Move with the Music

Uploading Videos to YouTube!

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:46:00 +0000

It's been quite a while since we last posted and a lot of exciting things have happened during the past couple of months. We'll take some time to write about them later, but for now, we're very excited to announce that we have uploaded a video of a pattern used for one of our lessons to YouTube. You can find it here. Key an eye out since we'll definitely be adding lots more.

Understand Your Audience!

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:40:00 +0000

After reviewing the expense of running regular, open community events, we determined that it is not sustainable without charging money. We may decide to give this approach a try later, but in the meantime, we have decided to have one-off events infrequently (probably every couple of months).

Recently, we have had a few opportunities to do some community work outside the normal weekly dance lessons we hold at our workplace. The first was to teach dance at the local YMCA as guest instructors. We really enjoyed this and were especially excited about the environment the YMCA creates for its members and the community. There are a lot of nice fitness programs and a good amount of diversity among the participants (age, ethnicity, etc.). We applaud the great work the YMCA is doing. We had a blast teaching and from the feedback our enthusiastic crowd gave, they had as much fun as we did.

The other opportunity was to teach at a private party. The hosts are a delightful couple who wanted to throw a salsa party and had been thinking for a while about giving dance a try. We had a great time teaching there as well. Interestingly, only about half of the party-goers participated. We believe this was primarily due to the difference in commitment between attending a dance lesson and a party. Naturally, nearly everyone who goes to a dance lesson participates since they are there specifically for the lesson. At a party, people are there for the party itself and the opportunity to participate in a dance lesson is just a side thought. We did get the sense that those who did not participate wanted to, but were too shy despite gentle encouragement. In reality, the statement, "people are there for the party", is a generalization that lacks depth. We'd argue that the most prominent reason people go to parties is to socialize. Given that most attendees have made a commitment to socializing by deciding to attend and that they have followed through on this commitment by showing up, we can probably increase participation by giving extra attention to the social side of dancing. It would be simple enough to start with social games that everyone would be comfortable participating in and easing into dance, thereby making the experience less unnerving for the shy and self-conscientious. In the end, it comes back to really understanding the audience/customer/client/etc. and figuring out how best to reach them.

The Passion of "Non-Profiteers"

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 04:50:00 +0000

Being one of the many people who work with a non-profit organization (I'll call us non-profiteers) is great. There is a huge sense of personal satisfaction in thinking about and doing things every day purely for the purpose of making the world a better place. Although many non-profits do work that evokes great sadness in participants (for example, helping homeless children escape the streets), the hope for a brighter future drives them to never give up the fight.

This passion is very powerful. A large part of the power comes from not being driven by financial rewards. When we are compensated by placing a value on our efforts as is done through financial compensation, it creates a boundry on how much effort we should assert towards whatever we are trying to achieve. In effect, financial compensation places monetary value on knowledge, skills, and experience along with an implicit or explicit degree of effort (ostensibly about 40 to 50 hours per week). Thus, there is less motivation to go much beyond what is expected of the position. It is true that there are typically bonuses and promotions to be doled out to over-achievers, but the fact that we label such individuals "over-achievers" is a problem in itself. It indicates that there is an acceptable level of achievement that is less than what the person has accomplished.

When one observes non-profiteers, they see something different. They see people motivated by internal forces like passion rather than external forces like compensation. When one is driven by internal forces, what they can accomplish is bound only by other internal forces such as their psychological and physical health. This maximizes the ability for one to reach their full potential.

Can welath itself be a passion? No. Wealth only serves to meet other needs. These might be status, power, freedom, etc. Digging deeper, you will find links to fulfilling more basic needs like a sense of security, nourishment, etc. While I don't have a background in psychology, it would certainly be worth the time investment to learn more about what human's most basic needs are and how they tie into higher-order desires.

I don't want to give the impression of naively assuming that most non-profits are ideal and that most for-profits are not. However, I have observed that non-profits tend to do better than for-profits in this particular area.

If you haven't spent much time with non-profiteers or non-profit organizations, take a look around your community to see if there are any volunteer projects that interest you and try volunteering. There are many excellent learnings that can be gained from non-profit work that are not as readily observable in for-profit work. The kicker is that what is learned can be brought back to for-profit companies to both benefit the workplace culture and, ironically, to increase profitability.

To all those working to make the world a better place, whether non-profit, for-profit, or however else you may define what you do, keep the faith! We salute your efforts!

Marketing: The Effect of Social Validation

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Thu, 19 May 2011 02:43:00 +0000

I am a fan of Robert Cialdini's book "Influence: The Psychology of Persuation" and recently started reading "Yes: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive". I highly recommend both to anyone who cares about convincing anyone of anything!

One of the six key means of influence Cialdini identifies in "Influence" is social proof. This is essentially the idea that people will behave in a manner similarly to others around them, and particularly those who they find to be like themselves. As much as we may fight to be unique individuals, such behavior is logical given our built-in survival mechanisms. For example, if you see a crowd of people running in terror, it's probably a good idea to take action quickly. This isn't necessarily always the case, but for most scenarios I can think of, it's better to run. If you run and you're wrong, you might end up a little embarassed. If you don't run and you're wrong, you might end up severely injured or worse.

In "Yes" Cialdini presents additional information about social proof through discussion of research showing it's effect. In that discussion, we find that merely sharing information in our communication with clients and customers about what most people do is enough to stimulate a response. And it is quite an impressive one.

For MwtM, our marketing consists purely of an email list and word-of-mouth. We send one email per month listing our lesson schedule for that month with some information about the lessons and one email per week thereafter reminding people of that week's lesson. We decided to give the social proof concept a try. We simply added the following to the beginning of our email:

May salsa lessons begin this evening. Participation has been picking up every week, so combined with the gradually warming weather and longer days, it’s a great time to join your co-workers to meet some new people and pick up salsa before summer arrives.

While we can't be certain that this has a causal relationship with the participation that followed (as mentioned, participation was already increasing at a gradual rate), we got several reply emails shortly thereafter to ask for more information. The number of participants at the lesson that followed the email was around 18 versus 14 at the previous lesson, which represents an increase of greater than 25%. If nothing less, this does seem indicate that it is worth continuing to excercise the concept.

Taxes are Easy When You Don't Have Income

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:40:00 +0000

I'm excited to say that during the past two weeks we've had a substantial increase the number of participants in our weekly lessons. I'm not sure whether it's because the sun is staying out a little longer or something else, but I hope that it at least partially reflects on us providing a quality service that is of value to the community.

As mentioned in a previous post, Move with the Music received notifcation of acceptance as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in December of last year. We are registered as a non-profit in Washington state and are licensed to operate in two cities. With those registrations, we've already filed taxes twice this year. The first filing was for the state and the second was for one of the cities in which we are licensed. If there is a bright-side to not having income, it is that filing taxes is really easy.

A year ago, I would have thought otherwise, but non-profits do have to pay taxes on goods sold and services rendered. However, we do not have to pay taxes on the donations we get and neither do doners as long as nothing of substantial value is given in reciprocation for the donation.

Because taxes can come up quickly (and frequently in our case), it is best to make sure you stay on top of keeping good records for any financial transactions your organization has. This is important regardless of whether you have sales, but all the moreso if you're going to have to deal with the organization's taxes. All of us running MwtM work fulltime, so complicated taxes would be a burden if we had to deal with them.

Small Setback

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:04:00 +0000

We have had a small setback in our plans. Unfortunately, we have thus far been unable to find a venue for our lessons that fits into our budget. Even the local community centers are priced such that it would be difficult to sustain our programs without taking dependencies on donations, which we feel creates too much risk at this point in time. There are some venues that we might be able to use for a large discount or for free, but they would impose age restrictions, which we are leery of given that we are about making dance accessible to EVERYONE. Nonetheless, we have to start somewhere and if this could give us a sustainable model that we can grow from, this might end up being a fine route to take.

For now, we will continue operating as previously. While we hope to move by April, we have the good fortune of having time to continue exploring the differnt possibilities.

Seperately, we have had the misfortune of losing one of our team members, who is moving out of state. We will miss him and appreciate all the effort he put into helping us have a positive impact on our community.

Back in Action, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:26:00 +0000

This past Monday, we had our first dance lesson of 2011. This month it remains in employer-provided facilities (and is only open to employees and their friends/family), but it was a success. We had about 40 participants and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a great deal.

Through the month, we will do some final fine-tuning around the structure of our lessons (which have already come a very long way since we started in 2008) in preparation for moving them to a public location opening them up for public participation. We even have a new volunteer to help with lessons. We are all very excited about what's to come in March and are on track with preparations for the transition.

Aside from that, our website is almost complete and can be visited at: http://www.movewiththemusic.org.

Recap: Tasks Involved in Starting a Non-Profit

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 08:35:00 +0000

We are about to start our lessons back up this coming Monday and we are making steady progress towards making them public in March.

We finally have all our registrations and thought we'd recap on a recommended order of doing things. We didn't do things in this order, but in retrospect, it would have made things easier.

Do research on the need you want to address and how you might address it.
Create a business plan or something close to one.
Write the Articles of Incorporation. Be sure to include the right language to register for 501(c)(3) status.
Incorporate with the state. Incorporation differs slightly state to state.
Register with the federal government to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN).
Create a conflict of interest policy.
Write the organizational Bylaws.
File for 501(c)(3) status with the federal government.
Register to operate in the applicable state and city. This may require a master business application and license applications.
Open a bank account.

If you plan to employ people, you will probably have one or two additional steps, though we are not familiar with them as we are an all-volunteer organization. A few others items that can be worked on in parallel and don't really need to be done in any particular order include the following.

Build a team.
Recruit a board of directors.
Create a record-keeping process.
Create a logo.
Build a website.

Bylaws Ready

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 02:52:00 +0000

We have completed writing Move with the Music's bylaws. We were able to find ample resources online to determine the what the bylaws should contain, created an outline, and filled the document out from there. The legal aspects of the document were largely modeled off of the of other non-profit organizations that we were able to find. Given the legal pertinence of the document, we still have several questions. Because of this, it appears quite important to seek legal counsel at this point to, at a minimum, have the bylaws reviewed. We really want to ensure that they provide the organization (including its directors, officers, and volunteers) with adequate protection, flexibility, and balance of organizational power.

Our board currently consists of only one individual. However, with the bylaws prepared, we are ready to begin seeking candidates to round out the board.

On another note, we will begin planning our return from Winter break tomorrow. We intend to start our dance lessons back up in February. By March, we want to be ready to open our lessons up to the wider community and to do so, we will need to find low-cost facilities. Our area has decent community centers, so we'll be taking a closer look at those. However, we will need to evaluate the associated costs since to our knowledge, the community centers provide non-profits with a discount rather than a fee waiver.

Move with the Music has 501(c)(3) status!

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:04:00 +0000

We just received notice in the mail yesterday that we have been approved for 501(c)(3) status! This is huge and will really help to deliver our programs to the community.

On another note, every year we take a break during December and January, during which we pause dance lessons since attendence dwindles off around this time due to the holidays. This should give us time to focus on preparing for the coming year and delivering bigger and better than ever!

A few first steps we need to take: (1) Expand our board and (2) find a good venue to make our programs available to the public.

Still Waiting for the 1023 Results...

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 07:59:00 +0000

It's been a while now and we're still waiting to get the results of the 1023. Fingers still crossed...

On another note, our weekly dance lessons continue on as strong as ever. Usually around this time of year, participation tapers off as we head into the holiday season. However, we have maintained decent attendance. Regardless, we still intend to take our usual break during December and at least the first half of January. We actually find that after breaks, attendance surges, likely due to a build-up of anticipation.

Finally Have the IRS Form 1023 Ready to File

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 05:33:00 +0000

We finally finished preparing the IRS form 1023 and will be sending it out this week. In part, this took as long as it did because we decided to finish a detailed description of our organization that included research on the benefits of dance and the community need for programs like those we intend to run. In the end, it turned out to be a great document and helped to fill in all of the details requested by the 1023. Hopefully we'll be granted 501(c)(3) status shortly and can tie up the loose ends with our business license application.

Based on questions asked in the 1023, it seems that many people establish non-profits with the intent of making operation of the non-profit their primary employment. For us, we've had to balance the effort required to get all of the registrations together with our professional work, regular operation of the non-profit, and our personal lives. We've realized that after being granted 501(c)(3) status, things will not return to their previous state since continuing the development of the organization and maintaining its 501(c)(3) status will be like having a second job. Interestingly, every time we make progress on developing our organization, parellels between starting a non-profit and a for-profit business become more and more evident. Think, for example, about how a founder of either type of organization must decide whether to quit their current job and focus full-time on their venture or to do both simultaneously.

Something on my mind that I hadn't thought about before is that there must be non-profit "angels" and "venture capitalists" who help finance and advise early-stage non-profits. I wonder how they define and measure "returns"?

Filing for 501(c)(3) Status

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 19:15:00 +0000

To get 501(c)(3) status as a non-profit, you will need to file IRS form 1023. I can break the experience down in two comments: (1) time-consuming and (2) expensive.

I can't remember where, but I recall having read that one should expect this to take over 80 hours. From my experience, this is shaping up to be realistic. The form covers many aspects of your non-profit "business" and almost feels like a mini business plan. As mentioned in a previous post, this kind of requirement is beneficial in that it forces you to think about your business. The information in the 501(c)(3) registration also becomes publicly accessible, which means that it can be used to support various efforts towards building your organization. However, it can also feel like a burden, distracting you from your regular efforts. As you start up your non-profit, be sure to plan around the amount of time it will take to complete this. Be sure to start early and make consistent progress because you don't want to miss a big opportunity to further the purpose of your organization just because you didn't get 501(c)(3) status in time. With this information becoming public after filing, you also need to put the right amont of thought and effort into it to ensure that it is of reasonably high quality.

To share an challenge we've faced, we have found that getting our state and local licenses to conduct our activities as a non-profit requires us to file documentation of our 501(c)(3) status. The licensing office also wanted the documentation within a week. Because of this, we had to call the licensing office and ask for an extension so we have time to get our 501(c)(3) status. Fortunately, they were understanding, but this illustrates some of the potential for trouble when the 501(c)(3) status isn't prepared early on.

One thing you might do to make the filling out and filing the 1023 faster is to create a business plan early on. This is something you should do anyways. A non-profit is a type of business, and all business leaders should know and understand their respective businesses to the degree of intimacy required by the process of creating a business plan. While a business plan is not strictly required, and there are businesses that are successful without such documentation, it is a good practice and will almost certainly be worth the effort.

Regarding the costs of filing for 501(c)(3) status, you will need to pay at least $400. You can find the amount applicable to your situation by going over IRS form 8718, which needs to be filed with your 1023. This may not sound like a lot to everyone, but for us it is a good amount. Add to that the expenses of state and local registrations for incorporation, licensing, etc. It probably won't break the bank, but be sure to plan for these costs ahead of time.

In summary, I would strongly encourage you to really think about the kind of organization you need to create to drive your mission. Before jumping into registrations, think about whether they are required and whether the time, money, and effort needed to complete them is worth the benefit they provide. Ask yourself whether those resources would be better spent on activities that further your mission. If you are getting started, we have the following recommendations:

As soon as you become serious about your idea, create a business plan
Be sure to think about the best way to achieve your vision
Carefully plan a timeline for the registrations you'll need along with the resources they'll require
If you are going to apply for 501(c)(3) status, take a look at the IRS's step-by-step guide to get an idea of what is required

Progress To Date

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 00:37:00 +0000

We have made great strides in recent months in terms of developing our organization. As we move forward with becoming an officially recognized entity, there is much to do with respect to registrations, documentation, etc. All in all, the efforts we are making to meet various requirements is positive in that it makes us think deeply about aspects of our "business" that we may not have had to consider previously.

One example is financials. Since we are operating as a group of volunteers, we have had virtually zero costs. However, there are very likely to be expenses involved in expanding our programs. As with for-profit businesses, all financial transactions will need to be closely tracked and reported every year. As our understanding of our financials develops, we are likely to benefit from being able to analyze the data and over time ensure that future programs will be sufficiently funded.

To date, we have registered ourselves in the state of Washington and are currently waiting on our state and city licenses. We are working on forming our bylaws and in the near future will be applying to become a 501(c)(3).

The Origins of a Non-Profit

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 07:38:00 +0000

Two years ago, we started out as a few co-workers who got together with the idea that our other colleagues would appreciate the opportunity to learn social dance in a non-intimidating environment. We also wanted to provide ourselves and other non-professional dancers with an avenue through which to explore teaching.

It was never was and still is not our intention to disrupt existing models of professional dance instruction. Rather, it has been our aim to compliment such services by providing an entry-point to experiencing social dance. In fact, we hope that our efforts will provide growth within the dance community, which should lead to an increase in business for professional dance instructors.

Over time, our philosophies and understanding of why we dedicate our time and energy to this effort have progressed, fueled by endless conversation amongst ourselves and plenty of positive feedback from those who have taught and learned with us. We came to realize that we didn't want to limit the scope of our impact to just our co-workers and set our sites toward the more ambitious vision of reaching the entire community in which we live, and hopefully some day the entire world!

As such, we started to organize our loose-knit group some months ago, testing organizational structure and developing operational processes. At this point, we feel ready to take the next big step, as we proceed to form an official non-profit organization.

Move with the Music

noreply@blogger.com (Move with the Music) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:54:00 +0000

We are a small group of friends who have a simple vision: "Everywhere there's music, everyone is dancing".

The benefits of dance are endless both mentally, phsyically, and socially. Yet, there are a multitude of barriers that restrain many people from experiencing the magic that dance can bring into one's life. Such barriers include economic factors, physical capabilities, social stigma, etc.

It is our goal to overcome these barriers to introduce dance into the lives of others. We understand that not everyone will fall in love with dancing, but for some, being exposed to dance will change their lives. It is our mission to make sure that everyone is given the opportunity to have this experience.