Soose to the Rescue

Recently, a friend and I decided to start an ecommerce business, The Choreography Exchange. Actually, it was not so recently. We first thought up the idea over a year ago. We had a good idea of the function of the site and a very specific audience that we sought to target. However, the idea was soon put to bed when everything else got in the way. Maybe I should preface this business with a description of what we do.

We teach dance. Erica, my partner in crime, is also the owner of a dance studio, Dance Concepts, where I teach in Sandy, UT. Lately we have found that our old competition (yes, there are dance competitions- and they are huge) and recital choreography was sitting around unused. Some of it gets recycled every four or five years, but most of it is sitting neatly on a shelf is some type of notebook. Is it possible to sell our choreography for a small fee? Yes.

We searched the internet for weeks trying to find websites that did either what we were hoping to do, or something similar. What we found was both disappointing and enlightening. There were only a handful of sites that sold choreography, most sold full-length ‘how to’ videos, a few had combinations (short pieces of choreography) YouTube style and only one had actual recital and competition dances available for individual purchase. Bingo! It was exactly what we were looking for. The site, Music Works Unlimited, has quite a few categories including dance types, levels and ages. But- and I hate to say it- the caliber of the choreography pieces just was not good enough. We wanted to put out quality over quantity, bring in noted choreographers and make some money on the side- not just us, but the choreographers too.

We did a lot of research before deciding to go ahead with the website. In short, we had to make sure that there was a market for what we were trying to do. There is. We also had to establish whether the market was saturated or not- and it isn’t. Before beginning a new business venture of any kind, you must know the basics, audience and market. Especially when venturing into the online world, a website isn’t local, it’s worldwide, you must be prepared for what you’re trying to sell.