Teaching more classes might feel like the smartest way to save money in your studio, but what if it’s actually costing you more than you realise?
In this episode of Your Studio Podcast, we’re breaking down the hidden costs of over-teaching, how to reclaim your time without compromising success, and the key shifts that will help your studio grow.
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Michelle Hunter (00:50)
Do you ever tell people that you have a podcast?
Chantelle Bruinsma (00:52)
No, because I’m at the school gate and that would feel uncomfortable.
Michelle Hunter (00:56)
Well, I told someone at the school gate this morning. So cause she was like, why are you not wearing pajamas?
Chantelle Bruinsma (00:58)
yeah?
Why
are you amazing?
Michelle Hunter (01:04)
And I said, no, I’m not gonna play this down. I was like, oh, we’re recording a podcast today. And she’s like, and is it new? said, no, we’ve been doing it for a little while now. And then like whip smart, this gorgeous mama whipped out her phone and looked it up. And then I knew she was listening it on, on, on, on the way home from school drop off. I was like, there you go.
Chantelle Bruinsma (01:25)
There you go. Travis just quietly dropped that he’d listened to three episodes the other day and I was like, really? Like I didn’t think he’d listened to any, he’s my husband. I was like, does he? He’s such a devoted husband, Travis Bruinsma.
Michelle Hunter (01:33)
Mitchell listens to all of them. Yeah.
Well he drives a lot! It’s like an hour and ten each way from work to home so he’s in the car.
Chantelle Bruinsma (01:42)
Thank you Mitch Hunter,
you get our kind of like…
Michelle Hunter (01:46)
I have a lot of friends who listen, a lot of friends that listen in, which is lovely.
Chantelle Bruinsma (01:47)
Fan number one.
I have one friend who listens in I know, every episode.
Michelle Hunter (01:53)
And then the kids think we’re super famous.
Chantelle Bruinsma (01:55)
When we come up on the car, that’s a big deal.
Michelle Hunter (01:58)
Yeah. And my kids sing a song thinking, and the song’s not really anything linked to any of our promo, but they sing studio evolution. And so that’s not, that’s not our song.
Chantelle Bruinsma (02:12)
God, I love it. Can you please record
them? We’re gonna add this to the new jingle for the pod. Or like an outro. That could be a really good outro song.
Michelle Hunter (02:18)
Yeah, we need a jingle. Yeah, we could do that.
Chantelle Bruinsma (02:23)
also ran into
Liam as at Jose’s house on Sunday and Liam, God love Liam, he brought down his major camera, Holly, and was like, oh, so do you want to have a play with this so you can get used to this? He was like, thank you so much for that invitation on a Sunday afternoon. And I’m allowing Holly to run with this. And yes, so no thank you, I don’t want to play with all the fancy buttons.
Michelle Hunter (02:43)
You know what I love about you, Chantelle, that’s like, when you’re in, you’re in, but it’s like, when there’s something, it’s just like, I can’t, I’m good. I can’t, I’m not, that’s not my bag.
Chantelle Bruinsma (02:43)
Good fun.
Alright, I’m in or I’m out. Like I’m all in and I’m all out. I’m very clean. I’m a no for that. Thank you.
Michelle Hunter (02:54)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. love it.
That’s so funny.
What’s my. Ordering a new phone, I couldn’t do it.
Chantelle Bruinsma (03:07)
No, I’ll broaden it out from that Michelle. You’re what you are out for is self care. Like, like, friend, I have how many times we have we I’m banging my ring on the table now. Have you booked a bowen appointment? Have you got a naturopath nutritionist? No. Okay, so every week, I’m going to have to have a start, having some consequences with you for lack of self care. I’m going to be your accountability buddy. And say
Michelle Hunter (03:15)
Uhhh…
Yeah, no, I haven’t. haven’t. No.
You’re so right. It’s just been a juggernaut of kids’ health issues.
Chantelle Bruinsma (03:39)
It has been not a juggernaut, it has been a clusterfuck.
Michelle Hunter (03:43)
It just doesn’t stop. And then my like care, it’s like a bidding system. It’s like biopsy, that’s up there. All I gotta go. I gotta go. I gotta go. I gotta go.
Chantelle Bruinsma (03:54)
Yes, surgery. All right, I’m gonna tap it in.
Michelle Hunter (03:57)
I’ll
get a surgery and then all these others and then I’m like I have these intentions. Yes I’m gonna get a bowen going in nutritionist Did my neck can’t move can’t carry the kid. I’ll go in I’ll get the neck released
Chantelle Bruinsma (04:08)
But
know what’s really like, you do so much for me. I’m so happy to be your executive assistant for your health. I am so happy to call Naturopaths Nutritionists because like I’m invested in your health more than most because it’s going to impact my entire life.
Michelle Hunter (04:17)
I know you’re the best. Yeah. You’re really sweet. You’re really sweet.
Even going into surgery. was like, my phone just died. I need Netflix while I’m in recovery and that phone turned up to my door the next day. Oh, that was amazing. You got me wifey.
Chantelle Bruinsma (04:29)
Bam.
Consider it done. Consider it done. Yeah. Yeah. Because you
just give so much to everyone else, And, but we, we, yeah, we, we want you bright and bouncy.
Michelle Hunter (04:44)
it interesting how many people do, I would say, I know a lot of moms like this, who just, they’re so good at prioritizing everyone else.
Chantelle Bruinsma (04:53)
huh.
I think it’s a real issue amongst women. It’s not okay.
Michelle Hunter (04:59)
100%.
What is that? Is that like value or like they’re just running at like 100 % all the time?
Chantelle Bruinsma (05:05)
Yeah, it must come down to a worthiness thing of being able to prioritize and kind of balance themselves in relation to others. I mean, it’s that whole thing where, you know, we are human doings, not human beings. I mean, we could take this all the way back to patriarchy, right? Which is kind of like that women are meant to be of service, that we’ve kind of grown up in a culture where women are innately kind of there to support and serve others. And there is less kind of separation of self to be able to kind of identify where our needs
begin and everyone else’s start. I think it’s a lot, I think it’s a lot, but I think there is another way to be where it’s what’s good for one, it’s good for the other. Mind you, I kind of still struggle to find time to exercise and because I really prioritize wanting to connect with the kids. I find that really tricky because like there’s plenty of time I could go for a walk or go to party, but I choose to not. So I get it.
Michelle Hunter (05:37)
So interesting.
Yeah.
Chantelle Bruinsma (06:00)
Well, welcome to season three, everyone. We’re still here. We are loving it more than ever. And we are so grateful that you guys listen along and you comment and you’re sharing and you’re reviewing for us. It just means the world that you are here with us for your studio podcast is all about you guys. And this season we’ve got some really juicy topics we want to kind of dive into. And today is no exception, Michelle Hunter, is it?
Michelle Hunter (06:00)
Okay.
No, and it’s a topic where, interesting, we like to talk about it a lot, but sometimes it’s not the easiest topic to talk about.
Chantelle Bruinsma (06:34)
No,
no, it’s really not. And what we’re talking about today is what happens when maybe you’ve had a drop in numbers, maybe the studio kind of is still in a startup phase and you haven’t got a huge amount of students. And in your mind, it’s like, okay, well, we’re not making a lot of money. So the best thing for me to do is to teach the majority of the classes here, because that’s going to be the most profitable way to move forward because you’re not having to pay for teachers, right? And that makes sense logically.
Michelle Hunter (06:41)
Mm.
Chantelle Bruinsma (07:04)
Or does it? Or does it, Michelle?
Michelle Hunter (07:07)
Well, it really that way of thinking. And I think we’ve seen it when we’ve a lot of studio owners, it really that mentality is really around the solo studio owner. You know, when you first start and, and, you know, it’s just you and it’s before you hire a team, we’ve got it or teaching assistants coming on board and like you’re wearing all the hats, you’re doing all the things. And it’s a very easy mindset to revert back to when things get hard. It’s kind of like when you’re training someone new and they’ve just got to step out or they’ve got something come up and you’re like,
Chantelle Bruinsma (07:29)
Hmm.
Michelle Hunter (07:37)
I’ll just do it. Just put it back on my plate. I’ve got it. I’ll do it. It’s just quicker. And sometimes it’s not the solution. Well, a lot of time it’s not the solution. And what you think is either saving you money or time, cause it’s quicker. It’s actually going to make it harder for yourself in the long run.
Chantelle Bruinsma (07:53)
For sure. I think there is a core belief that teaching more is saving money for the studio as a studio owner. But in our experience, it actually can quite significantly sabotage the growth. And here’s why. By you keeping in the classroom, and look, I don’t know how many hours you’re teaching right now. You might be teaching eight hours, you might be teaching 15, you might be teaching 20, you might be teaching 35, you might be teaching 45. Don’t know how many classes you’re teaching a week, right?
But when you are trying to deliver that many face-to-face classes, and as a teacher, I know how much prep goes in to teaching that amount of students and thinking about their needs and kind of the variety and the kind of repertoire and the curriculum and how you’re extending them. Like there’s a lot, there’s a lot. And then the communication that goes around that. And then if we think about your bandwidth for actually working on the business and growing the business, you’ve got none. Like there’s no way, there’s no way.
Michelle Hunter (08:51)
It’s too much. And look, we’re not saying if you love teaching by all means, like we know a lot of studio owners who their heart still sits a lot with teaching. And we’re not saying not to do that, but if you’re wanting to grow your studio, there is an aspect that you need to lean into significantly and that’s not teaching more.
Chantelle Bruinsma (09:04)
No.
And there’s ways to do it. There’s ways for you to be smart about how to still teach. I’m always gonna teach. I’m a teacher. It’s like my core archetype, I reckon. And you maybe feel the same. Please never stop teaching if you love it. The students need you, right? However, we can kind of really choose which classes make your heart light up, which give you energy. Because you know, and I know that there’s also classes that don’t give us energy, right? There’s definitely ones like.
Michelle Hunter (09:14)
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Chantelle Bruinsma (09:40)
you know, I’m just dialing it in for this one, it doesn’t kind of change your life. So it’s considering how we can free up your teaching space and the gain that you get when you’re not teaching as much is what you can actually put into marketing. Now, the biggest delineator between where you are right now and the business you want to have is the quality and the volume of marketing you can do. If we can free you up to increase more time for you to get more marketing out there and get the quality of your marketing out there,
Michelle Hunter (10:04)
Mm-hmm.
Chantelle Bruinsma (10:10)
your business is gonna do better. And so while it’s kind like in this, I’m gonna teach more because it’s gonna save me money, it is holding you back from a huge amount more money that you could be making in this business if we could reduce your hours. It’s a big shift in your thinking.
Michelle Hunter (10:27)
Big, shift. All right. Well, let’s lay it out, Chantelle. What would be step one? And I know where this is going to go for step one of freeing, of stepping away from your teaching more.
Chantelle Bruinsma (10:39)
Okay. So often the first step is like, maybe we don’t even need to cut any classes. We just need to give you more spaciousness to get in the zone. Cause you know, when you get like these little tiny snippets of windows of time to work on the business and you’re so exhausted that you do get time to your desk and you don’t quite know what to work on in those tiny windows of opportunity. And so it’s kind of knowing what to focus on in those times that gives you the structure and
Michelle Hunter (10:53)
Yeah.
Chantelle Bruinsma (11:06)
You know, in Studio Evolution, that’s what we really get clear on is like how to maximize the time that you’ve got to make the most impact. What I want to say is step one is could you consolidate your teaching into like four days maybe so that you have one whole dedicated day that is yours for kind of thinking and working and being in the business. So it’s too hard taking hats on and off, right Michelle? It’s just you get too muddled.
Michelle Hunter (11:20)
Mmm.
Chantelle Bruinsma (11:34)
and you don’t get into the flow. If you know you’ve got to teach at three, it tends to mess with your energy. if you’ve taught a class in the morning, again, your energy’s zapped because you’ve given that energy to students. I know for myself, if I teach, you just can’t, you can’t reclaim that.
Michelle Hunter (11:44)
hunt. Yeah.
And don’t forget, like in a studio environment, when you when you’re doing bits like, you know, I’ve got a class here and a class here, and it’s not batched together, the amount of communications as well that’s coming in and out to other teachers to admin to the team in between those periods that that’s also the the additional comms that kind of like clunk up those times. So actually batching the classes together, you’re also going to streamline your communication. So it gives you those other
Chantelle Bruinsma (12:06)
Hmm.
Michelle Hunter (12:12)
you know, time pockets or days which are completely free to work on the business.
Chantelle Bruinsma (12:16)
That’s what we want. And then from there, like if you can get to one day, my goal, you know, usually I would like for you to be teaching no more than 10, 12 classes a week, max. Eight is a nice sweet spot, I find. Around about eight classes a week. That’s a goal for you to get to, And what that would look like is two days of teaching per week and then three days of actually working on this business of yours and growing it.
Michelle Hunter (12:27)
Mm-hmm.
Chantelle Bruinsma (12:43)
and the trajectory we’ll see there is huge. But even if that’s like, that could be way down the track for you, right? But even right now it’s like, could you look at, is there one class a week, two classes, and what would be the most strategic time windows for you to kind of free up so you get the biggest chunk of time to devote to marketing? That would be the question I’d be asking.
Michelle Hunter (12:46)
Huge.
And if we could spend just to start like one day, my goodness, Chantelle, if that one day was spent on working on marketing, I am telling you, if you could be that dedicated, not just like one day for the first two weeks and then you stop because life gets in the way, but actually the discipline of working one day on marketing, a week on your business, it will dramatically transform the growth and the results.
Chantelle Bruinsma (13:09)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And look, we know that like, let’s say your studio has had a bit of a drop in numbers. Let’s say that you’ve kind of like, numbers aren’t looking good. kind of pennies are being pinched a little bit here and there. And you’re kind of feeling the strain of having to pay all these teachers. And again, the temptation is like, I’ll just step in and take over these classes to kind of save a bit of cash There’s that balance of knowing when to lean in and when to lean out. But then also Michelle, it’s that knowing of
Michelle Hunter (13:33)
Mm-hmm.
Chantelle Bruinsma (13:53)
Where are you going to make the most money in this business? What are the revenue generating activities that are actually going to move the needle on this business?
Michelle Hunter (14:00)
Yeah, for sure. For sure. And it is so tempting because, you know, we still run a business at the end of the day. So we have to, you know, when profitability or enrollments down, we have to do an exercise of trimming to keep, you know, a stable level of profitability. And perhaps that can be looked at in other areas. Like in evolution, we have these really fun projects where we look at what expenses or ongoing subscriptions or everything, maybe you have to do a complete review.
Chantelle Bruinsma (14:07)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Michelle Hunter (14:30)
Maybe
you do have some contra capacity that’s not teaching that might be managing some social media. How can we get smarter at managing or batching our social media so we can free up some of those expenses?
Chantelle Bruinsma (14:41)
You know, cause it is, it’s tricky. It’s tricky to make this decision to drop down your teaching because so much of our identity is, linked to it, right? And how we get our fulfillment and the connection and the idea of kind of not only kind of detaching from that role of being in the classroom, but there’s also the, the risk, right? Because you’re probably the person in the studio who has the best retention. So even if you do get other teachers to kind of step in for you, there’s also this discomfort of like, well, but I can’t afford to lose any students.
Michelle Hunter (14:44)
Hmm.
you
Chantelle Bruinsma (15:11)
And know if I teach it, I know that I’ll keep it. So there’s so many emotions swirling in this place of making this decision to step back from teaching.
Michelle Hunter (15:21)
And let’s be real. A lot of studio owners as well have that emotional block. Who is running head first into embracing marketing? Chantelle it is not something that typically as studio owners we find easy, do we? So there’s also that emotional block as well. It’s like, let’s work on something less that we love, that feels safe, that has all the warm and fuzzies.
Chantelle Bruinsma (15:40)
No.
Yeah, you got it.
Michelle Hunter (15:48)
And then let’s step into a little bit of unknown where I’m really going to push myself, probably a little bit of tech. Yeah. You know, putting myself out there. It’s hard.
Chantelle Bruinsma (15:58)
Yeah, because like teaching you feel so safe, right? And doing more marketing can feel like it’s being, you know, self promoting and kind of like tooting your own horn. So it’s kind of, there is a definite, like it’s, easy to stay in the classroom, stay teaching where you feel comfortable. And if I just do a really good job of it, the studio is going to grow. But what we’ve seen in our experience, it usually takes a little bit more than that to kind of really get this business where you want it to be. So let’s kind of future pace this out.
Michelle Hunter (16:01)
Mmm.
Chantelle Bruinsma (16:25)
So we, let’s say right now this conversation has opened up with you the idea of like, okay, well, you know, if I could just get one day a week to be devoted on working on the studio and just, you know, kind of let the inbox do what it needed to do for that day and actually just have a day dedicated to marketing and growing this studio. What would you actually do? Like even Michelle, what would you think would be one of the first things that you’d encourage a studio owner to play with on those dedicated days?
Michelle Hunter (16:51)
On those dedicated, I would really work on and look, this is a big belief. I think I would work on having a website on an enrollment page really dialed in. So then you can then start pulling the levers of different areas of, know, pushing people to in that enrollment, because everything’s going to lead back there. So you might want to run an open week. You might want to, you know, focus more on.
Chantelle Bruinsma (17:15)
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Hunter (17:20)
word of mouth referral or bring a friend week or something like that or whatever kind of marketing activity that you’re going to push people towards. There’s got to be something that is going to be easy for them to enroll. Might be a Facebook ad. You you might start an online campaign. It’s got to come back to something that’s going to enroll them into the studio.
Chantelle Bruinsma (17:39)
Right. And so what I’m hearing you say is that, you know, if we, as your first point of call, getting your website working really well, so visitors kind of consistently enroll, um, without having to reach out and inquire. If we do that, then it’s kind of like all roads lead back to that one central enrollment machine. And if we get your website really, really optimized for kind of enrollment, then everything we do from there is a bonus. Good tip. I love that. Really smart.
Michelle Hunter (18:07)
Yeah,
it’s just really practical as well because even having the website really well mapped out with FAQ, all the things. So when they land, it’s transparency and it’s not like more questions or another barrier to entry. It’s just like really decision.
Chantelle Bruinsma (18:14)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I love that. And just so you all know, like we in, we have a six week course and it is devoted to studio marketing and websites is one of the things that we actually kind of, spend the first four weeks of the course really getting all of the pieces together and then we add them all onto your website to make sure that your website is like absolutely designed to ensure that it is enrolling students as you sleep. And we’re a big fan of a direct to enrollment strategy.
So we want to, kind of don’t lead in through kind of inquiry. We’re like, let’s just get them in. Like why do the, all the faff and hustles of kind of having multiple like trials and kind of having to check in and kind of follow up. Let’s just get them enrolled into the main thing. So we build websites with our clients in the Leap that encourage people just to just enroll, but to give them all of the emotional and also like the practical knowledge that they feel connected and confident that you’re the right studio for them, that they can make the decision.
and pop the pro credit card details in then there.
Well, to get you there, the first thing for you to do is to look at your teaching load and think, what is the opportunity cost of me teaching this much? What am I, like, if I am teaching this much, what am I not getting, right? Like, yes, you’re getting fulfillment. Yes, in some ways it is a more profitable way, but then it’s holding you back from growing the studio. really like, what’s the next bracket of teaching hours that you want to step towards? Like if you’re teaching 20 hours a week, can we move to what…
What would it look like if you had to drop down to 15 hours a week this week? What would you do? Who would you call? How would you send up? If a doctor kind of said to you, I’m sorry, you’re not like able to teach more than 15 hours, you could make it happen, right? So what would you do? And if we want this business of yours to grow, we need to allow you the space to grow the studio through marketing. And that’s what this decision really is all about. Are you ready?
Michelle Hunter (20:03)
for sure.
Chantelle Bruinsma (20:15)
to step into more growth for this business. Are you ready to stretch out of what has been comfortable and to see the results and the booming profits that are ahead for you if we can just allow you to do what you gotta do for this business?
Michelle Hunter (20:29)
100%. And another thing, Chantelle, like once you’re getting that all dialed in and you’re having that dedicated time to work on marketing, I think a big theme that we really try and encourage for the studio owners of marketing is consistency. Because it’s so easy to be like, know, shiny disco. Sorry. What’s that? What’s that syndrome you say? Shiny disco ball.
Chantelle Bruinsma (20:44)
Mm-hmm.
Shiny Disco Ball or Shiny Object Syndrome.
Michelle Hunter (20:53)
Shiny object syndrome. It’s like, I’m going to do a bring the friend week. Oh, but then I’m to hold a talent quest. and then I’m going to do that fair over there. And then, and then maybe have a stall, which I can tell people. But we know that when there’s too many things on the plate, you don’t execute it properly. Like really think about something that’s coming up.
and where it’s bring a friend week or you’re doing an event and make sure that you’ve really thought about, you know, the user experiences where you’re to do QR code, codes, whatever promotion to enrollment. I think the execution and focusing on that one campaign at a time and really ensuring that it’s humming and you can have several things going, but that you’ve really executed it in full is really important to getting the most out of the marketing and the leads of that campaign.
Chantelle Bruinsma (21:21)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
And look, and marketing can be tricky. You used a lot of words just then Michelle, which I’m sure people are like, don’t quite know what you mean there, but it sounds very fancy and very technical and very smart. So I’m sure she’s, she knows what she’s talking about, but like, want to invite you to like, to join
Michelle Hunter (21:50)
Yeah.
Chantelle Bruinsma (21:54)
so we are literally in right now, in beginning of starting a whole new live round of The Leap and there’s probably still time. If you’d like to join us, you can kind of jump this is means over the six weeks, every week, there’s one thing I’m going to ask you to do. And we’re going to build such a beautiful momentum of growth in the marketing of your business and make it feel easier and simpler for you to enroll more students. It’s a very practical
We’re going to get all of the elements together, which showcase how you are different from anyone in your area. And finally for the
First time ever, really get this dialled-in. And by the end of the six weeks, you are going to have enrolled at least 20 students is our target. In fact, we send you a sticker chart to make this kind of really keep you focused on it. We’re gonna see at least 20 students enroll within the next weeks. It is a great joy and we wanna encourage you to do this because it’s so easy just to kind of get lost in the wash of life and time just flows. Let’s be really structured here. Let’s get this working. Let’s get your website designed how it needs to be designed. And that’s what we can help you with.
Michelle Hunter (22:41)
yeah.
Chantelle Bruinsma (22:50)
in the leap, we’d love to see you. So if
go to studioevolution.com forward slash the leap, you can find all about it and join us and we’re gonna be doing this live over six weeks together. It’s gonna be great, come along.
Michelle Hunter (23:01)
Yeah, it’s gonna be awesome Chantelle. And we’re gonna clean up that website. We’re gonna have it humming and working like an enrollment machine.
Chantelle Bruinsma (23:07)
Yeah. And again, sometimes you need the support to be able to make these big decisions of dropping down the teaching hours, having the permission to go, no, you’re worthy of having this time to work on the business and to feel confident in it, to feel structured and connected with why you’re doing what you’re doing to grow this business. Sometimes it’s hard because I bet there’s also that fear in your back of your head of, you know, all the students just, they all want me.
And like, don’t want to disappoint them saying like, you’re to have this other teacher now, you’re not going to have me anymore. And there’s a resistance there. So there’s lots of factors at play that keep you stuck in teaching the studio. And the more that we normalize that this is a normal process to go through, you are always going to have to go through this process to grow the studio. This is a normal part of growth. This is a normal part of the leap. You know, as you lead to another stage of growth, there are new challenges. And one of the first challenges you’re going to encounter as you grow your studio.
is that your dynamic, your relationship in running the studio is gonna change. So take The Leap with us and let us support you through this process of growing your business. We can’t wait to see you there. Head over to leap.com, not the leap, studioevolution.com forward slash the leap and you can come on board with us, Michelle.
Michelle Hunter (24:16)
Yep, we’ll see you in there. And it’s it’s meant to be challenging, sometimes friends, and it’s meant to be hard. But a bit of support, it doesn’t have to be all the time.
Chantelle Bruinsma (24:25)
You got this, you got this. See you soon friends. Thanks for listening.
Michelle Hunter (24:27)
See you then, bye.
