Whenever I’m on social media, I see a lot of people I know. Not unusual, right?
But many of my “friends” and connections are other Fred Astaire Dance Studio owners across the country and around the world, and I realize I am in no way alone in this business.
We often use the phrase, “our Fred Astaire family,” but it really is true.
Competitions happen every weekend, and I see other FADS studios succeeding around the country. I shout-out to them and “like” their posts.
Our teachers and students win competitions, and the same happens in return. We are all rooting each other on.
I know we’re not the only franchise business in the world, but I truly believe we are unique. There are approximately 160 FADS studios in the world, about 140 in the U.S.
We support each other, we are connected in our mission and in our pursuits. And I know that doesn’t happen outside of our franchise.
We support other studios wherever they are. People come in to our studio and hear the phrase, that we are a family; once they get in deep, they realize it is so true. They go on vacation or to a summer or winter home, and lo and behold, there’s another FADS studio for them to continue dancing at.
Our students accept being part of this dance family, and they see it as the entire chain, starting to refer to this community as their dance family.
There’s nothing like, family, right?
But there’s more than just the wider network of Fred Astaire studios. Within our own studio, Michigan’s only Fred Astaire Dance Studio, we feel like a family.
Students come in and feel welcomed as if it were a family event. They make quick connections, form friendships.
Recently, a devoted regular student took ill, and his FADS friends and staff visited him in the hospital.
Once he returned home, he didn’t return to dance class. The staff, students, and Lada and I were all checking in with him, to see if he was physically and emotionally ok.
We miss him. A member of our family was greatly missed. And we didn’t hesitate to show how much.
This sense of family starts at the top of the organization and sets a great tone to distill down to individual studios.
That’s basically the company ethos or corporate culture of Fred Astaire Dance Studio.
You have your nuclear family, all your cousins and extended family, and when you get together at a reunion, everyone’s excited to see one another. We’re tight here; we’re tight with FADS everywhere.