A little over a year ago we announced that we were starting Dynamic Music Studios. It has been a year of growth, excitement, frustration, and pure joy! We are so thankful to all of our friends, families, and students/families that have made this endeavor possible. I want to take some time to thank some other special people who helped get us on our feet.
We have an amazing group of people who make up our Friends of DMS donors. Many people donated dollars or services to help with start-up costs. You can become a friend of DMS at any time and we are so grateful to everyone on this list!
There were a few spectacular teachers who took time out of their busy schedules to meet with me or all of the owners to help answer questions about running a multi-teacher studio or a brick-and-mortar studio. Jenna Hardy Pedersen at JJ School of Music spent some time with me discussing how she runs her amazing studio in Spirit Lake, Iowa, and provided tons of great insight on group classes and scheduling. Christin Coffee Rondeau is running an awesome collaborative studio, Sand Dollar Music in multiple states and really helped us in the areas of time and task management with multiple owners. Rebecca Pieper told us about her amazing community at the mUsik makers and all of the awesome services they offer their clients.
Michelle Markwart Deveaux at the Speakeasy Cooperative has been an invaluable resource in so many ways. But I want to especially thank her for helping me personally work through the decision to start this business. She talked me down more than once and has created the most supportive and amazing community of voice teachers. All of her knowledge and guidance has helped many amazing voice teachers become their best Beasty Boss business owners.
Everyone in the Speakeasy Cooperative has been so supportive and insightful as well. Many of you have expressed your support and excitement for this business and have been so willing to share your knowledge and help me learn about commercial rentals, press releases, and so much more! I am so grateful for each and every one of you.
To our SCORE Mentors, Robert Kazimour, Leland Smithson, DJ Smith thank you so much for the hours of your time that you spent with all of us to help guide us through the logistics of starting a business. Your knowledge was invaluable and really saved us so much time.
There were many artists/businesses who collaborated with DMS and we would like to thank them as well. Heather Henning at CliftonMarie Photography took the most amazing promo photos for our website and she got some amazing teaching shots as well. Kyle Sleichter at Iowa’s Photographer spent almost an entire day with us to document our grand opening in September! Kahle at Prairie Patch Farm has been so amazing by coming by our open house with llamas and also allowing us to have a fantastic Halloween recital at her farm. We would also like to thank Evan Hilsabeck loaning us his spectacular Yamaha upright piano, the piano students have been loving the opportunity to play such a beautiful instrument.
I am sure there are many more people I could be thanking individually…please know that we are all so grateful for the amazing support this community has offered us as we get on our feet. We are so excited for the bright future of Dynamic Music Studios and all of the amazing music we will be making in years to come. We plan to continue our mission of Educating, Empowering, and Emboldening our students!
Written by Dr. Jessica Saunders, voice instructor and owner of Dynamic Music Studios.
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