We recently connected with Sara Rudin and have shared our conversation below.
Sara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
Like many baton twirlers, dancers, and gymnasts, we learned young. And I mean too young to remember HOW we learned. From a young age, I was always fascinated with baton twirling. Luckily, I am a kinesthetic learner, and my teacher was a great coach who explained the physics of baton twirling.
Once I ventured off to teach baton twirling on my own, I quickly realized how hard it was to pass on the skills I had grown up taking for granted. At the age of 16, I became obsessed with figuring out how others learned and that we all learned differently. Those who were older had the motor skills to understand which direction to go. Those who were younger needed examples of these motor skills (like opening a door, giving a thumbs down, etc).
I realized I had a knack for teaching baton twirling to all ages, so I began creating videos. At first, twirlers would reach out and thank me for material to help them learn. Then I unexpectedly started receiving requests from baton twirling teachers to teach them HOW to teach. They experienced the same dilemma I had: I didn’t remember how I learned, so it was difficult to show other children how to do it.
For some reason, baton twirling tribal knowledge isn’t passed down from generation to generation. Many baton twirlers didn’t see the point in competing with the local studio that had grown so large, there didn’t seem to be room for other baton twirling coaches in that space. Slowly but surely, the sport started dwindling. I have always believed the only way to grow my sport of baton twirling was to let go of the information I thought I should keep secret. I officially launched Baton Twirling 101, an online baton twirling training course for current and aspiring baton twirlers, to learn how to do and teach the basics of baton twirling. As a result, more twirlers are able to quit their 9 to 5 and begin their passion of opening their own studios.
I still run the Honeybees Baton Twirling in Round Rock, Texas, but I love knowing that my online program has touched hundreds of people throughout the world.
Sara, 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 began twirling a baton at the age of 6 when my sister and I rummaged through my mom’s closet and first found the metal stick that, unknowingly at the time, would completely change our lives. My aunt was a National Baton Twirling Champion, and we heard story after story about how she had so many trophies, she had to store them in the attic due to lack of space in the house. I knew then and there that baton twirling was my sport.
As I grew in the sport, I set goals, became a great solo twirler, and then I headed off to college. I assumed it would be my final four years in the sport until my Senior year as Captain of my twirling line at the University of Arizona. As a favor to my college twirling coach, I agreed to compete for a baton twirling specific pageant for Miss Arizona called Miss Twirling Athlete. To my surprise, I won, and I was able to meet hundreds of twirlers across the state of Arizona. I knew this was not the end of my twirling journey.
I got involved as much as I could, and I started teaching private lessons. I realized I immediately noticed incorrect hand placements and tiny tweaks I could make to help twirlers grow. When students came back, they would be excited that they could do certain tricks. I started documenting my best practices until I moved to Texas and began my own team. I am most proud of my students when they stand on a podium, win or lose, and react with great sportsmanship. Baton twirling is more than crowns, banners, and trophies. We are learning to become a great person as well as a great athlete.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Find your niche and be consistent. I started showing up in front of people, and I did it on multiple platforms to see what would stick. I found ways to entertain my crowd. I never delete what doesn’t work. I may shift or pivot, but I don’t delete. You can find quite a few fails of mine out there when I was first trying to figure out what the baton community wanted to see. Secondly, you have to really connect with WHO you are. If you don’t know who you are, then why do you want to be a role model for others? You have to really know what you will or will not put up with, and you have to know what side of yourself you audience will see.
The best advice I have is for growing TikTok because that is the platform I started growing lately. I would copy trends and got some hits, and everything I post relates to my niche of baton twirling. You can find my TikTok (@BatonTwirling101) and see how different it is from my Instagram and other social media platforms. On TikTok, I only talk to twirlers. I collaborate with many friends, but overall, I post about my niche because that’s what they want to see. Once one of your videos gets some hits (at least 10K views), figure out why that one got hits. Ask your friends and networking groups why they think it got attention. Really work with others to help identify what makes you stand out.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I love this question because without hesitation, the first book that ever sparked my entrepreneurial side was The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. It’s such a simple concept, but it’s profound. If you are not familiar with the concept of the Compound Effect, it’s essentially the lesson that if you were offered a penny that doubled in value every single day for a month or got $1 million dollars on day one and nothing else for a month, which would you take? The penny wouldn’t see much growth in the first few days. $.01, $.02, $.04, $.08, and so on, but by the end of the month, you would have something over $5 Million dollars. The point is that you don’t see the effect of those little habits that you do daily, but if you stick with it, you’ll see an exponential increase in growth. Stick with it. Keep going. Even if you feel like you’re failing, that’s okay. Just make sure you’re Failing Forward (also another great book :) ).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BatonTwirling101.com and www.HoneybeeTwirlers.com
- Instagram: @HoneybeeTwirlers
- Facebook: Facebook.com/HoneybeeTwirlers
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcHmEHAJkV_MDI5v3-wGClQ
- Other: TikTok: @BatonTwirling101
Image Credits
Bob Watson Mia Grimes with The Texas Civic Impact Council