Your Lucky Break

What was your Lucky Break or Turning Point? 

I absolutely believe in working hard and I have had nothing handed to me. But I think there is a point in all of our stories that changed everything for us. A moment that, if it hadn't happened, would have drastically altered the course of our lives. I am not being hyperbolic. These are the moments that define us.  

That being said, here's mine...

I graduated with a degree in Music Education and was set to take a job at the school where I student taught. The school interviewed me, essentially hired me, and then waited until 2 weeks before school started to tell me that they had found someone else. 

I was crushed and out of options. I taught guitar and piano lessons through college but at that point I had maybe 15 or 20 students and it wasn't anything that I was taking too seriously. 

Cue my Lucky Break. My Turning Point. ​

Just as the school year was about to start I got a call out of the blue from a local pastor at a big church in town that had an arts academy. It turns out that one of my friends from college had a job there teaching guitar and, at the last minute, decided to move to Boston for school and gave them my name as someone that might be interested in taking over for him. 

He told me there were about 30 guitar students with my name on them if I wanted to come in for an interview. I came in and the rest is history. ​

A 'CoffeeHouse Recital' at the church in 2011.

My main teaching room for 6 years was a church classroom. Every day I would clear out dozens of chairs and tables to make it my own.

Except not really. This was 2008. 

When I arrived to start teaching a week later it turned out that those '30 students' were actually only about 8 students. And I left my previous teaching position of around 20 students to take this job. Did I mention that I had recently gotten married?

This wasn't some Golden Opportunity that was laid before me.

I worked insanely hard to grow my studio to be big enough to even provide part of the meager monthly income that my wife and I needed in our early 20s.

But I was able to take what was there and continue to build on it for the last decade. 

That opportunity (and the lack of any school openings for me to be a k-12 music teacher) is what led me to where I am today. A few months later I also accepted a job leading worship at the church and spent the next 6 years there leading worship for their preteen ministry and teaching guitar, piano, bass, ukulele, and drum lessons. 

I took those 8 students and grew them to almost 80 over the next few years until I outgrew that church and saw that it was time to open my own studio.

5 years later and our studio has twice as many students and we have laid the groundwork for some substantial growth in 2019.

One of my recitals in 2012 at the church before I opened my studio. One of the few existing pictures of Shane in 'formal attire'.

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But the story doesn't end there.

​Since I had to learn to run my own studio I found myself getting heavily involved in business and marketing. I dove in and learned all that I could, making a ton of mistakes along the way.

Eventually, I wanted to have some other music teacher friends to talk to that were taking the business part of their studio seriously too. 

So, I started a little Facebook Group: The Studio Challenge.

We started with about a dozen members and as of this writing that small group has grown to almost 2500 members in a little over two years.

That is definitely something that I didn't really intend or expect. 

Through the group, I found myself answering a lot of questions and found out that, while I don't have all the answers that I am further along in the journey than a lot of teachers.

That I could provide the help and support that I wish I had when I was starting my studio. Thus, the Patreon, Consulting, and Courses were born.

And, trust me, we're just getting started.

​2019 is going to see The Studio Challenge rise to whole new levels. ​

My wife and I being interviewed on the local news after our studio opened in 2014.

Throwback to my Worship Leader days when I was still teaching at the church.

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It's crazy how life works, isn't it?

My wife and I were recently talking about where we would be if I had never gotten that call about the music lesson job.

I don't think The Studio Challenge would be here. 

​I don't think that I would be teaching music lessons, or I would be one of the many that teach lessons casually with no real sense of purpose or goals. 

I'm honestly not sure where we would be. My wife and I both work hard, but we see so many families in our studio that are also incredibly hard workers but struggle to make ends meet. 

We worked hard to get where we are but, if it wasn't for that one lucky break...that phone call about a teaching job because a friend decided to move out of town unexpectedly...my life, and perhaps yours if The Studio Challenge has helped you, would look a lot different right now. 

It's not about the breaks that you get, whether lucky or unlucky. It's about what you do when that opportunity is laid before you. 

So, what was your Lucky Break?  

​Let's hear about it. Share about it in the Facebook Group with the hashtag #MyLuckyBreak                           

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