What percentage or per hour rate do you get paid and/or pay to teach at a studio? Or do you just outright rent the space for an hour? If so, how much do you pay per hour?
If you had your choice, how would you prefer to get paid?
What are your biggest beefs with studio owners? What are you must haves at a studio you teach at? What are your wants at a studio you teach at?
Just doing some market research
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I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
And since I asked the questions, I guess I should answer them.
I pay 25% at the studio I subbed at. Which I believe is on the low end. On the other hand, they're very hard to get a hold of...all the time!
I like the percentage method of payment. Something for everyone as long as it's fair.
My beef is it not being mine. I don't care for the lighting at all and I don't like the location.
If I had my choice, it would be filled with pretty decorations, have a nice changing room, having softer lighting, and have a place to lock-up/store stuff so it wouldn't have to be dragged around everywhere.
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I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. ~Friedrich Nietzsche
I do a 70/30 split in my favor with all of my locations. They take care of the advertising, enrollment and payment for me. I pay for my own liability insurance. I require a minimum of 5 students at the start of the session to run the class, with no drop ins. My minimum guarantees me $25/hr, but most of my classes fill way past that, and my average take home is $50-$70/hr.
The hardest thing for me is teaching in a location with no mirrors. I teach at a beautiful yoga studio that would be just perfect if it had mirrors. My other two locations have mirrors, but one is tiny (so I max out at 12 students per class) and the other has carpeting.
i am seeing - around here that the 80/20 days are gone and more and more studios are going to the 70/30. Studio gets 30% of income.
One studio I chatted with offered me $35/hr or 1/3 of my intake - whichever was greater. The deal was actually pretty good - for around here but I am not ready to move out of the comforts of my community center environment. Not yet ;-)
When I first started teaching - it was 1/3 of intake.
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 12,288
Re: Teachers Pay
For me, a lot depends on the arrangements. Who is doing the advertising, taking the phone calls, keeping track of the registration?
In my studio, I pay my teachers a flat rate of $25/hour. BUT I do all of the above and they're teaching my lesson plans and choreographies and using my music collection and student props. So literally all the teacher has to do is show up and follow a plan. She has no prep time and no expense.
I only have one teacher on a percentage, she's teaching her own lesson plans to students I bring in, she gets 60%.
When I was teaching in other locations, I took care of anywhere from 50-100% of the advertising, carried my own insurance, did my own lesson plans and provided music, props, etc. Usually all the facility did was take phone calls and registration and provide the space. (in one space I even provided mirrors). I got $50/hour or 70-80% (less if the venue was doing any advertising).
Advertising to me is the biggest factor, because it's really expensive. By the time I fill a class, I've probably spent at least $250. $50/hour for a 6-week session is $300, so I'm down to less than $9 an hour before you even consider insurance, props, music, lesson planning time --- and whatever's left is subject to self-employment tax of 25% and I have to pay my own health insurance. You can see how quickly that $50 an hour gets down to a reality of about $2 an hour. (if I had it to do over again, I'm not sure I'd agree to the $50/hour rate. But at the time it was nice to have one source of income that didn't fluctuate every month).
If my venues had been doing all the advertising, I would have taught for much less -- but always assume that you're going to spend 2 hours prep time for every hour of class time, and don't forget about the 25% self-employment tax when you're negotiating.
I hire out spaces at a flat rate, do everything from advertising to admin and take 100% of class payments. I prefer it that way. In the past when I've taught at gyms or community centres under other arrangements I've found that they have neither the motivation nor understanding required to market my classes correctly, so I wound up preferring to do it all myself. Plus, I'm a bit of a control freak! And this is my full time job, so it makes sense to take it all on myself (economies of scale) and reap the rewards.
But if I were hiring a dance studio with an existing student base, I'd want to be able to tap into that potential market, and would then consider some profit sharing arrangement or cross-promotional deal.
As far as beefs with studio owners go - I hate it when the space is left dirty or full of funiture; doors that are meant to be open are locked and there's no-one to contact; there's inadequate heating/cooling; I'm not allowed to put up promo posters; my requests go unanswered. I've always found it takes a while to establish a good hiring relationship, where you both trust each other to use the space appropriately, and once that relationship is established, it's golden. I am extra-friendly to the admin staff because they are the ones that can see to my requests...or not.
Must have - cleanliness, toilets, adequate lighting, safety outside, mirrors (I don't bother teaching without them any more. It's just too hard), heating/cooling. I also really appreciate a small storage space at the venue.
I prefer to rent at a flat rate ($25 or $35) and just set a minimum enrollment to hold the class so that I ensure that I make a decent hourly. I find I lose out a lot on percentage splits. So if I'm paying $25 an hour I want to make sure at least 5 people register for the session so I made at least $25 on each class.
Ravena the situation your described where the studio says $35 or 1/3 whichever is more - don't do it. Decide BEFORE the class starts what the arrangement is. I learned the hard way - you don't want to studio in your books. Do you have to give them a cut for each drop in? You lose a lot of money that way. If you think enrollment will be low it's safer to go with a percentage, but be prepared to lose lots of profits on high enrollment.
I teach at a Parks and Rec facility -- old elementary school. My split is 70/30, but I believe any new instructors since 2007 are on a 65/35 split.
There's lots I like about the facility, some I don't like, but I figure that would be the same no matter where I taught! My room has a wall of mirrors, room for upwards of 25 people at a time, I'm provided with a nice cabinet in which to store my stereo, music, some troupe costuming and class props, etc. And yes, it's packed full! Nice restrooms at either end of the hall for people to change when needed. Not a lot of decoration, very old wood floor and the heating/cooling systems is pretty old, but it works! I also like not having to do the registrations, like having my classes listed in a facility brochure that gets a lot of exposure in the area, find the staff at the facility friendly, accommodating and very efficient. In other words, I can worry about class content and troupe issues and leave the rest to the facility. Makes my life a lot easier.
I don't care for the lighting at all and I don't like the location.
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