Thread: Opening my own studio! Advice!

Hello everyone!

I imagine some of you have your own studios and I am opening mine soon. I would appreciate if there is any piece of advice you can give me on this Giant step. It is my first business. I already incorporated and got my business account. Meeting with accountant next week :)

Also I am in Thunder Bay so if any of you happens to be in this part of the world (NW Ontario) come visit!

If you dont come ever around this parts of the world....visit my website!

www.worlddancecentre.com

Congratulations, that's so exciting for you. Your website looks great and it looks like you're well organised. In case you haven't already thought about these things, here's what I'd highlight:

- Have all your terms and conditions thought out and written down in advance. Think about refunds, missed classes, students falling ill; whether kids or observers will be allowed, etc etc. Write your policies up-front (you can always change them later) and pin them on the wall, hand them out upon enrolment, email them to new students. This will really help when you get the inevitable annoying student who does the wrong thing.

- Allocate twice as long as you anticipate to doing administration, when you first start out! Have a well thought out enrolment process to record all student contact and payment details and class attendance. Be sure to capture emails and build up a mailing list immediately.

- Look at online booking options and credit card payment systems, so you can (a) reduce admin and (b) capture payments as soon as students are interested - on your website, over the phone. If you tell them to write a cheque or bring money on the night only half will do so.

- Do not hold places for anyone without upfront payment. Of people who say they'll turn up and pay on the night, expect only half to do so.

- Make sure you have professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

Can you tell I think the admin side is often the biggest stumbling block???

- Build up a community using social media & the internet from the word go. Eg: get an active facebook fanpage happening, have a noticeboard and newsletter, capture all those email addresses and keep students in the loop. I believe this all helps create buy-in, gives students a feeling that they're part of a 'happening' place, and is cost-effective marketing.

You'll find several excellent suggestions on general dance studio ownership, marketing and more on this very colourful webpage:
DANCE TEACHERS UNITED

Good luck!

Khalida

Originally Posted by khalida777

You'll find several excellent suggestions on general dance studio ownership, marketing and more on this very colourful webpage:
DANCE TEACHERS UNITED

Good luck!

Khalida

too colorful
didn't read

Originally Posted by tigerb

too colorful
didn't read

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie...that site was very hard to read...

Anyway, I saved this link at some point. I haven't read the whole thing so I don't know if it is helpful or not. (It is one of my read-later bookmarks )

How To Start A Dance Studio Business

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie...that site was very hard to read...

Anyway, I saved this link at some point. I haven't read the whole thing so I don't know if it is helpful or not. (It is one of my read-later bookmarks )

How To Start A Dance Studio Business

Oh, I see...it's just a long advert. However, it still might have some interesting tips.

Originally Posted by tigerb

too colorful
didn't read

I agree, all that creative colouring is off-putting, to say the least. One solution is to click and drag the mouse over the text, which improves the legibility somewhat. Even better, you can copy and paste the text into your word processor -- voilà, no more zany background colours :)


Khalida