Journey of a Studio Owner: Finding Home: not one, but two, but three times!

Dream:
Find a perfect location, sun gleaming against the windows. Perfect location, fully loaded with all the trimmings, ...where's the line & I'll sign it right now and start teaching tomorrow!

Reality:
Three words, #1) NOT. #2) EVEN. #3) CLOSE.


It's a dream most dancers want in their lives...their own dance studio. I have spoken of the trials and tribulations of dealing with the process. In this blog, I'm talking about location. Yes, we decided Moreno Valley...but where? I've stalked almost every business and industrial MLS ads and bilboards across the city. We've asked all our students for leads here and there...and luckily, my business partner is an office assistant and comes across leads all the time.

With several recommendations, we fell in love with a location. It was perfect. It was once a dance studio with all the walls up and rooms divided, all we needed were flooring and mirrors. We envisioned our haflas, workshops, classes, retail area, reception area, warm-up area...it was all there and ready to occupy. We were gleaming and dreaming at all the possibilities.
REALITY CHECK - 6000 square feet = rent of almost a dollar a square foot.
Definitely out of our budget and way out of our reach.

Our leasing agent worked at getting us into another location that would suit us. He showed us a location that was 5000 square feet and asked if this would be suitable, but that too was out of our league. He sent us in on locations that were near the end of their lease to "scope it out", but none seem to fit the bill...however, my business partner ended up buying a mattress from one of the places we scoped out!

The next day he showed us a place that was once a Hookah bar and it was about 2500 square feet...much better price, but it was definitely small to our projected growth for the future and the distinctive smell of hookah smoke. No worries, we will manage, we know people who can erradicate the smell.
The decision has been made, we will settle for this. Our mentor guiding us through our studio search made a CAD design of the layout of what our studio will be like and what will be done. After getting the lease agreement - 34 pages of it and going over it with a fine toothed comb and making numerous revisions, our mentor had to make a departure that leaves us without the original agreement or revisions for submissions. When we finally got the agreement in order with the help of our mentor's spouse, we were ready to move forward. A meeting was called with a group of instructors and in the midst of the meeting, one of the instructors said, "I was driving by the location last night to see where it was and I saw the hookah bar was still in operation and it didn't look like it was out of business..." Much to my shock (and jaw on the ground) my business partner drove by it the next night to confirm what the other gal saw - and it was true.

The next morning I set out a call to the leasing agent for an explanation and he said we waited too long and the original business wanted to conduct business again and they let them return. "RETURN??? RETURN without letting us know or even asking why there was a delay with us???" After a lengthy talk, he agreed to show us another property for the same rate and we were immediately entranced.
Nevermind the cobwebs or dust, we saw beautiful potential. The location had beautiful ceilings, tile floors, arched doorways, beautiful fixtures and definitely bigger...except there would need to be alot of demolision and revisions to the walls, restrooms, flooring, etc. Again, no worries...we will manage. The dreams of haflas, workshops, retail, etc fill the air once again and we also get the students in on the dream. My mentor's spouse took some pictures and photoshopped 'artists renditions' of what the exterior would look like. Everyone is excited and happy we have something within reach! Once again with another revised lease, we negotiated for alowances that would seem to fit our vision. I would turn it in the next day after my dance conference over the weekend.
Mission accomplished....or so I thought.

Upon my arrival from the MECDA professional conference, I immediately got a text message from my leasing agent. [give me a call immediately] When I called him, the news I dreaded to hear: "You cannot have that location, there are some things that came up that was beyond our control and we didn't see it coming".
A sense of heaviness came upon me an I didn't know whether to scream, cry, or just be stunned in silence. I just paused in disbelief. I was stunned. All our hard work again gone. Just as I told my business parner the news, she was equally as stunned, but also angry that we have been strung along like this. Her sentiments quickly synced with what I was thinking and by the time I met with the leasing agent the following day, I gave him a piece or two of my mind (maybe even three) and expressed the journey of disappointment to him about our ordeal. He understood, although the circumstances were legitamite and warrented for this situation, however it was no excuse for their lack of knowledge of the situation or communication within. He agreed and gave us another offer - a former karate studio that has been recently vacated in the past two months.
Remember in the earlier part of this blog I mentioned the 5000 square foot place? This is the one. Better pricing, better allowances. This time, it fits us perfectly. mirrors in place, rooms divided, flooring is somewhat acceptable, and rent is definitely acceptable. Score! (however it took us three times to get this place!)

Somehow, we have come full circle. Not exactly in the way we imagined, but in a way that was meant to be. Now is the fun part....HARD WORK

Career Applications...1.0

Yes, the series of this title is called "Career Applications" These lessons and skills that I aquired from the MECDA Professional Dance Conference and Retreat

As you have seen in my last entry, I promoted it and even applied for a scholarship. As part of it, you need to be a MECDA member and have a letter of recommendation from your teachers/peers. Although I was not selected as a scholarship member, I was selected to be part of the volunteer staff. Aside from all the behind the scenes work, setup, hospitality and such, I was able to sit in all the conference classes I was volunteering for. The experience I had was beyond words. This is exactly what I wanted and needed very badly - to apply it to my dance, to apply it to my studio, and most of all, to apply it to my students so they can grow. It was five fun-filled, hard working days of little sleep and plenty of love from the sisterhood of bellydancers from all over the country. The caliber of talent, professionalism is beyond what I have ever encountered anywhere to this point.
I posted some pictures on my social network page and most of the pics people saw ws all the fun activities we were engaging in....one of my friends said,"doesn't look like you really learned anything because I hardly see any pictures taken before, during, or after class....that's just it - there was so much learning you really could not step away to take a pic for fear that you will miss a piece of precious information from our honored instructors.

Yes....everything I am doing at this point is highly risky. My family thinks I'm crazy and my dreams are just dreams. I already know I don't want to go back to my last career...going back would be like signing a death sentence. I knew what I did then was not a good factor in my health. I found that I was not compatible with it....but like every dark cloud, the silver lining of that job was my enjoyment in patient or family education before the patient was discharged....I always looked forward to that....and that's where I discovered my love for teaching was in me all along. Above it all, teaching dance has been the best therapy ever!

So far, I have spent the past two weeks since the conference, I have been organizing what I want to do in my new chosen career. I am also plannning the opening of my studio which has proven it's challenges. Lest not forget that I still need a part time job since being laid off last year. Odd jobs and teaching has kept me alfoat on a shoestring in this horrible economy.
I must admit, I feel like I am not accomplishing much because of the studio thing. So much to learn, so much to do, so much to keep in check, so much headache, so much money, and so much time passing with each delay. (I will write a separate blog on that subject) I just want to be in it now.

Of what I learned in the conference I have been sharing it with my fellow directors and students. I did manage to get my business partner to open a twitter account and how to make a QR code. She is putting the brochures and flyers together for distribution and has got us booked for the next harvest fair. I am managing to finish two choreographies - one for class, one for audition, a mission statement for the troupe, and outlining what we are going to do for our next video....somehow I feel it's not enough, but I have to take things in good stride. I'll update more later....promise.