Please give me 5 stars
One of the things I’ve been avoiding since teaching is looking at reviews, specifically reviews of me. I know that there’s nothing to be gained and that most likely, it’ll just send me down in a spiral with comments that are entirely based on personal preference.
As part of my freelance strategy and marketing work, I review the different platforms that the studio uses. The good news: my mat Pilates class is a top-rated class at the studio with a 5/5. The jolting news: as an instructor my rating is a 4/5. In fairness, all of the instructors have a 4/5 rating except for the owner so it does make me feel slightly better, but it was interesting to observe how my instinctive reaction to this was “oh shit what did I do wrong am I a bad person” rather than “wow, it’s great that people love my class” or even better yet “eh, people are entitled to their own opinion and this is not indicative of my worth”.
As businesses have an increased presence online, ratings and reviews have more and more of an impact, not just on revenue but also the longevity of the business. Funnily enough today the bakery received a mediocre review, and it was interested to comparing the two situations. With reviews, especially those for food, I’ve noticed that the majority of the mediocre reviews (3-4/5) are often due to someone having a bad day, feeling a bit full of themself, or not having the personal preference being met (the decor or the music wasn’t their perfect fit) rather than having to do with the actual quality of the product. Sometimes the reviews are justified (truly horrible and rude service; raw food), but most of the mediocre reviews are just that — mediocre with nothing good nor bad, just comments about a misalignment with personal preference.
I could apply that to my situation: my teaching style just might not be to someone’s personal preference. Granted I would prefer you don’t review at all if you can’t say anything nice, but luckily for me right now my employment does not rest on reviews but rather on if I’m expertly and safely guiding my students (check) and if students are providing positive feedback on my classes (check), and I guess everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.
Or maybe I soak in the words of my friends, business owners in their own right — we’re not in it for the reviews, but to create something beautiful and joyful for our customers.