How to Start a Business
Starting a Dance Instructors Business
You've decided to become an entrepreneur and start a dance instructors business. So far, so good. At first, it sounds complicated but the key is to get started and never give up.
Wondering how to start a dance instructors business? We take you step-by-step from start to success.
How to Become a Professional Dance Instructor
Professional dance instructors are passionate entrepreneurs who are committed to teaching the art of dance to students from a variety of backgrounds and skill levels. It's likely that you will need to act as both the business owner and an instructor (at least initially), so you will need to cultivate your skills in leadership and dance instruction to create a successful dance school.
Although some dance instruction entrepreneurs possess formal degrees in dance, it's common for instructors to receive training from other dancers. The benefit of learning under the tutelage of a professional dancer is that you can use their name recognition to promote your dance school.
As an added selling point, plan to join the National Dance Teachers Association of America (NDTA) or other dance industry organizations.
Tips for Growing Your Dance Studio & Instruction Business
Growth should be a primary objective for every dance instruction startup. But growing a dance school isn't as straightforward as it sounds. With more and more dance schools emerging every year, competition for students can be fierce. Here are a few tips to help you execute a growth strategy for your startup.
- Competitions. Dance competitions are as much about market positioning as they are about students. When a dance school does well in a competition, they receive an influx of new students; when they do poorly, they risk losing their existing students to the instructors whose students place higher in the competition. If you want to grow your dance studio, start by improving your students' performances in competition.
- Instructors. Your dance school's growth will be limited by the quality of your instructors. Since no single person can be an expert in every dance genre, you will need to cultivate relationships with quality instructors across a spectrum of genres and dance categories. Instead of hiring instructors on a season-by-season basis, consider offering multiyear contracts to instructors who have the capacity to draw new students to your school.
- Recitals & Shows. Recitals are opportunities to showcase your school to prospective students, i.e. friends and family members of your existing students. Rather than simply using recitals as straight-up performances, intersperse information about your studio's instruction opportunities throughout the program and make it easy for prospective students to sign up for a class.
Creating a Business Plan for a Dance Instructors Business
One of the worst mistakes you can make as a small business owner is to not create business plan for your startup dance instructors business.
The key benefit of writing a business plan is that it defines the game plan. The absence of an effective business plan inevitably results in impulsive leadership, making decisions that could be detrimental to your dance instructors business's values and long-term goals.
Start by defining your business mission. The process of writing a mission statement doesn't have to be complicated. From there, it's time to initiate the hard work involved with writing the rest of your dance instructors company's business plan.
Check Out Competitors
Long before you open a dance instructors business in your town, it's a smart move to determine how strong the competition is. Use the link below to get a list of local competitors near you. Complete the form by entering your city, state and zip code to get a list of dance instructors businesses that are close by.
Is the established competition doing a good job? It's important to understand their strengths and weaknesses and think through how you'll stake up against those established businesses.
Learn from Others Who Are Already In This Space
If you are interested in starting a dance instructors business, the next step is to have a conversation with someone who is in the business. If you think your local competitors will give you advice, you're being overoptimistic. Why would they want to educate a future competitor?
But, a person who owns a dance instructors business in a different city may be more than happy to give you a few tips, given that you don't compete with them in their area. In that case, the business owner may be more than happy to discuss the industry with you. Our estimate is that you may have to contact many business owners to find one who is willing to share his wisdom with you.
How do you go about finding a dance instructors business founder who is willing to talk to you but doesn't live nearby?
We can help. Follow the link below, try a few city/state combos or zipcodes, and then start calling!
Advantages of a Dance Instructors Business Purchase
On a percentage basis, more entrepreneurs intend to enter dance instructors business ownership through a startup than through a business purchase. Yet dance instructors business startups aren't easy - many fail within the first year.
There are a lot of factors that need to be considered in buying vs. starting a business. By buying a profitable dance instructors business, you'll shorten the amount of time it takes to achieve a return on your investment because you'll have the advantage of a proven operation and an existing customer base.
Explore Franchising Options
Going with a franchise opportunity is not a recipe for certain success but failure is certainly less likely when you franchise.
Prior to starting a dance instructors business, it's worthwhile to determine whether there are good franchise opportunities available that might be the right move for you.
The link below gives you access to our franchise directory so you can see if there's a franchise opportunity for you. You might even find something that points you in a completely different direction.
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