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

Jessica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

The first eight years of my business were just me. I started my studio as a mobile platform, where we brought dance classes to the students at their school. It was designed to help the working parent be able to give their children the opportunity to participate in programs that they could not get them to because they were working.

Upon becoming pregnant with my firstborn, I realized I needed to get someone in to cover for me when I was away on maternity leave, and I did just that. She was great, and when I returned, I decided to continue to grow my business and keep her on. I could now add multiple schools at the same time slots because I had two working instructors, then low and behold, I hired a third and could have three going at the same time. It clicked that hiring was the only way to make my business grow. I quickly started to lead and left the teaching to my very talented instructors.

A year later, I opened my first physical location, where I spent most of my energy and had staff teaching at the schools. The program kept growing, so I needed to hire more instructors for the studio. I now have 19 employees, a 3500-square-foot studio that teaches over 400 children a week, and numerous schools throughout the low country.

I oversee everything and am really out of the day-to-day and have three salaried employees now that have made managing the studios their career. It is so fulfilling to see my staff grow as well as the business.

I am grateful for this growth because I was able to pursue other passions and am now a Certified Life Coach and Reiki Master and have a practice that ironically lives right next door to the studio. Truly, I never imagined any of it, I just kept doing the next best thing, and the right people showed themselves to me.

We now have a detailed training program for all new instructors, including handbooks, instructional videos, and scheduled observations. My staff’s culture is one of my main priorities now, and I work hard to ensure I am doing everything I can to make their job pleasurable and seamless. We instill teamwork, support, and connection. We have an open-door policy and always look for feedback from the team.

Whenever someone says that it’s too inexpensive to hire in their business, I say: It will cost you more to run yourself ragged and to be stressed all the time. You cannot grow without a team, and although the leap is scary, it always works out for the highest good. Finances are energy, so if you are putting passion, purpose, and integrity into the world through your business, abundance will flow.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I have danced since the age of 3 (I am 48). Dance was always a part of me and helped me through all the informative years. I knew that dance would somehow be in my life forever. I realize now it was the stepping stone to everything I do, including my second business, Authentic Coaching and Reiki. It was where I felt connected spiritually and to my higher self and the good I was meant to put into the world.

I got my BA in dance and graduated feeling a bit lost as to what to do next. It took me about five years, but I finally landed my first real job outside of F&B as the children’s director at a local Jewish Community Center, It was there I started from the ground up a dance program for the children of that community as part of my salaried position. I realized quickly that I was an independent worker, meaning I did not like working for others because I had so many ideas I wanted to explore and did not like being held back or asking for permission. After 4 years there, I started out on my own with a business card and a phone book (yes I am old haha) and started Dance Moves 20 years ago. The JCC kept me on as an independent contractor and for that, I am so grateful.

Fast forward 15 years, I knew there was something deeper in my purpose. I had always made children my priority and my mission has always been to empower them, lift them up, and help them achieve high levels of self-confidence. I now wanted to do this with adults and started my second business as a Life Coach and Energy Healer.

I feel so fortunate to live my passions and put true purpose into the world, with both businesses. Has it always been easy? NO. Have I made mistakes and failed? About 1 million times. Do I still love what I do? 100% and would not trade anything for what I have created.

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

COVID

March 14th I went to bed a little weary and nervous by the news and rumors and woke up to the worst case scenario,

I had to shut down indefinitely. I was shocked and scared. As a single mom, and managing 22 employees’ finances, I literally did not know what to do. At the time I actually had two locations, two landlords, two of every type of bill. I had used Zoom maybe 4x in my life and had no clue how to pivot. I did not feel right about continuing to run cards so I asked my parents to support me if they could, and many did, but most were in the same position as me, jobless and scared.

My team quickly made about 15 videos to post on youtube to stay active with our families as we learned to navigate the virtual world. Everything was new and I eventually, due to lack of finances, had to let 18 of the 22 employees go. I was heartbroken and stressed.

My self and my management team went to work. We quickly navigated Zoom, set up schedule and got the information to our parents, We still were not getting paid, but I felt it was the most important thing to stay present and connected to these kids and their families.

With the help of the government and the PPP, I was able to hire back all of my staff, and we set up our entire schedule: 115 classes a week on Zoom. What a ride!

Our families were so appreciative and to this day I am humbled by this experience and knowledge that I will always find a way through any hardship. I also know that I have established a secure and safe space that will never get knocked completely down, especially by a virus!

Fast forward to re-open 8 weeks later, people still did not take their kids to inside places. It took a full 2 years to rebuild as the virus kept coming back, causing more panic and fear, every step ahead became 10 back…BUT we made it through and have finally gotten back to where we were (minus one studio that was actually a godsend).

Through this experience, I realized I wanted to focus on quality not quantity. Prior to Covid I had gotten tied up in the financial gains and Covid brought me back passion and purpose. Ironically those two things lead us right back to the abundance.

We still instill this in our programs, and we may have fewer students now, but our program is beyond anything that we could imagine. Reputable, reliable, and nurturing, all while instilling confidence in these young dancers. I am proud of how we handled it all and am grateful for all the lessons learned.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Both of my businesses are word-of-mouth businesses. I take pride in adding value to people’s lives and make sure that every child in our studio and every adult that comes to me for coaching or reiki gets just that. When you lead with value, the customers will do the rest by spreading what you do to others and more and more people find you.

Focusing more on what fulfills you, drives you, and empowers you in your business and less on “marketing tactics” and followers is the route I have taken, and it works! When we are just searching for the people but aren’t adding value, you will always be endlessly searching.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dancemovesofcharleston.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jess_beran/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanceMovesCHS
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-beran-35987a41/

Image Credits
Vision Balm Photography-photos of me DJ Oconnor- dance photos