Ok…Real tawwwk now.
Competition is actually good for your dance business.
Ok, I know. You may be thinking, What?! How can it be good? It pisses you off when there’s a new teacher in town, another class across the street, a teacher who poaches your students and/or steals your promotional strategies, or there are just too many teachers friggin within a 10-mile radius!
Hold on! Let’s reframe it, shall we?
Here’s why competition is good:
- A new teacher and/or more teachers get people talking about dance. So that means dance is in peoples’ heads and top of minds. Hence, increasing your audience.
- Competition also breeds excellence. Look, we can easily get too comfortable with the way we teach, am I right? Competition steps up your game to get better. Your students then become happier and will tell their friends about you too.
- It helps you retain the RIGHT students. If another teacher poaches your students and your students leave – so what! They weren’t the right students for you anyway. Think about it. That other teacher just cleaned house for you. See, for a student, it’s just business. They want to test the waters. And If they come back, you’ll be amazing because you stepped up your game while they were gone.
- It helps you reevaluate. If your students don’t return after being poached – that’s ok! Competition makes you reassess and reflect on what you think your students were not receiving. Take advantage of the lesson. Make the changes and get better. Work on your marketing and be sure that you are providing exactly what your messaging states.
- It forces you to stay fresh and evolved. Now if a teacher is stealing your marketing or events ideas – take it as a compliment! Create a promotion or event. Look, competitors are always one-upping each other in every industry.
Do you feel better now?
So, to sum it up, it’s up to you to differentiate yourself from the competition. You actually need the competition so that you can understand who YOU are, and how you sell and teach to your students. And once you know who you are – stay in your lane. No need to obsess about what your competition is doing. Yeah, check them for some inspiration, but don’t obsess.
So, in other words…
Competition is an opportunity for you to be friggin amazing.
Now go and have an amazing day,