paintilady
Forum Replies Created
-
Interesting that they ask you to link a credit card, I thought Pay Pal was really an option for those wishing to use their bank account instead of a credit card.
What happens if you do not own credit cards? I currently have no credit cards linked to my Pay Pal account, but then I ‘ve had it for years.
-
I’m going to mention something we have tried. NO Antiperspirant under your arms! It works for some people! You stop an awful lot of sweat in one area of your body and it has to come out somewhere. Use deodorant, or nothing.
We have experimented with this and have found results. The results may not be huge but they work and when you eventually get callus’s on your hands, you won’t have to worry about it.
-
Tucson! Heart of Conservative land!
-
Robynpoledancer,
What kind of surgery did you have? Did you have a rotator cuff tear?
Firstpastthepost at your age, shoulder injuries are going to be easier to do and take much longer to repair. I am just about your age and have been told by my Dr he starts seeing lots of what he calls "over head" athletes in his office in their mid 40s and way more in their 50's. Those who do arms over head sports. According to him, you body just starts breaking down and some people just can not continue at the level they did when they were young. A real disappointment when you are healthy strong, and not ready to cut back on progress on the pole. 🙁
In Jan I was diagnosed by him after X-rays to rest and go to therapy. I did not rest enough. The pain went some but never all the way. I went back in July and demanded an MRI a very costly procedure. It turns out I had calcium deposits on my bone under my cuff that were getting large and growing out into my tendons, very painful and by now a very tiny tear in my rotator cuff. To repair this is surgery and about a year off to recover and get strength back. At my age I don't know if I will do it, it is very painful surgery and a long recovery. Right now I am completely off the pole pretty much, the pain has went away with about 10 weeks rest I have lost lots of strength and have been battling weight gain with trying to replace pole with other physical exercise. Tendons do not heal themselves. You have to have surgery.
In order to guard your shoulders you really should not ever jump into or use momentum into such difficult moves, and if you can not hold the moves properly you will run the risk of injury.
I would advise anyone who is having pain during sleep in their shoulders and think they have a problem, demand an MRI from you doctor, you may be diagnosed properly earlier and not have went through what I did. My shoulders hurt during sleep more than during the day. MRI's are very expensive and usually they do X-rays first tell you to do therapy rest. Tears can not be seen by X-rays at least not mine, and sometimes calcium deposits are hard to see. I don't even know why they want X-rays if you have more than likely a muscle or tendon problem.
I hope you rest, stay off the pole and don't over do it for your shoulders when you get back on.
-
We have seemed to manage well, with drop in classes and our policy of we don't like anyone to share poles. I tell students that sharing poles a few times a year is worth it instead of having to reserve poles, un reserve and get your card charged because you reserved a pole and did not show up and we turned ladies away. They understand.
We have 9 poles in one room about 1200 square feet and 6 poles in room 2. Our unlimited class members don't ever seem to get so many that we can't handle it or classes get over crowded, I think this is because of the type of town we live in and the conservative nature of this town, and apprehension to pole dancing here, and our location. We some how are just steady eddy, kind of full and not having an over full problem.
If we had 18 ladies show up and they were unlimited members, we would have to add classes. it would not work for us.
What does seem to overflow our classes are punch cards, drop ins, or some kind of payment option for beginners with no commitment. They don't come regularly, and it is hard to gage when to add classes. For this reason our regulating members seems to be related to price and packages that require commitment, like 2 month commitment of unlimited classes. We figure out who comes when and get to know our students and add classes when asked to. With this type of payment options many don't come and it is just as well, students really need to come on a regular basis, to get better. Drop ins, punch cards and week passes are only for our intermediate advanced students that fare better with coming to pole less frequent. They have to have been around a while to get that payment type option. This is what works for us.
Only in our slow season which is Holidays, Thanksgiving to New Years when classes are empty, people are traveling and busy do we bring back drop ins, punch cards and weekly passes for beginners. It is at this time classes change a little with more infrequent type students and not so many regulars.
If there are a couple extra that show up to a class the teacher gives up her pole and demonstrates moves and has the whole class work on moves instead of a routine. If there are a few extra that show up we may turn the class into some kind of fun rotation workshop kind of like Curves, where everyone moves from pole to pole with specific moves in between poles like somersaults, lunges, pirouettes, then a spin on a pole move on and a new move on the next pole and it turns into a circuit, with teacher leading. Class really only does moves they are familiar with or easy. It becomes a workout with emphasis on fluid movement, and creativity of the individual getting to do the move on the poles they are familiar with. This is for beginner types. The in between pole parts are where student have to work on walking from pole to pole slinky, sexy or getting to the other pole in some way other than just a boring walk. This they are not use to doing and brings something unexpected to class they have to focus on.
Intermediate pole members we are never too full, only beginning pole can be over full.
More often than not we take over flow into room 2, pull out the newest members and work with them. This only happens maybe not even 10 times year!
-
Korinne is right! If you have a shortish pole, spin pole will work better as you can climb, pose and practice maintaining a position, then invert into a leg hook, maybe slide down a little pull back up, and by keeping yourself on the pole, and not touching the floor much but you can concentrate holding poses on a spinning pole ….. building strength, and learning transitions in and out of moves while you are "stuck" on the pole. At least that's what I find feels better on a shortish pole. If that makes sense. Since climbing up and transitioning down a tall pole is not possible try maintaining poses in the middle of the pole, it's a whole different pole world! Hopefully you have spiny mode!
🙂
-
I am disappointed that Pole Sleeve did not have at Pole Expo the 1.50 inch competition grade pole with a sleeve on it. I ordered the sleeve for a 45 mm pole and the sleeve put the pole back to 2 inches. I sent the sleeve back and ordered the super skinny pole and sleeve.
With all the complaints about how thick the pole gets once you put the sleeve on a 45 or 50 mm pole you think they would have brought a sleeve and a super skinny pole which would have made everyone happy, but then it was designed by a dude! Not a lady!
Platinum stages makes a 1.50 pole and the sleeve on it is much better! A sleeve is good for trick and strength training, posing and really helps with certain things but you absolutely stick to the pole and can not spin or slide. It should be viewed as supplemental pole equipment and can aid a lot in training, but not replace an ordinary pole when you have slip problems.
The problem with the 1.50 pole is the thickness of it makes it not suitable for a removable pole and it must be screwed to the ceiling and floor. Not really a huge problem if you are not afraid of filling holes in the ceiling or floor when you leave your place.
Over all the pole sleeve in my opinion is a great option, wish it was thinner like bicycle tubing and not so thick of a rubber. If it were, you might just be satisfied with it on a 45 mm pole.
-
I hope you love your Brass pole! Yuma is a little hotter than Tucson, and we love Brass here.
I heard from some of our students, who moved here from Yuma, there is a pole studio right across the border in Mexico, not to far from Yuma, about 20 minutes. They bring in some Pole Champions for workshops, have you heard of it? You might want to look into it, or send me an email and I'll find out for you…
-
We had Platinum Stainless poles and in Arizona, it is dry and very hot, and people tend to sweat easily. We acquired a Pole Danzer pole in our studio and it does have superior spinning capability. We bought it as it was less expensive than Platinum.
It was the only brass pole in the studio and ladies started fighting for it, and swearing they stuck better. We gradually changed out all our stainless poles for Brass Poles from Platinum.
My original reason for picking Platinum stages is they did make a great pole and were manufactured in America. Since my background is in Bronze casting, I watched many foundries in America close due to high environmental fees, high cost of copper and cheap competition from other countries. I chose to stay with and buy from American Manufactures as I believe I should support them. I also did not see the good reason to choose a pole that was "plated" like silver jewelry where the plating would wear off, so we went brass. Brass is a soft metal, it can flex more, warp more and is harder to work with and manufacture than stainless. Warped poles are easy to fix.
This being said, I do have to agree their customer service is not so great if you want something taken care of easily and quickly. The Brass poles we have we love. We stick well, I never have ever heard anyone talk about a "smell" from brass.
For our studio sticking on a pole is so important that if they stick "too" much, we have a really cheap brand of hand lotion by the Rubbing alcohol to use so they can get a little more slippier. But if you sweat a lot or easily in a very hot environment like here Brass is what works.
Platinum Stages poles are brass Tubing, so they will remain solid brass, and with the cost of copper being so high and rising, they are expensive. Since Brass is at least 63% copper, it can be expensive, and with copper mines in this country being forced on the way out they will only get more expensive, the metal is softer so manufacturing these poles is way more difficult and problems arise. All Brass tubing from various companies have different recipes as to how much copper is in brass, this is why they can turn green if you don't use them!
As for joints, they sometimes slip and unscrew, this is rare, I have had these poles replaced. Multi piece poles if you do not take them apart will be impossible to get apart without strap wrenches and a Vice Bench Clamp cushioned with a yoga mat. I've learned how to get these poles apart with tools and not damage them.
Never heard of PS pole cracking, that's odd seems like PS should replace those.
PS was talking of a single pole with option for extending, they can't seem to get that done, it would be the most wonderful thing they could do.
PS multi piece poles can get stuck together really hard if you leave them up for a while and never take them down. Strap wrenches, Vice Grips, both of these tools or a work bench with a vice grip will be needed to get them apart. A good motorcycle shop has these tools and taught me how to use them. For a small cash tip, you can usually go in and have them get your pole apart for you, if you line their vice with a yoga mat.
Vinegar on Brass, not a good idea. Red rot is a de-zincification of the metal, leaving behind the copper, which is more brittle (brass is an alloy of zinc and copper.)
-
Private Parties are actually my favorite part of our pole studio! The ladies that come to parties are a whole different crowd than our regular students. Bachelorette parties are huge, and in these ladies come to have the time of their life, do things they would not ordinarily do, they are willing to pay for a really good experience. Keeping all that in mind, most often than not, they are not the "fit type" crowd. Many do not work out ever, have children full time jobs, and only want to try something fun. There often is the mom, aunt or older one tagging along with much younger ones, so the crowd can be mixed in ages and abilities.
So in our parties we have certain routines mapped out that we have memorized and quickly change out certain moves if the party is not physically fit. Like SunshineKonigin, we teach to the least fit in the crowd. The moves tend to be much easier, we are focused on fun, not fitness which our regular classes are, we throw in sexy moves. We keep High heels in our dressing room a huge shelf full of them just for party goers to put on and dance in. Our regular students do not want to use the shoes….
Our regular students want fitness type pole classes and are not so excited about a sexy styled class. Our parties though tend to be quite the opposite, for one night in their life they want to let their inner stripper out!, they want to dance to music, learn a few cool moves, take lots of pictures, and pretend they were a pole dancer for one evening. They want to feel beautiful, sexy, and not worry about looking silly. We have learned how to pose the whole party for pictures at the end and even video their dance routine for them if they bring a camera or phone that can.
Simple body waves, step around type moves, kick and slides, a little floor work ( unless you have ladies that are quite heavy, have bad knees, or look like getting up and down off the floor will be a struggle.) If this type of crowd shows up, you have to change your routine to take out floor moves, and make it more dancy. We usually don't put in any feet off the ground type moves like spins. Any type of pole move that is not easy becomes frustrating, when the party thought they would show up and "dance" sexy on a a pole.
Coming up with super easy moves, and not going to the floor at all, can be a challenge, and you will learn quickly that party goers, at least in my experience are not interested in doing anything that requires work, or is complicated. So think fun pole dancing. Its that easy, Make it really easy, have them learn a mini routine, at if you can let one of them or you film them on the camera they brought all doing the routine.
The atmosphere in our studio for parties is dark, we have out rope lights on, a disco ball, music playing louder than usual when they arrive, this atmosphere is crucial I think to helping the party keep in the "party" spirit. Sometimes we even pick out "stripper names" You have to guage the crowd on this, and so far they always love this part.
(this was suggested quite a few times by parties so I picked up the suggestion and now suggest it) Many can not think up cute names so we have a list for them to choose from, this helps them put on a fun personality for an evening, and keeps them in the party mood. Calling them their "fun" name for the evening helps change the whole mood of the class, as they all take on their sexy personalities and play along. Name Picking happens while they are putting on their heels and filling out forms,
I love parties, they are really fun, not serious and we hope those ladies leave with some experience they will truly cherish and never forget.
-
But you will have to cut out a small circle for the bottom of the pole to go through and still be on the carpet, because once you tighten up the pole and it is on they vinyl the vinyl won't be flat, if that makes sense.
-
You might try vinyl flooring, they type that comes in roles, cut out a huge circle and place it under your pole… it will be slippery enough that socks or trixie toes type footwear will work.
-
Well maybe the term apprentice is not a good one, these apprentice's are paid teachers. We do have them also help out in classes. This puts 2 teachers to 9 students, It's pretty safe and beginners aren't doing anything dangerous. Teachers with years of experience teach intermediate class. I use the term apprentice because they are helping in peculiar classes but they teach regular beginning pole. My teachers are covered under my insurance whether they teach at my studio or some where off premise.
We do not ever let students help each other ever. It is not allowed, Teachers have to go through lots of training, and continue training.
-
I do have Pandora right now, we pay for the version where there are no commercials. But I understand we can not use it in the studio any more.
The $300.00 is what it would cost to pay all three licensing agencies. Actually more, And I only have one studio.
Webmaster, Why would any amount be considered excessive? There comes a point when the licensing fees from Cities, taxes, cost of insurance, all kinds of costs just keep going up and new costs coming in cut the profit to a point it gets difficult. Pole studios in cities like the one we live in or small businesses for that matter are closing at an alarming rate.
My water bill has more that doubled in one year, electric has skyrocketed with all kinds of fees on the bill, taxes and fees are just going up. The public only wants to pay so much for pole classes. Kind of at that point.
-
I think $300.00 a year is excessive
-
The price they are trying to make me pay is prohibitive,
There is no "pole dance studio" they have ballet, jazz, combination, and are trying to bill us at over $100.00, but three licensing places at $100.00 a month is over $300.00 a year, or more, and we are a small studio. Which now needs to raise prices in a small broke town or figure something else out. They are trying to go back and get us to pay several years back.
This we can not afford.
-
Thak you!
-
So if students play their own music, on our system… it means "I " played it?
If we have to pay 3 licensing organizations, and who knows if there will be more it will be out of our price range. What options do we have?
🙁
-
Interesting forum,
It's so long, I did not read it entirely. But I have something to say. If you are a highly creative individual, this might apply.
I traveled to Venice a few years back and being a fine artist was so excited to go and meet fellow artisans. I dreamed about Venice, I met there a group of men in a small bar where they all hung out at night. My husband found it actually, I fell asleep early he wandered next door and the next morning took me to meet 3 of the fellow gents from the evening before,
A Glass blower, Boat restoration/builder, Frame maker, carver of gold leaf angels cupids and ornate objects placed in palaces and churches, … They were Venetian, and spoke the language, their families had been Venecians for many years.
In the evenings, these men all came to their favorite hang out and complained about the life that had been laid out for them generations ago. They had all been brought up by parents in the "trade" they were in and inherited the business. Complained about learning to glass blow by merely 5 years old with shelves of evidence, which I traveled to an island with him to see, his families history. Master Glass blower and gilt frame maker angel carver complained. Their shops were adorable, the tourists lined up, "they hated their jobs" They were so jealous of us Americans who could just "pick" a career, a new life and go for it, and make lots of money, be free! That was what they thought.
I so wanted to just be the guy in the little gold angel frame shop who worked on ancient frames some from before Christ was born! with built in clients and be surrounded with such history.
I learned a lot on that trip about careers, family, expectations. Finding the perfect happy career, and actually making the money you wish to make consistently, while having the freedom to be creative and just do what you would like to…. is very very rare.
Even Michael Angelo had to paint the church ceiling, I am sure he wished he was doing something else.
I guess the silver lining is do what you love, be it glass blowing, painting or teaching pole, be be aware that you may have to paint something you don't want to, or teach a type of pole class that bores you, or blow the same stupid glass for the mass of tourists waiting for it. Be happy you are in your "field", finding the perfect field and then getting total freedom to do what ever in that field, usually does not happen. Can…. but usually not. Be happy you can support a family while many never figue out how…
I was some how jealous of the fact they had a built in secure job waiting for them for which they had been groomed for, a shop they inherited with clients going back decades. The built in success of that was astonishing, what was surprising was how unhappy they were…. and in America the fear of starting a new business, is so daunting many do not even try, they stay in dead end jobs unhappy. But how unhappy are we all if we reallyl compared all the parts?
It can be scary to dream up a business and then learn to adapt quickly to your environment and clients, and you sometimes end up producing not at all what you dreamt about, but being close is way better than being very far away in an office cubicle when you really wish you could be in water and on sand, or on a pole, or in front of an easel.
That trip taught me much in the phyche of a business woman, the path is complex and you must be aware of it's truth, The truth is you get to do what you love, just may be a variation of it…. If you want security, if you want a stable income with a nice home husband, children, you might have to sacrifice some of it. But be thankful, you get to be in the field.
If you want something special you must be prepared to really sacrifice for it, maybe everyting.
-
About Music Licensing
It seems there are 3 agencies, BMI, ASCAP and SESAC.
So far, ASCAP has been contacting many many business's and demanding payment, only to find out BMI ad SESAC follow.
How do you really figure out if you have to pay all three which would not be affordable?
We often have our own students hook up their play list or phone to our system for a variety in Music, what is the rule for this kind of music playing in a pole studio? Especially for parties,
-
I should add the apprentice already knows what to teach. She already knows all the levels of a move from beginning to the advanced version. She is not being taught how to teach in these classes. She already knows if there is a climbing workshop she helps beginners with a very basic pull up a basic climb, while the teacher is working with advanced students working on an advanced climb and so on.
-
We have a 9 pole room and 6 pole room. We only allow one lady to pole. All Drop in classes. Our classes are Beginner drop in or Intermediate Advanced drop in. We also have a slow season and when we are slow we only use our 9 pole room as the smaller room can not be cooled efficiently in summer ( our slow season) and this gives us several mixed classes.
We have learned some tricks to alleviate this very problem you are talking about. 1st, we always have an approved apprentice who HAS to be our mixed class, ( or the owner of the studio or another teacher) we have two or three of these a week. The apprentice is training to teach, she is there to help the teacher. Teacher instructs her how to work with beginners as teacher works with intermediate students. I am often there floating around watching how class goes. So, we always have 2 instructors. Actually one teacher and one apprentice helper, or me.
To make these classes easier, we make the mixed classes have a plan that can work with beg and adv students, like Pole Boot Camp, a special workshop like inversion workshop or a Cardio boot, or climbing workshop. In boot camp every one is doing the same thing with variations on spins and climbs, class is divided and teacher leads at front of class demonstrating beginning moves while advanced students know how to already advance such moves. Basic climb for beginners, advanced climb for adv students and so on. Not much new is taught in these mixed classes advanced students get taught new moves in their own advanced class.
An inversion workshop will have lots of things related to inverting, ab work, crunches on pole for beginners while intermediates can advance the crunches. Begin with strength training and move on to Beginners lay on floor and bring legs up to pole to learn proper leg placement. Advanced will be inverting from floor or up on the pole. Maybe some hand stand work, but what ever is taught that day depending on who shows up everyone is doing the same type of move at different levels. This way the whole class is doing the same thing.
A climbing workshop is run the same way, we find this works a lot better than everyone doing something different.
We have had to separate our int/adv from beginners. The mixed classes all the time just don't work anymore once you get some advanced students. This can make it hard on a studio having more classes with fewer students in them. But the health of the student, and teacher student relationship works a lot better. They also get more attention with a teacher and owner floating around the back of the studio and one lady per pole.
-
I am not selling just the poles at this time. I am selling the running studio.
The person who buys it, can step in and run it.
Thanks
-
Yes, I will retire in a few years, We want to move to the tropics! I'ts a fun little business!
-
I wonder where you live? An Intro to pole class at $10.00? That is so inexpensive I don't think we could make it with that. Tucson is a low dollar town and people don't want to pay anything here, but that seems to be severely undercutting what would seem necessary to pay rent, overhead and only keep one lady per pole. Unless you had scads of classes all day.
Bachelorette parties are a good idea, they actually do help pay the bills and keep our membership prices low. I have a separate web site to catch Bachelorette Party goers looking for something fun, and try to advertise these parties in so we can let them know we are here. If we did not have these parties, our prices would have to go up.
