Starting Up

Louise_in_Wonderland

Hi there,

I hope that someone can offer me some advice. I am also using the business gateway website but there is so much information on there it is a little overwhelming.

My sister and I would like to start up a small business part time for the time being anyway. Her dream is to be a dance teacher and I have volunteered to help with the business side of things, dealing with the money, marketing etc.

Ideally we would love to start it at the end of this summer, when schools go back.

Basically I want to know the main things we will need to do, especially when it comes to tax and things like that.

Many thanks

borders_dude

So your in Scotland, are you under 26? If so you could get in touch with the Princess Scottish Youth Business Trust for assistance.

Horace

Wnen you start you need to register as self employed with the HMRC.

You will need to look at the insurances you will need as well eg. public liability and if you are working with kids a CRB check too.

Try businesslink.gov.uk - they may also deal with folks in Scotland and give good advice on starting up a business.

Savvy_Sue

Is your sister qualified as a dance teacher? That would be a major consideration for me. Has she got plenty of experience working for someone else?

Obviously you'll need premises, and you need to see what the competition is like. And what's her USP if there are other dance schools around?

You need to decide what you're aiming for - putting on shows, entering exams (for which she would need to be a qualified teacher) or 'just for fun', and that will affect your advertising and your target audience.

I'm going to sound very pessimistic, but IMO this isn't going to be an easy business to start. You've got to have a certain 'critical mass' of pupils to make this break even, never mind make a profit. And your 'critical mass' has got to include the right mix of ages and abilities too.

Also you either need a 'supply teacher', or she can never be ill ...

And in these difficult days, dance classes may not be top of everyone's 'must have' list for their children.

If you've really thought all this through together, come back and share a few more details, and I'll try to be more positive! but it's definitely not something you can do just because you like the sound of it ...

hunnie

Hello Louise,
I help my daughter run her dance school. I do the tax, get uniforms, etc.

She started whilst still at University studying for a BA in Dance.

First of all she only taught ballet for 90 mins on a Saturday morning (2 classes of 45mins each) at our local community centre.

We put notices up in the centre and did our own leaflet drop over the summer holidays advertising a September start date. From the enquiries we were expecting about 10 to turn up, but more than 20 did! -Hence the 2 classes.

She also worked part time while the school built up slowly.

We now have over 80 pupils attending ballet, tap & modern, with a futher 20 or so coming to cheerleading and street dance.

The biggest problem is not the financial situation but the fact that so many schools now provide dance both in and out of school time. Also councils seem to get 'funds' to provide cheap performing arts classes.

But it is something you can try part time and see what interest there is locally.
Good Luck.

Louise_in_Wonderland

Hi everyone, thanks for your advice!

borders_dude, I will have a look at that.

Horace, yes I think our main target market will be younger people so we will definately be getting disclosure (I think this is the Scottish version) and certainly liability insurance.

Savvy_Sue, yes she is. She has been assisting with teaching in her current dance school for about three years now and is a qualified teacher for cheerleading, stage, disco and majorette. We have a few places in mind that we think would work well as premises. We intend to go down the exams & shows route, as she is a qualified dance teacher. We realise this won't be easy and haven't just decided to do this on a whim. I realise it will be a lot of hard work but I am ready to work at it and think it will be worth it.

hunnie, that's the kind of role I will be taking on. My sister and I are thinking of running a Saturday class, probably in disco and stage at first and see how it goes from there. My sister and I will both continue to work full time. I like the idea of a leaflet drop, was this just around houses in the local area or did you also place them in schools etc? I realise this and have done some research into getting assistance from the councils / local schools and have found interesting information on the sport scotland website regarding an 'Active Schools' scheme where there may be someone in local schools we can contact to become more involved in the school community. Maybe worth looking into. Thankyou for your kind advice, it's good to hear from someone who has made this work.

Horace

Ignore ChristineGee as she has been reported for spamming.

I seem to remember that there was a woman in Scotland that appeared on Dragon's Den who helps people set up stage/dance schools - can't for the life of me think of her name though and this may be a route to take.

Bambywamby

Dance group on Dragons Den >>>>

http://www.razzamataztheatreschools.co.uk/

neneromanova

Can I just ask why you want to start at the end of the summer holidays? Surely if you advertise your company before the hols you could then do extra days while the kids are off school which means more money.

Obviously you have your reasons but I was just wondering

hunnie

The end of the school holidays is also the beginning of a new term and as so, is a good time to start. Parents start thinking about occuping children on an evening/ introducting them to something new.
Most dance schools close for the summer hols because a lot of children are away at differing times and it becomes hard to run a viable class with low numbers attending.
The holidays are a good time to advertise though and perhaps even run a few taster sessions as long as people register before hand.
regards
hunnie.