The opportunity to dance for many of us, is due to several large and small collaborations between different members within the dance community. Business partnerships in dance are as important, as competitive partnerships. Overall success often depends on finding the right partner in both. Here are 8 key points to look at when choosing a Dance Business Partner.
Each point noted here has proven to be important in several areas of studio ownership, competition ownership clothes and other areas of business in addition to dance. Your love and passion for dance and you new venture may be strong, and drive you to move quickly, but like any business person, you need to think clearly about any collaborations if you want to make them a success.
- Do not work with anyone who spends a lot of time bad mouthing their competitors. This is one of the absolute most important things. If someone bad mouths his or her competition instead of showing you their own value, the reason is likely some insecurity about his or her value, and a need to distract you. You also need to be careful about being associated with anyone like this. It is a bit manipulative, and such a person will manipulate you in other ways which is not good. Someone like this is also more likely to bad mouth you and your business behind your back, and if you work together, that person will make your business look unprofessional with all the distraction and negativity about others.
- Look at how responsive the person has been with you. If he or she doesn’t get back to you quickly, just even to acknowledge you, then the person is probably playing a game about being too busy, which again is manipulative; or they do not value you; or they are really disorganized. None are good. You can be almost certain that those who are not responsive will let you down when you need them and may miss timelines for clients. Some of the busiest and most successful people are the most responsive. It shows that you care about your reputation and the time and concerns of others.
- Ask a lot of questions about his or her work, such as why they did something a particular way. The person should answer quickly and be pretty proud. If there is avoidance, then he or she probably does not understand the work very well. You can also ask how they would handle different kinds of situations to get the same thing regarding competence.
- Look at samples of his or her work. It is great to see if there is a lot of variety. If not, ask if it would be a problem to do something a bit different. Give an example if you can and discuss how it could work. You are trying to get at whether he or she is flexible and will work with you, or get upset if you do not do everything their way. This could be a great conversation with the right person, and a really tense one with the wrong person.
- Ask about the work he or she is most proud of. This gives you a sense of how similar you are in thinking, regarding what is good.
- Ask for a couple of names of people that person has worked with if you do not know the person’s work style very well. If he or she gets upset, then don’t bother to go much further with them. Anyone who works well, should be proud of being a good person to work with.
- Some people may miss one or more of these because of inexperience or bad guidance. It is important to know if this might be the case and if they are open to change. But, if you get a bad feeling – you wouldn’t trust that person him with your family, your wallet or your reputation, just leave. Your gut tells you more than anything.
- Make sure that you are good partner yourself! Hopefully no explanation needed.
Author: Miss P [Celebrate DanceSport]
Photography: Egorich.ca
Exclusively for Dance Comp Review
Facebook Comments