Episode one of Studio Shift begins on show night at Sydney Pole.

It’s a Saturday night in the Camperdown studio. The audience is full, the lights are on, and performers are waiting backstage in the green room. And among them is Mark — face covered in black makeup, wearing a costume he probably shouldn’t be, and standing in eight-inch black patent heels.

Tonight, Mark isn’t watching from the sidelines. He isn’t helping backstage or chatting to students. He’s performing his very first pole routine.

What started as a light-hearted bet became something much more important. Mark didn’t step on stage to prove anything — he did it to understand his customers. Not intellectually. Not through surveys, dashboards, or assumptions. But by feeling exactly what they feel.

Backstage, surrounded by nervous performers, Mark experiences the same emotions his customers face every day: self-doubt, fear of being judged, the feeling of not belonging, and the quiet voice asking, “Why am I here?” After three months of training, small wins, frustrations, encouragement, and failure, he realises he has truly walked the entire customer journey — from first step to show night.

This episode reframes what it really means to be customer-led.

Most businesses believe the customer journey starts when someone buys. In reality, it starts much earlier — with a quiet thought: Maybe this could be for me. That thought is almost immediately followed by doubt. From that moment on, every interaction becomes a customer touchpoint: the website, the emails, the pricing, the booking process, walking through the door, the first class, the way someone is greeted, and the room they step into.

Each moment either builds confidence or quietly takes it away.

At Sydney Pole, the 14-day introductory experience isn’t really about learning pole tricks. It’s about helping people feel safe, capable, welcome, and brave enough to keep showing up. Customers arrive with different motivations — fitness, confidence, connection, escape, curiosity — and no two journeys are the same. When businesses design for an “average” customer, they miss what really matters.

On show night, when Mark finally walks on stage, the room erupts in cheers. Not because he’s perfect — but because he’s having a go. Because everyone there understands how hard it is just to step into the arena. He walks off stage feeling proud, confident, and like he belongs.

That moment changes how Mark thinks about business.

Sydney Pole isn’t really in the business of teaching pole dancing, just as Disney isn’t in the business of rides or movies — it’s in the business of creating confidence, belonging, and moments that make people feel like a million dollars. Once you understand the emotional journey of your customer, everything shifts: marketing becomes about reassurance, value becomes about confidence, and retention becomes a natural outcome rather than a target.

This episode sets the foundation for the entire Studio Shift series.

Because before you can improve systems, scale a business, or talk about leadership and strategy, you first have to understand what it actually takes for someone to walk through the door — and why that first step is far braver than most businesses realise.