This Side Hustle Highlight Q&A features Danielle Schultz, a ballet dancer on the Metropolitan Opera and founding father of The Triangle Sessions, a company wellness company offering company retreats, interactive wellness classes and team-building events. She is predicated within the Greater Philadelphia Area.
Image Credit: Devin Cruz.
You’d been a dancer with the Metropolitan Opera since 2014 when Covid hit. How did your life and work change in those early days of the pandemic, and when did you recognize it was time to complement your income with a side hustle?
When Covid hit, I used to be in the course of Die Fliegende Hollander and was slated to perform in Turandot a couple of weeks later. I had nurtured positions teaching fitness and ballet at Recent York City studios, which I continued via Zoom to stay financially afloat. Nonetheless, I used to be also three months pregnant, and my husband was a full-time student. I had to get creative quickly. One in all the primary social impacts of Covid that everybody struggled with was isolation. It gave me the thought to start offering corporate wellness and team events to help employees stay connected within the newly virtual workplace.
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How did your skilled background encourage you to launch The Triangle Sessions? How did that skill set translate to your entrepreneurial journey?
I graduated in 2009 from NYU Tisch with a dance degree and a minor in art history. It was a terrible time to graduate, especially with an arts degree. I turned down an apprenticeship with a small ballet company to perform as a dancer on a cruise ship and travel the world. Imagine it or not, this was simply the more practical approach on the time. I used to be able to quit my Recent York City apartment, live expense-free and lower your expenses. This experience served as a crash course in travel and tourism, something that may come into play 10 years later when organizing a large-scale retreat for a national law firm.
After my cruise ship contract, I danced with a small contemporary company while waiting tables at high-end restaurants. It was the Recent York City restaurant scene that provided excellent training in wine, spirits and food pairings. Just like the cruise ship, I learned the worth of customer support and the way to connect with a wide selection of individuals. Waiting tables still goes down as the toughest job I’ve ever had, but it surely was too physically demanding while dancing.
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Once I got my break on the Metropolitan Opera, a dream job for years, there was a catch…it still wasn’t full-time. So, I had to complement my income in a way that may be easier on my body. I became a licensed yoga teacher, certified nutrition counselor and Ballet Beautiful trainer for celebrity clients. All of those skills allowed me to share a deeper understanding of the human body with a big selection of individuals. It set me up beautifully for teaching corporate wellness.
For years, I continued to perform on the Metropolitan Opera while juggling a slew of part-time work. It wasn’t until my aunt, a former ballroom champion and long-time business owner, told me something that I’ll always remember: “Dani, you have already got the mentality of an entrepreneur in the way in which you support yourself. You’ve multiple income streams. Determine how to work for yourself, not other people, so you can share your knowledge on your individual terms.” It was a lightbulb moment that got the wheels turning. It took a pandemic and a layoff from the Met Opera to pursue the endeavor full-time.
What was your vision for The Triangle Sessions, and what were among the first steps you took to get it off the bottom?
I wanted to implement the knowledge I developed in my skilled dance profession around healthy habits and acting at one’s best. I wanted to replicate the camaraderie I had experienced within the dance world through high-quality, purpose-driven experiences and apply it to the company world.
When Covid first hit, I offered virtual wellness classes….yoga, meditation, desk stretching, etc., all the time with some variety of social component. Nobody was interested. People just wanted alcohol and comfortable hours. I began incorporating educational wine and sake tastings WITH corporate wellness, and suddenly, there was interest! I discovered a unbelievable vendor to help put together high-quality experience kits (and accommodate a few of my wacky requests, like combining foam rollers with bottles of Prosecco and gourmet snacks), and I hit the bottom running.
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How did you approach continuing to construct, and what does your revenue seem like?
Initially, the overwhelming majority of business got here from my very own network, referrals and word-of-mouth. After a while hosting virtual team-building and wellness events, I became a small fish in a big pond. So, I partnered (and still proceed to partner) with larger team-building event firms through which my services are offered. They’ve a dedicated sales team, and it provides regular revenue, all while nurturing my very own clients and relationships. Annual revenue for 2022 was $110,000.
What were among the biggest challenges along the way in which, and the way did you navigate those?
The most important challenge is trying to anticipate the needs of organizations and their employees without straying too removed from our own mission. Worker well-being and community are on the backbone of The Triangle Sessions. I keep an open mind and experiment to see where there’s interest. In 2020, comfortable hours were in vogue. This last yr it has been all about wellness and creativity. Luckily, I enjoy this process and love having an open dialogue with clients to find out about their needs. Lots of our signature events, like our Construct-A-Terrarium workshop, which mixes plant care with self-care, have been inspired by client requests.
Personally, I’ve struggled to find the balance between running The Triangle Sessions and wanting to proceed to dance. Dance is my old flame, my identity since I used to be three years old. I returned to the Met Opera part-time in 2021 and scaled back on the variety of productions I often perform to deal with constructing The Triangle Sessions. Nonetheless, keeping my foot within the door on the Met sometimes leads to losing momentum. It is a risk I’m willing to take for now since I even have one of the best of each worlds. Martha Graham once said, “A dancer dies twice—once after they stop dancing, and this primary death is the more painful.” These words ring true, but I’m grateful to be constructing one other satisfying profession around community, connectivity and high-quality performance.
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Do you will have any advice for other professionals who want to start a side hustle or full-time business?
Lean into your strengths. Learn your core values. Reflect on what makes you different. From there, assess how these skills can profit others and produce out one of the best in communities. It could take a little bit of experimentation and creativity, but the method could be surprisingly satisfying. Sometimes, you simply need to start somewhere and see what happens. Have fun the small wins and run (or dance!) at your individual pace.