How Being a Great Executor Has Helped This Tippi Toes Franchisee Be Successful

Jen Marchal has a detailed career background. She holds a degree in public relations from the University of Oklahoma, worked for many years as a sales manager for a company that sold vacations, sold website advertising with NBC in St. Louis, oversaw employer relations at Washington University, and was an associate director at Vanderbilt University.

Throughout much of the time she spent at those various positions, her younger sister Sarah Nuse had been prodding Marchal to join her blossoming children’s dance lesson company Tippi Toes. Nuse started the brand in 1999, and by that point, it had grown to a franchise. Marchal finally decided to join the company when the time was right to change her career and lifestyle.

“In November 2019, I gave my notice and left to start Tippi Toes in Nashville. And I felt really, really great about the opportunity,” said Marchal, who started classes in Tennessee in January of 2020 and also purchased the Cincinnati franchise in June of that year. “And now, almost three years later, business is great, and I never looked back.”

One of the best parts about joining a franchise, Marchal said, is that the business model is already planned out.

“Truthfully, I am not a risk taker. So having it be a franchise where a lot of the pieces were already ironed out was appealing to me because I knew the concept was proven. I knew there were women able to balance being wives and mothers and having a really successful Tippi Toes business,” she said.

And the corporate team at Tippi Toes has been instrumental in aiding her to have a profitable company. The brand provides franchisees with monthly lesson plans for each type of class they offer, along with original music. During the pandemic, when in-person groups were suspended, the company created a digital platform for teachers to use “within days,” she explained. “They are amazing at providing the framework, helping us fine tune our business and allowing us to run our own businesses.”

Her Nashville and Cincinnati territories have experienced tremendous and are almost at 400 students between the two. Marchal says she remembers hitting 100, which was a big milestone that her kids made a poster for. The services she offers are hugely beneficial for parents, who no longer have to shuttle around their children to different locations for activities, but it’s also great for students who get to dance along with their friends.

Marchal relayed how much the dance classes have impacted some of the kids. She spoke about a nonverbal boy who sat on the side and observed the first few classes, but when she came to the class weeks later, he was “dancing front and center, completely engaged in the entire class.” Another little boy loved taking the classes so much that his mother signed him up for additional classes the Nashville Ballet.

“When you really see the impact you're making on a kid's life and their parents say, ‘Oh my gosh, I can see a difference in their confidence.’ That's what we're there for. That's what we're hoping for,” Marchal said.

She has loved every minute of her experience with Tippi Toes so far, calling it very rewarding. Marchal looks forward to having 1,000 students in each of her territories and is not opposed to growing her portfolio with the brand should nearby regions become available.

“I think what we do is unique and special, and it provides value to families. The more that we can offer, the better,” she said. “Never in a million years did I dream that I would be a business owner and that I would love it so much. But the opportunity to make an impact in my community, share joy, and help kids gain confidence and independence — you can't beat that.”

The startup costs to open a Tippi Toes Dance Company franchise range from $52,100 to $69,100, including a $35,000 franchise fee. For more information, visit https://www.tippitoesdance.com/franchise/.