We recently connected with Danielle Ledezma and have shared our conversation below.
Danielle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start on the operational side – do you spend more of your time/focus/energy on growing revenue or cutting costs?
Grow revenue!! Everything costs either time or money, both of which are very finite. If I’m able to put more of my personal time into something to avoid hiring someone else or paying for someone else to create it, then that’s a great way to cut some costs. However, I find focusing on creating more revenue really drives profitability. For example, I just started leasing my own studio space (previously I rented by the hour from other existing studio) and the monthly expenses increased exponentially. However, it’s now a new asset that I can use to rent to others and drive a new stream of income to help balance those costs. When renting, I just had money going out to the studio owner. Now I can schedule as often as I need for my business, AND generate additional income from other renters in our space.
Danielle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I first learned about DivaDance about 4 years ago when I reconnected with a college friend who happens to be the CEO & Founder of DivaDance! After taking a couple classes up in Austin, I felt totally connected to the values-based approach this company takes. I spent decades in the hospitality industry in corporate sales, and it just wasn’t as fulfilling as I grew older and my desires for my time on this planet started to change. I wasn’t satisfied just achieving my quarterly and annual goals to be recognized or win awards. I wasn’t thrilled with each signed contract like I was when first starting out. I was looking for a more meaningful way to spend my time and talents! It was around this time I started exploring the idea of business ownership in an industry I love and find great value in – fitness. I was drawn to the idea of helping people feel good, gain confidence and live healthier lives. It was around that time the Universe replied with the unplanned reconnecting with my old college buddy whom I hadn’t seen in over 10 years. I started the company on the side of my full time job and was loving my newfound purpose. DivaDance is completely different than regular dance studios becuase you don’t sign up for long “sessions” that teach dance technique or spend weeks on the same routine. Each class we have 1 song and we learn a little routine to that song. Then the next class is something different! We are also not like most fitness classes because we focus on creating a safe, welcoming place that is all-inclusive and encourages authenticity. No side-eyes or comparison here! We are all just here to have a good time, laugh, and shake the stress away one pop/hip-hop song at a time. Now I feel that the work I do is building a place where people can truly learn to love themselves and enjoy themselves; where they can let lose and set down big responsibilities of life for just a little while. This is what changes people’s lives so they can go into the world a stronger, more confident version of themselves to donate their gifts and talents to those around them.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
COVID rocked everyone’s world no doubt, and the fitness industry was hit HARD. We pivoted to online classes to save about 50% of our membership, and in the summer of 2020 we knew we needed to do more. Our dance classes are so different because we are truly community based and it just doesn’t feel the same online through a screen. We took a risk and started doing our classes outdoors in parking lots and at local parks so we could stay distanced and still “gather” in safe ways. It was HOT (summer in South Texas) and we had all the logistical challenges you can imagine. The toughest part was during the height of COVID with everything shut down and our business going to virtual, I had no work for my team. I lost instructors and operational staff because I couldn’t provide jobs for them and they had to find ways to survive. When we started coming back to outdoor classes, I was sure many of them would return! Not a single one. I had 1 operational staff member who said “let’s grind this out together.” And so we did. I started teaching all my classes and she started running the operations. A business that was flourishing in March 2020 where I was making great money without being in the operation every single day… and months later I was back to grinding it out… again. Even when starting the business I was able to hire instructors and operational staff so I wasn’t the only one the business depended on. Now, I was it! I had to learn how to teach facing everyone since we didn’t have mirrors so my moves all felt backwards. I had to lug equipment to each place we were dancing. I had to hustle to find places we could meet and dance and get the marketing organized enough to draw a small crowd.
Then I had to deal with COVID in the community. We all remember the holidays of 2020 when we thought things were maybe better and then they got worse. Texas surged in December and January and the small staff I had managed to hire back on were hit one by one. What’s worse, is we would then have to inform everyone from class that they had been exposed and needed to quarantine and get tested. I dreaded those client communications. I was so scared they’d all quit and never return.
I kept grinding, I kept having classes even though we had to keep them small and spaced out, and I sent the news when I had to. After what felt like an eternity, people started coming back. Staff, members, everyone was ready to reconnect with the world around them and the business started the uphill climb once again. I was exhausted but it felt so good to see smiling faces and people saying how much they needed what we had to offer. It was healing for them and for me. The grind and the frustration and the tears and the fears were all worth it!
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Your team is everything. That is the culture you have created; and they are an extension of you as an owner. The key to my success in this industry where I employ very part-time 1099 contractors without benefits is casting a strong vision that my team is bought into. A vision they see themselves in and contribute to. It has to be about the cause that is bigger than each of them. Since we are so focused on inspiring confidence and building community so that in doing so we can change lives, it is my mission to help create those feelings and truths within our team so they can authentically reflect those same values to our clients. To do this, I spend personal time with each one. Whether on zoom or in person, each and everyone knows that I truly want to know them as a person and care for them as a human. I then create reasons for each of them to do the same from team outings to staff meetings to fun events where we get to play and dance together. The nature of what we do in the dance community also serves to support connection and friendship, which is also the heart of our company mission. When hiring, I take extra steps and time to ensure I find those people who are totally aligned with our values. For some that means we spend time together before hiring as part of the interview process. For others it means they have to meet with several team members and I solicit their feedback about a potential new peer. I find anytime I can involve my team in decisions they have buy in and they serve the mission more wholeheartedly.
The flipside of this is when there is low morale, or a cancer on the team, I address it head first and immediately. It hasn’t been easy to do and it requires difficult conversations, often with me directly addressing individuals to ask them what things were said, and to whom, so I can gain full understanding. I’m not asking them to tattle I’m asking them as professionals who are committed to upholding our values to help me protect our clients and our community by offering honest feedback and true accounts of anything going on that is negative. Often the clean up after the cancer is gone can be the most challenging. However, I find the team is strengthened because I have proven to them by my actions that the values have life and meaning. Negative speak or behaviors that go against our values will not be tolerated as shown by firing or removing those causing it, so my team then has a sense of pride and loyalty because I’ve walked the walk and earned their trust. I am fiercely protective of our culture!
Contact Info:
- Website: divadancesanantonio.pike13.com
- Instagram: @divadancesatx