Dance Studio Software Gives You Your Freedom Back

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Dance studio software might sound like just one more thing you have to check off your to-do list. It’s certainly not something to get excited about. The right software, like the right accountant, is merely a tool for getting things done. It’s just one more thing to spend money on, one more expense, one more check box on your endless to-do list.

Or is it? Dance studio software is more than just a means to an end and, believe it or not, it might actually be something you can and should get excited about. You went into business because you wanted something more. You wanted to offer better teaching, better instructors, and a better course load to students. You also probably hoped to improve your own life via more control over your schedule and less accountability to people you’d rather ignore.

The challenging reality of dance studio ownership is that it’s much different than what many owners expected. They find themselves juggling an endless variety of roles, dealing with constant stress, and wondering if (not when) they’ll ever get a break. When you own your own business, the buck stops with you. That’s a hard thing to manage, no matter how good you are at your craft. And if you’re like many owners, you’re not very good at the business side of things because you got into this industry for the pure love of dance.

So what’s a harried, exhausted owner to do? Dance studio solutions, including the right software, can change your life, give you more freedom, and finally help you run the studio you’ve always hoped would be yours.

Here are five ways The Studio Director can give you back your freedom.

Freeing You to Focus on What Really Matters

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What were you hoping to accomplish when you opened your studio? We consistently hear from studio directors who say they wanted more control over their time, more unique classes, better instructors, the right culture, community involvement, and a million other things. These unique offerings are what set you apart. They give you a competitive edge.

The problem is that, when you’re bogged down by the daily obligations of running a business, it becomes virtually impossible to focus on what makes you special. There are taxes to file, lawyers and accountants to hire, regulations to worry about, and a seemingly endless array of business-related hassles.

Dance studio software can manage many of these issues for you. The Studio Director offers:

  • cloud storage of your most important information
  • the ability to access data anywhere with our app
  • customized progress reports
  • easy course enrollment management
  • inventory management that helps you track your money and your products
  • unlimited family and student accounts
  • tracking of attendance, including trial sessions and drop-ins
  • recital and costume management
  • text messaging for easy communication management

This frees your time to focus on that which you and you alone can do: run your studio the way you see fit. So many of the functions studio directors find themselves saddled with are things anyone can do. So why waste time on them? Plug your information into our program, then get back to the business of creatively running the company you’ve built.

You might find you’re finally able to:

  • contemplate opening a new location
  • consider new course offerings
  • become more involved in community activities
  • become engaged in political issues that affect your studio or your students
  • weigh which marketing campaigns are actually working
  • visit classes and evaluate instructors
  • offer one-on-one coaching to students and instructors
  • engage in charitable work, such as starting a class scholarship or donating class time to an underprivileged child

More Money

Many studios find themselves being nickeled and dimed to death. Do any of these expenses sound familiar?

  • The unexpected tax bill
  • The surprise lawsuit from a disgruntled employee — you can settle or pay to fight, but either way, you’re paying.
  • The regulation that you have to follow, potentially spending thousands to get into compliance.
  • The numerous contracts you must create, and pay an attorney to review
  • The surprise increase in the cost of supplies
  • Endless utility bills
  • Cost of living raises for instructors, and bonuses to ensure the best ones stick with you

Every dance studio operates on very slim margins. So most owners feel pressure to do as much as they can themselves. There’s just no room in the budget to outsource the taxes to an accountant or invest in a marketing consultant. The problem is that doing it yourself often means doing it half as well — or procrastinating until your taxes are late, your marketing plan makes no sense, and your contracts are woefully out of date.

Dance studio management software offers a viable alternative. Rather than hiring endless consultants and freelancers, the right software handles the daily functions of business management. This frees up more cash so you can pay the experts you really need. For instance, if you’re sued and need to invest in a good lawyer, you’ll have the funds available. You’ll also have the records you need neatly stored in your studio management software program.

Not only does this allow you to save money you’d spend on staff. It also offers a potent opportunity to make more money. You may have more money to spend on advertising, more funds to spend on quality instructors, and of course, more time to focus on creatively growing your business. Money is often what stands between studio owners and more freedom. Hang on to more of it by getting more done with The Studio Director.

With the right studio management software, you can easily monitor trends and changes in your business over time. This is another path to more profits.

You’ll be able to easily assess:

  • whether marketing efforts are actually working
  • how much you’re spending on inventory, and how much you’re getting
  • which instructors bring in the most revenues
  • which classes are most popular
  • whether specific students help draw in more students via referrals
  • how business decisions affect profits, and how long it takes for those decisions to begin changing things

More Time

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Your time is the most valuable business asset you have. Theoretically at least, you can always earn more money, hire more instructors, or invest in more studio space. But each of us only gets 168 hours a day. When an hour is gone, it’s gone for good. There’s no way to get back lost time.

Time is also money. How much do you bill for an hour of your time? That’s how much money you’re losing when you spend that time on something you can’t bill for. Consider the instructor who bills $100/hour, but who spends five hours doing paperwork. She’s just lost $500. And she’s probably a lot more frustrated and unhappy than when she started.

Studio management software allows you to reclaim your time. You’ll spend less time filling out paperwork, issuing reports, managing enrollment snafus, and dealing with other frustrating headaches. That means more time to do what matters most — running your studio the way you see fit.

Other benefits often materialize along with more time:

  • Better personal relationships because you’re less stressed
  • Better mental health
  • More time spent teaching and doing other billable activities
  • Better relationships with your staff
  • Feeling more in control of your studio and life
  • Time to plan for and dream about the future of your studio
  • A chance to develop stronger relationships with students

And more. Your time is valuable. Treat it that way by outsourcing the daily tasks of running your business to the right program. The software doesn’t make errors, get stressed, or ask for a raise. So you really do have nothing to lose.

A More Balanced Lifestyle

Work is a part of your life, not the sum total of your life — no matter how much you love your job or how committed you feel to your studio.

Let’s get real for a second: no one on their deathbed or facing a life-threatening diagnosis wishes they spent more time at work. They wish they lived a freer more meaningful life, that they spent more time with family, that they traveled more, learned more, loved more, lived more.

You only have one life (at least as far as any of us know). That’s one chance to make your life count. So don’t while away your time filling out paperwork, dealing with enrollment hassles, and issuing endless progress reports. Wouldn’t you rather spend your work time doing something that really matters, like revolutionizing the way your instructors teach or finding a way to empower low-income children through dance?

When you don’t have to worry about endless to-do lists, you can focus on sculpting a life you love. That may mean:

  • More time with family, since you can carry your studio information anywhere and don’t have to always be at the office.
  • More vacations, since you’ll have more time. You’ll also have the ability to access key information wherever you are, so a vacation no longer has to incite panic.
  • Less stress.
  • More time to focus on other pursuits, whether you want to read more or build a second location.
  • Fewer conflicts with loved ones because you’ll have a more balanced schedule and less stress.
  • Better mental health.
  • A chance to focus on building your brand

A Higher Public Profile

public-profile

Some dance studio owners are great at self-promotion. Others hate it. No matter how you feel about promoting your brand and your business, one fact remains: self-promotion is not optional. But many studio owners do it wrong. They brag online or invest in marketing speak. The truth is that the best form of marketing is subtle. As the saying goes: Don’t buy anything from someone who’s trying to sell you something.

The best way to market your company is to become involved in your local community. That might mean participation in community volunteer days, sponsoring a race or community event, giving a scholarship to underprivileged children, sponsoring a school yearbook, or simply becoming a more visible presence at community events.

Yet most studio owners are way too busy to even begin thinking about becoming more visible in public. The most they can hope for is a few quick Facebook statuses.

You can change all that with the right studio management solutions. Studio management software gives you back your time so you can focus on building your public profile. Perhaps even more important, the right software can help you track changes in your business over time. This means you can measure whether your higher public profile is actually working. We bet the answer will be yes.

Ready to Live the Life You Want? We Can Help!

No one goes into business because they’re itching to have tax debt, become a slave to the numbers, and endlessly spend money on marketing gimmicks. Yet many studio owners find themselves on the endless treadmill of spending more in the hopes that it will give them more freedom, more money, or just more time.

It’s time to get off the treadmill. It doesn’t go anywhere. Investing thousands in strategies that don’t work only costs you money. Studio management software puts all the tools you need at your fingertips, and at a fraction of the price of a personal assistant, note taker, lawyer, and, well…the 15 or so other people you’d need to hire to fill the same roles the right software can fill.

With The Studio Director, you’ll never have to go digging through a pile of paper again. Our effortless app takes everything you need with you. And our cloud storage ensures that a hard drive crash never again has to spell disaster for your business — or your sanity. Best of all, we’re so convinced that our program will revolutionize the way you live that we offer a completely free demo.

See how it works for your studio. Then reclaim your life. Give us a call today to get started! We help you get set up quickly, with the assistance of our friendly team of customer service representatives. Now’s the time to get started.

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