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Naptown Sings and Plays!
Sophia Hardesty
naptownsings.com
What is your business best known for?
Modern music education done right. Engaging lessons and classes for babies through adults.
What do you love most about what you do?
Inspiring Annapolis youth to love music.
What was the hardest thing about getting your business off the ground?
Marketing and learning the systems to help it grow. I have 3 degrees in music but had know knowledge of what it took to run a business. I learned by asking questions of others and eventually working with business coaches.
How is your business invested in the community?
We work with three sponsoring non-profits to bring music lessons and classes to students who otherwise can’t afford music programs. We also go out into the community and perform. You’ll find out students at most outdoor festivals that Annapolis has to offer, singing their hearts out. In addition, Annapolis is a musical town. We having a thriving local music scene with many opportunities to support local artists. Our goal is to bring music into the next generation, by helping to cultivate young performers but also lifelong lovers of music.
What’s next for you and your business?
I like to think of Naptown Sings and Plays! as a boutique local business. I’m the only owner and I’m a local mom of two kids. We want to add more kid and parent-friendly events to our programs: Taylor Swift karaoke night, Wine and Glee night for moms, more family-friendly open mics and parents nights outs. Musical activities that bring our community together will benefit us all!
What sets your business apart?
We aren’t a chain music school. We only hire compassionate and engaging teachers. We do our best to tailor all of our programs to our students’ interests, and help them develop their own interested by exposing them to various genres and styles…all with high-quality instruction. That’s how we hook our students on music. We want them to just fall in love with what they are learning. We also have leveled programs that start when students are a baby, so they can move up as they age and continuously have music in their lives.
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What has been your proudest moment as a business owner?
This may sound silly, but learning to step back, to pass off the parts of business ownership I don’t like and step into the roles that fill my soul, like teaching Glee and baby music class, and training my teachers to flourish in their own roles. There is so much talent in our building between our administration and staff. I’m a mom of two little kids who need me. When I’m not spread too thin, my kids and my business thrive, and I fall in love with business ownership even more. I think this is the best and hardest lesson any small business owner can learn.
How has your business evolved?
Well, I started with two students over 10 years ago. We now have almost 500. I started with a tiny Glee club and some private students and it was just Naptown Sings!. As I saw programs that inspired me, I added them to the business: baby, toddler and preschool classes, birthday parties, summer camps, new instrument lessons…and I added the word “…and Plays!” to the business because it qas more than just singing. I grew slowly, hired as it grew, and moved to bigger locations as my programs expanded. I eventually shifted each program to become cohesive and leveled. I even hired my first student to work for me a few months ago, which feels like a full-circle moment. Naptown Sings and Plays! is exactly its fulfillment of my original mission today and that’s pretty cool.
What inspired you to start your business?
The simple answer is a love for music. The more complicated answer is nothing, haha! My friend forced me to start teaching at his music studio while I was teaching elementary music full-time. As my programs grew, I needed my own location and thus, the business became real. My love for inspiring music in others has always been the driving force, though.
How do you balance a business with family demands?
Hah! For me it’s a complicated balance of kids, a musician husband who is constantly on tour, managing a chronic illness, and the business. A nanny, a daycare, a preschool, an amazing administrative team…only doing the parts of the business I love and passing the rest off. Knowing when my load is too full, that it’s time to outsource more. But in reality, I prioritize my family first. I set the hours I have for my kids and the hours I have for work and stick to them as much as possible, understanding there has to be some wiggle room. I leave the business in the summer, and let my staff handle it, to dedicate that time to my kids and to give myself time to breathe and plan for the next year. It’s the only way for me to survive the demands of business ownership throughout the year. Luckily, I can bring my kids to work with me, too, and that’s pretty cool. They get to grow up in my music school. It’s a delicate balance, that only works with the right people in my corner, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.