There's no way around it. We are all in a business industry that is relatively expensive to be in.
First of all, our industry is inevitably tied to real estate. You can't run a studio without a space. Running a dance studio means you're going to be committed to paying rent or making a mortgage payment on a space. Real estate prices don't drop over time, they rise.
If you're not planning on doing all of the work in your studio forever then, of course, you'll have payroll to meet as well. Your staff needs to be taken care of, and the longer they stay with you, the more you'll be paying them. The cost of doing business in this industry always goes up over time. Never down.
That can be SUPER stressful. For many studio owners that means that once all the bills are paid (if they get paid) there is little or nothing left over to take home.
You can't keep up with those rising costs without growing your program, increasing tuition rates, and retaining MORE students. Profit gets harder to achieve over time, not easier.
"You can't break through a plateau with the same strategy that got you to it, and cutting costs when you're trying to grow is a HUGE mistake."
I talk to studio owners all the time that are barely scraping by. They've been in business for ten, twenty, even thirty years or more and still can't afford to pay themselves what they're worth.
Even worse, they're spending full-time hours running the business they're trying to build and that adds up to getting paid minimum wage or even less. It's tragic.
The good news is there is a solution. There is a way out. But, it's not very intuitive.
You see, eventually, every studio hits a plateau. It stops growing, BUT THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS STILL GOES UP. And they can't break through the plateau by just waiting or hoping things will get better as time passes.
So, what do most studio owners do?
They look for ways to cut costs.
First thing on the chopping block is often their own paycheck if there is one, and next comes any marketing expenses. But, of course, that doesn't help the studio to grow.
You can't break through a plateau with the same strategy that got you to it, and cutting costs when you're trying to grow is a HUGE mistake.
You're going to have to INVEST your way through it.
As business owners we have to be brave and it takes bravery to INVEST in yourself and your business when things aren't going well.
The key is to make sure you're investing in the right way. Throw the money at the wrong marketing technique, for example, and you're not investing, you're just wasting money and time.
I've done this many times. I've helped other studios to do it too.
If you're at a plateau in your business I'd like to talk you through getting to the next level.