S1E1: Kari Kermode of Style Dance Academy

We couldn't have asked for a better first episode than this one where Amirah, Kearsley, and Jacqueline talk with Kari Kermode, Kearsley's mom and founder and owner of Style Dance Academy in Franklin, Indiana.

Learn more about Style Dance Academy here: http://www.styledanceacademy.com/

Kearsley's involvement with the family business has been written about before: https://shelbycountypost.com/local-news/693755

And you may know Kearsley's oldest brother, Keaton, from TV: https://fox59.com/news/shelby-county-native-makes-it-to-top-6-of-sytycd/

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These recordings are made possible by the Engaged Learning team at Franklin College, which includes the offices of career and professional development, global education, the Center for Tech Innovation, and the Kite Shop, our little entrepreneurship program. You can learn more about these programs at FranklinCollege.edu, at theKiteShopFC.com, and you can send ideas, feedback, and questions to [e-mail].

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Jeremy VanAndel is the director of professional development and is an instructor of business at Franklin College and publishes this podcast. The views expressed in this recording are those of the instructor and students only and should not be attributed to Franklin College.

Creators & Guests

Producer

Jeremy VanAndel

Jeremy is the director of professional development and an instructor of business at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana. Jeremy thinks about, writes about, talks about, and helps support entrepreneurship in rural areas. He lives in a non-rural neighborhood in Indianapolis with his wife, kids, dog, chickens, and more hobbies than any man can understand. He grew up in Goshen, Indiana, and yes, he has Amish family members.

What is Main Street Moxie: Stories from small-town founders and entrepreneurs told by students and faculty at Franklin College?

Hear stories from the builders, dreamers, adventurers, and founders that knit communities together with businesses big and small. Whether it's a corner shop, a B2B agency, a nonprofit, or a high-powered startup on the rise, you'll hear about the ideas, the journeys, the challenges, and the victories from real people who make our small towns special.

Periodic special editions will focus on student entrepreneurs at Franklin College and surrounding schools, as well as other programs around Indiana and the world. Follow along so you don't miss a single episode.

Jeremy VanAndel (producer): 00:16

Welcome to the first real episode of Main Street Moxie, a podcast from the entrepreneurship students at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana. If you missed episode 0, introducing this series, I'll invite you to go back and listen to that. But this first conversation is just an almost perfect, representation of what a conversation for this podcast series should be. It features 3 students, Amira, Kearsley, and Jacqueline, who are talking to Kearsley's mom, Carrie Kermode, who is the owner of Style Dance Studio in Franklin, Indiana. And because there is a family dynamic, they're able to, you know, explore and reflect on a couple of topics that are really interesting.

Jeremy VanAndel (producer): 01:08

But this is a a story of not just someone who has come up with an idea, who followed a passion, who made something happen on a small town main street, but who had this vision from an early age showing that conclusively, there is no right time to start your business, to follow your your passion, your dream, wherever it may take you, that you you don't need to go out there with a 1000 years of experience before you start something new. This is, just a fantastic conversation, and I hope that you enjoy this first episode in the series. Here we go.

Kearsley Kermode: 01:51

Hello. My name is Kearsley Kermode.

Amirah Curry: 01:54

My name is Amira Curry,

Jacqueline Flores: 01:56

Jacqueline Flores.

Kearsley Kermode: 01:57

And we're students at Franklin College helping to tell stories of real life entrepreneurs in our communities. We're joined today by

Kari Kermode: 02:04

Kari Kermode,

Kearsley Kermode: 02:06

who is the founder

Kari Kermode: 02:07

of Style Dance Academy.

Kearsley Kermode: 02:08

Thank you for talking with us today.

Kari Kermode: 02:11

Yes. You're welcome.

Jacqueline Flores: 02:13

Okay. So can you tell us about where you grew up? What was your early life like, and where did you go to school?

Kari Kermode: 02:20

I grew up in Fairland, Indiana, and I have 2 sisters, and my parents are both teachers. So we grew up at the elementary school and the middle school at Triton. The Triton Central High School is where I ended up graduating from, but we were at the school all the time with my parents. My dad coached baseball and basketball, and, my mom was she was a 1st grade and 4th grade teacher and a vice principal. My dad taught 7th grade math, so we were just around the school for a a lot of our childhood.

Jacqueline Flores: 03:02

Okay.

Amirah Curry: 03:06

Can you share the story behind the initial idea for your business and how did it evolve from concept to reality?

Kari Kermode: 03:14

Yes. So my younger sister and I both my older sister also danced, but she didn't dance for very long. She was a you know, she tried, but it just didn't it didn't work out really well. So, my younger sister and I danced for a long time. And I when I was young, I would choreograph dances for her.

Kari Kermode: 03:36

And when I was about 12 years old, I was like, you know what? We should open our own dance studio. And and, she kinda laughed about it, but I was like, no, really it'd be fun. And she just kinda went along with it. And so as kids, we would, we had our little binder and we would draw what we would want our billing to look like or what we would have different names for our dance studio.

Kari Kermode: 03:59

We wrote down all of our dance routines that we made up. We put our favorite songs in the binder. And just when I went to college, I went to college for a dance performance at Ball State. And, I told my mom, you know, that this is really, really what we wanna do. And she helped helped us out to get the studio running, and here we are 25 years later.

Kari Kermode: 04:24

So

Kearsley Kermode: 04:26

so what were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the early stages of your business, and how did you overcome them?

Kari Kermode: 04:33

I think the biggest challenge was I was 19 when the or, actually, I was 18. Yeah. I was 18 when the business started. So being that young, I didn't know a lot. I thought I knew a lot at 18, but every year I learned, oh, you can do this.

Kari Kermode: 04:52

You can't do that as a business owner. So I think my age was probably the the biggest challenge that I had. So it just for the past, what, 25 years, I know I know it, ladies. I don't look that old. But for the past 25 years, I've learned something new every year. So overcoming just the the age thing has been a a big step for me.

Jacqueline Flores: 05:19

Who has been your biggest supporter or mentor throughout your entrepreneurial journey, and how have they helped you?

Kari Kermode: 05:26

My mom is she's a huge supporter. Actually, I'm gonna I have 3. My mom, she really just supports all of us girls in anything that we wanna do, and she's always been our number one fan. Another huge supporter is my younger sister. I I couldn't do any of this without her.

Kari Kermode: 05:49

She is the meat and potato of potatoes of all of this business. She really she guides helps to continue to guide everybody through everything. I I have the ideas, and she makes the ideas come to life. And then finally, my husband, without my husband's support, I I don't know where where I'd be. He's always at the studio helping out, and he just really, he he appreciates what what I do.

Kari Kermode: 06:18

So

Amirah Curry: 06:22

did you ever find yourself with a question you didn't feel you could get answered or that you needed a resource that wasn't available? How did those gaps impact your business?

Kari Kermode: 06:33

I I think at the beginning was hardest was with the, all of my questions about taxes and all of that sort of thing. I grew up as a dancer. I didn't grow up doing tax tax work. So when all of the accounting came into play with the business, it was it was a huge add it was it was scary, especially being as young as I was when we started. So that over the years, I've found an accountant that I now feel like I can go to and ask any questions.

Kari Kermode: 07:07

But in the beginning, I didn't feel like I had that resource. So I was kind of and my mom was, you know, helping us too, but neither one of us were knew much about any of that. So we just kind of entrusted our business to someone we didn't really know. So that was scary. But after we found an accountant that we trusted, it has really eased a lot of that pressure off of the the business and myself.

Kearsley Kermode: 07:37

Going off of learning experiences, can you share a mistake that you made as an entrepreneur and what you learned from that mistake?

Kari Kermode: 07:45

I'm trying to think. Well, yeah, I will. I when we first opened the business, it was with another partner, and I think that we both had different outlooks on what the business should be. So after 5 years of being a business partner, we ended up splitting. And I I think it's I think people go into business with the a good intention of being able to be on the same page, but and having 2 bosses, but that doesn't always always work out well.

Kari Kermode: 08:24

So I think that that was a huge, eye opener for me, again, at a young age. So when we we split apart from one another, it it and everything was fine. It just it made more sense for the the route that I wanted to take with with our business.

Jacqueline Flores: 08:42

How do you view failure?

Kari Kermode: 08:45

Well, I always tell my kids at the at the studio, if you never fail, you don't learn. So I I think failure is a learning experience. If you don't, no one's perfect. So it I just I think failure is a good thing because it makes you stronger. It makes you want to continue on.

Kari Kermode: 09:06

It makes you have more of a perseverance toward your goals. So I and I hope that I'm doing that myself since I tell tell my students that failure is a good thing. I I remind myself of that every day. So when something doesn't go my way, then I need to know, okay, I need to change this about myself or I need to change this about my business to make it better. So failure failure can be a good thing.

Amirah Curry: 09:37

How has your business had to adapt or pivot in responses to challenges? Can you walk us through a specific instance?

Kari Kermode: 09:48

Our business has had to adapt through well, okay, like the with COVID. I mean, we had to completely adapt with that at the beginning, of of COVID. We had to shut down actually for 6 months. So we we adapted we had to shut down shut the doors to the building. That didn't mean we stopped classes.

Kari Kermode: 10:12

So we we did online classes just like you guys had to with school. We did that through dance, just to keep the business going. Otherwise, 6 months without any type of income, it would have been just a disaster. And the other thing that we learned that the kids needed us, they needed some kind of outlet. And dance for many of the students that walk through the doors, that is their outlet.

Kari Kermode: 10:37

They're at school all day or, you know, they've had a bad day and being able to come to the dance studio was just a huge relief, to the students. So when I'm sorry. I'm telling the cord. Sorry. Okay.

Kari Kermode: 10:53

So when all the COVID stuff did did happen, it being able to have the technology that we do today was such a blessing, for us just to be able to continue to reach out to the students.

Kearsley Kermode: 11:09

What's the biggest risk that you've had to take in your business, and how do you decide to go through with it?

Kari Kermode: 11:16

I think the biggest risk that we took was for for 12 years, we rented a we rented buildings. And then after that, we decided to build, and we took on a huge our building's almost, oh, it's almost at 13,000 square feet. So it we have a pretty pretty big space, And that was scary taking out a a huge loan that we have and knowing, you know, that we've gotta pay this back over time. And it wasn't just scary for myself, but for my family also, because it was a it was a full family, full family full family ordeal. And so that was, I think, the biggest risk that we have taken as a studio.

Kari Kermode: 12:01

However, everything's going well, and 12 years later, being in that building or 13 years. Wow. 13 years, it's still going strong. So

Jacqueline Flores: 12:11

How have you changed personally since starting your business?

Kari Kermode: 12:15

I have grown up a lot, and I always found that I was mature from for my age when I was younger, but I've grown up a lot, like, understanding others, and giving others grace and being able to understand that other people have even though you can see people from the outside, they have a a full a different story that's going on inside their head or, and I've learned that with my students. You you don't read a book by its cover. There's so much more going on inside a person. And so I think that that's the biggest thing that I've learned over this journey over these past 25 years.

Amirah Curry: 12:59

How do you, sorry. How do you manage the balance between running your business in your personal life? Have you found a strategy that works for you?

Kari Kermode: 13:09

Yes. And when I first started, it was business almost all the time. In fact, my children grew up at in the studio, and my husband was there with us all the time also. So we would have family dinners at the studio or we would, like every family vacation was through dance. And so, and at that time, when we first started, it was really hard for me to give work to other people or to trust other people with jobs that needed to be done.

Kari Kermode: 13:42

The older I get, the more I see, hey, there are there are other things in life than what's what happens inside the business. I need to make sure that I'm there for my kids. I need to make sure that we have some downtime and and some time outside of the studio. However, I will say that my kids never they never complained to us about they never complained to me about anything. I think that they liked being there with us, but I I know that they won it.

Kari Kermode: 14:14

I like, I missed a lot of games or I missed a lot of awards banquets, and I missed a lot of those things for them growing up.

Kari Kermode: 14:21

So I I do regret that, the that, but, I'm hoping that I'm able to let go of some of my responsibilities now and let other people take on those roles. But at the same time, I feel like I've been able to teach others what needs to be done. So I feel comfortable and confident that that our jobs will be done without me being there all the time.

Kearsley Kermode: 14:48

So I know you've had this business at the dance studio for 25 years now. But where do you see yourself and the business in the next 5 to 10 years after this? Are there any dreams that you're excited about? Any goals that you're excited about? Where where do you see the future for Style Dance Academy?

Kari Kermode: 15:07

Wow. So when we started the business, I think I we had about 30 students. Right now, we're at about 400. So we've grown quite a bit. I right now, I see that, Kearsley sitting over here, she's wanting to to take the business over.

Kari Kermode: 15:29

And I I want her to wanna do that if she wants to do that. I don't wanna push that upon her. But, however, I will say that she will be like amazing. She's very outgoing, very well spoken and she knows how to, talk to all ages of people. So and she's very responsible.

Kari Kermode: 15:50

So I in the next 5 5 years when she graduates, I hope that we're able to to pass that torch on to her. And I know that she is a go getter, so I know that she's not going to, like, slack on the business at all. I I know that she's going to continue to put her heart and soul into that. So I see great things happening, and she is much younger than myself, so she has the energy right now to to help the studio grow. So I'm excited for the future for for the studio.

Kearsley Kermode: 16:24

Thanks, mom.

Kari Kermode: 16:26

Anytime, kid.

Jacqueline Flores: 16:29

What's your favorite thing about running a business in this community? And is there an event or a moment that exemplifies what it's like to do business here?

Kari Kermode: 16:37

I'm gonna tell you this community. It's pretty awesome. It I really I love Franklin, even though we we don't live we live about 20 minutes away, but I love the camaraderie, I feel, of everyone that's here. I think that everyone here is very supportive, and they're very, they wanna see the kids in this community succeed. They want they want to see the kids at the studio, not just our studio, but there's other studios here in Franklin.

Kari Kermode: 17:05

They wanna see those kids perform for them at halftime shows or at fairs. And the the people that come out to support these children, it's it's awesome. So to be to have our studio here in in Franklin is wow. Like, I I wouldn't want it anywhere else. I wouldn't wanna be in a bigger city.

Kari Kermode: 17:27

I just I feel at home here, and I feel like the kids feel wanted and they the support that they feel and the love that they feel every time that we do a parade or or whatever, it's it's exciting to them. And you ask things that we, the the kids look forward to the per the downtown parade every year. They love seeing the the smiles on everyone's faces. The crowd dances with them as they go by. So it really is a a special place to to have these kids grow up.

Amirah Curry: 17:57

If you could wave a magic wand and add one thing to or for the local business environment, what would it be?

Kari Kermode: 18:07

Wow. I don't know. I I feel like Franklin really does a good job of supporting their local businesses. You know, you walk up and down the streets here, and there's so many small businesses, and it it really is a an awesome sight, And that you don't see that in in a lot of towns that are this size. So I that is a great question, and I think I'm gonna have to continue to think about that.

Kari Kermode: 18:33

I I guess just, you know, to tell everybody in the community just to keep supporting to keep supporting local people because they're the ones that help help this make this community what it is.

Kearsley Kermode: 18:48

And then our final question for you today is dealing with, advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. So based on your experience in these past 25 years, what advice would you give to someone just starting their entrepreneurial journey?

Kari Kermode: 19:03

I think you need to have a plan. I think it needs to be a pretty clear plan, but I think you also have to be open minded and you have to be willing for your plan to change. Not everything goes the way that you want it to go, and that's okay. And, you have to learn to change with the times. But at the same time, stay true to yourself and stay true to the things that made make you you because, really you are your I don't know.

Kari Kermode: 19:38

The personality that you bring through in your own business is what is gonna make you successful. So just, but always keep an open mind and remember that there are other people out there that are always watching you and just be the best that you can, not just for yourself, but for the for the others that are surrounding you.

Kearsley Kermode: 19:58

That's some great advice. I actually lied to you. That was not our last question.

Kari Kermode: 20:02

That's okay.

Kearsley Kermode: 20:02

So we're gonna keep going on and asking you some more questions. These ones are kinda just gonna be for fun. Okay. So Alright. Yeah. Here we go.

Jacqueline Flores: 20:11

I actually wanted to ask if you didn't, own your dance studio, what did what would you see yourself doing or where would you be?

Kari Kermode: 20:19

I love working outside, so I like, I love mowing, mowing the yard. I love, planting flowers. I love, I just love doing outside work. So I think that I would probably like do a lot of, I don't know, outdoor outdoorsy things. But I also love to clean.

Kari Kermode: 20:42

I know that sounds silly. So, but cleaning is like, oh, yeah. I could do that every every single day. So I I don't know. Clean houses, clean whatever.

Kari Kermode: 20:52

I I really do love to clean.

Kearsley Kermode: 20:54

I will say we have the cleanest house on this side of the Mississippi. It's crazy.

Amirah Curry: 21:02

Was there a pivotal moment in your journey where you felt like giving where you felt like giving up?

Kari Kermode: 21:09

I don't I don't ever know that I I felt like giving up, but when when all of because all of our kids were in high school at the same time, that was hard for me to miss so much of their stuff. And that I went through a really, really, really difficult time for a few years, just knowing that I couldn't be there for them all the time. They they never, you know, complained to us. Well or my husband was always there at at all of their things, but I just I I would watch, like, baseball games on on my phone while I'm teaching or just to make sure to see how, you know, my sons were doing or, I my husband would text me as games were going on or as awards banquets were going on just to keep me updated. So that was a a very hard time, just to miss miss out on those things.

Kearsley Kermode: 22:08

Not that you have any regrets with your business or any of that, but if you could go back and change anything, would you or would you do everything exactly the same?

Kari Kermode: 22:22

You know, I I really feel like I would do a lot a lot of things the same. I because, like I talked about earlier, failure, if I hadn't failed through a few things, then I wouldn't have learned to to change my ways, on how I run things or run a class or, you know, any anything like that. So I everything has worked out really well, and I continue to learn to this day. So I I really don't know that I would change anything.

Jacqueline Flores: 22:57

What kind of impact do you hope to have through your work?

Kari Kermode: 23:01

My impact is that I hope to have through my work is to make students, is to make them better like, great adults. I want them to when I see them when they're older and they have their their own children, I want they I want them to have respectful children, and I want them to be hardworking adults. And that's that's what I want them to take along with them. I'm, you know, I've had a lot of students throughout the years, and I have a few that work professionally as dancers. And that's fine with me, but I have a lot that are great, humans.

Kari Kermode: 23:42

And so that's my goal is for for our students to be great humans later on.

Amirah Curry: 23:49

You kinda talked about we did talk about, like, what you want where you want the business to go in a couple years and also curiously taking over the business. So I was just wondering, like, what do you hope for, like, when once you, like, transition your business over, like, what do you hope will, like, kind of happen? Like, what goals do you see happening in the future with that?

Kari Kermode: 24:12

I if she will still have me. I hope to continue to have a part. Just I love to teach gymnastics. I I really do. I and I like having I like I have a lot of ideas that I like to give to my teachers and, like, they kind of run with those ideas.

Kari Kermode: 24:34

So I hope that she will still have me to be there for some advice. However, I hope to be able to step back and just watch her do her own thing because it's time like, there comes that time when you have to you have to let somebody be themselves. And even though there are a lot of things that we are alike, there are a lot of ways that we're different. And I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing for people to have different and not always have the same person or the same style of routines or the same style of of owning a business.

Kari Kermode: 25:13

And I think that she's gonna bring something to the table that I wouldn't have even thought of, and that's a good thing. So I I'm excited about that for her.

Kearsley Kermode: 25:25

So with this next question, I'm not calling you old or anything, but you have gotten to a point in your business where you are starting to have the kids of people you had when you first started. Do you see, like, any sort of generational change in today's kids than whenever you first started out 25 years ago? Like, how has that changed, in the way you teach, in the way you approach kids kind of touching on that?

Kari Kermode: 25:57

No. I think there's a a big difference. I think that you have to just be a little more aware of the way that your, I'll call it my your constructive criticism comes across. And, but I I don't know. I think that we and I talk to students a lot about eye contact and all of that because I think that's been a huge difference from when I had their parents to now I have them because they are so it's like screen time.

Kari Kermode: 26:34

You know, they're on their phones or iPads or whatever. So there's not a lot of eye contact with kids when they first come in. So when I talk to students, I'm like, okay. Now look at me. I want you to look at me because and I try to teach them how to, talk to adults or how to be great listeners.

Kari Kermode: 26:52

And I didn't feel like when, you know, 25 years ago when we started this, we had to have those conversations. I feel like kids are it's just a different thing. And I I don't hold that against any anyone. It's just a a different time that we live in. So we just have to as teachers, we have to be aware of that because I want, like I said, I want these kids to be good humans later.

Kari Kermode: 27:14

And, I think eye contact and the and the way that you speak to other people is is huge. So, yeah, that's, I think, been the biggest biggest thing.

Kearsley Kermode: 27:24

And kind of another question going off of that is, what are the, impacts that you think technology has had on you and your business, both positive and negative?

Kari Kermode: 27:37

Positively. I mean, man, the amount of music that we can find now, it's like crazy. And we used to have, you know, I we still do. I probably have 2,000 CDs. That sounds ridiculous.

Kari Kermode: 27:50

You're like and cassette tapes still. And to be able to to find music back then, it was like, you would have to listen to an entire CD. And now you just type in a, like, oh, I want a dance to be about, I don't know, fairy tales or something. So you type in fairy tales and, like, shoom. You know?

Kari Kermode: 28:12

I mean, the things that are at your fingertips or you're you can't figure out a costume design, so you, like, type something in and it just pops up right in front of you. So that is really amazing. I think for me, the hardest thing with, technology and social media is the things that kids see. They're, like, see these other, like, I don't know, 7 year olds doing these crazy things, and parents or and or kids say think that they should be able to do those things right away. And they think that they're failing if they're not.

Kari Kermode: 28:46

And I'm like, no. You're, like, human. Like, not everybody can do those things, like, right then. And I think that all of it, like, I think that that can be a negative thing, for children and adults to see, you know? So I think those are the 2, the the big impacts with social media and technology.

Kearsley Kermode: 29:10

Do you have any last comments you'd like to make while you're still here?

Kari Kermode: 29:15

No. I just I I enjoy owning my own business. I don't know that I could work for someone else. I'm a little, strong willed and hard headed. So I and I I just I like things done my my way.

Kari Kermode: 29:28

So I I really enjoy owning my own business. But the older I get, I am excited to be able to hand that off and to, to someone that I know has a heart of, you know, for Dan, not just for dance, but for people. So I'm I'm excited to to be able to hand that off someday, hopefully soon. So

Amirah Curry: 29:56

well, it was really great talking to you. Thank you for coming here and speaking with us. Yeah.

Kari Kermode: 30:01

No problem. Thank you for having me.

Kearsley Kermode: 30:02

Thank you. Thanks for teaching us.

Kari Kermode: 30:04

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Amirah Curry: 30:05

Thank you.

Kearsley Kermode: 30:06

Well, that was Kari Kermode from Style Dance Academy in Franklin, Indiana. Thank you.