My Story

My mother had a mantra for her five children:

Can you imagine the freedom that those words gave to us – especially because we were, and still are, extremely creative people. Now in adulthood, my oldest brother writes, my other brother is a musician and chef, my sister is a well-known artist and designer, and my younger sister taught theater before becoming a stay at home mother.

As for me, this beautiful business I’m in now is not my first career. I have always been an entrepreneur at heart. From selling painted rocks and other “art” from my front lawn to knocking on doors telling neighbors about my babysitting business, I must have thought of a million ways to get rich before 12. One of my favorite money-making schemes was organizing the neighborhood kids to put on concerts, fashion shows, and plays in the basement. We charged for tickets, of course. No one, not even a parent, was getting into that basement theater for less than $.50.

My first love

The love for performance kept going. I performed and taught in local theaters through adulthood. At 25, I had just quit a job at a theater here in San Antonio that was about to close. I had been teaching musical theater classes and loving it, but I could tell that the owner was exhausted. One afternoon, he promised to sell the theater to me when he was ready to close. Before the day was over, two other employees confided that he had made the same promise to them. I quit soon after.

When I quit, my classes ended and soon I had parents asking me where I’d be teaching next. I had no immediate plans, but told one parent I would offer a class once a week in a church classroom if she would help me recruit students. I had seven students in my first class. There were close to 20 the second week, then 35. I was on to something. The hidden blessing of living at home with my parents was that I had the flexibility to take on a little more. I found space in a  strip mall and my grandmother loaned me first and last month’s rent. Within five months, I had grown to 160 students.

But how? I had completely stumbled into this. I didn’t have time to write a business plan, let alone apply for loans. Aside from the money coming in, I had no budget or time for advertising. I was not rich, but I was skilled. First, I offered an excellent product. I am a wonderful teacher with big love for working with children. I was a natural. Second, I made every effort to create a sense of belonging among my clients. If a student didn’t show for a class, I let them know they were missed. I created community-building programs to keep students wanting to come back and be a part of the fun. Thirdly, I gathered as much information as I possibly could on word of mouth marketing, web design, graphic design, and anything else that would help my business grow without spending much money.

After six months, we were able to double our space by expanding into a second suite in the shopping center. A typical semester brought close to 300 students, and summer camps were booming for all seven years that I was open.

The Truth

And that’s the beautiful side of it. But there were a lot of hard lessons along the way. At the onset of my business, I was terrible at managing my own money. Though I never took a bank loan, my family helped me through my bad decisions and imprudent spending.  Employee paychecks bounced, rent was hard to cover every month, and no matter how many students I brought in, I could have always used more. Those problems were my own fault.

In the middle of my run at the theater, I got married, then had an amazing son, then went through the most horrific divorce you can imagine – all within two years. The divorce depleted my funds. My ex-husband started a campaign to destroy the business and posted horrible reviews about me, declaring me unfit to be around children. My loyal customers weathered the storm with me, but anyone who hadn’t known me for long quickly disappeared. And who could blame them?

Struggle and Triumph

But, I am resilient. And I had a good business. I brought it all back with the help of two of the best employees and friends I could have asked for. We worked day and night to rebuild the theater’s reputation, ensure the stability of the business, and encourage our students to bring their friends back to class.

Things were great. The customers were happy and business was booming again. There was only one problem. Rebuilding the theater required so much time and energy. I was spending all day every day making other people’s children happy. At the end of a long day, I would get home to my sweet toddler who would either be asleep or begging to play. I struggled to find the joy that had brought me this far.

Farewell

I could tell that I couldn’t keep the pace up for much longer. I thought about closing the business several times, but it broke my heart to think of my students looking for another place to learn. As luck would have it, I was contacted by another theater in town. They were well-established and known for their work with children. They wanted the business and they wanted me to help bridge the gap between the two companies. It was perfect timing. I sold the business and went to work for them, building a new educational center.

My work at the new location put my marketing skills to further use. I was teaching less and responsible for growing the student population again. And in just seven months, I had brought in almost $200,000 in revenue. It was thrilling to watch the program grow.

Something New

I stayed at the new theater for a year before recognizing something big and life changing. My passion for theater had been waning. When I was procrastinating at work, I was always jumping ahead to marketing, social media, and design projects for the business. I couldn’t get enough. I had seen my own business grow so well, and now I was watching business grow at a new place. But I wanted MORE.

I knew what I had to do. I wanted to jump into marketing and design full time and I started to look for employment. The only problem was that I couldn’t seem to get prospective employers to see past my job titles. With 15 years of theater and education on a resume, it was hard to see the financial gains I’d made, the marketing initiatives that I’d created or the huge numbers of clients I’d registered and retained.

One morning, I had a revelation…if I thought I was so good at marketing, why couldn’t I just market my services to other small business owners? Why couldn’t I pass my information on directly to them?

And that, my friends, is what I did.

I put out an “all points bulletin” on Facebook, looking for clients. With my vast network of happy families from my former business, I figured I would know someone who needed my services. And I did. Without spilling all of my secrets just yet, I developed an amazing business plan with the help of a former customer from the theater. My plan allows me to pass on my information to others, build a client base, and give me the amazing knowledge that I’m helping others grow and thrive.

Now, I am excited to pass these ideas on through my blogs, books, and working together. I have helped so many people achieve more with their businesses and I look forward to doing this for a long, long time. There is something magical about knowing you are a part of someone else’s success. It’s a feeling that never gets old!