I am not totally against Franchise studios, and if I may, let me defend them from what I know. Franchise studios were needed to develop and standardize dance in the US. They charge more because they train more teachers and cultivate the professional competition we have today. Even Ben and Shalene were part of a franchise, it would be a shame that a couple as good as they are might not have even pursued dance had there not been a franchise studio for them to teach, make a living and get training. In our independant studio, all but two of our teachers were trained in a franchise studio. They put more money into dance than any other type of studio and Dancesport would not be where it is today without them. They have standardized pricing and are usually more organized. Some may goes as far as to become your slave at a comp, carrying your luggage, getting you drinks, accompanying you to all your meals. Nothing is wrong with that.
Independant studios are seen as leeches of Dance by the franchises. The teachers get trained by franchise studios and move on and make more money on their own and are accused to stealing students as well. They see their investment in a dancer become a competitor and that makes it harder for them to stay in business. They make these teachers sign non-compete aggreements and that is their way of protecting their investment. These non-competes are really not valid in our state except to prevent them from opening a studio, they can't prevent a teacher from making a living.
Let's look at the independant side, our studio has no employees. We don't dictate pricing of private lessons, but we do have a standard for groups, but the teachers do not have to do a group class unless they want to. We also do not require any teacher to be in the studio when they are not teaching or getting a coaching. Since most of our teachers have been trained somewhere else, they have their students that have followed them there. We don't solicit teachers from other studios and we don't solicit students from other studios. However, when they call or walk through the door, we inform them of what we offer. A 15 dollar floor fee is charged for each lesson, and the teacher gets the rest, and out of that, they pay for their own coachings, advertising, certifications, and of course their living expenses.
I am part owner of this studio, along with other former students of other studios. We started this studio because we were tired of following our teachers running from studio to studio all over town. Our aggreements with the teachers basically stipulate that they will pay us a floor fee for lessons taught and conduct themselves professionally while on our premises and share the floor and music equally with the other teachers. The studio has yet to make any real money above its expenses and in fact from time to time, the owners chip in for a shortfall. The biggest problem we had was a group of teachers banded together and took almost all of the students and most of the teachers and started their own studio. They banded with another studio that was about to go under. Six months later, we are back making expeses, new teachers, new students doing fine and getting better. The other studio, they could't afford their lease and moved into a closet of a studio. We later heard that they were waiting for us to go out of business so they could take over our space. Sorry to disappoint them. (heh, heh)
Reasons they gave for leaving, they didn't want "Students" benefitting from the sweat of their brow. How ironic coming from a teacher that was teaching 9 hours a week, and I never saw her sweat.. They also said they were doing all the work to keep the studio going, which was mostly true, but they were also getting the money. I guess what they didn't realize was running a studio has overhead costs that must be paid first. The "students" as they kept referring to us as, were comprised of independant business people, doctors, lawyers, accountants and myself, a technical professional. None of us were in it for the money and any money the studio made would have gone back into it and pay off the initial debt of the biggest item, the floor. The new group of teachers we have seem to have grasped the concept of being independants, we stay as uninvolved with their business as we can. Some teachers make it, some don't. Some just do it part time and a few have professional aspriations. In the end, I don't see the teachers making much more money as an independant, but more of having control of their future. They can choose their coaches, they can take a week off whenever they want, they can choose which comps to go to. If they owned their own studio, when they took off, the studio would be closed during that time and the expenses would still be there. In our environment, they pay the expenses as they go.
Since all the "Student Owners", have full time jobs on our own, the glory of being a studio owner is taking out the trash and cleaning the bathrooms and washing the dishes and keeping track of the books. It is a labor of love more than anything else. I think the difference between our studio and the others is this: Our owners love to dance, we take lessons and they consider other students as people and treat them as such. At our social dance parties, we dance and have fun just like the other students. Some of us compete, some don't, but whenever we dance, the spirit is genuine. Some teachers never come to a social party, we have been told that they would only do it if they get paid. Some have said that they have not had a Friday night free in years and like that freedom again to have a social life. All I can say is don't come to the party if you don't want to. But the more successful independant teachers show up at the parties. Whether they are pretending to have a good time or they really enjoy it, they see how important it is to keep their students happy and how good it is for their business.
For the accusations by the franchise studio, none of our teachers have come from that studio until their non-compete was up. Other teachers have come from studios that went out of business. Most of what comes through the door is by word of mouth. All of the owners are USABDA members, but we really don't get support from the chapter as a whole. Many were scared away when we had the mass exodus and everyone thought we would fail. To be honest, I had my reservations about making it, but enough people believe in the concept that it works and will continue to work. The teachers have found out that since they teach, they should get the bulk of the money, and they do. With minimum overhead, the charge less, make more money and the students and get better prices as well. They also say you get what you pay for implying that the quality of our teachers is less. First they say we are stealing their teachers, then they say the quality of our teachers is lower. If the first is true, how could the second be true? We see what happens at comps, we know who has the better students and teachers. Keep the lies flowing, people will see the truth soon enough.
We don't have non-competes and we don't take any action against a teacher that goes elsewhere and takes his/her students along with him. It is free enterprise and we don't try to control anything. I think as long as we offer top quality at a fair price, we will stay in business. Our students will stay with us longer and share this as a lifelong activity.
The teachers really encourgaed us to attend the social that followed our class (at no extra charge) and they would also stay for social and dance with us or get some of the regulars to dance with us. It was a really great experience.