Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Linsey Battle. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Linsey, 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?

From the start it was just me. At 18years old I gathered a few athletes that I knew and started a business called Intensity Elite Cheer. I rented space and we practiced out of a gymnastics center. It was fun but it wasn’t easy, I was overwhelmed and it became a big commitment with minimal income. Although I was young, I was determined and dedicated myself each day to make my dream of opening a business come true! After a short time of starting at the gymnastics center, a friend of mine, Coach Carrie came to help me coach. I’m proud to say, Coach Carrie is still with Linsey’s Cheer & Dance until this day! She was the start of my recruiting process.

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’ve danced since I was 2 years old and like all little girls dream of, I wanted to one day own a dance studio and be a dance teacher. Fortunately for me with help of many special people in my life including mentors, family and friends, my dream came true!

Dance was my first passion but cheer was something I also love to do. I was a cheerleader in junior high and throughout my high school years. I was only 18 years old and with inspiration from my family and mentors in the industry, I gathered a few athletes that I knew and started a business called Intensity Elite Cheer (IEC). I rented space and we practiced out of a gymnastics center. It was fun but it wasn’t easy, I was overwhelmed and it became a big commitment with minimal income. Although I had the talent to coach and teach, there was still a lot I had to learn including how to promote a business and how to generate revenue to hire staff. Thankfully, after a short time of starting IEC at the gymnastics center, I met Carrie through coaching at the junior high schools. Carrie instantly was excited to help me coach. I’m proud to say, Coach Carrie is still with Linsey’s Cheer & Dance until this day! She was the start of my recruiting process.

In 2006, after several years of coaching my Intensity Elite Cheer team at the gymnastics center, I was gifted some money and redirected my path to open my own dance studio. Since I already had developed a cheer team, I decided to open the FIRST Macomb County, Michigan’s cheer & dance program – Linsey’s Cheer & Dance Center home of Intensity Elite Cheer. I started small with just one cheer team and offered a few recreational dance classes. I learned a lot owning a business including what it costs to run a business. I relocated several times due to space but stayed in the same area so I was able to grow each year. Location was key as families with young children were moving into the area. However, there was also a lot of competition in the area as well.

As we were expanding and competition was high, I needed more help but unfortunately didn’t have the funds to hire staff at the time. Coaching and teaching 7 days a week became exhausting. I decided to increase my pricing so I was able to add staffing to alleviate the stress of running a business on my own. I began my recruiting process adding the first dance instructor, Amanda who is now our amazing studio director, then adding to the coaches staff and finally adding additional dance instructors and staff members. Networking was key as back then we didn’t have the technology we have today to hire staff. I went to every convention offered, talked to as many people in the industry that I could and started my recruiting process. Even though I loved to shine on stage, I wasn’t one to approach people and I was reserved. But in this industry I had no choice but to put myself out there! Turnover is usually high at dance studios and gyms and many staff members have full time jobs or second jobs. So it was difficult for many years to find a committed and qualified staff for our programs. Dance studios and cheer gyms are like second homes to many families so it was important to form a cohesive leading team to help me guide our athletes. With Amanda’s help we’ve developed a team that has over 200 years of combined experience, and each team member has extensive knowledge and experience in all aspects of cheer & dance.

We started with approximately twenty families and as of today, I’m proud to have built a business with over 250 families and wouldn’t be able to do without our amazing, dedicated, diverse and talented staff of over 20 coaches, instructors and staff members. Many who have been teaching and coaching at LCDC & IEC for several years now. This season, we will be celebrating 20 years for Intensity Elite Cheer and 18 years of Linsey’s Cheer & Dance Center with two All Star Worlds Teams. It takes passion, leadership, time management skills and patience to run a prosperous studio but most importantly it takes a dedicated and amazing TEAM to reach a profitable and successful business. I can say with confidence, I have the BEST TEAM thus far and they are the ones who are directly responsible for carrying out our mission.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Most definitely the resources offered now are extremely helpful. We went from doing all of our administrative work from handwriting with paper and pen to mostly everything we do online! I’ve been a member of More Than Just Great Dance Dancing and have learned so much over the years.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Managing a team and maintaining high morale

Promote work-life balance among employees
Build trust
Build relationships and team building
Support employee-led initiatives
Sense of belonging to the team
Empowerment
Competitive market pay and benefits

Contact Info:

• Website: www.linseyscheeranddance.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linseyscheeranddance/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Linseyscheeranddance