Trudy's Transformation From Dance Teacher to Studio BOSS

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.

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This is the Dance Principles United podcast.

Well, hello, friends. It's Beck here from Dance Principles United Podcast. I am so excited today because I am joined by one of my very, very favorite Studio Growth Club members. She is absolutely incredible. She runs Belmont Dance center and her name is Ms. Trudy. How are you today, Ms. Trudy?

I. I'm really well and I'm so excited to be here.

Well, we're so excited to have you. And, Trudy, you are such a bubble of everything in the sgc. Like, you just. You know, I think we just did a connect retreat and we did little thank you cards in the connect retreat and just said, anyone that you want to say thank you to, please write them a card during the day. And you got so many cards. Yeah. That must have made you feel amazing.

It did. It really, really did. Like, I mean, the things that you don't tell yourself that you. But you tell. I'd tell other people, but you just don't listen to that inner voice. You know, it's just like when you buy flowers. Like, you spend a lot of money on someone else's flowers, but you wouldn't spend that money on yourself. So to get those beautiful words, and they're still in my. My laptop case and I look at them all the time and, yeah, I love it. Thank you.

Very great. We're grateful for you. We've got such a beautiful community. But I wanted to talk today about your studio journey because it's such an interesting, great one. So the first thing I want to ask you is how did you start your studio? Why did it start all of that?

Okay. I was very grateful to take over Belmont dance Center in 2018. And I took it over, which was hard in itself because first time taking over a studio, not that, I mean, I'd been a teacher for many, many years and had that experience, but that studio ownership and especially taking it over from people was now, looking back at it was hard, you know. So, yeah, it's been a. A hard journey, but now I feel like, yeah, I feel like we're going places and I'm so excited to be part of it and have such a wonderful team.

So what do you think was the hardest part about that? Because I. I'm the same.

Right.

So I took A studio over as well. I sometimes look at our journeys as being so similar. They are. So I. I took a studio over as well. Same thing. I was teacher. And I know you're a really great teacher and, you know, I. I know I'm a great teacher and that's what I love doing. That's what I'm passionate about. I had no idea how hard the business side of it was going to be. Is that what you found hardest? And what did you find hardest?

Absolutely. That business having a business mindset, you know, I had no idea. Honestly, I knew I was a good teacher. I knew I, you know, I could. I. I knew and know now I can turn a syllabus into joy, you know, and know what to look for and have that good ey. Technical eye. But as far as, you know, running class, like, running the business side, like, you know, oh, don't worry. It doesn't matter if you don't pay today. It doesn't matter. I just want to teach you longer, you know, it doesn't matter. Or, you know, costumes have it like systems. Oh, my God. Yeah. Really, really hard. Really hard. Yeah. So. But yeah, turn the corner. Like, I've just done this big 360. And it's funny because our gorgeous Nathan, who I adore, with Amanda, he used to always say, because I'd always think, oh, I'm doing. I'm working hard. I'm working so hard. I'm working so hard at it all. And he'd say, tri. It's just like one of those big heavy wheels that, you know, you can't push and you're pushing and you're pushing and you can't make it start. But then all of a sudden it turns a little bit and then it turns a little bit more and then more until you get this consistent role. And that's where I am. And all thanks to you, studio growth club. And of course, you know, you just. Yeah, I. Very proud and honored to say not only are you. I respect you as my friend, but my mentor as well.

Oh, thanks.

True. You're so amazing.

I'm going all bread. So let's talk about what your studio is about, because I think people are always interested to see what different studios are about. Tell me, like, what's your main thing in your studio? What do you like? You know what I mean? Like, some people are rec studios, some are comp. What are you.

Yeah, we're a bit of a mixture of both. I'd like to say. I'd like to say that we cater for everyone. We're very inclusive. I want to be when. When I think about Belmont Dance Center, I want to be so much more than just learning to dance. I want to have. Be a community. I want it to be that nurturing environment where, you know, the kids love to come. And I've always said this, that I want the children that I teach when they're my age to want their children to learn to dance because I've done the right job, I've done my job, then, you know, not everyone's ballerina or, you know, something like that. But if I can give them joy and a safe environment and, you know, and lifelong skills like we do as dance teachers. And I think this is where we all go wrong. We don't realize how important we are, you know, like, I mean, and how important we are to children because the kids don't just come to learn a dance. They're goal setting, you know, they're having life skills, they're creating friendships, you know, which is why I promote now that we do or I now have programs. We do preschool readiness programs and school readiness programs. You know, that's. That's what we're about so much more than just learning to dance. That's the easy bit.

Tell me about the preschool readiness program. Cause I love that. That's so smart. Because not all parents want to opt their kids into dance. And sometimes I think dance can feel like a scary thing to a preschool parent. So tell me how you run your preschool classes differently.

Yeah, sure. What we do well, the whole journey starts well and truly before the children actually step in the door. And they receive, on the day of their trial, they receive a message, a video mess message from myself or from one of the other teachers. And that's for two things. That's for their mum to feel comfortable about this person that they're going to send their child to, and also for the children themselves too, so that they feel comfortable straight away, you know, and often like. Like everyone's different and sometimes, you know, it doesn't work that as easy as that and needs a little bit more guidance. But, you know, since I've started to do that, it's been such a game changer for my studio. And I often. And I in my message, because at the moment we've only got someone at our beautiful reception at a certain time. But that will change that. I really will have someone there during all classes while the studio's open. But at the moment, often I'm teaching while the children are arriving. So in my message, I Say, you know, hello, I'm Ms. Trudy and I can't wait to meet you. And I say, you know, I may be teaching when you arrive, but please, I'll finish my class. You make yourself at home. And I can't wait to meet you as soon as my class. Class finishes. And then as it's funny because I sometimes hear the children say, oh, there she is. You know, like, that's good. You know, I think that's really good.

I love that. That is so smart. And it's just going that extra level of things. I think sometimes we complain so much that trials don't turn up. Whereas I feel like doing something like that video is going to help that child to feel comfortable. And like you said, sometimes not even the kids that feel uncomfortable, it's actually the parents that feel uncomfortable.

Absolutely. And we've got to think about our four year olds now or five year olds. They were born in Covid, which was a rough time for everybody, you know, and I think parents became a lot more hold wanting to hold their children closely. You know, I would be, you know, so, yeah, I think sometimes we've got to think as a parent would too.

Yeah, exactly.

You can't just think. Or we could call it in studio growth club plans first. You know, like you can't your own needs first. You've got to think, all right, how will they feel in this situation?

I love that, I love that. And tell me how you promote school readiness in your preschool program. Because I feel like that's very appealing to a parent of a preschooler. That's really what they're mostly worried about is their child going to be ready for school.

Absolutely. And I think now in the society, it's so different to what it was 10 years ago. I think now parents want to get some. See progress and I believe. And there's so many other extracurricular activities out there. And with dance, really, let's face it, they can learn to dance if they put a screen on at home, you know, they don't have to pay money to go to. To dance. So what we do at Belmont Dance center and this is how we've created it, which is just wonderful and, and it does warm my heart. You know, I'm very passionate about this, that the children come in and they do ballet first. And when I say ballet, it, it's very imaginative. You know, like we pick up shells and we do. It's very theme based and you know, we do bend and stretch and, and then we introduce demi plie in the Words. Because to a, to a child, demi plie means nothing. You know, so I try, I really take it back to that on their level, you know, teach them as they are 3 year olds or 4 year olds or. And so then they have jazz. We have a preschool jazz program. Then what we do is we get all the parents to bring a little bit of fruit and we have a fruit break. Now not only does this split up because it's an hour and a half program, but not only does it split up that time, but it also re. Energizes the children by having something to eat. They have to actually get their lunch boxes out of their bag, undo their lunchboxes. We sit down and you know, we talk about, you know what, Tell me some. Something that gives you energy. What food gives you energy. Or we play I spy and I spy with my little eyes fruit that someone that's red and they'll say strawberries or you know, and, and we say, you know, how what's really important to make sure you drink lots of every day and water, obviously, you know, like I just. It's all those little things that I think contribute to the program, you know. Yeah. And also another thing like lining up, lining up at the door, changing rooms or as that age group, they don't like change. We've said that, you know, and it's just getting them confident and, you know, able to change rooms and you know, and then we finish off with the amazing, I don't know if you've heard of it, Beck this amazing flippy the Fox program I have, which I love. Yeah.

Acro.

Little acrobatic preschool Acro and which I love because it actually trains them safely, you know, and to this day, like even the, the next group, they put their hands up like the Mickey Mouse ears before they do their forward role. They just do it automatically, you know, and safety is so important.

Oh, so cute. And how do you share with the parents what you're doing with them? Because often I think, you know, we do something in a closed room. Parents are sitting outside. I always talk about this with Phoenix, but I'm at every training for Phoenix watching him. I'm at every soccer game. I'm, you know, there. He's just started soccer academy. Same thing we're watching the whole time. So I'm a part of that. But parents often aren't, right?

Absolutely. Exactly. And if you think about yourself leaving your most precious item in a room, you know, that they're not familiar with, they don't, you know, especially when they Start. We've actually just invested into beautiful large viewing windows which are amazing. They're so amazing. We do have, which I love, progress cards that the children take home. We tick them off and the children and that they take them home and they reach each level which again, the parents can see that, you know, they're progressing, you know, they're not just doing, they're just going in and dancing, you know. And I think that's very important. I do, however, because we all know how destructive, disruptive it is to have the mummies or someone in the class when, especially for little children, if a child, especially when they first start, if the child's unsettled or, you know, doesn't want to leave mum, I invite them in, you know, and they sit up in the corner and you know, and that's a good thing too because then it gains my respect and my trust too, you know, and it might only take one or two times that mummy's in there and you know, so. And look, if it means that they're both going to be comfortable, not just a child, you know, we have to think about the parents here to the mummies, you know, it's so important for it all to be working, you know.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And I think we get too in our heads about that stuff and you know, go, oh no, they didn't need to watch. And I just, I agree with you. Like sometimes it takes a bit of easing in with parent and child and it's so important to remember that. And it's interesting what you said about the level cards because I love it swimming that I know what Phoenix is doing, how he's progressing. You know, they gave us, give us little stickers and he loves bringing the sticker home and putting it on his chart when he gets home. I think there's something to that and I think we don't do enough of that in our dance classes and parents don't see the progress and therefore it's bad for retention. Whereas when they're seeing that there's that constant progress, it's great for retention. Right?

Absolutely. And all. And also I've actually, because of what I've learned to do with the little children, like with the three year olds now I'm very lucky that we've got separate three year old, four year old and five like Kindy and they all have some sort of progression sheet, whether it's skipping, you know, across the room or you know, balancing or you know, little things like that. That might not mean anything to us but it means an awful lot to a parent, especially a non dance parent.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I love that so much. All right, I wanted to ask you what. This is a good one. What is the worst. The worst thing that you think you've ever done at your studio? The worst.

Oh my gosh. I know there's been plenty and I do. And I'm, you know, and that's how we learn. So I'm not ashamed to say that I've had, you know, I've done some things that, you know, I have learned from. But I think the worst thing, two worst things for me, I used to always worry about losing those top kids, like the older kids, you know, that really worried me. But since changing my mindset now, focusing on our preschool program, you know, that will stay longer. Dance is very different now to. Than what it was 10 years ago. There's. Because children have got so many activities, not like when they do ballet. And the parents too were very committed to one thing. So that I think I'm just a completely different person now that I don't focus on that, you know, and not rocking myself in the corner thinking, oh my gosh, I've lost another child or whatever, you know, I don't do that. And I've got two more. Is that all right? Numbers. Knowing my numbers, that is so important. And another one is consistency being consistent across everything, you know, and. Yeah, it's so important.

Well, let's delve into the knowing your numbers thing. So before you knew your numbers, was it just to bury your head in the sand? I don't want to look kind of. Was that the idea of it? Because that was. I know that's what it was with me. I just, I didn't, I didn't want to know. I knew that I was probably not making any money and it was terrible, but I didn't want to know. I just wanted to bury my head in the sand and keep working, working, working.

That was totally me and. Or what I would focus on was the number of students, you know, important to me, like the number of students, not how many classes they took, the number of students, you know, but yes, it was. Yeah, I've. Yeah, I've learned so much.

Yeah. So if you had. I just want to explain that to everyone out there and we talk about it a lot, but if you had a hundred students in your school and they were doing 100 class placements, meaning every single student is just doing one class, that that's a certain amount of money. If you had 100 students in, they're doing 300 class placements because every student is taking, on average, three classes. That looks very, very different. So knowing how many classes those students are doing and knowing your class placements and checking in on that is so important. And also putting things into your studio to try and up your class placements. Like a free trial in Acro this week, which might sound crazy because I know every week is a free trial in acro, but it's just, you know, putting it out there sometimes that can make a huge difference. Have you ever done something like that to really up your class placements?

Absolutely. I always. And I make sure that our wonderful team know this as well, know the timetable and know how it works and how the classes are sitting. Especially not for the preschool program as such, but afternoon classes that we don't have very many children that just come for one class. They're all doing at least two. Actually. Our class placement is 4.1, which is amazing.

Wow, that's insane.

And the numbers of classes we have at point that currently are 891. Awesome. Yeah. But I think, too, I think this is where if you're passionate and know what you're doing and know that we're there to benefit the children we teach, we're not selling. We're actually helping those children by encouraging them to take another class, you know?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And tell me about consistency, because you and I have had quite a few calls where you've been crying, saying, I have to give up. I can't do this anymore. Often, you know, with your beautiful hubby next to you, and tell me the difference between Trudy then and Trudy now, because now you're just. Just consistent.

I know. Yeah. And we laugh in Studio Growth Club. It's a bit of a, like, a bit of a laugh for us. Or like, you know, we say all the things, you know, And I remember one. One time when I rang Beck and I. That was. Honestly, I was in tears. I couldn't. Didn't know how I was, you know, going to go on. And, And. And Beck said, you know, well, are you doing everything? And I said, yes, I am. And you know what? I wasn't. I wasn't. I wasn't doing like. Yeah, I. And that's, like. Now, I can honestly say over the last couple of years, I've learned to be consistent with marketing. Having paid Facebook ads is, you know, that's. That's incredible. And I honestly think people are silly if they don't have it. You know, even if you just start off small with your Budget with it. You know, I have. I have A AD running 365 days of the year. You know, I do, because it's so important. That's our shop front. And I also make sure that I have my Facebook just for static posts, constant. So I have two. I've scheduled posts for two weeks in advance each time, but then if something more relevant comes up, I go in and just sort of change dates and, you know, put those things in. Many years ago, we used to pay for a newspaper ad. You know, no one looks at things like that anymore. Facebook and Instagram and the socials, that's exactly where we need to be. And I feel that if one part of that isn't aligning with the other part. So say if there hasn't been a post for a week or a couple of weeks, if I'm a new parent again, putting myself in their shoes, if I'm a new parent and I. First thing you do, even when you go to buy a new outfit or whatever, you look and scroll on their Facebook and if there's nothing posted for, you know, quite a while, it's like, oh, are they still in business? Are they still going? So, yeah, doing all. All of that, I just feel being consistent is important.

Can I ask you a question? Did you have a moment? Because, like, when I was being coached and I wasn't doing any of the things, it's similar, right? And my moment was my coach saying to me, beck, you can keep coming here and crying every week, or you can actually do this, I'm telling you to do, and start putting some effort in and change. And that. That was. And it wasn't that I wasn't working hard. I was working hard at teaching, but I wasn't working hard on the business. That was my moment. And I remember that moment so vividly. Did you have a moment or not really? It was just kind of a. Okay, I just need to start being consistent.

I think being part of such an amazing mentor program such as Studio Growth Club and having, you know, the three most wonderful mentors, it was good for me because I got the slap that I needed. Like, the gentle slap. Like, not. It wasn't one moment. It was many of them. And. And being honest to yourself. Like, you've got to think, well, okay, what? You've just got to be truthful and honest to yourself and look inside too, you know? So, yeah, just. Yeah, I'm so grateful to not only, like, just the whole community of Studio Growth Club. And I can say if. If anyone's thinking about going on studio growth club or even being part of the tribe. Honestly, don't, don't think for much longer. It'll be the best decision. You make the best investment. Yeah. And you'll get to meet.

You and you are incredible. Well, thank you so much, Trudy. We have had the best time with you today, guys. If you're ever interested in joining SGC or tribe, please reach out to us. We would love to support and help you. That's our first favorite thing to do. And as Trudy said, you get to come hang with her and she is a blast.

And if anyone, like, would like to, you know, DM me or anything or ask me questions or, you know, on a side note, as you know, part of this wonderful team, I'd be more than happy to, you know, chat back. I'm ever forever, everyone. I say to our beautiful friends in our studio, go club community that I'm everyone's biggest cheerleader, so I can be yours too.

You're amazing. Well, thank you so much, Trudy. You have been incredible. And thanks, friends. We will talk to you all next week. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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