Since March 2019 I have provided advice on various business issues to a social dance club based in Moscow.
The club is a private initiative, entirely self-supported. Two crowdfunding campaigns took place at some exceptional moments but, on a daily basis, all activities are sustainable and normally profitable. The club hosts a dance school with several dozen instructors give individual or group lessons. From three to five dance parties take place weekly, a big dance competition/ tournament is organised every quarter; there is a shop selling dance shoes, Russian-made or imported from Italy and Argentina.
The director of the club truly enjoys walking along the chosen path: promoting social dance. At the same time, he has to cultivate his ‘effective manager’ self, being solely responsible for paying the bills and compliance with multiple external requirements, from tax office claims to fire inspectorate evolving expectations.
The director and I have known each other for a long time, which helps to discuss business. A chit-chat can lead to a discussion on organisational development matters or turn into a problem solving session. We have tackled a number of tasks step by step, for example:
1) How to calculate the weighted average mark-up in a shop “as is” and set the optimum one;
2) Tools for managing routine tasks – I touched upon this Director’s ABC in my post “Service After the Virus”;
3) Review of Cash Flow and P&L, putting together a complete nomenclature of revenue sources and expenses, as preparation for an automated accounting solution;
4) Rebranding around the club’s mission and core values, to reboot relationship between club administration and paid staff after lockdown – this is touched upon, though just a bit, in my article “New Customer Expectations Raise The Bar” ;
5) Collecting feedback from external and internal clients, closing the loop.
…and counting.
