How To Deal With Losing Dance Students

Losing students is a simple fact of life for dance teachers and studio owners. Sooner or later, it happens to all of us. Often the worst part isn’t the financial loss, it’s the emotional impact of having someone you’ve invested your heart and soul into suddenly depart without a backward glance. Below are some ways to deal with the impact of losing a dance student, and how to bounce back quickly both financially and emotionally.

1. Treat Loss Like A Boss

When your business is teaching dance, either as a freelance instructor or studio owner, you are the boss. If you’re a good business person, you know that being the boss means that you’ve got to take in the big picture and look at the business from all angles in order to succeed.

Looking at your business as the boss also means that, in terms of the big picture, things aren’t emotional. Each student is simply a part of a larger whole which makes up the student body of the business. As with any customer, they come and go. The student (or their parent) is a consumer and as a consumer they are going to do what is right for them, not what is right for you.

There may be times when it is helpful to consider each student from more of an emotional viewpoint, but this isn’t one of them. A boss knows that loss is part of running a business, and from that viewpoint the loss of a student is simply a loss of one piece from the larger whole. A piece that can and should be replaced continuously as part of the promotional actions of the studio. If you’re doing your job as the boss, losing a student is a predictable part of teaching dance, one that you are constantly making up for in the everyday promotion of the studio.

You should expect it. And if you do, it will hurt less and you will move past it more quickly.

2. In Bad Times, Promote. In Good Times, Promote.

A mistake a lot of studio owners and instructors make is promoting only when things go wrong. Everything is going along fine, they are depending on their existing student body, and then when they lose a student or (god forbid) several, it hits them like a ton of bricks.

As a business owner, you should always be promoting your product and looking for ways to expand your student body. Whatever your successful actions are for getting the word out about your studio or teaching, do those actions as a regular part of your business. Put them into your calendar on a regular basis and make sure they get done.

Promotion helps you create the future of your business. What you do today will create the number of students you have in the future, so do your future self a favor, promote on a weekly basis at the very minimum. This creates a buffer against losing students.

That way you will always have plenty of students, and if one (or even several) leaves, you will not be feeling financial pressure due to the loss.

3. Be Practical About Investing in Students

If you own a studio or teach, chances are you are passionate about dance (and people!). The sacrifices required in teaching dance as a profession often weed out those that don’t have a true love for the art. And those that remain tend to over-invest in students due to their own passion and excitement for dance.

Beware of over-investing in students. Think practically about how much you should invest in students, both emotionally and with your time. Create a clear understanding of how much of these you want to give to students. Consider what they are investing, and try to create an equitable exchange between you. You should have a clear concept of this before you interact with students for classes, rehearsal, etc. That way, when someone leaves, it will not create a feeling of resentment within you and you will be able to take a more rational view of the situation.

4. Learn About and Fully Understand “Opportunity Costs”

Whaaaaa??? What’s that?

An Opportunity Cost is a hidden cost in every decision you make. It is the benefit that is missed or given up by choosing one alternative over another.

Okaaayyyy.. 

But what does this have to do with losing students, you ask??

It’s important because when you invest in a student emotionally you are giving emotional energy to that person at the cost of being able to give it to someone else.

Your life is composed of more than just work. Perhaps you have a significant other or other family members, friends or loved ones. You are investing emotional energy in your students that you could be investing in other areas of life. This is important to consider when teaching, because you have only so much emotional energy, love and care to spend within a given day. So consider the costs of over-investing in students to the detriment of other areas.

When you invest your time in a student, consider what the student is actually paying for that time. Even though you may consider that you are giving extra time and attention to a student that they will appreciate, most students and parents will set your value according to one thing only, and that is money.

It’s unfortunate, but due to our economic system, we are raised to consider the worth of something to be what we’ve paid for it, not the true value it brings to us. And many of us cannot see the true value of something very easily when we are in a consumer mindset. We will pay a lot for things that bring us little value, and are liable to under-appreciate people or things that actually are of great value to us.

Keep this is mind when you give your time (which is money) to a student. Time is the most valuable commodity you will ever have, it cannot be regained once spent. Consider the opportunity costs involved of giving a student extra or unpaid-for time.

Your time is money. That is a fact. Consider what you could be doing with any time you spend with a student that they haven’t paid for. Could you be organizing or promoting your business? Calling a loved one? Simply taking some time to recharge? There are so many things you could be doing to create a brighter future for yourself than giving a student time and energy they haven’t paid for.

Consider the opportunity costs of how you spend your time. That way, if a student leaves and you’ve been true to yourself about how you spend your time, you won’t experience such a strong sensation of loss.

          There are many joys to teaching dance. Losing a student isn’t one of them. But with good information and preparation, we can lessen the impact of departures. Equipping yourself with good information, preparing for the future, and staying true to yourself are the best ways to create a buffer between you and some of the less fun aspects of the dance industry.

Courses on how to grow your dance studio’s revenue are coming soon. Until then get on the list for real dance data that will increase your joy, fulfillment, and income from dance!