Your studio is growing, classes are starting to fill and your student base is looking healthy - you’re at the point where you can no longer do all of your studio admin and marketing yourself, and it’s time to start outsourcing.
This is a terrifying, but incredibly exciting part of a studio owner’s life and it can feel pretty overwhelming to know where to start.
Who can you hire?
What jobs can be outsourced?
Do you need someone in-house?
Basically, who do you need on your team?!
Whilst most studio owners will default to hiring a part-time office admin for the front desk, there are ways you can get the help you need in your studio without the headache (and cost) of putting on a staff member.
GENERAL VA
A virtual assistant is a great choice for your first hire (and I'm not just saying that!), simply because they will be able to take a whole load of work off your plate and allow you the time and space to step back and work out what is next for your studio. A good virtual assistant should be able to step in and use your studio's operations handbook to complete various tasks to the same level of detail, and quality, that you would perform yourself.
The job description of a VA is usually pretty vague because it’s so broad, and so it’s important to consider what types of things you will want them to do. Think of the tasks that you don’t like doing, that take up a lot of your time, or that you simply think someone else can do a better job at. This could be anything from the upkeep of your website or creating social media graphics, to setting up processes or chasing invoices.
Once you know roughly the types of things you will be asking a VA to do, this will help you to find the right virtual assistant for you. Although VAs are often Jack of all trades, they will likely have specialisms and areas in which they can really help you thrive, so by considering what sorts of things you’re going to be asking of them, you’ll be able to find the VA that’s right for you.
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Actually running a studio and then finding time to create and post informative and engaging content on various social media networks is pretty difficult and time-consuming. You need to be posting consistently, engaging with other peoples’ content and working with the algorithm to find any level of success on social media and yet that is where a lot of your potential dance families will come from. You really cannot underestimate the importance of a good social media strategy and by hiring a social media manager to oversee this, you’ll be saving yourself a whole lot of stress.
Different SMMs will work in different ways so it’s important to get clairity on whether they will create the content or just queue it up; whether they will use any paid advertising or all organic and what metrics you will use to define the success.
ADMIN/FINANCE
How much time do you spend on boring admin tasks such as sending and chasing invoices? What about creating newsletters or sending out emails?
By hiring someone to cover all admin/finance tasks, you will be able to find more time to provide your services for your clients, or grow your business (or, just imagine, have some time off!) knowing that all the background stuff is being taken care of. This could be a VA or it could be a part-time team member who actually comes into your studio.
Having someone in charge of the admin that goes with running a studio can take a huge weight off your shoulders, and if that same person can then chase payment, book your concert venue and make projections for the future - even better!
BOOKKEEPER
This role is a little more specialised than general finance and will often involve someone with accounting or bookkeeping qualifications. This is the person who will keep track of sales and receipts, expenses and purchases and get your books ready for tax. If you’re not very number-minded and find doing your taxes causes you a lot of stress, then hiring a bookkeeper and/or an accountant can make things a lot easier.
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