In this week’s episode, I interview the lovely Sarah Jade. We talk about building Buttercup, maintaining a sense of community, and managing the studio. This is part one of a two-part episode. 

Sarah Jade has been dancing for 13 years. While working as a cocktail waitress in a club, Sarah found Pole Dancing. She quickly fell in love, began taking classes and teaching. After two years of teaching, Sarah Jade decided to open up her first studio. She has expanded three times and is now in an incredible 4,200 square foot space which houses a stage in the middle.

The Main Points

Build Me Up Buttercup!

• Sarah Jade says she started small and knew when it was time to expand – from 900 sq ft to 4,200 sq ft in 8 years!
• Sarah expanded within 8 months of the first studio opening.
• Reason for expansion – While Sarah loved offering unlimited memberships, her newer students were having a hard time getting into classes.
• She needed a larger space that would allow for more volume.
• Having more space meant being able to put two people to a pole. This made unlimited memberships more manageable.

Here We Grow Again

• Once Sarah expanded to Buttercup 3.0, she knew she wanted to offer a wider variety of classes and apparatus.
• An opportunity to have a space in the back of a PowerHouse Gym came up, and Sarah decided to jump in.
• This also meant she would have to pay rent at two places for an entire year, but she knew it was the right place.
• Team Buttercup converted a warehouse storage room into the current studio space.
• Sarah wanted to build a stage in the middle of the studio. *Credit to OG Buttercup for the idea (Sarah’s Mom ?)

We are Family

• Sarah needed a way to transform the storage space into three rooms – she would have two pole rooms and one dedicated aerial space.
• She looked at building temporary walls but found there costs to be too expensive.
• Instead, she would hang heavy curtains to separate the spaces.
• Because of this, she decided warms up would be done Family-Style.
• At the beginning of class, all the curtains are opened – one studio plays loud music and everyone warms up together… Like a family.
• Sarah says fostering a community is her philosophy behind running a successful small business.

She’s a Business

• Sarah finds balance through Team Buttercup. She credits the team with the studio’s success.
• She says she has always hired from within the studio. Primarily based on personality – And trust is key.
• Sarah explains the many benefits of having two people to a pole.
• She says this encourages friendships, gives people a break between moves, and gives an extra set of hands to clap for someone when they nail a move.
• Sarah offers different tiers of memberships ranging from 4 classes a month to unlimited. She also offers drop-in classes.

To Connect with Sarah Jade:
Instagram | Facebook | Website

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Want to hear more? Check out Episode #1!