Business Spotlight: One Step at a Time

A semester into coursework at Ozarks Technical Community College, Obi Simpson had a realization. Little did he know, it’d turn him into a small-business owner.

“I realized going to college was going to teach me how to work a job, it was not going to teach me how to build a life,” Simpson says.

After getting rejected from the military because of a history of migraine headaches, Simpson turned to dance. He moved quickly from the first dance steps into a desire to teach, but Simpson says he was not a natural dancer.

“I practiced six days a week. Dancing grew on me,” he says.

Two years ago, at the age of 20, Simpson opened a private lesson studio in Glenstone Square under the banner Take the Lead LLC.

The company now employs seven adult fitness instructors, teaching ballet, jazz, hip-hop, Zumba and yoga dance classes.

After a slow, calculated start, Take the Lead this year changed its model to offer a $45 monthly unlimited pass for classes and stocked up on instructors, hiring five this summer. The company also tripled its dance floor space in April with another 1,000-square-foot studio leased in the center for group sessions. Simpson and company added seven classes and now offer 15 classes a week.

Take the Lead, co-owned with his wife, Kimberlee, previously operated a punch-card system with individual rates per class.

“People weren’t very adventurous to try new classes. One of the big personal development things is getting out and trying new stuff,” he says.

Footing the bill
Coupling his training and first work experience at Sonshine Performing Arts Academy with personal travels for instruction and circuit competition, Simpson says he’s discovered a parallel between dancing and interpersonal relationships.

“What it means to be an effective human being I’ve learned out there on the dance floor – everything from the roles we play as both leaders and followers in relationships and how that works in the bigger picture of getting things done,” he says. “The same principles apply in life.”

As his company’s lead social dance instructor, Simpson is working to turn his passion into a fiscally viable venture.

Last year, the company generated $25,000 in dance lesson revenue, largely from Simpson’s private lessons in the small Glenstone Square studio, 1740 S. Glenstone Ave. He also is hired to give group instructions at wedding receptions, fundraising dances and regular sessions at Kickapoo High School and for the Arc of the Ozarks.

“It’s crazy how few people dance at a fundraiser dance,” he says.

With the new program and additional classes underway, about 20 students have signed on in the first month. Kimberlee Simpson, who handles the company’s paperwork and business tasks outside of dance, says the model is built for 140 students, at which point they would need additional classrooms.

At that pace, she says revenue would triple. “It needs to move quickly to make it worthwhile,” says Simpson, who separately owns four-year-old Precision Therapeutic Massage.

Among Take the Lead’s new students is Heather Dixon, a photographer who owns Urban Grace Studios. With her unlimited pass, she’s taking four classes a week between jazz, ballet and hip-hop.

“My goal is to audition for ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’” Dixon says. “I’ve said for years I was going to try out. You can go up there and just audition, but then you risk the chance of getting on the bloopers reel.”

Dixon says she’s committed to one year of training before taking the plunge.

Obi Simpson says he encourages students to set their own goals, even if it’s just shedding a few pounds through the adult fitness dance classes. One of the most popular is Latin-based dance exercise Zumba, which Kimberlee Simpson says has grown each year since launching in the mid-2000s.

“That’s because it doesn’t feel like it’s exercise,” she says. “It’s not step aerobics. It’s dance. I’m anxious to see how the studio progresses with Zumba a part of it.”

‘Like opening a new business’
To manage the new programs, the Simpsons purchased MindBody software, prominent among yoga studios. For $70 per month, the software manages the classes and student progress and allows customers to manage their accounts online.

“This has been basically like opening a new business,” Obi Simpson says of the operational restructuring and the two months of work to get the larger suite ready.

The Simpsons installed new sprung flooring, plumbing and floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and repainted, raised the ceiling and tore down walls. They completed much of the work on their own to keep the cost around $10,000.

To build the company’s name online, the Simpsons have worked with Brian Ash of Calibrate Marketing for Web services and search engine optimization. Kimberlee Simpson first brought Ash on board for her massage company.

“Within four months working with him, I was page one, place one,” she said of her company’s Google search rankings.

Obi Simpson says he’s taking the business one step at a time.

“There’s no degree for passion, no degree for opening your life up to a specific plan of action. That’s something you have to figure out on your own,” he says.[[In-content Ad]]