As I reflect on 2014 it's been an incredible growth year for our family and Petrova Jones Music.
We have so Many wonderful blessings and things to be grateful for. A year ago I had left the public school music classroom and just begun transitioning to working full time for myself, choosing to take that leap of faith. Prior to that moment the business was a side job, and part time passion for my husband and I. 12/31/13 I had had thoughts about a store, and just was beginning to try offering rock band or group classes for music by renting a facility one day a week but I was scared. We started 2014 with no official store, just my husband, myself and 3 other employees ( Steve, who has been working w our business since 2012, myself, Jenna and our brand new hire- still in training- the awesome man he is, Elvis). We starting renting a studio on Saturdays to see if we had any need for a store or group classes, and we quickly saw that we did. Thanks to I Shine Dance for helping us early 2014 with that! We are ending the year with a real storefront, with 307 more students than we started with, 20 + group classes weekly in our new store, 12 employees, and an increase of 8 more schools this year. And Elvis was promoted to store manager in June. He works tirelessly till the job is done and is a huge help to us. Elvis was one of our best hiring decisions late 2013- I think we can all agree he's an integral part of why this year has been so amazing. Also a huge reason why we have grown- Mr. Steve, our 'senior' teacher- by experience, not age lol has continued to build our orchestra offerings and now has 2 orchestra programs in private middle/ high schools. He also is amazing with our preschools and of course, his faithful private students- thank you Steve for all you do to make us successful! Looking forward to seeing your help and growth with virtual school next! We also welcomed Brian, my awesome husband, late May to finally go full time with us, meaning he had to leave his teaching position- a job he loved, but it was time for him to be able to focus all his energy on our family business, not just between the hours of 6:00 pm- midnight! He had always worked at our business on the side but never full time. That was a scary moment when you realize your paycheck and family income all now comes from your business and it has it's ups and downs. Well, I have to brag on my hubby- He has developed so much for us from our newest STEAM program that is hugely successful and popular with our students and schools, to getting our virtual music school up and ready to launch 2015! He also coordinated trademarking terms for us- custom music education TM and future rockers TM- and getting our business to run like a first class operation. We, as a family, began a new homeschooling program that we now offer, and that is integrating arts and STEAM with academic instruction. Brian and the team helped secure a giant contract so we now can rent or sell and supply schools and individuals with band and orchestral instruments exclusively as an affiliate with rent my instrument.com in the tri county area. The above efforts were done with the help of Cindy, our newer Admin. Assistant/ HR SPecialist and Mike, our tech support guru. 😄 We hired Cindy in late summer and are so grateful we did! She does so much to help our business. We welcomed Andjela, Wendy, Marissa, Mike, Cindy, Mozart, Magan and Michele into our staff family over the last year. Andjela, Magan and Mozart have private lesson studios now with us and have grown into their promotions. We thank God everyday for these excellent young teachers. You guys do so much and Andjela, how could we run our store without your smiling face greeting the customer! I can't wait to see how all of you will grow this year with your opportunities with us. And Mozart- can't wait to see how you will blossom this year now you have your license! Wendy joined our team to assist with our pre k and special needs classes- we love Wendy! Michele, our newest TA addition is already starting her private lesson studio ( by client request) and Jenna is an integral part now of our homeschool program. Mike has done a tremendous job behind the scenes with virtual school and our tech dept. To our team- we love you guys! You are like family. We are so glad to have such a great team and wonderful students, clients, and parents! God led this year in a direction that has not been easy at times but has been exactly in His time, and required a leap of faith for our family. He has been so faithful. I hope and pray that we can continue to follow His plans for our business in the new year and help us to grow and expand successfully, strategically and carefully- something we feel needs to happen in 2015. We thank everyone who has shaped this year into what it has been and from all our staff to you- Happy New Year and thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We hope this new year will be even more amazing!
