Another Year Down, A Lot of Growth, and Even More Work Ahead | 2025 Reflections

Already at the end of 2025 huh? It’s genuinely perplexing to go through the same exercise I did a year ago (Click Here to view last year’s reflections) . To look at what changed for good and for worse, what grew, and what needed to grow next. I said it last year and I’ll say it again today, Alexi and I still never expected to be where we were back then, let alone the monumental growth we are at today.

Heck, back then, everything felt fast and we were struggling to keep up. Now? We’ve doubled that, 2024 had 60ish classes/events each month. And now we’re at 110+ on average. And, If you would have told me that at the end of last year I would have said

“How the hell am I going to do that?”

But hey that’s how growth works. You blink, and you’re standing in a place you couldn’t picture before and I’m damn excited for it.

Where We Started and Where We Are Now

Growth doesn’t always feel like fireworks. A lot of times it feels like long days, late nights, spreadsheets, fixing things that break, and figuring out problems one by one. But let’s talk numbers because they tell the story better than any fancy writing could.

Here’s what our journey has actually looked like:

2022: We averaged 10 events a month. Back then it was honestly a lot for us at the time. By the end of the year attendance sat somewhere around 1,300.

2023: We went up to 25 events monthly. We got closer to 3,000 participants. Still renting at different studios to complete activities. Which meant juggling other people’s schedules and praying nothing got double-booked.

2024: We jumped to 60ish events a month. Around 8,000 people attended our offerings. Most importantly we finally had our own facility. It wasn’t perfect at first, but it was ours!

2025: 110+ events for the majority of the year. We’re on track to hit 15,000 participants, and the sky is the limit.

I bet now it makes sense why I look like I haven’t slept since who knows when!

It’s honestly wild to see it written out. Going from begging different studios for space to having a 4,720 sq ft facility where we can pivot, rearrange, or expand pretty much anything. That freedom alone changed everything.

We also went from just Alexi and I hosting every single thing; to now having twelve floating instructors in different areas. Twelve. And every single one of them came from within the DFWYAS community.

And I need to thank each one of them because back in the early days they were doing it almost for free, instructor pay was tiny. We had no cash reserves, and they were doing us a giant favor by sharing their talents with the community. And we knew when we were in a position to change that, we needed to honor that generosity. Now, we have a much more collaborative ‘base + profit sharing model’ with our arts/crafts instructors taking home about 20% of the gross revenue.

That also didn’t come by raising prices to an exuberant amount either. We’ve kept all prices lower than the rest of DFW by a lot. Our dance classes are still at $9 each with a package. Guided paint classes are $25 dollars cheaper than other popular paint party studios. We even started offering free fitness, Zumba and yoga classes, because we wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to make healthy choices.

Building Something Bigger Than Us, Part Two

Last year I wrote something that still feels true today:

“I don’t know if we’ll ever break even. And if we don’t, that’s okay. This wasn’t about turning a profit. It was about creating a place where barriers come down and people can meet one another. A place where life feels a little lighter.”

I meant it then and I mean it now. This was never supposed to be a cash machine. This was supposed to be a place where people could walk in and feel like they weren’t carrying their whole life alone. A place where a community didn’t come with an ulterior motive.

We still haven’t made any big profit. The money goes right back into the community.

Increasing instructors pay

Purchasing more tables, chairs, better equipment and updating the space.

Adding more free offerings and expanding programming

Increasing reserves for market shifts

Our latest upgrade is the turning the pool table room into a full tabletop and DND room.

But one of the things I’m most proud of is being able to employ someone who has genuinely helped build this community even when she had life repeatedly send her askew. Hiring Maria as our new coordinator was an enormous milestone for us, and she is already helping in so many ways.

Then there’s the avenue I wanted to grow for a long time, the expansion of our volunteer efforts. In the last half year, we have helped LLELA Nature Preserve pot over 2,500 native plants. Clear more than acre of dead tree land and logged over 600 volunteer hours. And we’re not stopping there, soon we’ll host a holiday letters event going out to elders who could use encouragement and compassion for this season.

When I say our community has reach beyond our walls, this is what I mean. We’re not just a club. We’re part of DFW. Part of the effort to build something better, not just for us, but for the community around us.

That is a major reason I changed the DFWYAS tag line to:

“Ensuring culture, connection, and experiences are accessible for everyone.”

That is my expectation to myself, it’s my genuine responsibility and something I live by every day.

There are too many places that only care about profits, and I genuinely don't. Honestly, I don't ever really want to pay myself unless I must. I would rather ensure I keep this community growing, keep employing amazing people, and let this be a place for all of us, not just those that can afford it.

The Real Cost of Keeping DFWYAS Open

Last year I talked about what it takes to run this DFW Young & Social Club (click here to view last year’s post) . Our costs have increased but how we handled it hasn’t changed; we've only become more efficient at it. Through it all life keeps happening, some amazing things and some very heavy things. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not able to be everywhere all at once anymore and my family needs me now more than ever. As many of you know:

My mother is going through cancer treatment. Read about that here.

I have a 8-month old son who is a whirlwind of energy

A ten-year-old son who is hitting the stride of confidence.

We’re also planning for more children in the near future.

Most weeks I’m clocking somewhere between 85 to100 hours across everything. And I’m not saying that for sympathy. I don’t want that, truly, I’m saying it because it’s just the truth. And the truth helps you understand why some changes have happened and will continue to happen.

But like I said last year

"It’s exhausting, yes—but it’s also deeply rewarding. This work is personal, and it’s fueled by the belief that what we’re building together truly matters."

And it still is. I still get an amazing satisfaction, seeing the impact we’ve made for everyone.

Let’s talk numbers though. I want to give an honest and transparent view of what it costs us to keep the doors open each month:

Rent, water, property tax: $6,400

Electricity: $600

Internet: $110

Business insurance: $64

Software and management systems: $120

Website hosting, domains, email: $50

Taxes and licensing: $130

Meetup: $27

That’s $7,500 before a single instructor or payroll is paid. Before a single material is bought. Before repairs, upgrades, decorations, or improvements. That is just our fixed cost.

So, how do we cover all that? Much like last year we have Dance Classes to thank, but we have done well in diversifying our portfolio to have a bigger safety net. Our spread is as follows:

65% dance classes and dance events

15% crafting and art classes

8% general events

5% donations, mostly from a few large donors

4% partnerships and corporate events

2% rentals

1% wellness classes earlier in the year

Outlining everything above shows the importance of being meticulous about planning and expenses to ensure this club stays solvent and growing.

Let’s Talk Changes For 2026 and Hard Decision We Need to Make

Now that you have a good grasp of where we are with the numbers, we need to talk about changes we need to make for the club in 2026.

We have to increase prices across all our offerings except for dance classes.

Here is what is increasing:

Dungeons and dragons: Experienced Player will be $20 a person and first timer sessions will be $25 a person. We’re doing this for a few reasons. The average rate for others studio is $35 starting and even more at bigger venues.

Andrew needs to be compensated fairly for the dozens of hours of love he put into making a great experience each month.

Continue to grow this sector because there is a demand for a safe and affordable tabletop community.

Crafting and art classes: Minimum prices will be $25, with higher pricing only for specialty events. The only time they will be higher is when it requires special materials, or there is increased labor effort.

I’m sure you’re wondering why are we not raising dance class pricing.

Dance in the United States is declining, especially in ballroom, and swing.

We want everyone to have the opportunity to gain the confidence to learn. We want people to have fun and meet one another through this medium and go out dancing together.

For many of us, in this young stage of life, paying $30 for one class or being forced locked into 300-dollar monthly commitment is just not possible. It’s very expensive to build that skillset at normal studios and we want to keep it accessible.

Lastly, and most importantly, we can't keep demanding our regular dance student to burden the needs of the growing club. Every area and sector needs to do their part to keep this community alive and growing.

Now for the hard decision we are talking through

UPDATE TO BELOW: We are moving forward with a 9% Fee on every transaction and having a heavier communication push during free events to solicit donations. As well as add new signage around the facility that directly ask for donations. We still believe adding a membership fee will remove accessibility nature to many of our free events and offerings.

We currently need a long-term path for community solvency, growth, and accessibility. We have several options we are talking through

Option A: Add a 10 percent fee to all transactions. 6% covers the real, unavoidable costs of doing business. This includes credit card processing, fixed fees, taxes, and all the tiny cuts that happen every time a transaction goes through.

2% goes directly toward community growth. This would support all the free classes, free events, socials, supplies, and the programs that make this space feel alive.

2% supports our assistance programs. This is the charitable side of what we do that often goes unseen: free classes for students in need, sliding-scale access, and the quiet ways we try to remove financial barriers for people who could use the help.

Option B: Required Monthly Membership for all participants A small $5 monthly membership for all participants. That covers the same need as option A but spreads the responsibility evenly to everyone.

Option C: Secure Grants, increase donations, and solicit more volunteers Getting a monetary boost from award programs will directly help us offset the real cost of doing business and providing this service for every. More donations do the same and utilizing our members heavily to help with labor or facilitate experience that brings revenue/donations will do so as well.

At the end of the day, we will need to make one of the choices above to ensure we are here for a very long time. When we make a decision, we will share it with everyone, and if you have any questions or ideas feel free to let us know on the Discord Server.

To wrap this up, I want to keep it simple.

Thank you.

Thank you for helping build something that didn’t exist before this.

Thank you for giving me a reason to keep going even when the hours get long and life gets heavy.

My life is richer because of you, and I don’t want a life without y’all.

I want to keep serving this community for as long as I can.

I want to keep building something that outlives me. A place that gives people a place to just be.