ested in serving the performing arts. That’s given us a really big leg up from a recruiting perspective where we’ve got some great people working for us in some very strange corners of the country who we wouldn’t have found if we had an in-person workforce.” THE ‘SECRET SAUCE’ One factor that makes Ensemble stand out is its dedication to keeping the store’s existing name, branding and staff intact. “There’s a couple layers of benefits of to this strategy,” Homer said. “There’s the benefit where it allows us to make greater commitments to sellers. I think Myrna Sislen [former owner] at Middle C Music is some- body who wouldn’t have sold the business if the plan was to turn it into a chain store. But, then there’s also the benefit that it’s the right thing to do for the business itself because that store already has a tie to the local com- munity. There’s value in that existing brand. The community loves Middle C Music. They don’t want to see it change over to something national that sort of feels far away. They like the kind of zainy feel that they have with their community music store and they want to see that continue.” Homer said maintaining the store’s identity also sits well with the former owner. “I think, most of all, what we promise to entrepreneurs is to be a safe pair of hands for the business they’ve spent many years of their life investing in. That is shown in our commitment to not rebrand schools and stores. We operate them as they were on the day that we took over, and we really invest in the community, feel and preserve the individuality of these local businesses,” Homer said. “A retailer that has survived into this moment in time shows there’s ob- viously some kind of connection with the community that’s really strong, and there’s something that’s working. So, it’s our mis- sion to really preserve and protect that. So, I think above all, it’s our commitment to be a steward of someone else’s life’s work and carry that forward for many years to come. At Middle C Music, the person who Myrna hired we still have running the place today, and we still even sell T-shirts with Myrna’s face on them.” THE ENSEMBLE EFFECT While keeping the branding and staff intact, stores who are purchased by Ensemble are now able to tap into what Homer calls “na- tional resources,” including a strong marketing department that a boutique retailer would otherwise not be able to obtain.
“I think, most of all, what we promise to entre- preneurs is to be a safe pair of hands for the business they’ve spent many years of their life investing in. That is shown in our commitment to not rebrand schools and stores.” — Jeff Homer
tasks — finances, payroll and billing — but then also to do some of these value-add func- tions that a larger company could do, such as inputting schedule management software and replacing pen and paper by doing digital marketing and [launching] a quality website with SEO. I took on those tasks in the early days, and then, as the business grew, we built teams to do those things.” Today, Homer operates a fully remote busi- ness with some 1,400 employees — including the stores’ staff and part-time teachers — in all corners of the country. He said there’s
two key reasons Ensemble has chosen a fully remote business model, including making the stores and schools themselves the “center of business.” “I felt it was important that the locations were the center of our business, so there’s no big corporate headquarter palace anywhere,” Homer said. “We have a physical presence in the places we do business. So, I think that’s really important from a cultural perspective that that’s the center of our business. But also, being fully remote has given us the ability to tap into a national pool of talent that’s inter-
SEPTEMBER 2024 I MUSIC INC. I 37
Powered by FlippingBook