#1 Reason Your Studio Isn’t Growing

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One thing I’ve never wanted in any of my businesses is more than one or two staff members.

It certainly started with my dance studio. I wanted to be everything, do everything and I knew that no one was as passionate or could do the job I could do as well as me. I was 16 and thought I could run the world all alone.

14 years later and I couldn’t be more on the other end of the spectrum if I tried.

It only took me 2 years of running the studio with my friend before we understood that if we wanted to grow our dream studio that we needed help.

I find that hiring someone is one of the most exciting and scary processes in business. It’s exciting because you’ll be able to delegate so you’re working more on what your strengths are aligned to and what can grow the business.

On the other hand, it’s scary because of the big “What If.”  What if you hire someone who turns out to be a disaster? You’ve just wasted all that time training them because they either leave or you need to let them go because you’re spending more time fixing their mistakes!

I want you to have a think for a minute about what you’re doing during any given week in your studio.

As the CEO of your studio, are you doing CEO tasks or are you doing Admin Assistant tasks? Are you working on strategy, program creation and customer satisfaction or are you sending out overdue fee reminder emails at 2 am?

Hang on. I just said CEO…did you notice that? Have you ever thought of yourself as a CEO? Just take that in for a minute…because that’s exactly what you are.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t know any CEO’s that are gluing sequins on costumes or responding to text messages about the wrong fairy tight size at11pm.

I’m being a little smart here, but the main message I want you to get is that if you want to build a thriving business then you’re going to need some help.

I was speaking with some of our Inner Circle Members last week about how to implement a Team Growth Plan over the next 18 months. I wanted to share some important roles that others have recruited for which completely accelerated the growth of the business.

Of course, there are many roles you can hire for, but I wanted to give you a brief overview on the BIG 4 (R.O.M.B) and share what I have seen work time and time again. This is also generally the order I will suggest studios hire in (depending on the studio’s business model).

1. Receptionist

I always recommend that your first hire straight out of the gate is a receptionist. Someone who can greet your dance families, answer any questions while classes are on and also, in between conversations, can help you with some admin work. Find someone who is energetic, computer savvy and has a passion for interacting with people.

2. Office Manager

This person is your queen or king of administration and logistics. While managing the Receptionist they also manage your accounts, oversee customer service, teacher coordination, customer communication and the list can go on. Ideally they are a full time employee who works during the day.

3. Marketing Coordinator

This role is generally never thought of as being a crucial one in a studio but I’m here to tell you it is. Your Marketing Coordinator should be responsible and work with you on new student acquisition initiatives as well as retention strategies.  From social media, email marketing, offline marketing (shopping centres), studio newsletter, etc. your Marketing Coordinator is the person that brings new students into the studio and keeps them with you for years to come.

4. Business Manager

Your Business Manager is responsible for the performance of the business. Their main role is to ensure you’re making money and create new revenue generating initiatives in the business. They are looking at the numbers in your business daily and working with you to continually set new goals and achieve them.

These are just 4 (there are about 8 in total) of the internal roles I suggest you hire for on your path to growth. There are other external roles like a Bookkeeper, Accountant, Graphic Designer, etc. but these come under a different category.

Oh, and as you read this you may be thinking that you can’t afford a Receptionist or an Office Manager or any other staff. My advice is that you can’t afford not too!  I see studio owners who are in their 60’s still doing everything themselves, not making money, have lost their passion…and I don’t want that to be you. In saying that, you don’t need to go hire these right away either – there’s a right time for everything and all big decisions need to be thought through first.

Start planning for the growth of your team.

Get excited. The business you have always wanted doesn’t need to be years away. Click here to listen to today’s podcast.

Clint