A pole studio owner messaged me one day – out of the blue.
“Georgia… I don’t know if I can do this.”
She had been following me for a while on Facebook.
“…I saw your post about keeping our studios alive in the down times.”
Her business had already been starting to fall apart, she said.
And now it felt like she had been dealt the fatal blow.
I wasn’t shocked.
It was the same cry for help that was flooding my inbox from desperate studio owners around the globe.
Clubs and gyms weren’t open. Events weren’t looking for performers.
She had no online booking system set up and no idea how to run virtual lessons.
Her team of instructors had been thrown into roles they weren’t prepared for – content creators, videographers, tech support, email and social.
They were confused, frightened and exhausted.
And let’s face it, NO ONE had predicted this kind of upheaval.
“I’m so tired,” she said. “I need your help.”
As a digital marketing strategist I should have been happy to receive that message that day…
But I felt a pit in the bottom of my stomach.
Something told me that I didn’t have the solution she really needed. Not yet.
I knew that my services would help – and they did. I offered her a blessed bandaid in the nick of time. But soon she’d have to rip it off and conquer online on her own.
Along with everyone else.
I knew so much about social media. And membership sites. About marketing automation. Sales funnels. Online courses. Video editing. Community engagement…
I knew EVERYTHING she needed to know.
But there was one problem.
SHE needed to know it.
(Either that or she needed to drop a big investment – in cash and time – on someone who could do it FOR her, like now).
And I didn’t know many studio owners who could do that. Especially not in these times.
Then suddenly there was a bigger problem.
“Georgia, my ad account just got disabled.”
The little blue bubble appeared and I could sense her panic.
My heart sank for her. “I can jump on a call with you,” I said.
I talked her through submitting an appeal. I helped her write out what to say. And I told her what she could do to protect against similar in future.
And as we talked, the realisation dawned.
I couldn’t keep doing it this way. I was never going to help enough people, never going to make the impact I wanted, if I kept going one by one.
So I started recording videos and sharing my knowledge.
🎥 10 Ways To Market & Grow Your Studio In Down Times
🎥 What To Do If You’re Struggling With Competition Online
🎥 Adding Value And Serving Your Students Digitally
I kept pumping out all the resources I could, desperate to see studios succeed through Covid –
👉 Getting Your Studio Set Up Online
👉 Recommended Tools & Platforms For Online Lessons
👉 Zoom 101 – For Studios & Instructors
And it started working.
“I loved your video! I’ve made all my instructors watch it hahaha. So lucky and grateful to have such knowledge and wisdom a video away. Thanks so much Georgia!”
“What you said about knowing what makes your studio special really hit home for me. I was feeling so overwhelmed and honestly your videos helped me get the studio through this. Thank you!”
“Georgia! Thank you for motivating me to get up and running online. I’m keeping my studio connected and my team is working together doing their thing. It’s been very positive to see our students get so much out of it, it makes it worth it.”
I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
But then came the biggest problem of all.
>> PART TWO
