While the rest of the world is enjoying the height of summer with lazy days and relaxed schedules, most studio owners have season-prep on the brain! So today we bring you some ideas ( or perhaps reminders) of things you can do to streamline communications to make the rest of the year feel more like controlled chaos vs a free-for-all.
Step 1: The Brain Dump
Grab a blank sheet of paper, or fire up the notes app on your phone
Think about last season and jot down 3 things around studio communication that created stress, worry or frustration for you. Here are some areas of focus to kick off the brain dump:
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- Email Inbox Management
- Email Newsletters
- Email Updates
- Text Messages
- Social Media Messages
- Social Media Posts
- Voicemails
- Invoices and Payments
- Rules & Policies
- Studio Schedules
- Competition Team Schedules
- Competition Team Logistics
- Recital Logistics
- Recital Tickets
- Weather or Emergencies
- Costume stuff
- Dance gear stuff
- Instructor stuff
- Front desk stuff
- Website stuff
Step 2: Pick Three
Now that you’ve word vomited all the things that gave you the queasies, circle the three items that are the most painful. It could be something that happens on repeat so it feels like death by papercut, something that you know is leaving revenue on the table or even something that happens at the busiest & most stressful part of the season. Whatever the case, choose three items from the braindump list.
Step 3: Define A Fix
For each of those top 3 pain points, what ONE thing you could do now to make that better this year? For example:
| Communication Pain Point | ONE Thing |
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Step 4: Do It
Dive in there. Choose one of those three actions and just do it! And then tackle the second one, and the third one. And when you’re done with that, go back to the brain dump list and choose another 3 pain points to work through.
Bonus Tip: If This Feels Like Too Much Work
Your email account is probably alreadfy filled with golden nuggets that could make the next year easier, even if you’re not prepared for a heavy investment of time right now.
Open a Word doc or a Google doc and go shopping!
Scan through your sent messages and find blocks of text for information you regularly share or answer. Now copy/paste into the doc – stick a header label above it so you remember what that’s for and you have an easy copy/paste document you can borrow from to get through messages faster during the year, or even a training document you can use to train a staffer or virtual assistant to use.