5 Struggles of Owning a Dance Studio: Financial Instability

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: 

1. Work/Life Balance 

2. Financial Instability 

3. Hiring and Management 

4. Gaining Competitive Edge in Saturated Markets

5. 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.

5 Struggles of Owning a Dance Studio: Work/Life Balance

It’s Tuesday and I’m in the thick of March Madness in my dance studios. I’m creating and setting new choreography for our recital’s opening number; I’m taking inventory of classes and planning my new season schedule; I’m also hiring, onboarding, and training new teachers, staff members, etc. 

Not to worry, I’ve survived many a March before this one and I know this too shall pass. I look down at my to-do list and add “book flights to Cabo” for July after our last show so I have something to look forward to. 

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: 

1. Work/Life Balance 

2. Financial Instability 

3. Hiring and Management 

4. Gaining Competitive Edge in Saturated Markets

5. Keeping up with Trends 

After decades of owning and operating multiple, successful locations, I have enough failures under my belt to offer some solutions. 

Work/Life Balance 

First, ask yourself, do you feel like your studio is running you or are you running your studio? If your studio is running you, I want you to do the following: 

Set Boundaries - Make a list of your non-negotiables and stick to it. When my children were young this looked like picking my kids up from school each day and not teaching Thursday evenings so we could sit down as a family for dinner. 

Full Time Job - Hold regular office hours in a designated office space. Identify your most productive times of the day and prioritize the one thing you need to accomplish each day. 

Utilize Systems and Delegate - There are so many wonderful platforms that make running a small business easier to manage today. Put systems in place, hire the right team, and manage the process. 

Community - Connect with like-minded studio owners at live events so you have people in your corner throughout the season. 

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 Financial Instability. 

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.

Wish You Were Here?

Wish You Were Here?

March is a crazy time of year for dance studio owners. 

After the madness of dance convention weekends, I find myself at my desk Monday morning treading water while simultaneously hiring new teachers, scheduling the new season, and setting recital choreography for my 3rd “final” edit of music. 

Before we take a breath, it’s 4:00 pm, the lobby is buzzing with excitement, and evening classes are starting. My dance studio business is always booming in the spring months, which is why I’m adding summer retreat to the top of my to-do list. 

The Benefit of Live Events

Live events are a catalyst for so many amazing opportunities; my dance studio owner friends, a steady stream of new marketing ideas, and overall business growth. While the digital world enables us to connect with other studio owners online through social media, there is nothing quite like having a shared experience with someone in an intimate setting. Sitting down with another person for a meal or cocktails, grabbing a quiet moment for a one-on-one conversation, or finding a like-minded community deepens the joy I find in running my dance studios.

I like to look for events that will inspire both personal and professional growth. In my multiple decades of owning dance studios, I have learned an incredible amount of information and strategies to continue to grow my business, discovered systems and resources to streamline my studios, and gained connections with valuable vendors and industry experts.

Make a Commitment and Show Up

My challenge to you is to take time away from your dance studio this summer, get away from your studio, and attend a live studio owner event. Buy a ticket, put it on your calendar, and show up. Eighty percent of the opportunities in life are a result of simply showing up. If this is intimidating for you, grab a friend and make plans to go together!

Attending studio owner conferences has dramatically impacted my business and greatly enriched my personal life and it can do the same for you. Maybe we’ll even see each other at Pinnacle Dance Conference and Retreat July 20-21 at The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain.

DREADING “MARCH MADNESS” IN YOUR DANCE STUDIO?

March seems to be the time of year when everything collides in a dance studio. 

As a studio owner, you are finalizing details for this year’s recitals (costuming, ticketing, show orders, dress rehearsal); you are editing music; you are coming up with new themes, graphics, lesson plans, ordering crafts, scheduling, and marketing for summer camp; you are beginning choreography for your recreational dancers and cleaning choreography for your competitive dancers; you are editing music again; you are putting the schedule together for next season; you are hiring new teachers and administrative staff; you are training new teachers; you are waking up in the middle of the night to add to your to-do list; you are thinking up new promotions to get students to return next season; you are BURNT OUT. 

You are also expected to figure out how to continue to enroll new students and cross your fingers…knock on wood…three calls to the costume companies later *hopefully* get them a costume so they can participate in your spring recital. 

Twinkle Star Dance is the proven dance studio curriculum and teacher training system to help you earn a comfortable living doing what you love, Teaching Dance!

Twinkle Star Dance has transformed hundreds of dance studio owners’ lives. Studios have gone from on the verge of shutting their doors to tripling in enrollment and preschool classes with waitlists. But don’t just take our word for it, listen to Terri Anderson share her success:

“ After attending the Twinkle Star Dance conference in Las Vegas, we put everything we had into the Twinkle Star Dance Program. We left the conference with a refueled passion for teaching dance. Since then we have more than tripled our students, have a continued waiting list for our classes, and upgraded our studio from 400 square feet to 5000 square feet! Thank you Twinkle Star Dance for changing the future of our studio! “

Terri Anderson
Sister Act Dance Academy, Brownsburg, IN

What are you waiting for? Join Terri and 300+ other dance studio owners in the Twinkle Star Dance community today. 

Still on the fence? Take a girls trip and weekend getaway to Pinnacle Dance Conference and Retreat this July 20-21, 2024 at the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain and gain exclusive behind the scenes access to Tiffany Henderson and the Twinkle Star Dance Method.

NEW SEASON REGISTRATION

Participate in an exclusive two-part webinar series led by Tiffany Henderson, a renowned dance studio owner and industry expert.

Gain insights into her comprehensive approach to crafting class schedules for thriving dance studios across various locations, and discover the tactics behind effectively tiering marketing promotions to secure a remarkable 60% retention rate of existing dancers on registration day.

During this engaging webinar, you will acquire valuable knowledge on:

1. Establishing a year-round dance program

2. Presenting a well-defined and succinct class menu

3. Optimizing prime time utilization within your studio

4. Generating excitement and anticipation for registration day

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.