Welcome to March Madness in your dance studio. Where we are simultaneously creating for this season and planning for next season.
Connecting with studio owners through the Twinkle Star Dance community, my Diamond Circle coaching clients, and Dance the Dream parade events, I find many of us struggle with the same five pain points as dance studio owners:
Work/Life Balance
Financial Instability
Hiring and Management
Gaining Competitive Edge in Saturated Markets
Keeping up with Trends
Last week we chatted about struggling with work/life balance. This week I want to touch on something that often causes us to feel unbalanced which is Financial Instability.
When your business is not yet profitable; you’re not categorizing your revenue correctly so you don’t know how much you can pay yourself; or you find yourself rebuilding your business after losing a performing company group and/or teacher it leads to feeling like your business is owning you. Trust me, I’ve been there.
In my early days of studio ownership I decided to expand my one room studio location to three rooms, taking on an additional lease thinking I could sublet my first location. How hard can it be? Then the real estate market crashed and I had to drive home from teaching every night for three years and wave to my $3,000 per month salary.
It’s safe to say, after decades of owning and operating multiple, successful locations, I have enough failures under my belt to offer some solutions.
Financial Instability
It is easy to get caught up in adding extra community events or outside performance opportunities to our calendars. This season I want you to focus on maximizing your two main revenue streams in your business:
Class Tuition Revenue
Recital Revenue
Class Tuition Revenue - Focus on making your dance classes the absolute best they can be. Create or implement a proven curriculum that balances structure and fun.
For example, the Twinkle Star Dance program introduces young dancers to ballet, tap, jazz, and creative movement. They learn the basic steps while following directions and imitating movement in a positive environment. Engaging music is used to get these little guys inspired. The use of props such as Twinkle bears enables the young dancers to use their imagination, creativity and, most of all, have fun!
Recital Revenue - I’m a big proponent of two shows per season - Holiday and Spring. Dancers pay a recital participation fee for each event that includes the performance, costume, tights, action photos, wide angle video, and dancer ribbon or medal.
Notice I did not say tickets. When it comes to recital tickets, be sure to have tiered pricing, reserved seating, and do not sell out! Depending on the size of your theater consider having smaller, shorter shows so you can sell more of the higher price tickets. We plan for every dancer to sell 5 tickets on average based on previous show data.
Want more insights and practical advice? Join me for a dance studio owner weekend getaway to Pinnacle Dance Conference and Retreat this July 20-21, 2024 at the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain.
Check back next week for my tips and tricks to combat Hiring and Management.
Meet Tiffany Henderson
Tiffany Henderson is an industry leader and dance business expert. Tiffany owns and operates multiple Tiffany's Dance Academy locations in Northern California. Her video-based teacher training system and curriculum, Twinkle Star Dance, is currently implemented in 300+ dance studios worldwide.