Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The elephant called Money. It’s often a contentious and emotional topic but believe me, this problem won’t go away if you ignore it.
Watch this video for a well needed money pep talk.
I don’t know about you, but I know a lot of studio owners who have had to dip into their own personal savings to float the studio over summer. I know studio owners who have had to keep a poker face as a teacher keeps pushing for pay rise, while the studio owners there knowing I’m not even paying myself. I know the studio owners who resist looking at their bank balance for fear of what they’re going to find and living daily with this level of anxiety of what it’s like to run a studio but not be making money. It’s not easy.
Jo-Ann’s story
I want to tell you a story about one of our members named Jo-Ann. Jo-Ann was a studio owner for seven years, worked full time in a job from 8am to 4pm, and then would come to the studio and teach from 4pm tp 10pm. She was doing that seven days a week. She didn’t take a holiday for six years, didn’t take a weekend off, she was so committed. The studio wasn’t making money, so she was working her day job in order to just keep the studio going. Now that’s commitment. That is next level devotion.
When she joined our program Studio Evolution, Jo-Ann knew she could not keep going on this way. There’s got to be a different way to do it. She knew financially, this is just not sustainable. What I love about Jo-Ann’s story is, within a few months of joining, we’ve got her business financially to the point where she now doesn’t work weekends ever. She stepped out of the admin of the studio entirely. She’s taken holidays for the first time in years.
Financially, this is the first time ever that she will make a profit. This is the first year ever the studio will actually make a profit.
Now that’s unbelievable transformation in a very, very short amount of time. It just goes to show how much you’re carrying of the stress of running a studio that’s not financially meeting your needs. The tricky thing is that it’s actually the norm. This is why it’s the elephant, my friend. It’s normal to run a studio that’s not hugely financially successful. It’s not great. As an industry, this is not ideal, and I’m hugely motivated to shift it. It is a process of shining light in the dark. I know it’s confronting. I know it’s the scariest thing that you may have ever done in this business. This is actually work out why are we now making money.
Here’s the thing, a lot of our members come into our program thinking, I just need more students. I just need more enrollments. If I had more students, I would be making more money. That sometimes may be the case, yes. But in most cases, we’ve had members come into our program with a thousand students and they’re still not making any profit. They’re at 0% profitability and running themselves ragged. More students doesn’t automatically equate to more profit. We need to learn how to manage the money, to master the money, in the studio.
This also comes down to you feeling like you’re worth it, feeling like you deserve to be paid a good wage because truly, I see how much you give. I see the hours you work. You’re working so hard. You are so devoted to this business. Any other business owner would be comfortable receiving a proper wage, but you are so devoted to those students. You don’t feel comfortable taking it away. That is how things have been in the past. It doesn’t have to continue that way because I want you to have all the fulfillment, all of the heart of running a really incredible business and make an experience for your students, and I want you to get paid really well too. That’s what I’m here to do.
What I hope for you today is to just start the process of feeling maybe I can have both. Maybe I can have my cake and eat it too. I can have a career in the arts that I’m so passionate about, and as well as that, I can have the financial freedom that I desire. I can take my family on holidays because you can. It’s the new norm and we want you to be a part of it.
I hope this video has helped empower you more to take control of your finances. It is really important you do.
If you are also looking for that boost in enrolments then I invite you to grab a copy of my 6 Week Marketing Plan. This plan has helped hundreds of studio owners map out their promotions and events attracting a flood of students.
It is 100% free and you can grab your copy here.
Catch you soon friend!
All my best,
Chantelle
