In any business it is essential to continually sharpen your skills, learn about trends and new developments in your field, and adapt to the changes around you. And, in any field, you will see that it is the people that are dedicated to the habit of continual discovery and improvement that pull out ahead of their competitors and enjoy the greatest success. How do you continue to sharpen your skills as a dance studio owner? Here are 5 ways to consider keeping yourself inspired and moving forward in your journey.
Take Class Weekly
Any good leader must first be a good student. We have to be willing to continue to be students as long as we want to be good teachers and good leaders. Even if you are a dance studio owner that does not teach classes, it would benefit you to stay connected to what it means to be a dancer. Look for a great studio or company school in the next town over or start an adult class at your own studio that you can take. Take classes from a variety of different instructors and observe the differences in their teaching styles. Take at a variety of locations and stay connected to what other studios look like, feel like and how they operate. Meet and connect with other adults that still love taking class. You may even find some great teachers to add to your staff while you’re at it.
Read
Rich habits expert, Tom Corely who has dedicated himself to studying the habits of rich and poor people states in his research that daily industry/ career reading is a key “Daily Productive Habit of Successful Leaders” and goes on to say, “Each morning, immediately upon waking up, the Successful Leaders in my Rich Habits Study devoted 30 minutes or more (often more) to technical reading – reading they needed to do in order to maintain or grow their knowledgebase.” Grab a list of a few of my favorite leadership reads, or expand your horizons with my weekly blog posts for dance studio owners.
Connect
It can be lonely at the top. As a studio owner, it can often feel like there is no one around that can truly relate to how you’re feeling or what you’re having to deal with. In reality though, according to ibis.world.com there are currently over 68,000 dance studios in the US alone. That means 68,000 other dance studio owners just like you. Well, maybe not, just like you, but out of all of them, somebody else has been there and done that. Lucky for you, thousands of them are just a click away in a Facebook group. Reach out and connect. Ask questions, share ideas, get feedback, find out what’s working or not working for other dance studio owners.
Attend Conferences
I can’t say enough about taking the time to attend a conference. No other action in my life has increased my confidence, my creativity, and my income every single time I’ve done it like attending a conference. Whether it’s been about teaching, leading, marketing, sales, or even conferences pertaining to completely different industries; I have always brought home some golden nugget that when put into action was a major game changer. Sometimes those nuggets weren’t even from material that was actually part of the conference. Sometimes it was a connection made with someone offering a service that I needed, or even just a revelation that came from a casual conversation with someone that I met there. I came home and completely rebuilt my studio’s billing system after a conversation over lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with a fellow studio owner that I had just met. The result was that I immediately saved hours and hours every month tracking down payments. That led to hours that I could spend making additional money for my studio. The point is, you just don’t know what you might find out there until you get up and go! Commit to blocking a week every year to attend an industry conference and see where it takes you.
Online Courses
The internet has brought us many gifts. Education at our fingertips may be the best of these. There are ways to learn everything that you can imagine from full on college degrees to quick Youtube tutorials. There are great online courses specifically about dance studio ownership and teaching dance as well as the many aspects of business that dance studio owners also need to make themselves savvy to. While you may not have the time or the need to complete a new online course every year, it would be a worthwhile exercise to identify one or two of the issues that cause you the most stress, or that you think the most about improving in your business and do a quick search to see what’s out there to help you level up your prowess in that specific area. Studio Planner Pro has just added some online courses that are quick, easy and super actionable to help dance studio owners increase profitability and acquire new students year-round.
No matter how you’re doing it, set yourself and your dance studio up for success by creating a habit of continually sharpening your skills. Dedicate a set time each day to learning and growing.