Why Marketing is NOT The Solution For Most Struggling Studios (Replay)

Brian Hood (0:00)

This is the Six Figure Home Studio Podcast, Episode 111 You're listening to the Six Figure Home Studio Podcast.

Welcome back to another episode of the 6 Figure Home Studio Podcast. I am your host, Brian Hood, and I am not here with my bald, beautiful, amazing purple-shirted co-host because it is the week before Christmas and I'm recording this intro by myself.

You probably heard me mention this on the podcast if you listened to the last couple episodes that this week and next week are replay episodes. And that is because Chris and I wanted to take a couple weeks off for the first time ever for the podcast. A couple weeks off just to have some R&R, to have some time away from the podcast, enjoy family, enjoy the holidays and New Year's, and come back fresh with some strong ideas. Today's episode is arguably one of the best episodes from 2018 I looked through our entire backlog of episodes and thought, if there was only one episode I could have someone listen to from 2018, which episode would it be? And it is this episode. And that is because when someone's studio is struggling, the first thing they tend to go to to solve the problems of their failing studio is marketing. And it makes sense. If I don't have clients, then I need to get more clients. And how do you get clients? You do marketing. That's what the internet says to do, right? The reality is the reason your studio is struggling or the reason your studio is failing isn't because you suck at marketing. It isn't because you're bad at marketing.

There is a laundry list of other things you should be focusing on before marketing even comes into the picture. And nine times out of ten, if I see someone struggling or failing as a studio owner, it's because they forgot about or ignored or failed to invest in one of these other six things that come before marketing. So in this episode, we're going to go through the seven levels of what I call the home studio business hierarchy. And I think we call it something else in this episode, but that's what I call it now, the home studio business hierarchy. And it's based off the premise that until you have certain foundational pieces of your business and life into place, you cannot move to the next level. So if you're struggling to get more clients right now, you're struggling to earn more money, you're struggling to make this business work, this episode is an absolute must listen.

And just in case you missed it in 2018, or in case it's been two years since you've heard this episode, it is time to refresh your memory. So without further ado, here is our episode replay for episode 8, Why marketing is not the solution for most struggling home studios.

Okay, Chris, so I am a struggling home studio owner. I don't know why I'm struggling. I don't know what to do. I am beating my head up against a wall. What do I do? How do I figure out where to go from here?

Chris (2:45)

That's a good question. Essentially, what are the most important things that you need to do to run a home studio?

And what are the quote unquote best practices on how to build that up?

Brian Hood (2:58)

Yeah, so where do you even start? If you're struggling, or if you can't find clients, or you're not making any money from your studio, or you are just out of things to do, to try, where can you turn to figure out what to do?

And that is what today's episode is going to be about. It is a framework that is inspired by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Chris, can you explain Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs quickly?

Chris (3:22)

I've read about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in like half a dozen different books. It's constantly brought up as this fundamental thing that you need to understand to understand humans and why we do what we do. It's essentially a pyramid, and the base of that pyramid, the first thing that all humans need, that they need before everything else, is physiological, and that's obviously breathing, food, water, sleep, pooping, et cetera.

Brian Hood (3:49)

Yeah, and what he's saying is if you don't have the physiological needs in place, like you don't have water right now, that is going to be your number one concern before you worry about anything else in your life. It's getting those things taken care of, food, water, and then whatever else is involved in the physiological needs.

And then what's the second step in the Metzlis Hierarchy of Needs?