 Like many of you, I did not graduate college intending on having a full-time career teaching Music Lessons. I intended on becoming a music teacher for a school! The opportunity to teach private music lessons just kind of fell into my lap, grew, and all of the sudden I found myself the proud owner of a music school where I taught lessons full time, and managed other music teachers. All of my years in college trained me on how to become an AMAZING musician and even teacher. NONE of my teachers or classes taught me the business side of owning a music school, and as a result, I almost lost my music teaching career before it even began. Pictured above is one of me with one of my absolute favorite students, Patrick. Patrick began taking drum lessons with me when he was about 6. You know how parents of younger children will sometimes call you and try to convince you that even though most younger kids do not have the attention span to take lessons, THEIR child is "Special" and needs to be the exception to your age restrictions? Yeah... Patrick actually WAS an exception. He genuinely LOVED playing the drums. Practiced daily. Worked HARD. And his parents pushed him to be diligent without diffusing his passion. Like other kids, Patrick also had other extra curricular activities he was involved in, as well as siblings with other activities and a busy mom. I had a opportunity to be Patrick's teacher early in my music teaching career! As a result, I was eager to please. I was smart enough to have payment and make up policies students and parents agreed to when taking lessons with me, but was naive enough to allow parents to break those policy rules. Enter Patrick again. Patrick had a scheduling conflict with one of this lessons, and I agreed to schedule a make-up during my free time, even though my policy stated there were free lessons already built into each semester's lesson schedule. (This was also a dumb policy that I learned from, but that's another story.) So, I broke my own policy rules and scheduled a make-up lesson for Patrick... and I FORGOT about the make-up lesson. At this point in my life, I was teaching Monday - Saturday, AND leading worship for a local church on Sundays. I was BUSY. I was OVERBOOKED. So, Patrick's make-up lesson came and I was in the middle of another commitment. Patrick's mom called me and was LIVID. I apologized profusely, but I could tell she was contemplating dropping Patrick from lessons and finding another teacher. I was freaked out because Patrick's mom was a VALUED member of the church I taught lessons through. If they received word of her being unhappy with me, they could have fired me. Fortunately she gave me a second chance and I got to see Patrick become one of the most talented drummers I know. I also learned the hard way that my policies not only exist to protect me, but to set boundaries for both me and my students that keep the lesson experience strong. Music Teachers: Follow your studio policies!Despite what your heart is telling you about giving that one student an extra make up lesson during your personal time, or allowing that parent to pay late without a late fee is actually hurting more than helping. Just as kids are actually happier and more behaved with boundaries, adults are also happier and more sane with consistency. After I missed Patrick's make up lesson, I became more confident about telling parents "no" when they asked for me to bend my policies. CRAZY thing happened... Parents respected me and my time! Parents actually started apologizing when they missed, and I stopped becoming the easy way out. Actually, I had less skips and more students who were dedicated to their lessons. Respect your students and parents' time just as much as you respect your own. Boundaries are essential to all good relationships. Do hard things, Music Teacher friends. It's worth it.  Music Teachers: Stop Overbooking Yourself!You don't have to eliminate make-up lessons completely, but there are 3 options that can significantly help alleviate the stress. Grab the free guide and let us know if you have any questions!
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 Music Teachers: Your website has too many pages!
Or not enough. It’s Goldilocks Syndrome. Too little or too many. But don’t worry, we’re going to show you the pages your website needs. Follow this guideline and your website will be just right. As a music teacher, your website has one purpose: get people to sign up for music lessons. Anything that is not serving that purpose needs to go. Keep reading and we’ll tell you the 5 pages every music teacher should have on their website. As a music teacher, your page is NOT about you. Your about page is NOT about you. Read that again and really let it sink in. Here’s the hard truth about teaching and life in general. For the most part, people do not care about you. They care about what you can do for them. Almost every private music teacher website looks the same: “My name is John Smith and I have a BA in Tuba Performance from Really Good Tuba School. I also have an MA from Even Better Tuba School. I studied with Dr. Frank Furter, Julius Caesar, and Dr. Tuba McGee. I have been teaching for 8 years and I enjoy teaching students of all ages and strive to make tuba a fun and enjoyable experience.” Sounds a little ridiculous written out like that, right? But that’s what most parents will read because they don’t know any of the people that you studied under and don’t really care what your degrees are or what school that you went to. They already assume that you are a skilled and trained music teacher. You don’t have to lay it out for them. At least not in explicit detail. Instead, music teachers need to talk about their studios and students. Talk about how happy and engaged your students are and how your studio helps them to get there. This is where you get to quietly brag about yourself and your studio through telling people how awesome that your students are. The entire point of this page is to help parents to picture their kids in your studio. Don’t talk specifically about lessons (that comes next), but about what makes your overall studio unique and why students and families should want to be part of it. Make sure to include testimonials and lots of pictures. [ONE NOTABLE EXCEPTION: If you are only trying to attract the highest quality students, then you should talk about your pedigree and what separates you from other highly skilled teachers. But this will be a VERY small percentage of music teachers. This is only for the music teachers that are working with students that are winning national competitions and getting into top music schools. For the rest of us, focus on the students and families.] Music Teachers need a “Lessons” page on their website. This is your information page that talks about what you offer. Do you offer private lessons? Group classes? Bands? Talk about them here, but keep it brief and include lots of pictures and a testimonial or two. Use bullet points, not paragraphs. If you confuse your audience, you will lose your audience Most teachers do well on this page because it’s where we get to talk about what we DO. Don’t go into crazy amounts of detail but go for a sales pitch. What makes your lessons unique? What do you do better in your lessons than ANY other studio in town? Music Teachers should have a “Pricing” page on their website. This is one of the first questions that people will ask. If you put your pricing on your website, I bet you'll stand out from the competition simply because your competitors probably don’t list their pricing! We want to be transparent and give all of the information that we can so that people will want to contact us and sign up. I have had a commercial studio for 5 years and I still don’t know how much some of my competitors charge. And it’s not for lack of trying. Short of sending over a spy, I’m not sure how I could ever find that information. It’s not on their website. It’s not on their social media pages or any other directories. People want to know how much things cost. Make it simple for them. (If you’re afraid to talk about prices, you need to check out our blog post about pricing!) Lay out your pricing simply but this page isn’t just about pricing. This page is about VALUE. Not only do we proudly display our pricing information, but we get to brag about what an incredible value it is. What is included in your pricing? Access to apps and games? Free student concerts? Swag bag on signup? Access to the teacher to ask questions during the week? It may seem odd but, as an exercise, write down EVERYTHING that you do for a student that isn’t physically teaching them the lesson: Lesson prep, student concerts, communication through the week, access to music apps, lending library, videos for students to watch, etc. When it’s all written out it looks pretty impressive, doesn’t it? That’s the point. We want to drive home the value that they are getting for the price. Can you believe that you get ALL of THIS for only this small amount of money each month?? Wow! State your pricing cleanly and then drive home the value. Make sure you include pictures and testimonials, even on the “boring” pricing page. Make sure that they can see why they want to be part of your studio while they read over the business stuff. Music Teachers need a “Contact” page on their websites. Put all of your contact info on this page: phone number, email address, physical address. Put a Google map. Include a simple contact form with 3 fields: 1. Name, 2. Email, 3. Message. You can personalize that a bit if you like but keep it extremely simple and don’t ask for extra information. You want them to send you a message and you want to make it as easy for them as you possibly can. Don’t complicate it. Also, you guessed it...include some pictures and testimonials here. Let them look at pictures of happy, smiling kids and read about how much Kate LOVES piano lessons as their finger is hovering over the ‘send’ button. Music Teachers need a “Sign Up” page. Keep this page simple and uncluttered. Just the form...and maybe a picture and testimonial. Make it very easy for them to Sign Up here and get the information that you need without getting too much extra. I like to get information like student name, age, instrument, and experience so that I can have an informed conversation with the parents about signing up their kid for lessons. I don’t like to go in blind, so this gives me a little bit of information. One of your goals should be to run the most efficient studio as possible. Similar to the Call To Action, you need to teach people how to contact you and what information you want them to give you. If your main type of contact on your website is an email address or a phone number you are missing out on a great way to save yourself time and get more inquiries. Most emails or phone calls are either generic requests for information (“I’d like some more information on guitar lessons”) or woefully lacking in information (“I have a nine year old that would like to take piano lessons. How do we get started?”) The first request means that your website is probably a bit confusing or lacking information because they couldn’t find the information they needed. Or, that they just don’t read and want someone else to do the work for them. Let’s be real. That definitely happens. The second request gives you more to go on but still leaves so many unanswered questions. Is the nine year old a beginner? Any prior experience? What style of music do they like? What days and times are they available? What kind of piano lessons are they looking for? You are going to have to ask all of these questions and more through emails, phone calls, or in person. Unless it’s through email, you probably won’t have a written record of the information either. BONUS: All of your pages should have a Call to Action! Throughout the page and at the bottom tell them EXACTLY what you want them to do. Public Pages Music Teachers Should Never Have On Your Website Those five pages are sufficient for most music teacher’s websites. But what about all of the other pages that you may be thinking of? Let’s look at a few… Studio Policies
We have helped THOUSANDS of music teachers revamp their website so that they can convert visitors into paying clients. This is what we do. And we’re doing it again in our next Music Teacher Bootcamp! If you’re frustrated with your website, you need our Music Teacher Bootcamp! During Bootcamp, we’ll look at your: - landing page - sign up form - improving the look, function, and results - search engine optimization We’ll also be covering your: - goals - policies - pricing - social media. AND we’ll be doing a 5 day challenge to get as many new students as we can. Click here for more info on our Music Teacher Bootcamp.  Music teachers aren't charging enough for Music Lessons.That's a pretty bold statement from someone who doesn't even know how much you charge, right? Every music teacher I've ever talked to has priced their music lessons too low. The number one question music teachers ask in online forums is, "How much should I charge for music lessons?" Everyone comments an amount without knowing anything about you and your personal situation. Here are 5 things music teachers should factor into their pricing... 1. Music teachers should factor their geographical area into their pricing. What is the local demographic like? What's your town's population? What the average household income? Knowing this information will help you get a good price range for what to charge. Keep this info, we'll use it to get more specific. 2. Your availability. How many new students can you take? Do you have a waitlist? If you only need a handful of students, that's a sign that you can charge more than what you're charging. If the demand for your services exceeds your available spots, then you should consider raising your rates for music lessons. 3. Your competition. It's always a good idea to know what your competitors are charging. However, don't get stuck charging what they are. You don't have to have the same pricing as everyone else. But it's good to know what other people are doing so that you know where your music lessons compare. 4. What you offer.What makes your music lesson experience different than your competitors? Do you offer group lessons? A convenience for parents? Do you offer a practice lab? Recitals? Those are all things that make you unique and allow you to charge more than your competitors. 5. Know your worth. I'm not talking about your degrees or qualifications here. You have goals. A family to take care of and spend time with. All of that needs to be taken into account. Honestly, your worth should be the BIGGEST factor when determining your prices for music lessons. It doesn't matter if you don't have a music degree or if you're new to teaching...you need to charge what you're worth. What amount feels good? What dollar amount would make you "show up" 100% for your clients? Instead of dreading your lessons and resenting underpaying families? Now What?
Chances are, you're probably still really hesitant about raising prices.
You're worried all of your families will quit. We hear you. That's why, during Week 3 of our Music Teacher Bootcamp, we hash out ALL of this stuff together in a group coaching Zoom call, worksheets, and support via our Facebook group. And that's just one week! By the end of Music Teacher Bootcamp you will have: - goals - a policy that serves you - pricing that excites you - a website that converts - social media that attracts - new student challenge "Shane gave me excellent feedback on my website and encouraged me in establishing my price point...I highly recommended Shane and The Studio Challenge." - Kim O. Come join us and we will support you and figure out what price point excites you!  Studio policies aren't sexy. Music teachers either set their policies once and forget them. OR, they start teaching without a policy. Guess what? Music teachers NEED a policy for their music studios. Why? How many times have you had to argue with a parent over your tuition policy? Or the parents that get mad when they want a makeup lesson, and you don't have the time to offer one. These conversations usually lead to conflict, and they're not fun. But that's exactly why music teachers need to have a policy for their studios. Miss Congeniality said it best, "People care about people who care about themselves." You want to show parents that you're an actual business. You want to answer their questions, establish boundaries, and have guidelines to fall back on when you're caught up in the moment and don't know how to handle a certain situation. We're going to tell you the basics that every music teacher should have with their studio policies. 1. Every Music Teacher Needs a Written Policy.You need one. Bottom line. It can't just be the policy you've made up in your head either. (Parents will bother and annoy you if they don't understand what the expectation is for make ups, payments, etc!) It has to be written either on paper or electronically. This makes you look more professional than those music teachers who don't have studio policies. It also shows your parents that you take music lessons seriously. 2. Music Teachers should make their Policies Easy to Understand.Your policy for your music studio should be very clear. Too many words, and your parents are going to be confused or they won't read it at all. If you confuse people, you lose people. Music teachers should make their policies less than one page long. They should be easy to read with bullet points and as little text as possible. 3. Your Policy should be Accessible.You want a nice clear system on making sure that the parents in your music studio get the policy when joining. You also want to make sure that they can get back to it easily if they ever need to reference it. When a student joins, how do the parents get your policy? Is it printed? Part of their new student packet? Is it on your website somewhere? Make your studio's policy easy to get to! 4. Music Teachers need to Uphold their Policies!At the end of the day, your policy exists to serve you. If you don't stick with it, you're likely going to end up being very frustrated and losing money. So make sure you're sticking to what your policy says. If your policy says that your studio doesn't offer make up lessons, then you should stick with that. If your policy says that there's a charge if tuition is late, stick with it. Of course, it's your business and you can bend any "rules" you want for whoever you want. But remember, your policy exists to help you live the best life. These are the very BASICS of what a music teacher should consider when creating or redoing their studio policies. Writing a studio policy can be overwhelming and often times, gets shoved to the back of our to-do lists. It's not fun. We get it. If you need help creating or revamping your Music Studio's Policies, we are helping music teachers with that in July's Music Teacher Bootcamp... We spend a whole week talking about everything policy-related and will work together to ACTUALLY write it! We also cover a TON more like: - goals - pricing - websites - social media AND at the end of our 6 Week Bootcamp, we do a 5 Day New Student Challenge to get you five new students in five days! What are you waiting for?  There is one really simple way you can reach more potential students! And it's completely FREE... Music Teachers: Use LEAD MAGNETS to get more, well, leads! Lead magnets are free items or services given away. For you as a Music Teacher, it can be anything from a coupon towards music lessons, to books or articles that parents and students might find helpful. Whatever your lead magnet is, the idea is you would offer it in exchange for the other person's email. Here are two "lead magnets" we've created and used in the past:
To create these two lead magnets, I did some simple research and created an infographic for each of them in Canva. As a Music Teacher, you don't have to create lead magnets that are geared towards Music lessons! What you want here is something you think parents and/ or students would find beneficial! Think about the types of students and parents you have... Are they busy? Overbooked? Maybe you could research and create an infographic on ways to make scheduling after school activities easier! Are you a music teacher who tends to attract students who come from broken homes, or maybe struggle with depression or anxiety? Maybe you can do a lead magnet about "5 Ways Parents can help their kids overcome depression and anxiety." (You can just use google to research some things kids can do that are therapeutic. Don't forget to add one about Music Lessons being an outlet for kids to express their emotions!) You get the idea. As a Music Teacher, you can also create lead magnets that are not infographics! You can offer a coupon for "Free Registration" or "Free first music book when you sign up for a Piano Lab Class!" With any of these offers, make sure it's something that would be valuable to parents and students, but cost you little to nothing. Music Teachers: Would you like to receive instructions on how to do Lead Magnets?
I'll also send you a lead magnet you can use for FREE!  When trying to get new students, most music teachers put all of their time into advertising on social media. BUT... did you know you'd have a 3800% BETTER return on email marketing than social media? Here are 4 reasons why music teachers and music schools should do email marketing on a regular basis... 1. Music Teachers who do Email Marketing get New Student Inquiries to sign up.Did you know the average person has to hear about you AT LEAST 7 times before they even consider signing up for lessons? Think about all of the purchases and commitments you've made over the years. There is a "dating relationship" that goes on. Once a parent hears that you do music lessons, they become curious. They ARE NOT ready to openly commit to you yet! They need to get to know you. They need to get some sort of feel for who you are and the type of studio you run. This is where email marketing comes in! By sending routine emails this parent gets to see the types of lessons you offer, what your students are doing or saying about lessons, etc. Then, after they see your awesomeness a few times, they'll be ready to sign up. You've just got to get them there! 2. Email Marketing reminds busy parents and students to sign up for Music Lessons!Our music school in Alabama had a COMPLETELY different crowd in the Summer than the Fall and Spring. The local school systems were extremely hard on students and sports were basically a second religion so we had a ton of students who wanted to take music lessons, but couldn't because of school pressure and sports during the year. So, we'd keep these students on our email list and update them on our new classes and camps in the Summer. MOST of our new students every Summer came from our email marketing campaigns. Likewise, we had students who preferred to pack their schedules with extra curricular activities during the school year, then take the WHOLE Summer off from lessons! They were still interested in signing up for lessons, but we had to keep emailing them about when each semester was beginning and what openings we had. Students and Parents CONSTANTLY thanked us for these emails! They wanted lessons, but knew if we didn't send those emails, they'd forget and never sign up. 3. Music Teachers get more students through Email Marketing than Social Media.This one's kind of obvious, right? For one, when you advertise on social media, you're speaking to a crowd of people who are JUST hearing about you. They don't know you yet... but they'd like to! Second, if they're on your email list, it's because they are HOT leads! They already are, or have been interested in lessons. People who receive an email campaign are twice as likely to sign up for lessons than those who click on your social media or google ads. 4. Students prefer to hear from Music Teachers through Email.A lot of your social media posts will get buried, and people don't want to hunt for information. For many nowadays, Facebook and Instagram are strictly used to keep up with family and friends! In fact, according for MarketingSherpa, 70% of people prefer to be contacted by email. (Old school teachers: Less than 20% want to receive a phone call or text! Time to catch up with the times.) 
 The majority of music teachers are not using emails to sell music lessons.
Or if they are, it's very basic and it's not where they'd like it to be. Email marketing is important for music teachers because it's so underutilized. Chances are, other music teachers in your town aren't using email marketing either. We get it. We've been there. You get caught up with email subject lines. You can't stay organized or get ahead. But the one complaint about email marketing that we hear most from music teachers is that they have NO clue what to write about. What if we told you that it's SUPER EASY for music teachers to come up with email marketing content? We're going to help you come up with a year's worth of email marketing. 1. Music teachers need to look at frequently asked questions from parents. Go back through your old emails, social media messages, and social media comments. What are parents asking? What questions keep coming up? Most music teachers are frequently asked things like: - How much are lessons? - Who is the teacher? - What age do you start lessons? There's three email subjects right there! You could write an email about all of the value kids and parents get from your lessons and tell them how much lessons cost. You could do a whole email telling parents about the different teachers you have in your studio. (Fun things, not just their accomplishments and degrees!) You could write a whole email on what age your studio starts lessons and why you choose to work with that age range. 2. Music teachers need to check their reviews. Go to your Facebook and/or Google reviews. Read through them and look for some keywords or themes that keep coming up. One of our Studio Challenge Members, Whitney Maxwell, has a TON Of reviews where people mention her Musical Therapy Dogs Charlie and Henry. The parents in her studio clearly value her Musical Therapy Dogs and that gives her an entire email subject to market her music lessons. 3. Music teachers can use some of these questions to help them brainstorm ideas for email marketing... What do you want to talk about, teach, share? What do you stand for in business and in life? What difference are you trying to make for your customers, community, or the world? What do you find valuable or worthy of having a deeper conversation about? What do you want to spotlight in your industry or your own story? What results do parents want for their child? How can you help your parents and students? What frustrates parents about extra-curricular activities? What do parents need to understand that they don't know to ask about? What information would help parents? What are some fears that parent's might have about music lessons? These are all great questions to brainstorm when trying to come up with email marketing subjects. Read through them and really sit with each one. Just remember to think of this as your ideal parent, not what YOU think the parent wants to hear about. 4. Make a list of every idea that pops up. As you go through the first three steps, make a list of any and every idea that comes to mind. This is part of the creative process. Write it ALL down, no matter how silly they might seem. The goal is to come up with 40-50 ideas. After you've come up with about 40-50 ideas, circle 12 of the best ones. Ideas that you know you can write a lot about and you can provide valuable information about. Congratulations! You now have one email per month for your new email marketing campaign! This is a great start for music teachers who are just getting into email marketing. Now it's time to get to work writing those emails! Write your emails and get them scheduled on your favorite email marketing program. Then, if you're feeling like it, you can start adding more. We've made a cool printable for you to organize your email marketing subject ideas as you go through this blog post. Get it here. We've also created a list of A Year's Worth of Email Marketing Subjects for Music Teachers you can grab here. P.S. If you need more help with copywriting, marketing, and growing your music lesson studio, Music Teacher Bootcamp is now open! Go sign up!  You're probably thinking,
"I'm a music teacher! I don't need TikTok!" Guess what... All of the other music teachers in your area are thinking the EXACT. SAME. THING. What if I told you we think that all music teachers should be jumping on TikTok? TikTok is a new social media platform where users can make short-form videos that are 15-60 seconds long. The music teachers that are actually using TikTok are CRUSHING it. We're going to give you 3 reasons why music teachers should be on TikTok. 1. Music Teachers Aren't Using TikTok Almost every music teacher we've talking to hasn't tried using TikTok for their music studios. That means your competitors probably aren't using it either. Heck, most businesses in your town probably aren't even using it yet. It's not just music teachers! This is the number one reason why music teachers should be using TikTok. It will make you stand out from your competition and show parents that you're current on today's trends. 2. TikTok is easy to use for creatives like music teachers. A lot of people are afraid to use TikTok because it means putting yourself out there in video format. OR, they don't know what to post and how to use it (keep reading, we're helping music teachers with all of that too!) But you guys are musicians! You're natural performers. This app was MADE for you! Just find a trend on TikTok and start creating! 3. TikTok expands music teacher's audience. With paid Facebook or Instagram ads, the wider your audience is, the more money you have to spend. To reach people nationwide, you have to spend a LOT of money. Not with TikTok. With TikTok, music teachers can advertise to people all over the world for FREE! We understand music teacher's hesitation to start using TikTok though. How do I set up my TikTok account? What kind of content should I post? Which hashtags should I use? Where do I even start? Start with our TikTok Masterclass. One of our members, Matt Johnson more than DOUBLED his music school in just 3 months using TikTok. He will be showing music teachers: - What TikTok is - Why music teachers should use it - How to set up your account - How to create content - And more TikTok tricks! Click here to register for our TikTok Masterclass for Music Teachers!  Hey Music Teachers, Do you find yourself writing the same emails over and over again? "Hi Parent, Our make up policy states..." "Hello! Thanks for contacting us about lessons! In our piano classes..." You know what I'm talking about here. Most parents have the same questions about lessons that you have to frequently answer. Unfortunately, we also live in a world where people don't read things so we have to re-answer questions from time to time (while trying not to sound annoyed). STOP the madness! It's time for all of us Music Teachers and Studio Owners to stop wasting time repeating ourselves to parents and students. You don't need to rewrite the same emails for generic responses. FAQ, Makeups, Policy, Payments, etc. All of these can have a stock email written for them that you (or an admin) can send without crafting a personal message each time. Here's what we're going to do... 1. Make a list of all the questions you get about how you teach Music Lessons. What questions do parents have about your private lessons? Group lessons? Piano labs? What types of emails do you get from your current students about scheduling make ups? Dropping lessons? Go through your emails and find all of those commonalities. 2. Start with your most common emailed question about Music Lessons. Look through some emails to see what you get asked the most. Is it about make ups? Some other policy? Something random? Find it and pull up your last 3 responses. There's probably a lot of similarity already. Use that and write out a template to create a stock email! 3. Wash. Rinse. Repeat with all of the other repeated questions you receive as a Music Teacher about lessons. Move on to your next most common email and do the same until you've got them all done. 4. Get organized Music Teachers! Save your stock emails and organize them through Trello or similar.  Don't have Trello? Sign up for free here! I took a screenshot of the Trello Board I created for all of my stock email responses. What I love about this is not only can you just copy and paste your draft responses to save time on emailing students and parents, but you can also let a manager or admin for your music school use these to respond to emails on your behalf! BOOM. What a time saver! It may be a little extra work in the beginning, but if you are an overworked music teacher, this is going to SIMPLIFY your workload immensely! In summary, 1. You don't need to waste time rewriting the SAME emails. 2. Make a list. Check it twice. 3. Start with your most common questions. 4. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. So, what are the most frequent emails you receive? What's your stock response? Psst: Are you a busy music teacher who needs more money, students, AND time?  Join the Music Teacher Bootcamp! In 6 weeks, we're going to get your studio streamlined so you: 1. Stress Less 2. Make More 3. Gain Time You'll receive personalized help from Shane and Shauna, as well as lifetime access to a community of music teachers who are on a similar journey as you. Sign up NOW.... The first 10 sign ups receive 50% off!!  MOST music teachers undercharge for lessons. I think it's because as teachers, we care more about giving our students the gift of music than the money we make from it. THOSE hearts are what make us great teachers! The problem is this: Music teachers who do not make enough money for their hard work eventually burn out. We can also become consumed with worry about how to pay bills... Which means we're NOT giving our students our "A" game! Not to mention the fact that we're undervaluing ourselves, making others undervalue music lessons, and negatively impacting our self- esteem... In fact, I think all of our TSC Members have raised their rates AT LEAST once! And if you're wondering if they had a mass exodus of students or anything from it... 
So, what do you do? How do you know when to raise rates and by how much? Start by researching the going rate for lessons in your area from other teachers and music schools. You don't need to be grossly undercharging for your area. What if you want to set your pricing low as a ministry? Let's talk about this one, because I hear it a lot. Before I opened my studio I was working as a worship leader while also giving lessons in a local church. I received $20/ lesson. My original goal was to max out my schedule so I could pay my bills. But once I maxed out my personal schedule at 70 students (not exaggerating here!) I was BARELY making enough to pay my bills. And my students? Some had the luxury (and my personal disadvantage) of taking Summers off to spend the season at their beach homes. My 8- 10 year old students received the newest ipads and iphones for Christmas while I was just proud to receive new strings for my guitar. I even offered scholarships to students who said they couldn't afford lessons, then later found out they were still going on Summer vacations while I was struggling to buy groceries! The truth is, I lived in an affluent area and $20/ lesson was a STEAL for my students. It might as well been a minimum wage job for me. KNOW your area and the type of students you teach and KNOW YOUR WORTH! And hey, if you charge a fair rate that fits both you and your students' budget, then you can save money and GIVE scholarships to those students who really need it! ;) Once you figure out what your music lesson rates should be, it's time to set a date to raise rates. Do it sooner rather than later! I always suggest going for the next term of lessons. But if you can't pay your bills and are about to have to shut down your studio, you need to do it ASAP. Either way select a date. Then, set a routine rate raise for future dates! (Inflation guys.) Raising rates at about 5% a year is a good base to start with. Are you ready to start valuing yourself and raise your rates?
Grab your free guide and THE email template ALL OF THE Music Teachers 👆in the screen shots above used to notify their students and parents of their new rates! |
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Bootcamp begins July 19th, so enroll NOW and have an EXTREMELY successful school year!
- You're feeling stuck in your business.
- You're frustrated you're never meeting your goals.
- You're stressed about money.
- You don't have enough students.
- You feel guilty about the time you're missing out on with your family.
- You're tied to your desk answering phone calls and emails when all you really want to do is teach.
We're going to fix ALL of that... in 6 weeks.
Bootcamp begins July 19th, so enroll NOW and have an EXTREMELY successful school year!