I am considering opening a dance studio in town. My idea is to have this space solely as studio space, so the studio would only host dancers, yoga classes, or other barefoot types of events.
I have been looking at a space that is located downtown Fairbanks. It was “The Elbow roomâ€, which was originally a bar during the ‘pipeline days’ with a huge fireplace at one end and has historic status, something that just lends more to the ambiance and overall feel of this space. Very neat place, centrally located, lots of parking, and the space is HUGE; bigger than what I currently need but I could easily grow into it. The space is 1760 square feet, with most of the area being 24’ wide.
The building is now owned by a very nice couple who live upstairs, and downstairs they have a music room that is rented out to bands, and a smaller area that the Buddhist Meditation Center rents. They are excited about how well a dance studio would fit into the environment they are try to create and we are currently in preliminary negotiations about how this could work. I meet with them last night to fully explain my vision, and to answer some questions they had for me regarding lights, paint, and a huge ugly heating fixture that they might eventually replace.
We measured the space last night and the primary dance studio (from fireplace to the first support pole not visible in the picture above, there are two in total) is 26’ long. I told them I would need the space between the 2 poles as dance floor as well (for workshops primarily) and that adds another 14’ of length to the total studio space. The rest of the space would be for a changing area, a waiting area for students between classes and eventually some retail. The studio space would also have mirrors along the west wall, which is on the left side of this picture for at least the 26 feet of the primary studio space, and perhaps even for the additional 14’.
I TOTALLY see it in my head, but had to make sure the ‘numbers’ would work too so I am working on a business plan and budget while I wait for them to respond to my original letter of intent where I listed what I would need done to the space to make it work, primarily, I need a dance floor installed for at least 2/3 of the space. They said they would have their reply to me by next Monday.
Mirrors are my biggest expense. I don’t have $3k to put into them as soon as I open, although I am looking at small business loans, and I am considering having a fundraiser Hafla (or three), to help raise funds for mirrors. In the interim, I have 6 closet doors that are mirrors I could use. . . other than that, the owners seem willing to do a lot of work to get me set up, including fresh paint, installing floors, and even assisting with creating the changing area.
I have been considering doing this for a couple years now and while I have done some research into running a studio, this would be my first endeavor in running a small business. The economy may not be great right now and opening a small business is always scary, but there is definitely a need for good studio space in town (evident by the fact that in 6 months I have changed locations twice already). I am also new in town, and don’t have a huge student base, yet, but even now my own classes should easily cover half if not three-fourths of the lease on the space I am looking at. The tricky part is ensuring that I can rent the space out to cover the rest of the rent, and then hopefully make a little at first.
I am trying not to get too excited about this prospect, but I think I might be able to do this!!
Even though we just bought a house, we are finally getting to a point to we are getting out from under all the debt we had that was created by my initial move to Florida, and we have eliminated almost all but our household bills. With such few bills, and me working a regular job I think I can even handle the first 6 months of scarcity. And should my regular job fail due to the poor economy, then I could devote myself full time to my studio, so I actually see it as a fall back plan!
If I were to do this, it would be happening late summer/fall, tentatively August or September. If it does not happen this fall, I will likely wait a year and try again next year 🙂