Creating Connections and Collaborations in Pole Dance Businesses

Collaboration and connection can be challenging concepts for any entrepreneur. There may always be concerns that someone is “stealing” someone else’s business if you share “too much.” But that doesn’t have to be the case. Collaboration and connection can make us all stronger, together.

These ideas stem from the webinar “Interview with Sergia Louise Anderson, Pole Champion, Studio Owner, and Entrepreneur” held on August 17, 2022. Members can view the entire webinar at this link. 

Sergia Louise Andereson is a dancer, studio owner, online coach, and a mom. Prior to finding pole dance, Sergia was a competitive dancer. She found pole in 2010 and started her first studio in 2011. During this time, she still worked and toured as a professional dancer. In her first foray into asynchronous learning, she released some pole dance instructional DVDs that later turned into her online programing. Just before the world was rocked by the COVID-19 global pandemic, Sergia had her first child and opened her second brick and mortar studio–just in time for everything to shut down.

Collaboration, Not Competition

Justin Phillips said “Competition happens at the bottom, collaboration happens at the top.”

During the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, many pole artists moved their teaching and performances online. Sergia Lousie Anderson saw a lot of studios going online, but also a lot of solo pole-prenuers also had to make that shift. With everyone struggling to reach a new audience, Sergia thought of a way to bring people together—so we could collaborate, not compete and she introduced the Zoom Slot Sharing Program.

This program allowed solo pole-prenuers to virtually visit different studios, without having to set up the Zoom infrastructure themselves. Studios could “host” various artists despite everything  being virtual. This allowed pole communities to blend and expand, kept studios open, and kept solo artists getting paid.

This is a prime example of how collaboration makes us all stronger.

Make Your Connections

With the world re-opened, many places have gone back to facing the world on their own. If the COVID-19 lockdowns taught us anything, it’s that we have to work together to get through hard times. Getting back to the outside world doesn’t preclude us from creating connections

Some great ways to connect with other studios in your area are:

• Host a “Pole Jam” at your studio
  • Unlike an open gym, at a Pole Jam people can learn from each other
• Host movie nights and invite other studios to attend
  • If there is a lot of overlap in interests outside of pole, this is a great way to get people together!
• Invite instructors and studio owners from other studios to perform in your showcases
  • This is a great way to show what resources are in your community
• Start a local studio owners chat to collaborate
  • Business ownership is hard! You don’t have to go at it alone. IPIA is a great resource, but so are other studio owners!

Connecting with other studios in your area is a great way to create a larger community. It’s important to gather many perspectives when learning a new skill, and pole is no different! Not every student is going to vibe with every instructor, it’s not personal, it’s just human nature.

Additionally, other studios may have classes your studio doesn’t offer like flexibility, or aerials and each studio will get a reputation (whether you want to or not) for whatever is their niche. Creating strong relationships within your community means when a new student goes to a different studio and doesn’t thrive there, they may get referred to your studio.

You never know when someone in your local community is working on the next big thing in pole. Maybe a student or instructor at a local studio is a pole costume fabricator, working on the next pole grip aid, or thinking of something else cutting edge in the pole world. These types of pole-prenuers can uplift your business by providing necessities to your community.

Nurturing and Support

Sergia came to pole from the cutthroat world of competitive dance.

Even in competition, artists would share movement ideas with each other, especially when their research led them to a pathway that would work better for someone else. When going to compete, you’re going to do the movements that feel right in your body and for your business you should provide the classes that feel right in your space.

This means you don’t have to run every type of class or do everything that everyone else does. Run the ones you and your coaches excel at coaching. One idea Sergia shared is having a referral program between local studios. This would mean if a student goes to Studio A and for some reason it doesn’t work out, Studio A can refer the student to Studio 1 and Studio 1 gives Studio A a finders fee. This can be a two way street!

Community Focused

When we work together, we are stronger.

Collaboration between pole-prenuers helps us all grow in new and sometimes unexpected ways. While the pole industry is full of world-class competitions, there is also room for collaboration and lifting each other up (literally and figuratively)!