No Bras Required

Stop Hiring Unicorns! Why Your Dance Studio Job Description Is Setting You Up to Fail Does anyone know someone? If that's your current hiring strategy, we need to have a little chat. 😂 Hiring for your dance studio can feel like a full-time job in itself. You need someone who loves people, can handle chaos, answers emails, manages the front desk, organises events, understands technology, solves problems, keeps everyone happy and somehow knows exactly what you need before you've even asked. Oh, and you'd ideally like them to do all of that for a very reasonable hourly rate. Sound familiar? In this episode, we're getting into the foundations of hiring, starting BEFORE you even post the job. Because sometimes the problem isn't that you can't find good people. It's that you're asking one person to do three different jobs, haven't clearly explained what the role involves, and are hoping a magical unicorn will appear. We're sharing real experiences, mistakes we've made, and practical ways to create a job description that attracts the right people and helps the wrong people recognise that the role isn't for them. In this episode, we chat about: Why a group text asking if anyone knows someone isn't a hiring strategy. How to define the actual job before writing the job advertisement. The difference between what you WANT someone to do and what you NEED them to do. Why hiring someone to take everything off your plate isn't always realistic. How to match your expectations to the salary you're offering. Why clear schedules, responsibilities and compensation matter. How to make your job description attract the right personality, not just a list of qualifications. Where to find potential candidates and why you should use at least three different sourcing channels. Why referrals are great, but everyone still needs to go through the same hiring process. How to use screening questions and practical tasks to learn more about applicants. Why a 30, 60 and 90-day roadmap makes expectations clearer for everyone. How to hire someone whose strengths complement yours rather than simply hiring another version of yourself. A little homework for this week: Before you post another job, grab a blank page and: Write down the five core tasks you actually need this person to do. Separate the qualifications required on day one from the things you can teach. Identify three places where you'll advertise the position. Decide on one clear application process. Ask someone outside your industry to read your job description and explain the job back to you. If they can't tell you what the job actually involves, it's time for a rewrite! Come and chat with us! Have a job description you're not quite sure about? Remove the names and identifying details and share it in the No Bras Required Facebook group. We'd love to give you some feedback and help translate those mysterious job-posting phrases. And save this episode for your next hiring round. Your future self will thank you. Next week: Interviews! How to get past a lovely conversation and find out how someone actually works. Because sometimes you finish an interview knowing everything about their personal life but absolutely nothing about whether they can do the job. 😂

Are we giving our kids enough room to actually be kids? Last week, we started talking about the pressure we put on our kids, sometimes intentionally and sometimes without even realising we're doing it. This week, we're picking that conversation back up and asking a pretty uncomfortable question: Are we accidentally turning childhood into one long performance review? Between school, dance, sports, music, tutoring, competitions, homework, leadership, practice, volunteering and trying to keep up with everyone else, some kids are basically holding down a full-time job before they've even finished school. And then we wonder why they're exhausted. In this episode, we talk about the difference between healthy commitment and overwhelm, why unstructured time matters, how to recognise burnout, and why excellence doesn't have to mean perfection. We also get into the tricky bit for parents and coaches: knowing when to encourage a child to push through something hard, and when their behaviour is telling you that something genuinely needs to change. Because yes, kids need to learn perseverance. But perseverance shouldn't mean ignoring persistent exhaustion, anxiety, pain, bullying or an unhealthy environment. And maybe most importantly, we talk about what we hope our kids actually remember about childhood. Spoiler alert: it probably won't be every medal. In this episode, we chat about: Why some kids are basically working a full-time job after school The difference between being committed and being chronically overwhelmed Why kids need unstructured time, boredom and space to just play What COVID taught us about the importance of social development and connection Why high-achieving kids can be especially vulnerable to burnout The difference between being tired of something and simply being tired How parents can recognise when an activity has stopped being healthy or enjoyable Why excellence and perfection are two very different things Making room for kids who love an activity without wanting to compete at the highest level Five simple ways to reclaim a little more childhood without reorganising your entire family life The five shifts we challenge you to try: 1. Change the first question you ask. Instead of automatically asking, "Did you win?" or "How did you do?", try: "What was the best part?" "What surprised you?" "What challenged you?" "What would you like to tell me?" 2. Protect some unscheduled time. Look at the family calendar and ask whether there's actually room for boredom, spontaneous play, friends, quiet time or absolutely nothing. 3. Celebrate qualities beyond performance. Notice kindness, courage, curiosity, honesty, humour, persistence and how your child treats other people. 4. Review commitments, not just calendars. Ask your child what's feeling good, what's feeling hard, and what they'd like more or less of. Their answers don't have to dictate every family decision, but they should be part of the conversation. 5. Spend time together without an agenda. Cook together. Walk together. Watch a movie. Play a game. Clean the house with music blasting. And most importantly, don't turn every moment into a lesson, assessment or conversation about their progress. Sometimes connection is enough. THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE Create one pocket of time with your child where nothing needs to be achieved. Let them choose what you do. And just enjoy being together. No performance review required. Because childhood isn't just preparation for adulthood. It's a life they're living right now.

When did childhood become a résumé? Somewhere between the packed schedules, dance competitions, travel teams, grades, auditions, rankings, AP classes, college applications and approximately 8,000 extracurricular activities, we have to ask ourselves a pretty uncomfortable question: Are our kids actually getting to be kids anymore? This week, Patti and Meghan get well and truly onto their soapboxes as they unpack the pressure kids are facing to constantly achieve, improve, perform and prove themselves. And because these two are incapable of having one simple conversation without wandering into approximately seventeen other topics, they also talk about education, parenting, boys, dance competitions, behaviour, boredom, unstructured play, teachers, screen time, executive functioning and the parents who are trying to live their unfinished business through their children. Basically, it's a lot. But underneath all the laughs and strong opinions is a really important question: Can we raise ambitious, motivated, coachable kids without making them feel like they're being evaluated every minute of every day? Patti and Meghan talk about what happens when achievement becomes part of a child's identity, why the way we respond to competition results matters, why kids need opportunities to experience disappointment, and why a little boredom might actually be good for them. They also get into something particularly close to their hearts as studio owners: what happens when we take something a child once loved and turn it into another opportunity to perform. Because your five-year-old probably doesn't need a personal brand and a scholarship strategy just yet. In this episode, they talk about: When fun became a résumé. Remember doing something simply because you loved it, without needing to become exceptional at it? The pressure to overachieve. AP classes, extracurriculars, sport, dance, jobs, friends, relationships and somehow still finding time to sleep. Why achievement shouldn't equal worth. A first-place trophy, an A or making the varsity team doesn't make a child more lovable, valuable or worthy. How parents respond to competition results. Kids notice the difference between a polite clap and the full Grand Poobah celebration. Why children aren't our unfinished business. Their talents, dreams and interests belong to them, not to the version of ourselves we wish we'd been. The importance of fundamentals. Progress isn't always about moving forward. Sometimes you need to go back and strengthen the foundation. Why unstructured play matters. Kids learn negotiation, flexibility, problem solving, imagination and emotional regulation by figuring things out themselves. Why boredom isn't necessarily the enemy. Sometimes the best thing we can do when a child says "I'm bored" is... nothing. Letting kids experience manageable failure. We can't constantly pull them up the hill. Sometimes real-life consequences teach what lectures can't. The difference between supporting and rescuing. We don't have to remove every moment of discomfort from our children's lives. One thing we'd love you to think about this week Ask yourself: Where in my child's life am I celebrating the learning, effort and growth, rather than just the outcome? And maybe, just maybe, leave a little space in the calendar for absolutely nothing. No lesson. No competition. No achievement. No résumé building. Just being a kid. And yes, there is absolutely more to say about this. Part two might be coming.

Is It Just Us, or Has the Entire World Lost Its Damn Mind? Have you ever opened your phone first thing in the morning and somehow managed to absorb a political argument, a global crisis, somebody else's drama, a parenting warning, a celebrity scandal and a sourdough recipe before you've even brushed your teeth? Yep. Us too. And honestly, we're tired. In this episode of No Bras Required, Patti and Meghan are talking about what happens when the sheer amount of information, outrage, opinions and bad news coming at us starts to feel like too much. Because we're still supposed to run our businesses, raise decent humans, remember everyone's birthdays, drink enough water, get our steps in and somehow answer the eternal question... "What's for dinner?" So how do we stay informed without becoming emotionally consumed? How do we care about what's happening in the world without carrying all of it around with us? And how do we give ourselves permission to laugh, have fun and actually enjoy our lives when other people are struggling? This one gets real. We talk about: Why we're consuming more information than our brains were ever designed to process. How algorithms can keep feeding us more and more of whatever grabs our attention. The difference between caring about something and being emotionally consumed by it. Why we don't have to turn every disagreement into a cage match. How social media has changed the way we disagree, debate and treat complete strangers. The importance of teaching our kids respectful disagreement while actually modelling it ourselves. Why "you never know what someone is going through" doesn't mean poor behaviour gets a free pass. The "pit of doom" and why a good friend throws you a ladder instead of climbing in with you. Why we need to stop postponing joy until the world is magically okay. How small moments of fun, laughter and connection can be incredibly important when life feels heavy. Five simple ways to bring a little more perspective, connection and joy into your week. And yes, there are also arguments about marshmallows, hot dogs, phones at dinner, empty milk cartons, printer ink and the never-ending question of what's for dinner. Because apparently that's how we process the state of the world. This week's gentle challenge Pay attention to the good. Look for the people doing the right thing. Be one of those people. And for the love of everything holy, find something to laugh about. Preferably with someone who makes you laugh so hard you nearly pee your pants. Because the world might be a dumpster fire, but you don't have to throw all of your joy into it. Take off the bra. Put on the stretchy pants. Call your best friend. We'll see you there.

What does it actually mean for a kid to be coachable? Because, spoiler alert, it doesn't necessarily mean they're quiet, obedient, or willing to do exactly what they're told. In this episode, we're joined by the brilliant Lauren Ritchie, a mindset and mental skills educator, speaker, choreographer and teacher, for a big, honest conversation about raising kids who can take feedback, work through frustration, own their mistakes and keep going when things get hard. And honestly, this conversation went ALL over the place in the best possible way. We talked about dance, parenting, education, studio culture, social media, boundaries, goal setting, difficult conversations, and why sometimes the best thing we can do for our kids is… not fix the problem for them. Lauren challenges the old-school idea that being coachable means compliance or submission. Instead, she describes a genuinely coachable dancer as someone who is open, curious, willing to reflect, adapt and take ownership. And then there's the flower analogy. Every correction is a flower. You can ignore it. You can take it and shove it in your dance bag. Or you can actually put it in water, give it sunlight and take care of it. We LOVE this one. A few things we unpack: 🌸 Coachable doesn't mean compliant. Being coachable isn't about becoming a robot who blindly follows instructions. It's about being open enough to ask questions, understand the why and actually use the feedback. 🌸 Connect before you correct. Kids are much more able to learn, grow and receive feedback when they feel safe, seen and connected to the adult in the room. 🌸 Your teacher doesn't have to be your best friend. There can be warmth, kindness and respect while still maintaining professional boundaries. In fact, those boundaries can make the coaching relationship stronger. 🌸 Feedback isn't a judgement of your worth. A correction is about something you can work on. It isn't evidence that you're bad at dancing, that you don't belong or that your teacher doesn't like you. 🌸 Stop rescuing kids from every uncomfortable feeling. Frustration, disappointment and struggle aren't automatically problems to solve. Sometimes they're part of the learning process. 🌸 Goals aren't magic wishes. Wanting a skill is only the beginning. Real goal setting involves monitoring, consistency, benchmarks, obstacles, adjustments and doing the boring broccoli work in between. 🌸 Parents can support without becoming the coach. Instead of immediately jumping in to fix the problem, try asking, "What are your options?" or "What could you ask your teacher to understand this better?" 🌸 Culture doesn't happen by accident. If we want coachable kids, resilient dancers and healthy studio communities, the adults have to model those things too. And perhaps one of our favourite reminders from the episode: "I care about who they are, not what they do." Because yes, we'd love the turns, the flexibility, the tricks and the beautiful routines. But we're raising humans first. And for the parents… If your child comes home frustrated about feedback, your first job doesn't have to be fixing it. You can listen. You can validate that it felt hard. You can give them a hug. And then, when they're ready, you can get curious together about what comes next. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can say is: "I'm on your team. Let's figure this out." And Lauren's other very important life advice? Do not trust an emotion after 9 p.m. Honestly, put that one on a T-shirt. 😂