"We Were Ready to Quit..." - How This Regional Dance Studio Turned Everything Around

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.

Well, hello friends, it's Beck here from the Dance Principals United Podcast. I hope you are all amazing. I am being joined today by an incredible duo, Bec and Kat from Pulse Performing Arts. We are very regional out here. We're going to tell some cool stories about that fun fact. We are also in a cyclone right now. So coming to you from a cyclone. How are you guys going?

So good, so good. It's been so, so much fun to have you here. Thank you for coming all the way out to Moranbah and sorry for all of the dramas that have occurred since then. She'll find out about.

So we're going to tell a story of the dramas first because it's pretty funny and then we will get into all of the chat. But. So I was coming here from Sydney and you have to get a plane to Sydney and then a plane to Moranbah and when I met you guys from Brisbane, from Brisbane, Sydney to Brisbane, Brisbane to Moranbah, when I met you guys, you did tell me how rural this was, but I have never been to anywhere like this in my entire life. Entire life. Like, it is next level. Anyway, you arrive on the plane. First of all, guys, I was petrified to go on the small plane and then I got on the small plane and they said there's a cyclone and it's going to be a bumpy ride. So that is not the best way to start your flight. Then I arrive and it's a literal garage shed. Right, that you come into.

It's a full on shed. Yeah. So the, the airport's literally owned by a mining company and it was built to have FIFO workers come in and out with convenience, basically. But it is essentially, it's actually, I'm pretty sure, fact check me if I'm wrong, Kat, but I'm pretty sure it's considered a mine site, like, because it's owned by the mining company. There's like some kind of rules with, like when you work on that, you have to be inducted as if it's a mine site. It's the weirdest airport in Australia.

It is.

Welcome to Moranbah.

And then you like get there and the garage door lifts up and a guy brings your bags in in a like trailer thing. Anyway, so that happened. I was like filming all of this shit because I was like, whoa, this is. I've never seen anything like this. And then the trailer comes in and my hot pink suitcase is not on the trailer. We found nowhere to be found. So I have no clothes, no makeup. If you guys know me as well, I'm a five star hotel girl. So no clothes, no makeup, no brush, no anything. So I'm like, okay, it's fine. We'll just like go to a shop and I'll buy all the things I need because, you know, I'm from Penrith where we have a 24 hour Kmart. I'm like, I'll just go to Kmart. I'll get the thing. So I jump in the car with Beck and I said, hey, can you just duck me to the shops first so that I can buy some clothes? And her answer was, I just looked.

At with horror in my eyes at you. And I think I just went, no, we don't have that here. It's like, are you kidding though, right? Like, thought I was just.

I honestly thought you were joking. Yeah, but guys, they don't have shops here.

We don't have clothes shops. We have a really cute little boutique that's open on like Saturday morning and this was Saturday afternoon. So I was like, that's not going to be open.

But also not clothes. Like it's like country.

Oh yeah, the country shop. Which is like proper, like wrangler and gingham. Yeah, gingham. And I was like, don't think that's going to be.

But none of this is open either, guys, on a weekend. So don't think that any of that would possibly be open. So we have a Coles.

You can buy some Mondays.

Yeah, thank God for that. I did, I did purchase a Mondays there.

And we, we had a look to see if we could potentially find pajamas. That was a no go.

And we do have a price line.

Oh, that was good.

I did get makeup from price line. So we crashed that.

Yeah, yeah. But no, we ended up having to get our amazing employee Amanda to go and pick up some clothes in.

She happened to be in Mai two hours away.

That's the closest clothes shops, guys. Two hours away.

To go and get some clothes.

But yeah, but then they wouldn't click and collect it same day.

So anyway, it's been a whole thing and now I'm here for a second night because there's an actual Cyclone. Not even kidding. And you can't get out of here. And also you can't drive out of here because there's flooding. And so look, we've had a super.

Fun time and you've already experienced like the panic buying of everyone, like lining up the shops.

Like, guys, it's totally like Covid. Remember in Covid where like there'd be the panic buying and then there's food stocks the next day anyway. And it's so stupid. But because the trucks can't get.

Yeah. Because we'll be flooded all around us now. So there'll be no way for food trucks to be able to get in to give us foods. Everyone goes and ridiculously buys all the perishable food. All the things that if we do lose power, you're not even going to be able to keep all the meat. There'll be no meat, no bread, no milk.

Crazy. So the reason that I'm here is because you guys won a competition that we did for SGC getting. I can't even remember. It was getting the most people in for open week or what was it? Tell me what you won.

It was the highest percentage increase of class placements during open week. So we had just a huge open week. It was phenomenal. It was when we opened our brand new studio space. So we kind of had that as like the town was very hyped for us to be opening this new space. But yeah, we had an absolutely phenomenal open week. And with all, like, obviously with all the tools that we get through SGC backing us. It was crazy. And I don't even remember the numbers off the top of my head now, but it was. Yeah, it was.

Must have been insane because we have some very.

Yeah.

Crazy schools in there. So you must have done insane.

It was. It was a huge increase. Like, it honestly blew me away. When I looked at the numbers. I could not believe it. And it was such a crazy time because we'd literally just built this. And we're in Moranbah and let me tell you, we have so many contractors and construction companies, but they all work in mining. So it's really hard for like smaller commercial businesses or even residential to be able to get any contracting work here. So we had to do so much of it ourselves.

Yeah.

And we've never renovated anything. We've never owned property. It was just like we learned as we went. And we had such a short turnaround because we knew we wanted to open for open week. And that first week of term three, we did it. And so we came off the back of like literally sleepless nights for weeks renovating the space and then went into the Most insane, incredible open week. And then to end out with numbers like that and then to win the prize. Winning the prize and. And, you know, placing in that competition was just. Especially because we are so small, you know, we're such a small location. And to have, you know, and like just the community around us as well through SGC and the way they were so supportive and so excited for us through that was amazing. To know that, you know, some of those people have ridiculously huge studios in massive cities achieving incredible goals and, yeah, to be like, I don't know, like, feeling on level with them during that was just. It was incredible. So, yeah, when. And we chose to have our prize be staff training today.

Yay. Which I've had the best time. So when I met you guys, you were like, done. Oh, yeah, you were. I'm not doing this anymore because it's Cat, you teach music and then Beck teaches bit of music, bit of dance. So you have like the whole shebang going on, which I love. I think that's so. Actually so clever. But when I met you, you guys were like, this is the last straw. Also, you didn't know that we could help you in regional. Tell me about that. Because you guys did doubt that. Probably you more than ever. Kat.

Yeah, I definitely, yeah, was super skeptical. Like, I.

Fair enough to.

Yeah.

And can I say as well, now being here, I get it a lot more because I'm like, it's fine. What are you talking about? But now I'm here, I'm like, you don't have clothes shops. Hang on. Okay.

People possibly understand that's it. Like, I think that I was just really skeptical, thinking, how could someone in such a big city in Sydney possibly kind of know how to help us, you know, Because I'm like, surely everything that they're doing wouldn't apply to us. You know, we're so, like, not necessarily to say we're old school, but we kind of are in terms of, you know, the way that people come to us still, the majority is word of mouth and things like that. And, you know, I'm just like, no, there's no way that they could really understand. I feel like they're just going to take us for a ride. But obviously that has not been the case at all. In fact, it's been actually really cool to see so many of the tools that we've been given that literally do work across the board no matter where you are. It obviously works in cities, it works out of suburbs, it works in regional towns. And you can apply. Apply that in any way that's going to work realistically for your business. And I think, yeah, just knowing that we also can then we feel obviously so isolated by our location, but knowing that we are then up there, like with this competition, we're up there with the studios across Australia.

Yep.

And, like, the connection with that too, you know, the sense of community that we now have, I did not expect that to be something that means as much to me as it does. Like, I feel like now whenever we have something that pops up, it's not just us to just throw something in the wall and hope it sticks. We have this network of the most incredible and supportive people that we can ask any question to and without judgment. And I actually remember. I don't know if you remember this. I think when we first met on that call, I asked you that because you said, we have this, like, Slack channel and everyone's really great and they'll answer your questions. And I was kind of like, oh, like, is it like, you know, all these Facebook groups that I've joined of these dance teacher Facebook groups and you ask a question and they come at you with so much attitude and sass and, like, I was just like, I didn't want that again. I was terrified to ask a question. I think I remember asking a question on one of these groups that was like, what shoes would you suggest for like a heels class? Right. That isn't going to rip up the Target. And they basically said, get better Target. And I was like, good solution, guys.

Yeah.

Yeah. And it was like, or pick a different studio that you don't have to have that Target in. And I'm like, I have one space that I have to access.

Yeah.

And it was just kind of like, okay. And I kind of felt like never gonna ask a question there again, you know, like. And that has been like, the. One of the best things, honestly, that has made a huge difference to us as regional studio owners, that we now have a community of people who understand what we're going through. And I think going back to, like, we were ready and we were done. That has a really big part of that, too. It was like, everything was so hard. We couldn't see a way out. It was like, this was going to cost us too much money. We didn't have the student numbers to support it. We didn't have the processes to support growth. It was like, we know how much we would need to bring in to make this sustainable. But, like, how could we possibly manage that many kids? And. And it was just. Everything seemed so difficult and we were so alone in it. And now we've obviously faced different challenges along the way, but anytime I'm the first person to go, like, you know, Cat's like, what do we do about this? And I'm like, ask on slack, post in the water cooler, see, you know, who can.

Yeah.

And that has been such a huge change. I think from feeling so ready to close to now, it's like the stress hasn't changed, like the issues haven't changed. They're still there, but we now have the support. The support, yeah.

Tell me about being regional because we want to chat about that today. What are your top three challenges? Like, is it. Is it actual student numbers that, like, population, Is it getting stuff in? Like, what are you, what. What are some challenges that you guys face being regional studio?

I would say probably one of the biggest things is having transient population and also staff.

You know, like, staff would be impossible.

One of our biggest issues, because, you know, like, we sometimes will have these amazing people come into town, but they might only be here for a short amount of time or, you know, they kind of, yeah, might sort of start out here and want to stay on for longer, but then, you know, their contract ends and it takes them somewhere else. Yeah.

Or like, we have the most incredible teenagers that you think could be incredible dancers, but our town doesn't have very many opportunities. So their parents, if they are those kids that are so great at, you know, school and dancing and whatever else, we're probably very likely to lose them by liking a 9 year 10 when you would be putting them into a teaching role because they're going to send them to boarding school. And that was me. And I think that's like one of the main reasons why I became personally so passionate about regional arts and building this up, because my mum literally got told by teachers in my small towns, you guys should just move to Sydney. Like, if you want her to dance and she's really into this, you should just move to Sydney. And my parents are like, we can't just pick up and move from regional New South Wales to Sydney. That's not a thing. And then my only option was boarding school. And ever since then, it's never sat well with me that that is the only option for regional kids. And so, like, we're seeing it less now. I think, like, as we've been able to kind of grow, we can see that there are kids that have. That could have moved away. I mean, one of our teachers who graduated last year did move away, went to boarding School for a year and then came back and works for us and took a lot of classes and ended up being able to get similar opportunities here as well. And I think that that's something that it shouldn't be the only option. It shouldn't be like city or boarding school and then you can't afford that.

Like even though like a steadfast. So like you guys talking about a comp. The closest comp is two hours away. Like I, like I would never make my parents drive two hours to a comp. Isn't that crazy? But your closest is two hours.

Like that's.

But also when I was talking to your staff, they're like that's normal for us to drive two hours. Like Amanda said she used to drive two hours to get a Macca's run.

Yeah. Before we had Maccas.

Before you had Maccas. That's so crazy, isn't it? That's just like so for us city people. So in Penrith, I'm not exaggerating. I would have eight McDonald's within a three minute drive of my house. Easily, easily maybe a ten minute drive. But you know what I mean? Like it's just, it's, it's wild I.

Guess like to kind of put in perspective like we don't have any traffic lights here so. And like our. So where we are in terms of. Yeah like location wise, our region. So the Isaac region that Moranbah is the biggest sort of hub I guess of is the same size as Tasmania or very close.

Right.

So that's local council area.

Right. So we've got one council that you know is basically in charge of all these number of towns within that much of a radius.

Wow.

And I guess that's. Yeah for us that's just, it just becomes part of the norm.

Yeah.

But also we are the biggest and have the most facilities in pretty much that entire region. So like you go another hour out of town and they only might have IGA and one pharmacy. So we're pretty spoiled for toys here. Like we have KFC and McDonald's, we just don't have clothes shops.

I totally did go down a rabbit hole with this last night. Haven't told either of you this.

Okay.

So I was like on Google maps and then I started looking at like rural towns. I was so interested after being here with you guys. And then I'm like looking at it. I'm like that only has a cafe, like literally went down that rabbit hole of just. And it's so interesting looking at the populations of towns as well. And yeah, I went down a whole rabbit hole of that.

So it's getting a bit of rural education.

Yeah, no, I'm really, really interested. What else, like, what else do you think is a struggle for you here?

Well, staffing definitely, like we just talked about is really difficult.

Performance opportunities would be one. Right. Like you wouldn't have a lot of.

I mean I think you'd be surprised. Like we really kind of made. Well, not made them but you know, we have sought them out over the years. So, you know. Yeah, it's not maybe the same person performance level that you would see in a city but you know, we do have a lot of community events here which is something that's fantastic that the town really gets behind y and they run pretty much consistently throughout the year. And so we were like, cool, let's jump on those. Let's get the kids out there, get them in front of people, you know, and we've done that for the last number of years. Like we've done the carols very consistently for the last number of years. So I think, you know, the opportunities are there if you, if you find them. And if you find them. Yeah, you're just going to make it work for. Yeah. Whatever the situation is that you're in.

They just might be like a little bit different and a little bit kind of out of pocket. I mean like I love Jess from parks, like the fact that they do the Elvis, the Elvis festival, but that's like a massive thing that comes to parks and you know, that's like who else would ever get to say they've danced at an Elvis festival. Right. And you know, our kids a couple of years ago, like a brand new massive mining company was opening a mine and they put on this huge family expo. Like it was. I could not fathom the budget that they spent on this. Yep. And they actually wanted us to play it to entertain and we were kind of like, we don't really do that anymore but we'll do the gig for free if our kids come and dance at it. And yeah, and our music kids played earlier slots that day and our dance kids got to perform and that was huge because I mean the entire town comes out for things like this.

Right.

And then that's that visibility for them and they get to feel so special and. Right, visibility.

Because that's something that I have to say would be a positive for you guys is the community here. And I found it interesting going. I went to lunch and dinner luckily enough with both of you yesterday. But you know, everyone there like, if I go to. If I go to the club at Penrith, there would be. It would be very unusual. I might see a couple of people. But I certainly wouldn't talk to people like you do. I wouldn't stop and talk to them. That's not a thing in the city at all. Isn't this weird?

Yeah, that's really weird.

And so, like. And you guys genuinely know, like, what were you saying today? You know, the ambulance guy, you know, the, you know, like, you know these people. And I'm like, I guess I have parents at the studio that are an ambo, but I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable to speak to them. It's just such a different feel, this community. And everyone seems to know each other and work together and everyone is so nice.

Yeah.

Like, it's like, even just then I was in Kohl's and, like, people are like, hey, and, like, so lovely to you. And I'm. It's so weird to me because in Penrith, we all just are in our. You know, you don't talk to people and you don't say hello and you don't be nice. Like, it's just a thing. It's crazy.

Yeah, I. I think that that is. That's, like, part of why we love rural living. And Cat's not a country girl. She didn't grow up raising.

I. I grew up on the Sunshine Coast.

That's still country.

Excuse me?

I grew there by Sydney standards.

Yeah, No, I. No, I was. Yeah, I grew up on the coast and whereabouts.

Like Maroochy Budram.

Okay.

Yep.

So. And then, you know, moved down to Tasmania and that was where we met. But, yeah, I think, like, we. We love living rural and regional because. Because of that reason, I think that. And because you. I don't really think you can be like, a nasty person in a small town, realistically, because it would make that isolation so much worse.

You know, like, also, you would be named and shamed on the community notice board and everybody would know you.

There's that, too. There's so much tea on there. It's crazy. But it just, you know, what's the point? You know, you're going to run into these people literally every day. And for us, having a shop in the. The main shopping fair, the only place where you can go, go and do your groceries, like, if you're going to be rude to people or if you're gonna just be like that, then you're really not gonna do yourself any favors. So it, I think just. Yeah, it is really cool. Because we're all just pretty much out in the middle of nowhere just doing our thing, you know.

But like something that I love about it too is like a lot of people, I'll be honest, when they move here, especially because it's mining, people do move from cities here all the time. And one thing that they often say is it's a shithole. Like, oh, this is such a hole here. And you're like, you will get out of any small town what you put into it. And if you're willing to invest in it, it will give you so much more back than a city ever could. Like, as personally, like, you know, I know some of the best people I've ever met and the most ridiculously talented and strange. Like, where the hell did you come from? There was a guy who was here living in Moranbah for years who was a nurse, who happened to be like one of the most ridiculously talented lighting engineers and like worked on like pink shows and like just lived in Moranbah, who was a nurse. His fiance was a schoolteacher. And then, you know, they did their contracts here and they moved on too. But it's, it's a really cool place and if you put yourself out there and meet people, you will meet people like you've never met before. And like the woman who runs the local arts nonprofit building, we rent that space too. She's a full time nurse and also runs the girl Guides. And no matter where you at, what community event, whatever non profit event that's on in town, she'll be there doing something, helping out. And like, those are the kind of people that make these communities so special to live in. And when you get in here and you do invest in them, I don't think you could ever leave. Like, it makes it so hard to ever want to leave.

Right.

We, we never thought we were going to be here as long as we have been. Yeah, like we kind of, when we moved from Tasmania, we were like, oh yeah, look cool. You know, two, three years, we kind of see how we go. And here we are now, nearly 10 years later.

Do you think you'll ever leave? Oh, look, I think never say never.

Obviously, you know, we'll see what happens. Obviously. But for now and for the, you know, the future, at least for the. Yeah, for what we can see.

I mean, there's no retirement, there's no old people in this town. That's a really odd fact. Not about regional, but about Moranbah in particular. We don't have very many old people. Now that I've pointed it out, you're going to be like, oh, no, I've.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, yeah. Right. Yeah.

There's no, like, retirement facilities here. There's no, like, aged care. There's nothing. Right. So people would move coastal to retire. Most people do. I mean, you get the odd few that don't, but, like, you know, majority of times. Yeah. Like, all of my friends who grew up here in Moranbah, their parents now live more like Mackay area. And then, you know, they might still live here, but I don't. Yeah, I. I can't see us closing doors now and moving away, which is.

I. I know that huge. Absolutely. With how far you've come.

Yeah. But like, two years ago, that was on the cards. Yeah, it was. That was the cards.

Would you say then that a dance studio in a rural town can be profitable and can get numbers? Because when I first met you, you would like that you don't get it back. There's no possible way. But now I feel like you're starting to really.

It was my only perception. Like, I have grown up in so many different rural towns and every studio that I ever went to in regional towns closed down.

Right.

And I was like, I'm just going to be another one of those. Obviously, what happens. And no, I think that there are ways. I think that you need to think outside the box a little bit. And I think that, like, a massive game changer for us has been getting, like, the license programs. The things that I would never have thought to invest in, because why would I. Because I'm a small town. I don't have to compete with xyz. Why would I want little groovers? I can just teach preschool dance. But, yeah, I can teach preschool dance. But now I have two amazing teachers who danced in high school, have never really taught dance since then, and they're both, you know, proper adult women who are phenomenal with kids can dance. But I'm able to hand them, yes, this system and I. And that's massive.

I think that's so smart with preschool, too, because you don't have to be a rock star dancer.

Yeah.

To teach preschool. You just need to be a rock star teacher. And they, like, we did start training with them today. They're both so invested in teaching. They were so blown away by both of them. Like, very different, but really exceptional in their own way. And I think. I love that you've invested in a program because you don't want to be teaching preschool every morning. You got enough on your plate.

I can't yeah. And that's the thing. I was so bogged down in that I could never see where I could possibly have the time to implement the things that I was learning. I was like, how am I going to do this? I teach so many mornings and I teach every afternoon and if I want to do that, like, where am I going to possibly get time? And yeah, I've just, it's been learning. And you know what, it's also like the mindset shift. I was a dance teacher, I was a music teacher.

Right.

And I've, yeah, had to learn pretty quick that we're not that anymore. We are business owners. And I love that very much. Like, you know, strategies and, you know, working towards this goal that if we lose sight of that goal, then what was the point of all of this?

That was one of your goals today though. I want to be a better business owner or a better leader for my team. And one, saying that in front of your team is amazing. Like, I was so blown away that you even said that. But two, to have enough self reflection to go, I can do better. And I still think that myself, you know, I've been a leader for 22 years and I can still up it. But I love that you're recognizing that. And I think a lot of studio owners forget that you are actual leaders out there. You've chosen to be a business owner, which means you're leading your team, which means your team needs you.

Right.

Like that's, that's the thing. You're making that choice by employing people.

Yeah, 100%. I think that like, for me personally being like, okay, this is a weird kind of example I'm probably going to use. But like, I've lived my life kind of at the back of the stage, you know what I mean? Like, I'm a drummer, I've always been at the back and I'm like, I do tech, so I've always been behind the scenes. So then to have to feel like I'm stepping into a role that's very much like at the front and I have to like, yeah, be an example and you know, give people instructions and do all this stuff, it felt really foreign to me and it did take me quite a while. And I'm obviously, I'm still very much like learning how to do it, but it's taken me quite a while to, to get my head around feeling like I do actually belong there, you know, and like I haven't had. I. I'm not really a person that has imposter syndrome. In terms of, you know, music or anything like that, I'm always like, yeah, just it's second nature, whatever. But the business side of things and the leadership side of things has always. I've always felt like I'm a fish out of water right when it comes to, to being in that role. So I think, you know, over the last year and through learning things at SGC of like those tools and tips on how to, you know, be a better leader and, you know, for you guys to be able to reinforce that with me, I feel like then I'm going to be able to take that with my team as well. So. Yeah, you know, there's been a lot of growth there I think in the last sort of 12 months and yeah, hopefully just even more.

Yeah. For the next 12 years. Absolutely. Hey, it's been amazing having you. I just want to ask you one more question. What would you say to regional studios out there? Because we. I do a lot of interviews with regional schools. It's very rare for them to sign up with us because it is a big investment and I also totally get, especially now after being here, how totally different it is. So I completely understand that. What would you encourage them to do or what should be their first step in trying to grow their studio or just give them some advice? Doesn't have to be. You should join sjc. I'm not asking that, frankly.

It's. You should join sjc.

You know what I'm saying though? Like what? Give them a few tips and like, what should be some things that they should do?

Well, I think the biggest thing, like I said for me, and obviously for Kat too, is embracing that mindset shift of you're not a dance teacher. Like, and people in small towns, as much as we've said that we love them but sometimes they like to keep you small town and small minded. Sometimes.

Yes.

And we do get tall Poppy syndrome. That is a thing, you know, like, you know, people want to build you up but they also don't want you to be too high sometimes that's just the nature of life. But having that moment for me all like, you know that I've really, I've. I started reading business books and people like my mum's like, what is happening? Like, I literally messaged my mum a screenshot of a Facebook ad Google review that said Beck is the most organized person ever. And I was like, mom, look. She's like, what? But you know, I, I'm a really good teacher and I know that.

Yeah.

And I've been A good teacher. It's something that I've loved. It's the thing I'm most passionate about ever. And I had to realize that if I want to continue to make the impact that I have and that we have, that something had to change because we were at that breaking point that so many regional studios hit because we don't have. You can lose 100 students and find 100 more in the city, but.

Correct.

We can't do that.

No, you can't.

And we had to upskill ourselves. We had to become business owners and understand the business business and understand marketing properly more than just relying on your word of mouth. We started doing Facebook ads. Did not think they would work for a small town.

I remember that conversation with you, and you're like, you don't understand. It's not going to work.

That does work, honestly, better than any. Like, I'm so. I feel so bad sometimes when I'm seeing people, like, posting their Facebook ads results and they're like, oh, I've got, you know, X. I'm like, oh, ours are everywhere. Every single person in this town. I guarantee you've seen our Facebook ads because nobody else does them. We are, like, flooding that market. So I think that you need to invest in yourself first. And for us, that was sgc because it wasn't only, you know, learning the systems, but it was learning to be a business owner and a CEO and how to take on, like, I read business books. I don't even know how to say, like, that's the wildest thing. And I enjoy them. And I enjoy learning about leadership. And I enjoy the numbers now. Like, I didn't know our numbers. When you first, like, jumped on that call and you were like, how many students do you have? I was like, oh, probably like, maybe this many. I don't know. And you're like, you should know. And I was like, oh, should I? Whoops. And I didn't. And I get so excited about those numbers now. I know every day where we're at and where I want to get to. And that has been. I think that's where you need to get to. And if you're not there, then get there. Get there. Like if you want to keep making the difference. Like, we don't have the luxury that a lot of other people do where you can outsource so many things. We've had to take on a lot of hats and.

True. Very true.

And the most important hat that we wear every day is business owner. To keep this going.

Anything to add?

I think yeah, just if you. If you're going to do it, just commit to it 100%, you know, and. And I think anyone that, you know, for most of us that are in this industry, we do it for love, you know.

Yes, absolutely.

Of course, we don't do it for the money, obviously, but so I think, you know, really, what have you got to lose? At the end of the day, you just throw everything that you have at it. You're going to go through some shit times, obviously, because that's just the nature of business. But don't, you know, if you do join a program like sgc, you have those tools, you have that mentorship that's gonna be able to guide you through that, you know, and then. Plus you have the amazing community support as well of people that you can rely on. So even though you might be in this really isolated area and you feel like you've got no one else that's gonna understand you, you actually have so many people across Australia that know exactly what you're going through, you know, I don't think the location really makes that much of a difference at the end of the day because it's a shared experience across our industry. Industry, you know, So I think just. Weird world.

Yeah, it is, it is, it is. Oh, my God. I'm so proud of both of you. I love working with you and I loved coming to your studio. And now I get another night here because of the cyclone. You guys can hear the rain. I don't know if you can in this podcast, but it's pretty crazy here. All right, well, thanks, guys. I hope you have an amazing week and I'm sure that you absolutely loved that episode. If you are interested in sgc, drop us a line and we would love to chat to you. Thanks, guys. 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 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.