4 growth strategies from a local business owner-turned-CEO and franchisor

Photo of a dance class from DivaDance Washington, D.C. on Yelp

Jami Stigliano, who created a dance-class empire in DivaDance, operates by a core principle: “People don’t buy what you sell; they buy why you sell it, why you do it.”

For an entertainment business like Jami’s, that commodity is confidence. The DivaDance model is about customers feeling confident in their body among an open-minded, accepting community—and it’s what set the business apart when Jami began franchising her teaching method in 2015. “It’s not, these are the movements you need to teach; it’s, here’s how we inspire confidence,’” she said.

Photo of Jami Stigliano

According to Jami, you can think of business growth by the same principle. Expanding your company isn’t always about opening new locations or hiring more staff. Rather than nailing specific steps modeled by competitors, she recommends building a confident foundation—whether that means investing in your online reputation, connecting with your local community, or securing loans for future opportunities.

Jami, who grew her business from a side project to a franchise with locations in 18 states, shares four growth opportunities for small business owners.

1. Expand your access to capital

Jami’s way: “Don’t feel defeated. If you don’t think you have access to that capital, go find it.”

“[Many business owners] don’t realize the capital it takes to grow. To actually franchise your business, there’s a lot of legal work required. I needed to start another location so that I could document that process. Obviously you need people. I was very fortunate very early on that I had folks in my immediate circle who were willing to work for nothing or very little to help me build this.

“The good news is nowadays there’s lots of ways to capitalize a business, between SBA loans and… community development funds that help folks find capital for their business. [And there’s] angel investors, grandparents, moms and dads, if you have access to that type of privilege.

“But the real issue is if you are under capitalized, your growth will take a little bit longer… [It requires] creating the narrative in your mind: Even if I don’t have that cash in my bank, where there’s a will, there’s a way. And then at the very least, leverage your own initial concept to get the capital you need to at least keep gas going to the tank.”

Read more: Tips for financing your small business and pitching investors

2. Build an authentic, engaged community

Jami’s tip: “One question we love to ask [first-time customers] is: ‘Why today? Why was today the day for you?’”

“Folks will share a lot like, ‘I just got out of a relationship,’ or ‘I’m new to the city,’ or ‘I haven’t been feeling my best, I just wanna do something fun.’ We all have a real reason that we do things. So it starts with that initial authentic connection of ‘why are you here?’ and then it carries through to every other interaction.

Photo from DivaDance Washington, D.C.

“We have structured things called Diva Dates—community events where we go do fun things. We all know it’s hard to make friends as an adult, so [that’s] us creating those containers for folks to do that organically. It’s also even in the in-class experience and that authentic connection with people. We celebrate people’s milestones. We even have ‘Sweet 16.’ We don’t wait until you’ve been coming to class for a year. At your 16th class, we’re gonna recognize you.

“All those things are those little things that make a big difference for folks. The most important and simplest thing, honestly, is knowing people’s names. And if you don’t know, you ask. That’s a very foundational thing that helps us create community in addition to events and other things we do outside the studio.”

3. Grow your online reputation organically

Jami’s tip: “If I see a great review, we’re shouting out our owners. We’re shouting them out for creating the environment that brought that great feedback in.”

“Print those out and put them on the wall! It doesn’t even matter the date of the review, even if it was five years ago. We’ve made good on our promise of whatever it is that we’ve said we’re gonna do for folks.

“You gotta celebrate [your team], even if you don’t know what their role [was directly]. We gotta celebrate all of us. If we get a positive review—they are we, right? It’s not just, ‘Oh, Michelle at the counter did her job.’ It’s like, we as a team created this experience. And if the cook didn’t do their job and Michelle couldn’t offer friendly service in that role, then it’s not about Michelle getting [a critical] review. It’s about that whole chain of teamwork that we have.

“And if you do get some feedback that’s maybe not 5-star or not as where you want it to be, you have no choice but to learn from that. You can be bummed out for a second… or have that sinking feeling. But you immediately gotta learn from it.”

Read more: How to get Yelp reviews without asking

4. Mobilize franchisees by word-of-mouth

Jami’s tip: “We’ve been really fortunate to grow very organically over the last few years, and it’s very much [due] in part to our clients who have… told people about us.”

“It’s [from] two sources: Folks who have been part of one of our existing communities in cities like Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Austin… and then they may relocate somewhere [that doesn’t] have DivaDance and they say, ‘Hey, I wanna be the franchisee here.’ We’ve had a few of those experiences, which has been so special.

“Then we have folks who are searching for dance classes like ours in their city, and they don’t exist. I didn’t invent the dance class, I just made it more accessible for folks. And so they go to find dance classes… [and realize] there’s no classes like ours—what we do and the experience we create. So that’s how we get folks going: ‘Oh, they franchise. I’m interested in that.’

“Hopefully… in the future that number will be even bigger because that means we’ll be changing even more lives.”

Photo of Jami Stigliano (left) leading a DivaDance class

These lessons come from an episode of Behind the Review, Yelp & Entrepreneur Media’s weekly podcast. Listen or watch below to hear more from Jami, or visit the show homepage to learn about the show and find more episodes.

Photos from Jami Stigliano