Well, hello friends, it's back here from Dance Principles
United Podcast. I am so excited today because I am joined by
one of my very, very favourite studio growth club members.
She is absolutely incredible. She runs Bill Mott Dance Centre and her
name is Miss Trudy. Uh,
how are you today, Miss Trudy? I'm really well and I'm so excited to
be here. Well, we're so excited to have you in Trudy.
You are such a bubble of, Everything in the SGC,
like you just, you know, I think we just did a,
um, connect retreat. And we did little thank you cards in
the connect retreat and just said, anyone that you want to say thank you
to please write them a card during the day.
And you got so many cards.
Yeah. That must have made you feel amazing. It did.
It really, really did. Like, I mean, the things that you don't tell yourself
that you, but, um,
you tell, I'd tell other people. You just don't listen to that inner voice,
you know, it's just like when you buy flowers,
like you spend a lot of money on someone else's flowers,
but you wouldn't spend that money on yourself. So to get those beautiful words,
and they're still in my, um, my laptop case,
and I look at them all the time, and yeah, I love it.
Thank you. Very grateful. We're grateful for you.
We've got such a beautiful community, but I wanted to talk today about your
studio journey because it's such an interesting,
great one. Um, so the first thing I want to ask you is,
how did you start your studio?
Why did it start all of them? Okay.
I was very grateful to take over the Monten Center,
um, in 2018, and I took it over,
which was, which was hard. In itself because first time taking over a
studio, not that I mean I'd been a teacher for many many years and
had that experience but that studio ownership and especially taking it
over from people were was now looking back at it was hard you know
so um yeah it's been um been
a hard journey but um now I feel like um yeah
I'm I feel like we're going places and I'm so excited to be part
of it and have such a wonderful team. So what do you think was
the hardest part about that? Because I'm the same right,
so I took a studio over as well. Um,
I sometimes look at our journeys as being so similar.
I had very similar. They are.
So I took a studio over as well. Same thing.
I was a teacher and I know you're a really great teacher.
And, you know, I know I'm a great teacher and that's what I love
doing and that's what I'm passionate about. I had no idea how hard the
business side of it was going to be. That's what you found hardest and
what did you find hardest? Absolutely.
That business, having a business mindset,
you know, I had no idea honestly. I knew I was a good teacher.
I knew I, you know, I could, I, I knew and know now I
can turn it as syllabus into joy, you know,
and know what to look for and have that, that good eye,
that technical eye. But as far as,
you know, running, like, running the business side like,
you know, oh, don't worry, it doesn't matter if you don't pay today,
it doesn't matter. I just want to tend to longer,
you know, it doesn't matter or, you know, um,
costumes, have it like, systems,
oh my god. Yeah. Really,
really hard, really hard. Yeah,
sorry, but yeah. Turn the corner.
Like I've just done this big 360.
And it's funny because our gorgeous Nathan who I adore with Amanda.
He used to always say, because I'd always think, I'm doing,
I'm working hard, I'm working so hard, I'm working so hard at it all.
And, um, and it's a tree, it's just like one of those big heavy
wheels that, you know, you can't push and you're pushing and you're pushing and
you can't make it start, but then all of a sudden it turns a
little bit. And then it turns a little bit more and then more until
you get this consistent role and that's where I am and all thanks to,
you know, Studio Growth Club and of course, you know,
you uh, just yeah, I very proud and honored to say not only are
you I respect to as my friend but my mentor as well.
Oh, thanks true. I'm going all red.
So, um, let's talk about what your studio is about,
because I think people are always interested to see what different studios are about.
Um, tell me like, what's your main thing in your studio,
what do you put, like, you know what I mean?
Like some pet or rec studio, some comp, what are you?
Yeah, well, we're a bit of a mixture of both.
I'd like to say, I'd like to say that we cater for everyone.
We're very inclusive. I want to be Um,
when, when I think about Belmont Dance Centre, I want to be so much
more than just learning to dance. I want to have the community.
I want to be that nurturing environment where,
you know, the kids love to come.
And I've always said this, that I want the children,
um, that I teach when they're my age to want their children
to learn to dance because, um,
I've done the right job. I've done my job then,
you know, not everyone. Halloween or all,
you know, something like that. But if I can give them joy and a
safe environment and, you know,
and lifelong skills like we do as dance teachers and
I think this is where we all go wrong.
We don't realise how important we are,
you know, like a men and how important we are to children because The
kids don't just come to learn a dance. They're goal setting.
You know, they're having life skills. They're creating friendships.
You know, um, which is why I promote now that we do or I,
um, I now have, um,
um, programs. We do preschool readiness programs and school
readiness program. You know,
that's, that's what we're about so much more than just learning to dance.
That's the easy bit. Tell me about the preschool readiness program because
I love that. That's so smart because not all parents want to opt their
kids into dance and sometimes I think dance can feel like a scary thing
to a preschool parent. Um, so tell me how you run your preschool classes
differently. Yeah, sure. What we do it,
well, the whole journey starts well and truly before the children actually step in
the door. And they receive,
um, on the day of their trial, they receive a message,
a video message from myself or from one of the other teachers.
And that's for two things, that's for their mum to feel comfortable about
this person that they're going to send their child to,
and also for the children themselves too,
so that they feel comfortable straight away. You know,
and often like everyone's different and sometimes,
you know, it doesn't work, that is easy as that and needs a little
bit more guidance but, you know,
Since I've started to do that, um,
it's been such a game changer for my studio and I often,
um, and I'm in my message because at the moment we've only got,
um, someone at our beautiful reception at a certain time,
um, but that will change that I really will have someone there 20,
like during all classes while the studio is open.
But at the moment often I'm teaching while the children So,
in my message, I say, you know,
hello, I miss True and I can't wait to meet you and I say,
you know, I may be teaching when you arrive,
but please, I'll finish my class,
you make yourself at home and I can't wait to meet you as soon
as my class finishes. And then,
as it's funny because I sometimes hear the children say,
oh, there she is. You know, like that's really weird.
You know, I think it's really good. So I love that.
That is so smart. And it's just going that extra level of things.
I think sometimes we can plane so much that trials don't turn up.
Whereas I feel like doing something like that video is going to help that
trial to feel comfortable. And like you said, sometimes not even the kids that
feel uncomfortable. It's actually the parents that feel uncomfortable.
Absolutely. And we've got to think about our four-year-olds now or five-year-olds.
They were born in COVID, which was a rough one.
You know, and I think parents became a lot more,
hold one in to hold their children closely. You know,
I would be, you know, sorry. Yeah,
I think sometimes we've got to think as a parent would too.
Yeah, you know, like, you can't just think,
or we could call it, instead of growth cup fans first,
you know, like you can't draw needs first.
You've got to think, alright.
How will they feel in this situation? I love that.
I love that. And tell me how you promote,
um, school readiness in your preschool program because I feel like that's very
appealing to a parent of a preschooler.
That's really what they're mostly worried about. Is their child going to be ready
for school? Absolutely. And I think now in the society it's so
different to what it was 10 years ago. I think now parents want to
get some see progress. And I believe,
and there's so many other extracurricular activities out there.
And with dance, really, let's face it,
they can learn to dance if they put a screen on at home.
You know, they don't have to pay money to go to,
To dance. So what we do at Billmont Dance Centre,
and this is how we've created it, which is just wonderful,
and it does warm my heart, you know, I'm very passionate about this,
that, um, the children come in and they do ballet first,
and when I say ballet, it's, um, it's very imaginative,
you know, like we pick up shells, and we do,
it's very thin-based, and, you know, we do bend and stretch,
and then we introduce them, and we play the words,
because to a, to a child,
Devi plan means nothing, you know. So I try,
I really take it back to that. On their level,
you know, teach them as they are three-year-olds or four-year-olds.
And so then they have jazz.
We have a preschool jazz program. Then what we do is we actually get
all the parents to bring a little bit of fruit and we have a
fruit break. Now, not only does this split up,
because it's an hour and a half program, but not only does it split
up that time, but it also re-energises the children by having something
to eat. They have to actually get their lunch boxes.
Out of their back, I'm doing their lunchboxes.
Um, we sit down and we, you know, we talk about,
you know, what, tell me something that gives you energy,
what food gives you energy, or we play ice fine,
I aspire with my lalayas a fruit that someone that's red,
and they'll say strawberries, or, you know,
and, and we say, you know, hell, what's really important to make sure you
drink lots of every day? And what obviously,
you know, like I just, it's all those little things that I think
contribute to the programme,
you know? Yeah. And also,
another thing like lining up, lining up at the door,
changing rooms. Or as that age group,
they don't like change, we said that. You know,
and it's just getting them confident and, you know,
able to change rooms and, you know,
and then we finish off with the amazing, I don't know if you've heard
of it back, um, this amazing flippy-the-fox program.
I have. Which I love it.
Yeah. Acro, little acro.
We do bank press lacquer and which I love because it actually trains
them safely, you know, and to this day,
like even the next group, they put their hands up like the Mickey Mouse
ears before they do their forward roll, they just do it automatically,
you know, and safety is so important.
Oh, so cute. And how do you share with the parents what you're doing
with them? Because often I think,
you know, we do something in a closed room. Parents are sitting outside.
I always talk about this with Phoenix, but I'm at in every training for
Phoenix watching him. I'm at every soccer game.
I'm, you know, there he's just started soccer.
Academy's same thing. We're watching the whole time.
So I'm a part of that, but parents often aren't,
right? Absolutely, exactly.
And if you think about yourself leading your most precious item in the room,
you know, that they're not familiar with, they don't, you know, especially when they
start. We've actually just invested into beautiful large viewing windows,
which are amazing. They're so amazing. Um,
we do have, um, which I love,
progress cards so the children take home, we tick them off and the children
and they take them home and they reach each level,
which again the parents can see that,
you know, they're progressing, you know,
they're not just doing that. You know, and I think that's very important.
Um, I do, however, because we all know how destructive it is to have
the mummies or someone in the class when it's with all children.
Um, if a child is especially when they first start,
if the child's unsettled or, you know, doesn't want to leave mum,
I invite them in. You know,
and they step in the corner and, you know,
and that's a good thing too, because then it gains my respect and my
trust too, you know, and it might only take one or two times
that mum is in there and, you know, so,
and look, if it means that they're both going to be comfortable,
not just a child, you know, we have to think about the parents here
to the mummies, you know, it's so important for it all to be working,
you know. Yeah, absolutely,
absolutely. And I think we get to in our heads about that stuff and,
you know, go, oh, no, they didn't need to watch.
And I just, I agree with you like sometimes it takes a bit of
easing in with parent and child and it's so important to remember that.
And it's interesting what you said about the level cards because I love it
swimming that I know what Phoenix is doing,
how he's progressing. Um,
you know, they gave us give us little stickers and he loves bringing the
sticker home and putting it on his chart when he gets home.
I think there's something to that and I think we don't do enough of
that in our dance classes and parents don't see the progress and therefore it's
bad for retention whereas when they're seeing that there's that constant progress,
it's great for retention, right? Absolutely.
And also, I've actually,
because of what I've learned to do with the little children,
like with the three-year-olds, now I'm very lucky that we've got separate three-year-old,
four-year-old and five-year-old, like Kindie. Wow.
And they all have some sort of,
Progression sheet, whether it's skipping,
you know, the custom room or,
you know, balancing or, you know,
little things like that that might not mean anything to us,
but it means an awful lot to a parent,
especially a non-dance parent.
Absolutely, absolutely. I love that so much.
Alright, I wanted to ask you, what,
this is a good one. What is the worst thing
that you think you've ever done at your studio?
The worst. Oh my gosh, I know there's been plenty,
and I do, and I'm, you know, and that's how we learn.
So I'm not ashamed to say that I've had,
you know, I've done some things that, you know, I've learnt from,
but I think the worst thing, two worst things for me,
I used to always worry about losing those top kids,
like the whole to care, you know, um,
that really worried me, but since changing my mindset now focusing
on our preschool programme,
you know, that will stay longer, um,
you know, dance is very different now to than what it was 10 years
ago, there's because Um, children have got so many activities.
Not like when they're barely ballet and the parents through were very committed to
one thing. So that,
um, I think I've just a completely different person now that I don't focus
on that, you know, and not rocking myself in the corner thinking,
oh my gosh, I've lost another child or whatever, you know,
I don't do that. Um, and,
uh, oh, I've got two more. Is that all right?
I'm so sorry. Um, to numbers,
knowing my numbers, that is so important.
Um, and another one is consistency,
being consistent across everything.
You know, I, and yeah,
it's so important. Well,
let's delve into the knowing your numbers thing.
So before you knew your numbers, was it just to bury your head in
the sand? I don't want to look kind of,
was that the idea of it? Because I know that's what it was with
me. I just, I didn't, I didn't want to know,
I knew that I was probably not making any money and it was terrible,
but I didn't want to know, I just wanted to bury my head in
the sand and keep working, working, working. That was totally me.
And, or what I would focus on was the number of students,
you know, like, it was important to me, like,
the number of students, not how many classes they talk,
the number of students, you know,
um, but yes, it was,
um, yeah, I've learned so
much. I just want to explain that
to everyone out there and we talk about it a lot, but if you
had a hundred students in your school and they were doing a hundred class
placements, meaning every single student is just doing one class,
that's a certain amount of money. If you had a hundred students and they're
doing, 300 class placements because every student is taking on average three
classes. That looks very, very different.
So knowing how many classes those students are doing and knowing your class placements
and checking in on that is so important. And also putting things into your
studio to try and up your class placements,
like a free trial and accrue this week,
which might sound crazy because I know every week is a free trial and
accrue, but It's just, you know,
putting it out there sometimes that can make a huge difference.
Have you ever done something like that to really ask your class placements?
Absolutely. Um, I always, and I make sure that I- Wonderful team know this
as well, know the timetable and know how it works and how the classes
are sitting, um, especially not for the preschool program is
such, but afternoon classes that we don't have very many children that just
come for one class. They're all doing at least two.
Um, actually our class placement is 4.1,
which is amazing. Wow. That's insane.
No. And the numbers of classes we have are currently are 891.
Awesome, yeah. Um,
but I think too, um, I think this is where,
if you're passionate and know what you're doing,
and know that we're there to benefit the children we teach,
we're not selling, we're actually helping those children by encouraging
them to take another class. No,
absolutely. Absolutely.
And tell me about consistency because you and I have had Quite a
few calls where you've been crying
since I have to give up.
I can't do this anymore. Um,
often, you know, with your beautiful hobby next to you and,
um, tell me the difference between truly then and truly now,
because now you're just consistent.
I know. Yeah. And we laugh in studio growth,
cause it's a bit of a, like, a bit of a laugh for us
all, like, you know, we say all the things, you know?
And I remember one, one time when I ran back and I,
like, that was honestly, I was in tears. I couldn't,
didn't know how I was, you know, going to go on and,
and, um, and back said, you know, well, are you doing everything?
And I said, yes, I am. And you know what? I wasn't.
I wasn't doing,
like, yeah, I, and that's,
like, Now I can honestly say over the last couple of years,
I've learnt to be consistent with marketing,
having paid Facebook ads is,
you know, that's, that's incredible.
And I honestly think people are silly if they don't have it,
you know, even if you just start off small with your budget with it.
You know, I have, I have a ad running,
um, 365 days of the year.
You know, I do because it's so important,
that's our shop front. And I also make sure that I have my Facebook,
um, just for static posts constant.
So I have, um, two, I've scheduled posts for two weeks in advance
each time. But then it's something more relevant comes up I go in and
just sort of change dates and, you know, put those things in.
Um, many years ago we used to pay for a newspaper ad.
You know, no one looks at things like that anymore.
Facebook and Instagram and the socials that that's exactly where,
um, we need to be. And I feel that if one part of that
isn't aligning with the other part,
so say if there hasn't been a post for a week or a couple
of weeks, if I'm a new parent, again,
putting myself in their shoes, if I'm a new parent and I,
first thing you do, even when you go to buy a new outfit or
whatever, you look and scroll on their Facebook.
And if there's nothing posted for,
you know, quite a while, it's like, oh, are they still in business?
Because they're still going. So,
yeah, doing all of that,
um, I just feel being consistent is important.
Can I ask you a question? Did you have a moment?
Because like, when I was being coached and I wasn't doing any of the
things, it's similar, right? Um,
and my moment was my coach saying to me,
Beck, you can keep coming here and crying every week,
or you can actually do the shit I'm telling you to do and start
putting some effort in and change and that, that was,
and it wasn't that I wasn't working hard, I wasn't working hard at teaching,
but I wasn't working hard on the business. That was my moment.
I remember that moment so vividly. Did you have a moment or not really,
it was just kind of a, like, an essay to stay up being consistent.
I think being part of such an amazing,
um, mental program,
such as Studio Growth Club and having, you know,
three most wonderful mentors, um,
it was good for me because I got the slap that I needed,
like the gentle slap. Like, no, it wasn't one moment.
Um, it was many of them. And being honest
to yourself, like you've got to think, well, okay,
what? You've just got to be truthful and honest to yourself and
look inside too, you know? So,
yeah, just, yeah,
I'm so grateful to not, like,
just the whole community of Studio Growth Club. And I can say,
um, if anyone's thinking about going on Studio Growth Club or even being part
of the tribe, honestly, don't,
Don't think for much longer, it'll be the best decision you make,
the best investment. Yeah. And you'll get to win.
And you are incredible.
Well, thank you so much, Trudy. We have had the best time with you
today. Um, guys, if you're,
Ever interested in joining SGC or Tribe,
please reach out to us. We would love to support and help you.
That's our favorite thing to do. And as Trudy said,
you get to come hang with her and she is a boss.
And if anyone, like would like to, you know,
um, DM me or anything or ask me questions or,
you know, um, on a side note as,
you know, part of this wonderful team, I'd be more than happy to,
you know, chat back, um, ever, ever everyone.
I say to our beautiful friends who now,
Out studio, great club community that I'm everyone's biggest cheerleader.
So I can be yours too. You're amazing.
Well, thank you so much Trudy. You have been incredible and thanks friends.
We will talk to you all next week. Bye bye.
