You Have The Dream Studio... Now What??
You have worked your buns off to create your dream studio. You have the facility, the students, and the families. You have a rock star staff who steps up and does things for you. Now you don't necessarily need to be there. The studio runs without you. Now you might be thinking to yourself, what's next?
I’ve recently been working with several clients who have come to me because they're in a place of transition and they don't know what feels like the right next step. They've worked really, really hard to create and to bring their vision of their studio to fruition. Now they are trying to figure out what the next phase of their life looks like. They don’t really know what their next steps should be but they are ready for what’s next.
Some questions they may be asking are:
Does that mean I scale and open up another location?
Does that mean that I should start planning my retirement?
Should I sell my studio?
Should I franchise?
Should I create another product or service that's complementary to the dance industry or something wildly different, like real estate?
What is next for me?
I can tell you from personal experience that so many times I get caught up in a place of indecision. I know that there should be more, but I've met the status quo and I’m not sure what that looks like for me.
It can be really hard to decide on your own, because if you've lived your life for so long attached to the idea that you are a dance studio owner, you are a dance teacher, and you've accomplished that, and then it's like I don't know who else I am or what else I would love to do.
I have a client who had owned her studio for over 40 years, and she wasn't ready to completely retire. But she also knew that she had outgrown being a studio owner. She decided to close her studio and now she is semi-retired and created a curriculum that she is now selling. That was a fantastic transition for her because it allowed her to stay active, to still be involved in the community, but not have the feelings of all of the day-to-day requirements of being a studio owner.
Then I have other studio owners who I work with who have maxed out their studio space. I helped them launch a really profitable mobile program because it can be its own standalone thing. Others have said I want to start a separate company. There have been quite a few that I have worked with in our industry that were at the place of what's next for me, what does the next phase of life look like?
As humans, we grow and we change. And it's okay not to stay tied to something that doesn't feel in alignment with who you are or who you are becoming. It's okay to say this isn't bringing me the joy it used to if that's how you're feeling. We just need to figure out what's next, what will bring us joy, and what's in alignment with who we are and who we want to be. It's okay to reach the top of Mount Everest and then wonder what's the next climb.
Every season of life has a new phase, new wants, desires, goals, and needs. It's perfectly normal and okay. It doesn't change who you are internally, or your identity as to who you are. You are more than just a dance studio. You're a whole lot more. There's infinite possibility. You just have to believe that there is.
Let’s chat about what’s next for you! I’d love to hear about it and help you talk it through.
