Journey of a studio owner....location location location!

I know this blog of my journey in opening my studio is late, but I have been very busy with it - and with good cause. Here is what I have been up to in the past year with this project...piece by piece...

Late last year, my mentor, a fellow dancer and I talked about our dream to own a studio. We all agreed it was the route we should seriously pursue. The studio where we were renting from was in an unknown state and we were not sure if we would be there in a few months or so... Our own group of dancers, students, and performers were growing so fast and that we were running out of room to hold classes was proof enough of our expansion needs. We NEED a new studio!

In January, we seriously put this thought on the road and take off with it. It was going to happen. The place where we were renting was still in uncertainty and we had to do what we had to do to protect our business.
First things first, file for official business, get a bank acccount (actually several), make a business pan, do ALOT of research, outline what we need to do for our classes and....we need a location.
It only looked easy as we saw many gorgeous buildings and potential locations. Then it hit us...the price - seems that these gorgeous buildings also had a steep price...even in this economy. Prices ranged from $1.59/sf to $3.95/sf - we were looking for something much lower per square foot. Looking for a lower priced place was another challenge - industrial areas offer plenty of room, low overhead, and fairly easy access. This too, also had it's limitation; the city's zoning where we were located prohibited a dance studio to use a comercial zoned area. We needed to look for a mixed use building that would comply with the city use zoning. Just as we found something that was mixed use, low overhead, and easy access, issues with each of our locaion searches had their own set of problems such as lack of parking, extra utilites charges, and lease issues that would leave us at the mercy of the landlord. Because most of the buildings in our area are older, we encountered our share of rickety buildings, sloping floors, lack of handicapped access, the strong smell of mold & unmentionables, odd floor plans, and really weird retrofitting. Dozens and dozens of locations and leasing agents later, we needed to look beyond our city since they are not mixed use friendly. This meant our search and research will need to start all over again.

It's no wonder why there is a high rate of small business failure in our city.

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.