Title: Scale Your Dance Studio Part 3: From $500K - $1Mil

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 the Dance Principles United podcast. We are so excited to be bringing you episode three in this series. Hi, lovely Beck. How are you today?

I'm super awesome. I wish I was still with you, but I am not. Sadness. But yeah, excited to be here as always.

Absolutely. What are all the things? Come on, tell me a couple of personal updates. What are all the things going on in your life at the moment?

What did we have? I actually had a weekend off that was exciting for me. Yes. I actually had a weekend with family and saw my dad and saw Tim's mom and dad. It was really nice. And I felt so refreshed yesterday when I went back to work. Like I actually, you know when you've just had a weekend off and then you're like, yes. And I kind of feel like, you know, there's only a few weeks to go. We've got concerts coming up. It's very exciting in the studio. So.

Yeah.

What about you? Tell me your personal updates.

Personal updates. Oh, big questions. I've had a lot of family things on. I had a lovely time, I'll say to Beck. We were actually having this conversation off mic, off camera, off mic, whatever we say beforehand. And I had a big, you know, family. We, we have a big family and we do a lot of like, big family things. So it's my aunties 70th birthday, so, you know, there was 70 something people there, which is just family and that's pretty standard. So it's a big thing at, in our family. And I was saying to Beck, you know, that same thing with the weekend, like, it was so lovely because I actually find sometimes like, I quite like I'm a bit of a hermit, let's be honest. Sometimes I like to stay at home back space. I like to stay at home by myself and just hang out for the weekend and recharge. But what I tend to do when I do that is I don't work. I definitely don't work, but I do scroll and I have that dreaded scroll thing and I never feel refreshed. Coming back on a Monday after I've had like, oh, I just had a relaxing weekend. You know, I sat around the pool also. I scrolled and I feel like, you know that difference, because when I'm at a big family event or when I'm out with friends or doing something, I am very conscious. I'm that person that puts my phone away because I don't want to be rude. And. Yeah, I just feel so much better for it.

Right? Yep. Absolutely. I totally agree. And sometimes I think you don't realize how big of a thing that is to actually have an entire day or weekend off until you get to the Monday, and then you're like, oh, I feel so much better today. So important to take that time out.

Oh, my God, another countdown to Christmas. I'm so excited. You should see my house, Becky. You got to come down and see my house because it looks so beautiful and Christmassy. Not in this. Well, but everywhere else.

I am taking the night off tonight, and I'm making all my kids take the night off from their ex. All their activities. And we're doing the big tree thing and setting up tonight. So I know sometimes you have to do that as well. Right? Just go. Right. We need a family night.

Absolutely. I love that so much. Okay, getting into it, let's talk about the next part of our podcast series. We had been talking about sort of, you know, studios that were starting out, but today we're talking about studios that are in that revenue bracket of like, 500,000 a year to a million. Now, I don't know about you, Beck, but I actually think this is the hardest bracket to be in. Do you agree?

Yes, I totally agree. I think, like, it's just at that point where, you know, maybe you're not making as much profit as you can. Like, there's just sweet spots within there. I think we talk about this all the time, Nathan. I. But it's like, there's sweet spots in your business where you're making great revenue and great profit. And then there's the panic spots where you're, like, making great revenue but not as much profit because you've got to then employ more teachers or employ more admin or that it gets. That's the tricky part.

Yeah. I actually feel like the studio owners that are in this bracket often are feeling burnt out. You know, it's. That becomes all of a sudden, it's a big business, and they're probably doing a lot still themselves, which, you know, me and Becca, all Beck and I. Excuse me, bad English language. But Beck and I are all about doing lots yourself. But it does start to feel like that burnout kind of period. And especially if you haven't, like, already Got the systems in place and all of a sudden you've had this huge growth period and you're like, oh, now I've got to try and patch all these holes. I often feel like studios that are kind of this. They have all these like, holes with like, imagine band aids all over them, these things. But it's then hard to kind of like scale out of it, I guess, unless you really, like, fix those band aids with something a little bit stronger. And what I'm talking about in that is, you know, staffing systems, enrollment systems, like back end systems, admin stuff that can really, like. Yeah. Help you through this. And I think focusing on that's an important. I don't know, it's just such a hard time. It is. It can be a really hard time until you kind of like push through the ceiling of it. I feel.

I absolutely agree with you. And I, I think like accounting systems as well. Like, you know, you just suddenly you've got so much more of the invoicing or however you do it to do. And so simplifying that, like, that was one of our biggest game changers, like just going on to direct debit. And there's so many, so many things, Amanda. So many things.

It's always crazy. We work with a lot of studios that are in this revenue bracket, especially those ones that are kind of like just sort of starting there. They're around that 500k mark, and I love helping them implement the system so that they can fly through it and it can be really profitable for them and make it that little bit easier as well, because. Yeah, getting past that and getting towards that top end is so, so, so important. It's so fun. Okay, so let's kind of. We got some. A bit more structure to our conversation today. Always good to have some structure. I'm standing up. I'm ready to go. I've got my energy ready because it is November and we need the energy. There's no coffee in my cup this morning. So, Beck, what is if people are listening to this and they're not quite at the 500k mark or, you know, in this bracket, the 500 to a million mark, what's something that you feel can really help push them into this bracket that they could be doing in their business?

Yep. And I know I harp on about it all the time, Amanda, and I will always harp on about it because it was the biggest game changer for me. And it is consistent marketing, consistently putting money behind Instagram and Facebook ads, consistently putting yourself out there in the local area and not losing sight of that and consistently, consistently being on your socials so that when people see that marketing, they go onto your socials and see that marketing. And what I mean by that is if you're putting a preschool ad out, make sure you have preschool on your socials. That's so important. But that is, I think, the best way to get there. And then there's, I think sometimes I harp on about that and I forget to say the importance of the follow up. You know, like we can put spend behind it, but if we're not actually following those people up, chatting to them and getting them through the door, then it's completely pointless as well. So both of those things are so equal. And if you can have an automated system, which I know we do with our SJC members, where those follow ups come through really easily and you get the text message reminder, that's, that's a game changer too. I don't know about you, but if I don't get a text message reminder for anything, I don't turn up to it.

Yeah, absolutely. That's just how people work now. It's so interesting, right? Like, you know, we've worked with people in the past, they're like, oh my God, I thought I was okay. You know, I always try to get back to my messages and my emails. I thought I was doing a good job. And then I looked at it and it looks like sometimes I don't follow them up enough. It's like, yeah, it becomes very apparent because you get busy, right? It's not on purpose, it's not anything like that. But you know, one follow up for people just isn't enough. You've got to keep following people up, you know, quite often because, yeah, like you catch them on a bad day. This doesn't mean they're not interested in your dance classes, just means they're busy that day and they didn't answer the phone or reply to the text or whatever that is. Right. And you've got to keep trying and trying and trying. So it's such a, interesting thing. So my thing I was going to talk about was also great content. Beck and I did not plan this, but I think it like goes hand in hand. Right. Like I was going to talk about, right. Organic content because I feel like there's a difference between people posting on socials and great organic content. Great content that's interesting, that's fun, that shows a personality for your studio, shows what your studio is about, you know, just like what I'm Seeing is a lot of over canvaed social media. Over canva. Like it's just like quotes or bullet. I feel like sometimes they read like almost like a notice board. Like this is a newsletter for current kids. But what an Instagram account, Facebook, a TikTok or whatever account should be is like a glimpse into the inside of your studio and your life. And it should really show what is unique about your studio and what makes you special and what you. And tell stories about the people who work there and the students that dance there and so that people can see themselves in that their eyes. And I think if you're not doing great organic content, that's what you've really got to focus on.

Yep, totally agree. And it doesn't always have to be about great dance, you know, and I think that's the big key. We all, we talk to so many people who are like, oh, but their foot's not perfect. Or this isn't perfect, but actually organic, organic, real content. It's where it's at. I'll tell you what's been doing really well at my studio and you guys can jump on the pause socials and have a look, is our mini mic moments. I don't know if you've seen any of these, Amanda, but it's like little tick tocky trends that are happening. But one of them was that's really went off was like saying to each teacher, going into a teacher and going, okay, Mr. Aaron, you've got to do a tap dancing. Five, six, seven, eight. And he has to do a tap dance, but he's the hip hop teacher. That was like fun, you know, and the kids went in with it and it shows how fun our teachers are. That's so like when you're talking about a story, that's the kind of, you know, every teacher just did something funny and fun. Got up straight away and did it. No one was like, oh, no, I'm not doing that. And so that just shows the fun environment that we provide and everyone has that fun environment. But are you showing it to the people out there? That's the question.

Yeah. So many people that, you know, aren't from our world, that aren't from dance, that are like, you know, maybe considering looking at it for the first time time, you know, they think that, you know, it's this horrible world, like, and that inside the studios there's all these mean girls or it's really strict. You know, there's people have these perceptions of dance like they do of all sports. Right. But if you can show that what your studio is actually about on socials, especially organic socials. Like, I love what Beck was saying. I think paid socials is where it's at as well. But, you know, both sides of it and having both of them. And I just want to be super clear. I'm just going to put a point to this. Just because I said doing great content, I don't mean hire a content creator. Please do not hire a content creator. Your face there, the eye roll. Beth, please do not. Hi. Like, you know, if you've got a teacher that can do it for a couple of hours a week, great. If you can do it yourself better, like, yeah, you don't need a content creator at this kind of level of your studio by any stretch of the imagination. You can do it, use it as a. A source of creativity. And it's actually a really important thing in your business. It's actually one of the most important things. So don't outsource it.

No, I think the problem with a content creator as well is they don't get it because they're not in the studio with you. So, you know, they, they just, they never do a really organic, good job. But your teachers who are in the classroom with those kids, if you can get them to take their video content as they're teaching, that is the best by far. Because they get those cute moments and those special things that are happening. And a content creator can never do that.

No, they don't have that relationship. Right. It's just never gonna happen. I love that so much. So I think, yeah, Beck's big point was paid ads, which I think is so important. I was talking organic ads. Both work hand in hand so perfectly together. Hey, back on paid ads, before we jump on to the next point, bit me. The ongoing question is how much? Right. And that's such a hard question because it's how long is a piece of string? You know, do you know how much you kind of generally spend a week at pause? Obviously you are past this mark and not in this bracket. So just to be super clear on that, you're definitely past this bracket. But would you have any sort of an idea of what you spend at the moment if I put you on the spot?

No, you haven't. But right now I'm spending a lot because we've got priority wait list ads on. And so the last week or two weeks actually spent a hundred dollars a day, which I know is a lot, and I know a lot of people out there can't afford that. However, we got 90 people onto our priority wait list doing that. So I guess my answer to that is depending on how much you spend, you'll get those results. And that's what Nath always says. Even if you start at. At, you know, okay, January's coming up. If you can afford $20 a day or $50 a day for a period of time, at least do that. But I think normally we'd spend probably around the $20 a day. Ongoing, Amanda, which is it right now, but probably ongoing if it's more like a. Just a consistency thing. But I think the answer to how much do you spend is however much you can possibly afford. That would be my answer. Like, actually budget it. It should be a part of your budgeting. On a weekly basis, you should be doing, okay, I can afford $200 a week on marketing, and, you know, that's what I'm going to afford. And budget that out, but don't discount it either. Like people who say they can't afford to market. If you don't market, you won't grow. Every business has to market 100%, and it should be just as important as that ballet teacher that you're bringing in every week. You know, I'm sure you're paying them more than $200 a week to come in and teach. For the few hours that they teach, your marketing should be just as important as that. Thoughts on that, Amanda?

Absolutely. I love that. I think that's the perfect explanation. I think it's got to be part of your budget. It's got to be in there, whatever you can afford. But also know your numbers, know what your. And set your goals around what your budget is. Too often we see, you know, a studio goes, oh, you know, I want to get a hundred new clients in, but I'm only going to spend a hundred dollars. We're like, there's absolutely no way that's going to happen. Like, you've got to be realistic. And if you know, like, you know, we know how much it costs to acquire students for each studio, and it's differing in different areas. That's just what it is based on how. How many people are advertising in your area, how populated your area is, all of the things. But it's important to kind of have some sort of an understanding of how much it costs you to acquire a client. And then you're like, okay, well, if it costs me $80 to acquire a client and I want 10 new clients, I have to spend $800. And working it out that way is really, really the Best way to do it and making sure that you can set your goals to it, I think is so important.

Yeah. Can I just say one more thing on that? Because one thing that I always hear clients say, and I even heard a client this morning say it is, oh, Facebook ads just hasn't really worked for us. And like, it's just because you haven't learned it properly. And that's why Nathan in Tribe and SGC is so passionate about teaching people exactly what to do step by step and keeping it simple for them. Because we, when you do set it up properly, it does work. Like every company on earth right now, you're wearing the A or Asia, however you say it, Amanda, top. And like, I'm obsessed with that brand as well. And as you know right now, I don't know about you, but consistently on my phone is the Black Friday 25% off sale. Are you hearing me right now? It's on there. I go into it all the time and scroll through. I'm sure you're the same. And.

But it's like me shop never.

But it does work. And so, you know, like saying that it doesn't work. The reason it's not working for you is because you haven't done it the right way. The end. There's no other reason. Because big companies like Ash are not putting thousands and thousands of dollars behind it if it's. If it's not working for them. It works for everyone. That's where everyone's at. That's where every company is at. Advertising. And it can work for you if you do it bit by bit, step by step.

Absolutely. I love that. All right, let's go back to our structure that we always get off topic from. No, we're doing well today. So what is one thing to be really mindful of if you're in this bracket? If you're between 500 and a million currently, what's one thing that you feel like the studio owners really need to be aware of and mindful of to really make sure they're optimizing their business?

Yes. So I think I mentioned it before, but the biggest thing for me is that more students doesn't equal more profit. And remember, we're talking revenue here. So that's how much money's coming in, not how much profit the business has. But sometimes you get more kids in and then you have to get more staff in, and that actually makes it harder. So I think remembering that, because I don't know about you, Amanda, but I always just thought, oh, another hundred kids I'm going to be making so much money.

Then you're like, have to pay all these teachers.

Yeah, teachers or admin or whatever it might be. Or you've got to put more time in yourself, which potentially means you're taking yourself out of other things. So it's just that balance can be very tricky.

Absolutely, I agree. 100. I think, I think exactly that watching your bottom line, I do think that we talked about it in last week's episode as well, is being mindful to make sure that you're paying yourself as well as your staff. Don't give all the money to your team and not pay yourself anything. I feel like at this point in time it's really easy to overstuff and to get a bit excited and go, oh, I now need a. I just seeing these titles around everywhere Ahead of Preschool, I'm like, do you need a head of preschool? What is ahead of preschool really doing? You know what I mean? I'm not really sure that a lot of studios actually need a head of preschool. I've got to be completely honest, you know, unless they are super huge, super sized studios, I'm not really sure because obviously, you know, for the preschoolers, the class is actually, you know, there's a lot of things to do for preschools, but in a lot of ways it's a lot easier than the older kids. You know, you just go in and teach the class. You know, you chat to the parents afterwards. Obviously they have a concert, but all the kids have a concert. So anyway, I'm gonna go off on a tangent on that, but I just, I think it's so easy to over staff at this point or over inflate your bottom. Yeah. Your staffing. And then be missing out on the profit yourself. So be mindful, like if you're putting someone else on, what are you doing to increase your, your pay? You know, And I think that's a really important thing. Like don't just put someone on just for the sake of it. And what, you're just going to sit around and not do it? I know, I know that that's not how it happens, but I do feel like sometimes people just give away all their jobs. Then they're like, now wait, what's my job? Yes, I've been there.

Yeah, I've been there for sure. And, and look, I think as well, it's. Yeah. It's just that you just have to know your numbers so well. And sometimes growth does mean reducing things a bit.

Oh, absolutely.

But then you've got to Put the effort into growing. And I've said this to you with myself at the moment, Amanda. You know, we've just got the new premises and so now we're in this position where we have to grow again to combat that. And so you know that you're going to be at a bit of a lull point right now. But man, we are working. I cannot begin to tell you how hard we are working right now to grow. It is insane saying like my team and I are so on one, making sure that everyone's re enrolling for next year. But two, getting all of those people who are interested into our school and you've, you've got to work hard at that. And so if you are going to give jobs away, you've got to then go, right, what am I doing then to make them more money here to, to be able to combat that. And I think that's where people go wrong.

Yeah, they just put jobs in but then don't do anything to keep growing to afford those jobs. Right, right. We're doing a lot of hand actions. You probably can't.

Sorry.

But there's a lot of head actions going on and we're climbing up the mountain. I totally talk with my hands.

I do too.

So, so good. All right, last thing. What if you are in this bracket and you really want to push that magic seven figure mark and look, it's a milestone. That's you know, that seven figure mark. It's definitely a milestone. I love celebrating with our studio owners that hit this mark and I remember hitting that mark as well. Like how, how big that feels to go seven figures a year. Like it's such a big milestone. So congratulations to you. If you are hitting that or closely, we would love to celebrate with you. So yes, congratulations. But if you are trying to like push past it and you're almost there, what's your one piece of advice to get past it back.

Don't get complacent. Like stay consistent. I think people sometimes get to this point and then they stay. Stop marketing or they stop that consistency with it.

How many times have we in the day to day. Yeah.

Get busy. Get focused on other things. We're already big. We don't need to worry anymore. And that's. And then they decline and they don't even see the decline happening. And so I think you've got to realize that kids drop off every single year. That's just a thing. You're never going to keep your current clientele. It's not going to happen. Kids change Activities, they do all of that. So it's consistency with that is so important. To not stop marketing, to not stop the growth. Yeah. That's my advice anyway.

I love it. I love it. What's yours? Okay, mine is hiring the right person for the right job. If you want to push past a million and you're close to that. I feel like too often we see in studios people doing admin roles. Specifically, I want to talk about admin roles that are not admin people. People are giving their teachers extra work or an ex dancer or an ex student or a mom or whatever that is. Right. People that are in their orbit, they're giving them work because they're close to them and in their orbit, but they are not necessarily the right people for the job. And you know, it's that thing what got you here won't get you there. And I think you can band aid your way to an $800,000 revenue. I think if you're. If you are great at marketing and you run a great studio, you can band aid your way to that. To really push through that million and into the next bracket, you really need to have the right team on board. And what I mean by that is you need a players in your team. Too often. You know that beautiful, lovely preschool teacher who is wonderful and trying really hard, you know, and doing all the things that you asked her to do, she's doing a great job of replying to parent emails and blah, you know, like whatever in your admin that you've given her all this extra admin work, she cannot help you get to that next level. You know what I mean? Like, she might be a beautiful person and she is trying her best, but to really push that next level, you need someone who knows what they're talking about. And usually that's someone that comes with outside experience is my feeling. That's like. I'm going to be a bit controversial in saying that. I don't know. But I really think that you sometimes need someone who has done it before who's going to come to you with ideas rather than just doing what you tell them to do. And too often we have what I would call a B player or a C player in our business, in our admin team that are great at doing what you tell them to do. You tell them you want them to reply to these emails, to write this newsletter, blah, blah, blah, blah. They do a great job of that. But are they coming to you with ideas, with new systems to implement? Are they creating new marketing campaigns, looking for the Next thing. And I, you know, that's what an A player does. And I really feel that to kind of get pushed past that, you need an A player, but you do need to be able to afford it as well.

I like it. I like it. And where, where are we finding these amazing A players? That would be my question.

Okay, so seek. I always think so. I think not in the dance industry is actually what I think. I, I think that too often we're like, oh, but they don't get dance. A dance studio isn't that different to any other business. Like, I think we all think that it is, but it's not. It's exactly the same as most other businesses. Obviously every industry has its quirks and its individuality, but if we're talking about a high level person who's talking about marketing, chasing leads, managing staff, you know, creating marketing campaigns, communication, like all the training stuff, all of that, they don't actually need to know anything about dancing to do that. Yeah. Do they need to love it? Yes, maybe. But can you teach them that? Absolutely. So I, you know, personally like people that have come from other, other jobs, corporate jobs, like I'm gonna be honest. But you have to pay for that, so you have to be prepared to pay for that.

Yes, I, I love it. I love it. It's definitely an interesting perspective on it, for sure. And I totally agree with you. And I think you, I think you can get it that way. I think you can also get that sort of support from groups or business groups or stuff like that that create amazing systems and do that sort of stuff as well. I think you can. If you do have a rock star in your studio, you can always upskill them as well with, you know, different things like that. Would you agree with that?

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And, and don't get me wrong, I think there's always room for growth with staff for all of those things and great training and things like that. But I think you've got to make sure you've got the right team and someone that's willing to grow. And maybe that's, maybe, maybe I was being a little bit harsh a moment ago. Let me retract a few of my previous comments. But I think that they have to be willing to grow and change. We see the preschool teacher who is a beautiful girl and a great preschool teacher who's just doing the bare minimum and doesn't want to grow their skills and learn their skills because they're not actually passionate about working in an admin side of a business. They're just doing it for extra money.

Yes, I totally agree. And sometimes you get. I'm going to sound controversial now, but older admin people who don't want to move with the times, and I think that's really.

Or even if they're not older, even if they're just. Some people just want to not move with the times. Right?

Yeah. And I think there's so many systems and things that simplify your business now and so many, you know, automations that can help with, like I said before, bringing those new clients in and, you know, if they're not willing to opt into that, they're probably not for you.

Yeah, you gotta have someone that is excited to learn, excited for new ideas, excited to keep. Because every industry, not just our industry, is always changing, it's always evolving. And you need someone that wants to. Is excited about. That, gets excited about the numbers, gets excited to grow, to learn for their own self, to build your business and to bring ideas to you as well, rather than just a. A person who's just doing the bare minimum and getting by, right?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, we have talked for a long time today, Amanda, which has been amazing. Um, but we hope you guys really enjoyed that session. Um, we hope you got a lot out of it. We would love to hear from you, where you're at. Um, if you want to push further, we are always here to push people further. It's what we love doing most. Right. It's our favorite thing to do.

Absolutely. Hey, can I tell our podcast listeners about a few exciting things?

Yes.

I think to wrap up the year, we are going to do our Ask Us Anything podcast. So we're gonna have that on our socials. If you've got any coaching questions that you want answered live on a podcast, please let us know. Names won't be included or anything like that, but let us know. We'd love to answer your questions on one of our final podcasts for the year. That is super exciting. The other thing is, is we have some exciting news about Melbourne next year, and we've got some exciting things going on in Melbourne next year. So if you want to know more about it, if you're a person from Melbourne and you want a bit of a sneak peek at it, drop us a dm, tell us you're from Melbourne, and we'll chat to you more in the DMs before we release it publicly as well.

It's very mysterious of you, Amanda. I love it. I love it.

I thought we'd just be a little bit mysterious today. Melbourne friends. We just wanted to reach out and tell you we love you.

Yeah, we do. Absolutely. Well, thanks so much for listening, everyone, and we will talk to you next week. Bye. Bye.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dance Principles United podcast. If you'd love to learn more from us, we have a media social 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.