The Switch

09/02/2026

That costume deposit landing in your account this month feels like revenue, and it's sitting right next to your tuition and your rent money, so it's easy to treat it that way.

It isn't revenue. It's already spoken for. Your costume vendor is getting paid from it, and so is your recital production, on a schedule you don't control. The gap between when it lands and when it leaves is where studios get into trouble every single year.

This isn't about being careless with money. Your studio software shows you total revenue, not what's already promised to something else, so you couldn't have separated it if nobody ever showed you where that line is.

DM us NUMBERS and we'll show you exactly where it is, before your first October deposit comes in.

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08/28/2026

Most owners think tuition is 80 percent of their revenue. It is usually closer to 55.

Two numbers, one report. Tuition revenue divided by total revenue is tuition's share. In the example on the poster, $92,400 divided by $168,000 comes out at 55 percent.

Now the rule. Tuition should cover that same share of what it costs to open your doors. If your operating costs run $9,512 a month, that is $114,144 a year, and 55 percent of it, $62,779, is tuition's job. Every other dollar, $51,365 of it, has to be carried by recital, camps, merchandise and competition.

Here is the part that bites. You bill tuition ten months and your landlord bills you twelve. And a dollar of recital revenue is not a dollar, it lands closer to 28 cents once the show is paid for, which is why leaning on recital to cover the rent never quite works.

DM us TUITION and we will send the four line worksheet: total revenue, tuition revenue, the share, and the job.

08/26/2026

Enrollment goals are not a season plan.

You're going to write down two rooms, 36 weeks, and 20 teaching hours a week in each room, and that's 1,440 hours you own this season. Put your average hourly rate beside it, which is what one hour of class earns you once your teachers are paid, and at $175 an hour that page says $252,000. That's what your rooms can hold, and now every schedule decision you make sits under a real number instead of a feeling.

Most owners have never seen that number for their own studio, and that's not a failing. Nobody handed them the page.

It's okay, we can help you build it.

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08/24/2026

Where a profitable studio sits, in five ranges.

Wages 25 to 35 percent of revenue. Profit margin 20 to 30 percent. Recital 15 to 25 percent. Rent 15 to 20 percent. Marketing 5 to 10 percent. These are the recognized industry ranges, and most owners have never seen their own numbers sitting next to them.

Start with the fastest one. Take your rent for the year, divide it by your total revenue for the year, and you have your rent to revenue percentage in about ninety seconds. If it comes in over 20 percent, that is not a character flaw, it is a lease and a revenue number, and both of those can be worked on.

Haven't looked at your profit margin in a while? It is okay. Knowing the number is the whole first step, and we can help you get to it.

DM us BENCHMARKS and we will send the five ranges as a one page checklist.

08/21/2026

Your payroll did not jump. It drifted.

Wages divided by total income. Last year 44 percent, this year 51 percent. Nothing dramatic happened. You split the jazz level in August because the room was full, added an assistant in September because a teacher asked for help, gave three extra hours in October, and opened Saturday in January.

Every one of those was the right call for the dancers. Not one of them felt like a financial decision, and nobody ran the math on any of them. That is why this number climbs quietly, and it is why it is so hard to walk back. You cannot un-give hours.

Run wages divided by total income once a month, the same week every month. It is the earliest warning you get, and it tells you what next season costs before you commit to it.

DM us PAYROLL and we will show you where to pull both numbers.

08/19/2026

Here is the arithmetic for what your building can produce in a 36 week season.

Write down how many rooms you teach in and how many weeks your season runs. Then write how many hours each room can hold classes on a weeknight. Teaching 4pm to 9pm, Monday through Thursday, is five hours a night across four nights, and two rooms gives you 40 hours a week.

Now pick four classes and write what each one brings in for one hour of room time. Add the four, divide by four, and you have your average hourly rate. Say it lands at $110. 40 hours times 36 weeks is 1,440 hours of room time, and 1,440 times $110 is $158,400.

That number is capacity, and you get to decide how close to it you want to run. Put last season's revenue next to it and the gap shows up in about a minute.

Bring your number to a free 30 minute call with Shannon and we will walk it together.

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08/19/2026

08/17/2026

Your September season gets built in August.

If enrollment opens in three weeks and you have not opened last season's numbers yet, it's okay. We can help you. Most owners find out in April how the year went, and by then the 4:30 class that never filled has already run for 36 weeks and Tuesday nights in the second room have already stayed dark.

A season plan is three numbers on one page. What each room is booked to produce, what it costs to keep the doors open for those weeks, and what you are paying yourself, written in as a real expense. You write them down before enrollment opens, and then you run the year against them.

Shannon ran a studio before she ran the numbers for other people's studios, and she will walk your three numbers with you on a free 30 minute call.

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08/14/2026

"Tripled in two seasons"

Three and a half years ago this studio was operating at a loss and the owners were not paying themselves.

"We finished the 2024-2025 season with a rolling revenue of $1,009,000. None of this would be trackable without The Switch." Studio Owner, New Jersey.

Tripled student count, better class frequency, over 10% profitability, and the owners drawing a salary. What changed underneath all of it was the tracking, measured monthly, so growth became a decision instead of a surprise.

Shannon taught this playbook in Nashville yesterday. We run it with clients every month.

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08/12/2026

"It is this week"

Nashville this week. Dance Educators Collective runs August 12 to 15, and Shannon takes the stage Thursday the 13th with Business First, Dance Later: The Financial Playbook Every Studio Owner Needs.

What she is walking through: what one class hour has to earn before it pays for itself, where registration money belongs across a nine month season, and the three numbers a Studio CEO checks before making a call.

Come find her Thursday. If you would rather talk about your own numbers in a quieter room, she does a free 30 minute call too, and either way you will leave with something you can use on Monday.

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