I officially started my pole dance fitness business in April 2016 and opened the door for business May 2016. By the end of 2017, my company had grossed over $150K in sales.
Honestly, I set out to be successful, but not realizing how successful I would be.
The reality of what I did was ONE THING. I focused on working on the business and not in it. When I started my Pole Dance Studio I "thought" I was going to run it part-time for side income and keep my cushy desk job as a Business Fraud Analyst at the commercial bank I worked for.
That changed drastically as I one day realized I would never truly realize my dreams of REAL entrepreneurship if I did not go all in. So, I went ALL IN. In August of 2016 - I quit.
One of the SCARIEST things I have ever done - next to learning a shoulder mount, but I did have support from my family which made it easier. So once my office desk was cleaned out and my keys were turned in - I came face to face with the reality of LOSING IS NOT AN OPTION.
I wrote on a huge sheet of paper, DOMINATE - hung it over my desk and planted myself there anytime I was not teaching a class or fulfilling mommy duties. I read books and listened to YouTube videos that I felt would give me the extra edge. I wanted to know how to WIN.
I heard advice that penetrated my heart like "Don't create a job for yourself - build a team" (Michael Gerber), "Business is two things - Sales and Marketing" (Peter Drucker), "Live by the 80/20 rule" (Pareto Principle). Everything that made sense I did it. I knew enough that implementation, hard work, and sharpening the sword was what was needed. I turned my efforts on perfecting my service offerings, developing a team, and MARKETING.
Honestly, I would say 80% of my success came from my marketing. It wasn't even the best marketing, but it was working. The other parts of my success came from my pledge to being a "Client First" Pole Studio. Since my pet peeve is unprofessionalism, I was going to ensure everyone who worked for my company understood we are here for the clients and not ourselves. I needed them to understand that without them - there was no us. I made sure that I controlled the way the clients were handled, and I checked in on their satisfaction regularly.
Lastly, I focused on diversifying my offerings so I could reach more specific needs and make sales easier. Because I understood marketing is really a language that two like-minded people understand I had to put out offers that sounded the alarm for the specific sale I sought to make. If I wanted to attract party people, then I could not send them a message about pole fitness - They did not care. As you can see, everything will trace back to MARKETING and then delivering on what we marketed.
So here is my opinion on how I hit the numbers I did within 12 months of my business being open.... I latched on to ONE BASIC principle that changed my life.
"Work On Your Business and Not in It".
When I first started, yes, I taught classes regularly however every week I was making progress to bring in new pole instructors, train them, and replace myself with them so I could do the things that grew the business. If I didn't have the help of the team - I would not have been able to do the marketing I did, to perfect my business processes when needed, to oversee operations and to plan for the next steps. Having a team to carry out the entry level tasks gave me more time freedom to articulate the brand vision and cast the net wider. It helped all of us.
The more marketing meant the more clients which meant the more experience instructors gained.
I literally bought a pole studio for $4k and within 1 year grossed over $150K from that initial investment. It was not easy, but it was simple. It took a lot of sweat equity, but I grew as a person, a business owner, and financially. I defied odds against me when people told me "Not to quit my day job" and laughed at my business model. All from the following principles:
* Going All In
* Building a Team
* Marketing Like a Maniac
* Diversifying My Services
* Reinvesting Back into the Business
* Being Resourceful
* Building a Strong Brand Image
* Working on My Company (owning it) and Not in It (being employed by it)
I hope that you have found this information useful and helpful. It is not to brag but to show you what is possible. You can do it with the right mindset and the appropriate focus. If you are passionate about building a business, you can do it with the right mentorship.
I invite you to subscribe to you my YouTube Channel and Follow Me on Instagram. If you take one thing away from my journey, I find it to be a WIN for me.
Thank you for reading!
Coach Tee
