Thread: redirecting energy

okay- classes have hit an all time low, & for the first time I am loosing money on classes.

I sat down & cried yesterday because I had NO ONE in my level one class, no phone calls, no emails- nuthin. only 4 people had contacted me before class started, so I was expecting this on some level, but I still need to decide what to do about it. I have 4 very dedicated, not going anywhere students who make up the core of my int/adv. class, who I would like to accomodate, but I am seriously thinking of not teaching right now.

Background: I've been teaching Tues & Thurs for the last 2 years, Tues, Thurs, sat. before that. I turned my Saturday classes at parks & rec over to another teacher who had recently moved back to town because I wanted weekends with the family & there was plenty of work the rest of the week. Just before the economy crashed, we had 3 local teachers (including me), now we have 5 & everyone is complaining of smaller & smaller classes- even our big, full time dance instructor who teaches at the U, so it's not *just* me. being a military/university town, I am used to loosing dedicated, intelligent students every 3-4 years (and yes, this is my 12th year teaching-hmmm...) but there is usually someone coming up to replace them- not so, now. I freely admit, I haven't spent a lot on advertising to date- posting fliers, free notices in the events section of the local paper & a couple newspaper ads have sufficed to fill classes in the past. I am still performing at public venues with my troupe (which includes all but one of the local instructors, btw- community troupe, not from my class base) but there hasn't been any solo work for a while.

There is one restaurant in town looking at hiring dancers on a more regular basis, but the pay & the cigarette smoke don't thrill me. (even if the owner does follow through & start booking more frequently)

So, I need to get on the ball with new promo pics anyway, but from there,
I am looking for direction... I could invest in advertising for classes- get a video clip both for tv advertising & maybe on google ads- or I could try to get out of some of my studio rental slots & put more energy into trying to drum up party gigs (contact bridal shops/event organizers/event venues, etc)
Or, I could work on getting materials ready to market my workshop topics in other parts of the state. I could also do #1 until my current studio rental contract is up & then work on option 2 or 3.

None of these hold any promises, and I really hope this is just a matter of weathering troubled economic times- thinking if I can hang in there & stick around, I'll be well positioned when things pick up again. I am trying to look at this as an opportunity to try something new/ different.

Part of this post is just a matter of getting my thoughts in print- but I welcome suggestions & advice, by all means!

I feel your pain, sistah!

Originally Posted by Lara L

I freely admit, I haven't spent a lot on advertising to date- posting fliers, free notices in the events section of the local paper & a couple newspaper ads have sufficed to fill classes in the past.

This bit jumped out at me. I don't think ANYONE under 60 still reads the local paper in my community any more! It used to be that free calendar listings in the paper and an occasional newspaper ad would keep my classes full, too. But now I get NOTHING from it.

The times they are a-changing.

Do you have a website? If not, GET one! If so, shine it up and divert your flier and newspaper ad money to promoting yourself online.

The biggest thing is setting up your keywords properly and submitting your site to search engines. My webhost offers great services for learning about and accomplishing those things, but you'll find tons of articles and/or services online if yours doesn't. Try Search Engine Marketing Services | SEO Services - Search Engine Optimization | Website Traffic Specialists | Free SEO Tools or submit.

Google advertising and Facebook will both let you target your advertising to people in your region. You can set a daily budget of whatever you can afford. Facebook lets you target by gender, age, etc. within your region. Google Adwords lets you target keywords, but be careful! Your site probably already shows up when people google bellydance and your town name (if not, fix that immediately!!!). Set up broader keywords like dance, exercise, class, etc.

Between the economy and other factors (all this ranting about terrorism and where you can and can't build mosques isn't great for our bottom line, even though we really have nothing to do with it), the belly dance market ain't what it used to be. It sounds like your particular market has more pros than consumers to support them. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if your market couldn't support the original three right now, much less two more dancers looking for gigs and students.

Who knows how long the slump will last? The future belongs to the people who have the tenacity to ride it out, and the ones who are irreplaceably valuable. If you can afford to keep your current students, I would suggest you do so. Unless you are looking for an excuse to retire, don't surrender what you've already got, because someone else will be happy to take whatever market share you don't want it anymore.

Investing in effective advertising is always a good business strategy, but if you can find a niche to exploit, something that you are good at and teach that others aren't quite as good at or teach quite as well, this makes for a stable, long-term path to success. Easier said than done, of course, but if you are thinking of going on the workshop circuit, this is where you start--not by pimping yourself harder, but by mastering something that students will want to go out of their ways to learn from you.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Do you have a website? If not, GET one! If so, shine it up and divert your flier and newspaper ad money to promoting yourself online.

Yep- just sent another round of updates to my web designer, been using google ads, need to look at facebook, I guess. Part of where my energy has been redirected over the last few months is into more writing, so there should be some more student articles on the webpage too- don't know if it will help or not, we'll see.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

Investing in effective advertising is always a good business strategy, but if you can find a niche to exploit, something that you are good at and teach that others aren't quite as good at or teach quite as well, this makes for a stable, long-term path to success. Easier said than done, of course, but if you are thinking of going on the workshop circuit, this is where you start--not by pimping yourself harder, but by mastering something that students will want to go out of their ways to learn from you.

Yep- working into a new niche is what I'm hunting down right now- had better turn out at class tonight- at least enough to cover rent, so I'm slightly less panicky! I've been running bi-monthly local workshops that have gone well, and tend to pay better than a whole month of regular classes, honestly- but attendance is going down there too & I'm wondering if it would be any better reaching out to other towns (that whole "you're never appreciated in your home town" thing.) If nothing else, it gives me a chance to polish my workshop material.

My company is having the same problem.

We have a highly search engine optimized slick website. We use local eye-catching local flyers that we keep up in 4 towns. Google Adwords, Facebook Ads (that finally started getting clicks), email notices.

I had 2 people show up for my new session of Level I. Both had heard about the class on the studio owner's radio ad. 3-4 people had called me having seen my flyers or found me on the internet, but didn't show up.

My dance partner's class on the SIUC campus (and 20 mins away from where I teach) had only a few show up. She used to fill her class to capacity (24) and turn people away. (We are basically targeting non-overlapping pools of potential students, so I do not believe we're splitting each other's class numbers).

We have an email list we compile at RSO fairs on campus and through other events we send class and event notices to. Added 45 new names a couple of weeks ago from people who signed a roster as interested; these people got two reminders via the list, then Tedi sent them individualized emails inviting them to participate. Not one showed up to a class.

I feel very frustrated. Yes, there is the money issue. I value my time. But I also feel I have a lot to offer as a teacher and I'm sad that so few students are interested in what I have to offer.

Sedonia, that's so sad.

I depend on my classes to support my family, so it's also scary. My numbers have been down, but summers are always slow, and I've had a lot of personal crises the past few months that have cut down on my time & ability to market well. So I've been blaming my lower numbers on that. But if this is happening to you, just 2 hours away from me, I may need to consider another source of income.

I wonder if it's bellydance or if ALL recreational classes are taking a hit due to the economy?

Originally Posted by ssipes

I had 2 people show up for my new session of Level I. Both had heard about the class on the studio owner's radio ad.

This is very interesting! I've been thinking about pricing radio & local cable advertising, maybe I'll get myself in gear.

A smaller percentage of people showing up for classes means tossing out a wider net to get the same number of students, IMO.

Lauren, I am teaching at a brand new studio. I am willing to take a loss for a few months and help the owner make it take off. This studio is offering numerous kinds of dance, I was chatting with him last night, and most of the classes have low numbers so far. The ballet classes were postponed because no one signed up. Others had 2-3 people show up.

The scary part is Tedi's beginning class on campus. It has consistently had decent to excellent enrollment over the past two decades. In the last year, the numbers have plummeted. Students get a great deal on the instructional programs, but the rec center's promotional effort sucks (but it's always been like that). One thing that is different is that the rec center has been offering more and more free group fitness classes. They run a zumba class in the same time slot as Tedi's and the former is filled to capacity -- at least 30-40 people in it. So basically, the rec center is undercutting itself.

With beginner numbers so low, the continuing level is practically non-existent. (Tedi and I *are* splitting a limited pool at the continuing level, but I was hoping that robust beginner numbers would make up for that).

We started our studio at the beginning of the recession and we rarely have more than 3 or four new students each month. Before that, when we rented space from others, 10 - 15 new students was not unusual. Great timing, yes?

Originally Posted by maurazebra

We started our studio at the beginning of the recession and we rarely have more than 3 or four new students each month. Before that, when we rented space from others, 10 - 15 new students was not unusual. Great timing, yes?

lol- fantastic timing!
flatlining in sales during tough economic times does not mean dead. at least I'm not loosing money yet. Just keep telling myself that- not dead yet, not dead yet...