absolutely. And it just frees up your time, things like that. Some of those backend systems, you know, obviously that's not going to get you more clients in, but it does free up your time. That allows you to do more things like better social media marketing, like getting on TikTok, like all of those things. Like, you know, but you have to keep adapting, you have to keep changing and you have to keep leveling up. If you want your business to grow, you can't just keep doing things the same, otherwise it's never going to grow. Right.

Something that Nathan said, this is totally off topic, but something that Nathan said to our SJC members this week, that really rang true with me was we have the most incredible content for social media in our studio every single day. Like, if you think about the poor plumber down the road who's fixing toilets and sinks every day, not a lot of content there. When you go to a dance studio, you have cute kids, you have happy kids, you have, you know, all this.

Exciting costumes, sequins, music.

So much happening every single day in there that for content, if you aren't putting content out there, you've got to ask, why? Because there's so much content for you to put out there. Anyway, I digress, but that's just that content is such a big game changer in my studio, and it's one of the things that you have to do. You've got to put it out there.

Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, lesson number two, realize, is that your team is how you build your business. We are not solopreneurs. You need a great team. Do you want to talk on this, Beck?

Look, I'm so passionate about this. I talk to my team all the time, and I think it's the absolute key to a successful business. And if your product isn't great, you can be getting lots and lots of new kids in, but if your product isn't great, then they're never going to stay. You're not going to retain them anyway. And I just think this is the thing that so many studios let down is how important that team is. And not just your teaching team, but your admin team, your, you know, the person that's answering the phone of an afternoon. Like, there's so much involved in that and it's so important, right?

Absolutely. I was listening to a. A fitness business podcast yesterday, and they had, look, I. Not even 100 sure what type of gym it was, but some sort of gym owner on. And they were talking about the biggest change that they made and the biggest mindset was they used to have trainers, you know, in our case, teachers, right? Come in and teach a class and then leave. But they weren't part of the bigger vision. They weren't a team. They were all just teachers teaching their own thing or instructors. And that's so true in dance studios, too, right? And if you just have a teacher come in and teach their two hours of classes, then go home, they are never going to be on board to help you build that business. But involving them, sharing the goals, sharing the story, sharing the values, them being a real valuable part of the team, that's how the Business grows together, right?

Absolutely. And I love that because there's so many. We get so many of these teachers in that are, you know, the specialized teacher, and we don't think that they need to be a part of that, but they do.

Absolutely.

Like, it's so important for them to be a part of it. So don't disregard that and don't go, oh, they're a specialized teacher, so they don't need the training or they don't need to know, you know, what my business is about. Or it's the opposite. Like, everyone needs to know and everyone needs to be on board with it.

Absolutely. So really make sure you're focusing and spending time with your team, Right?

Yep, absolutely. And that should be every single term, in my opinion.

Every time should be. Yeah.

Every turn that you should be getting your team together and talking them through, you know, your expectations, what you want to see happening, what's gone great, what's gone wrong, how do we self reflect all of that stuff? I could talk about that forever, as you know.

Absolutely. We'll have to do a whole another podcast on that or check back to a few of the other ones we've done before on that. All right, our next big lesson to get yourself over the seven figure mark is not to sweat the small stuff. It's a big mindset change. We've both been there, right? Like, you know, the student leaves and we're like crying on the floor, or it takes us a week to get over it. Or we procrastinate for 10 days about, you know, what costume to choose or what email, like, you know, or I've got to respond to that parent. She's angry at me. Like, whatever. We get really caught up sometimes in the small stuff, right?

Yes. Then I used to get hugely, hugely caught up in the small stuff. And it takes so much energy and time, especially the parent stuff, like when they complain or when they're not happy or whatever. And then it's like Chinese whispers and then you trying to talk to them, to other people about it and all that. The easiest thing to do is really to just deal with that conflict straight away and get good at dealing with conflicts. Like, that's something we hear a lot of studio owners say, right, Amanda? Like, oh, I just don't like deal. I don't like confrontation. Well, unfortunately, as a studio owner and a business owner, you have to deal with confrontation with your staff, with your parents. You know, it's just a thing. You can't avoid it. So you just have to get used to It. And kind of get okay with it, I guess.

Absolutely. And then just let it go once it's been dealt with. Let it go. Like, I. We can't sit here and go, oh, just don't sweat any the small stuff, you know, because we're all passionate business owners. You know, there's absolutely no doubt that we are passionate about what we do. And passion is a great thing for your business. But you've also got to, like, know when to be passionate and then when to, like, think with your head and let it go. Right. Because if something's keeping you up at night, you know, we've also remember, sometimes it's just a business and sometimes a client's not going to be happy. And yes, we should do everything we can to try and fix that for sure. But clients aren't going to be happy 100% of the time. There is no way that you are happy 100% of the time with every business that you've ever walked into. It's just what happens. So sometimes you just need to let it go. Should we see Elsa?

Let it go? Let it go. It's true, though. Like, we see it so much with our members and, you know, like, it. It used to really, really bring me down. And it just. It does take up so much time. I think that's the biggest thing, because it's time where you could be growing your business or you could be working on amazing things, and you're spending it worrying about that stuff. So.

Absolutely.

If you can get better at that, definitely get better.

Hey, you know, there was something that look, once again, a little bit off topic that I always used to think about as a business owner was I want to be a passionate business owner, and sometimes I want to make decisions with my heart rather than my head. And that happens for all of us. Right. But I was always like, let's talk about. I always think about, like, the 8020 rule, and I used to try and push it more to, like, a 9010 rule. Okay. So, you know, 90% of decisions should be made with my business brain, and 10% are passion decisions. And I feel like that was a good kind of, like, balance. So, like, let's talk about, you know, the costume that you can't afford that's too expensive. Right. That the parents are only paying $100. But you found this costume, and it's 120, and you're obsessed with it, and it's going to make the dance look amazing. Well, I think that's okay to do 10% of the time. Because we are like, I can't sit here and pretend that I've never made a passionate business decision, nor can you. Beth's like, hands up. Like, absolutely not. We are all passionate business owners, and I think that's fine. As long as it's not all of the time. As long as it's only a small amount of time. And most decisions are being made with your business brain rather than your passionate heart. I don't know. That's how I always used to think about.

Yeah, I totally agree. I think that you've. You've just got to weigh things up a little bit and, you know, yes, we've all made those decisions, but it can't be making those decisions all the time. That's the problem.

Absolutely. That was off topic. That last one was don't sweat the small stuff. But it's all the same thing, right?

Us off topic?

Never. All right, our tip number four is your favorite one, Becky. Being consistent. Being consistent with everything that we do in our studios.

Right? Yeah. I think we've said this every single step of the way. I think about being consistent, but it is so true. And you just. You just got to realize that it doesn't just all of a sudden happen and it gets handed to you on a silver platter. It's bit by bit, chipping it off, keeping on going, keeping on going. And over years, you get to this point, and I think people forget that. And I. I think people think that there's a lot of luck involved. Oh, she's so lucky to have that massive business. And it's not that it is exactly what we're saying. Being consistent, you know, with your marketing, your team, your staff, everything. You just have to continue with that consistency and self reflecting on. On it as well. But I know there's one that you wanted to chat about a lot today, which was being consistent with your values. And I really like this because we often find that our studio owners are trying to be everything to everyone instead of being true to what they want.

Absolutely. You know, I really. I think it's really important to be consistent with your values in terms of your expectations, what you say you're going to do, how you present yourself to the world. You know, for example, if you talk about that you are all about a thing, family, le studio, and you're all about, you know, being, you know, all a family and being appropriate and all this, and then you're 14 and unders are dancing to a song about sex. Like that is actually not being consistent with your Values. And I think that's a big. A big issue sometimes that we see that. Look, if. If you're, like, training kids for the. In, like, industry or whatever, that's a different thing, right? So I think it's just being very clear with what you are and being consistent with your decisions and not going, oh, but it's fine, because this song's a banger. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, I feel like sometimes that's where it goes. It's like, oh, I'm normally all about family values, but today I'm not, because I'm not feeling it.

Or I've got a really cool teacher in who wants to do that, so I'm just gonna let them do it. Like, that happens as well. Right? And if. But I think, as well, like, even sometimes a parent will say, oh, that studio is doing that, and we should be doing that, or that studio is so good with that. Or, you know, that studio is winning competitions and we're not, so we need to do this and this. It's staying true to yourself with that as well, and realizing what you want your studio to be and how you want it to look and then being really strict on it, which is hard. It's really hard to do it. You know, I. I've talked to you this year about. I really don't like Spats, Amanda. Like, I'm just. And this is a me thing, and I'm not having a go at anyone out there who has spats on their kids by any means whatsoever. But for me, I don't like it. It's not within my values. But one of my teachers who's absolutely incredible and amazing this year, but he's really into all the kids wearing spats, and we're really having this, you know, chat consistently about it, but it's like, that's how nitty gritty I am with my values, Amanda. Like, it's such a. It's a. It's a costume piece, you know, But I'm so specific in exactly how I want my studio to look, what sort of things I want there. And, you know, and then I've had to toy in my own head, do what? Am I letting this go? Am I. Am I sticking to it? Why am I sticking to this? Why is that important to me? There's that stuff that's constantly going on, you know.

Absolutely. That's super interesting. And I think, oh, I do. Because it's also that thing. It goes back to our first lesson as well. Like, sometimes you do have to change and, and like rightly or wrongly about the spats, like that's just, you know, one small example. Yeah, you've got to be consistent with your values. It's just such this hard thing. But if you're going to change, you have to change and be okay with changing with everything. So it's like, yeah, it's that happy medium. I think being consistent with yourself is really important too. You know, I feel like quite often as passionate entrepreneurs like we all are, we go 120%, then we burn out and then we stop doing things like, like let's talk about social media for example. You know, people like are doing an awesome job, then they don't post for three months or barely post for three months and there's this like highs and lows throughout business. Or we work our guts out and then we get to the school holidays and we're like, oh. Or we get to this time of the year and we're done. We're like, cannot work for six more weeks. The trick to building an incredible studio, a seven figure studio to me is being consistent with yourself and your energy levels as well and knowing like that you can't do that with your marketing or you can't have eight weeks off over summer holidays. You know that you need to have this more. Oh, my balloons are going off. I'm celebrating here watching us on YouTube. You can see my balloons. But being more consistent with your levels so that you can always continue that same output and not have these like high periods and then this burnout kind of lows as well.

Yes, I love that, I love that. And I think the marketing thing is so, you know, important. It's something that we've really changed in the last probably five years. At pause, I used to be not consistent at all. I was going to give you one little example of that. This weekend, as I said, we've got our Four Little Groovers preschool concerts and normally five or six years ago I would have completely forgotten about the importance of social media on that day because I'm running around crazy. But now we actually have a team member who's just in charge of social media. That's their entire job for the day, is to get cute, fun backstage shots and videos for us to post on our socials. It's just flipping your mindset on that, you know, it's, it's just going, okay. That job is actually equally as important as the person changing the children's shoes.

Absolutely, absolutely. I love that. All right, let's go on to lesson number five. The ability to make quick decisions in your business. We kind of touched on this before, right?

Yeah, it's. It's actually something that studies show that, you know, really successful business owners don't procrastinate on things. They just go, okay, let's give this a go. And also they then self reflect and go, okay, that did or didn't work. Let's give this a go. Let's trial this. Let's, you know, and also just not dwelling. We just see people just takes too much time. Ah. Like, just go for it. If it fails, okay, it failed. But, you know, then self reflect and try again. But I just think making those quick, quick decisions can be key.

Absolutely. You know, we kind of touched on it before around procrastinating and, you know, procrastinating and letting you know that parent email take way too long because you're so stressed about it. Because it kind of goes hand in hand with sweating the small stuff.

Right.

If you're really overthinking these decisions and they're taking way too long, it is affecting your business and it's affecting your ability to grow. You know, whether it's a quick decision on how to handle a situation, whether it's a quick decision on what song am I going to use for my underrates hip hop routine, like, whatever. Sometimes there's not really a right or a wrong decision. It's just make the decision, make the decision, move forward, get it done, get done. Right. Get in there and get done.

And we're not saying to not think about things. Like, obviously you still have to think about things, but yeah, I just think sometimes it's. Yeah, you can just spend. And there's so many decisions at you every single day as a studio owner. It's crazy. Especially at the start.

Decision fatigue. It gets you.

Right. Yeah. So, you know, just make a decision, go with it, and yeah, move on to it. Yeah.

All right. Our very last tip is surrounding yourself with the right people because this has been an absolute game changer for both of us. Right, Bec?

Yeah, well, definitely for me. So, you know, as you know, Amanda, I was in a very controlling, abusive relationship for a very long time, and I definitely did not grow my business in that. And something that I always get up and speak about is think about the top three people in your life right now. Are they building you up and helping you to move forward with things or are they squashing you? Because I was in that squashing you position and it was a total game changer when I got out of that a Total game changer. When I had people supporting me around me, that were my top three. When I had people not saying no, that won't work to me but saying, yeah, give that a go for sure. Yes, I'm, I'll support you through that. A total, total game changer. And surrounding yourself with those people is the key.

Absolutely. I think it's, it can be such a different to your, your way of thinking, your mood and your self belief for who you surround yourself with. We had Anthony, I can speak at one of our events and he actually talked about, you know that old saying about the top three people you surround yourself but he actually said that he thinks one of those things is your social media feed. And I found that really interesting because quite often if we're talking about how many people we talk to a day and how much time we spend with them, we spend more time on our social media feed talking to those people than a lot of other people in our life. Right. And he was talking about making sure that that place place is a positive, uplifting, supportive place for you as well. Because if that is bringing you down, that's really going to affect your self belief.

I love that. I love that. So who are you following on social media? What sort of people? Yeah, that's really interesting.

Or is it just you looking around the corner at other people and comparing yourself all the time and making that hard on yourself? Like, you know, I think that's a really important person. But yeah, I'm all about making sure you're surrounding yourself with the right people, whether that is your family, your friends, your partner, your staff and being in great mentorship groups. Obviously both BEC and I, when we started joining business groups, that was when our businesses really took off because we were surrounded by people who were encouraging us, holding us accountable and pushing us to the next level and being there as, you know, someone to lean on as well. Having people there that were in your corner that you could lean on that were the right types of people. So I think that's really important. All those things. Obviously, if you're looking for a great place, check out our programs because we love being surrounded by incredible people in our groups. Right.

But it's what our SGC members say all the time, is it? One of the most powerful things in SGC is that community, you know, they are on there. If you guys saw our Wings channel, like they are literally on there every single day just posting, hey guys, I just got this many people from VIP enrollment. Hey guys, I just had the most amazing concert like, no one gets studio owners except studio owners. And when you're in a group where you can chat things out with them, not just the great stuff, hard stuff as well, it just makes such a difference. And I think that is a real game changer for a lot of our studio owners. So definitely doing that. And I, I think it's also, Amanda, just to finish it off, like surrounding yourself with people that are better than you, because that's something that you and I do. You know, we go into different business groups and we've just joined a new business group because we want to be surrounded by people who are better than us so that we can push harder and push further. And I think doing that as well is something that you really need to do, right?

Absolutely. The group that we've joined, we are definitely the small fish in, in the group. There's people that are doing these huge companies and it's inspiring to see, but, you know, it's actually that really interesting. I'm not going to remember this quote, but our new business coach, he had this awesome quote about being in the right room to have people that are in front of you because that inspires you, but also to have some people that are behind you that you can help teach. Because teaching and telling people your story and having them look up to you is good for your business too, because number one, it cements those ideas in your head. Because if you teach something and say it out loud, it makes it more real. It makes it, you know, your ability to keep doing that thing so much better and it also builds you up. Right? So I love that, like being in the right room where there's people on both sides of you as well.

Yep, I love that too. I love that too. Well, hopefully guys, that has inspired you today. We love helping studio runners grow to this level. It's tough, definitely what we're passionate about, but yeah, be inspired and think about some things that maybe you need to change so that you can go from. You know, Amanda and I both had very small studios to start with. We told you that from the get go. So I always say this, Amanda, but I believe that if, if we can do it, anyone can do it.

Absolutely, Absolutely. We would love to see more female studio owners, especially in that 2% of people who are, you know, actually hitting that million dollar revenue mark. All studio owners, of course. But we would love to hear see more dance studio owners hitting that mark because I think that is so, so important and, and so great for the longevity of our industry. If people are making really great money in their studios. We'd love to hear from you. If anything resonated in this podcast with you, drop us a dm. It means nothing like it absolutely makes.

Our day to us.

Means the world. That's the word I'm going for. Means the world. I have had too much coffee this morning, you can tell. Yes, you have.

We've loved doing these podcasts, guys. Thanks so much and we will see you all next week.

Bye.

Bye.

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