Introduction

My name is Carlos Chapeton. I am a studio owner, father, husband, and the marketing director for Small Fry Dance Club and Principal Creative & Performing Arts. I have started this blog to pass along all the knowledge I have acquired over the past 11 years of running a successful studio. My background is not in dance. I have a degree in multimedia. My main focus has been working on websites and graphic design with a focus on marketing. I have also dabbled in 3D game modeling. Over the years I worked for startup companies and taught college courses at a local community college.

I have to acknowledge that all this would not be possible without my wife, Jana. She was the one who started us on this journey. It was her vision, her experience, and her dance education that enabled us to launch our own studio. I hopped in board when I realized that our backgrounds would make a good pairing. I ran the website and marketing and it was my job to get the bodies in the door. It was her teaching and dance expertise that kept the kids coming back for more.  While this blog is my own, she will definitely have her input in my posts.

Getting multiple points of view

Apart from my own experience and my wife’s expertise, I will be reaching out to other studio owners around the country on a variety of topics to give you their input. One of the lessons I have learned over the years of running a studio is that not every idea works for every studio. Different part of the country need different approaches to solving business problems. Understanding your region and demographics is vitally important. If I can show you ideas from studios that match your needs, then hopefully we can all improve together.

How we began

Today we have a 4 room studio with over 900 dancers enrolled in our peak months. It’s a long way from where we started. My wife launched our business on her own by teaching on site at local preschools. It started with just a few location and a handful of students. Over the years are our business grew we took risks, first renting space on the weekends from a local school, then opening our own one room studio, and finally expanding in the location we are in today. Our studio is based in San Mateo, Ca. Right in the heart of Silicon Valley about half way between San Francisco and San Jose.