Undercutters. The subject that makes every bellydancer cringe, scream, and pull their hair out.  How to handle undercutters is something that I cover in my business lectures and my mentoring program but in this post, I’ll be giving you a sneak peak as to some of my tips.

Here are my top 4:

Resign yourself to the fact that they will never go away

Undercutters will always be there.  Just like Walmart will always exist, they will as well. You don’t see Nordstrom trashing Walmart- they just accept their existence. It’s hard to accept that someone is out there devaluing an art form that you love but you have to do just that. There will always be someone out there who charges more so there will always be someone who charges less. It could be anyone. Someone who has been dancing for years or minutes. It doesn’t matter. Just because they exist doesn’t mean that you have to let them stress you out.

Realize that you can’t control them

We all want to educate the undercutter. To let them know that they can charge more, they are worth more, but sometimes you just can’t. You can give them all the information in the world, but you still can’t control what they do. This is something we have to accept in all facets of our lives and it drives us crazy. Why can’t we make them do the right thing? Because we can’t. People are going to do what they want to do, regardless of what we say. Just breathe and let it go.



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Make yourself more unique

Ok, so you’ve got an undercutter in your area, what do you do? How do you keep them from continuing to affect your business? You set yourself apart. Make what YOU do, what YOU provide more unique. What about your style of dance makes you special? Can you do a prop that they can’t? Can you provide a certain style? Type of music? Anything that you can do to stand out will help your clients know the difference and want to hire you instead. Those clients that recognize your “A” game are the ones that you really want anyway.

Up your marketing game

If you can’t separate yourself from the masses, then separate how you market yourself. Focus on an area or a media for your advertising. If you do a lot of weddings, focus on the big wedding vendors and whatever media they use most. Maybe an ad in a wedding magazine? Or attending the trade shows? Undercutters usually aren’t the ones out there marketing themselves to the hilt. After all, they’re the ones accepting the low numbers, why would they spend it on ads?

These are just some of the tips that I have used to handle undercutters. Trust me, we all have those moments where we need to vent to friends and family but try to just take a breathe and do you. You can’t control them, but you can control You. So go out and be the best dancer you can be! Leave them in the back alley 😉