How do you earn more money as a dance school owner or as a theatre school owner?
Are you really charging your worth? Watch the video and start to make changes that your bank balance will thank you for.
This is just a thought process about how you should approach your pricing. Now I’m all for valuing your skill, because most of you have been learning this since you were children and then you’ve done all of this training and you continue to do CPD and extra skills work.
There is an intrinsic value in the dance teaching. However, I hear time and time again, and it drives me insane. People say, Oh yeah, I’m just a dance teacher. I hate that word ‘Just,’ oh god drives me crazy, right? You are so much more than just a dance teacher or just a theatre teacher. Because what you do is ultimately you lift their confidence and you bring such skill and joy to children and that’s a talent and a skill within itself, and that’s a side for all the years that you have put in. I will get off my soapbox and let’s talk about the thing that you may or may not agree with now. This is a little something I like to call price structuring and it is all based on the expertise and the value that you bring to whatever it is that you’re about to do.
So what do I mean by that? Realistically, right, think of it this way. If you teach a regular class, week in, week out, there is a level of skill, there is a level of preparation, um, a level of knowledge and expertise that you are going to bring to that class. But that is also ongoing and consistent work.
I say consistent that’s in terms of you as a freelancer or as somebody that is self-employed and may work with numerous different people. It’s consistent in the terms of, you know, that you’re there for as long as the school is open and running in that particular year, which could be anything between 33 to, you know, 42 weeks of the year, for example. It’s consistent from that point of view rather than a pay as you earn perspective. Then you take something like a rehearsal for a show or performance where the skill level is probably going to be more in polishing and corrections and how they enter on and off the stage or stage direction, but it’s not as physically demanding and You’re not sort of doing the, the skill work that would be required in the class and to, to a degree in some rehearsals, it’s also about crowd control because if you’ve got a full cast there and you’ve got 100 plus children there, then it is also about, no, you stay there and I’m just going to work with you.
No, don’t move, please. I’m just going to work with you rather than, you know, 15 or 20 children in a class, it’s a different skill. Does that make sense? Then you’ve got something like if you were delivering a party, which is an hour, an hour and a half now that’s ad hoc work, plus you are having to do a different type of preparation for it. Plus, you’re going to have a certain amount of things that are sitting in your back pocket that you just go, this is not working. Let me take this out of my back pocket and let’s try this instead. You’re going to need a higher energy. You’re going to need different playlists.
It’s plus you’re dealing with children who don’t deal with you on a regular basis. So you’re going to have to sit on top of the discipline and the class management. from that perspective because they’re a bit like who’s this person coming in and why do I have to listen to what they have to say versus somebody coming in a dance class who’s like oh yeah that’s sarah and i know she’s gonna ask me to do this that and the other yeah to some degrees what’s going on in the class is a lot easier than what you’re going to be doing in the party versus something like a workshop where that again It’s a higher level of prep.
Maybe you have to travel further to it and maybe this is a specialised skill. It’s you’re coming in with a specific technique or a specific routine or repertoire that you’ll bring into that particular dance school. Again, it’s likely to be a one off or, you know, a smaller series, but it’s not that consistent work that classwork would bring.
This is the bit that you may or may not agree with. So think of it in structures. As a dance school owner, what is it you pay your teacher to come in and deliver your class? Then think, what is it I would pay a teacher to come in and do a rehearsal? Is that the same job as delivering a class? No, it’s not.
It should realistically be on a different rate. The same as if they’re coming in to do a party for you, or a workshop for you, that should be at a different rate. So standardise your pricing, so that if you know they’re going to run an extra rehearsal for you, is that a different price to a class price, or is that the same price as a rehearsal price?
You can do pricing structures across your school. And for you, as a dance teacher, you should be thinking, if I’m going to be doing a workshop, that should be a different price to if I do a regular class. Now what those prices are, is up to you and you may or may not agree with me, and that’s totally fine.
But the one thing I will stress, and I really mean stress, is that as a dance or theatre school owner, these expectations or these, the structure, or you know, if you agree that they’re coming in for a four hour rehearsal, then you agree that price in advance. And when you book them six months in advance for your show rehearsals, you go, these are the hours I require you.
And this is the fee that I’m going to give. Do you agree with that? Is that okay? They agree with it. Then you can put it in a contract and you can say, here you go. This is, this is your show rehearsal price. This is your show working price. This is this price. Then, you know, all the classes before this is this. And they can agree with it and your teacher can get clarity of exactly what it is they’re being paid and when. Now it’s up to that teacher, or you listening, to turn around and go, actually, for that rehearsal, I’m gonna need X. Yeah, it’s your prerogative to turn around and have that negotiation and have that open relationship with the dance school owner.
Bear in mind, though, if you are a teacher working for a dance school owner, the constraints and limitations and budget that they have is only so much. So bear that in mind as well. But you have an opportunity to price and budget things. Accordingly. Agree? Don’t agree? I don’t know. Let me know.
I am a dance business coach and mentor if money is an issue in your dance school, then please reach out. Whilst I am not a qualified accountant (although there is one in my membership) there is a whole section on working out your maths in my membership – click here for more info
