The Private Guitar Studio Handbook: Strategies and Policies for a Profitable Music Business

By Mike McAdam

(Berklee Guide). Teach guitar for profit! This book will show you how to set up and develop a profitable guitar studio. Besides the ability to teach guitar, running a profitable studio needs effective systems for attracting and retaining students, ensuring that they pay on time, and smoothly handling operations issues. This book will show you the essential considerations, from choosing a space (residential or commercial), to marketing, to specific teaching aids. You will learn to: Develop and outfit an efficient studio; Set policies to get timely payments and encourage student retention; Attract students who are likely to remain long-term; Develop an authentic teaching approach customized to your own students; Find multiple revenue streams from your students, beyond lessons; Avoid common expensive mistakes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hal Leonard LLC
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480393288

Book preview

Berklee Press

Editor in Chief: Jonathan Feist

Vice President of Online Learning and Continuing Education: Debbie Cavalier

Assistant Vice President of Operations for Berklee Media: Robert F. Green

Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Recruitment for Berklee Media: Mike King

Dean of Continuing Education: Carin Nuernberg

Editorial Assistants: Matthew Dunkle, Reilly Garrett, Zoë Lustri

Cover Design: Ranja Karifilly, Small Mammoth Design

ISBN 978-1-4803-9328-8

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

My Story

Chapter 1. Starting Your Studio

The Stability of a Teaching Business

Can You Make a Living Teaching?

Self-Assessing

Teaching at Home vs. at a Dedicated Commercial Studio

Advantages of a Home Studio

Disadvantages of a Home Studio

Advantages of a Commercial Space

Disadvantages of a Commercial Space

Providing In-Home Lessons

Teaching in a Music Store

What Do I Recommend?

Setting Up Your Business

Pricing Strategy

Are you a university graduate?

Do you have a graduate degree?

Do you have a name as a performer? Are you a local celebrity?

Do you teach from home or in a studio?

What area of town do you live in?

What else can you offer?

Can you teach theory?

Naming Your Studio

Setting up Bank Accounts

Online Accounting Programs

Incorporating Your Business

Setting Up Your Work Space

Software/Apps/Technologies that Enhance Lessons

In Your Common/Waiting Area

Chapter 2. Setting Your Policies

Developing Policies

North Main Music Policies

Tuition

Payment Policy

Our Auto-Pay Sheet

A couple of notes about that sheet

Payment Gateways

Tracking Who Has Paid

Vacations

Makeup Lesson Policy

Holidays

Discontinuing Lessons

Chapter 3. Marketing Materials

Business Goals

Trading Services

Marketing Materials to Get Started

Flyers

Craigslist Ad

Business Cards

Information to put on your card

Website

Questions that Must Be Answered on Your Site

Other Important Items to Include

Information Not to Include on Your Site

Website Just for Teaching

Proofread, and then Proofread Again

Getting a Mobile Site

How They Find You: SEO

Local Online Listings

Pay-Per-Click Ads

Google Analytics

Social Media

Chapter 4. Turning Inquiries into Students

Return All Phone Calls!

Phone Lines

Developing Sales Skills

Age Brackets

Students Just Getting Ready for Auditions

Remnant Students

Do You Offer Discounts?

Free First Lessons

Offering Available Times

Teachers Missing Lessons

Peak Times for Teaching

Saturdays

Teaching Multiple Students Simultaneously

Scheduling

Tracking Appointments

Scheduling Breaks

Switching Lesson Times

Summertime Music Lessons

Chapter 5. Observations and Suggestions for Teaching Guitar

Organizing the Lesson

Posture and Holding the Guitar

Practice

Patience

Teacher as Psychologist

Fashion Tips

Letting Students Pick Their Own Music

Tab vs. Notation

Decoding Music

Switching Chords and Other Beginner Guitarist’s Nightmares

Barre Chords

Working with Rhythmically Challenged Students

Buying Advice for Beginner Instruments

Acoustic Guitars

Electric Guitars

Intermediate Guitars

Where to Buy Guitars

Affiliate Selling

What About Amps?

Assessing Beginner Students’ Instruments

Dealing with Difficult Students and Parents

Getting Students to Practice

Retaining Students

Sports: The Enemy

Common Injuries

Other Student Injuries

When Students Leave

Chapter 6. Getting to the Next Level

Building from Within

Longer Lesson Times

Referrals

Repairs

Selling Accessories

Don’t forget the sales tax....

Selling Gift Certificates

Recitals

Raising Tuition

Helping Kids Get into College

Auditions

Building from the Outside

Using Local Colleges

What about Public Schools?

Newspaper Ads

Partner with Other Businesses

Brand Advertising

What Type of Advertising Do You Like?

Payback of Advertising

Offering Online Lessons

YouTube and the Free Society

You Are in Competition with Everyone Else

Chapter 7. Deeper Inside the Business

Budgeting Your Time

Business Insurance and Why You Need It

Paying Taxes

The Write-Off Myth

Budgeting Your Money: You Don’t Need Everything Now!

Financing with Credit Cards

HSA Accounts and Providing Your Own Health Insurance

Chapter 8. Moving on Up: Commercial Space Considerations

Leasing a Commercial Space

The Space Itself: The Lease

Nets

Strategies for Negotiation

What to Look for in a Commercial Space

Afterword

The Best Things in Life are Free …Mostly

Conclusion

Appendix. Suggested Reading

Recommended Teaching Books

On Running a Private Lessons Studio

Taxes

General Business

Commercial Real Estate

Advertising

Wealth Building

About the Author

Acknowledgments

I never thought I would be a music teacher. To be fair, I didn’t know what I would be. All I knew is that I wanted to take advantage of every musical opportunity that I could. So, when I had the opportunity to start teaching guitar, I found that it was a great way to work with people while keeping me close to my instrument.

I was unprepared in every way. Despite this, teaching was fun and I wanted to be good at it. I am fortunate to have worked with some great instructors, and I felt like I could strive to reach the same level. I want to thank all of them.

I would also like to thank the hundreds of students I have had the pleasure of working with over the years. Though I was being paid to teach lessons, you often taught me much more. The relationships I have built over the years have been by far, the most fulfilling part of this work. I am thankful for this every day.

I would like to thank all the musicians who contributed to this book. It was a pleasure to discuss our profession, and it did not take me long to see why you are so inspiring to others. It was great working with so many talented people who were so willing to share their gifts.

And lastly, I would like to thank Robyn Neville for helping me with this book and being so supportive in its creation.

—Mike McAdam

INTRODUCTION

There are many books on the market that focus on the how-to’s of starting your own private music lessons business. Several are very good, but I wanted this book to deal with some of the issues I didn’t see covered in any of them. I had to go far outside the realm of normal teaching books to find something that dealt with the mechanics of business that would apply to private lessons. While this book will offer my own insights into common issues, I wanted to provide the tools a teacher can use to grow his or her own business, and make the business easier to run on a day-to-day basis.

My Story

When I started playing the guitar in 1987, I found my sustaining passion. Throughout the 1990s, I played in several bands, one of which was successful enough to release CDs internationally and perform on two European tours. I enrolled in Berklee College of Music in 2000. Going to Berklee was a lifelong dream.

A friend of mine suggested I take a class called The Private Teacher, a course dedicated to the fundamental ideas of how to build and sustain a lessons business. While I was taking the class, I had another student approach me about lessons. I took the opportunity and used him as a guinea pig, applying what I had learned in the class to his lessons. I was a senior at Berklee, and like many people at that stage in their education, I had no idea what the hell I would be doing when I graduated!

I started to see that teaching could be a viable way to support myself in the music business, so in 2003, I began giving lessons professionally. Slowly, I built my student base to three days a week while I performed and kept my serving job for extra money and benefits. I took an additional teaching job at another studio and had about fifty-five students a week.

In 2005, I was putting together a performing guitar group and was looking for commercial space to rehearse in. While I was looking at various locations, I realized that renting commercial space was easier and less expensive than I originally thought. The rent was easily covered by the students I currently taught, so it became possible to take on even more students.

Within the next two years, my business grew again, and I no longer had any lessons times available for new students—a good problem to have! So, I hired another instructor to help build the business. Since 2007, I have added another ten instructors and have opened a second school. In addition to the guitar, we added piano, drums, and voice.

It is amazing how quickly my business moved from teaching a couple of kids lessons in my bedroom to its present state. I truly believe that if you put just a few of the principles I lay out in this book into practice, it will help you to become a better teacher, and help you to run your business more efficiently and profitably. I love teaching, and it is a big part of my life. However, I don’t want my business to run me, and that is the true motivation for this book.

As business theorist Jim Rohn said, Success leaves clues. I have included some case studies of other music teachers that can hopefully shed some light on these concepts. Not all of them are guitarists. I have done this not only because their stories are applicable to any music lessons studio, but as a reminder to always look outside of your zone to find things that can work for you.

Some of the information in this book may

Reviews for The Private Guitar Studio Handbook

[stedowsky · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lots of excellent ideas on how to run a successful Music Teaching business.