We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tess Luechtefeld. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tess below.

Tess, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you as a business owner?

My very first job in college was as a tour guide at Disneyland. It taught me so many important lessons that I apply to my role today as a business owner and as the East Coast Sales Director for the largest dance company in the world. The structure, training, support, guidance, and mentorship were so professional. They taught us how to deal with angry guests which is a helpful life lesson. Sometimes people just want to be heard and understood. Giving clients your attention and offering them solutions to help improve their situation goes a long way. While owning a business- the customer values the owner’s ability to resolve situations and to be heard.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I own Carolina Collective Dance Centre, located in Bluffton, SC. We teach dance to students ages 12 months to 18 years (and even some adults). Our dancers are the official junior dance team for the world-famous baseball team, “The Savannah Bananas.” We also offer a competitive dance program for those interested in taking their training to the next level. We travel all over the East Coast and compete against some of the biggest studios in the country. We were founded in 2018.

I grew up dancing and competing. I lived in Southern California and owned part of a studio out there. When we moved to South Carolina, there was not a studio like ours in the area- so I set out to open one. I carefully crafted a program and curriculum to best train dancers to succeed at the competitions we attend. We also perform the Nutcracker every December which is a core memory for these young dancers.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think being a business owner requires a lot of resilience. You are going to hear “no” more than you hear “yes”. It can be intimidating and overwhelming but I have learned to put one foot in front of the other. The pandemic was especially tough for small businesses. The kids did not want to be on a zoom call for school all day and then have to take dance classes on zoom as well. I built the dancers personal turning boards with the extra flooring we had at the studio and hand delivered them to each student. That helped keep them going.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social Media is so important for small businesses- well for any business. I built mine strickly from a grass roots campaign and I am very proud of it. I keep the messages clear, beautiful, and consistent to the brand. I make sure the content is relevent and something that will add value to our audience. My advice to anyone starting out would be to know your brand. Create a brand board with colors, fonts, and a purpose. Print it out- put it on your desk- and make sure the imaging is consistent. Canva is so great! You can save logos, colors, and fonts into your account which makes the creative process super fast!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carolinacollectivedance.com
• Instagram: @carolinacollectivedance
• Facebook: @carolinacollectivedance.com
• Linkedin: @tessluechtefeld

Image Credits
Break the Floor