Good Things Are Happening

When I started this blog a few weeks ago, I was actually in the midst of personal turmoil about a teaching position I was in.  I was teaching for a music store somewhat out of my area.  I loved my students, but I had lost all but two of them.  A couple of them moved away, others I lost to “the economy.”  And of course, some I lost because they just weren’t into it.  The two remaining students were the first two I started with there, and I didn’t want to “abandon” them.  But for various reasons, it was obvious that no matter what I did, I wouldn’t be able to re-build the studio, and I was essentially losing money traveling there every week for two lessons.  So I resigned.

I was relieved to make the decision, but I had my doubts.  Had I done the wrong thing?  Who was going to replace me with my old students, and would they teach them well?  My resignation wasn’t exactly warmly received, so had I ruined my reputation in that area for other things like my summer camp or workshops I do?

I had my answer pretty quickly.  Within days, I had lined up more new students at my home studio than I had lost.  Things unexpectedly picked up for me at the Music Institute as well, which I’m really happy about.  I finally was able to accomplish some real work towards launching my website www.LessonSpark.com to a wider audience (look out on January 31!).  And, I started this blog!

As tough as it was to decide to make that move to resign from a not-so-great teaching job, it seems to have started good things in motion.  It could just as easily have gone the other way, but I choose to think positively.  I’m going to keep this momentum going.  I choose to believe that I can keep making good things happen, in my teaching and in everything I do!

Where are all the Teaching Jobs? Where are all the Teachers? Part 2

Last week I talked about schools and music stores as potential places to teach music lessons.  So this week I’m going to tackle online referral services and going it alone.

I should start by saying I have never worked for an online service. The services that I am talking about here are where you work for an online company that matches teachers and students.  The students pay the online service, and the teacher then gets a paycheck from the online service.   I’m basing my assessment here on the experience of others and my own research.  I’m not going to name any names, but based on all I’ve learned, I am not a fan. 

The only “pro’s” I’ve been able to identify with these is that they handle all payments from students and to teachers, and they refer students to you.  If you are in a major metropolitan area or new to the business, this may be an okay way to break in. 

The “cons” are big as far as I’m concerned.  Once you are conditionally hired, you may be charged fees to have a background check or for other “paperwork” they have to do to get you on their service.  Sometimes the fees are annual!  Just for the privilege of being listed on their service.  After all of that, you aren’t guaranteed any referrals.  If you do get any students, you may be paid just a small fraction of what the student is paying the service (and you’re not supposed to ask them what they are paying).   Oh, and you may be a contractor, so you’re playing self-employment tax on your small share of the fees.  Not to mention, you will be required to either drive to students’ homes, or provide studio space, and you’ll be required to cover your own expenses on that front as well.

I’m sure there are some folks out there that have had a good experience working with an operation like this, and as a business model, it’s genius!  There aren’t a lot of products out there that you make money coming and going, with such a big profit margin.  That said, I don’t think these services offer enough value to the student to justify the mark-up they pay for the lessons, nor do they provide enough value in the form of referrals for what you lose in lesson fees.  That is why I have chosen to stay away from them.  I’d love to hear from anyone that has had a good experience!

So let’s move on to “Going it alone.”  In every city, town, and village throughout the country, there are all nature of private music teachers teaching out of their home or their car or a rented space.  There are a lot of benefits to starting your own music teaching business.  You decide your own schedule.  You set your own fees (which you get to keep!).  You choose your students.  You decide lesson policies.  You are your own boss.  The drawbacks are that you also assume all the risk and expense.  If you hate dealing with money, are very disorganized, and shy away from confrontation, you may not thrive on your own. 

I’ve maintained some form of independent teaching studio since college, and while I’ve struggled at times, it has been a great experience.  My business is self-determined, so I am able to balance my teaching with performing and with my family and personal life.  It feeds both my need to be teaching and involved in music, and my entrepreneurial spirit to feel like I’m building something uniquely my own.

So if you are looking to break into music teaching, hopefully I’ve given you some ideas of what’s out there.  I’ll be talking more in future weeks about managing your own studio.  There are so many things to think about, from organizing as a business, marketing yourself, designing policies.  That’s all before you even teach a lesson!  Talk to you next time!

Where are the teaching jobs? Where are all the teachers? Part 1

This week, I’ll begin discussing the various types of teaching opportunities and their benefits and pitfalls.  Hopefully those of you starting out or looking to make a change can benefit from my experience because I’ve tried just about everything – sometimes successfully and sometimes not.  I’ll share those insights as well as some things I’ve learned from friends in the business.  Part 1 will deal with music schools and music stores.

For me, teaching in a music program at a school has been a positive experience.  I’ve taught through a high school program at a private school and also at a college (my alma mater).  I like having a well defined program, and it’s someone else’s responsibility to handle lesson scheduling and payments, and I get paid no matter what.  Well established programs will have a constant stream of students coming in based on the reputation of the program.  A quality program will have teaching facilities, pianists for accompaniment, group practice rooms, and recital facilities.  Also the potential for collaboration between teachers is great for your own development.

But there are potential drawbacks to this type of arrangement, depending on your personality.  The first is the potential for a competitive environment.  You may not be the only teacher of your discipline in the program, so you may be competing for students with other more established teachers at the outset.  Also working within the confines of a well defined program might not work for everyone.  Perhaps the school will have policies you find unreasonable, or perhaps you will be required to follow a particular teaching method that you find restrictive.  These are things you will have to weigh in evaluating a school where you might plant your teaching roots.

Music stores provide another potential opportunity. Most communities have stores that offer lessons in conjunction with the sale of instruments.  The work environment is tougher to judge from the outside, and where a music school program is usually defined, a music store often takes on the personality of its ownership.  I’ve had both very good and very bad experiences teaching in music stores.  Here are some things you will want to consider when you evaluate a music store as a potential employer:

·         What is the focus of the store and what are they selling?  If you are a classical flute/piano teacher like me, and you walk into a store covered in Kiss and Metallica posters, guitars and amps, chances are your talents might not be well appreciated or sought after there.  Also, take a look at the quality of the merchandise they sell or rent.  Students will quit if their instruments are in poor condition.  I once had a first-time student have her rental instrument fall apart during the lesson.  Good quality instruments increase the likelihood of success and returning students.

·         What is their visible market presence?  This is probably your most important concern because your success will depend on the store’s ability to attract students.  It’s not enough to be in a good location. How easy are they to find on the Web?  Have your non-musician friends heard of the place?  What is its reputation? I knew an owner who didn’t believe in “free” advertising on the web, and built his own Website to save money.  There was no potential for growth because competitors were splashed across Craigslist and Google, and the website he built himself didn’t even feature the phone number on every page.  Conversely, I worked in a store on a side street without even an exterior sign, and business was fantastic because of its reputation.

·         What are their lesson policies? Do they balance respect for your time with meeting the needs of the student?  If you lose pay because their students cancel, run away. If you are there ready to reach, you should be paid for your time.

·         What are their teacher policies?  Will you have a contract and is it reasonable?  Things like a non-compete clause (an agreement not to teach in a direct competitive situation after separation, which are in most cases unenforceable), or responsibilities to be done on your own time without pay should send up a red flag.  Another thing to watch out for is “contract employee” status, which gets them out of paying payroll taxes on you, and makes you have to pay higher taxes as self-employed.  Lots of stores do this, and it will more be a problem for them than you because the IRS will get their money eventually one way or another.

Once you start working at a music store, pay close attention to the owner’s attitude toward teachers and students. One store I worked at held student events and teacher show-cases several times a year.  They had clear policies, and did everything they could to help me grow my studio.  At times I had a waiting list and the environment was great.  At another, the owner overcharged for sub-par instruments and wasn’t good at keeping his word. Once when he was unable to accommodate a student’s schedule, he told the parent that I was being inflexible – when I hadn’t even been consulted. If the environment is bad, you might find yourself (as I once did) staying longer than you should out of loyalty to the kids.  But keeping yourself and your students in a bad teaching environment doesn’t do anybody any favors.

Next week, I’ll talk about online referral services and teaching on your own.

Traditional Music Lessons in a 2.0 World

I started teaching private music lessons almost 15 years ago, right out of college.  In college, we had a “Mac Lab” which we thought was pretty awesome, and we used Eudora Light to retrieve email.  I had a great teacher in college who helped me get started by referring beginners to me that were looking for someone that would come to their houses.  From there, I got most of my students through referrals from current students.  Advertising consisted of reaching out to schools and asking to be put on their “teacher list” and flyers on community bulletin boards.  I left college well prepared to teach music, but not really prepared to be an entrepreneur, which I suddenly was.

Things have changed!  Now, I’ve made the decision to teach in my home studio and at a school, and I no longer travel to students’ homes.  I still get referrals, but I get just as many new students from the web.  There is so much technology available now, and it’s really helped build my studio and in some ways made me a better teacher.  But it’s also easy to get bogged down trying to figure out what to invest in, spend time on, or get involved in.  And, just because technology can help us be better teachers, improve our studio management and communication, we can’t forget about the tried and true methods that still work and can’t be beat. 

So what is this blog about?  My plan is to dig into private music study and teaching in the current environment.  I’ll cover topics that teachers, students, and parents can use to weigh all the various resources, technologies, and techniques, old and new, to make music lessons more effective and fun. Because at the end of the day, music should be fun!