Episode 7: No Money No Mission

No Money, No Mission: Practical ways to approach profit.

Let’s start out with your mission. What is your mission? What motivated you to become a dance studio owner? There is something you want to do that's different so that YOU stand out. Your mission statement is your ‘why’, it’s your purpose. It is the greatest motivation of your studio owner journey. But purpose isn’t enough if you don’t have a profitable business model.

Your mission is the first thing that essentially draws people in, so you want to prioritize getting that out there. That is one side of the business, and on the other side, is your finances. You can't keep that mission thriving, you can't keep it alive, if you don't have funds.

Because the big picture can be overwhelming, many studio owners ignore their books and simply focus all of their energy on gaining more students, thinking that growing the size of their student body is the only solution to growing their profit. But there are other ways to fund the mission.

For example, let’s say you plan to move into a larger space and your rent will increase by $1500 per month. Before you raise your tuition consider the following:

Sell more. $1500 per month is $18,000 per year. You currently have 150 students. If you divide the $18,000 by your current number of students, it’s $120 per student, per year, or $10 per student, per month. What can you sell to your current students to meet that need?

Save more. Consider your expenses, utilities, subscriptions, and the like. Is there anywhere that you can cut costs? Be proactive. Call your providers, switch plans, look for discounts, and waste! Are you spending more than you need to on advertising or memberships that aren’t benefiting you?

Sell new. What kind of new workshops, dancewear, programs, or events can you sell to cover that cost ($10 per student per month). A regular occurring event, like a movie night or game night, something that provides your students and potential students an inexpensive, safe, night of fun, can be a great new program to start.

There is nothing to say that you can’t implement all of these strategies at once, or several combinations of others. Whatever you do, do it with a good plan. And remember, a good plan always includes knowing your numbers.