The Normal Trials and Tribulations of a Ballroom Dance Studio
Keeping a ballroom dance studio alive and profitable can seem impossible at times. Owners across the country know that when the economy is strong and, on the rise, people are eager to spend money.
However, when things are iffy and the market is unsteady, spending can dwindle dramatically, especially on nonessential items, such as dance lessons.
This is why a ballroom dance studio business model that addresses a fluctuating market and finds ways to increase a school’s income – even during economic shifts – is a business that can survive the test of time.
Normally, when the market is struggling lesson sales dwindle dramatically, and may even close a school’s doors. The last major recession in 2008, I lost 70 percent of my student body in one year.
What Did I Do?
We had more than 200 active students and 17 instructors. Our school was dynamic but when the stock market tanked people couldn’t afford their regular bills, let alone dance lessons.
Some people still had spendable income but for most, times were tough. I lost all but 5 instructors and had to downsize a studio of 9,000 sq. ft. to studio with just over 3,000 sq. ft.
From 2008 forward we struggled each month to meet our financial obligations. Yet, we did survive, however, we were but a shadow of our glory days.
It took years for the economy to recover, and many people and businesses suffered beyond financial repair.
I wish I would have understood then what I understand now on the use of different marketing tools to stove off extreme losses during slow markets or recessions.
Things did improve but with a better business model my business would have made it through the country’s economic collapse without losing so many students or income.
Your Product is Your “Business”
There are studios that use a survival tactic during hard times called, “Overselling”. – Unnecessary, Negative, and Dishonest
Pressuring and selling students more lessons than they need is counterproductive in several ways. Primarily because it lessens the value of your business.
Your business should be thought of as your main product. If you can create a business with a proven system, that shows a consistent profit and can be duplicated then you have created a masterpiece, you have a sellable product.
However, no one wants to buy a ton of liability when buying a dance studio.
There are several lessons I have learned in my many years as a ballroom dance studio owner. I think the most important lesson I learned was to approach my business with the thought of being able to sell it someday, regardless of if I do or not.
If each decision is based on that premise, your school will improve year after year. This is by far the best way to ensure that your business will be successful, profitable, and sellable.
A New Era for Ballroom Dance Studios
A phrase I heard often since I became a dance instructor in Denver, Co in 1977, is, “I think ballroom dancing is coming back.”
Decade after decade, student after student, I heard these words uttered, as if ballroom dancing had gone somewhere and had been hiding. Granted, there was a time when freestyle dancing became popular in the late 60’s and is still the way to boogy for many dance lovers.
What was yet to come back was the vast majority of people knowing how to partnership dance. Anymore, unless you go to a ballroom dance studio there is no reason you should know how to Foxtrot, Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha, Swing, Tango, or any of the other magnificent dances.
During the Big Band Era, most people knew a dance or two, especially if your culture practiced them at weddings and aniversaries. I was raised in a Germany family and we all knew how to Polka by 8 and Waltz by 9.
Grandma had to have someone to dance with at weddings.
In this new era of technology at the speed-of-light, gamification marketing, and trending side-hustles; it is time for ballroom studios to see their business in a new light as well.
Studios need to take a lesson from the game makers and their strategy towards sales. For them, it is a numbers game. When your game has hundreds of thousands to millions of players, then offering free gaming with in-game purchasing availale, is smart.
Granted, a ballroom dance studio is not a business with thousands to millions of students. Yet, the logic is in the numbers.
I have created a business model for dance studios using gamification, monetization for students, and free beginner classes and instructor training classes for anyone to join. (A person can become an independent instructor once they become ceritified.)
Creating this type of business model begins with 7 steps:
- Offer dance to the community for free. Dance belongs to everyone and the more people who know the basics, the more people will want to take private dance lessons they pay for.
- Introduce weekly challenges for students to achieve and win dance related rewards and lessons.
- Independent instructors pay owners for new qualified students. *
- Begin selling floor time, instead of lessons. **
- Have a free training class running continually. ***
- Create challenges – weekly and team – for dance related rewards
- Website gamification. ****
Here is another question I have, and you tell me what you think.
Who is qualified to teach dance?
If I am going to pay an instructor to teach me advanced movement and technique, I want that person to be a certified ballroom instructor through the NDCA.
If I am learning basic patterns, then another, more advanced student, can help me with that. There is a point when basic knowledge is enough to train someone else patterns.
When I first started my training class in 1977, I was being taught by the instructors that just graduated in the class before me. This was because studios knew if they wanted their new instructors ready for paying customers, then let them start with non-paying trainees.
Therefore, having student programs for teaching pattern-oriented group classes and allowing them to accept tips from their class, is a dynamic service a school can offer to their student body.
Students will become more proactive in finding new and established students for their classes. Their social media pages will be lit up advertising the upcoming event, and their TikTok videos of the class will probably go viral.
What I have learned over my many years in the dance biz, is that Amway was right in making the average person a salesperson. This brings me back to surviving a downward spiral in the economy.
Dance lessons can be expensive and wanting to be a top dancer can take tens of thousands of dollars and years of dedication. Therefore, it is not the lower middle class taking these lessons but rather the well-to-do few.
However, if you want a student body in the hundreds, then offer more opportunities for anyone wanting to participate in a dance event at a very low cost.
Students can even volunteer time to be involved in showcases. Other students can get together and create a scholarship for gifted students.
The studio provides a convenient way for students who want to participate in creating a Student Scholarship Program. Students wanting to qualify for the scholarship must follow the guidelines set and agreed upon by the student/owner dance committee.
What I do as an owner, is to match the student’s donations into the scholarship fund. Students that participate in the fund are rewarded as well with free dance-floor time, a classy dance-related item, and a plaque.
Just surviving is not the ideal for any kind of business. This is why battling downswings in the economy can only be battled with high traffic, low ticket items, and clever marketing.
Charging what is needed for private lessons is understandable. Yet, dancing is not just private lessons. If you have a large student body, then you can have a ton of low-ticket events with a high turnout generating revenue.
The key to survival is adaptability. It always has been and always will be. When you redesign your studio around creating a huge hybrid-student body able to take lessons and teach lessons.
Get your students working for you:
- Students teaching beginner pattern classes become better dancers faster while building up their self-confidence!
- Guests will come to support student instructors – most of them will post their schedule on social media. Best guest-getter program, yet!
- Student instructors can earn tips, making the experience extremely rewarding. This positive energy is catching to other students.
- Free programs that are beneficial for the community is a shining star for your business and the city will reward you for it.
To survive the ups and downs of an economic roller coaster, studios must learn to adapt to new ways of making money. The high dollar ticket items and events will service a few but it is the many you want.
Having an inexpensive side of your service window menu is what will keep your doors open during bear markets. The inexpensive menu keeps your facility busy every hour it is open.
Always having new and exciting inexpensive events to sell, like showcase group routines, or weekend workshops with guest instructors.
The key is being the name people think of when they hear the word dance in your city.
To find out more about redesigning your studio’s business model to fit your wants and needs and to increase a consistent profit, contact me here.
Amazing Dance Solutions 
Thank you, for commenting! I am always eager to hear what you have to say.