April 17, 2024 • 51 mins
Join Claire O'Shea on her journey from young dancer to Dance Energy Studios founder, podcast producer, and business mentor. At just 19 she started her first dance studio and in this interview she shares insights on scaling her studio, building the right team, and navigating leadership in the arts. Learn about her transition from dance teacher (the person with the technical skill) to the CEO, leading a number of businesses, being the strategic manager, mastering delegation and balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship.
We loved learning about how Claire's leadership style shapes her studio's culture, even when she's not in the spotlight. Tune in to hear her story.
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Guest Bio - Claire O'Shea
Claire O'Shea is a dynamic entrepreneur and educator in the dance industry, serving as the Founder, Director, and Class Teacher of Dance Energy Studios. With a Bachelor of Education, Claire has developed innovative programs like Petite Performers Preschool Dance, designed for children aged 0-5. She spearheads digital initiatives such as 'Dance on Demand' and mentors aspiring dance educators through the 'Power Up Teacher Training Program.' As host of the "Assemble Dance Studio Coaching Podcast," Claire shares valuable insights with dance studio owners worldwide, while her speaking engagements and coaching sessions inspire growth and success in the industry.
- Instagram: @assembledancestudiocoaching @danceenergystudios
- https://assembledancestudiocoaching.com/
- www.danceenergystudios.net.au
- https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/assemble-dance-studio-coaching/id1276431018
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The majority of people who start their own
business do it because they'rereally good at what they do.
So they start a business.
They start working with clients.
They get more clients than theycan personally deliver the work
for, so they start hiring ateam and all of a sudden,
they're a leader of a businessand it's not what they've been
trained to do, and so businessescan start to struggle or fail,
(00:20):
or the business owner is doingall the work instead of getting
the team to do it, and thereason that businesses have
these challenges is becauserunning a business and being a
leader is not the same skillsetas what you're really good at
technically.
Today's episode is sponsored bya new program that I've crafted
, called Founders Academy ofBusiness.
It's teaching founders andsmall business owners how to
(00:42):
level up their leadership andrun their business smarter, not
harder, and get the freedom thatthey actually want.
We meet once a quarter, eitherin person or virtually, to set
your strategy.
We then catch up fortnightlyvia Zoom to keep you accountable
to your goals and include inthe program as a CEO toolkit
with templates for interviewing,performance reviews, difficult
conversations and delegation,and this whole program is run
(01:05):
with other business owners.
Have the business that youactually want, not the one you
feel like you are chained to.
Applications are now open forthe next intake.
You can go to zenithjourneycomand click on the button that
says founders.
On to the episode.
Welcome to the Level UpLeadership Podcast.
(01:27):
This is the go-to podcast forchronically busy leaders and
small business owners who areready to get out of the weeds
and start leading.
The weekly episodes havemicro-leadership lessons focused
on how to level up yourleadership and help you to be 1%
better every day.
It's all about growing yourleadership, wisdom, building a
team and being the leader peoplewant to work for.
(01:48):
So let's get into it.
Today's podcast guest is ClaireO'Shea.
She is the founder of DanceEnergy Studios, and her story is
a fascinating one of being adancer as a kid, going through
to owning her own dance studio,to opening up more studios,
acquiring businesses, onlinecourses.
She has done it all.
(02:09):
She is a dynamic entrepreneurand an educator in the dance
industry.
She has a Bachelor of Educationand, as well as running her
studios of more than 500students which, to be honest,
that's the size of a smallschool she also hosts a podcast
for other studio owners.
Today, she's sharing three ofher lessons.
One is about hiring, one isabout teams and one is about
(02:31):
change.
So, to kick it off, claire, canyou give us a bit of your
background, of how you came intothe business that you currently
have?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yes, of course.
So, as I mentioned to you, Iown dance studios.
I grew up dancing.
I've been dancing since I wastwo, like it's sort of a
traditional story.
You know, you go into yourclass and I just never stopped.
But when I finished school Ididn't really have the like
lifelong goal to open up my owndance studio.
(02:59):
It wasn't something that I waslike always obsessing over.
So I started university Iactually went into psychology
first and decided that was notfor me and quickly pivoted to
early childhood education, whichis what I finished my degree in
.
And then, yeah, one day I was.
I had moved to Brisbane for alittle bit and was living with
(03:21):
my boyfriend at the time and mysister and he's now my husband
and I was just talking to my momabout nothing and she just
randomly said I was driving andI took a wrong turn the other
day and I came across thesweetest little hall it would
make such a dance studio andthat was the thing that made me
(03:41):
go huh, and I just couldn't getit out of my head.
I became obsessed with the idea.
I don't know why I decided itwas a great idea I was 18 at the
time and then I started thestudio when I was 19.
Um, and so I juggled myfull-time studies starting a
business and yeah, that was sortof the how I started it.
(04:06):
And now we are 12 years downthe line and it's grown from.
You know me teaching in acommunity hall.
So now we have two commercialleases.
One building has three studios,one has two, and we have eight
mobile school locations andgrowing, and within that you
also acquired a business.
(04:27):
Oh, yes, yes, I did so.
I started Dance Energy, whichis my brand, by myself, and then
, in 2022, I purchased thestudio where I grew up from my
dance teacher and I did rebrandand everything.
But it's funny now going towork and teaching and running a
(04:51):
business from the place that Ispent a lot of time and now
taking my daughter there everyweek as well, which is lovely,
how many students do you have?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
now we have over 500.
So you and I talk about this.
This is like a school, like, asin a primary school size number
of people.
When people say, oh, a dancestudio, you're like that's 500
students and that's probably 300parents.
If you account for somesiblings, teachers of all the
classes, all the differentlocations, it's a lot when you
(05:24):
actually break it down.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
It is a lot and you just you do get used to it if
that makes sense and, like Isometimes feel guilty because
you know we set goals to growand not just because we want
bigger numbers or higher revenue, but because we do really feel
like we're making such apositive impact and often a
bigger student base allows us topromote our team and really,
(05:48):
like put an emphasis on the artson the Sunshine Coast where,
like traditionally I think inour area there not was a lot of
opportunities for full-timedance teaching positions on the
Sunshine Coast, like it would besomething you would have to go
to like Sydney or Melbourne for,because you would almost need
to create your full-timeposition by working at 10 places
(06:09):
or you'd be working for thelikes of, like, a full-time
dance studio.
So I sometimes do I don't notthat I don't appreciate it, but
you know you're just so used tothinking about forward planning
and trying to get to the nextstep that you don't always sit
in where you are.
But yeah, we are bigger than alot of primary schools and I
(06:29):
think because sometimes I alsogo like, oh my gosh, are we
spending too much money on liketeam or admin?
But if I kind of compare towhat again like a primary school
?
It's definitely not, butunfortunately we aren't
government funded yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Well, that would be nice.
Yes, the other part of yourbusiness is about educating
other studio owners, becausewhat I love about your story is
you've come from a dancer to ateacher, to running your own
business in a hall, to buyinganother business, to now running
many studios and schoollocations, and these are things
(07:03):
that you've picked up along theway and you've taught yourself.
And as a business owner, Ithink you get into stuff and you
don't realize what you've gotinto, but you've got to figure
it out.
If you stay afloat as abusiness this long, you've
figured it out and there'sthings that you've learned that
you teach other studio owners sothey don't have to do it the
hard way.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, of course, and I've always just been, I don't
know.
I've always been like a sharerand a collaborator and I think,
because I started so young, Iwas just a sponge.
I just wanted to learneverything from everyone, or as
many people as possible, andthat's not to say that I've just
regurgitated other people'sinformation as my own.
But there was really I alwayssay there's really no such thing
(07:42):
as a new idea.
It's been done somewhere or insome way before.
And I think what I have behindme now is I have a lot of
experience in different areas ofbusiness ownership, but more
specifically dance studioownership or, I guess, like
class-based ownership, so itcould be applied to Pilates or
(08:03):
yoga, even though I mostly speakto dance studio owners.
But yeah, like I also do, Ihave a podcast which I really
enjoy, and a part of that isjust being able I feel like it's
a bit like my own, like therapy, like debriefing about you know
what's been going on,challenges we've been having,
and I do think I have a lot ofepiphanies for the dance studio
(08:23):
when I'm recording that and Ihope and I do see that it does
help others.
But I'm sure, like you,sometimes you kind of get into
this silo where you're not evensure people are listening, even
though you see the numbers.
Occasionally, like you know, alistener will reach out and will
really thank us and it just itmakes all this energy and effort
is worth it.
It's a different side of thebusiness that I really enjoy,
(08:44):
because I do really enjoy publicspeaking and talking more about
business ownership and I dothink over the last 12 years
I've really pivoted from beingfully in the classroom to I
haven't been in the classroom ona regular basis now for over
two years just because I've hadone daughter and then maternity
(09:07):
leave and now I'm about to givebirth again.
So it didn't really make sensefor me to go back into the
classroom this year, for example.
So it's sort of been a bit morelogistical.
But yeah, like I've really sortof pivoted my focus from being
in the classroom to more being abusiness owner.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And I think that's probably been essential to your
success, because you need to seethings from a higher
perspective.
I have another clientpreviously who was a school
principal and a previous teacherand all her friends, her
husband, everyone she knew wereteachers, and then she became
the principal.
She just thought she was themost senior teacher.
(09:43):
So you're now a CEO of abusiness and for her that was a
whole mindset shift of oh, I'mnot.
This is like a whole differentidentity in how I look at things
and I feel for you, whether bydesign or by default, these
logistic changes has meant thatby being out of the classroom
and seeing things differently,has changed the perspective of
(10:06):
your business.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, I do.
I do think I spend a lot moretime on things now that are
necessary and they're notnecessarily the things I love to
do, but it's important and it'sa part of owning a business.
So, more like finance andbudgets and all of that stuff
which I don't get joy from, andI do hope in the future, like
(10:28):
you know, I might be able toemploy someone that can at least
prepare and spend all the timeand energy in those zones and I
just review it.
Yeah, Don't have the capacityyet where I do still get a lot
of joy when I am in theclassroom or when I'm teaching
my teachers about being in theclassroom.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, I think, as someone that has come through
from your craft to then leadinga business, and a lot of people
who start their own business,you start it because you're good
at what you do.
You don't start it.
Most people don't start abusiness because they're like,
yeah, I'm a really good businessowner, what can I pick that's
going to make a good business?
That's secondary, but makingsure you still have the joy when
you get out of the day-to-daydoing is really key as well.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, and I do get a lot of joy now, like obviously I
see the kids around and I seetheir happiness and that brings
me joy, but I'm spending moretime working with my team and
seeing them flourish and thatgives me joy in a different but
equally positive way.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I think that is a wonderful segue into your first
leadership lesson, because youwere talking about how growing
this business has actuallyenabled.
In the Sunshine Coast, which isa place in Queensland,
australia, where we've got somewonderful beaches, it's like a
really big country town, but itis not the opportunity for
(11:51):
people to have full-time jobs inthings like being a dance
teacher until companies likeyours flourish.
So one of your leadershiplessons that we've talked about
sharing today was about hiringyour team and hiring slow and
promoting from within.
Can you share a little bit moreabout this as a leadership
lesson?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yes, definitely this is like a big thing that we have
pivoted towards, and then we'vealso like taken it so far to
now have like an internaleducation system program for our
student teachers to kind ofwork through.
So from like 12, 13 years old,we're almost like building our
(12:32):
future.
Wow, and again, only if theywant to and they also enjoy.
But even like some of ourreally, really shy students, who
you know technically probablywouldn't anticipate them ever
being a teacher, they get somuch joy from like learning
leadership skills and beinglooked up to by the little ones,
and it's definitely somethingthat promotes like community
(12:54):
within our business and thenalso builds retention.
So we have a huge emphasis onquality education and with that
being our teachers beingqualified.
There is not a lot oflegislation and by not a lot I
mean none and so we really haveto set the standard ourselves,
and that's been something that'sreally paramount for us, and so
(13:15):
we have a lot of checks andboxes to kind of ensure that
we're meeting or exceeding ourown expectations.
The only rule we have is a bluecard, which I don't think is
good enough for the amount thatwe work with children, but
that's what the rules are, so weensure we reach that.
(13:36):
But in terms of hiring, slowlypromoting within, it's
definitely something I learned,Like I'm sure other business
owners listening have all hiredsomeone out of desperation and
then it didn't work out forbusiness, and particularly
because of the industry that I'min, you do require highly
(14:00):
skilled, trained people.
So you can't just take you youknow someone who likes music off
the street and then teach themhow to dance.
Often they come with 10, 15, 20years of their own experience
and education before then evenlearn learning the skill of how
to teach it.
Absolutely there's a less of apool to employ from.
(14:20):
So and we also know you, we dothings differently within our
business.
So we really are mindful thatthere is a certain type of
teacher that we want to put inthe community as a
representative for our businessand that is different to what
someone else likes.
And, again, a consumer mightlike a different type of teacher
and that's okay.
(14:41):
So we really, I think, made thebiggest pivot during COVID
because, again, in our industry,it was very common to hire
contractors only During COVID.
All of those businesses who didthat didn't get any government
support, of course, but I hademployed all of my staff for
(15:03):
years Frozen cons From theadvice of my mum and my
accountant.
But people were very confusedwhy I would pay super and why I
would do this if I didn't haveto.
But anyway, let's not get intothat.
But so during COVID I was luckyor smart enough to get all of
(15:24):
that government assistance andmy teachers suddenly you know
who are working maybe 10 hours aweek were getting paid a
full-time wage and although theydidn't have to do any more
hours like legally, they justhad to do their 10 hours.
All of my staff were like no,what's the maximum amount of
hours can I do?
All of my staff were like no,what's the maximum amount of
(15:46):
hours can I do?
They all wanted to do.
They all went from doing 10 tolike at least 30 something hours
a week because they wanted toand were getting paid to, and
they had the ability then tostop working retail or working
in a cafe or something andreally kind of focus their
energies on building this career.
And so we had over a year offree training essentially for a
(16:09):
large portion of our team, andwe spent a lot of that time
training young teachers how tobe managers, how to work in the
office, how to be educators, andhow to be educators and how to
be their own leaders.
And so it really.
Then, after that time then Ifell pregnant and I was able to
(16:30):
step away from the business andbe super confident where I don't
think I would have literallyhad the financial ability to
promote five, six people to fulltime and pay them.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I hear this story and there's two things that come to
mind.
And pay them.
I hear this story and there'stwo things that come to mind.
One is you play the long game.
Yes, so even when you talkabout you are.
There's a training opportunityprogram for dancers as young as
13 to start going if this iswhat they want as a career.
You're giving peopleopportunities to have this, not
as a contract, casual job, butactually as a job and a career.
(17:04):
And when the opportunity cameup, where you got some funding
from the government, that youused it to play the long game.
The second thing is that youalready had the culture within
your team that people wanted togive more, that they wanted to
give and to work with you, wherea lot of people, if they don't
have that culture, they don'tenjoy what they're doing, they
(17:26):
don't like who they work with.
They were like yep, I'll do my10 hours and I'll take my money.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, and they had every right to do so Absolutely,
and I wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
I wouldn't have begrudged them.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
No, absolutely not.
Yeah, but I I do think we playthe long game and I do think we
have an amazing team culture.
Like a lot of my staff arecoming up to like long service
leave and things, and I, youknow, it's not something I ever
anticipated and a lot of them,like they started with me when
they were 18 and now they're midto late 20s or again.
(17:59):
I have, I think, three or fourteachers on staff who were my
students 10 years ago and youcan't teach the community and
the culture that they justabsorb by osmosis, by being
there.
You can't teach that Likethat's just something that they
learn and then they can go outand promote what we do in the
(18:21):
community.
So I think, aside from that,obviously people like if they're
listening, they can't go backand be like, oh, I wish that I
retroactively trained people.
That's not what I mean.
I just mean we did kind of geta leg up to be able to do that
and now we have our internaltraining system with our
students and, again, not everybusiness has kids to teach from
(18:42):
a young age, but essentially,even in our adult staff, our
management team always has liketwo to three people like in the
back end.
Like you know, if blah blahever moved on and we've already
kind of promoted a couple ofpeople around, and again I think
(19:02):
it's just looking at theindividual people and seeing
what they're good at and tryingto nurture that into something
that makes sense for you andyour business.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So I'm listening to your story and your leadership
lesson of hire slow and promotefrom within and thinking, well,
how could people apply this intheir own business?
And sure, a lot of people don'thave students or 13 year olds
that are working there, but alot of people don't have
students or 13-year-olds thatare working there.
But a lot of businesses, andwhether this is a big business
or a small business, they'remapping out what the career
(19:32):
could look like.
Is not something that takes alot of time or money, but
providing that, hey, this iswhere you could go and this is
what the steps could look likeis a huge drawcard for people
that want to join your businessor stay in your business or say,
hey, is this a step in mycareer or could I see a longer
career?
Here?
People can say to me I don'twant to train people in
(19:54):
leadership in case they leave,and I say, well, what if you
don't train them and they stay?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
I just 100% agree, because it's a massive fear of a
lot of like dance studio ownersthat I coach and work with is
that, oh, I don't want topromote someone to a manager.
I don't want to give them theback end of how I run my
business, because what if theyopen their own dance studio?
Well, they probably might.
You did the same thing, Like Idon't understand.
It's like if you are reallyproud of what you do and are
(20:22):
really strong and confident inwhat you do, yes, they might
leave, but if you've treatedthem well and you've put all
this love and energy into them,hopefully they'll do it the
right way.
And it's not going to feel goodor nice when they leave, but
hopefully they do the rightthing by you.
And it's just.
I always say to my staff likeyou're not married, Well, you're
(20:45):
married nowadays, but you'renot married to me or the
business.
If you want to move overseas orif you want to try something
else, I want that for you.
I only want you to be here foras long as you're happy and love
what you do and if that changes, that's something you should be
scared to tell me.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And I think that in itself is quite important,
particularly with thedemographic of your staff,
because often, and I would sayprobably the majority of your
staff have come through dancing,have been a participant of
dances and then have becomedance teachers, then become
managers, often haven't hadother jobs and then maybe have
had a retail job, but oftenhaven't had any other jobs, and
so their awareness orexpectation is quite narrow,
(21:25):
which I think leads lovely intoyour second leadership lessons,
which is around your team andhow people like to be
communicated and how thingsmight be different to how you
see things.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yes, I definitely think over time and again, just
the way I started my business.
I was so young, so you know,being 19 or 20 and employing
someone my first employee was 10years older than me, or, like
you know, eight to 10 yearsolder than me and Tuna, she was
the best first employee becauseshe could not give a stuff how
(21:58):
old I was.
You know, she came in to do thebest thing that she was best at
and didn't care about anythingelse.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Offer advice.
If I asked, she would listen tome.
If I wanted her, she would askme, like, what should I wear?
Like how do you want me to dothis?
Like she was just so great andshe still works for me now.
So she really showed me thatyou didn't have to be afraid of
your age.
And then pretty soon you getolder anyway, and then now I'm
like the oldest staff member,pretty much anyway.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I remember doing my first hire and there was a great
candidate who was older than meand my own self-limiting
beliefs meant I did not hirethat person because I was
worried that I was supposed tobe the leader, I was supposed to
have the answers, and if Ihired someone that knew more
than me then or was older thanme, then how's that going to
(22:46):
come back?
So my own fears helped me backand I love your story because
you didn't see it that way and Ithink, just as a side little
leadership lesson, hiringsomeone that is older or more
experienced can be the bestthing for you and your growth.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I love to be told what to do from my staff Like
that brings me so much joy.
I've given a checklist andparticularly one of my like main
manager team members.
She's very detail-oriented,very calendar-based, very
checklist and she will be likereminder you, you need to finish
this task by Wednesday and,amazing, when we were first
(23:26):
starting to work, she did.
She very openly says to me Idon't really know like what,
like how much can I?
You know, she was really kindof unsure and when I just kind
of kept saying this is how Ilike to work, I love that you
remind me, because that's not mystrong suit, like I appreciate
that.
So it gave her the confidenceto kind of keep me accountable.
I become a better boss then aswell.
(23:47):
And I think now I've rememberedwhat the leadership lesson,
talking about communication, Iknow the way I like to
communicate.
I'm very honest and open andcan have quite frank
conversations if I need to.
But I'm very mindful and I likecertain people that come into
mind straight away that thatwould give they'd be anxious,
they would probably get upsetand again, if they get upset in
(24:09):
front of me, that doesn't makeme uncomfortable.
I don't want them to be upset.
But if that's how they have tokind of get those feelings out,
that's okay.
But that's taken me a while toget used to and I think it's
just like practicing havingthose conversations.
And then again, now I'm in aposition where it's me and then
I have three or four managementpeople working with me who all
(24:32):
have their own communicationstyles, and then they have
people that are reporting tothem.
I don't have to be perfect atcommunicating with everyone in
the way that they want to,because I've got a lot of
different people now whocommunicate differently and can
kind of meet them where they'reat.
And I think we've just putthings in place.
Like you know, we now have setmeetings and we have one-on-ones
(24:55):
and we have teacher check-insand we have all of these
processes and systems in placeto make sure that if things are
going to pop up, that we canhave the conversations early.
Oh, we've known this has been aproblem for a year but we
didn't say anything.
But now it's really bad.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, and I think your second leadership lesson is
that everyone communicatesdifferently and like.
Understanding your style andother people's styles is so
important, and the thing that Ilove that practical application
that you've taken from that isputting in a system and a
process so it doesn't rely onone person's communication style
.
So for people that might becoming up with this challenge
(25:33):
that people see thingsdifferently or understand things
differently getting a system inplace is key where you have
your regular check-ins, whetherthat's once a week, once a month
, once a quarter, depending onthe style.
You have your team sessions.
When there's an issue, you havea process on how you go through
it.
It means it's not relying onone person's style on
remembering or figuring it outand if that's different than
(25:55):
another person's style, it's notrelying on one person's style
on remembering or figuring itout, and if that's different
than another person's style,it's not about the people,
because they know what theprocess is.
It makes life a lot easier.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Yeah, definitely.
And again, as a boss, it makesit so much easier, particularly
now like I'm about to have ababy, literally next week Time
away from the business.
I'm really confident that thosethings will still be happening.
There are still those checksand balances going on, even
though I'm not there to ask, andthe team also have each other
(26:23):
to talk to versus just me.
And that's not to say thatobviously there is.
I offer value in a differentway, and not that me being away,
that my absence won't benoticed, but I don't think it'll
be missed.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah, and that is key to a scalable business.
If it's reliant on you or youremembering to have that
conversation, or if something'sstuck, it relies on you to have
it.
It's not a business.
You've got yourself a job.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, and I definitely think there have been
times and only recently, likelast year, like I felt like I
really pretty much got into thisweird like babysitting mode
where really I would just sit onSlack and wait for something to
come up to help and then I'djust be like reminder, reminder,
reminder.
And I just got to the end oflast year and was like this like
(27:12):
my day is so dull, like I Ijust I wasn't enjoying it again
and there's obviously times andplaces in business where you
have to kind of get into thatmaintenance mode but knowing
again I was stepping away.
We then switch, put a lot ofenergy and effort into
reassigning everyone's roles andresponsibilities and then
(27:33):
ensuring and having practice ofthem being responsible, then if
something wasn't to go right,Instead of me trying to step in
and fix something before it wentwrong, being comfortable with
allowing things to happen and gowrong so that the team members
could take accountability,because a lot of the time they
wanted these promotions, theywanted all these
responsibilities, but theydidn't members could take
accountability because a lot ofthe time they wanted these
(27:54):
promotions, they wanted allthese responsibilities, but they
didn't want to takeaccountability when things went
wrong and I was kind ofplacating that a little bit by
jumping in and kind of fixingthings before they went wrong,
where my director and I reallysort of discussed like how we
almost have to kind of let thesemistakes happen so that they
(28:18):
can start to learn and her toolike you know a little bit of
this accountability where Ialways feel like I've been.
I'm very like, honest, like, ohmy gosh, I forgot that I or I
took on too much, I just or, forinstance, that bored me so I
didn't do it Like I will betransparent.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So I try and model that.
But I understand, like you said, like a large demographic of my
team, this is their firstfull-time job, so it might not
be something that they're usedto doing.
So practising that this yearhas been a huge pivot and I
honestly just feel a weight likeoff me not having to just be
sitting on slack all day.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
I remember having the conversation with you and
saying, what if you weren't inthe slack groups, I know, and
that cycle of like, well, if wedid this, this, this, this, okay
, that could be okay and thiscould happen, and it was a
process, yeah so I slowly aftercomfortable no, it wasn't after
we had that discussion, I slowlystarted to just mute slack
(29:21):
channels.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
again, my team weren't asking me, I was just
getting in and checking everythread where why, like it's just
, it was so unnecessary and'macross.
You know a couple that I needto be, but again I don't have
the notifications on.
So now when I open up Slack,they have this new function
where it's like catch up andshow me where I need to catch up
(29:46):
.
I've told them like I'm not inthere consistently, so if you
actually need me to take action,you have to call me.
I'm not, this is not somethingI'm in all the time, but that
was a huge thing Because atfirst I was like when you said,
oh, just, I was like, oh, like,everything will start to go
wrong.
Where things did go wrong, butit wasn't the end of the world
(30:08):
and I just had to.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
again, I communicated hey guys, just letting you know
, as of tomorrow, I'm not goingto be checking this daily.
Yeah, there's some great thingswhen people think about okay,
well, what's the applicabilityfor me and my business or my
role for this?
There's some great things aboutthat, like when you empower
your team, that's great.
You've also got to give themthe accountability as well.
(30:29):
Otherwise, if you empower thembut you still catch everything,
they're not accountable for theresults.
Then they're not reallyempowered.
So there's that part of itwhich you did well, and then the
part that you just added at theend.
I think people miss this step.
Well, you tell them hey, thisis what I'm going to do, because
otherwise they get surprised.
They're like but Claire alwaysjumps in and fixes.
Why isn't she doing it now?
(30:50):
Yeah, so that expectationsetting hey, from tomorrow or
from next week, this is the newrule, this is how it's going to
work and this is what I wantfrom you.
Buy in.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Again.
It's all an adjustment and thisis something I feel like I was
doing a couple of years ago andthen just sort of fell into bad
habits.
For whatever reason, I had mydaughter, she'd gone back into
daycare.
I was sort of working afull-time role again and I
sometimes wonder whether I waslike trying to fill my day or
making myself feel like I wasgetting a lot done and like
(31:23):
again with slack.
The dopamine of like checkingoff and getting it does get a
little bit of addictive.
Where I need my plan now is,when I come back from this
maternity leave is to maintainthe minimal level I spend in
slack and really focus myenergies into new areas, like
starting in a different state orlooking into franchising or
(31:46):
like all of these like bigprojects where I just don't have
time.
Yeah, I was just babysittingpeople that didn't need to be
babysitted and they didn't askfor it.
I was just felt the need.
I didn't need to be babysittedand they didn't ask for it.
I was just felt the need.
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
I hear when you talk about the things that you want
in the future and like thinking,taking like a broader
perspective of what could be andI think your third leadership
lesson was all about change andwhenever you think you have
things figured out, there'susually another challenge around
the corner.
And I think for you, either thechallenge arrives, like COVID,
or you create the challenge.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, I definitely think I'm probably like,
obviously COVID for pretty muchevery business owner.
Maybe there were somebusinesses that I think did
really well out of that.
Just because of what it was, Iam very grateful for the funding
and everything we got at thetime.
But being an in-person business, it was an idea for us and for
(32:40):
kids.
We really noticed them struggle, so that was really sad for us,
and even though in Queenslandwe cruise through so much
compared to other places.
But all of that aside, I think Iam more likely to be the one
that jumps in and creates these.
It's not even problems.
It's just like I shake thingsup or I try and extend the team
(33:05):
in different ways or like addsomething, and I have to be
mindful that often people aremaybe at their capacity in their
role, which is totallyunderstandable, and so you know
a lot of this sort of researchbeginning phase does rely on me,
but that's sort of where I likespending my time, so part of me
(33:25):
also.
You know the possibilities ofthe different things you could
do are so alluring it's hard toknow what the right path is and
there's never a distinct path nothere's not.
That's something I kind of thinkabout a lot and at the end of
the day I always kind of bringit back to like, while this
(33:45):
interests me and I might want todo it, does it actually work
for me and my family as well?
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Something that is not on your leadership lessons, but
something that I'm curiousabout and I know a lot of our
listeners are curious about.
You're going technically,you're on maternity leave this
week, but we are doingpodcasting too.
You're having baby next week.
It's your second child, so youhave gone through this process
before as a business owner.
Do you mind sharing a couple ofthe insights that you've had,
(34:14):
of what you've done to help setup the business to be ready to
have this time off?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Definitely, and I think this is sort of part of my
forward planning nature.
Even it sounds so strange, buteven at 19, I knew I wanted to
have kids.
I guess maybe that's notstrange.
I was an early childhoodteacher and working with kids.
I to have kids.
I guess maybe that's notstrange.
I was an early childhoodteacher and working with kids.
I clearly love kids.
I always knew I wanted to havekids, being so young and joining
(34:41):
all these business groups.
There was a lot of studio ownersaround me who were either in
that phase or they were 10, 15years past and they were talking
about all the regrets they hadwhen they were little never
putting them to bed, neverseeing them play hockey, always
being at the studio all weekend,all of these things.
(35:02):
And I remember thinking, oh, Ido not, I don't want that to be
me, I don't want.
And these ladies were veryopenly like their kids, either
hated their business or they hada sort of a fractured
relationship with their kidsbecause they prioritized the
business and and that's not tosay like you don't go through
(35:25):
times where you have to do that,of course, but for me I was
just, it was a really well, I'mreally lucky, I guess, that I
got to hear from people who haddone it in different ways from a
young age.
So at that time I was like,okay, well, you know, I've got
at least you know, 10-ish yearsto kind of establish the
business, to be able to stepaway.
(35:46):
And it was sort of always myplan to have someone who could
at least do the day-to-day,whether that be one person, so I
could take some time off or sothat I could teach you know one
or two nights a week and be homefor three nights a week.
But even that changed.
Like I going into having myfirst daughter, I didn't sort of
realize the time involved, forinstance with breastfeeding like
(36:10):
.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
I can definitely attest to that in my experience.
Who knew it would take so long?
Speaker 2 (36:16):
But also like, for instance, just my daughter just
didn't like a bottle.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
So like I had to feed her before she went to bed at
night, which is literally rightin the middle of a teaching
night.
So it just wasn't practical forme to be in the classroom.
So there was like, just likelogistics that I probably didn't
you can't anticipate for me tobe in the classroom.
So there was like just likelogistics that I probably didn't
, you can't anticipate for,which is completely
understandable.
But I guess the practical thingwas and not everyone has 10
(36:43):
years to prepare their business,that's not what I'm saying but
I kind of started thoseprocesses and systems early on
and they kept changing andadapting.
And again I really started tokind of focus in on team members
who had potential qualities, orI noticed they had an interest
in taking on more leadershiproles and nurturing them.
(37:04):
And then again, a little bit offamily planning is not always
possible but knowing there'sbetter times of the year for my
business, for me to have kids,than others.
And then also, something Ididn't realize was that you know
, after I had my daughter, I hadkind of thought that you know,
(37:25):
after a month or so that I wouldbe mentally ready to like jump
back in a couple of days a weekand at least have conversations
and be trying to drive thebusiness forward.
I really lost interest in thewhole concept for a good six
months and I think it's allhormonal and for me it was all
tied, I think, intobreastfeeding.
I was really ready to like sellthe business and become like an
(37:48):
earth mother, like I was.
Like I can just like stay homeand again, there was nothing
wrong with staying home andbeing a mother.
I think that is incredible.
I personally could not do it,like to be home full time and
not have anything else work-wise.
It just is not for me.
But during that time I reallythought that that could be me.
(38:10):
But as I came out of that hazeI was like, oh my God, and so
now going into my next maternityleave, like I have prepped my
team, don't be panicked if Italk about wrapping things up.
I'm not selling the business.
Don't be panicked if I'm not.
Like I don't want to bounceideas off you because, like that
sort of man always like, oh,what about this?
(38:31):
Or I see this, or like could wetry that?
And that's sort of my zone, andI'm still trying to work on my
team members getting better atdoing that or bringing more
ideas.
But again, I don't think anyoneis energized by your business
as much as you.
That's where it's your business.
Yes, exactly.
So yeah, I guess, going into mysecond maternity leave again,
(38:53):
my team is in a much betterposition than they were the
first time.
I have a bigger team, but thenagain, financially we have way
more expenses than the firsttime.
That is also a little bit oflike a oh, like balancing that
and maybe giving them some moreaccountability in terms of
budgets, finances, what they canspend, which is a bit different
(39:17):
to the first time around.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Yeah, and I know that's not an area that you'd
love as well.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
No, I don't, and like people clearly do, because they
do it for their job and stuff,but it's just not something.
I guess it's just to be fullytransparent.
I like to be good at things andI don't feel good at that.
It's not my strong suit, so Ican get through it, but I don't
feel confident and I think thatjust makes me uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
And then, which means you do less of it because you
don't enjoy it.
It's very normal.
It happens to everybody in allareas.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I thinkas people grow like you grow
your business, you go from doingthe stuff that you love to then
managing other people that dothe stuff that you love, and
then you have to do all thestuff that you don't like.
But then the next phase is youcan outsource again the stuff
that you don't like, so you cando the stuff that you do like
(40:04):
like.
It's such a strange cycle ofbusiness ownership.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Yes, that's what I'm hoping in the next say three I
was going to say three to five,let's say three years again that
I can hire a business manageror more like a yeah, someone
that can kind of do more of thatforward planning, finance stuff
and more like HR kind of thing,like contracts, all of that
stuff which you have to do.
(40:28):
But for me I'm like, sorry,boring.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
But they call this in like business, business world,
your hygiene motivator factors.
So like a hygiene factor islike something that you have to
have but it doesn't get you anybenefit with your team.
Motivators are like the coolstuff that you do that your
team's like oh, I love that.
And I often joke to businessesthat if you have a physical
(40:53):
premise you have to have atoilet.
But no one says, oh, I'm goingto work there because you've got
a nice toilet.
That's a hygiene factor.
And it's the same with doingyour contracts and having those
hard conversations and peopledon't join your business for
that.
But if you don't have it,they're not going to be there.
So if you don't have a toilet,no one's going to like you can't
actually have a physicalworkplace.
Oh, exactly.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Yeah, true, well, I haven't had a place like that,
but that makes sense, and Ithink my personality is that I
like to be challenged and I liketo try new things, and so the
repetitive nature of money is abore.
No one likes to be stressed,and I know in general, either
(41:33):
one because cash flow is hard,or two because, again, I can't
always put all the piecestogether to make sure I have an
accurate representation.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
It just makes it seem more stressful than potentially
it probably is yeah, yeah, Ithink, uh, this is something
that definitely needs to be inyour horizon in less than three
years.
Yeah, we'll talk about it later.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Yeah, Give me six months.
Yeah, We'll loop back.
Yeah, and three months from nowI'll be like you know what.
I reckon I might move to a farm.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
So you know I'll talk to you in another three months.
So your three leadershiplessons one was about hiring,
one was about your team and thethird one was about change, and
I love there's a little linethat you've written about.
Business is constantly changingand evolving and if that
stresses you out, I wouldn'trecommend having one.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Yeah, To be fair, like my sister has started her
own like side business.
It's sort of related to what wedo and there's a couple of
times she's only at the very newstages and I have said to her
if this is a problem now, thisis only going to get worse.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Yeah, so the last piece we talk about today is
your one percenters, and youpicked a few one percenters, a
practical tip that has improvedyour leadership by one percent.
You're bringing the value here.
Your first one was findyourself a business bestie,
because it's life changing.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yes.
So like I do think there's somuch value in finding a coach or
a program, all those things.
But those things come and goand either because one you grow
out of them, two maybe you can'tafford them, whatever you can't
find, like I'm in a kind of aphase where I just feel like I
can't find the right thing forme.
But one thing that I've hadconsistently is actually in one
(43:14):
of the first groups I was in, Imet like two to three people and
one in particular that has, Ithink, changed the whole
trajectory of owning my businessand so being able to find I
don't want to.
If people don't have someone, Idon't want them to think that
it's bad, but even like, forinstance, we have that little
(43:35):
coffee group and it's notsomething that I'm as consistent
with but I find so much valueand support and guidance with
that.
So it's like it might not beone person that you speak to
every single day, but it mightbe.
You know, you might go to anetworking event, which is
sometimes scary and stressful,and you might just meet that one
person that introduced you tosomeone else and that might be
(43:57):
the consistent thing that getsyou through a hard time, or
sometimes when something goeswrong in business.
Often you know the right paththrough it, but it just seems
like there's so many steps andyou just need to talk to someone
who gets it.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
And you can't always one if you don't have a coach,
it's not the right time to tryand find one to do that.
And two, if you do, sometimesit's like they're in a
completely different industry.
They would be able to give someadvice, but often you're like,
well, actually that's not goingto work.
Like that's what I kind offound sometimes, where having
someone who's at least has areally clear understanding of
(44:36):
your business and what you'vebeen through and knows kind of
like your staff and other issuesthat you've had, it's they've
got the holistic picture yes,and it sounds almost selfish,
but like you do the same forthem absolutely, and also just
like having a friend that youcan go to conferences with, is
so fun.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Yeah, I liked your comment about when it's hitting
the fan.
That's not the time to get acoach.
It's almost like you kind ofneed to have some systems in
place to support you beforeyou're at that point.
And I do think coaches andprograms they're for a season in
time and often you mightoutgrow them or it's not the
focus that you need.
(45:16):
But I do have a few differentpeople that have helped me
through all the seasons of mybusiness.
And, yes, our fortnightlycoffee where you can just like
what's going on in your business.
Where are you stuck?
Yeah, sometimes you're like,wow, this is like the, I've just
got completely unstuck in whatI was stuck in.
Or it could be a time where youhelp somebody else or you can
(45:37):
just have a coffee and complainabout life.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Yeah, but also I feel like putting your true sense in
or someone saying oh, thatreally helped me, that makes you
feel really good, and then itstarts to make you think oh, can
I imply that same advice tomyself?
Like I just find that to bereally valuable, but yeah, I
definitely am not saying thatcoaches and masterminds and all
of those programs aren't worthit.
(45:59):
I think they definitely are.
But the thing that's been themost consistent and I think the
most valuable asset for me interms of kind of that realm is
my business bestie.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
One of your other one percenters was about some
podcasts.
So you listened to a couple ofdance specific industry podcasts
, but also you listened to aDaravish CEO podcast.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
I'm a little bit of like.
I just get like through phasesand there's like some people I
won't, I won't listen and Iwon't listen to it for months,
but then I'll get really into itand then I'll like, or there'll
be like a guest that I reallyreally enjoy.
I find his interviewing styleinteresting and sometimes I
don't like some of the episodes,but sometimes I really really
(46:42):
do like it.
So I just kind of pick andchoose.
I use podcasts as well as adowntime to not think about the
business.
Sometimes, like sometimes I getin the car and I just want to
listen to something about popculture or, you know, about some
news event or whatever,something that's completely not
to do with business, because Ithink, as much as it's great to
(47:03):
use all of the time that youhave to think and learn and
stuff, it's also great to taketime out and to just let your
brain rest and with other stuff.
And often sometimes I'll belistening to a random pop
culture podcast and they'llrecommend some thing and I'm
like, oh, actually that'd bereally cool for the business.
So the break from it also helpsyou as well, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
I think people get into an echo chamber If you're a
runner and you only read therunning magazines and listen to
the best running person and allyou see things is through that
lens, and sometimes a differentperspective is actually what
helps you get out of where youmight be stuck.
So people that have beenlistening to your story and
they're curious, perhaps ifthey've got some kids that want
to do some dance classes at theSunshine Coast or perhaps they
(47:50):
have a dance studio and they'relike, ah, claire sounds like
she's got it together.
How can I learn from Claire?
How do people get in touch withyou?
Speaker 2 (48:03):
Well, for dance classes, just head to our
website or socials.
We are danceenergystudiosnetauand we are Dance Energy Studios
on Instagram and Facebook andeverything.
And then for my businesscoaching again, you can head to
AssembleDanceStudioCoachingcomor my podcast is Assemble Dance
Studio Coaching Podcast.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
Fantastic.
And for those that are not,dance background how did you
come up with your podcast name?
Speaker 2 (48:25):
So Assemble, and when you just write it it just looks
like assemble.
It is a term in ballet thatmeans come together, so that was
kind of the branding.
Idea is that, you know,bringing people together from
our industry.
Like I said at the start, Ireally have always loved
collaborating and connectingwith people in my industry and
(48:47):
people always tell me it'sreally strange how much free
stuff I share on my podcast.
But again, I just I don't thinkthere is that many new ideas,
so talking about them doesn'tbother me.
Like you know what I mean, ifI'm not talking about it,
somebody else will.
So it's not a secret and Idon't know.
I just feel confident in whatwe do, so I don't I have no
(49:10):
problems in hoping that it helpssomeone else.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
I think you are a wonderful example, particularly
in how you talk that as abusiness owner or business
leader.
Our culture of our team comesfrom the core part of who we are
and what we think is important,and a core thing that I've
really picked up from knowingyou over the years is that you
are all about being open andsharing the good stuff, the hard
(49:33):
stuff, sharing knowledge andinformation and being welcoming,
and I think that's reallytransformed into your culture,
and I talk about culture asbeing.
We think that you can controlculture, but you can't.
Culture is like what happenswith all the people that are
there One person leaves, oneperson stays like that changes
your culture.
But the best thing you can do asa leader to create a good
(49:55):
culture is to create thisenvironment where it is like the
behaviors and how people thinkabout things is what you want,
but you can't control it.
So what you can do is provide,like your opportunity for
student teachers, like this isproviding.
I'm investing in you, I'mhelping you see a career path.
(50:16):
That's a core part of yourvalues and your culture.
So small things that we doimpact our culture, and the best
part of a culture is whenyou're not there, that it does
continue in a way that you areproud of, and I think, as
someone that is currently, Ithink your business running in a
way that you are proud of oryour way, is the biggest
(50:38):
compliment to how you lead.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
Yeah, well, I would a hundred percent agree, and
that's very nice of you to sayas well.
But, like I, I also like, causemy daughter dances now.
So I'm still like popping intothe studio and it's really
interesting because a lot ofpeople don't know that I own the
business.
Obviously I introduced myself.
I'm not trying to be like youknow, that's like secret CEO.
Yeah, yeah but often like it'sreally nice to hear like their
(51:04):
experience and things and thenkind of be like, oh, by the way,
like in case you didn't know,because my face is everywhere,
but you know I don't wanderaround with a little crown that
says like that would be nicethough.
But yeah, so I and I am reallyproud of of what we do and you
know, of course there's not ahundred percent of people that
(51:24):
have a like that love it all thetime.
But overall we have so manypeople that you know, even if
it's with us for a term or ayear or 10 years, they walk away
from what we provided with areally positive feeling, and
that's really that's that's whywe do what we do.
So, yeah, I hope that some ofmy yakking has helped someone in
(51:47):
some way today.
Thank you so much, claire.
Thank you.
The majority of people who start their own
business do it because they'rereally good at what they do.
So they start a business.
They start working with clients.
They get more clients than theycan personally deliver the work
for, so they start hiring ateam and all of a sudden,
they're a leader of a businessand it's not what they've been
trained to do, and so businessescan start to struggle or fail,
(00:20):
or the business owner is doingall the work instead of getting
the team to do it, and thereason that businesses have
these challenges is becauserunning a business and being a
leader is not the same skillsetas what you're really good at
technically.
Today's episode is sponsored bya new program that I've crafted
, called Founders Academy ofBusiness.
It's teaching founders andsmall business owners how to
(00:42):
level up their leadership andrun their business smarter, not
harder, and get the freedom thatthey actually want.
We meet once a quarter, eitherin person or virtually, to set
your strategy.
We then catch up fortnightlyvia Zoom to keep you accountable
to your goals and include inthe program as a CEO toolkit
with templates for interviewing,performance reviews, difficult
conversations and delegation,and this whole program is run
(01:05):
with other business owners.
Have the business that youactually want, not the one you
feel like you are chained to.
Applications are now open forthe next intake.
You can go to zenithjourneycomand click on the button that
says founders.
On to the episode.
Welcome to the Level UpLeadership Podcast.
(01:27):
This is the go-to podcast forchronically busy leaders and
small business owners who areready to get out of the weeds
and start leading.
The weekly episodes havemicro-leadership lessons focused
on how to level up yourleadership and help you to be 1%
better every day.
It's all about growing yourleadership, wisdom, building a
team and being the leader peoplewant to work for.
(01:48):
So let's get into it.
Today's podcast guest is ClaireO'Shea.
She is the founder of DanceEnergy Studios, and her story is
a fascinating one of being adancer as a kid, going through
to owning her own dance studio,to opening up more studios,
acquiring businesses, onlinecourses.
She has done it all.
(02:09):
She is a dynamic entrepreneurand an educator in the dance
industry.
She has a Bachelor of Educationand, as well as running her
studios of more than 500students which, to be honest,
that's the size of a smallschool she also hosts a podcast
for other studio owners.
Today, she's sharing three ofher lessons.
One is about hiring, one isabout teams and one is about
(02:31):
change.
So, to kick it off, claire, canyou give us a bit of your
background, of how you came intothe business that you currently
have?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yes, of course.
So, as I mentioned to you, Iown dance studios.
I grew up dancing.
I've been dancing since I wastwo, like it's sort of a
traditional story.
You know, you go into yourclass and I just never stopped.
But when I finished school Ididn't really have the like
lifelong goal to open up my owndance studio.
(02:59):
It wasn't something that I waslike always obsessing over.
So I started university Iactually went into psychology
first and decided that was notfor me and quickly pivoted to
early childhood education, whichis what I finished my degree in
.
And then, yeah, one day I was.
I had moved to Brisbane for alittle bit and was living with
(03:21):
my boyfriend at the time and mysister and he's now my husband
and I was just talking to my momabout nothing and she just
randomly said I was driving andI took a wrong turn the other
day and I came across thesweetest little hall it would
make such a dance studio andthat was the thing that made me
(03:41):
go huh, and I just couldn't getit out of my head.
I became obsessed with the idea.
I don't know why I decided itwas a great idea I was 18 at the
time and then I started thestudio when I was 19.
Um, and so I juggled myfull-time studies starting a
business and yeah, that was sortof the how I started it.
(04:06):
And now we are 12 years downthe line and it's grown from.
You know me teaching in acommunity hall.
So now we have two commercialleases.
One building has three studios,one has two, and we have eight
mobile school locations andgrowing, and within that you
also acquired a business.
(04:27):
Oh, yes, yes, I did so.
I started Dance Energy, whichis my brand, by myself, and then
, in 2022, I purchased thestudio where I grew up from my
dance teacher and I did rebrandand everything.
But it's funny now going towork and teaching and running a
(04:51):
business from the place that Ispent a lot of time and now
taking my daughter there everyweek as well, which is lovely,
how many students do you have?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
now we have over 500.
So you and I talk about this.
This is like a school, like, asin a primary school size number
of people.
When people say, oh, a dancestudio, you're like that's 500
students and that's probably 300parents.
If you account for somesiblings, teachers of all the
classes, all the differentlocations, it's a lot when you
(05:24):
actually break it down.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
It is a lot and you just you do get used to it if
that makes sense and, like Isometimes feel guilty because
you know we set goals to growand not just because we want
bigger numbers or higher revenue, but because we do really feel
like we're making such apositive impact and often a
bigger student base allows us topromote our team and really,
(05:48):
like put an emphasis on the artson the Sunshine Coast where,
like traditionally I think inour area there not was a lot of
opportunities for full-timedance teaching positions on the
Sunshine Coast, like it would besomething you would have to go
to like Sydney or Melbourne for,because you would almost need
to create your full-timeposition by working at 10 places
(06:09):
or you'd be working for thelikes of, like, a full-time
dance studio.
So I sometimes do I don't notthat I don't appreciate it, but
you know you're just so used tothinking about forward planning
and trying to get to the nextstep that you don't always sit
in where you are.
But yeah, we are bigger than alot of primary schools and I
(06:29):
think because sometimes I alsogo like, oh my gosh, are we
spending too much money on liketeam or admin?
But if I kind of compare towhat again like a primary school
?
It's definitely not, butunfortunately we aren't
government funded yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Well, that would be nice.
Yes, the other part of yourbusiness is about educating
other studio owners, becausewhat I love about your story is
you've come from a dancer to ateacher, to running your own
business in a hall, to buyinganother business, to now running
many studios and schoollocations, and these are things
(07:03):
that you've picked up along theway and you've taught yourself.
And as a business owner, Ithink you get into stuff and you
don't realize what you've gotinto, but you've got to figure
it out.
If you stay afloat as abusiness this long, you've
figured it out and there'sthings that you've learned that
you teach other studio owners sothey don't have to do it the
hard way.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, of course, and I've always just been, I don't
know.
I've always been like a sharerand a collaborator and I think,
because I started so young, Iwas just a sponge.
I just wanted to learneverything from everyone, or as
many people as possible, andthat's not to say that I've just
regurgitated other people'sinformation as my own.
But there was really I alwayssay there's really no such thing
(07:42):
as a new idea.
It's been done somewhere or insome way before.
And I think what I have behindme now is I have a lot of
experience in different areas ofbusiness ownership, but more
specifically dance studioownership or, I guess, like
class-based ownership, so itcould be applied to Pilates or
(08:03):
yoga, even though I mostly speakto dance studio owners.
But yeah, like I also do, Ihave a podcast which I really
enjoy, and a part of that isjust being able I feel like it's
a bit like my own, like therapy, like debriefing about you know
what's been going on,challenges we've been having,
and I do think I have a lot ofepiphanies for the dance studio
(08:23):
when I'm recording that and Ihope and I do see that it does
help others.
But I'm sure, like you,sometimes you kind of get into
this silo where you're not evensure people are listening, even
though you see the numbers.
Occasionally, like you know, alistener will reach out and will
really thank us and it just itmakes all this energy and effort
is worth it.
It's a different side of thebusiness that I really enjoy,
(08:44):
because I do really enjoy publicspeaking and talking more about
business ownership and I dothink over the last 12 years
I've really pivoted from beingfully in the classroom to I
haven't been in the classroom ona regular basis now for over
two years just because I've hadone daughter and then maternity
(09:07):
leave and now I'm about to givebirth again.
So it didn't really make sensefor me to go back into the
classroom this year, for example.
So it's sort of been a bit morelogistical.
But yeah, like I've really sortof pivoted my focus from being
in the classroom to more being abusiness owner.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
And I think that's probably been essential to your
success, because you need to seethings from a higher
perspective.
I have another clientpreviously who was a school
principal and a previous teacherand all her friends, her
husband, everyone she knew wereteachers, and then she became
the principal.
She just thought she was themost senior teacher.
(09:43):
So you're now a CEO of abusiness and for her that was a
whole mindset shift of oh, I'mnot.
This is like a whole differentidentity in how I look at things
and I feel for you, whether bydesign or by default, these
logistic changes has meant thatby being out of the classroom
and seeing things differently,has changed the perspective of
(10:06):
your business.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, I do.
I do think I spend a lot moretime on things now that are
necessary and they're notnecessarily the things I love to
do, but it's important and it'sa part of owning a business.
So, more like finance andbudgets and all of that stuff
which I don't get joy from, andI do hope in the future, like
(10:28):
you know, I might be able toemploy someone that can at least
prepare and spend all the timeand energy in those zones and I
just review it.
Yeah, Don't have the capacityyet where I do still get a lot
of joy when I am in theclassroom or when I'm teaching
my teachers about being in theclassroom.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, I think, as someone that has come through
from your craft to then leadinga business, and a lot of people
who start their own business,you start it because you're good
at what you do.
You don't start it.
Most people don't start abusiness because they're like,
yeah, I'm a really good businessowner, what can I pick that's
going to make a good business?
That's secondary, but makingsure you still have the joy when
you get out of the day-to-daydoing is really key as well.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, and I do get a lot of joy now, like obviously I
see the kids around and I seetheir happiness and that brings
me joy, but I'm spending moretime working with my team and
seeing them flourish and thatgives me joy in a different but
equally positive way.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
I think that is a wonderful segue into your first
leadership lesson, because youwere talking about how growing
this business has actuallyenabled.
In the Sunshine Coast, which isa place in Queensland,
australia, where we've got somewonderful beaches, it's like a
really big country town, but itis not the opportunity for
(11:51):
people to have full-time jobs inthings like being a dance
teacher until companies likeyours flourish.
So one of your leadershiplessons that we've talked about
sharing today was about hiringyour team and hiring slow and
promoting from within.
Can you share a little bit moreabout this as a leadership
lesson?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yes, definitely this is like a big thing that we have
pivoted towards, and then we'vealso like taken it so far to
now have like an internaleducation system program for our
student teachers to kind ofwork through.
So from like 12, 13 years old,we're almost like building our
(12:32):
future.
Wow, and again, only if theywant to and they also enjoy.
But even like some of ourreally, really shy students, who
you know technically probablywouldn't anticipate them ever
being a teacher, they get somuch joy from like learning
leadership skills and beinglooked up to by the little ones,
and it's definitely somethingthat promotes like community
(12:54):
within our business and thenalso builds retention.
So we have a huge emphasis onquality education and with that
being our teachers beingqualified.
There is not a lot oflegislation and by not a lot I
mean none and so we really haveto set the standard ourselves,
and that's been something that'sreally paramount for us, and so
(13:15):
we have a lot of checks andboxes to kind of ensure that
we're meeting or exceeding ourown expectations.
The only rule we have is a bluecard, which I don't think is
good enough for the amount thatwe work with children, but
that's what the rules are, so weensure we reach that.
(13:36):
But in terms of hiring, slowlypromoting within, it's
definitely something I learned,Like I'm sure other business
owners listening have all hiredsomeone out of desperation and
then it didn't work out forbusiness, and particularly
because of the industry that I'min, you do require highly
(14:00):
skilled, trained people.
So you can't just take you youknow someone who likes music off
the street and then teach themhow to dance.
Often they come with 10, 15, 20years of their own experience
and education before then evenlearn learning the skill of how
to teach it.
Absolutely there's a less of apool to employ from.
(14:20):
So and we also know you, we dothings differently within our
business.
So we really are mindful thatthere is a certain type of
teacher that we want to put inthe community as a
representative for our businessand that is different to what
someone else likes.
And, again, a consumer mightlike a different type of teacher
and that's okay.
(14:41):
So we really, I think, made thebiggest pivot during COVID
because, again, in our industry,it was very common to hire
contractors only During COVID.
All of those businesses who didthat didn't get any government
support, of course, but I hademployed all of my staff for
(15:03):
years Frozen cons From theadvice of my mum and my
accountant.
But people were very confusedwhy I would pay super and why I
would do this if I didn't haveto.
But anyway, let's not get intothat.
But so during COVID I was luckyor smart enough to get all of
(15:24):
that government assistance andmy teachers suddenly you know
who are working maybe 10 hours aweek were getting paid a
full-time wage and although theydidn't have to do any more
hours like legally, they justhad to do their 10 hours.
All of my staff were like no,what's the maximum amount of
hours can I do?
All of my staff were like no,what's the maximum amount of
(15:46):
hours can I do?
They all wanted to do.
They all went from doing 10 tolike at least 30 something hours
a week because they wanted toand were getting paid to, and
they had the ability then tostop working retail or working
in a cafe or something andreally kind of focus their
energies on building this career.
And so we had over a year offree training essentially for a
(16:09):
large portion of our team, andwe spent a lot of that time
training young teachers how tobe managers, how to work in the
office, how to be educators, andhow to be educators and how to
be their own leaders.
And so it really.
Then, after that time then Ifell pregnant and I was able to
(16:30):
step away from the business andbe super confident where I don't
think I would have literallyhad the financial ability to
promote five, six people to fulltime and pay them.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I hear this story and there's two things that come to
mind.
And pay them.
I hear this story and there'stwo things that come to mind.
One is you play the long game.
Yes, so even when you talkabout you are.
There's a training opportunityprogram for dancers as young as
13 to start going if this iswhat they want as a career.
You're giving peopleopportunities to have this, not
as a contract, casual job, butactually as a job and a career.
(17:04):
And when the opportunity cameup, where you got some funding
from the government, that youused it to play the long game.
The second thing is that youalready had the culture within
your team that people wanted togive more, that they wanted to
give and to work with you, wherea lot of people, if they don't
have that culture, they don'tenjoy what they're doing, they
(17:26):
don't like who they work with.
They were like yep, I'll do my10 hours and I'll take my money.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, and they had every right to do so Absolutely,
and I wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
I wouldn't have begrudged them.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
No, absolutely not.
Yeah, but I I do think we playthe long game and I do think we
have an amazing team culture.
Like a lot of my staff arecoming up to like long service
leave and things, and I, youknow, it's not something I ever
anticipated and a lot of them,like they started with me when
they were 18 and now they're midto late 20s or again.
(17:59):
I have, I think, three or fourteachers on staff who were my
students 10 years ago and youcan't teach the community and
the culture that they justabsorb by osmosis, by being
there.
You can't teach that Likethat's just something that they
learn and then they can go outand promote what we do in the
(18:21):
community.
So I think, aside from that,obviously people like if they're
listening, they can't go backand be like, oh, I wish that I
retroactively trained people.
That's not what I mean.
I just mean we did kind of geta leg up to be able to do that
and now we have our internaltraining system with our
students and, again, not everybusiness has kids to teach from
(18:42):
a young age, but essentially,even in our adult staff, our
management team always has liketwo to three people like in the
back end.
Like you know, if blah blahever moved on and we've already
kind of promoted a couple ofpeople around, and again I think
(19:02):
it's just looking at theindividual people and seeing
what they're good at and tryingto nurture that into something
that makes sense for you andyour business.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
So I'm listening to your story and your leadership
lesson of hire slow and promotefrom within and thinking, well,
how could people apply this intheir own business?
And sure, a lot of people don'thave students or 13 year olds
that are working there, but alot of people don't have
students or 13-year-olds thatare working there.
But a lot of businesses, andwhether this is a big business
or a small business, they'remapping out what the career
(19:32):
could look like.
Is not something that takes alot of time or money, but
providing that, hey, this iswhere you could go and this is
what the steps could look likeis a huge drawcard for people
that want to join your businessor stay in your business or say,
hey, is this a step in mycareer or could I see a longer
career?
Here?
People can say to me I don'twant to train people in
(19:54):
leadership in case they leave,and I say, well, what if you
don't train them and they stay?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
I just 100% agree, because it's a massive fear of a
lot of like dance studio ownersthat I coach and work with is
that, oh, I don't want topromote someone to a manager.
I don't want to give them theback end of how I run my
business, because what if theyopen their own dance studio?
Well, they probably might.
You did the same thing, Like Idon't understand.
It's like if you are reallyproud of what you do and are
(20:22):
really strong and confident inwhat you do, yes, they might
leave, but if you've treatedthem well and you've put all
this love and energy into them,hopefully they'll do it the
right way.
And it's not going to feel goodor nice when they leave, but
hopefully they do the rightthing by you.
And it's just.
I always say to my staff likeyou're not married, Well, you're
(20:45):
married nowadays, but you'renot married to me or the
business.
If you want to move overseas orif you want to try something
else, I want that for you.
I only want you to be here foras long as you're happy and love
what you do and if that changes, that's something you should be
scared to tell me.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And I think that in itself is quite important,
particularly with thedemographic of your staff,
because often, and I would sayprobably the majority of your
staff have come through dancing,have been a participant of
dances and then have becomedance teachers, then become
managers, often haven't hadother jobs and then maybe have
had a retail job, but oftenhaven't had any other jobs, and
so their awareness orexpectation is quite narrow,
(21:25):
which I think leads lovely intoyour second leadership lessons,
which is around your team andhow people like to be
communicated and how thingsmight be different to how you
see things.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yes, I definitely think over time and again, just
the way I started my business.
I was so young, so you know,being 19 or 20 and employing
someone my first employee was 10years older than me, or, like
you know, eight to 10 yearsolder than me and Tuna, she was
the best first employee becauseshe could not give a stuff how
(21:58):
old I was.
You know, she came in to do thebest thing that she was best at
and didn't care about anythingelse.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Offer advice.
If I asked, she would listen tome.
If I wanted her, she would askme, like, what should I wear?
Like how do you want me to dothis?
Like she was just so great andshe still works for me now.
So she really showed me thatyou didn't have to be afraid of
your age.
And then pretty soon you getolder anyway, and then now I'm
like the oldest staff member,pretty much anyway.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I remember doing my first hire and there was a great
candidate who was older than meand my own self-limiting
beliefs meant I did not hirethat person because I was
worried that I was supposed tobe the leader, I was supposed to
have the answers, and if Ihired someone that knew more
than me then or was older thanme, then how's that going to
(22:46):
come back?
So my own fears helped me backand I love your story because
you didn't see it that way and Ithink, just as a side little
leadership lesson, hiringsomeone that is older or more
experienced can be the bestthing for you and your growth.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I love to be told what to do from my staff Like
that brings me so much joy.
I've given a checklist andparticularly one of my like main
manager team members.
She's very detail-oriented,very calendar-based, very
checklist and she will be likereminder you, you need to finish
this task by Wednesday and,amazing, when we were first
(23:26):
starting to work, she did.
She very openly says to me Idon't really know like what,
like how much can I?
You know, she was really kindof unsure and when I just kind
of kept saying this is how Ilike to work, I love that you
remind me, because that's not mystrong suit, like I appreciate
that.
So it gave her the confidenceto kind of keep me accountable.
I become a better boss then aswell.
(23:47):
And I think now I've rememberedwhat the leadership lesson,
talking about communication, Iknow the way I like to
communicate.
I'm very honest and open andcan have quite frank
conversations if I need to.
But I'm very mindful and I likecertain people that come into
mind straight away that thatwould give they'd be anxious,
they would probably get upsetand again, if they get upset in
(24:09):
front of me, that doesn't makeme uncomfortable.
I don't want them to be upset.
But if that's how they have tokind of get those feelings out,
that's okay.
But that's taken me a while toget used to and I think it's
just like practicing havingthose conversations.
And then again, now I'm in aposition where it's me and then
I have three or four managementpeople working with me who all
(24:32):
have their own communicationstyles, and then they have
people that are reporting tothem.
I don't have to be perfect atcommunicating with everyone in
the way that they want to,because I've got a lot of
different people now whocommunicate differently and can
kind of meet them where they'reat.
And I think we've just putthings in place.
Like you know, we now have setmeetings and we have one-on-ones
(24:55):
and we have teacher check-insand we have all of these
processes and systems in placeto make sure that if things are
going to pop up, that we canhave the conversations early.
Oh, we've known this has been aproblem for a year but we
didn't say anything.
But now it's really bad.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, and I think your second leadership lesson is
that everyone communicatesdifferently and like.
Understanding your style andother people's styles is so
important, and the thing that Ilove that practical application
that you've taken from that isputting in a system and a
process so it doesn't rely onone person's communication style
.
So for people that might becoming up with this challenge
(25:33):
that people see thingsdifferently or understand things
differently getting a system inplace is key where you have
your regular check-ins, whetherthat's once a week, once a month
, once a quarter, depending onthe style.
You have your team sessions.
When there's an issue, you havea process on how you go through
it.
It means it's not relying onone person's style on
remembering or figuring it outand if that's different than
(25:55):
another person's style, it's notrelying on one person's style
on remembering or figuring itout, and if that's different
than another person's style,it's not about the people,
because they know what theprocess is.
It makes life a lot easier.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Yeah, definitely.
And again, as a boss, it makesit so much easier, particularly
now like I'm about to have ababy, literally next week Time
away from the business.
I'm really confident that thosethings will still be happening.
There are still those checksand balances going on, even
though I'm not there to ask, andthe team also have each other
(26:23):
to talk to versus just me.
And that's not to say thatobviously there is.
I offer value in a differentway, and not that me being away,
that my absence won't benoticed, but I don't think it'll
be missed.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah, and that is key to a scalable business.
If it's reliant on you or youremembering to have that
conversation, or if something'sstuck, it relies on you to have
it.
It's not a business.
You've got yourself a job.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, and I definitely think there have been
times and only recently, likelast year, like I felt like I
really pretty much got into thisweird like babysitting mode
where really I would just sit onSlack and wait for something to
come up to help and then I'djust be like reminder, reminder,
reminder.
And I just got to the end oflast year and was like this like
(27:12):
my day is so dull, like I Ijust I wasn't enjoying it again
and there's obviously times andplaces in business where you
have to kind of get into thatmaintenance mode but knowing
again I was stepping away.
We then switch, put a lot ofenergy and effort into
reassigning everyone's roles andresponsibilities and then
(27:33):
ensuring and having practice ofthem being responsible, then if
something wasn't to go right,Instead of me trying to step in
and fix something before it wentwrong, being comfortable with
allowing things to happen and gowrong so that the team members
could take accountability,because a lot of the time they
wanted these promotions, theywanted all these
responsibilities, but theydidn't members could take
accountability because a lot ofthe time they wanted these
(27:54):
promotions, they wanted allthese responsibilities, but they
didn't want to takeaccountability when things went
wrong and I was kind ofplacating that a little bit by
jumping in and kind of fixingthings before they went wrong,
where my director and I reallysort of discussed like how we
almost have to kind of let thesemistakes happen so that they
(28:18):
can start to learn and her toolike you know a little bit of
this accountability where Ialways feel like I've been.
I'm very like, honest, like, ohmy gosh, I forgot that I or I
took on too much, I just or, forinstance, that bored me so I
didn't do it Like I will betransparent.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So I try and model that.
But I understand, like you said, like a large demographic of my
team, this is their firstfull-time job, so it might not
be something that they're usedto doing.
So practising that this yearhas been a huge pivot and I
honestly just feel a weight likeoff me not having to just be
sitting on slack all day.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
I remember having the conversation with you and
saying, what if you weren't inthe slack groups, I know, and
that cycle of like, well, if wedid this, this, this, this, okay
, that could be okay and thiscould happen, and it was a
process, yeah so I slowly aftercomfortable no, it wasn't after
we had that discussion, I slowlystarted to just mute slack
(29:21):
channels.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
again, my team weren't asking me, I was just
getting in and checking everythread where why, like it's just
, it was so unnecessary and'macross.
You know a couple that I needto be, but again I don't have
the notifications on.
So now when I open up Slack,they have this new function
where it's like catch up andshow me where I need to catch up
(29:46):
.
I've told them like I'm not inthere consistently, so if you
actually need me to take action,you have to call me.
I'm not, this is not somethingI'm in all the time, but that
was a huge thing Because atfirst I was like when you said,
oh, just, I was like, oh, like,everything will start to go
wrong.
Where things did go wrong, butit wasn't the end of the world
(30:08):
and I just had to.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
again, I communicated hey guys, just letting you know
, as of tomorrow, I'm not goingto be checking this daily.
Yeah, there's some great thingswhen people think about okay,
well, what's the applicabilityfor me and my business or my
role for this?
There's some great things aboutthat, like when you empower
your team, that's great.
You've also got to give themthe accountability as well.
(30:29):
Otherwise, if you empower thembut you still catch everything,
they're not accountable for theresults.
Then they're not reallyempowered.
So there's that part of itwhich you did well, and then the
part that you just added at theend.
I think people miss this step.
Well, you tell them hey, thisis what I'm going to do, because
otherwise they get surprised.
They're like but Claire alwaysjumps in and fixes.
Why isn't she doing it now?
(30:50):
Yeah, so that expectationsetting hey, from tomorrow or
from next week, this is the newrule, this is how it's going to
work and this is what I wantfrom you.
Buy in.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Again.
It's all an adjustment and thisis something I feel like I was
doing a couple of years ago andthen just sort of fell into bad
habits.
For whatever reason, I had mydaughter, she'd gone back into
daycare.
I was sort of working afull-time role again and I
sometimes wonder whether I waslike trying to fill my day or
making myself feel like I wasgetting a lot done and like
(31:23):
again with slack.
The dopamine of like checkingoff and getting it does get a
little bit of addictive.
Where I need my plan now is,when I come back from this
maternity leave is to maintainthe minimal level I spend in
slack and really focus myenergies into new areas, like
starting in a different state orlooking into franchising or
(31:46):
like all of these like bigprojects where I just don't have
time.
Yeah, I was just babysittingpeople that didn't need to be
babysitted and they didn't askfor it.
I was just felt the need.
I didn't need to be babysittedand they didn't ask for it.
I was just felt the need.
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
I hear when you talk about the things that you want
in the future and like thinking,taking like a broader
perspective of what could be andI think your third leadership
lesson was all about change andwhenever you think you have
things figured out, there'susually another challenge around
the corner.
And I think for you, either thechallenge arrives, like COVID,
or you create the challenge.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, I definitely think I'm probably like,
obviously COVID for pretty muchevery business owner.
Maybe there were somebusinesses that I think did
really well out of that.
Just because of what it was, Iam very grateful for the funding
and everything we got at thetime.
But being an in-person business, it was an idea for us and for
(32:40):
kids.
We really noticed them struggle, so that was really sad for us,
and even though in Queenslandwe cruise through so much
compared to other places.
But all of that aside, I think Iam more likely to be the one
that jumps in and creates these.
It's not even problems.
It's just like I shake thingsup or I try and extend the team
(33:05):
in different ways or like addsomething, and I have to be
mindful that often people aremaybe at their capacity in their
role, which is totallyunderstandable, and so you know
a lot of this sort of researchbeginning phase does rely on me,
but that's sort of where I likespending my time, so part of me
(33:25):
also.
You know the possibilities ofthe different things you could
do are so alluring it's hard toknow what the right path is and
there's never a distinct path nothere's not.
That's something I kind of thinkabout a lot and at the end of
the day I always kind of bringit back to like, while this
(33:45):
interests me and I might want todo it, does it actually work
for me and my family as well?
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Something that is not on your leadership lessons, but
something that I'm curiousabout and I know a lot of our
listeners are curious about.
You're going technically,you're on maternity leave this
week, but we are doingpodcasting too.
You're having baby next week.
It's your second child, so youhave gone through this process
before as a business owner.
Do you mind sharing a couple ofthe insights that you've had,
(34:14):
of what you've done to help setup the business to be ready to
have this time off?
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Definitely, and I think this is sort of part of my
forward planning nature.
Even it sounds so strange, buteven at 19, I knew I wanted to
have kids.
I guess maybe that's notstrange.
I was an early childhoodteacher and working with kids.
I to have kids.
I guess maybe that's notstrange.
I was an early childhoodteacher and working with kids.
I clearly love kids.
I always knew I wanted to havekids, being so young and joining
(34:41):
all these business groups.
There was a lot of studio ownersaround me who were either in
that phase or they were 10, 15years past and they were talking
about all the regrets they hadwhen they were little never
putting them to bed, neverseeing them play hockey, always
being at the studio all weekend,all of these things.
(35:02):
And I remember thinking, oh, Ido not, I don't want that to be
me, I don't want.
And these ladies were veryopenly like their kids, either
hated their business or they hada sort of a fractured
relationship with their kidsbecause they prioritized the
business and and that's not tosay like you don't go through
(35:25):
times where you have to do that,of course, but for me I was
just, it was a really well, I'mreally lucky, I guess, that I
got to hear from people who haddone it in different ways from a
young age.
So at that time I was like,okay, well, you know, I've got
at least you know, 10-ish yearsto kind of establish the
business, to be able to stepaway.
(35:46):
And it was sort of always myplan to have someone who could
at least do the day-to-day,whether that be one person, so I
could take some time off or sothat I could teach you know one
or two nights a week and be homefor three nights a week.
But even that changed.
Like I going into having myfirst daughter, I didn't sort of
realize the time involved, forinstance with breastfeeding like
(36:10):
.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
I can definitely attest to that in my experience.
Who knew it would take so long?
Speaker 2 (36:16):
But also like, for instance, just my daughter just
didn't like a bottle.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
So like I had to feed her before she went to bed at
night, which is literally rightin the middle of a teaching
night.
So it just wasn't practical forme to be in the classroom.
So there was like, just likelogistics that I probably didn't
you can't anticipate for me tobe in the classroom.
So there was like just likelogistics that I probably didn't
, you can't anticipate for,which is completely
understandable.
But I guess the practical thingwas and not everyone has 10
(36:43):
years to prepare their business,that's not what I'm saying but
I kind of started thoseprocesses and systems early on
and they kept changing andadapting.
And again I really started tokind of focus in on team members
who had potential qualities, orI noticed they had an interest
in taking on more leadershiproles and nurturing them.
(37:04):
And then again, a little bit offamily planning is not always
possible but knowing there'sbetter times of the year for my
business, for me to have kids,than others.
And then also, something Ididn't realize was that you know
, after I had my daughter, I hadkind of thought that you know,
(37:25):
after a month or so that I wouldbe mentally ready to like jump
back in a couple of days a weekand at least have conversations
and be trying to drive thebusiness forward.
I really lost interest in thewhole concept for a good six
months and I think it's allhormonal and for me it was all
tied, I think, intobreastfeeding.
I was really ready to like sellthe business and become like an
(37:48):
earth mother, like I was.
Like I can just like stay homeand again, there was nothing
wrong with staying home andbeing a mother.
I think that is incredible.
I personally could not do it,like to be home full time and
not have anything else work-wise.
It just is not for me.
But during that time I reallythought that that could be me.
(38:10):
But as I came out of that hazeI was like, oh my God, and so
now going into my next maternityleave, like I have prepped my
team, don't be panicked if Italk about wrapping things up.
I'm not selling the business.
Don't be panicked if I'm not.
Like I don't want to bounceideas off you because, like that
sort of man always like, oh,what about this?
(38:31):
Or I see this, or like could wetry that?
And that's sort of my zone, andI'm still trying to work on my
team members getting better atdoing that or bringing more
ideas.
But again, I don't think anyoneis energized by your business
as much as you.
That's where it's your business.
Yes, exactly.
So yeah, I guess, going into mysecond maternity leave again,
(38:53):
my team is in a much betterposition than they were the
first time.
I have a bigger team, but thenagain, financially we have way
more expenses than the firsttime.
That is also a little bit oflike a oh, like balancing that
and maybe giving them some moreaccountability in terms of
budgets, finances, what they canspend, which is a bit different
(39:17):
to the first time around.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Yeah, and I know that's not an area that you'd
love as well.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
No, I don't, and like people clearly do, because they
do it for their job and stuff,but it's just not something.
I guess it's just to be fullytransparent.
I like to be good at things andI don't feel good at that.
It's not my strong suit, so Ican get through it, but I don't
feel confident and I think thatjust makes me uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
And then, which means you do less of it because you
don't enjoy it.
It's very normal.
It happens to everybody in allareas.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I thinkas people grow like you grow
your business, you go from doingthe stuff that you love to then
managing other people that dothe stuff that you love, and
then you have to do all thestuff that you don't like.
But then the next phase is youcan outsource again the stuff
that you don't like, so you cando the stuff that you do like
(40:04):
like.
It's such a strange cycle ofbusiness ownership.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Yes, that's what I'm hoping in the next say three I
was going to say three to five,let's say three years again that
I can hire a business manageror more like a yeah, someone
that can kind of do more of thatforward planning, finance stuff
and more like HR kind of thing,like contracts, all of that
stuff which you have to do.
(40:28):
But for me I'm like, sorry,boring.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
But they call this in like business, business world,
your hygiene motivator factors.
So like a hygiene factor islike something that you have to
have but it doesn't get you anybenefit with your team.
Motivators are like the coolstuff that you do that your
team's like oh, I love that.
And I often joke to businessesthat if you have a physical
(40:53):
premise you have to have atoilet.
But no one says, oh, I'm goingto work there because you've got
a nice toilet.
That's a hygiene factor.
And it's the same with doingyour contracts and having those
hard conversations and peopledon't join your business for
that.
But if you don't have it,they're not going to be there.
So if you don't have a toilet,no one's going to like you can't
actually have a physicalworkplace.
Oh, exactly.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Yeah, true, well, I haven't had a place like that,
but that makes sense, and Ithink my personality is that I
like to be challenged and I liketo try new things, and so the
repetitive nature of money is abore.
No one likes to be stressed,and I know in general, either
(41:33):
one because cash flow is hard,or two because, again, I can't
always put all the piecestogether to make sure I have an
accurate representation.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
It just makes it seem more stressful than potentially
it probably is yeah, yeah, Ithink, uh, this is something
that definitely needs to be inyour horizon in less than three
years.
Yeah, we'll talk about it later.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Yeah, Give me six months.
Yeah, We'll loop back.
Yeah, and three months from nowI'll be like you know what.
I reckon I might move to a farm.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
So you know I'll talk to you in another three months.
So your three leadershiplessons one was about hiring,
one was about your team and thethird one was about change, and
I love there's a little linethat you've written about.
Business is constantly changingand evolving and if that
stresses you out, I wouldn'trecommend having one.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Yeah, To be fair, like my sister has started her
own like side business.
It's sort of related to what wedo and there's a couple of
times she's only at the very newstages and I have said to her
if this is a problem now, thisis only going to get worse.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Yeah, so the last piece we talk about today is
your one percenters, and youpicked a few one percenters, a
practical tip that has improvedyour leadership by one percent.
You're bringing the value here.
Your first one was findyourself a business bestie,
because it's life changing.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yes.
So like I do think there's somuch value in finding a coach or
a program, all those things.
But those things come and goand either because one you grow
out of them, two maybe you can'tafford them, whatever you can't
find, like I'm in a kind of aphase where I just feel like I
can't find the right thing forme.
But one thing that I've hadconsistently is actually in one
(43:14):
of the first groups I was in, Imet like two to three people and
one in particular that has, Ithink, changed the whole
trajectory of owning my businessand so being able to find I
don't want to.
If people don't have someone, Idon't want them to think that
it's bad, but even like, forinstance, we have that little
(43:35):
coffee group and it's notsomething that I'm as consistent
with but I find so much valueand support and guidance with
that.
So it's like it might not beone person that you speak to
every single day, but it mightbe.
You know, you might go to anetworking event, which is
sometimes scary and stressful,and you might just meet that one
person that introduced you tosomeone else and that might be
(43:57):
the consistent thing that getsyou through a hard time, or
sometimes when something goeswrong in business.
Often you know the right paththrough it, but it just seems
like there's so many steps andyou just need to talk to someone
who gets it.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
And you can't always one if you don't have a coach,
it's not the right time to tryand find one to do that.
And two, if you do, sometimesit's like they're in a
completely different industry.
They would be able to give someadvice, but often you're like,
well, actually that's not goingto work.
Like that's what I kind offound sometimes, where having
someone who's at least has areally clear understanding of
(44:36):
your business and what you'vebeen through and knows kind of
like your staff and other issuesthat you've had, it's they've
got the holistic picture yes,and it sounds almost selfish,
but like you do the same forthem absolutely, and also just
like having a friend that youcan go to conferences with, is
so fun.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Yeah, I liked your comment about when it's hitting
the fan.
That's not the time to get acoach.
It's almost like you kind ofneed to have some systems in
place to support you beforeyou're at that point.
And I do think coaches andprograms they're for a season in
time and often you mightoutgrow them or it's not the
focus that you need.
(45:16):
But I do have a few differentpeople that have helped me
through all the seasons of mybusiness.
And, yes, our fortnightlycoffee where you can just like
what's going on in your business.
Where are you stuck?
Yeah, sometimes you're like,wow, this is like the, I've just
got completely unstuck in whatI was stuck in.
Or it could be a time where youhelp somebody else or you can
(45:37):
just have a coffee and complainabout life.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Yeah, but also I feel like putting your true sense in
or someone saying oh, thatreally helped me, that makes you
feel really good, and then itstarts to make you think oh, can
I imply that same advice tomyself?
Like I just find that to bereally valuable, but yeah, I
definitely am not saying thatcoaches and masterminds and all
of those programs aren't worthit.
(45:59):
I think they definitely are.
But the thing that's been themost consistent and I think the
most valuable asset for me interms of kind of that realm is
my business bestie.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
One of your other one percenters was about some
podcasts.
So you listened to a couple ofdance specific industry podcasts
, but also you listened to aDaravish CEO podcast.
Speaker 2 (46:21):
I'm a little bit of like.
I just get like through phasesand there's like some people I
won't, I won't listen and Iwon't listen to it for months,
but then I'll get really into itand then I'll like, or there'll
be like a guest that I reallyreally enjoy.
I find his interviewing styleinteresting and sometimes I
don't like some of the episodes,but sometimes I really really
(46:42):
do like it.
So I just kind of pick andchoose.
I use podcasts as well as adowntime to not think about the
business.
Sometimes, like sometimes I getin the car and I just want to
listen to something about popculture or, you know, about some
news event or whatever,something that's completely not
to do with business, because Ithink, as much as it's great to
(47:03):
use all of the time that youhave to think and learn and
stuff, it's also great to taketime out and to just let your
brain rest and with other stuff.
And often sometimes I'll belistening to a random pop
culture podcast and they'llrecommend some thing and I'm
like, oh, actually that'd bereally cool for the business.
So the break from it also helpsyou as well, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
I think people get into an echo chamber If you're a
runner and you only read therunning magazines and listen to
the best running person and allyou see things is through that
lens, and sometimes a differentperspective is actually what
helps you get out of where youmight be stuck.
So people that have beenlistening to your story and
they're curious, perhaps ifthey've got some kids that want
to do some dance classes at theSunshine Coast or perhaps they
(47:50):
have a dance studio and they'relike, ah, claire sounds like
she's got it together.
How can I learn from Claire?
How do people get in touch withyou?
Speaker 2 (48:03):
Well, for dance classes, just head to our
website or socials.
We are danceenergystudiosnetauand we are Dance Energy Studios
on Instagram and Facebook andeverything.
And then for my businesscoaching again, you can head to
AssembleDanceStudioCoachingcomor my podcast is Assemble Dance
Studio Coaching Podcast.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
Fantastic.
And for those that are not,dance background how did you
come up with your podcast name?
Speaker 2 (48:25):
So Assemble, and when you just write it it just looks
like assemble.
It is a term in ballet thatmeans come together, so that was
kind of the branding.
Idea is that, you know,bringing people together from
our industry.
Like I said at the start, Ireally have always loved
collaborating and connectingwith people in my industry and
(48:47):
people always tell me it'sreally strange how much free
stuff I share on my podcast.
But again, I just I don't thinkthere is that many new ideas,
so talking about them doesn'tbother me.
Like you know what I mean, ifI'm not talking about it,
somebody else will.
So it's not a secret and Idon't know.
I just feel confident in whatwe do, so I don't I have no
(49:10):
problems in hoping that it helpssomeone else.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
I think you are a wonderful example, particularly
in how you talk that as abusiness owner or business
leader.
Our culture of our team comesfrom the core part of who we are
and what we think is important,and a core thing that I've
really picked up from knowingyou over the years is that you
are all about being open andsharing the good stuff, the hard
(49:33):
stuff, sharing knowledge andinformation and being welcoming,
and I think that's reallytransformed into your culture,
and I talk about culture asbeing.
We think that you can controlculture, but you can't.
Culture is like what happenswith all the people that are
there One person leaves, oneperson stays like that changes
your culture.
But the best thing you can do asa leader to create a good
(49:55):
culture is to create thisenvironment where it is like the
behaviors and how people thinkabout things is what you want,
but you can't control it.
So what you can do is provide,like your opportunity for
student teachers, like this isproviding.
I'm investing in you, I'mhelping you see a career path.
(50:16):
That's a core part of yourvalues and your culture.
So small things that we doimpact our culture, and the best
part of a culture is whenyou're not there, that it does
continue in a way that you areproud of, and I think, as
someone that is currently, Ithink your business running in a
way that you are proud of oryour way, is the biggest
(50:38):
compliment to how you lead.
Speaker 2 (50:39):
Yeah, well, I would a hundred percent agree, and
that's very nice of you to sayas well.
But, like I, I also like, causemy daughter dances now.
So I'm still like popping intothe studio and it's really
interesting because a lot ofpeople don't know that I own the
business.
Obviously I introduced myself.
I'm not trying to be like youknow, that's like secret CEO.
Yeah, yeah but often like it'sreally nice to hear like their
(51:04):
experience and things and thenkind of be like, oh, by the way,
like in case you didn't know,because my face is everywhere,
but you know I don't wanderaround with a little crown that
says like that would be nicethough.
But yeah, so I and I am reallyproud of of what we do and you
know, of course there's not ahundred percent of people that
(51:24):
have a like that love it all thetime.
But overall we have so manypeople that you know, even if
it's with us for a term or ayear or 10 years, they walk away
from what we provided with areally positive feeling, and
that's really that's that's whywe do what we do.
So, yeah, I hope that some ofmy yakking has helped someone in
(51:47):
some way today.
Thank you so much, claire.
Thank you.
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