-
I have to bring in my own students???
-
Why not start your own? You could always leave your resume so in case they need it, they have it on hand. Good luck!
-
Is this a dedicated pole studio or are they some type of studio looking to add pole dancing?
There are a few different circumstances out there. If you are an additional feature to their current (non pole) studio then I can see why they would ask you to bring in the clients. This was my first experience with teaching pole. I was renting a space from a fitness studio and while they promoted my classes to their current clients I was also supposed to bring in new clients. This scenario was pretty scary at first because I didn't know anyone at the time that saw the value of paying for lessons but after some advertising I had a few people come in just for the pole classes! Some of these girls still contact me today to teach them 🙂
Another circumstance is a pole dance studio hiring instructors. This is where I have a lot ot say on the subject. Typically in this scenario you should be responsible for marketing your classes and the studio is responsible for marketing the studio IF you are being paid a commision, IF you are an hourly EMPLOYEE not an INDEPENDANT CONTRACTOR then I would say your marketing responisbilities are marginal – but if you like you're studio you should help market it and get people in the door – just seems like the right thing to do.
If the positiion is pole isntructor and you will be teaching pole classes with their syllabus then they are responsible for bringing people in. If you are paying rent and teaching your own syllabus then I can see why they would say bring people. Now, in this situation the people you bring are YOUR clients NOT the studios. If you are in anyway REQUIRED to bring them in then you keep them when you leave. In this case you should NOT be signing a non-compete agreement, you would be a tenant of the facility and therefor your own business like other people have said. This can be very advantageous to you if you want to teach but don't want the overhead of owning a studio. I have worked like this before and don't mind so long as everyone is clear. This means for me that no one working at the studio and not for me can take my classes.
Another possibility presuming this is a pole dominant facility is that they need clients and the owner doesn't want to pay for marketing so she's expecting the instructors to do HER job for her. Unless you get commission don't do it. This will only help the lazy owner market her facility and then get rid of you as your first post says.
Some questions to ask during an interview at a pole studio
1) Am I an employee or an independant contractor? (If the latter please educate yourself on your rights as an IC)
2) Is training provided? If NO, huge red flag, run, run, run! A studio should care about having good quality instructors, they should be making efforts to make sure that you are safe before hiring you on.
An ammendment to this is they require to be CERTIFIED in pole dancing, however it is my opinion that you can be certified in pole dance education but you will still need some training on how to do things at that particular studio. Your training should include more than how to run the computer, btw.
3) Where do the lesson plans come frome?
I'll use my current studio as an example. I teach a class that I have to make up choreography for however I am given guidelines based on moves. I can only teach X amount of things and a certain level of moves to which the owner has given me an outline of what can and cannot be taught in the class. Since the class is choreo based it only makes sense that I am required to write my own. Again be sure you are getting paid for this. You need to decide how much it costs for you to bring in your own stuff.
Another example is a studio that provides a syllabus – this might be a more trick based class. If they are giving you the moves in order of what to teach and how to teach them expect to make less money because the studio has done the work for you.
My final example is a situation I was in. YOU are coming up with everything! You decide what moves, in what order, if there will be choreo, if there won't, you decided when to teach what move when – you are in full control. Please, please, please if this is the case think about being a tenant instead of an instructor because your BRAIN is worth money too. Don't let the studio ever have pocession of your syllabus and don't let them try to pay you a flat rate. This would be a commission situation. Typically if this is the scenario then it's because the owner either doesn't pole dance or has little knowledge of pole dancing. If I had a studio my instructors would not be given free license to teach as they please.
4) If you are striclty commission based, ask if your commission rate will change based on the studio running a sale.
Example – the studio runs a groupon 4 classes for $25. Let's say you get 50% commission and typically those sale classes are $25 at regular price. You typical cut would be $12.50/student. Do you get the 12.50 for a groupon or do you get $3.12/student? That's a big difference in pay. I am of the opinion that an instructor should not make less than her typical rate because the studio ran a sale. This is one reason why I feel like flat rates are better than commission deals. This is extremely important. It's up to you what you want to do with this information.
5) How many students are you expected to teach MAX at once?
Why is this important? Because if you are on a flat rate and a studio wants to pay $20/class but teach teach 10-15 people at a time, you should be making more money.
6) What is the student to pole ratio?
If a studio is trying to get you to teach more than 3 students/pole this is a very difficult task.
7) How long has the studio been in business and what are the qualifications of the other instructors?
Does anyone at this place have any kind of qualification or equivilant experience to be running group fitness classes? If NO ONE has any kind of credentials, RUN! Even if instructors don't have credentials at least one person should. Not only that, but there should be an apprentice program or training program. There should be a method to the madness and if there isn't – that's a big red flag. It's important to find out what the owner believes qualifies someone to teach – do they simply hire dancers that are good or do they hire people that can break down moves? Your interview should include you teaching something (and it should be basic, don't let someone get you to break down advanced moves so they can learn stuff for free, that happens!)
8) What is the company mission statement?
Every business has a mission statement. You need to know this because it defines what type of pole studio it is. Is it a fitness pole studio? A movement pole studio? A trick based pole studio? Keep in mind that a fitness studio might have some dance programs but it's important that the studio have a clear vision of who their clientele is and what clients can expect from the business. So, if you are hired to teach a sexy dance class at a fitness based studio you might find that your class struggles a litte, this doesn't mean you shouldn't do it because I think it's important to *try* to encompass all the aspects pf pole but it's something you need to be aware of. Maybe you are teaching a hard core pole fitness class at a movement based studio – this might be a tough sell. On the other hand, it has also been my experience that off brand classes can be very successful because they are extras that the studio doesn't really brand as their thing. Make sense?
9) What is the typical student retention?
Do a lot of students stay? Do they stay for a few levels and move on? Do they quit right away?
Studios with good retantion rates most likely means that the instructors are good and friendly, that the business has good customer service and reasonable rates for the experience provided and above all that the product is probably pretty good.
Studios with a pretty small following or low retantion rates usually means the business aspect is being run well and that the instructors may not be that well trained. To, me this all goes back to management – but it's not a place you want to work.
10) How do the other instructors get along?
Do the instructors support each other? Are they all equally giving and taking? Are you going to be the most advanced person there and have people constantly ask you to show them things? If so, then you need to get paid for that.
Do instructors take each others classes? There's 2 ways about this one. At my studio now we do take each other's classes because we all LOVE each other and we LOVE each other's style. 1 reason why this works is because we either teach a syllabus (which we all know) or we teach level based choreography so it's not like someone is coming up to me asking to learn a fonji – they'd probably book out a lesson with me for that. So because we all know the rules, guidelines and material when we take from each other it's really fun to learn and get inspired.
Another situation is if you are creating your own classes and determining every single thing. This is where I don't like other commission based instructors in my class. My experience has been that they are only taking my class because they are responsible to creating their own later int he week and they are going to teach pretty much everything I taught, I don't like this because I worked hard on putting those classes together keeping in mind all the different levels of students who would be attending. I should be able to attend someone else's class and not have my stuff regurgetated back at me. I also feel that commission based instructors are pretty competetive with each other and because they get paid based on clients and may even share clients it's in the best interest of everyone to stay out of each other's classes so you don't start feeling like someone on your home terf is trying to steal your clients…I just don't like it.
Sorry I know this is really, really long and not everyone is going to agree with me but hopefully some of what I've said will help instructors find studios that fit them. Remember you have to be a good fit for the studio as well as it be a good fit for you. Owners and instructors need to protect themselves.
-
Charley- thank you so much! You sound like a very experienced and knowledgable dancer/instructor 🙂 You have given me SO much help! I have absolutely no idea what to ask studios during an interview, so thank you!
-
😀 I'm glad I could help Shelly. There are exceptions to every example I gave I'me sure. I've been in a lot of different situtations and there are benefits and deficits to each for sure. This biggest thing, is make sure that you and the owner mutually respect each other and can work together.
Log in to reply.