As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.
Yes, all good things, but at the same time, though the process of growth and improvement is a force that compels us all to not remain static. Businesses that don’t constantly grow and improve themselves eventually stagnate and die.
When we leased our first space we thought we’d have a presence there for many years but The Music Studio of Warrensburg has grown at a rate that I certainly didn’t think was possible in this short of a period of time.
Needless to say that the excitement over this growth has been personally rewarding and has certainly made me re-think a lot of things!
Over the past twenty months we’ve had a lot of experiences, some of those not very pleasant, but most of them have been positive experiences and opportunities to grow and be open to different things.
The decision…
The decision to close our original facility was something I certainly didn’t expect I’d be making for at least another year. Sometimes, though, extraneous events and occurrences force us to move forward and such was the case with Twister Sports.
I won’t go into details but, suffice it to say, there are great differences in our respective views of what a music studio is and what it does between us and them. Our’s is not “just another after school activity,” In fact, we see it as so much more than just an activity that kids do. We change lives; we build character while teaching the value of hard work and persistence. Most important, though, we place what’s best for kids ahead of all other considerations including making a profit!
We also don’t believe that our business, procedures, and policies are, or should be, subject to the approval or concurrence with another business owner. As an independent business, our hands were unreasonably tied with what we could offer kids at our original location. Being able to bring on new programs (theatre being a significant one) without undue restrictions or requirements of another, unaffiliated business isn’t conducive to our growth. In short, we choose to not associate our business with people who don’t have our best interests at heart or would resort to childish games, intimidation, breaking promises, or denying access! We can’t recommend that others do, either…
The Good News is this:
To say that the relationship has been strained is an understatement but, at the same time, that strain resulted in The Music Studio opening a second location, creating a highly visible entertainment opportunity for the community, and bring more students into our all-inclusive family. Without that strain, we might not be where we are now! We are especially excited to say that we’ve actually experienced a surge in enrollments, most citing that they prefer that we are on our own and not at our previous location!
That old, favorite sweater…
While we are disappointed that we are closing our Twisters location, it’s also like a favorite childhood sweater that you’ve outgrown – there will always be a level of nostalgia for that first sweater, but the new one fits better and is one that we knitted ourselves. You don’t want to wear it any longer but it also defines you and your “style!”
So, as we move on to the next stage of our history, we are grateful for our time at our original facility in that it allowed us to learn valuable lessons as well as developing a business beyond doing “just one thing.”
What is it?
In the movie “City Slickers” the character of Curly, the tough, seasoned cowboy tells the rookie cowhands this:
Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? [holds up one finger] This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean ****.
Mitch: But, what is the one thing?
Curly: [smiles] That’s what you have to find out. ”
Well, for us that ‘one thing’ is always doing right by kids and putting their interests first. That applies to everything we have done, are doing, and will do in the future!
All good things…
And so it goes…