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As you might have seen, I recently made a BIG announcement regarding NEW ownership of the 360 Dance Festival™

Mr. Richard Smith, a good friend of mine in the dance industry, is now officially leading this venture into its next chapter!  

Richard’s background as a master teacher, event director, and artistic director makes him THE perfect fit for this unique event.  I am so excited to support his vision for the future.

At More Than Just Great Dancing®, we started this dance festival three years ago. We saw the need for an all-inclusive, non-competitive, uplifting event for students around the country.  Attendance and feedback at the events we produced affirmed that we were on the right track: dance families were hungry for exciting, relevant dance training in a positive environment.

The awesome growth of the 360 Dance Festival™ meant that new leadership was something I needed to explore.  And I found it in Mr. Richard! Not only was he a founding faculty member, but he has worked tirelessly over the past 15 years to bring the principles of technique to every class and dancer he teaches.  He truly has a heart for this mission, which I’ve seen personally in his work as a guest teacher with our students at Misty’s Dance Unlimited.

My team and I asked Richard to share with us his ideas for leading 360, and I thought this post would be the perfect way to tell you what he’ll be doing to take the event to the next level …

“Nurturing the whole dancer will continue to be a very important component,” Richard told us, “and I want to make sure that everyone who attends the event—students, parents, teachers, studio owners—leaves with knowledge they can keep using over and over again.  We want everyone to leave feeling better than they were before.”

Developing the community of the 360 Dance Festival™ is a focus of Richard’s too.  As a faculty member at the event previously, he knows firsthand how special it was for us to begin building the framework of this community.  Now he’s ready to expand it.

“That sense of community is something I want to develop on a grander scale,” Richard says.  “I want attendance to feel like a ‘homecoming’ in a way, like 360 is a place for camaraderie and coming together on an annual basis; the place you want to go for that face-to-face interaction and learning that only a live event can provide.”

The interaction and learning will come from select teachers on the festival’s faculty. Richard sees them as the backbone of the event; the people who will help carry out his mission.

“One of the things I’m most driven by in leading 360 is seeing American dance take its place in the world of dance,” explains Richard.  “This is a platform for the next level of development, a step toward what that bigger picture looks like. We’re going to be creating an outlet for innovative teachers and choreographers to go beyond the technical merit of dance.

I’m looking forward to creating a space for these teachers to do what they love, not just teach class … they’ll be completely accessible to the participants.  They will be on the floor, making personal corrections. They’ll be hands-on to instruct and inspire.”

So what does that mean for those who are interested in attending?  

Richard tells us it means effective class sizes (convention sized, but not super-sized), teachers who are invested in making a difference, and knowledge takeaways that will continue to motivate dancers long after they arrive home.

I can honestly say that with all Richard has planned, the future of the 360 Dance Festival™ is brighter than I could have imagined!  I’m so proud to have had a hand in developing this event. Now I’m even prouder to see where it goes from here.

I hope you’ll join me in extending congratulations to Richard on taking over the event. Stay tuned to the next round of announcements from him about this year’s festival in Chicago!

Love, Misty

There’s a common characteristic among so many studio owners I meet.  

It’s something that always stands out to me when we’re getting to know each other. It goes beyond our shared passion for dance and business and seems to radiate from them: it’s a love for learning.

Learning doesn’t stop when we graduate from school or open a business, of course.  In fact, I’d argue that continuing our education becomes even more important as we journey deeper into studio ownership … it allows us to pick up new tools, evolve smartly, discover more about our strengths, improve growth areas, and develop relationships.

This was one of the reasons I founded More Than Just Great Dancing®. I had a hunch there were other people out there who wanted to learn and grow alongside like-minded studio owners!  (Now, with less than 25 member openings left, I can see that my hunch was right!)

Choosing to invest in my education in dance and business is one of the ways I guarantee a return that pays dividends over and over.  Experience tells me that if I invest wisely and put in the work, I’ll see results! And not only that, I will have developed a stronger focus and vision for how I want to grow next.

I imagine that if you’re reading this, you probably feel the same way about investing in your education … but if you’re not sure where to begin with that investment, or you’re looking for something new, allow me to share some of my favorite educational resources in the industry:

For studio owners

My friend Austin Roberson runs the newly rebranded Dance Studio Desk (formerly known as Studio Owners Academy).  He is extremely gifted with technology and loves showing studio owners how to take charge of their websites and automating systems to grow their enrollment.  And another good friend of mine, Clint Salter, is the founder of Dance Studio Owners Association.  He, too, has a knack for inspiring others to grow their studios in every possible way, from programs to profits to systemizing their personal life. If you haven’t met Suzanne Blaker Gerety, you will want to! Her platform, Dance Studio Owner, is a content library rich with resources for every level of the studio owner journey.  And, of course, if you are looking for an intimate community of positive, productive studio owners – check out More Than Just Great Dancing® – I’d love to talk to you!  

For students

When it comes to dancer-related events, I’ve been sending our Misty’s Dance Unlimited students to Hollywood Connection and Dance Revolution.  Hollywood Connection always delivers on its promise to offer top-notch classes with passionate instructors and fair yet friendly judging practices.  And Dance Revolution’s faith-filled classes and showcase performance are so valuable that my students are willing to travel on a coach bus for 19 hours (each way!) to attend!  

For teachers

Two of my favorite instruction-focused education opportunities have become Dance Teacher Web and Dance Teacher Summit.  Each has its own unique tracks of learning and specialized live classes. Each offers something special each year with its faculty lineup and guest speakers.  Not all events are created equal, but these two have certainly been equally great experiences for me.

Although the programs I’ve mentioned here all have some kind of financial investment, remember that “investment” doesn’t only have to mean things you purchase.  It could also mean:

Your investment is really what YOU decide to make of it.

Now that the end of the year is approaching fast, I’ve really enjoyed looking back and taking stock in all the educational investments I’ve made in 2018 and planning ahead for next year.  I hope some of my favorite programs will inspire you like they’ve inspired me! (And hey, if you’re interested in one of the final spots we have left in More Than Just Great Dancing®, apply here to get in before we close out membership!)

Wishing you a successful ROI in the new year!

Love, Misty

Remember when I mentioned I went RUNNING?  

For real … running … and not just because I was in a hurry to be somewhere on time!

Well, running is no longer just a thing I tried to do.  I am doing it.  And I think I might be hooked.

You see, two months ago was when my son Sam took me out for my first run, and I thought, “Oh, sure, a mile?  That’ll be no sweat.”

Of course, it was actually a LOT of sweat.  And I couldn’t finish that mile, which was pretty embarrassing and made me determined to try harder.

Since then, Sam’s been coaching me through all the ups and downs.  He was cheering me on when I couldn’t finish that one-mile run two months ago.  (“You can do it, Mom!”) He kicked me in the pants through ALL the practice miles we ran with the dogs to train. (“Come on, Mom!  You should be faster by now. Keep going!”) He has been such a blessing to me on this sometimes-literally-uphill journey.

Last week we logged our 60th mile running together.  

This past weekend, we ran the “Rotary Ugly Christmas Sweater 5K”.  I’m proud to say I actually ran the whole 3.1 miles and ended up placing 20th in my age group!

And I couldn’t have done it without Sam.  When we were about 2.5 miles into the race, I told him that he could go ahead of me.  I didn’t want to slow him down. But in true coaching form, he said “No, mom! I want to make sure you don’t give up!”

Cue the tears … which I had to swallow back because it was below freezing and I didn’t want my face to be a frozen, wet mess at the finish line!  But trust me when I say my heart squeezed hard when I heard those words.

Sam and I crossed the finish line together to the cheers of our family, which is a moment I’ll never forget.  Spending this time with him and having his support has meant the world to me. If you would have asked me six months ago if I would have taken up running and completed a 5K, I would not have believed it was possible.  But here we are!

These past couple months have truly been a series of small wins that led to this big one.  There was that first mile, then a little more, and little more after that. Each time Sam and I logged another mile of practice, I felt another little nudge of encouragement.  Each time I took the dogs for a run and thought about cutting it short, I would hear Sam’s voice in my head telling me to go, go, go.

I think ALL of our goals are a lot like this; we don’t reach the big wins alone.  And we don’t achieve them without the small wins along the way. We experience little mile-markers that tell us we’re on the right track and we keep going.  And if we’re fortunate enough to have a coach on the journey, we’ve got them prodding us along too!

To me, this 5K was a perfect example of how I can approach other big goals.  I’ve got to seek out expertise, ask for guidance, push through the hard stuff, and keep taking the small steps needed to make progress.  I’ve got to put in the work, but I also need the encouragement and accountability from others.

And so I ask you, what small wins are you working on right now?  

Who have you got cheering you on, and how are you tracking your path to the big win?

Whether it’s a 5K or something else, I wish you the best as you conquer those small wins.  And, if you are looking for a coach on your business journey, now is the time! We have just 25 spots left in More Than Just Great Dancing® … join us and we can achieve our goals together!

Love, Misty

Charitable giving has has always had a place in my heart

From the time I could understand what giving was, I wanted to do it!  My Mom and Dad were BIG givers. Even during lean times, they were always first to offer to help, share or give. It’s a lesson they passed on to me that has only grown with time.

Yesterday was, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, now traditionally known as “Giving Tuesday” around the world.  Although I’m a big believer that giving belongs in our lives at ALL times of the year, I do love that there’s a dedicated day to raising awareness of all the amazing non-profit organizations that exist.

With that in mind, I thought I would “pull back the curtain” on just a few of the non-profits we support through Misty’s Dance Unlimited and More Than Just Great Dancing® …

Traveling Tutus

Traveling Tutus’ mission is to bring the joy of dance to children around the world (I mean, that’s a pretty exciting mission, right?!).  By collecting and distributing gently used costumes and dance attire, they are bringing the dance experience into full color for kids in need.  Donations go to far-flung countries like Nigeria and Uganda, and also to orphanages and after-school programs right here in the U.S.

One of the MANY things I love about Traveling Tutus is the way they connect us to the organizations who receive the donations: the smiles on those kids’ face absolutely bring tears to my eyes.  Each year we are proud to send boxes upon boxes of items to them for distribution.

Youth Protection Advocates in Dance

YPAD, as it’s known, has a cause close to my heart.  They are dedicated to keeping dance students safe in and out of the classroom, and they strive to empower those kids, their parents, and their teachers with the tools and resources they need to cultivate a healthy environment.  If this sounds like a BIG mission, it is! But by certifying dance schools and dance events around the country, YPAD is positively influencing the dance industry one studio at a time.

When I first met Leslie Scott, the founder of YPAD, I knew I had to support her ideas to change the dance world for the better.  MDU proudly became the first official YPAD Certified studio and MTJGD became YPAD’s first visionary sponsor. I have much respect for Leslie’s passion in achieving a safer, healthier dance environment for all children.

Darby’s Dancers

Darby’s Dancers is an organization that provides dance classes to children with special needs at no cost to their families.  It was created by Patrick and Valerie Jones to honor their daughter, Darby, who lived a full and joyous life for only 13 years.  Darby was born with Down syndrome, a heart defect, and leukemia. But throughout all of her hospitalizations and challenges, dancing made Darby feel like a star … she loved every minute of it.

Through the Darby’s Dancers program framework, individual studios set up a once-a-week class led by a volunteer teacher, with teenage volunteers to assist the participants.  Many of the studios also have their dancers perform in the recital, an awesome opportunity for them to experience what it’s like to perform. Our Darby’s Dancers at MDU are absolutely stars just like Daby was; when I see them, I see her.  I honestly can’t think of a better way to bring dance into the lives of these rockstar children.

These organizations and the others we support are incredible examples of how giving back has an impact so much bigger than ourselves!  I believe that when it comes to charitable giving, we gain even more than we give.  It is a major way we learn how to care, how to empathize, how to understand, and how to influence.  

I encourage you to give back any time you feel called to do so.  Not just Giving Tuesday but any day that feels right.

Give when your heart says, “It’s time to help.”  

Give when your mind says, “I believe in this.”  

Give when you feel nudged by God … or by your neighbor.

Give of your time or your money or your talent.

Just give.

Love, Misty

There’s something I REALLY love about sprinting through these last two months of the year.  

Maybe it has something to do with my newfound love for running (OK, maybe “love” is a strong word!).  More likely I suppose it comes from a BIG desire to finish the year as strong as possible.

You’ve probably heard me talk about the “12/31 Studio” before … it’s the way we describe what we want our business to look like on the last day of the year; it’s a picture we draw of what we want to accomplish.  Finishing strong, to me, looks like achieving those goals.

The theme of finishing strong is my new mantra right now.  And yes, if you’re wondering, I actually imagine running through a finish line tape on 12/31, just like marathoners do!

So to reach my goals, I’m making a concerted effort to dial in to specific areas of my business.  I want to cross the finish line and know I did everything possible to reach my 12/31 goals. My plan is to “power up” each area of these areas, one at a time, to make the next several weeks as productive as possible.

I’m sharing my plans with you in the hopes that you’ll be inspired to create your own series of 12/31 goals that speak to your studio’s needs.  If I can do it, you can do it!

Here’s what I’m committing to do:

For each of these initiatives, I’ve created specific measurements that will tell me if my team and I are on target or spinning off course.  As we inch closer to 12/31, I’ll be able to course-correct and make adjustments where needed.

And so this brings me to three BIG questions: What does winning look like for YOU?  Where do you need to focus to finish strong?  When you run through the tape at the finish line of 2018, what will you have accomplished?

I challenge you to get specific.  Drill down into the details. Decide where you need to move the needle and then TAKE ACTION.  I want you to put your head on your pillow each night and know you’ve made progress.

Take the time to draw the picture of your 12/31 studio and see which goals you need to meet to finish strong.  Plant your flag in the ground and claim it! You’ve got this.

Love, Misty

I’m FULL of spontaneous ideas.  

But, in the whirlwind of activity that is my everyday life, I’m not always known for following through on all of them.  But recently, one wild idea came out of my mouth at Sunday dinner and four days later my dad and I found ourselves on the other side of the country crossing a HUGE item off his bucket list!  

Let me back up for a moment.  Here’s what you need to know about my dad:

My dad’s name is Paul and he has had a PROFOUND impact on my life.  In fact, he is my personal hero.

I have a few enduring memories of my dad from my growing up years. He played in a band, he could fix anything, he drove a semi-truck with my stuffed animals in the cab, and he was always helping people. I remember one time how he and other truck drivers from his company volunteered to drive donated hay from farmers in Wisconsin to southern states during the farm crisis of the 1980s.  Another time he and my mom opened our home to a friend who needed full-time care after a fire accident. They opened our home to anyone during the holidays who needed a family.

And although my dad was hard working and generous, life was not without struggles.  In one memorable case, he lost his truck-driving job and took a job digging ditches on the railroad to keep our family going. As a young teen, I watched my dad do whatever he needed to do to support his family.  He modeled for me what overcoming obstacles could look like.

Eventually he became a foreman, spending a decade out in California managing big railroad projects and building a network of new relationships: coworkers, locals, visitors, neighbors. My dad collected friends wherever he went.  

When he retired and moved back to Wisconsin a few years ago, he would often talk about his favorite hangout back in San Pedro – a local lounge called Rebel’s. It was the place my dad associated with his best friendships from the latter part of his career, and its sentimental value multiplied exponentially when he moved back to the midwest.

We got word a few weeks ago that Rebel’s was closing for good to make way for a new development.  When my dad found out, I could just see this sadness falling over his face. He said, “I always hoped I could see everyone one more time.”  

It was like a switch flipped inside me when he said that.  

“Well, why can’t we, Dad??”  I couldn’t keep the excitement of the idea from rising in my voice.

At first, he listed all the reasons we couldn’t go.  His health, doctor appointments, mobility challenges, and of course the fact that Rebel’s last day of business was only a few days away.

So we left the conversation there for a moment while I did some research.  Once I laid out the logistics, I told my dad and his wife that I wanted to make the trip happen.  I would reserve the first class plane tickets and rental car, and we would arrange to be at the final barbeque at Rebel’s that very Friday afternoon.

His wife sent me a single text: “He said YES. He’s excited to go!”  And I thought my heart would burst with happiness.

You see, what I haven’t shared is that my dad had been seriously ill this past spring and summer.  He spent almost two months in and out of the hospital fighting infections. Some of the time he was in an induced coma.  The road to recovery had been brutal and getting back to doing normal things seemed out of reach. So for him to get excited about this was flat-out PHENOMENAL.

I’m proud to report that the trip was indeed a success.  The travel was definitely difficult after so many surgeries this summer.  But every time we needed a wheelchair or a cart or a close place to park, it was miraculously there.  God’s fingerprints were definitely on this trip. It was a memory of a lifetime to enter into his world in California and see him be greeted by his old friends … some of them were even crying at the sight of him!  It was emotional and wonderful and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Whether you’re thinking of your parents as you read this, or thinking of someone else in your life who had a major impact, I challenge you to find a way to bless them.  It doesn’t have to be a spontaneous cross-country trip, but you’ll never regret spending the time or money. Push the excuses aside because every day is precious.

Think about how you can encourage someone you love as a gift of your gratitude.

Don’t wait.  Do it now. You won’t have an ounce of regret for having spent your time in this way.  

Love, Misty

Last week my car was in desperate need of an oil change.  

It was just one of those things that kept escaping my to-do list no matter what else I tried to rearrange!

Finally I thought I could squeeze it in between some other errands before the shop closed.  I knew I’d be cutting it close, but that little voice in my head talked me into it. “Yes, Misty, OF COURSE you can make it in time!”

So imagine this scene: I drive into the quick lube oil change place and the clock literally ticks to 5:59pm.  I hear the dings alerting them that I’ve pulled in and just as quickly, I see the garage door coming down RIGHT in front of my car.

The guy who works there walks around and I know right away he’s going to tell me they’re closed (from where I sit I can see the “closes at 6:00pm” sign).  I was just hoping beyond hope that maaaaaaybe they would fit me in anyway.

So the guy approaches my car and says, “Sorry, we’re closing now and we’ll be open again at eight o’clock tomorrow.”

And that was it.  

He walked back inside the building.

I totally felt like I got the cold shoulder!  And instantly I made up my mind that I wouldn’t be coming back in the morning.  After all, did they really want my business?  I understood that I had squeaked in just before closing time, but as a potential customer, there was no incentive for me to come back.  No smile, no reasoning, no relationship-building.

Nothing.

Even if the guy’s tone of voice and demeanor had been different, I might have felt better about coming back.  Or maybe if he had softened the blow by saying, “You know what, we’ve got to close on time so my guys can get home to their families, but if you come back first thing in the morning I’ll throw in 20% off since we weren’t able to help you today.”

So of course as I’m driving away, I’m thinking about this from a dance studio business perspective.  Are there places where we are dropping the proverbial garage door right in front of our customers faces?  

For example, a real problem we face inside our studios is when a class is full.  Our first reaction to the prospective customer might be to say, “I’m sorry, but enrollment is closed.”  Which, while true, bluntly ends the conversation.  There’s no alternate path offered.  There’s no real service being given.  There’s no bridge to developing a relationship when all we give is a black-and-white no.

So in this situation, where can we offer an on-ramp?  How can we turn someone down but also redirect them?  Even if a prospective customer can’t have what they’re asking for in that moment, we can offer them a reason to stick with us, try something else, or stay in touch.  

What if we said, “Sorry, enrollment in that class is closed, but can I get you into this class instead?” or “I can add you to a waitlist for that class, and in the meantime, would you like to join our Discover Dance camp?” or “I understand you really wanted that class.  Would you like to be the first one notified when our mini-mester opens?”

There’s a new understanding to the interaction in these ways; a quality of respect and an element of service.

I think that as business people, we can choose to give folks a road to follow even if we can’t accommodate them perfectly.  Instead of dropping a hard “no,” we can learn to soften our language and expressions.  Instead of creating resistance for people to do business with us, we can demonstrate receptiveness.  And we can teach our staff how to do a great job at it too.

So give it a shot: I challenge you to think about what you can do to say “no” nicely.  See where you can construct paths that are so well-lit, people always know how to get back.  Give them the reasons and the relationships to do business with you AND tell their friends.

Love, Misty

P.S. It wasn’t but a week later when I DID finally get an oil change … and the place I took it to also gave me a free car wash.  Now that’s service!

Upon arrival at Studio Owner University® (SOU), you notice right away that something feels different than when you are at other events.

Maybe it’s the camaraderie which seems to spill out of every conversation; maybe it’s the five-star customer service you encounter with every More Than Just Great Dancing® (MTJGD) team member. The energy in the room immediately lifts your mood and the air seems to vibrate with anticipation before each session.

The power of SOU isn’t just from its curriculum, its people or its service. There is no single aspect that overshadows the rest. Just like a deftly-planned piece of choreography, the magic happens when it all comes together: Misty, her team, the content, the Tribe. Your transformation as a studio owner begins the moment you feel the combined influence and are inspired to take action.

Studio Owner University® – got its name because it is an education. It’s the university-style, dance studio-specific courses that you didn’t get before opening your business—and simply can’t get anywhere else!

All of this sounds great but what can you actually expect from attending SOU? Here are some of the highlights of what it’s like…

Misty

If you don’t already know Misty personally, you will! As the founder of More Than Just Great Dancing® and the virtuoso behind multiple businesses, Misty’s presence at SOU is constant as she jumps at each chance to interact with attendees directly. She orchestrates every concept that is taught, personally leads many of the sessions and is known for surprising members with bonus content and guest speakers. Misty also holds additional sessions for MTJGD’s Pro and Enterprise members at every SOU to maximize the benefits included in their experience.

The Content

If you’ve been to other business seminars before and thought, “OK, I’ve heard this before,” then you’ll be pleased to know that the content at SOU is always fresh. Although certain topics may surface in a “rinse and repeat” fashion, the material taught is new and relevant to the industry’s current challenges. From hiring and management to the ever-changing world of social media marketing, SOU shines a spotlight on the most pressing topics that studio owners need to study. It’s truly like being in school for your business!

The Vendors

The vendors at SOU are not there just to give away freebies and sell their wares; they are looking to develop relationships and to serve your studio. With that in mind, attendees are able to schedule individual appointments with vendors to ask specific questions about their products and services. This dedicated one-on-one time gives you the opportunity to more fully understand what a vendor offers and how it can benefit your studio. It’s also a chance to capitalize on the opportunity for a personal meeting and to make suggestions to vendors you already use.

The Tribe

Just like with a dance class, being at SOU forms the bonds of friendships for a lifetime. It’s no exaggeration to say that when you meet people in the Tribe face-to-face, it’s like meeting long-lost friends. One of the most refreshing parts about SOU is that attendees are all there for the same reasons: they want to learn and grow and improve their studios. They don’t want to waste time complaining or gossiping. They just want to get stuff done!

For so many studio owners, business ownership can sometimes feel lonely. You love your family, your employees, and your friends, but they just don’t understand the level of work and responsibility you juggle on a day-to-day basis. SOU not only teaches you how to be a better business owner, it reminds you that you’re not alone. There is a whole Tribe of people who feel the same successes, challenges, wins, and burdens—a whole Tribe with whom you belong.

Join us for SOU 2019, register today!

A couple weeks ago I went running.

I know what you’re thinking.  “Wait a second.  Misty runs?”

And the answer is NO.  No, actually, I don’t run.  I prefer to do things like stretching and Pilates because it can be done indoors (and away from mosquitos!).

But this week I went running.  I had an upcoming trip for Dance Revolution, a convention where I’m on faculty and will need to participate in group choreography.  Learning choreography doesn’t come naturally to me so I wanted to make sure my fitness level was up to par for the upcoming rehearsals.  I decided to ramp up my fitness ahead of time by adding some running as cardio to complement to my normal yoga and Pilates routine.

With my 13-year-old son Sam as my coach, I set out to run a mile.  Even though he was cheering me on, “Mom! Keep going! You can do it!” I had to stop and walk at the three-quarter mark.

#Embarrassing

I felt like I let both my son and myself down. The thought that kept rolling through my mind was, “Why on earth can’t I run one mile?  Fourth graders run a mile!”

I chewed on my disappointment for three whole days before deciding that I was going to do it again. The next day I put on my fancy workout clothes – you know, the ones with the mesh cutouts on the pant legs to make you look more aerodynamic?  My theory was that if you aren’t actually fast, you might as well try to LOOK fast.

So I started running again and I was feeling pretty good.  I even congratulated myself on how much BETTER I was this time. Surely I must’ve just had an OFF day earlier in the week.  I reasoned with myself that perhaps I was a runner after all.

But three-quarters of the way in I didn’t feel fast anymore. I felt downright slow, trying to catch my breath.  Negative thoughts started creeping in: “What was I thinking?  I’m not a runner!  Why does my stomach look this when I run? Why are my pants sliding down? Why won’t my legs move faster?”  I was ready to stop.

Then I realized I was at almost the exact spot I had stopped earlier in the week and I thought, “No. Way. I’m not stopping again.”  In that moment, I made the snap decision to change my perspective and finish the stupid mile. I focused on the beauty of bluffs around me, the sun shining, and the breeze.  My dogs, who were playing on the trail at a distance, could not have cared less about my slow pace or body-consciousness.

For the rest of the mile, I talked myself through all the good things I saw instead of the discouraging things I felt.  

And you know what? I finished! I did it! I’m sure to some of you this would have been no obstacle at all, but to me it was HUGE.  I felt awesome and I’m not going to lie … I broke that imaginary finish line like it was the Olympics, hands up and all!

It felt awesome because for me, it was REALLY HARD.  I’ve never been a cardio gal. If you need someone for you business team or stretching team, I’m the one.  I’ve avoided cardio activities my whole life, but it’s what I need to do to move my fitness forward. So, I’m doing it even though I’m not great at it.  #UglyRunningInFancyPants

I believe we all have a version of this “one mile obstacle,” something that’s new and difficult … and maybe requires a decision to change your mindset.

Maybe for you it’s the exact same thing it was for me; maybe it’s a physical challenge.  Or perhaps for you it’s a difficult conversation you need to have with an employee, or the budget meeting that needs to happen with your accountant.

So I ask you this: what is the boulder blocking your path that you need to move away?  

What is the “one mile obstacle” for you RIGHT NOW, this week?

I ran with my son Sam again not long after my triumphant solo run and guess what?  I actually ran OVER a mile, with him cheering me on! I still have no form and I’m getting through it on sheer will, but I’m choosing progress over perfection.

Whatever your challenge is, my advice is to stop telling yourself you can’t to do it.  Stop slowing yourself down with the negative self-talk. Instead, change your perspective.  See the good in making it happen. Think about how motivated you’ll feel once this obstacle has been conquered!  And go ahead and throw your hands up like Rocky at the finish line when you do it!

Love, Misty

It was an “ibuprofen for breakfast” kind of morning.

A couple weeks ago, I woke up and could tell right away that a visit to the chiropractor was in my very-near future.  My neck had been sending warning signs all week, but this particular morning it was BARKING. There would be no putting it off anymore if I wanted to get anything else done.  

This happens to me every now and then, this severe neck pain.  It’s the product of mild scoliosis from childhood and other issues from a lifetime of dancing.  I know that my body will warn me with a whisper when things start getting inflamed, and if I don’t listen fast enough, a shout soon follows.  And that’s exactly what happened.

As I lay there on the table trying to distract myself, it occured to me just how much hard work self-care can be.  The pain of neglect, however, is way worse than dealing with it.  So I took deep breaths and gritted my teeth and let the chiropractor and massage therapist do their work.

Sure, self-care can actually be a spa day or a good book or a family vacation.  And those can all be very smart and very valid forms of nurturing yourself.

But that’s not the self-care I’m referring to.

I’m talking about the self-care that requires you to push yourself to a possibly painful place.  Because it doesn’t always look pretty or taste good or feel comfortable (at least not right away), we don’t think of these things as self-care.

I’m talking about the appointment you need to make with your accountant to pull apart last quarter’s financial statements.  Or the hard conversation you need to have with that customer who’s not happy.  Or the work you need to do on your calendar to free up time with for your spouse.  Maybe your self-care quite literally needs to be your health, because you need to schedule that preventative exam you’ve already rescheduled four times.

The things you keep putting off, are probably exactly the same things that need to be done.  But instead of doing them you just keep moving them from list to list.

I believe we need to reimagine our thoughts about REAL self-care with these things in mind. Real self-care is deep.  It’s about an outcome, not instant gratification.  It’s doing what needs to be done now to keep yourself and your business healthy later.

Sometimes self-care is taking what you have on your plate and saying “this is enough right now.”  Instead of taking on more work, you temporarily focus on those existing projects and priorities only.  It’s telling yourself to do a great job at getting those things done instead of just shuffling them around on your to-do list.

And so I challenge you to take a different view of self-care, outside the norm.  

What do YOU need to do right now to care for yourself and your future?  Where in your life do you need to push through something painful (literally or figuratively!) to achieve this?  What things do you keep putting off that just need to get done already?

Do something this week for your REAL self-care.  And then keep the momentum going.  Reevaluate what’s on your plate more often.  Power through the hard stuff. 

Don’t wait for the shout; take action during the whisper.  

Change your view of self-care and I believe you can change your whole perspective on work.

Love, Misty

Dear moms,

Let me just start by saying that as this back-to-school week kicks into high gear, I want ALL of you to know how loved and respected you are.  Whether you are a stay-at-home mom, a work-outside-the-home mom, or a little of both like I am, you are SO appreciated during this emotion-filled, heart-tugging time of year!  

Today, of all you wonderful moms out there, I’m reaching out to connect with those of you who are choosing to, or need to, work outside the home.  

I’m thinking of the teacher-moms who are missing putting their own kids on the bus each day in order to greet mine at the door of their classrooms.  And the third-shift moms who can’t be home in time for that before-school breakfast. The corporate-moms who had to hop on an airplane and travel to their next meeting instead of taking first-day-of-school pictures. And the direct-selling moms who need to take calls at dinner time in order to not lose a lead.

I’m also thinking of my friends and colleagues, the dance teacher moms and athletic coach moms who are giving up seeing their own child’s practice to help other people’s children develop their passions.

Moms, I want you to know that we see you.  

I see your sacrifices, even though they may be different than my own.  You are important. You are needed. And I feel honored to live this life of parenting alongside you.

This week my studio begins its 21st season, and I couldn’t be more excited!  I love it more than ever. And yet, during this time of year, I feel the same way I’ve felt for the past 17 years since adding my own kids to the mix: daunted.  Daunted by the great privilege and responsibility of teaching other people’s kids AND raising my own.  Daunted by giving my all to my work and my family.

I’m sure my feelings are not unique.  I’m sure there are times when you wonder, too, whether or not it’s worth it.  Maybe you’ve even had moments where you wonder whether or not your kids are in any way damaged or worse-off because you chose to, or had to, go to work.  It’s hard not to let those thoughts creep in.

I get it.

I’ve struggled with this first-week-of-school-messy-heart (and many weeks in between) for years.  Almost two decades, to be precise!

But a couple of days ago I had a breakthrough … a breakthrough made of popsicle sticks!  And I wanted to share it with you:

I was cleaning out my office to get ready for this week and found this popsicle-stick piece of art that my son Benji made for me last year (thank you, art teachers!).

It says:

Things I love about you:

Reading through it and smiling, it occured on me that he doesn’t love me any MORE because I choose to work.  He doesn’t love me any LESS because there are times I have to work. He just loves ME. Because I’m his mom. And because I’m me.

It reminds me of the way God loves us, with His whole heart.  With our flaws and fears and best efforts and worst days. Just as we are.

Moms, I thought some of you might need to hear that this week.  And I thought a bit of my first-week-of-school-messy-heart might help you tend to your own.

Remember that you are loved.  You are enough. And your kids … I bet they think you’re pretty awesome just the way you are.

Love, Misty

Last week I posted on Facebook about how I had to literally pull the plug on Fortnite, much to the shock and disappointment of my four sons.

Translation: open mouths and tears!

If you don’t have children, or don’t pay much attention to current trends, Fortnite is a video game that’s a little like a  cartoonish mash-up of Hunger Games and Minecraft. And kids across America are OBSESSED with it. I’m talking like get-up-at-5am and play-with-a-headset-so-as-not-to wake-the-parents type of obsessed.

And still after I pulled all the plugs out of the TV, my boys were in pure disbelief. I could see it on their faces. Did she really just do that?

Now before I go much further with my story about losing my mind and yanking every cord out of the black box that makes Fortnite show up on my TV (and in-home stereo system by mistake) I should tell you that I WARNED my kids about limiting their screen time, having self control, and not shouting while I was on the phone. Several times. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. In one headset-covered ear and out the other.  

Cords gone! Screen black. Mid-game. Oh, yes. I really did.

But that wasn’t all.

Then I told them that they had to go OUTSIDE for the rest of the day. They could choose how to spend their time outside, but they couldn’t come back in until dinner.

Insert children sulking and arguing here. “But, Mo-om!”  Yes, the two syllable “Mom” call. “We couldn’t hear you!”  

Of course you couldn’t, you were too busy hiding in a digital bush waiting to ambush your brother, who was busy trying to kill you from the other room.

Of course you couldn’t hear me. Now get outside!  

And so they did. Not willingingly, but they did it. Ten minutes later the youngest one was standing outside the dining room window, nose pressed to the glass as if to ask how could I banish him to yard with no snacks? Then I heard another one creeping around upstairs.  I’m not sure how he got back in.

Eventually they realized I was serious and went outside. And wait for it … they enjoyed it! Two of them decided to go fishing. The other two rode their bikes and made up a game to play in the yard.  Guess what they called it? Fortnite LIVE! Ha! Great … go hide in a real bush, I say!

When they came back in the house later, they were happy and sweaty and talking to each other without headsets. WIN!

I had questioned my impulsive plug-pulling move, but now I could see that it worked. Fortnite won’t be gone forever in our house, but we needed the break from it. And now we’ll have more limits on screens. For all of us, including me.

I know this because one of my sons called me out on it:

“How come we have limits on screen time and you get to sit on your computer all day?”

Although I might not be addicted to Fortnite, I am addicted to email. And I do love a good scroll through social media. If there’s one thing I know, it’s a hard climb out of that rabbit hole!

So I’m taking a time out, too. For two weeks, my priorities will revolve around a smooth start to the school year. For my studio, that means ensuring we have a successful first week back to classes in our new building. For my kids, that means making sure I fill out the 30 billion pages of back to school papers required and one more trip to Target for pencils. For myself, that means getting out for a run (which I hate doing, but I like how it makes me feel).

These priorities mean that my self-discipline will absolutely need to be in check. Just like I temporarily pulled the plug on the TV, I’m going to have to temporarily pull the plug on my own screen time.

I imagine that YOU probably need to do the same. So let’s do it together! Find out what you can “unplug” so you can focus on your work, your self-care, or your home front.  

I wish you all the best as you kick off the new year. 🙂

Love, Misty

“If I just had more time!”

How often do you say this to yourself?  My guess is probably A LOT.

But let’s face it: we all have the same 24 hours in a day; the same 1,440 minutes.  Me, you, Beyoncé, and everyone else.  So the problem isn’t really that we don’t have the time, it’s how we’re using it.

In my first few years as a studio owner, I used to say “If I just had more time!” pretty much every hour of the day.  My problem wasn’t that I didn’t have enough time.  That was the SYMPTOM.  The problem was that I was trying to do too much by myself.  And that resulted in things not always getting done the way I wanted.  Instead of making progress, I was basically getting in my own way.

Sound familiar?  I thought so!

As entrepreneurs, we studio owners are often guilty of trying to juggle too much.  We operate under this delusion that anything less than exhaustion means we aren’t working hard.  And that’s simply not true.  It is possible to be a studio owner and not run yourself ragged!

After being in business for 20 years, I can say there are certainly still days where exhaustion reigns or where I feel like I’m running in circles.  BUT those days are no longer the norm because I’ve changed the way I view my time.

Now I view my time through the lens of my own strengths and limitations.  

For example: could I do my own bookkeeping?  Sure, I’ve done it before.  But it would take me three times as long and I’d make mistakes!  So I outsource that to someone who LOVES accounting and does an amazing job.  Am I capable of handling all the costume ordering for my studio?  Yes, but my School Director is more than able to handle it—and it happens to be right in her wheelhouse.  She actually ENJOYS organizing the sizes for the order.  God bless people who like details!  It’s just not my strength.

This change in my viewpoint means that the time I no longer spend on bookkeeping or costume ordering gets redeemed elsewhere, which in turn prevents me from juggling too much.  That trade of time allows me to do more of what only I can do for my business, such as the vision-casting and program creation.  My time is much, much more valuable in those ways.

Redeeming my time with more high-level work for my studio has had a positive impact on my business in every way.  It empowers those on my team who step up into new tasks, projects, and authority. It allows me to be a stronger leader.  And ultimately, it means we ALL serve our dance families better.

When I’m coaching studio owners, I encourage them—just like I’m encouraging you—to make a plan for redeeming time.  You have to dig deep into understanding your strengths and what your studio needs most from you.  And you have to identify who needs to be equipped for success on your team or where you might need to outsource expertise.

Once you’ve started redeeming your time in these new ways, you’ll discover what a game-changer it is.  My hope is that you’ll view time in a much more healthy way. I know you’ll find value in focusing on your strengths, because I’ve been there too!

Remember that we all have the same amount of time in a day.  It’s what you do with it that counts. 🙂

Love, Misty

P.S. One of the ways I redeem time is by outsourcing the occasional writing project.  If you’re looking to do the same, I encourage you to check out Moonlight Writing’s customizable templates!  Written specifically for dance studios, these templates can be used for your blog or other marketing materials.

If you know me, you know I love learning new things.  

I particularly love language and learning new words.  This past week I learned a new word: equanimity.  It means “mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain; calmness; equilibrium”.

I wanted to share this word and its meaning with you because this past week, well … it was quite a week.  

One of my leadership team members lost her dad at the beginning of the week.  Understandably, she needed immediate bereavement leave to be with her family during this very sad time.  

This was just a few days after my dad, who had been released from the hospital only the month before, had to be transported by helicopter to the famous Mayo Hospital for emergency surgery.  The surgery was followed by a 54 hour coma, ICU, a regular Mayo Hospital stay and now a stint in a rehab center closer to home.

My son, Mason, experienced a traffic accident one afternoon, after a semi-truck clipped the end of his bike.  Luckily he wasn’t seriously injured. Following that, I managed to get myself into a fender-bender as well. I was shaken up but otherwise unharmed.

To top everything off, I lost my voice and had to cancel one of the biggest keynote speaking events on my calendar this year.  

All this happened during the same week that we held our first-ever training sessions for More Than Just Great Dancing® at our new International Performing Arts Campus.  This was a major event week that we had been planning for well over a year. To say my emotions were all over the map—well, that’s an understatement!

Equanimity.

You could also call it keeping cool in tough times or grace under pressure.  We all go through really rough things sometimes—sometimes in a short period of time.  The question is, do we let them stretch us or break us?

I chose last week to be stretched, and I’m continuing to do so.  I am camping out on equanimity. Everything I’m learning from this time, I’m taking to heart.  If God brought me to it, He will bring me through it.

In the hours I had with my dad while he was in his coma, I was present.  I focused on talking to him, on holding his hand. When I first saw my son after his bike accident, I held him extra tight, extra long.  Whenever I could, I found prayerful moments for myself to gain strength and composure.

Equanimity.

Throughout last week, my team stepped up in a way that only rockstars can.  They took on every role and wore every hat so that my sister Alana and I could have some flexibility to be with our dad.  I am grateful to them in every way.

The attendees at our training events, they too were amazing.  I was so impressed by their eagerness, their energy, and their drive.  And I was thankful for their patience and understanding when I had to make a few scheduling changes.

Equanimity.

So if you are there, in a fire of some kind, hang in there.  Camp on the concept equanimity. Then pray about it; meditate on it; allow it to flow into your soul.  Grace and peace are always there for the taking.

If you are not in that place, that metaphorical fire, then choose to lift someone else up who is.  

I encourage you to remember this word for when you need it, because we all do from time to time.  🙂

Love, Misty

I was in my car the other day when I looked in the rearview mirror and completely startled myself.  

As in, I genuinely did a double-take and shouted to the empty seat next to me, “Holy cats!”

Why was a tie-dyed Easter egg looking back at me in the mirror?

Oh, right.  It was my HAIR.  Specifically, it was that $8 box of hair color I had used the night before.  I had to laugh.

In an effort to save a few dollars, I skipped scheduling a salon visit and went DIY.  I’ll be the first to admit that at-home hair-coloring is not my area of expertise, but in the moment saving $150 at the salon seemed like a decent trade off…until I looked like a blonde and brunette tie-dyed Easter egg.

My hair dyeing foible that day was just one of my symptoms of what I call “cyclical cheapness,” a condition that warps your sense of what things are really worth.  I realized then that sometimes we studio owners can have a pretty weird sense of what value is as well.  

For example, there have been times where I have spared no expense to get just the right costume. And this spring, I didn’t hesitate to upgrade to the best possible sprung dance floors for our new facility.  (And I’m talking the best of the best, because I know we will get many years out of these floors!) But then I’ll walk into a department store and think the 3-pack of socks for $10 is positively outrageous.  Or I’ll use an $8 box of hair color and be OK with looking like a tie-dyed Easter egg.

What gives?

The reality is, we ALL experience cyclical cheapness when we decide where to skimp on costs for certain things that hold less importance.  For me, skimping on hair color every now and then is part of my cyclical cheapness.

As business owners, we’re always in this cycle of decision-making of when to go cheap and when to invest more.  As we make choices, we go through a Q&A loop with ourselves. Should I spend money here …. or there? Do I spend on this …. or on that?  When should I feel OK about spending more? Where will I see a big return on my investment? (Hint: not necessarily on a box of $8 hair color!)

Ultimately, we want to choose to spend more in the places where we expect the return to be great.  I’m proud to spend more on quality teachers, training, and a top-notch facility.  I’m proud to spend more on investing in myself.  Because the return on these investments multiplies!

Case in point: my own continuing education.  I carefully choose to invest in the business training, coaching, classes, and seminars that I know will benefit me, my studio and my family over time.  Not only are the positive effects immediate, they also continue to pay off multiple times over.  The businesswoman, coach, and teacher I strive to be—well, she needs this fuel to be fired up and to do her best work for others.

So what do YOU need as your fuel to be fired up?  What will help YOU do your best work for others?

Maybe it’s time to invest in yourself.

I encourage you to look into opportunities where your return on investment has the potential to multiply.  Perhaps it’s a productivity course, a live training, or a business seminar where you can explore ideas and learn new strategies.  Maybe it’s a membership like More Than Just Great Dancing® where you can share ideas with like-minded people and transform your way of doing business.

Whatever direction you take, don’t let “cyclical cheapness” get in the way of your big decisions and your personal growth.  Let the cyclical cheapness play out with your hair color instead!

Love, Misty

P.S. If you think More Than Just Great Dancing® could be a good fit for your personal and professional goals, I invite you to apply now!  Membership is ONLY open at select times of the year (summer is one of those times), and we’ve got just 75 spots left before we reach capacity. 🙂

When I’m on coaching calls with studio owners, one of the topics we often discuss is the “drama” associated with teen girls (and sometimes their parents).  

Gossip, rumors, high emotions, eye-rolling, attitudes: if you serve students over the age of eleven, you know what I’m talking about.  This is the age where students are figuring themselves out, trying to understand how they fit in with their friend groups, testing boundaries, and still developing their personal sense of worth.

This is usually a subject that comes up when studio owners ask me for ways to build camaraderie within their performing teams.  Other times it’s because a dancer or parent has brought a concern to the owner’s attention, and they need advice.

Whatever the reason, my response is usually the same:

Stop trying to fix it!

You might be surprised to hear me say that, but in my experience, trying to FIX these situations is simply impossible.  Rather than think “fixing” we need to think “guiding” “teaching” and “offering tools”.

Teens and parents need to know that they are capable of successfully navigating through drama and conflict.  They need to know they have options for how to react.  They need to know that their studio owner and teachers will help guide them—but we can’t wave a magic wand and make the drama and conflict go away. Learning how to deal with conflict and function as part of a team is a life skill.

Our teens and parents need to feel empowered.

And our responsibility is to help them discover that power in their self-confidence, their ability to make good choices, and the possibility to be resilient when things DON’T work out.  I believe we can do that in three ways:

Whether it’s through team bonding sessions or having regular conversations about what success looks like, we can say, “How would you handle this situation?” or “Is there another way to solve this?”  

We can model for them what grit and grace look like on a day-to-day basis.  Apologize when we make a mistake. We can encourage them to talk (not text) with a friend who hurt their feelings.  Tell them, kindly, when they fall short of our expectations—and how to move forward.

One of the ways I personally chose to empower teens beyond my own studio is through our upcoming event, the 360° Dance Festival.

Because the event is dedicated to the whole dancer (and is YPAD-certified!) our faculty are invested in the growth of each dancer’s skill and self-worth.  Enrichment classes that touch on topics like positive body image and academic success will be offered alongside dance classes like hip hop, lyrical, contemporary, and jazz.  

My goal with the 360° Dance Festival and my studio, is to ensure that our dancers know their worth.  That they feel whole and validated and inspired!

As studio owners, we are in an awesome position to positively impact so many young lives.  I encourage you to stop trying to fix things when it comes to your studio’s teen drama. Instead, keep creating opportunities for guidance and influence.  

And one last piece of advice: Don’t let your teens’ drama overshadow their greatness.  You know how much amazing potential they have.  Now show them what’s possible with it!

Love, Misty

Wow, 20 years!

With our 20th Annual Recital in the books, Misty’s Dance Unlimited has officially been in business for two decades.  HOLY CATS that’s a long time!

Twenty years seemed like an impossibly long time back when I first opened the studio.  But when I look at it now, it seems like it happened in the blink of an eye!

Days are long and years are short. Time is funny that way.

I’ve learned a lot these past twenty years: mostly about perseverance and the power of lifting others up.  Where were we are today is a dream come true, but it’s not a result of dreaming. It’s the result of setting goals and working on them, day in and day out.  And, it’s a result of bringing other people along for the ride of our success.

As I look back over our growth, the differences in MDU “then” versus MDU “now” are pretty remarkable:

We first started with 3 classrooms and 4,500 square feet.  But next year we will have 7 classrooms and 21,000 square feet!  We originally offered 47 classes per week, and now we run over 200.  People used to literally camp out for Registration Day, but now they can register at home in their pajamas.  We used to have two recitals, and now we have five—plus more than 20 community performances each year.  We used to mail a quarterly newsletter, but now we keep touch by email, Facebook, and Team App.

Yes, a lot has changed, but I’m also proud to say that some things will never change.  Because of MDU, I am still committed to:

As I shared at our recital this weekend, “A lot has changed in 20 years, so in matters of style, we swim with the tide. But, in matters of principle we stand like a rock—and these principles are what we will build the next 20 years on!”

What we’re experiencing at MDU isn’t the result of luck or “overnight success”.  It’s twenty years of grit, growth, teamwork, and community support. And, grace…a whole lot of grace!

My goal for the next twenty years? Pay it forward. 🙂

Let me know how I can help!

With gratitude and love, Misty

Studio owners, if you’ve been through the construction process before, you know what I mean when I say it is one of the most detail-oriented works of choreography you’ll ever produce!  

It’s also pretty darn exciting.

My current project—our new International Performing Arts Campus—is hands-down the largest one I’ve ever undertaken.  This building will become the home for Misty’s Dance Unlimited, Ballet La Crosse, Everything Dance, and More Than Just Great Dancing® and will include a café and commercial rental space.  

There’s so much I’m learning throughout this process: Just like in dance, construction lessons can be life lessons!  

From the planning that began years ago to the construction that’s been taking place these past six months, here are three of my biggest takeaways ….

Always do your homework

While doing research for the new facility, I looked at many businesses for inspiration.  I was especially interested in those that have an awesome track record of moving people through their doors with great customer service and hospitality.  They included arts and cultural centers, universities, fitness clubs, churches, and hotels. I constantly asked myself: What do I admire about what these people are doing? What part of how they do things applies to what I do?

Along with keeping notes about this research, I used Pinterest to find visual examples to back up my vision for the lobbies, waiting areas, classrooms, locker rooms, and communication boards.  I created a “vision board” of what my dream facility would include.

Doing your homework forces you to slow down and look at the big picture.  You want to know you’ve made the best decisions. It also helps you to be clear about what you want on the front side, which can help save you a lot of money from unnecessary changes on the back side.

But, this doesn’t just apply to construction! I challenge you to take this time with every big project at your studio, from adding new programs to forecasting staffing changes.

Be prepared to pivot

I mentioned before that construction is a lot like choreography.  You start with one idea and keep making changes until you have the right idea. In choreography we call a change of direction a “pivot turn”.  In construction it’s called a “change-order” – and I’ve collected a few of those along the way.

For example, we had a brutal winter in Wisconsin this year (including a mid-April blizzard). This meant that we could not get the concrete in the new building to cure fast enough to install our fancy new sprung floors.  Everything else for the project was either on schedule or ahead so there was no other option other than to expand our budget to include a special service to dry out the concrete. As much as I didn’t want to do it, it was less expensive than the potential cost of running overtime on a project of this size.  

Knowing when to pivot is all about timing and having a contingency plan.  In this case, it was about re-working the budget. But in studio ownership life, it might be having a backup plan for a certain teacher’s schedule or having an alternate recital venue.  Or even jumping in to save a recital dance at the last minute. It’s time and money, but the pivot is worth the peace of mind!

Involve your people

Construction equals teamwork!  Building anything doesn’t happen alone.  It happens with the guidance, support, and expertise of others.  There have been a few pretty special moments in the building process that have reminded me of this lesson, but there is one that stands out the most: our Dedication Ceremony.

Before we finished the drywall and prepared to lay dance floors and install mirrors, we decided to invite studio families (past and present) to come into the new space.  On top of the largest wall in our largest studio, I had painted the following words, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” Those are words I’ve shared probably more than any other over the course of my 20 years of owning a studio.

When the families had gathered, I explained:  “If there is one thing that I’ve learned after 20 years of teaching dance it is that the mirror tells a different story from day to day. Some days it tells us we are great and other days it tells us we will never be enough. Today we write words of affirmation on the wall where the mirror will soon be installed.  That way our students will always know that those words of truth are on the wall behind the mirror no matter what the reflection says from day-to-day.”

We all know that being a studio owner means we wear a lot of hats.  I’ve learned a LOT while wearing my (pink) construction hard hat. But I know that even when it’s time to put this hat on the shelf, I’ll have these lessons to remember.  I hope they serve you just as well!

Love, Misty

When I first met Leslie Scott, the founder of Youth Protection Advocates in Dance (YPAD), it was the passion she showed for her work that first stopped me in my tracks.  

She was a woman on a mission…and what an important mission it is!

Leslie created YPAD in response to concerning (and common) trends on the rise in the dance industry; practices that were affecting one too many dance students. For example, their heightened anxiety about body image, their compromised technique with unsafe movements, and the hypersexualization of choreography, costumes and music messaging.  Therefore, she saw a need to develop guidelines for healthy and safe teaching practices; a professional educational resource with specific tools for helping studio owners, teachers, parents, and students understand better ways to train in dance. YPAD was the answer!

Listening to her speak, I couldn’t help but be moved by Leslie’s message and her sincerity to positively affect young lives in dance.  I was immediately taken by her commitment to inciting change in the dance industry at large; it felt like it was meant to be that we would meet and have the opportunity to work together.  YPAD’s mission perfectly aligned with the momentum I wanted to build.

I’m honored to say what started with a sponsorship of her work has turned into an amazing friendship.  As a result my studio became the first official YPAD Certified studio in the world.  

Certification encompasses several important elements, including:

Certification has been a journey – some parts easy, some more challenging.  For example, background checks were already in place so that was an easy box to check.  However, we had to conduct four training dates to work with everyone’s schedule since we have such a large staff.  Now, there is an online certification option with more flexibility, which makes it easy for large staffs to become certified from any location and start and stop at their leisure.  We moved our CPR training to online for the same reasons.

Would I do it again? In a word, ABSOLUTELY! It feels both empowering and encouraging to be a part of YPAD’s dedication to dancer health and safety.  As a studio owner and a parent, there is a level of assurance knowing we are doing our best to lead our dancers in the right direction. At the same time we educate and protect them from stress of negative influences.

Certifying MDU led me to examine how we approach dance events as well as our studios, and it became an easy decision to move forward with YPAD Certification for two more of my businesses—MTJGD and the 360 Dance Festival—which became the world’s first YPAD Certified organization and event!  

ALL of the dance faculty at the 360 Dance Festival are committed to the same code of conduct.

The 360 Dance Festival can now proudly promote that it has the YPAD Certified “seal of approval”.  This gives parents the confidence they need in knowing the event will prioritize their child’s health and safety in dance.

Yes, it’s been a bit of work and an investment, but it is my conviction that a high-quality dance education CAN be completely free of unhealthy or unsafe practices if we studio owners and teachers lead and teach our students with intention and attention.  YPAD’s commitment is that all studios, regardless of size should be able to participate so they offer financial aid, scholarships and free consultations with emotional and physical safety specialists through the YPAD Consultant Group.

Standing with Leslie and YPAD in this belief gives me hope that the dance industry will continue to see a shifting tide; where every child knows their worth and can dance freely into their potential.

Love, Misty

I’m sure you know what I mean when I say entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart!  

The hustle is real, the grind is real and the sacrifices are real. Studio owners do it because we have this deep, personal mission to transform kids’ lives: we want to inspire them with dance and see them use that inspiration to live out their full potential.  

In addition to this mission, we have chosen to be entrepreneurs because we want to achieve success according to our own rules.  We want to carve out our own paths. As fellow entrepreneur and inventor Lori Greiner has said, we are the people who’d rather work 80 hours a week for ourselves than 40 for someone else!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my journey in entrepreneurship, it’s that the rewards of this life don’t come free:  

You earn your way to them, with the investment of your time, your money, your personal sacrifices, and of course, your blood, sweat, and tears.  You choose to take risks (calculated ones!) so you and your business can see fruit from your labor.

When I talk to other studio owners, there are a lot of common “rewards” that people desire out of their entrepreneurial adventure.  They include things like: spending more time with family; having a flexible schedule; traveling more; planning for retirement; investing in a special cause; sending kids to college; or becoming debt-free.

I want you to know that reaping rewards like these, whichever ones are meaningful to you, is possible!  They don’t just have to be distant dreams; you can plan for them to be a reality. By getting the right infrastructure in place at your studio, you will have the freedom to enjoy the rewards that are most important in your life.  

In my experience, that means getting to work on building these three foundations:

1. Raise up the leaders on your team

Identify your key players who want to be more and continue to offer them positions where they can succeed, grow, and be challenged.  You need others to step up and embrace leadership at your studio so that you are not the only go-to expert.  Over time, you will build a team so strong that your customers will trust them as much as they trust you!

2. Put systems in place  

With your leadership team in place, make sure you have systems for everything. Whether it’s a flow for how your studio conducts trial classes or the way you prepare for and produce the recital, proven and documented systems need to be organized and set in place.  Make sure every project has a champion who can take it to the finish line.  A great way to work on your systems with your team is with a rhythm calendar, a document that includes every task at the studio, who is responsible for it, and when it needs to happen.

3. Inspect what you expect

Once you’ve spent the time and effort setting up a strong infrastructure, don’t wash your hands of everything.  Don’t fall into the trap thinking that no one needs you anymore!  You must “inspect what you expect” by checking in with your team on a regular basis, having performance reviews, conducting classroom visits, and meeting dance parents in the hallway, at conferences, and at events.  You must still lead your studio, even if you are no longer managing all aspects of the operations.

It was only because of my studio’s solid infrastructure that I was able to drop everything and be by my son’s side for solid month after a snowboarding accident a little over a year.

While that accident was certainly no reward, the flexibility I needed was.  It was right there when I needed it most.

No one missed me being present at work. I was grateful to have been in a position where I could focus solely on my son without the studio needing me.  At that time in my family’s life, I was glad to have set up my business with the right people and systems.

Take the time to think about which rewards you want to get out of entrepreneurship.  Work on what needs to happen at your studio for those rewards to become a reality.  This life is what you make of it!  You’ll never regret the effort you spend making sure that your business foundation is strong.

Love, Misty

It was almost three years ago when I asked the following question at our annual Member Rally for More Than Just Great Dancing®:

What types of opportunities or services do you want most for you studios?  

That answer was loud and clear.  Our affiliated studio owners wanted a high-quality, non-competitive, positive dance event for students.  That day as studio owners stood with their hands raised, saying, “YES, this is what we need!” I was blown away (and a little overwhelmed!) I could feel the emotion in that room, and understood that this wasn’t just a request for another workshop or master class—this was a request for a type of event that didn’t exist yet.  Hence my feeling of overwhelm!

But it didn’t take long for us to catch our breath and the idea was catapulted into motion by the team at More Than Just Great Dancing® and our online lifestyle brand More Than Dancers. One year after our first student event, the concept evolved into the 360° Dance Festival and we will be producing in two different cities —360° West in Palm Springs, CA and 360° North in Minneapolis, MN. The two-day event is designed to offer an engaging learning environment for dancers of all abilities ages 8 to 18, with a performance showcase opportunity.

So why the name “360° Dance Festival”?  

Because we are working hard to expand the definition of what dance training looks like.  The “360°” part of the name comes from our goal to serve the whole dancer.  As studio owners and teachers we are well aware that there is so much that goes into being a dancer and we want the 360° Dance Festival to address as many of those elements as possible.

To that end, the 360° Dance Festival will include classes in:

Performance opportunities for solos, duets, small groups, and large groups will round out the dancer experience.  Teachers and parents are invited to attend seminars on how to best support their dancers and help them achieve success.  As the first YPAD (Youth Protection Advocates in Dance) Certified dance event in the world, the 360° Dance Festival will be adhering to the highest standards of teaching, safety, and inclusivity.  All of our faculty members are background-checked and trained in YPAD principles.

Growing this festival from the ground up hasn’t been easy, but I can say that it has been a labor of love.  Many, many people contributed to laying the foundation for our first festival last year and I pay honor to their contributions.

Positively influencing hundreds, if not thousands, of young dancers with this type of platform is a huge responsibility. But, it’s one we are eager to take on.  The 360° Dance Festival will be a dancer’s dream destination with our renowned faculty, innovative classes, performance adjudication, and YPAD seal of approval.

Looking at how far we’ve come since that first seed was planted, I’m humbled by where we are now. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to serve the dance community at large with our More Than Just Great Dancing® message.  

I hope you’ll join us this summer at 360° West in Palm Springs (July 12-14) or 360° North in Minneapolis (July 26-28) and experience this unique approach to your students’ dance training!  You’re welcome to reach out to me personally @mistylown with your questions about the event. I can’t wait to see you there!

Love,

Misty

You know how you feel when you have to do something particularly difficult? 

I’m talking about those things that are emotionally draining. When you know you need to part ways with an employee or customer, or when you’ve had to ask for forgiveness from someone.  I’m sure you are no stranger to these “hard things”. I know I’m not. In fact, I had to do it twice yesterday. Ugh!

As studio owners, we have many opportunities to do these hard things—and I use the word opportunity here on purpose. While you may dread that call or conversation in front of you, it is also an opportunity to grow your business muscle by working your emotional intelligence. It’s an opportunity to do good work, even when that work requires an enormous amount of emotional strength.  

It is an opportunity to develop some grit. And, to lead with love and grace.

Now, I understand that knowing this may not change the difficulty level of those hard things you have to do; it hasn’t changed for me even though I’ve been at it for over 20 years! But, what has changed is the lens through which I now view these difficult moments and the way I manage my emotions around those events. I’m choosing to look at these situations as opportunities—a bootcamp for resilience, if you will.

I want to encourage you to change your mindset too. I’m living proof that it can work. Things that used to wipe me out for WEEKS, are now things I can process in a matter or minutes or hours. There’s no question that it can still be uncomfortable to lead a difficult conversation or confront a difficult person, but you can learn to do so with love in your heart, truth in your words and grace in your tone because you have equipped yourself. Here’s how:

Be prepared

Accept that doing hard things will be part of your life as a studio owner. We can’t avoid these moments, but we can prepare for them. Here’s a tip, have clearly stated expectations for your employees to meet. Also try keeping written documentation of any extra coaching or disciplinary action you might need. Have key phrases prepared and practices, so you won’t be derailed by your emotions during a difficult situation. Take the time now, before you need it, to spot the places in your life where the hard things happen and take preemptive action. You are not trying to stop them, but to be prepared to handle them more gracefully and with more patience when they occur. The same thing applies to your clients.  

Know there is a higher purpose

It is essential that I remind myself, God is at work when all I can see is a hot mess. I trust that He has a plan and purpose for my future, and believe that even the situations that feel crushing at the time can actually be used to build the muscle I need for the next step in my journey. And, here’s a key point for me: I believe that He would want me to act with truth in love even when I don’t want to (which is a lot more often than I would like to admit). Whatever spiritual beliefs you hold, there is a sense of peace that comes over you when you choose to treat others as you would want to be treated. For me, the hardest work isn’t actually the external challenge I am facing at the time, it’s the inner challenge.

Have a support network

Doing the hard things alone, without a shoulder to lean on, is nearly impossible. Whether it’s your family, your friends, your studio owner peers, a network like More Than Just Great Dancing® (or all of the above!), surround yourself with people who can offer comfort when you are down and encourage you to stay positive. Remember when I said I to had to face two difficult situations just yesterday? Well afterwards I called a trusted friend to help me get my perspective back because I felt pretty beat down. Temper your emotions by talking them out in a safe space. You’ll feel more clear-headed afterward, ready to tackle the challenge at hand.

Give yourself some grace too

Leading with love and grace isn’t an act only meant for others; it’s meant for you, too. You might not be able to get it from other people, but you can give it to yourself. Know that you won’t be perfect, but also that perfect isn’t the goal. Remind yourself that avoiding the hard things will only make them more difficult when you must eventually encounter them.  Learning how to accept and turn them into opportunities will only serve to make you stronger and more empathetic.  And remember, in the moments when things seem the hardest of all: this too shall pass. My sister once told me this, “No storm, no matter how bad, ever lasted forever.”

Doing the hard things will always be, well, hard.  But preparing yourself for those moments, understanding your purpose, seeking support, and being kind to yourself will help you to grow through it, not just get the job done.  You’ll begin to feel more comfortable taking the high road in any situation, and let’s be honest: the high road has the best view anyway.  🙂

Love, Misty

I recently received one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten—from someone I had to turn down.  

I had been asked by a friend to participate in a speaking engagement (something I love to do.)  In this case, with a few very big projects already on my plate, I hated to admit my limits, but I knew I had to say, “No”.

Here was my response to his inquiry:

“Thank you so much for thinking of me!  I would love to, but I have my nose to grindstone on a couple of projects and need to stay in my lane.  What kind of topic are you looking for?  I could recommend someone …”

But, it was his response afterward that blew me away.

He graciously accepted my decision.  He was thankful that I cared enough to make introductions to other potential speakers.  And he complimented me on having turned his request down gently but directly (he even made this compliment public on his blog).  

WOW.

His reaction was the affirmation I needed to hear.  I knew then that I had made the right decision, and that I had the ability to say “no” in a caring way—even when I wanted to say “yes”.  

Staying in your own lane requires big focus.  When new opportunities come up, it’s hard not to automatically jump.  As studio owners, we are people-pleasers by nature and often have trouble saying no.  Then when we do say no, sometimes we drag our feet or do so too bluntly.  This can leave us feeling conflicted and the other person feeling rejected.

What I’ve learned is that saying no with a loving attitude helps you build healthy relationships and healthy boundaries.  Creating those boundaries for yourself also fuels your self-respect.  It turns into a positive cycle, protecting your time and also being more productive with it.

Here are some other recent ways I’ve had to say no while still showing that I care:

As I reflect on these experiences, the underlying meaning couldn’t be clearer: demonstrating an attitude of love—even when turning someone down—can sometimes be the best way to serve others.  In the process, you can earn their respect and build your own confidence as an owner.

And so I sign off this issue of Misty Minute as the author of “One Small Yes” who is learning to say “No”.  🙂

A few weeks ago I spent time cleaning and organizing my home office from top to bottom.  

Everything had its place: my files and shelves were organized and you could actually see the desk; no more piles and papers everywhere.  I stepped back to admire my handiwork and thought, “This is pretty awesome.”

Then I walked into the kitchen.  It was a complete disaster zone!  My husband, kids, and I had clearly left our mark from the busy weekend that just took place.  The sink was piled high with dishes from when we made dinner together the night before and remnants of the school projects we worked on were strewn all over the kitchen table.  Cups and mugs littered the countertop.  And that feeling of sand under my feet?  Not sand, but crumbs from breakfast.  Lots of crumbs.

I couldn’t help but smile though, as I took in the scene.  

I had just been patting myself on the back for a job well done cleaning my office, and here stood my kitchen in utter chaos.  The difference was striking, and yet, I thought to myself, “Forget about the office.  THIS is what’s pretty awesome.”

Of course, it wasn’t the mess that was awesome; it was what the mess stood for that made my heart happy.  Here was the physical evidence of my priorities, of being present with my family.  You could see that we were living life—together, and to the fullest extent that weekend allowed.

I understood then that this was a moment to celebrate being “selectively awesome,” a term I’ve adopted for going all-in on just a few important activities at a time.  While I might not be awesome at everything at every moment, I can be awesome at a few carefully chosen priorities.  Over the weekend I had chosen to fully dial in to family time.  Clearly, based on the state of my kitchen, that time was a huge success!

Being selectively awesome at family time meant more to me in that moment than anything else.  

And I knew it made me a better studio owner, leader, and mentor because I could step into the new week feeling refreshed and fulfilled, ready to serve others. And after that I was selectively awesome at organizing my office.

The areas in which you are selectively awesome might be similar to mine, or they might be totally different.  Perhaps you’ll be selectively awesome at diving deep into a project for the studio, or to be present for a friend in crisis.  What you choose to be selectively awesome this week may or may not be something that will continue to be at the top of your list forever; you’ll continue to recalibrate your priorities as the year goes on.

My advice to you is this: find what you can be selectively awesome at—just for this week—and fully commit to it, messy kitchen and all.  Dial in to what’s meaningful to you and let the other stuff (temporarily) go.  Being selectively awesome is all about being intentional with your time and energy, and spending those two commodities where you’ll get the most return.  

P.S. Tag me on social with @mistylown and #selectivelyawesome so I can celebrate your priorities with you!

Love,

Misty

If you know anything about me, personal development is one of my favorite topics 🙂

I love learning how to improve my life, whether it’s adopting a new habit of reading in the morning when I wake up, or trying a different leadership strategy I learned at a workshop.  For me, I get real energy from trying to discover ways new ways to live a life I can be proud of.

But even though I am a HUGE fan of self-improvement, I have to be honest that this time of year drives me nuts. Everytime I look around (or open my email) in early January, I see messages everywhere about “becoming a new you” or “doing better than the year before” or “being the best at [fill in the blank].”  

I get it, I really do. It’s powerful marketing language that I use myself during this time of year, so let me be clear on the part that drives me nuts.  

I’ve come to realize that being bombarded by these messages can create a lot of noise in my mind, tipping me into uncertainty and causing me to sometimes question whether or not I am enough or am doing enough.  Am I making enough money, spending enough time with me kids, eating good enough meals, working out enough, going on enough dates, having enough quiet time…and the list goes on.

So, I say ENOUGH.

Today I want to remind you that even though there is ALWAYS room for improvement in every area of your life—and, hey, if you want to improve your business, I’d be happy to help you—but, I’m here to remind you that you are enough.  

Whether or not you choose set out in 2018 to work on small issues in your life and business or you embark on the biggest goals of your life, you are enough.  

So shut out the noise from everywhere else and take a few moments to look inside.  

These four questions can help you see more clearly who you are, and what you want out of life—not who others think you are or what you need to improve.  (I’m sharing my answers to help you start.)

Allow your honest answers to come through and help you understand yourself better.  

Use them to set the direction of your year ahead and formulate what success for you will look like.  Zone in on what this means for your priorities, goals, and intentions.  

Understanding who you are and what you desire may seem like a profound task to take up, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.  Only you can see what a successful year will look like, based on the clarity you have about yourself.  And know this: You ARE enough to make it happen. You are were made for great things:)

Best wishes to you in 2018!

Love,

Misty

As the year comes to a close and I reflect on all that’s happened in past twelve months, I wanted to share with you something that helped me keep my wins high and my losses low.  

It was a bit of an experiment, but at the beginning of 2017 I mapped out what I called my “12/31 Studio Vision.”  It became my theme for the year: how did I want my studio (and my life) to look on the last day of the year, 12/31/2017?  What, exactly, did finishing strong look like?  What steps would I need to take over the course of the year to finish strong on that day?  Reminding myself of this theme all year long affected every decision I made and every task I prioritized.  

Well, I’m VERY happy to report that this experiment worked exactly as I’d hoped it would.  The 12/31 Studio Vision had a profound influence on every area of my life, from new programs to new projects; from my family to my finances; from my downtime to my dinner table.  Having this end-of-the-year view in my periphery for twelve months kept me on track through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship (and daily life!).  

One of my biggest dream goals;

Building a new studio facility and international training campus—is taking shape now, in part because I was able to give it the focus it needed this year.

So what about YOUR vision?  My encouragement from this experience is that you, too, can create an all-encompassing theme for the year ahead and accomplish more than you ever thought possible.  Use my “12/31” idea or create something new that fits the way you like to organize ideas and goals.  However you approach it, I recommend starting with these three Q&A exercises:

Reflection – Before casting your vision for the new year, weigh in on last year.  Were you happy with what you accomplished . Look back on your whole year (pull out your calendar to jog your memory if you need to!) and consider the outcomes you experienced and why they happened they way they happened.  If you could go back in time, what would you have done differently?

Reorganization – Based on last year’s wins and losses, think about how you need to reorganize—and re-prioritize—for this new vision you want to establish.  Where are the places in your business or personal life that need reorganization in order for you to clearly see how your vision can become achievable?  For me, last year, I had to reorganize my mindset about my vital priorities.  I knew I couldn’t find more time (none of us can!); I just had to use my time more wisely.

Response – With your reflections and reorganization in place, now it’s time to respond with action: create your all-encompassing vision for 2018.  What will your studio look like at the end of the new year?  Consider each area of your business, from your people to your programs.  What will your life as a studio owner look like at that point?  Think about your family, friends, and health too.

Here’s the challenge to continue asking yourself:

What is the “big picture” for this year that I am striving for?  See that big picture ahead of you, as clear as possible, in bright, vivid colors.  You can only know what steps to take if you know where you are headed!  

My wish for you this new year is that you will do the work to have a great finish to it when we talk again next year at this time <3. 

Love, Misty

In 2012, I founded More Than Just Great Dancing® with the intention of helping other studio owners grow their businesses, their leadership, and their place in the community.  

What I didn’t realize then was just how transformative membership would be, and not just for the members’ studios.  Those who took action with our coaching and resources were actually changing their lives for the better.  

One of those members—a member of our “Founding Fifteen”—is Crystal Carfagno, Owner and Artistic Director of Showcase Dance Studio in Manassas, Virginia.  When I first met Crystal, she was a perfect example of a studio owner who felt like her business was running her, instead of the other way around.  

I knew two things about her right away:

1) she was overwhelmed, underpaid, and often operating in crisis mode; and 2) that she was eager to make changes with her studio but unclear about where to start.  

As Crystal herself puts it, “At that point in my career I thought if I taught great dance classes, everything would take care of itself.  I very quickly learned that educating myself with common business fundamentals was the only way to make it work.”

Crystal said yes immediately to joining MTJGD. She took a chance that my new venture would provide the tools she needed to make her studio successful.  I am forever grateful to her, and the other Founding Fifteen members.  They agreed to jump into our program with both feet in those early days!

Since joining MTJGD, Crystal has become the personification of the compound effect.  She’s made small, positive changes over time to nearly every aspect of her business and her life.  That’s not to say she hasn’t faced challenges along the way—because she definitely has.  But through her membership, she’s also become empowered to take control of her business, which means any step backward equals about five more forward!  

“I went from a place of “no,” to finally feeling confident enough to say “yes” to my calling.  Yes, I could succeed even though my market is saturated.”

Here’s what I’ve noticed about Crystal’s transformation over the past five years:

Belonging to MTJGD is a lot like belonging to a gym: you get out what you put in.  Crystal has poured herself into her development as an owner.  She says she is a different person now than she was five years ago:  “I’m financially stable, confident in my decisions, and actually running a ‘real’ business with my team.  With the systems I have in place, I’m able to concentrate on the three vital priorities that will allow my business to move forward so I can positively impact my community.”

When I see Crystal these days, I see her exactly as she described: a happy, take-charge, action-oriented studio owner who is committed to having a successful business.  I couldn’t be more proud of her journey so far, and I know this is just the beginning.

Love, Misty

Work-life balance:

I’m a strong believer in this concept, but perhaps not in the way you might think.  

I believe it’s OK—and even expected—to have weeks, months, or whole seasons of your life that are more about one than the other.  I also believe that it’s possible to find a harmonious balance unique to you and the season of life you are in right now. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all work-life ratio.  

For me, finding that balance was a big learning curve, but after a lot of trial and error, I think I’ve started to get the hang of it.  Here’s what I’ve learned:

I’ve learned that if I go too hard for too long that I go into the “red zone” (just like the red zone on your car’s speedometer).  I know I can only do that for so long before I need to schedule some time away.  I’ve learned that being disciplined with time is a life-saver.  I’ve learned that a worn-out leader is an ineffective leader.  And I’ve learned that when I am operating in the red zone at work for too long, it puts my family on weak footing at home.

What’s helped me most during the past 20 years of business growth is continuing to adjust my ideal work-life balance.

At first, I could only schedule time away from the studio in small increments.  I had to build the muscle of taking time off, of feeling comfortable spending time with my family instead (and not feeling guilty).  

The good news here is that it doesn’t have to take you 20 years of practice to start finding out what works for you!  Here are some of my tips for scheduling time off and finding balance in your world:

  1. Start by putting your phone away for just a short amount of time, maybe just through dinner.  Then start leaving it in your car when you have a date night with your partner, or try shutting it off after 8:00pm so you can tuck your kids into bed and enjoy a good book.  (Eventually you might want to work your way up to a whole phone-free day!)
  2. Use a similar concept to carve out time during the week for important family events or “catch-up” time with a friend.  Start by blocking out a few hours once a week for your daughter’s soccer game, or for a 30-minute coffee shop meet-up with your best friend.  Then try adding in more pockets of time for other important people in your life.
  3. With the discipline you are building with those first two tips, apply what you are learning to your communications with the studio: protect your time by only answering emails at a specific point in the day.  You may even decide to set up an auto-responder and choose to take whole weekends (or other days of the week) off of email.

Acquiring the work-life balance that suits you best is something that will take effort, yes, but it’s a muscle worth strengthening!  

Give yourself the grace to work up to your ideal balance over time; you’ll know when you find it.

Love, Misty

P.S. If you are ready to save some time this holiday season, check out my friend Austin Roberson’s “done for you” Tutu Under the Christmas Tree social media kit.  I know I’ll be using it to save hours away from the computer this month so that I can spend more time with my family. <3.

 20 Reasons I am THANKFUL this Thanksgiving

  1. I am thankful for a man named Deak Swanson –  He was my “Festmaster” in 1996 when I was Miss La Crosse/Oktoberfest.  We spent countless hours riding around on the Oktoberfest float at parades during which time I would tell him over and over again about my dream to open a dance studio. One day he offered to build me my first studio on a handshake and twenty years later he and I turned the first shovels at the groundbreaking for our new facility.
  2. I am grateful to my Mom who modeled a spirit of generosity and compassion to me during my entire childhood and throughout my adult years.  I have vivid memories of accompanying her as a child to deliver meals to shut-ins and watching her take care of a family friend who was a burn victim.  So many of the things I want to be are rooted in her example.
  3. I am thankful for my Dad who taught me how to work.  I was in middle school when he lost his job as an over-the-road truck driver and things started to get really tight.  I’ll never forget when he said, “I’ll go dig ditches on the railroad if I need to so that I can take care of my family.”  And, he did.  Thank you, Dad, not only for your example, but for providing for us when it wasn’t easy.  Because of you, I can do hard things, too.
  4. I am thankful for my husband, Mitch, who has been the wind beneath my wings for every personal milestone and professional achievement. Teaching dance may look like all sunshine and rainbows from the audience, but the reality is that there is a lot of grit and and grind to keep a school going in the day to day. I’m not sure he knew what he was getting into when he asked me out when I was a senior in high school, but there is no one I would rather take this ride with…I love you!
  5. I am thankful for each of my five kids every day.  I stand in wonder and awe of the unique gifts and personalities that God has given each one of you and call it my greatest privilege to be your mom.  You’ve shown me what unconditional love and joy looks like and I hope to model it back to you everyday.
  6. I am grateful for my sister, Alana, who is also affectionately known as “Seesta!”  You are the string to my kite and you keep me grounded and flying at the same time and I can’t believe I get to go to work everyday with my best friend.
  7. I am thankful for my mother-in-law, Karen, who moved to Chicago this year to be Isabella’s chaperone so that she could join her dream dance company.  I mean, who uproots their life and moves to another city and takes on the responsibility of a teenager in retirement? This amazing lady does, that’s who!
  8. I am thankful to our School Director, Miss Shayna, who has been a faithful friend, employee and confidant over the first 20 years of Misty’s Dance Unlimited.
  9. I am grateful for the leadership team at both businesses – Misty’s Dance Unlimited and More Than Just Great Dancing®.  You are world class people and I’m thankful to get to serve this mission with you.
  10. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for our teachers who every year make the choice to put service before self and make serving our students their highest priority as leaders.
  11. I am grateful for our families and students at Misty’s Dance Unlimited. You are our reason for showing up every day. Your enthusiasm for the arts and commitment to providing positive experiences for kids motivates me every day to be a better leader and teacher.
  12. I am thankful for the More Than Just Great Dancing® studio owners, aka “The Tribe”. You are the heart and soul of what has become a worldwide movement. I could never be able to serve 72,000 kids a week on my own, but together we do that each week! You are the true leaders in the industry and my gratitude for you runs deep.
  13. I am grateful for my mentors. I know full well that I am standing on the shoulders of giants and I hope to make you proud.  Marvin, Darren, Georgia, Dave, Brad, Marc, Paul and Cody, I may not see you everyday, but every day the people we serve see your influence.
  14. I am grateful for a convention called Dance Revolution and it’s leader Michelle Brogan.  You are an absolute visionary and I am thankful to be on your team. Each year thousands of lives are forever changed by your bold faith including so many of our high school students.
  15. I am thankful to the vendors who said yes to More Than Just Great Dancing® before it was ever a thing.  Studio Director, Curtain Call, TutuTix and Stage Door Workshops – I’ll never forget that this was built on your belief in education for studio owners.
  16. I am thankful to my own dance teachers who inspired a love of the art in me so many years ago.  I know I wasn’t always the best dancer, but you saw the best in me and I try each to pay that forward to all children who dream of dancing.
  17. I am thankful for visionaries in the industry like Leslie Scott of Youth Protection Advocates in Dance and Tricia Gomez of Rhythm Works for children with special needs. A lot of people talk about the importance of providing safe and healthy experiences for all dancers, but you are true advocates and we are proud to be associated with your work.
  18. I am grateful for friends in the industry who understand that we are stronger together. We could very well have been competitors, but we’ve found it more fun to be friends. Austin, Clint, Steve, Suzanne, and Gil I love how we have shown that a rising tide can float all boats.
  19. I am even more grateful for the detractors I’ve had over the years.  You’ve helped me to get really clear on my mission and develop the perseverance needed to run this race and for that I am thankful.
  20. And, I am every thankful to God. I know that none of this is because of “me”. As Paul said to the Colossians, “All things are created by Him and for Him and in Him all things hold together.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Miss Misty

What are you thankful for today? I’d love to hear from you!

Whether your studio is located in a small Midwestern town like mine or a bustling big city, chances are you’ve involved your dancers in some aspect of the community.  With parades, fairs, festivals, school programs, fundraisers, or all of the above, your dance performing groups have probably enjoyed some awesome publicity.

It has me thinking lately about why we participate in events within our communities, and the significance of our presence. 

Does this sound familiar to you? It’s a Saturday afternoon and show time at the local mall. We hand out brochures, goody bags, and promotional items, such as free class cards.  We want to showcase our students’ talents and give the community a peek into the dance world.   

Community events can be great performance experiences for the dancers.  As well as a good opportunity to get in front of local families who happen to be out shopping that day.

But sometimes our why is not about sales or recruitment; sometimes the purpose behind participating in a community event is simply to do good things, and for no other reason but to offer the positive light that dance shines.  

It’s in that spirit that we have been performing at our community’s Thanksgiving Day Dinner for the past 10 years. 

When our dancers perform at the Community Center, any thoughts about brand awareness or student recruitment become inconsequential.  The performance is about serving the community because it is a beautiful thing to do. We want to bring movement, music, and positivity to those who may need it the most.  It is the best thing we know how to do—as a dance studio, as a local business, and as human beings—to lift the spirit and put a smile on someone’s face.

I don’t sell any classes or rehearsals in order to perform at the community dinner, but our involvement in this event might be the best lesson we offer at our studio.  It’s essential that our students learn this: that dance can simply brighten the day of a person who is alone; that a dancer’s gifts and talents can be used for this higher purpose.  It’s the why behind the dancing that helps teach them empathy, warmth, and grace. It helps them see that performance is not always about showing what they can do; it’s also about human connection.

So what can we do, as studio owners, to teach more of this message to our students?  

I think we can participate in community outreach performances as much as possible; I think we can talk about the significance of these opportunities with our dancers; and perhaps most importantly, we can show them that doing good things doesn’t mean we need something in return.  As we enter this holiday season, we can take small moments to remind them that it is always better to give than to receive.

Love, Misty

As a studio owner, you may have heard of Austin Roberson, the founder of Studio Owners Academy; we both work in the dance studio owner coaching and consulting space.  

Technically I suppose you could call us competitors …. but we’ve found that it’s a LOT more fun for us to be friends!

I can hear you thinking to yourself now: how in the world do you become great friends with “the competition” and not run into problems?  Isn’t that impossible?

Let me tell you more, and I think you’ll agree that it’s not only possible, it’s pretty great.

Here’s how it works for us:

The bottom line is that we always show respect and appreciation for each other’s work, and we communicate clearly and often.  

For example, in addition to sharing guest interviews with each other’s membership communities, Austin and I have both been guest speakers at each other’s live events.  To an outsider, that may look like we’re crazy—inviting a competitor onto our own turf?!  To us, it doesn’t seem that way because we are both one-hundred-percent confident in ourselves, and confident in what the other person does.

So how does being collaborative with a competitor really play out?  Well, I may teach on social media best practices for dance studios, but I’m not going to sell a course on Facebook ads because that’s Austin’s thing.  He’s great at that!  In fact, I’ve purchased his course. And he will refer someone to me for “whole studio coaching” if he thinks More Than Just Great Dancing® might be a better fit to serve that person’s needs.

I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to settle for merely co-existing with “the competition.”  It’s possible to earn respect from each other, communicate well, and if you’re lucky, even form a meaningful friendship.

I encourage you today to answer this question: who can you connect with this week that you consider a competitor?  You probably have more in common than meets the eye!  Take the first step, extend a hand, offer to meet for coffee …. open the door to the possibility of good will, and you may be rewarded with a unique friendship you can’t find anywhere else.

Love, Misty

I have a confession to make.

As a businesswoman and mom of five, I often feel like my kids get the short end of the stick.  In fact, it’s not just a feeling—they DO get the short end of the stick sometimes.  Case in point: my 16-year-old daughter, Isabella, moved away from home this year to follow her dance dreams in Chicago.  I bought two extra flights to try to make it there in time.  Still I missed the chance to see her before the homecoming dance at her new school.   

I was emotional when I knew my flight from Dallas to Chicago wouldn’t be there in time. It was an important moment in my daughter’s life and I missed it.  

My mother-in-law, Karen, who stepped up for the adventure of moving to Chicago with Isabella, sent pictures of her and the group in their homecoming finest.  As I sat on the runway and scanned the photos, I realized something.  I didn’t know any of the kids with Isabella from her new school.  And then I kind of lost it.  (My apologies to the guy next to the crying woman in seat 9E.)

When I expressed my dismay at not knowing the kids in the photo, Karen said something that made me laugh, cry harder, and smile all at the same time.

She said, “I understand.  I don’t think Isabella knows anyone either.  She’s gutsy and strong.”

Indeed she is.

That moment made me realize just how resilient Isabella is, and how those two words—gutsy and strong—made my heart smile between the tears.  I was reminded that God loves Isabella even more than I do.  He is the one who made her gutsy and strong.  And He gave her a grandma to take her picture and take care of her heart on that day.

As studio owners and entrepreneurs, it can be easy to doubt our parenting.  We feel bad when our kids eat gas station snacks for dinner, fend for themselves at the recital, or act out for our attention.  

We feel in those moments like we’ve let our kids down in favor of caring for other people’s kids—and yet, what we’ve really done is raise up resilient, self-sufficient, independent young people who are equipped to handle more than the average kid can, including venturing off to a new city to pursue a passion, and attending homecoming with a brand new set of friends.

My perspective changed that day when I missed seeing Isabella for homecoming.  I was still sad to have lost that moment with her, but I could smile at her gutsiness and strength.  

I could see the eight-year-old in her, figuring out how to do her own bun and makeup at competition because I had to help another mother’s child; and the ten-year-old in her, getting cut from the part she wanted in the musical theater number because I couldn’t give it to her.  Or the time we pulled up to dance camp showcase when she was fourteen and she said, “I know I’ll never get an award because I’m your kid.”  Also I remember my joy that day when one of the guest teachers surprised us both by giving her an award, the only one she’d ever gotten at one of our events.  I could see her standing on her own two well-poised feet—because she’d had that practice.  

I was—and am—so proud of her.  

My confession now has become more of an affirmation:  sometimes the short end of the stick is just right.

Love, Misty

Twenty. It’s a number that I’ve been thinking about a lot ….

It’s the age I was when I started working on starting my own studio, Misty’s Dance Unlimited.  Twenty is roughly half the age I am now. And, now it’s the number of years I’ve been in business.

Two decades as a dance studio owner. In some ways it’s a lifetime; in other ways it seems like the blink of an eye.

As I reflect back on these past twenty years in business, I’ve been thinking, “What do I wish I had known all those years ago?” This is the advice I would give to myself as a young studio owner:

  1. Remember that it’s not all about the dancing. Yes, do well with the dancing because that’s the focus of your services. But, also make your focus about the things that last—the confidence that’s being built, the friendships that are being made, the perseverance that’s being developed. Those are the things a student can carry within themselves for life.
  2. Give more than expected. Folks will remember how you made them feel when you went the extra mile for a family in need, or you helped that staff member graduate from college.
  3. Give without expecting to receive. It’s worth doing nice things just to be kind; to put that positivity out in the world. Give when it feels like the right thing to do, not because you’ll get something in return.
  4. Not everyone can, or will want to, go the distance with you. Not students, not parents, not teachers …. not everyone is in it for the long haul, and that’s okay. Some will leave, others you will outgrow. The students, parents, and staff you start with will not necessarily be the team you end up with, and that’s okay. Cherish people while you have them in your life and bless them when they go.
  5. Go to the game. When you have kids someday, get a sub and go to your child’s game. One day, your students will leave or graduate and you will be just one part of their school memories, but to your child, you will have been the world. Go the the game.
  6. Wait 24 hours to respond to angry people, and then respond with love and grace.  You can only control you. In many ways we train people how to treat us, so know when to stop responding. Learn the difference between being deferential and being a doormat.
  7. Make room for as many people as possible at the “table of dance”. The best dance classes you’ll ever teach will be for the for kids who will likely never become dancers.  Dance is for everybody and every BODY.  
  8. Don’t get caught in the rat race of trends. Remember the “platinum” trophies that everyone wants to win in the moment are actually made of plastic. Spend the best of your time and energy on things that have lasting value, not plastic value.
  9. Stand up for your beliefs. Be true to yourself. You are the owner of a privately owned business. You have a vision and you are allowed to stand up for that vision. You are in a unique position to build a life of meaning and impact if you follow your heart.
  10. Be willing to be misunderstood. People will question your decisions and your motivations. Leadership can be lonely, so build a network of people around you who truly know you and believe in you—those people might be your family members, your church, your friends, your peers in small business. Find like-minded eagles and fly with them!

Twenty years of joy. Twenty years of tears and laughter. Twenty years of learning. Twenty years of work I absolutely love.  

If you’re reading this, chances are you are doing the work you love too. I hope you will reflect back on your own journey—celebrate the milestones, learn from the past, and enjoy the days as they turn into months and years.  

There is no better feeling than living life the way you dance—full out!

For this Misty Minute, I’m excited to share with you a sneak peek inside the pages of my book. I wrote this book with an audience of one in mind…but, God had other plans. It’s been a year since its release as #1 on Amazon and now ONE SMALL YES is available in print at every major US book retailer. Check out this excerpt from one of my favorite chapters entitled “Getting it all done without losing your mind”.

 

As many of you know, I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I love starting new companies and projects and working alongside great people to make them successful. It doesn’t matter if it is a new dance studio project or a real estate development, I simply love to create and see things that have at one time lived only in my imagination, come to life. To me, launching a project is the most exciting form of “choreography”.

 

This year I took on a brand new project in cooperation with our friends at Untapped Movement called the One Family Festival. The festival will be delivered in two jam-packed days complete with the industry’s top master teachers, choreographers, a business owner’s breakfast, teacher classes, a student showcase, audition experience, dance related exhibitor booths, professional headshots & tips from industry experts.

 

The One Family Festival is happening in Chicago July 13-15, and, YES, you can still register!

 

We are SO excited to bring the Misty Minute community a national event that offers amazing dancing, age-appropriate choreography and a non-competitive showcase. The festival also features an on-site community service project and special workshops from amazing representatives from companies like ivivva & lululemon.  I’m excited to be taking the lead in parent and teacher classes and our friends from Untapped Movement will be showing their latest film called, One Family Film, for the FIRST TIME at the event.

 

New projects lead to new ah-ha moments and I have had a few while working on the One Family Festival! Today I want to share with you the top 10 things I have learned from starting a dance festival:

 

  1. Every dancer has a story to share (and it probably has nothing to do with trophies or “placements”).
  2. A student doesn’t have to be the best dancer at your studio to be the one who loves to dance the most.
  3. Kids are still willing to work to earn things like summer festivals.
  4. Kids can share things through movement that they could never share with their words.
  5. Refreshingly, most parents are more concerned with their child being “seen” (a.k.a. not invisible) than they are concerned with their child being “discovered”.
  6. Most parents sacrifice A LOT to make these opportunities available to their kids.
  7. Character is more important than celebrity when choosing a master teacher.
  8. True master teachers are more worried about their students than their “brand”.
  9. There is no need to have kids dancing from 7am until midnight. No need at all.
  10. 40 entries is more than enough for an evening showcase after a long day of classes.

 

No, I won’t be winning the “Largest Dance Event of the Summer” award. But, we might be in the running for the “Most Refreshing”.  It’s a simple philosophy really:  People first. Provide value. Great teachers. Serve others. Give dancers time to eat, sleep and be kids. Have fun. Make memories. Love on the teachers and studio owners. Respect the parents. That’s pretty much it.  

Does that sound refreshing to you? Then please consider joining us!  

 

Click below to register!

 

Holy cats! I didn’t know that when I sent that message out yesterday inviting you to join me and Darren Hardy in his Insane Productivity program just how INSANE your response was going to be!

 

THANK YOU for showing Darren how driven you are! Darren used to take my WORD on how amazing and passionate dance studio owners are and now he is seeing it for HIMSELF!

 

If you have not joined the program yet, this offer ENDS TONIGHT at 6pm EST. This is one of the BEST THINGS you can do for yourself, your business and your family this year! Don’t wait a minute longer! Sign up now:

 

http://bit.ly/HelpingTheTribe

 

I can’t wait for you to experience the results that THOUSANDS of others have achieved from completing this program!

 

To your SUCCESS,

Misty

Yesterday I told you about how having the former publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, Darren Hardy, as a mentor completely changed my business life.

 

I also told you that I had asked him to just GIVE YOU the first few modules of his Insane Productivity program for FREE.

 

But what I forgot to tell you was how I asked him:)

 

I was sitting in my office working with the More Than Just Great Dancing® team and one of my team members said, “They need Darren Hardy. You need to get them involved with Darren.”

 

I was reluctant. Not because I didn’t want to share Darren with you…I do! I was reluctant because I knew that he only opened his program a few times a year and I had already asked him to open it up for our affiliated studio owners last month.

 

I had never asked him to open it up for to my readers before.

 

So, I did.  I just did it.  I sent it. And then I “un-sent” it and sent it again. And I waited.  

 

And this is what he sent me back:

 

“YES.

For YOU, yes.

 

And yes, this is NOT normal.

But you my dear… are DEFINITELY. NOT. NORMAL.

 

Primarily because you have given without asking for reciprocation several times before.

You have GIVEN first.

I appreciate that.”

 

No, this is not normal!

 

This is just for YOU, the Misty Minute reader, so if you haven’t signed up for your FREE two modules of Insane Productivity yet, take a minute and do so before this link expires tomorrow evening.

 

The best time to plant a tree (or a good habit) was yesterday. The second best time is TODAY!

 

All you have to do is click here, Darren’s A-Team will do the rest.

 

This offer is only good until 6pmEST TOMORROW so don’t miss out. Time is ticking on this incredible offer! Don’t waste it! Sign up today:

 

http://bit.ly/HelpingTheTribe

 

To your SUCCESS,

Misty (& Darren)

 

This summer I will begin my 20th year in studio ownership. Over the past two decades I’ve seen a lot of trends in our industry – some great and some not-so-great.  

On the up-side I’ve seen the popularity of dance shows and competitions drive more involvement in dance studios than ever than before. And opportunities for students to learn outside the studio are at an all time HIGH. In most major cities, most weekends of the year, students can find opportunities to participate in conventions, competitions and master classes.  Three cheers for opportunities to grow!

However, the same popularity that has created increased traffic to our dance studios has also created a growing number of less-than-ideal, and sometimes even unacceptable, convention and competition environments for our kids.  Does this sound familiar? Missing school for competitions that start on Thursday nights, dancing from 7am until 11pm awards only to start again the next day at 7am, and seeing kids disappointed with High Gold awards, even if it’s what their performance truly earned.

I’ve been there. I am want to do my part.

To that end, I am excited to announce that we have partnered with Untapped Movement to create a the One Family Festival, July 13-15 in Chicago,l to provide happy, healthy and safe experiences in dance.

Have you been looking for an event with excellent dance classes that creates a space for dancers to connect while sharing their stories in an uplifting and supportive environment? One Family Festival is exactly that.

The One Family Festival will be a place for everyone to come no matter their skill, age, or background to connect with a community of others who share the same passion and love for dance. We believe that everyone has something to say whether it is through words or movement and what better place to have your story heard than at the One Family Festival surrounded by those who share similar experiences. Our goal is for you to leave proud of all you have accomplished through the master classes and workshops, experience a deeper connection with the dance community, and most importantly, feel inspired by the unique stories shared throughout the event.

This festival is designed to be a place to train, recharge, connect, grow, learn, hope, and dream. Whether you’re an individual dancer from east Tennessee or a competition studio from Sydney, Australia, there is a place for you here.

More Than Dancers and Untapped are organizations partnering together in the One Family Festival. More Than Dancers is an online magazine created for dancers to access tips and advice to promote balanced living, to be encouraged, and inspired. Untapped Movement is a popular online community rapidly connecting dancers and studios around the world. Together, they share the same vision and to connect everyone together through the art and beauty of dance.

At One Family Festival, students will experience an array of master classes and workshops to help grow in their craft while connecting with those around them. Not only will dancers learn from the top teachers in the industry but they will make friends with them as well. Dancers will be able to showcase a specific routine, costume, and music that best represents their story then share it with the audience. A cinema room will be provided the opportunity to have their performance captured on a real film set with a set of Hollywood-quality lighting and cameras. They will also get to watch an exclusive screening of the newest One Family film.

If you are looking for something a little different (well, A LOT different) and you want to place to be a part of something greater, then we want you to come to the One Family Festiva!. Please consider joining us in Chicago, July 13-15, 2017, it will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Grace and Peace,

Misty

One Family Festival Details

DATES: JULY 13-15, 2017

LOCATION: Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Chicago, IL

Hyatt Regency McCormick Place

2233 South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive

Chicago, Illinois, USA, 60616-9985

1.312.567.1234

PRICES:

Dancer Registration – $299

Teacher Registration – $249

REGISTER NOW
Check out onefamily2017.com for more event info!

Normally I would kick off the new year by talking about goals and business growth, but last week my son was in a pretty tough snowboarding accident while we were on vacation in Colorado.  He’s going to be okay in time and for that we are VERY grateful. God is good.

 
When your kids are hurt it can really change your perspective on what’s really important in life.  So I’m going to save talking about business growth and goals for another day and use today’s message to share my 10 REAL Wishes for You for 2017 🙂

 
​1. HEALTH – Wealth means nothing without health to enjoy it. I wish you abundant health…physical, mental, relational and spiritual health.

2. WEALTH – Not just the money kind….that’s the lowest common denominator. True wealth is about relationships and time. I wish you true wealth.

3. JOY – Joy is different than happiness. Happiness is situational. Joy transcends situation. It’s an outlook, not an emotion. I wish you grace for each day and joy for the journey.

4. GROWTH – We know as dancers that the only way a muscle grows is with challenge and stretching. Lean into your challenges, don’t shrink from them. I wish you growth.

5. FIRM FOUNDATIONS – That you would build your life on the rock of things that matter most at the end of our lives…family, faith, friends. Most business coaches would say, “What would you do in business if you could not fail?” I take a different view by asking, “What would you still have if you lost everything?” I wish you firm foundations.

6. FOCUS – Nothing causes more stress is than being stretched in too many directions and nothing creates more stability and progress than focus. I wish you focus.

7. RESILIENCE – May we be people that bounce and don’t break. May we rise when we face challenges. I wish you resilience.

8. CREATIVITY – Creativity is the opposite of burn out. It comes from the heart and is the well-spring of life. It gets us up in the morning and fuels our hopes and dreams. I wish you creativity.

9. BOUNDARIES – Knowing what to let in is as important as knowing what to keep out. Know which burdens to carry and which ones to bury. I wish you boundaries so you can choose your battles wisely.

10. UNITY – Unity in your families, businesses, teams and communities. Unity is the opposite of strife and drama. Unity is born of respect, patience and compassion and clarity vision. Unity in our country begins with unity in our homes and classrooms. I wish you unity.

Let us not leave 2017 the same people as we entered.

 
Grace and peace,
Misty

The school supply lists are posted at Target, the mailbox is filling up with paperwork for registration for my children’s schools and Facebook is blowing up with pictures of kids in backpacks. It’s officially time for back-to-school and that means it’s time to get serious about back-to-dance!

As a studio owner, I’m a big fan of observing what the local schools do and taking my cues from their systems.  For example, we do our registration for summer classes when the local school opens theirs. We offer parent teacher conferences just like the schools do and we follow their model for teacher training as well.

Most studio owners consider themselves to be in the business of training students, but the strongest studios I know understand that they are in the business of training teachers as well.

Here are 5 tips to step up your teacher training this year with Staff Meetings that ROCK:  

  1.    Timing is everything.

Time is the most important commodity we have.  Make your meetings few and powerful. I meet with my full time leadership team once every two weeks and the entire staff once each quarter. Our bi-weekly leadership meetings are about 1.5 hours in length and our quarterly all-staff meetings are three hours. Bi-weekly leadership meetings focus on weekly operational issues such as scheduling, weekend events, student concerns, ordering costumes, dress code, equipment and tracking classroom progress. Quarterly meetings are centered on important times in our dance season: back-to-school kickoff in August, recital planning in October, parent-teacher conferences and competition details in January and preparing for the two biggest events of the year—registration and recital—in April. Respecting people’s time and hitting the most important parts of the season are two keys to having successful staff meetings.

  1.    Remember that there are three parts to every successful meeting.

The most successful meetings we have address three areas:

  1.     Informational
  2.     Inspirational
  3.      Instructional

Take our Back-to-Dance meeting for example.  A big part of this meeting is informational in nature—reviewing schedule changes, turning in contracts and going over employment handbooks. But, the real purpose of this meeting is inspirational.  Back-to-school is a time for your teachers to remember why they became teachers in the first place and to set new goals for the year. The last part of a successful meeting is instructional.  The best teachers never stop learning, so take advantage of this time together to teach your team something new. It could be as simple as getting everyone in the studio to decide what preparation for pirouette is going to look like for all the classes at your studio or it could be a short teaching on time management or customer service.

  1.    Develop a theme for the year.

Every year at my studio we have an overarching theme that helps us to focus our activities.  One year when we were in a high period of growth our theme was “Every Student, Every Class”. The idea was that even though we had become a larger studio we wanted every student in every class to feel the warmth of personal and  positive attention. This year our theme is “Energize Enrollment” because we have set some ambitious enrollment goals for the upcoming season.  At each of our meetings we talk about how we are measuring up against the theme that we have prioritized for the year.

  1.    Celebrate what you want to elevate.

Staff meetings are a great time to “lift up” what you want to “build up”. For example, one of our core values is service so I give shout outs at our meetings to staff members who have recently gone the extra mile for their colleagues or our clients.  If dress code is something that is important to you, give some public praise to a teacher exemplifies that. We even have an old-fashioned star chart to measure teacher progress just like you might see in a Kindergarten classroom. Our teachers are broken into teams and the teams can earn stars over the course of the year for things like dress code, attending meetings, turning their music in on time, helping colleagues by subbing, etc. Our teachers love it and get silly-competitive over earning stars because they know prizes will be handed out at the next meeting for the leaders.

  1.    Bring the fun!

Most people equate the word meetings with the word boring, so find ways to break it up with some fun. One time we kicked off a meeting by tossing a ball from person to person asking them to share one thing we would never guess about them. Who knew I had one staff member whose mom is Australian and another who rides a Harley?!  We have also broken it up by giving out dollar-store type prizes for our star chart winners and tossed out small candy bars for those who could answer pop questions about schedule or policies. When the meeting is about recital, we bring food to keep them fueled during the planning process. The idea is to make doing what you NEED to do something that they WANT to do.

How about you? What do you do to make your staff meetings worthwhile for teachers and owners alike?  Leave your ideas in the comments below.  Have a great season kick-off everyone!

I love my kids. I really do! In fact here’s a picture of them on a recent road trip just so you can see how sweet and silly they are.  

MM 16

My kids are great and I love being a mom.

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF JAZZ HANDS THEY NEED TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL.  

It’s the end of summer and all of this free-schedule-business has taken a toll on things. There are messages piled in my email, contracts that need signing, lesson plans that need writing, and laundry that needs washing. In fact, my fourth child, Max, just told the little boy who slept over last night, “You are so lucky you have socks!”  Ugggh.  Friends, let me assure you that my kids have socks. Many socks. They are just not in drawers as of this moment.  

But before I get too far on the challenge of the “summer slide”, let’s just think back to May.  If you were like me you were saying, “I’m tired of schedule and grind! I need a break! I just need the freedom of summer!” And now here I am crying “Uncle!” because I just need to get back to a schedule.

That’s kind of how life is…whatever we are in is the hard spot and the promised land always seems just around the corner. So today I am going to parent myself and tell myself, “Enough whining. Enjoy what you have TODAY.”

I only have one week left of summer vacation and everything on my desk can wait until the kids go back to school. Because the reality is that one day I won’t have any kids at home to spend  a summer day with and do you know what I’m NOT going to say at that time?  I’m not going to say, “Boy I wish I would’ve spent those last hours of summer on email.”

So ENJOY that last bit of summer freedom, friends. The schedule will be here soon enough and your to-do list will wait. Lists are very patient that way:)

It’s Earth Week. But for the sake of today’s Misty Minute, I want to focus my attention on the most important environment I believe we can nurture and protect—the environment in our homes. 

Our geographic environment has a climate and so do our homes.  And, as a studio owner, the environment in my home around recital time can be chaotic to say the least.

Mornings set the temperature for the entire day.  On a good day that means I’m up before the kids get up.  I’ve had some quiet time, folded some laundry, checked over the schedule for the day, signed the reading calendars and made a plan for breakfast.   

But, if I’ve had a late night working, well, I don’t have to tell you where that can lead.  My daughter won’t be able to find THE water bottle she needs for dance. Papers will be forgotten and the neat pile of clothes I folded at midnight will be shredded as four wild animals, I mean my four handsome sons, tear into it looking for the right sized denims.  And, that’s not counting the dishes that will be left on the counter and crabby words I’m likely to say before we part ways for the day.  

If there have been too many chaotic days lately, it’s time to institute a climate change.  What’s the change, you ask?  Us.  And, it starts with the word “No”.  “No” to taking on that extra class or choreography opportunity. “No” to one more lunch meeting.  “No” to answering that angry email at 11pm.  “No” to depriving yourself of sleep and nutrition in order to get “a little more” done.  Because, let’s be real….”it” will never be “done”.  

It’s my nature to say “yes”, but, in my eagerness to serve others, my family can get lost in the shuffle.  So, I’ve spent the last year dialing back my calendar and work commitments to make more time for the things no one will ever see, but that actually matter most—dinners, homework, bedtime, conversations and snuggles. And, yes, clean laundry.  

You see, I can always teach another class, make another trip to the studio, write another article or serve on another board, but I’ll never get a second chance to raise my kids.  

Do you need a climate change in your home?  If so, I’d love to help you…

Enter to win a coaching call!

Have you ever had a day, maybe even a whole month, where you feel like you gotten caught up in the “weeds” of entrepreneurship?   It can be a muddy, thorny, unpleasant mess to get stuck in the weeds of owning your own business.  

What are the weeds of entrepreneurship?  Think of the work of starting and running your own business like that of planting and growing a garden.  You have a vision to grow something.  You turn the soil, plant the seeds, water the seedlings, protect them with a fence, add fertilizer, add stakes for support, pray for sun, and prune the plants.  You step back from the rows of green leaves and that’s when you notice…weeds creeping up around the edges of what you have worked so hard to grow.  

Entrepreneurship is a LOT like gardening.  After years of backbreaking work to grow something beautiful, weeds can crop up and take the joy out of your mission.  These surprise visitors can take many shapes and forms.  Cash flow issues, parent complaints, student attitudes, employee gossip, problems at home, health issues of your own, and the list goes on.  

It doesn’t matter what the weed is.  You need to deal with it immediately because weeds can grow ten times faster than the good stuff if left unchecked.  One day you’re walking around your business-garden admiring the fruit of your labor with only a bit of concern about the weeds creeping in at the edges.  The next time you look you’re shocked to find weeds in place of what you took so much time to nurture.  

We’ve all listened in shock before at “sudden news”.  A studio closes, a parent leaves, a student drops out of school, an employee goes off the wall, a marriage blows up, a tough diagnosis is given, and more.  But, usually there is nothing sudden about a lot of the tough news we get– it’s just a weed that has been growing for a long time and finally got tall enough to be seen above the plants you were actually trying to grow.

Do you have any weeds that you need to deal with today?  Whether personal or professional, inside yourself or outside yourself, we all have some weeds in our gardens. Look to yourself and your own attitudes, actions and behaviors and then look through your garden.  The smart gardeners take care of issues as they crop up.  

I was watching TV the other day when a new GEICO commercial came on.  A man in an office cafeteria is microwaving a burrito when the Swedish rock band Europe appears in a cloud of smoke singing, “It’s the Final Countdown!”

I don’t know if it’s a reflection of growing up in the 80s, or if the song if truly catchy, but my third son and I kept singing it over and over again for days.  “It’s the final countdown, doo doo doooooooo do, do-do-do-do.”   It didn’t matter if we were using the microwave or threatening to leave the older kids behind on the morning school run, anytime seemed like a good time for us to break out a little final countdown.  

I hit recital week with all it’s crazy sauce and I changed the words of my new favorite tune to match my new reality.  The song, “It’s the Final Countdown” became “It’s Recital Meltdown!”  I don’t know about you, but “recital meltdown” pretty much describes the last few weeks before the curtain goes up for me.  

A dance needs finishing, a costume needs shortening, and the theatre needs detailed lighting cues by midnight.  This ballet girl has to choreograph a hip hop dance for 160 dads, the recital program has a random blank page and another senior is changing her senior solo song.  We added a giant prop to opening number at the last minute (my brilliant idea), which required borrowing a trailer and two sets of stairs from the local theater department, a trip to Chicago for pick up and an army of dads to assemble.  

This, of course, is not counting the extra trips my husband and I made to the regular schools this week to deliver forgotten homework, drop off dinners, and attend track meets.  Every single activity from school to dance to sports to church is in high gear in our area during the month of May and my refrigerator looks like my gas tank.  Empty.  

It’s in these moments that we have to pull out our survival strategies.  Schedule an extra meeting explaining everyone’s responsibilities for show week and delegate additional tasks.  Finish the dance, pin the costume and email the cues.  Skip the cooking, fill your gas tank and throw some spinach on a frozen pizza.  Turn that blank page in the recital program book into an autograph page and staple the last of the prop together.  Your kid will survive you don’t make a second trip to school to deliver the track uniform.  Mine did.  Apparently they have extras of those at the school for kids whose parents refuse to make a fourth trip to school in one day.

To quote one of my entrepreneurial heroes, Marie Forleo, “Everything is figure-out-able.”   Breathe. Smile. You’ve got this.  You are a professional.  It really is “The Final Countdown” to showtime, so let’s roll!

Recital is not the only thing we are counting do to at More Than Just Great Dancing®.  We are counting down the final 15 spaces available at Studio Owner University®.

On Father’s Day I was in a gas grill accident. I thought I had lit the grill, but my Dad questioned whether or not it was on.  I heard his wife say, “I smell gas”, but I was in a hurry to get the grill going, so I didn’t take time to investigate why she would say that. Even so, as I reached my hand to the ignitor I remember thinking, “This might not be a good idea.”

Click.

In an instant a boom shook the neighborhood as the gas that had been trapped under the hood of the grill exploded sending the lid, grate, tank, oil pan and grilling tools in all directions.

I ducked on instinct, but not fast enough. A fireball hit me in the face and knocked me backwards. I remember throwing my hands to my face and running into the house, saying “I’m okay, I’m okay!” more to reassure myself than the people around me.

As I looked into the mirror, I could see through the charcoal bits and oil spatter that I lost a bit of hairline and half of my eyebrows and lashes. There were were small brown burns under my eyes where the hot mascara hit. A visit to the ER confirmed a flash burn on the right side of my face and corneal abrasion. I still have to cut about three inches off the bottom of my hair where it singed, but other than that, I am A-OK.

But, I’m better that OK! It’s a total miracle–an actual miracle. When I was a child a family friend was in the same kind of accident and he suffered 3rd and 4th degree burns over 90% of his body.  My face was one foot away from the explosion and I am basically unscathed.  My small injuries will heal. I don’t know why God was very merciful to me. But, I intend not to waste it.

I’ve been thinking non-stop about the incident and the lessons I can learn from it. I think they apply to business as much as they apply to grilling.

  1. THINK before you act. Small actions can have explosive results.
  2. Safety FIRST. No shortcut is worth the potential price you might pay.
  3. Know what you are getting into BEFORE you get into it.
  4. There is great value in staying CALM in crisis. The people around you need it more than you do.
  5. It’s healthy to cry after crisis, but FUNCTION during it. Good decisions depend on you having your head on straight.
  6. Life is FRAGILE. So, so, so, so fragile.
  7. Be GRATEFUL every day.  Every day is a GIFT from God. We have a lot of influence on how we spend our days, but we don’t control the number of them.
  8. Nothing on your to-do list is more important than family. FOCUS on what’s in front of you, not always what’s next.

Sometimes in life, we all need a wake up call. Perhaps you have been running on empty or on autopilot for too long. Maybe you have gotten so buried in the work of keeping your business alive that you have forgotten how to make a life. If that is you, let today be the day that you PAUSE and take time for the people and things in life that really matter.

________________________

Are you looking for more inspiration?

As many of you know, I have been working on a book called, One Small Yes. The book gives a peek into my personal journey of saying yes to opening a dance studio instead of pursuing a performing career and how that eventually became the worldwide movement of More Than Just Great Dancing.

It is about helping people of all ages and backgrounds say YES to their hopes and dreams.

The book will be published next week on Amazon. As a Misty Minute reader, you’ll be the first to know when it comes out!

As a little bit of an appetizer, here is some advance praise from some industry leaders and my friend, Darren Hardy, for Publisher of SUCCESS magazine:

“One Small Yes taught me how to stop with the busy work and connect with my life’s work. It’s the perfect pick-me-up for every entrepreneur. Misty is an entrepreneur with heart, someone who genuinely cares for the success of others.”

-Austin Roberson, Founder, StudioOwnersAcademy.com

“One Small Yes is yet another brilliant gift to the world from Misty Lown. It is an essential read for anyone, whether they are well on their path, or seeking to find it. It shows how a regular girl became an extraordinary woman One Small Yes at a time. I was inspired by Misty from the moment I met her, and I was fascinated with how one woman could own so many businesses, have 5 children, travel the world inspiring others and remain such a down-to-earth, beautiful human being. Her humble and often vulnerable account of how she made the journey will open the gateway for so many others.”

Lisa Howell, (B.Phty), Registered Physiotherapist, Founder and Owner of Perfect Form Physiotherapy and The Ballet Blog

“One Small Yes shows you how the life and business you want can be yours, when you simply decide. Misty’s journey is not only inspiring, it demonstrates that by taking small steps each and every day that we can really achieve anything. It’s a must read for anyone who’s at a point in their life when they know they could be achieving more, from impacting the lives of more people to filling up their own cup to achieve more fulfillment. This book guides you through a story of hope, hard work and heart with plenty of actionable takeaways that you can apply to your business and life so you too can achieve your very own version of success!”

-Clint Salter, CEO, Dance Studio Owners Association

“Misty Lown is first class and this book will help you and your business get to the front of the line! As the owner of several small businesses with over 30 years of experience I recommend you take the time to read this informative book”

Steve Sirico Founder Dance Teacher Web & D’Valda and Sirico Dance and Music Centre

“If you want to build a life and a business that makes a difference, Misty Lown will show you the way. What she has accomplished one “yes” at at time is an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere. If you want to be inspired as you learn new ways to live a life of significance then One Small Yes is for you.”

-Darren Hardy, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Compound Effect and former Publisher and Founding Editor SUCCESS Magazine

 

I can’t wait to share it with you!

Love,

Misty

Today ran into a student that I “lost” about five years ago.  When I say I “lost”, I mean to say I fought long and hard to keep her engaged and growing as a student, but in the end I was not able to keep her with our studio.  Despite my best effort, she moved to another dance studio in the middle of high school and eventually transitioned to sports.  

I still remember getting the email announcing her departure.  I thought about it non-stop while driving to Florida for a family vacation.  My body was in the car, but my mind was somewhere three months prior reliving every previous interaction looking for signs…anything I could’ve done differently.  But, I couldn’t have.  Even though did my best, I felt defeated and questioned my ability as a leader.

Fast forward five years and this former student is now a young adult about to graduate college.  Barely recognizing her at a sporting event for my own children, I took a chance and called out her name.  She turned, clearly surprised to see me, and something flashed in her eyes…was it a memory? Nervousness? Uncertainty?  

None of it mattered anymore.  This was a kid I cared about and mentored for a very long time, so I jumped in as if not a day had passed.  I asked about the last years of high school, her dancing, her pursuit of sports, eventual injuries and subsequent surgeries.  I shared my favorite memory of her as a dancer–a beautiful night of improv to live worship music.

And, then it happened.

A sparkle came to her eyes.  Her face softened and she said, “You know sometimes I miss the dancing, but my body won’t let me do it anymore.”  I told her I was proud of all she was doing and wasn’t surprised at all to hear of her accomplishments in sports, school and beyond. She had always been a high flier.

And, then my heart softened…towards myself.   You see, I hold myself to an incredibly high standard.  My mind knows that a perfect score in business is not possible, but even so, that’s what I measure myself against most days.  

What a gift to see this young gal and realize that I had an important part of her journey for a long time, but it really was hers to complete her way.   I wasn’t able to take her to the finish line of her high school experience, but I ran alongside her a good long distance and all these years later we can laugh and smile and hug and watch a track meet together.  

Grace wins.  I needed to be reminded of that today and maybe somebody reading did, too:)

Misty

Tomorrow is launch day for my new book, One Small Yes™! I’m super excited to share this book with you!

In the morning I’ll be sending you a link to download my book from Amazon completely free of charge, as my gift to you, for your journey in success! It will only be free for a few days, so get it while it’s hot off the press. Thanks and appreciation in advance for your honest Amazon reviews.

At 1pm ET tomorrow, I’ll be featured LIVE online for my launch party, showcasing my book along with a few other authors, and you’re invited! You’ll get to hear the inside story about how I made it through the book writing process and how I went from a simple book idea to being published in 90 days!  You won’t want to miss this unique, behind the scenes, sneak peek!

If you join me live, you could win over $1,000 in giveaways and free books! If you can’t join us for the party live, you can still receive access to the recording. Really hope to “see” you there!

Welcome to PART 3 of the 3-Part Series I will be sharing on “Mastering Your Life”.  

Last week I challenged you to raise your “average of 5” and to take a good, hard look at how the people you spend the most time and ask whether they are having a positive effect, or negative effect, on your ability to master your personal habits.  

I’ve heard from many of you that you would LOVE to raise your “average of 5”, but it’s a tall order where you live and work.  I totally get it.  Being a studio owner can make hard work of developing deep relationships.  

I work from home all day, but I never quite fit in with true stay-at-home moms because things like payroll deadlines and calls for subs interrupted play dates.  And, I didn’t identify with traditional working moms either because I didn’t have the pressure to be presentable or get my kiddos to daycare by 730am.  Yoga pants are my uniform; my kitchen table is my office.  Studio owners are a unique breed of business owner indeed.

Feeling peerless is one challenge. Time is another.  If you are fortunate to develop strong relationships outside the studio, good luck finding time to nurture them.  Tuesday night book club invite? Forget about it. We’re running several hundred kids through classes by 6pm.  Weekends?  Not between February and June unless you want to join me at dance convention, recital or registration.

I hear you.  I’ve lived it.  I still live it.  Everyday. My brick and mortar dance studio serves 750 kids each week and my own five kids still need dinner each night.  Somedays those two things work great together.  Other times they collide.  

This leads me to the third of our 3-Part series on Mastering Your Life.  

Part 3:  Gratitude and grace.  

Self-employment is AMAZING!  It is also a GRIND. Parenthood, marriage, health, you-name-the-topic, can be, too.  With so many highs and lows, I’ve learned from my mentor Darren Hardy, to work on flattening the curves of this roller coaster called entrepreneurship.  Here are my two best strategies:

  1. Gratitude. Start and end the day in gratitude.  You could also journal, write a thank you letter, or send love to someone who has helped you out.  If you feel beat down, try gratitude.  As my grandpa used to say, “Anytime you wake up on this side of the dirt, it’s a good day!”  Self-pity and gratitude simply can’t live in the same place.  One will push the other out.
  2. Grace. I can’t say it enough.  Grace to start another day, grace to finish.  Grace to reset when things go wrong.  Grace to admit when you’ve messed up.  Grace for those who have wronged you.  Grace to get up and try again.  Grace – You can never get too much and it never runs out.  

Sound simple?  It is.  Sound hard?  It’s that, too.  But, I guarantee that if you practice little more gratitude and grace, get a hold of your money habits (spending, saving and giving), raise your “average or 5”, 2016 will be a year like no other.  

Keep going!

Misty

PS…Are you ready for MORE?

Authentic Relationships

Accountability

Ideas

Business Strategies

Community

Then join me for Studio Owner University, October 19-20 in Chicago for three days of business training and encouragement with studio owners from around the globe.

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Welcome to PART 2 of the 3-Part Series I will be sharing on “Mastering Your Life”.  

Last week I challenged you to master the “Habit of 3” and get control of your financial life in three areas:  

  1. Spending
  2. Saving
  3. Giving

How did the week go? If we met for coffee today would you be able to tell me how much of the money you will earn this month is being committed to spending?  Perhaps spending was easy to tackle for you because much of your spending is pre-scripted:  mortgage, utilities, car, payroll, etc., but giving is hard.  Or perhaps, you are like me and you like giving so much you give an inordinate amount of your hard earned money to Target corporation. (Hey, who doesn’t like another good lamp?)

Are you ready to break bad habits over your finances?  Here’s the secret:  It’s not enough to have knowledge, ideas or goals.  That’s just the starting line of pursuing all you were created to be.  The race between the starting line and the finish line requires a endurance, strategy and good advice.  Real change is about increasing your averages.

Part 2:  Increase your “Average of 5”

Tough news, but it’s a fact: In five years you will be the average of the people you spend the most time with now.  

If the people you hang out with have strong leadership habits, you are more likely to be a strong leader. If they work are continually learning, you are more likely to keep growing as well. If they are spending wisely, saving for retirement and giving generously, guess what?  You are more likely to do that, too.  

On the other hand, if you the people you spend time with tend towards lazy, gossipy, complaining, behaviors guess where your habits are going?  That’s right…the same direction.  

Average the “5” people you spend the most time with wisely.

Regardless of whether you are a stay at home mom, an entrepreneur or you work for someone else’s business, raising your “average of 5” NOW will benefit you for years to come.  

So what do you want to do MORE of?

Do more

Rest more

Give more

Save more

Praise more

Travel more

Exercise more

Play more

Then find people who do that ONE thing well and spend time with them.

Need more help developing your “raising your average”?  Join us for Studio Owner University, October 19-20 in Chicago for three days of nuts and bolts business training with like minded studio owners from around the globe.

sou_chicago_logo

What’s on your to-do list this week?  If you are like most people I know, you have more on your list than time in the day.  

I’m with you!  My dance studio serves over 750 kids in our regular weekly classes, not counting our community outreach programs which serve another 600 over the course of the year.  Competition starts this weekend and recital costume distribution is in full swing.  And, that’s just what’s going on in the “right now”. The other half of my brain is living six months in the future trying to figure out how to staff the fall schedule.  And, then the other half of my brain (yes, dance teachers have three halves), is trying to figure out what I can make for the kids for dinner without making a trip to the store.  Sound familiar?

But, of all the things you have on your to-do list, there are 3 that are probably NOT on your list, but that SHOULD be.  If you can get these three things right, the other things on your list will follow, or at a minimum, they will fall into place much more easily.  

This is the first of a 3-Part Series I will be sharing on “Mastering Your Life”.  

Part 1:  Develop The “Habit of 3”

Money.  We all know how slow it comes and how fast it goes; especially for entrepreneurs.  And, that’s just on a regular month.  When you add in the challenge months, like SUMMER, the words cash flow takes on a whole new meaning.  

I’ve been there.  But, one of the best things I ever did as an entrepreneur was to develop the “Habit of 3”:

  1. Part of what you earn should be for giving.
  2. Part of what you earn is for saving.
  3. Part of what you earn is for spending.  

Simple, but not easy. The first habit I developed was giving. I would give myself silly if given the opportunity.  Nothing thrills me more than being able to help others.  The savings habit was harder to develop because there always seemed to be bottomless list of improvements to be made and expenses to match.  After I tackled the giving and saving habit, it was time to buckle down and develop some sensible spending habits.  It’s astounding how much money you can save if you just start actually looking at what you spend each day.  

Mastering your money habits NOW will benefit you for a years to come and help you prepare for the future!

Need more help developing your “Habit of 3”?  Join us for Studio Owner University, October 19-20, in Chicago. For two days we will be helping you through the of nuts and bolts of business training and providing networking opportunities with like minded studio owners from around the globe.

sou_chicago_logo

What’s on your to-do list this week?

If you are like most amazing studio owners I know, you have more on your list than time in the day.

I’m with you! My dance studio serves over 750 kids in our regular weekly classes, not counting our community outreach programs, which serve another 600 over the course of the year. Competition starts this weekend and recital costume distribution is in full swing. And, that’s just what’s going on in the “right now”. The other half of my brain is living six months in the future trying to figure out how to staff the fall schedule. And, then the other half of my brain (yes, dance teachers have three halves), is trying to figure out what I can make for the kids for dinner without making a trip to the store. Sound familiar?

But, of all the things you have on your to-do list, there are 3 that are probably NOT on your list, but that SHOULD be. If you can get these three things right, the other things on your list will follow, or at a minimum, they will fall into place much more easily.

This is the first of a 3-Part Series I will be sharing on “Mastering Your Life”.

Part 1: Develop The “Habit of 3”

Money. We all know how slow it comes and how fast it goes; especially for entrepreneurs. And, that’s just on a regular month. When you add in the challenge months, like SUMMER, the words cash flow takes on a whole new meaning.

I’ve been there. But, one of the best things I ever did as a studio owner was develop the “Habit of 3”:

  1. Part of what you earn should be for giving.
  2. Part of what you earn is for saving.
  3. Part of what you earn is for spending.

Simple, but not easy. The first habit I developed was giving. I would give myself silly if given the opportunity. Nothing thrills me more in business than being able to help others. The savings habit was harder to develop because there always seemed to be bottomless list of improvements to be made at the studio and expenses to match. After I tackled the giving and saving habit, it was time to buckle down and develop some sensible spending habits. It’s astounding how much money you can save if you just start actually looking at what you spend each day.

Regardless of whether you are a large studio or a small studio, mastering your money habits NOW will benefit you for a years to come and help you prepare for the day when you won’t be running your business any more:)

Need more help developing your “Habit of 3”?

Join us for Studio Owner University, October 19-20 in Chicago for three days of nuts and bolts business training with like-minded studio owners from around the globe.

As I sit down to write this article, it’s 10 below zero outside the doors of my studio. We are in the depths of winter in Wisconsin and summer is on my mind. But, I’m not thinking about vacations or visits to the local pool. My mind is fixed on the programming I can offer to bring kid IN to the studio once school is OUT.

Summer is typically a hard time to keep things going for school year-based businesses such as ours. I suspect that if you are reading this article you, too, are looking for ways to strengthen your summer programs. If so, keep reading for 7 Ways to Ensure a Stronger Summer! The road to a strong summer starts NOW. Take an afternoon to pound through this checklist. You’ll thank yourself in July.

Ensure your summer success by taking time to plan today.

1. Survey the families.

Do you remember when you were a student and your English teacher told you to consider your audience before writing a word of that research paper? Turns out she was right. You have to know who you are speaking to before creating a single offering. Are your families looking for weekly classes in the summer or would they rather come every day for one week straight and then move on to other activities? Are they looking for theme-based camps or technique-based intensives? You’ll be surprised how much clarity you can get just by sending a simple survey to your families before the planning begins. Not ready to survey parents? Ask your students  🙂

2. Gather the troops.

A successful summer program depends on having not just ENOUGH staff, but the RIGHT staff, to pull it off. If your parents want weekly summer ballet classes or the opportunity to get a jump-start on next season by setting solos in the summer, you are going to have to make sure you have the specialists around to serve those needs. Once you know what your clients want from your summer program, you can start confirming availability with teachers.

3. Study the landscape.

As a mom of five kids I know that the competition for our summer spending is hot. There will be a night not too far from now when I sit at the kitchen table with ten brochures for summer camps for my kids in front of me. Your dance parents are no different. They are also trying to give their kids as many interesting and meaningful summer experiences as they can. Maximize your chance to be a part of their summer schedule by understanding what your programs will be competing against. In our community, the university, school district and parks district all have robust summer programs so I make sure my pricing and program packages are comparable. For example, if they are all offering weekly day camps, it doesn’t make sense for me to offer a program that meets once a week all summer. It simply wouldn’t line up with the other things kids are doing and would likely be passed over come scheduling time.

4. Call in the experts.

Summer is a great time to call in the experts. Start sending emails today to the guest teachers you know who might be willing to come in and share their knowledge with your students this summer. And, don’t forget about experts that are complimentary to dance: nutritionists, photographers, boot camp instructors, sports psychologists, yoga instructors, chiropractors and more. Your community is likely bursting at the seams with people who have an expertise that would benefit your dancers, saving you the expense of flights and housing for guest teachers.

5. Brand the boring out of it.

When my kids became school age I became a consumer of summer camps as a parent for the first time. I immediately noticed was how EXCITING the programs were. All of the sudden, my offering of “Summer Ballet Classes” looked pretty bland next to “Flip with the Ninjas Camp” that gymnastics was offering. Since that time, I’ve made a real effort to come up with attractive themes, catchy titles and compelling logos to capture the imagination of the reader. A generic “Jazz 1 Class” may be appropriate for the school year, but it just won’t cut on the summer camp circuit.

6. Publish and Promote.

We may be in the digital age, but printed brochures still rule the summer camp world. Remember when I talked about sitting around the kitchen table with camp brochures and mapping my summer schedule out? That’s a real thing for parents. For as great as online everything is you still need to get your summer brochures into the hands of parents. Start with your existing clients and then work your way towards new families via community expos, local family publications and partnerships with other like-minded businesses.

7. Refine and Repeat.

Monitor enrollment trends as you ramp up towards summer. Some of the programs you offer will be bursting at the seams and some might just be a bust. Decide early to increase offerings of summer classes and camps that are doing well and to cut program that will not have enough kids to make a go of it. This will give parents a chance to choose another class or camp to fit their schedule. Summer success starts today. Are you ready to do the “winter work” now to have a great summer later?

Reprinted with permission of TuTu Tix

I was recently doing a coaching call with a dance studio owner and she was talking about how badly she wanted to expand to a second location. She was absolutely convinced that expansion was the RIGHT thing to do.

I completely AGREED with her. And, yet I STILL advised her NOT to do it.

Sound strange? Let me explain. You see, right things are not always right NOW things.

And, the right thing at the wrong time is always a wrong thing.

Unfortunately, this is wisdom I learned myself the hard way. At one time I, too, wanted to expand to a second location. I FELT it was the right thing to do and even though I questioned the timing.

Long story short….it was a DISASTER for me and I closed that location after two years.

Right thing + wrong time = Wrong thing.

Feelings or Facts?
When I opened my second studio location, I FELT it was the right thing to do. The key word here is FELT. You can navigate a lot of business decisions on instinct, but expansion is not one of them. Expansion requires FACTS. What are the numbers? Are you really out of space? You may have waiting lists on ten classes, but have you filled all of the spaces in the other 50 classes you offer? Are the wait lists on your target market (baby classes) or are you feeling the squeeze in the older kids classes who will graduate soon? Know your facts.

Family Support or Family Feud?
Launching a second location takes a lot of extra TIME for a long period of time. If you have a family that means less of your attention for the immediate future. Does your family support the idea? In my case, my husband was NOT in support of the idea and I was pregnant with our second child. I ignored these two big red flags and pushed on in over-confidence saying, ”I’ve done it before, I’ll do it again!” The expansion was a strain on our family from day one.

Team
You can reproduce programs in other locations, but you cannot reproduce yourself. I remember the day I realized that I could literally only be in one location at a time. Including the drive time and the new baby, I could literally only choose to visit one location per day. A successful expansion depends you, but a the operations will depend primarily on a well trained and equipped team.

Back to the Start-Up Grind
There are some efficiencies to be gained in running multiple locations, such as shared staff, but in reality, opening a second location will mean back to the start-up grind for you for a while. A new business is much like a baby–and it will require a lot of care before it can before it can be left alone. Be realistic about whether or not you have the energy to go back to those days.

Count down to what you say?  To the end of 2015, of course. The end of the business year AND the end of your opportunity to make a positive impact on enrollment for the 2015-16 dance season.

One of our member studio owners, Vanessa Berry of Kick Studios in NJ,  took this challenge to heart this year and added 72 NEW STUDENTS in the last month by getting serious about actively marketing her program.

5 Actions you can take to improve your enrollment before you close the doors on the season.

We were amazed by Vanessa’s late season enrollment results, so we asked her just HOW did she do it? Keep reading for Vanessa’s insights:

1. Go After the “After Sports Market”.

Vanessa shared, “I know soccer is big in my area so I offer a product that caters to this need – what to do after soccer!  We offer mini sessions to take away the barriers to traditional registration (huge payments and commitments).  In the past 80-90% of our After Fall Sports Session kids stay on for the rest of the season.”

TAKEAWAY #1:  Meet parents where they are at with products that match their busy lifestyles.

2.  Get of out your comfort zone.

Vanessa explains, “I combined my comfort zone of Facebook promoted posts and email blasts with my not-so-comfortable of direct and personal emails.  Then I added my manager’s strength of phone calls for follow up, follow up, follow up.”

TAKEAWAY #2:  FB and email promotions alone will not take you to your enrollment goals.  This is a face to face business and people want to hear from you personally.

3.  Put the spotlight on the kids and teachers to increase engagement.

Vanessa hits the nail in the head with this one, “No one wants to hear more about my business, but they are interested in what we do and who we are.  We started promoting more of what we already do, from charity work to our great teachers to performances to new retail on social.”

TAKEAWAY #2:  Use social media posts like these to increase engagement so that when you do have an offer to share with your audience people will be there to listen.

4.  Reach out to the “lost”.

Vanessa followed up with the “unsubscribe” folks from her mailing list to thank them for their interest and to leave a positive “last interaction” with her studio.

TAKEAWAY:  Will those students come back?  Maybe not.  But, they are likely to talk about their experiences with your studio so make your last impression a good one!

5.  Black Friday is over, but holiday shopping is not!

Vanessa offered a Black Friday deal (4 weeks for $30) and 15 kids enrolled over a holiday weekend!!   This promotion took only one hour of her time.

TAKEAWAY:  Sometimes you only have to give a little to get a lot.  It’s the holiday season and people are shopping. Be generous…what will eventually reap what you sow.