Four-way studio ownership works with balance, courtesy

The instructor of a Jazzercise class usually is a woman who really likes to have the microphone in her hand and all eyes upon her.

So how does it work when four women accustomed to holding the microphone go into business as equal partners? A year after four Jazzercise instructors pooled their individual franchises to create Jazzercise West A West Reno Fitness Studio, the quartet says the arrangement continues to work smoothly.

The Jazzercise center at 8550 W.

4th St.

has drawn about 140 members who pay an initiation fee of $50 and a monthly fee of $39 and the business is paying its own way, its owners say.

One key to balancing the desires of four strong owners: Each of them has a specific area of responsibility in the business.

Rhonda Schab takes care of the center's corporate business and its front-desk operation.

Debbie Hamlin oversees bookkeeping and the center's child-care center.

Sonja Hardy takes care of promotions and vendor relationships.

And Erin Wallace handles marketing and management of the studio's Web site.

"We all have ownership of what we run," says Hamlin.

"We all have a specific task." Attitude plays a role, too, Wallace says.

"It comes down to manners, just common courtesy to each other," she says.

It helps, Hardy says, that none of the quartet were close friends before they decided to open the studio.

They'd known each other as Jazzercise instructors working in other facilities around town, and they'd kicked around the idea of opening their own center, but all had their own lives.

Hardy and Hamlin were busy raising families.

Schab helped her husband run a landscaping business, and Wallace continues to work fulltime as a public relations professional.

The mix of workday schedules helps the four owner-instructors cover a schedule of 32 classes a week, classes with starting times that run from 6 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

The foursome decided to open the facility after they spotted the vacant 4,000-square-foot building.

Wallace says the location is ideal because it's close to residential areas of Verdi and west Reno and enjoys good visibility from heavily traveled West 4th Street.

They financed the business from personal savings, and the center is debt-free.

After six weeks of remodeling the space by themselves and with the help of family members, the owners opened their doors with a Monday morning class that drew eight students.

Today, classes typically draw 10 to 30 per session.

The studio's owners set out to provide a highly personalized experience for members.

They work hard, for instance, at memorizing the names of members.

Students who haven't been in class for a while get a postcard inviting them to return.

"The reason we're successful is the people walking in the door,' says Schab.

Carol Curtis, the district manager who oversees Jazzercise franchises in the area, says the owners of Jazzercise West have been successful, too, because they carefully followed the plans laid out by the company based at Carlsbad, Calif.

"They did their homework, and they did the job," Curtis says.

"They worked tirelessly." A year into the business, the owners now face some big decisions.

They're hoping to add more classes.

They may need to hire staff to supplement their efforts.

"It's just like marriage," Wallace says of the partners' decision-making style.

"We're going to talk it through."