Are These Classes Draining Your Dance School Profits?
Fri Feb 06 2026
In this episode of the The Ultimate Dance Business Podcast, Deborah tackles one of the hardest decisions dance school owners face: keeping low-attendance classes on the timetable.
We all know the feeling. A handful of students love the class. It might be the highlight of their week. Cancelling feels personal. But when emotion leads the decision-making, your business often pays the price.
Deborah breaks down the real cost of running underperforming classes, why “it all balances out” rarely works, and how profitable classes end up subsidising loss-making ones. She walks through practical numbers, common scenarios, and a real-life example where cutting multiple red-flag classes resulted in more profit, retained students, and even a full night off.
This episode is about stepping out of guilt-driven decisions and into clear, grounded leadership. Your students are customers, not family, and your business needs to work for you too.
If you are working long hours, covering all your costs, but still taking home very little, this episode may explain why.
Thank you for listening. This show is brought to you by Dance Business Lab.
Book an evolution call with Deborah https://calendly.com/dancebusinesslab/30-minuteevolutioncall?month=2024-04
Dance Business Labs founder Deborah Laws is a multi-passionate dancepreneur, dance business expert and number one best selling author of The Ultimate Dance Business Planner. Deborah’s sole purpose is to help facilitate the personal journey and growth of dance business owners like you. Through Dance Business Lab membership and coaching programmes Deborah aims to empower you to learn more, implement new exciting strategies, create goals which Deborah will keep you accountable to and teach you leadership skills that will sky rocket your team and families to truly become your dream school.
To find out more about Dance Business Lab and work with Deborah head to https://dancebusinesslab.com
To find out more about working with Deborah through her exclusive Dance Business Lab membership programs follow the links below.
Sparks membership - https://dancebusinesslab.com/memberships/sparks
Ignite membership - https://dancebusinesslab.com/memberships/ignite
Illuminate membership - https://dancebusinesslab.com/memberships/illuminate
If you love the show and you would like to support then why not buy Deborah a coffee simply head to http://buymeacoffee.com/DeborahL
This podcast is produced by Creative Content Studio
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In this episode of the The Ultimate Dance Business Podcast, Deborah tackles one of the hardest decisions dance school owners face: keeping low-attendance classes on the timetable. We all know the feeling. A handful of students love the class. It might be the highlight of their week. Cancelling feels personal. But when emotion leads the decision-making, your business often pays the price. Deborah breaks down the real cost of running underperforming classes, why “it all balances out” rarely works, and how profitable classes end up subsidising loss-making ones. She walks through practical numbers, common scenarios, and a real-life example where cutting multiple red-flag classes resulted in more profit, retained students, and even a full night off. This episode is about stepping out of guilt-driven decisions and into clear, grounded leadership. Your students are customers, not family, and your business needs to work for you too. If you are working long hours, covering all your costs, but still taking home very little, this episode may explain why. Thank you for listening. This show is brought to you by Dance Business Lab. Book an evolution call with Deborah https://calendly.com/dancebusinesslab/30-minuteevolutioncall?month=2024-04 Dance Business Labs founder Deborah Laws is a multi-passionate dancepreneur, dance business expert and number one best selling author of The Ultimate Dance Business Planner. Deborah’s sole purpose is to help facilitate the personal journey and growth of dance business owners like you. Through Dance Business Lab membership and coaching programmes Deborah aims to empower you to learn more, implement new exciting strategies, create goals which Deborah will keep you accountable to and teach you leadership skills that will sky rocket your team and families to truly become your dream school. To find out more about Dance Business Lab and work with Deborah head to https://dancebusinesslab.com To find out more about working with Deborah through her exclusive Dance Business Lab membership programs follow the links below. Sparks membership - https://dancebusinesslab.com/memberships/sparks Ignite membership - https://dancebusinesslab.com/memberships/ignite Illuminate membership - https://dancebusinesslab.com/memberships/illuminate If you love the show and you would like to support then why not buy Deborah a coffee simply head to http://buymeacoffee.com/DeborahL This podcast is produced by Creative Content Studio