We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Carey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

I absolutely love my members. Without them my business would not exist, therefore I would not be able to do what I love every week. So, I made a commitment to show my appreciation as much as I can. Not because customer appreciation helps with member retention, but because I truly value them and appreciate them. One of my biggest goals from the beginning was to form a culture and environment where people feel special because they are know they are loved.

Every month we have a gathering with the members. We do happy hours, line dancing, karaoke nights, brunches and more. It is a short amount of time when we come together for our dance fitness classes, so events outside of class really allows me to get to know them, form a connection and grow a friendship. Many of our ladies have become super close to each other to the point where best friends have been formed. It makes everything more fulfilling watching people form empowering friendships with each other.

We make a big deal about birthdays. We post their picture on a birthday shoutout on social media. They also get a meaningful gift from me. Part of the reason for our monthly events is to celebrate birthdays and celebrate life milestones.

When someone becomes a member I make sure they get a handwritten card and an introduction to the ladies as soon as possible. I really try to make sure they feel welcomed into the group.

There are so many choices for fitness. I strive to stand out by making a truly personal connection with them.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

While other kids dreamed of being a vet or an astronaut when they grew up, I would watch In Living Color and dream about being a Fly Girl one day. I’ve danced, cheered and choreographed since I was a kid. I’ve been a coach, a backup dancer and cheered professionally for an MLS team. HiiPOP has given me the opportunity to choreograph and dance every week as I move into the season of raising our young family.

When we moved to North Idaho there were no hip hop style dance fitness classes. My husband said if there’s not one, I should create it and he challenged me to call the local dance studios to ask if they would be willing to rent from me. The same day I started to make my first round of calls, a sweet couple said yes!

Within a month HiiPOP Dance Fitness was created and by the end of our first month, I had already expanded to 3 classes. Turns out many people wanted the same thing!

We are a high intensity dance class. People are welcome to adjust to their own fitness levels. I wanted to create a class where people who really wanted an intense cardio workout can get it.

We dance to clean hip hop and pop music. When you attend our classes or take a class online, you will not hear any explicit language, and not have to do any explicit choreography.

My kids are always near me. I don’t want to worry about what they will hear or the moves they will see Mommy do. I make that commitment to other moms as well. I take the trendiest songs, and make sure to take out the language or mash them up with other songs to make them complete and clean.

Even though it is clean, make no mistake, we are not the least bit corny. We still. bring that “hip hop swagger” and “pop sass” to our routines.

I also make sure our songs are empowering for women instead of content that is degrading. This is super important to me personally, and I figured there are other people who would appreciate the fact that it is clean. It is surprising that both the clean aspect, and high intensity hip hop, are hard to find; at least in my decades of taking dance classes.

In a nutshell this is HiiPOP: high energy, high intensity, empowering, clean, yet trendy, pop and hip hop dance fitness.

I also choreograph unique, hip hop style routines for events such as weddings, dance competitions etc.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Yes, there are so many books that have significantly impacted the way I run my business and have shaped my entrepreneurial philosophy. Its is safe to say that reading every night for the past 14 years has dramatically changed my life.

A few of the most recent books I really loved and have shaped how I have built HiiPOP so far are Experience Maker by Dan Gingiss, Chasing Failure by Ryan Leak , Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang, Ekklesia and Anointed For Business by Ed Silvoso.

Experience Maker has really opened my eyes to creating an amazing experience for our members and guests. From our member appreciation to the high energy and positive environment in each class. I don’t want this to be something people just check off every week because they know they need to work out. I want the feeling they have while taking a class to be something they are excited to feel every week. I want them to walk out of class feeling recharged, more confident and empowered. It’s that euphoric feeling naturally produced because of the type of cardio they are experiencing.

Chasing Failure and Rejection Proof have both inspired me to go for audacious goals, and to reframe my mind about failure.

Ekklesia and Anointed For Business both were great for me to know that I can be in business and still make an eternal impact. I wanted to create an environment where I am able to be who I am and share my faith freely through serving people, loving them radically and just being there for them through life’s rollercoaster experiences.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I feel like my life has been a series of endless pivots. But specifically with HiiPOP I have tested many types of classes, and marketed to many different types of people. Consistently testing ideas has really helped me hone in on our exact avatar.

I have been able to pinpoint what type of person absolutely loves our classes, what type of person is indifferent to it and what type of person would probably hate our classes. Well, hate might be a strong word, but I can tell when someone is visiting a class and they just wish they can leave because it is just not their cup of tea. That is completely okay with me. There will be anomalies of course but for the most part, the data is right on.

The more I have tailored my business to the “sweet spot” which is the intersection of the “Love The Class Avatar” and my strength zone, my member retention has gotten stronger and I also love what I do even more.

Pivots are unavoidable in business. Some of the idea I thought would take off, flopped, and some of the ones that I didn’t think were a big deal greatly contributed to creating a better member experience.      

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hiipopdance.com
• Instagram: HiiPOP DANCE FITNESS
• Facebook: Hiipop Dance Fitness
• Youtube: @hiipopdancefitness HiiPOP Dance Fitness
• Tik Tok: Michelle – HiiPOP Dancer

Image Credits
KrysE Photography and Life Edit Photography