We were lucky to catch up with Chris Han recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I am definitely happier as a business owner compared to being at my previous corporate job. I worked for 3 years as a data scientist at a Fortune 500 company and while I learned a lot and had a comfortable lifestyle, I was never truly happy or satisfied with the work I was doing. I had a burning desire to pursue my passion as well as make a more tangible impact with the people in my day to day life.

I don’t really have the thought of going back to a regular job often. As of now, I’m completely focused on how to make my business financially viable enough for me to not have to go back to a regular job.

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 am the founder and owner of a street-style dance studio in Austin, TX called Evenground! We provide drop-in classes open to all levels of dancers, three teams of various levels that you can join and grow with other dancers, as well as free freestyle sessions every week. Evenground has only been in operation for a year but we have developed a reputation for having high quality teachers as well as a friendly, comfortable environment.

Opening a dance studio and providing a safe space for dancers of all levels has been my dream and passion since I started dancing in college in 2016, where I gained experience leading teams and hosting free classes on campus. In 2023, after few years of working in the corporate world, I realized it was now-or-never and finally decided to open up our location in September 2023. It’s been a whirlwind of exciting events and a lot of hard work since, but I don’t regret it a single bit!

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

I think the best way to build reputation is to be consistent and reliable in your messaging. I have a very strong sense of ethics and principles I run my business by and that is also how I curate my closest team members and fellow leaders. Because our internal team works well together and are aligned on values, it shows and is felt from the client side when they walk through the doors. Once people realize that they can come in to any class that we offer and still receive high quality education and are greeted and welcomed in a comfortable way, they know to trust us and the name Evenground.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

I’ve found that word of mouth and Instagram are the strongest sources of new clients for us. With the nature of this business, our new clients are usually either someone that has already been dancing in their life or have friends that encourage them to give it a shot. We aren’t going to be able to reach the general public who has absolutely no interest in dance and that is okay, just not our market. However, once you include friends and family of dancers there is a significant size of potential clients through other channels as well such as merchandise or show ticket sales. I am still in the process of learning everyday as I go as the behavior of our clientele has not fully stabilized yet in my opinion. There is room for shifting demographics and behaviors as we enter the second year of operations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.evengroundtx.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evengroundtx/

Image Credits

Anthony Pham (for the image with heads facing down)