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problems with studio neighbours prejudiced?
Hi everyone i just wanted to get your opionons on this and possible advice, maybe see if anyone has encountered something similar. Im a pole studio owner from the UK, iv owned my pole business for 3 years and taught for 7. From the moment i started my own pole fitness busuness my ulitimate holy grail was to get my very own pole studio. I spent many years building my buisness up, running classes from gym studios, which was great but limited me to how many classes and what times i could offer them, so therefore i couldnt grow the business beyond what it was. I also have major competion form 5 other large pole studios in my area so i HAD to try to find my own place. It took a year and a half of searching propertys for the right place i had limited funds too. They were often too expensive (i refused to get a loan), too large too small, ceiling height not suitable, area not right ect so when i eventually found my studio in a large building that rents out units for offices and other things i jumped at the chance.
The buliding is beauiful inside, its in a nice city centre area, secure entry, free parking and affordable!! We expainined to the business manager what we wanted to rent a space for, that it was pole dance classes, that we may be a bit noisy and my concerns in upsetting the other business offfice owners on our floor. She assured me that this prob wouldnt be a problem beacuse most business owners leave the office by 5pm and since my classes are at nighttime i would rarely encounter anyone. Besides our floor is mainly empty units and she wanted to rent soaces to other types of business other than just for office space, so far we have a beauty salon, a baby 3d scanning unit and some hair dressers who currently use the building too. so its a lot of variety. We have been here from 2 months now and the complaints against us are increasing. I recieved an email last week from the manager saying that some of the buiness owners on my floor were complaining about my students going back and forth in the corridor to my studio from the toilets and some of them "hanging" around outside my studio door waiting for the last class to end so they can start theirs. My students are respectful and not noisy they often stand in silence or speak in hushed tones whilst in the building and they NEED to use the toilet for gods sake! Besides i have RARELY encountered anyone still on our floor at 7 at night so what was the problem?? One man even took pics of our students without them knowing to prove his point! surely this is illegal for a start?? I agreed that if students showed up to class early that they must wait in the recption area downstairs until class time..no problem..sorry to bother anyone but i never knew it would be an issue. This sat afternoon i had a pole party booked in. mindful of the last complaits against us i was unsure wether to hold it at our studio. But HELL this is why i got my own studio in the first place, so i dont need to pay bars,clubs or gyms rediculous room rent to hire it out. I checked the floor to see if anyone was in beacuse if they were i would have to keep my music down low. All the rooms were in darkness and it was a satarday afternoon, so wasnt expecting any one to be in their office. My students arrived and were getting changed in the girls toilets, again not noisy or causing troube as i made sure of it. i encountered a man in the corridor who looked very angry. He asked me was that my class in the toilets, i said yes, to which he geve me the dirtiest look ever and proceeded to swear at me under his breath!! i asked him if there was a problem to which he waved his hand at me dismissivly and continued to swear as he walked away to his office!!
I can tell you i was shocked, angry and close to tears after that! if he had a problem why not tell me? sit down and discuss it like an adult instead of calling me names and directing foul lanuage at me in a place of business! Some of my students and instructors think that some of the other owners may be prejuiced against pole fitness classe in their building, perhaps not understanding what is going on, or being small minded and petty thinking we are stripping or something. I dont know what to think! some of these business owners come to my classes and love them. Could it be that they have a point and we shoudnt be running classes in a building like this? what do you all think? i really really dont want to lose this studio, its taken me so long to find it but im scared we will be chucked out or something if the complaints continue. as i said before we are not noisy, or causing trouble, we are quiet and careful in the corridors (even though they are mostly empty) Sorry for such a long post i just wanted to get my story across straight and see if any of you have any advice? thanks for reading xxx
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8 Replies
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sorry about the damn spelling mistakes too,i was trying to type quickly! lol
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I would suggest trying to work with your neighbors, either make personal visits to a manager at each office or invite them all to an open house. Try and establish a dialog with each location, oftentimes this is all it takes to create a good working relationship.
I would warn you to be very careful about making assumptions about their prejudice. While this is common it can setup boundaries to communication that can be difficult to overcome.
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Wow, what an awful man! I'm so sorry to hear about that. It sounds like you are doing everything that is reasonable to make sure your business isn't a problem. What might be a good idea is to document all the accomodations you've made: scheduling noisy events during off-peak times, having students wait at reception, etc. Also everything that happened with that man, just so the business manager knows what's going on and that he's the difficult one, not you. Do it in a "just so you know" way, nothing defensive or complaining (feel free to write the complainy version first and then revise!)
Maybe you could also get some sort of screen or petition and block off a corner of the studio to make a change room? That would cut down on the amount of traipsing up and down the corridor, so there would be nothing at all to complain about.
I'm not sure how likely you are to change this man's mind about his prejudices, if that's what's happening. But if you keep being the reasonable one, he'll have noone on his side and he'll have to keep quiet at least. 🙂
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Hi thanks for your views so far. I sent an email to the business manager just to let her know what happened as I was sure an email of complaint from this guy was bound to make it to her inbox. I have also been thinking about setting up a little changing area in the studio but as it’s not terribly big I’m not sure if it would work. Besides most of the girls just get ready in the studio anyways. We set up an opening launch night when we first moved in for our friends and students and sent invites to most of the building but no one in the buliding came along bar 2 girls ( who now take classes and have indroduced many friends which is great) we have also posted flyers through the door saying hello and giving discounts off classes. But so far it hasn’t really worked. I prob would like to go around and introduce myself but I’m a little apprehensive to disturb anyone whilst they are working. The predjudiced thing I myself was unsure about, however a few of my students have encountered other people in the buliding a few times and one even got into a lift with one woman who then started to complain about how offensive she thought the idea of pole classes were, unknown to her she was speaking to a pole student.!! Sigh!!
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Hi thanks for your views so far. I sent an email to the business manager just to let her know what happened as I was sure an email of complaint from this guy was bound to make it to her inbox. I have also been thinking about setting up a little changing area in the studio but as it’s not terribly big I’m not sure if it would work. Besides most of the girls just get ready in the studio anyways. We set up an opening launch night when we first moved in for our friends and students and sent invites to most of the building but no one in the buliding came along bar 2 girls ( who now take classes and have indroduced many friends which is great) we have also posted flyers through the door saying hello and giving discounts off classes. But so far it hasn’t really worked. I prob would like to go around and introduce myself but I’m a little apprehensive to disturb anyone whilst they are working. The predjudiced thing I myself was unsure about, however a few of my students have encountered other people in the buliding a few times and one even got into a lift with one woman who then started to complain about how offensive she thought the idea of pole classes were, unknown to her she was speaking to a pole student.!! Sigh!!
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I would suggest that you allow the students to enter the studio and allow them to hang out along the wall, while the class is cooling down, in order to keep the peace. They are all your student and they are all there for the same reason, so I see no problem with them seeing the end portion of one of your classes. Just leave the door unlocked and let all your classes know that students are to just quietly come in and sit along the wall due to angry neighbors.
As for the bathroom, just politely tell the manager that your students will be using the bathroom when they need to go potty or wash their hands and hopefully that should be reasonable seeing as they are your client (and use the word "client.")
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I like all the ideas. Maybe the changing area can be a screen that you fold and keep to the side when not in use or a curtain to pull across the corner so it can be pulled back after the changing is is done so it only takes space at the beginning and end of classes. Being nice to neighbours (no matter what) won't hurt. This will also show the manager that you are level headed which helps your credibility and what about a surveillance camera? I've heard some are not so expensive. This might deter the other businesses from exaggerating about disturbances and you won't have to worry about he said/she said.
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I agree, those are great ideas, and the security camera would definitely protect you and your students. Might even make that man think twice about approaching any of you. If you haven't already, maybe adding more curtains, pillows, etc. to create some sound dampening would be helpful.
Also, not to say you should be embarrassed or ashamed of pole, but I'd make sure any signage you have is not flagrantly sexual. Your neighbors clients might not be as open as we are, and you don't want to cost them any clients. If they were to move their business because of that, then the landlord might not be so understanding.
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Thanks everyone for your views and ideas. I did email the manager on sat afternoon to let her know what happened but so far iv had no repliy which is either good or bad. I share the studio with my friend who teaches other fitness classes like body combat,body jam, core ect. Her classes are usually early evening and are before mine, so that’s why some of the students were waiting outside, they didn’t want to walk into a high energy body combat class for example 10 mins till the end, and disturb anyone. But we all wait in reception now if we are early. My signage is defiantly not sexual and it’s very subtile so I doubt it’s offending anyone. I also think to be on the safe side any pole parties will just have to be held in one of the local bar/clubs as we did before. It’s more hassle, time consuming and money spent but at least we don’t run the risk of another incident like last time. Xx
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