WOMEN IN BUSINESS: Carla Beazley

What started as a few casual dance lessons for the children of her friends has turned into a thriving business for Tauranga woman Carla Beazley.
After having taught children's dance while living in Australia, her friends in Tauranga asked if she would tutor their kids.
Flash forward three years and her business has grown beyond her wildest dreams, to a dance school with 38 dance classes and 27 Zumba classes a week, five fulltime and six part-time staff, and a database of 3000 people.
The 34-year-old admits she never had a business plan for Rhythmz Dance Co and Rhythm Kids but it's been no obstacle.
"I never really planned the business, it just happened organically.
"It has grown really fast. I have had to go along with it and take it as it comes. I'm sure we are doing everything wrong," she laughed.
It's truly a family business - Carla's husband Teejay Hemara left his job in alternative education to become a fulltime Zumba instructor.
Her mother Helen Beazley is the office administrator, and even children Tai, 8 and Maia, 5, earn pocket money by helping out with tasks like manning the door at Zumba.
The business operates out of a granny-flat at the couple's Gate Pa home, although classes take place at their Mount Maunganui studio and in Tauranga, Bayfair and Papamoa.
Her husband is her "best employee", Carla jokes.
"He's pretty much the main Zumba instructor - he's charismatic, and the ladies love him."
But Carla admits there's some pressure which comes with providing employment for her family members and all of her staff.
"It's a bit of responsibility, you have to keep the business moving forward."
The addition of Zumba Tauranga to the business a year ago has been a huge success.
When Carla did a Zumba training course in Australia in October last year, no one she spoke to in Tauranga had even heard of the fitness phenomenon.
Now, it's massive and the interest in Zumba has also pushed forward her children's dance classes.
"I can tap into these people, who have usually got kids, and get them to our dance classes. It's been really good for business."
Rhythmz Dance Co has a dance studio at Mount Maunganui but also teaches dance in Greerton, Bayfair and Papamoa.
Carla's love of dance got her into teaching groove
About 300 children learn dance - ballet, hip hop, contemporary and lyrical - from Carla and her team.
The studio is different from most others as it does not have exams or follow a syllabus.
"It's a little less stressful than exam based classes. We have a relaxed attitude to dance, and we think everyone should be dancing, regardless of ability. It's a non-competitive environment."
Carla did a performance art course after she left Tauranga Girls' College, and then studied at the Bay Of Plenty Academy of Performance Arts.
Ironically, a stint at the New Zealand School of Dance convinced her that she didn't want to dance as a career, and she took a break from dancing for eight years.
She worked as a PA in Sydney, but after she had children she was drawn back to dance.
"I took a job as a dance teacher and did kids' dance, and really, really enjoyed it," she said.
"When I came back [to Tauranga], all my friends knew I had done it, and they said 'you can teach our kids'."
The rest is history. And though running the business is hard work and involves working late nights and weekends, Carla loves it.
"It's so exciting at the moment. I could never go back to a regular job."
See www.rdc.net.nz and www.zumbatauranga.co.nz
FIVE THINGS ABOUT CARLA
 * She was once towed by camel to hospital after becoming seriously ill in the Thar Desert in India.
* While working as a nanny for a British millionaire, she flew from Heathrow to New York by Concorde.
* She had a Bay of Plenty Times paper run at the age of 8, and at high school had a cleaning job at the Polytechnic, where she cleaned before school.
* She bought her first car - a Skoda - at age 15 for $500 with her hard earned cleaning money.
* She won her Fijian wedding on More FM.