As We Grow...

In 2016, we started Soar. Our two front desk receptionists would answer about two calls per evening, but it was pretty quiet. I personally handled every inquiry we got from our website, every email that came in, and every message that came through Facebook. Sometimes in my urgency to make this company work, I would call or message people back from my personal cell phone. I would even respond during my personal time including Sundays.

 Most of our families got comfortable with my personal touch. Yet at the end of last year, I knew it was starting to become a problem. I was in the middle of our music recital and I was getting messages from our dance parents about the recital later that evening. I was receiving several texts about what side the part of the dancers’ hair was supposed to be on or which door should they enter from. I had to focus on what I was doing and never had a chance to message those parents back before they arrived at the theatre.

This year, when we grew by 90 families, the amount of messages grew too. I often will get several messages per night from my personal Facebook account or by text when a student won’t be in or will be late. I am often seeing these messages at the end of the evening because I’ve been teaching my own classes or managing Soar’s classes and students.

So, I’m trying to lay down some basic ground rules about communicating with us at Soar.

1. The quickest and best way to let us know about a student being absent or late is by calling us during business hours. It is also great to leave us a message on our answering machine because we check this as soon as we get in.

2. When it comes to questions like “what time do the students arrive to recital,” “when is the art gala,” or “what costume should a dancer arrive in first,” make sure you have checked your recital handbooks and recent handouts. 99% of the questions we get have been answered in your paperwork. We also send out regular emails about upcoming events.

3.   Next, our office manager who is in the above picture, Shannon, has an email through Soar. Her email address is shannon@soarcreativearts.com. You can message her at any time, but she will only reply when she is at Soar. She will, however, answer emails more frequently when we are around recital time.

4. Tommy will also start helping me manage Soar’s Facebook Messenger account. General questions can come in this way too. Tommy also has a Soar email account – thomas@soarcreativearts.com.

 I know there are times when you will need to talk with me. The best way to reach me is through email which is ashley@soarcreativearts.com. However, please allow 24 hours for me to respond. I’m always happy to set up times for phone calls or meetings. I love our Soar families and try my best to chat with them every chance I get.

 We always want Soar to have that family friendly feel, but it is important for me to have boundaries with Soar.   It is not fair to my family for me to always be messaging someone about Soar when it is my day off.  I also want to make sure that we are seeing your messages in an appropriate amount of time.

Lastly, please know that our staff scales back a good bit after the recitals. The last two weeks of June, we will only be in for two hours on Tuesdays. During the month of July, we are only in the office on Mondays and Tuesdays. It may take us longer to get back with you. On behalf of our staff, this is our personal time to recharge before we begin another awesome year.

Thank you for understanding that this in no means is our way of saying don’t contact us. Instead, it is putting things in the proper channels for us to make sure we are answering every question and handling things in a proper way. As always, thanks for your support of Soar.