“Pole, Power & Pivots: Andrijana on the Business of Reinvention”

What happens when a pole studio mogul decides to close the doors, for good?

In this episode, we chat with Andrijana, founder of Pole Queens, former state competitor, and pole industry powerhouse. She once ran four successful studios, owned a franchise, and built a name in the pole world. Now? She’s stepped away from it all.

We dive into why she left studio ownership behind, what she learned from building (and unbuilding) a business, and how she’s channeling her passion into new projects like her pole grip brand. It’s raw, honest, and full of takeaways for anyone navigating change, burnout, or big decisions in the fitness world.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Hello everybody, all our twirly-whirly little princesses and princes and them days. We are back with another exciting episode of Pole Obsession with myself, Felix Kane, and the wonderful Elizabeth Damasette. We are here today with the wonderful Adriana, who is the owner-operator of, or was the owner-operator of Pole Queens, which has had four studios in Victoria, the owner of Holtite Brip, and a former state level competitor with aspirations we hear of coming back stepping back onto the competitive stage. So thank you very much for being with us today and we can't wait to talk to you about all things pole and competition and business. Thanks for

SPEAKER_00: 0:43

being here. I want to start with just how you got in the industry in the first place like take us back to the very beginning.

SPEAKER_01: 0:52

Okay, sure. So I used to live in Queensland and when I moved down from Queensland, I didn't really have any friends. I met a girl that was like a dress shopping sort of sales lady. I And we became really close friends. And she said to me, we need to start hanging out. We all used to go to this location in Paran to have coffee. Coffee eventually turned into cocktails. And then one day she turned up and said to us... Oh my God, next week you all need to bring exercise clothing. I have booked us into pole dancing courses. And this was back in about 2014. So obviously, you know, a little bit more taboo back then. And we were all like pole dancing. Oh no, what made you think we want to do that? And so she had booked seven of us in and not really read the fine print. She paid for all of us and the studio were kind of like, you're not really going to get a refund on this one. So I kind of felt sorry for her. I knew she'd try to do something nice for this group of friends and I ended up handing her the money to go to this class that I wasn't planning on going to. And then she was really sad and I thought, oh, it's a lot of money to just hand away. I'm going to a class. So I started out back in 2014 and I I can't say that I immediately enjoyed it I kind of felt like I was a little bit of a baby giraffe learning to walk for the first time and also a bit of a hippopotamus trying to climb up this pole while my instructor just looked so elegant and graceful while she I still remember her and she's on my socials now which is kind of cute but she was just so amazing how she did everything and I thought why does she make this look so easy and I make this look so terrible so I sort of got a little bit obsessed of trying to look like her, I guess you could say. And after my first term, I thought, you know, this has been great. I'm giving up here. But I also used to be a rock and roll swing and lindy hop competitor. And I hold a few state titles across Australia for that. And just before I started pole dancing, I did a competition with a dance partner who lived in Queensland. And then Halfway through the end of the course, I did another competition with him. When I did that competition, he was like, oh my God, you're so much stronger. What have you done? I was like, I've been going to ballet and yoga. I lied about pole dancing. That's what made me stick to it. So I stuck to it and then the next bit was, um, and also cut me off here if I'm just raving on too much. Uh, but after I did that, um, second course, I decided I wanted to compete. Uh, I did my first competition, which was like an in-house studio competition and I kind of did it for a bit of fun. Uh, didn't tell anybody. And, um, of course everybody found out and then the pressure was on and then I was determined to win this competition. So So I took first place and then I was like, that's it. I want to be an instructor. I want to own a studio. I'm going to open 10 studios and the dream just continued from there. Is

SPEAKER_00: 4:20

that your second term of pole where you competed? I

SPEAKER_01: 4:22

think it was the second or third term. Yeah, I was in a very beginner level and it was just in a studio competition where you compete against other students that are in your same level.

UNKNOWN: 4:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 4:33

And so who was this instructor of yours that was such a beautiful dancer?

SPEAKER_01: 4:38

Her name was Kelly Byrne.

SPEAKER_00: 4:40

Okay, I don't know Kelly. I'm going to have to set you up. We're all going to set you up.

SPEAKER_02: 4:48

I love that the, like, increase in strength was notable from, like, your dance partner. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01: 4:54

yeah. I mean, so... We used to do partnered aerials and there was this one where he sort of lifts you up and both legs go over the shoulder and I've got to jump at the same time and he's put his hands down to lift me up and as he's lifted and I've jumped, I actually jumped completely over his head and he was like, you know, like I was in trouble. I'd made this big mistake now and what were we going to do? And I was like, it's okay, I can jump less, like, you know. Amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:24

So then where did you go from there? What was your next steps?

SPEAKER_01: 5:28

Well, after that happened, I actually had a major injury. I lost 70% functionality in my ankle playing netball. I ruptured three of my main ligaments entirely. And I also have what's called complex regional pain syndrome. So sometimes what happens is my body pretends like that limb doesn't belong to me. I was on crutches for 19 weeks. I was unable to walk, unassisted for 12 months. months and not able to drive for about another six months after that. And I was devastated. My dreams were absolutely shattered that I may never become a studio owner. I may never dance again. I was going to like the Olympic Park Sports Medical Clinic where they deal with all the professional athletes of Victoria. And it was not looking good for us. So I I kept at it and they sort of told me to give up on my pole dancing dream. I'd be lucky if I would run, jump or squat ever again. And I just kept at it and slowly but surely returned to classes. I remember when I wanted to return to classes, my main studio actually denied me the ability to come back because I was not able to complete a full warm-up. There was obviously the running element in the cardio warm-up and I wasn't able to run. And I went off to another studio. They obviously could see how passionate I was and that I wanted to do this. And they got me in to do a private lesson to do a modified warm-up so I could actually attend their studios. So then I started to go around all of Victoria and try as many of the studios as I could because I knew this is what I wanted to do and I wanted to get back into it. So it took me a while to be able to get back and follow with my dream. But I eventually opened my first studio in 2016, which was the Craigieburn location. And I opened that under a franchise at the time. After that, I kind of still didn't want to stop. I just had this, I want to open at least three was my goal. And so somewhere along the line, I decided it's time for me to open another studio. I was still in the franchise. Things didn't quite work out in that franchise with me. So I decided to part ways amicably with the studio, sorry, with the franchisor. And, uh, that's when pole Queens really came about. So that was in about 2019. And as soon as that happened, I expanded into aerial silks as well. After aerial silks, a week later, I opened another location. So that ended up being, um, the pole Queens Knox studio. Uh, when I opened that studio, I also included hoops. So I've been off a adding these two new syllabuses to my service offerings, but we were now running Pole, Silks and Hoops. After that, so Knox opened in 2019. Six months later, I purchased a studio regionally because I knew that this is what I wanted, the third one, and I also was looking at the time at franchising my brand and And I thought if I opened a regional studio, it might be nice and challenging for me to be able to learn how to manage things and be able to really offer every bit of advice to a franchisee. So I started building my manuals to open and offer franchising. When it was time for me to take over the sale location, COVID hit. Me and my dad were in there doing all these renovations with a planned open day and we had no idea there was this toilet paper shortage at all when I first When I'm taking my dad back to Melbourne to get on a plane, I've got no food in my house, no toilet paper, no nothing. The world's gone into chaos and I had no idea because I didn't have a TV or a phone or anything for almost two weeks of these renovations that dad and I were conducting. So sale didn't, it got to open for like a week and that was it. We closed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:03

I mean, I have so many questions.

SPEAKER_01: 10:06

Yeah. Then, during COVID, I ended up doing the Pole Queen's Melton studio. And, yeah, so that one was in 2020, 2021. Yes, 2021. That's a

SPEAKER_00: 10:25

lot. I want to go back, though. When you were going to all the studios around Melbourne... Yep. To learn different things from those studios. What did you learn from each and what were the best things that you picked up that you took with you to your studios?

SPEAKER_01: 10:40

Oh, there were so many things like, um, you know, sometimes it was, okay. So just as an example, one of the things that I absolutely loved about, um, pole princess, which is no longer around, uh, I used to see their dancers and their dancers looked like they mattered their height or body shape. They had legs for days. Like they just had these amazingly long and flexible. And, um, I don't even know how to explain it any more than that. These kind of legs and And I think that came from, you know, what they were doing in their warm-ups and that there was a lot of a dance element in there, which I loved. Like I thought this was great to be able to bring this into, you know, eventually when I opened my own studio. So, you know, some of the other things that I liked about some of the other studios was sometimes they had great cultures, which I was like, oh, I hope we have that. Or, you know, there might've been something that just sort of gave me a little bit of a, here's the, what this studio is doing, but I could do this and this and this and this as well, you know, that they might not have been doing and things like that. So there was lots of things. I think I, all up, I went to about five or six different studios in in Melbourne just to see what they were all about.

SPEAKER_00: 11:57

I mean, it's a good way to do it. So when you say great culture, what do you mean

SPEAKER_01: 12:02

by that? So I did go to one studio that I found was very cliquey. If you weren't part of the clique, you know, you're kind of definitely an outsider and you weren't always treated amazingly and particularly, like I remember, there was this situation with a competition yesterday that I had entered. I'd come for a practice session and I came into the studio. There was nobody in the poll. I asked everybody, is anyone on this poll? They said no. I did my warm-up. I put my earphones in. I'd done about three run-throughs and then a girl came in and was like, that's my poll. Get off my poll. And I was like, I was mortified. Yep. And the thing that had also been said was, you're only a beginner, I'm elite. And I was like, oh, sorry, mate, like I don't care who you are. I'm pretty sure the names on these poles belong to the lady outside, so how about you keep moving. So it turned into this big thing. Eventually that lady ended up apologising to me at the competition and, oh, I was just really stressed out is what she said to me and I was like, that's okay, but, you know, I'm a beginner and this is my first pole dancing comp, like, you know, maybe just, Think about that next time. But it was kind of a situation where, you know, all the girls in the room were like, ooh, you know, wanting to get in on the little, you know, cat fight that had happened at the studio. And I was like, oh, God, I don't ever want to deal with that in my studios. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:32

Over a pole.

SPEAKER_01: 13:33

Over a pole. Over a pole. So, you know, when we ran classes, definitely one of the things I would say is it's very important to move around. I understand we like to have the same routine, but, you know, try a different pole each week. Yeah. Yeah. There's no my pole because at the end of the day I owned them.

SPEAKER_02: 13:53

Yeah. It's funny, isn't it, how territorial people can get about their poles. Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:59

They run to their poles sometimes, put their water there and then just do whatever they need to just so it's their pole. It's like so funny to you guys. Yeah. Just be kind. Just be kind.

SPEAKER_02: 14:12

When you were introducing Ariel Silks and Lyra, were you also teaching all of those as well or did you?

SPEAKER_01: 14:22

Yes. Yeah. So I had– I'm not going to lie. I wasn't a fan of hoops. I just– I'm a wuss. I don't like the bruising. I love it. It looks so great and I'm envious of everybody who can do hoops but– Yeah, I'm a wuss. End of story. But silks, I had done quite a few classes in silks and things like that. And I purchased an online syllabus and then I rewrote the syllabus of how I thought things needed to be. And I particularly found that as a studio owner and developing my own manuals and syllabus, I found it important for me to teach some of the classes. So I would take the customer from the start of the journey online up until possibly competitor level. I found this important because I got to see– that I might have missed in the syllabus. And then I just constantly kept improving them. I kind of, it's awful to say, but I, and my customers know that this used to happen. I used to say, you're the little guinea pig. And so they would get, you know, through the journey while I would watch how they went with the syllabus. And each time, each term, there would be some sort of a correction just to make sure that, you know, the next lot that were coming behind them were them plus better. You know

SPEAKER_02: 15:41

what I mean?

UNKNOWN: 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 15:41

But I think that, you know, that sort of stays the same, even if it is it stagnates for a little while, even with like some of my beginners classes now as well. I'm like, oh, I should add that in or I should mention this or I should like as we learn and grow as people, we can like feed it in constantly. So I think I don't think that's a bad thing. I think it's a really good thing to be doing.

UNKNOWN: 16:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 16:00

be open like learning and changing and growing with the syllabus as as our like clients become more informed and maybe they're cross-training and there's so much more information available now so yeah yeah yeah I agree good job

SPEAKER_00: 16:14

so what

SPEAKER_02: 16:15

was

SPEAKER_00: 16:15

So what was your step? Because you did mention that you had a franchise first before you created your own company. So what was your step into getting into a franchise and choosing which one? Because there's a few out there. There's not a lot in our industry, but there is a few in our industry that made you choose that one. And then what made you decide to go your own way instead?

SPEAKER_01: 16:40

Okay, so I... The very first studio that I went and inquired about. So at first I thought step one was I'm going down Franchise Avenue. This was before I had my injury. I thought to myself, I wouldn't even know where to start with everything. And My dad was actually my biggest supporter. He kept telling me, you can do this on your own. You don't really need someone else. And I'm like, no, I can't, Dad. And, you know, anyways, I went down the territory of looking at these things. The very first franchise that I went to, I was headset sold. Hook, line and sink are ready to go. And I went and interviewed all the franchisees. And then I started getting these phone calls from these franchisees saying, please stop. Please buy my studio. I really want out. And I was mortified that this was happening. They, you know, they were trying to basically sneak a sale from each other and things like that. And I didn't know what to do about it. I didn't know whether to tell the franchisor or not. Eventually, I told the franchisor. But it kind of gave me, you know, this was a promotion that we were all one big family and sisters. And all of a sudden these sisters were having this big cat fight. So I stepped away from that franchise and I looked at another one. The one that I looked at after that, I wasn't overly excited about because I'd had some bad tasting vibes from that franchise for a little bit as well and so then I found this one that was I'd never heard of them before I met with the franchisor and she basically shared the same passion and compassion to the situation that I did and I thought wow she's a great fit and she thought I was a great fit and I started teaching and then I went down the franchise avenue. There was definitely some teething issues. I wanted to get out even before opening the doors, but I was now locked in this agreement. So I thought I'll give it my best shot for as long as I can. But the relationship was just very, very difficult. We We just didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things, you know, and I appreciate that she wanted her brand to look a certain way and I think she didn't really think about all the other things that we could all do to better the brand. And so it was very restrictive, in my opinion, and it just wasn't working. I wasn't the first to leave that franchise. There were quite a lot of other franchisees that left, and I think it... It was just kind of the right timing while the others were leaving. I thought, I'm just going to try and see how I go. I picked up the phone and said, you know, we've been doing this for three years. We're, you know, not enjoying it. And I would really like out. And she was like, I think you're right. And I was like, hallelujah. So we separated and I did my own thing.

SPEAKER_00: 20:06

Oh, good. So was that easy to

SPEAKER_01: 20:08

get out? Not really. It took three years. But, yeah, I think it was just maybe right timing. And I think, you know, after a few experiences and things like that, yeah, I think it just sort of made sense to both of us at the time. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_02: 20:26

And I think maybe like clear communication and those sorts of things. situations is always best even if it's like not a a pleasant conversation to have at least like like you say you can both part ways amicably rather than like turning it into a big drama correct um i'm gonna go off on a tangent because you mentioned your dad a back in the day when pole was, like, less mainstream, I would have thought, like, my dad, for example, took him such a long time to come around and be supportive. But your dad sounds like he's been, like, super supportive of pole.

SPEAKER_01: 21:01

Yeah. Wow. Okay. So let me tell you about my dad. I feel like flipping the camera around right now to show you that he's in ripping walls down while I'm in front. Do

SPEAKER_03: 21:12

it. Do it. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 21:14

Do it. Where's the– why can't I– hang on. There we go. Flip. Do it.

SPEAKER_00: 21:20

Oh, he's in there. Oh, my gosh. We love him. Such a good dadder.

SPEAKER_01: 21:26

Yeah. And he's actually sick as a dog right now. So basically what happened, I'm European, so I come with a Serbian background. In my culture... Pole dancing, it's not something that women do. It's only for strippers. That's it. That's the view of the Vulcan mentality. But my dad, who is literally– he came here when he was 21– My dad is not only my biggest supporter, but he was the one who was more okay with it than what my mum was. So when I eventually told my parents, because I didn't tell anybody that I pole danced. Up until this competition, nobody knew. So when I told my parents, my mum's like, I want to come to a class. I want to see what you're doing. And I'm like, oh my God. And embarrassingly, I had to ask, at the time I was at Pole Divas in Moonee Ponds and I'm ringing Tanya and I'm going, Hi. My mom wants to come and see what I'm doing. And she's like, that's okay. Bring her along. And my mom sits in the room with this, like, yeah, keep laughing, Felix. Like, this is just, she sits in the room with these arms folded with this, you know, cranky looking face. And we walk out and she's like, okay, whatever. Sure. And I'm like, Jesus. Meanwhile, when I rang my parents to tell them that I've started pole dancing, my mom's like, you did what? And my dad's like, she's doing pole dancing. And my mom says, what do you wear? And my dad goes, she's wearing g-string. What do you think she's wearing? And my mom's like, how would you know what she's wearing? And they're having this argument. And I'm like, oh, my Lord. And I'm like, I'm just– I'm going for fitness, mum. And my dad's going, this is very good for strength. I see on the sunrise this morning. And my mum's going– she's asking all these questions, mind you. And– She's then accusing my dad, how does he know about these pole

SPEAKER_03: 23:30

dancers?

SPEAKER_01: 23:32

And my dad's like all defensive. It's all over the news. And mum's like, well, I watch the news with you. And dad's like, well, you don't pay attention. So there's this big family fight. And I'm like, okay, bye. I'm out. And I hang up the phone. And eventually then my mum wants to come to the studios. My parents live in Townsville and my parents were sharing like nearly every single post so proudly. to the entire of Townsville that their daughter owns pole queens and come to her classes. And I'm like, oh, these parents, they just don't get it. Anyway, so my parents, my parents were never in a good financial, well, sorry, they were in a great financial situation. And then when my brother passed away, he had a tragic accident. My parents pretty much lost everything. So they weren't able to financially help me, but my dad is a builder. And my dad said to me when I told him I wanted to open this studio and whatever, he said to me, I will go and get some credit cards. We will buy you some poles and I believe in you. Let's do this. And I was like, oh, dad. And he's like, no, you're a smart kid. I know you can do this. You're passionate. You have to give it a go. And I'm like, oh. But my dad being my biggest hero, he just kept pushing, pushing, pushing. And I was like, you know what? He's right. With him by my side, he's right. So I saved up some money because none of us could at the time sort out anything about getting a loan. I saved up some money and I quit a job that I was getting paid about$140,000 a year to open my first studio in cash. Wow. Yeah. What was your other job? My other job. I worked for the Department of Education and it's called space management. Nobody knows what that is. Yeah. I was a subject matter expert in spatial data systems, which is basically like there is, let's say you've got a studio. What would happen in these systems is that the system will allow you to put an area around a room and say that in this room the flooring is carpeted and then you can assign all these assets to it and then you can spit out reports to know exactly what is what. And so I used to do that for the Department of Education where there was like, thousands of schools with thousands of buildings and thousands of rooms and it would do things like help the government determine funding for cleaning a facility or going out to tender to get new cleaners or maintenance or whatever the situation might be.

SPEAKER_02: 26:08

Amazing. Do you think that that helped you with running like your business? I'm always curious to how like where your experience in like past industries has like how it filters through but

SPEAKER_01: 26:22

So I have a huge corporate background. As a child, I had scholarships to private schools, but after my brother passed away, I dropped out of school and I didn't do uni or anything like that. The first thing I did at the age of 17 was become a nail tech. I started like doing acrylic nails and things, started a business. And then after that, I worked in an accounting firm. I worked in a financial firm. I worked in a university. I worked in an operations and commercial services kind of role. From there, I then worked in, I've also worked in McDonald's and video stores and Woolworths. I also worked in the world's largest chemical company. I did business admin for CEOs and things like that. So my background in terms of work I have seen everything that makes something run like it's always been an operational kind of role and it's I think that that has given me a huge stepping stone to do Like to become the studio owner. I mean, I couldn't even straddle when I started teaching and opened my first studio. So my background was more from a business sense versus a hugely popular pole dancer who's out there winning the competitions and things like that.

SPEAKER_02: 27:45

yeah

SPEAKER_01: 27:46

I want one even though you are a winner as well

SPEAKER_02: 27:49

yeah also it sounds like you are like a like a real workhorse as well like you you you're not afraid of hard work which I think a lot of the times you don't see how much work goes into like studio owning running and building all of those things um so I think that yeah it's it's a very um thankless sort of a job sometimes I think it was it's very difficult to appreciate just how much goes into it. So I think when you are a workforce, yeah, it does help.

SPEAKER_00: 28:19

Thank you for listening to part one of our episode with Adriana from Pole Queens. Stay tuned as we'll be releasing part two next week.