In our latest episode, Suzanne Blake Gerety sits down with Misty Lown of More Than Just Great Dancing to discuss what’s on the hearts and minds of dance studio owners. Misty explains that key developmental experiences in dance help students become healthy, high-functioning adults and how to communicate the value of dance to families. Listen in as she shares her definition of success, her love of golden retrievers, and how she helps the members of More Than Just Great Dancing succeed.
Key Takeaways
[1:17] Misty shares her background, her love of golden retrievers, and her passion for the dance industry and helping studio owners.
[1:46] She serves the studio owners by providing help, support, advice, and camaraderie. She looks back on what she needed as a young studio owner and built those resources into More Than Just Great Dancing and into Youth Protection Advocates in Dance.
[3:07] What’s on the hearts and mind of the studio owners right now and how can we help guide them through this uncertain next phase?
[3:23] An ever present concern of studio owners as we transition into a new school year is fall enrollment. Check to see what your enrollment was this time last year not where you are at recital.
[4:12] How do we navigate a high-pressure economy in a changing world?
[4:50] Studio owners are asking, how can we continue to elevate and communicate the value of what we do so that we’re not a nice to have, we’re a must-have? Kids must have these developmental experiences to become the healthy, high-functioning adults. We’re a key provider of those experiences here in what we do.
[5:48] Misty gives tips to help the studio owners who are genuinely exhausted.
[6:15] Look at facts and not through the lens of emotions.
[6:59] Dance is one of the most valuable activities that a child could participate in. Dance changes lives and creates life skills.
[7:37] We become more hopeful when we feel like there is something we can do about things.
[7:55] Love on your staff. Acknowledge that things have been hard and how do we put a little extra elbow room in your schedule so you can rest and repair and restore. How do we focus on joy?
[9:40] The goal is to do hard things well. The goal is not to get through the hard thing to hit the easy times, the goal is to get through the hard thing and the reward for that is that you do hard things well and you get a harder thing.
[10:30] Our dance training informs us so much about this business life. We want to be able to do as business owners hard things well.
[11:12] Success as a studio owner is choice. That I’m able to chose if I want to teach this season or not. Does this work with my family or not. Or how much do I want to teach?
[11:50] Misty wants to know she’s leaving things better than I found them. I want to leave my students better than they came to me, faculty better than when they came to me. I want to leave the industry better than when I first entered into it. Success means that we’ve made things better. We’ve made a contribution.
[13:31] Make your success recipe. Once you define that, you have something to work with and apply the right resources.
[15:05] Success isn’t measured by the size of a building or enrollment or finances, but by the shift of our mindset which is what the More Than Just Great Dancing program give you.
[16:22] A change of mind can change everything.
Links Mentioned in this Episode…
Youth Protection Advocates In Dance: https://www.ypadnow.com/
Studio Training Solutions: https://www.studiotrainingsolutions.com
Head on over to Revolution Dance and check out all the benefits More Than Just Great Dancing members receive:
https://www.revolutiondance.com/mtjgd
Misty Lown
Misty Lown is the founder, president and energized force behind More Than Just Great Dancing™ – A licensed dance studio affiliation program that has a positive impact on over 100,000 dance students around the globe each week. She is also the owner of Youth Protection Advocates in Dance – an educational company.
Her dance studio, Misty’s Dance Unlimited, founded in 1998 and named a “Top 50 Studios in the Nation” by Dance Spirit Magazine has provided $500,000 in scholarship for dancers. Misty has been a speaker at the PULSE Teachers Convention, Hollywood Connection, Dance Teacher Web, Dance Teacher Summit, and the DanceLife Conference. She has also been the keynote speaker for the Australian Teachers of Dancing Convention, Dance Teacher Expo and Victorian Dance Festival. Misty is on the staff of Dance Revolution Convention, a faith based dance convention, and has authored over 70 industry articles. She is a sought after speaker and business leader. She has been recognized as “Teacher of the Year” by Eclipse, “Outstanding Businesswoman of the Year” by the YWCA and awarded the “Pope John XXIII Award for Distinguished Service” by Viterbo University, the “Philanthropy Award” from the local Red Cross, the “President’s Award” from the La Crosse Area Development Corporation and the “President’s Award” from the Association of Professional Fundraisers.
Misty is an entrepreneur at heart. In addition to her dance studio and licensing program, she owns a dance wear store and a self-storage business. She is the author of One Small Yes an Amazon #1 Bestseller that has been translated to Korean and Indonesian. Misty’s favorite part of the day is spending time with her husband and five beautiful children.