The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Successful Music Studio Business: Top Tips and Tricks for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur looking to start a successful music studio business? Look no further, because I have compiled the ultimate guide for you!

One of the first things you'll need is a well-designed website, but don't worry if you're not tech-savvy. You can find easy to follow websites like webs.com to help you get started quickly and easy. This is the easiest way to get word of mouth out there via Facebook or Instagram to be able to link back to your site for the potential student family to learn more about you. You can view my website www.beckysmusicstudio.com to get an idea of how you can set up your site.

Next, consider what services you'll offer. Private music lessons are always in demand, but how do you stand out from the competition? (you can check out this post here for some times I share on standing out from the competition) One way is to create a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere in your music studio.

Additionally, you can offer unique services, like songwriting workshops, music theory workshops or recording sessions, to attract more customers.

Marketing your business is also crucial for success. Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook are great for promoting your music studio and engaging with potential customers. You can also offer promotions, like free trial lessons or referral discounts, to entice new clients. But the key is to TALK ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS!

Starting a music studio business can be challenging, but by following these top tips and tricks, you can increase your chances of success. With hard work and dedication, your music studio can become the go-to place for aspiring musicians in your community! If you want more help in getting your studio started, don’t forget to check out our mini courses, build your own ironclad policy with our customizable and DONE FOR YOUR Studio Policy Template or our Bookkeeping Powerhouse course to help you keep track of the backend of your business!

Happy Teaching!

Turn Your Fun Habit Into A Side Hustle or Business

I perform on the French Horn with our local symphonic band in our town. It’s a great way for me to continue my education in band music but also develop my talents and perform regularly. It’s an 80 piece ensemble filled with so many talented musicians. We are all adults and have other things we do during the week. But, a majority of the people in the band, don’t teach lessons, or have never taught lessons. I get it. Not every one wants to be a teacher, but when I talk to some of the musicians and they are either retired, in between jobs, or struggling to like their current job, or just looking for something more to do with their life (hello stay at home moms!), the first t thing I asked them was, “have you thought about teaching?” Most of them think I’m crazy, but honestly, we need more teachers out there.

Have you ever thought about teaching? It’s a great way to add a little supplemental income or if you are wanting to go in full time, you can make it work. The key though…START! Here’s some secrets to get you started!

1) Decide what levels you feel comfortable teaching through. Most anyone with an intermediate based or higher piano skill can teach beginning piano.

2) Decide what books you plan to use. I personally have been using the Faber & Faber Piano Adventures. But my son, who is with another piano teacher uses the Piano Town books.

3) Decide how many days you want to teach and the time available that you can and that will determine how many students you can teach. If you can teach 2 days a week for 2 hours each day, that’s 4 students with 30 minute lessons! (If your lessons are between $80-$100 / month then that’s an extra $320-$400, teaching just 4 hours a week.)

4) You don’t have to teach from your house, you can be a traveling teacher (plan time between lessons to drive to the next location.) Or rent a space at a local music store or check with other venues that might be available like in a church or other spaces.

5) Place up some advertisement at local stores or talk to friends to spread the word. Then get teaching.

🌟 Create a professional atmosphere from the start with one of our ironclad Music Studio Policies where we go over tuition costs, and how to answer all the questions a parent will have before they start working with you and make sure you have all the backend bookkeeping tools and templates to help you stay organized in your new business with our Bookkeeping Powerhouse Kit.

In the end, you won’t know unless you try! And if you feel like, “man, I just need more help getting this started”…my Successful Private Music Studios Strategies 12 Week Online Course is going to be your answer! Coming soon!! So make sure you get on our mailing list because everything you need to build, grow, run, and create a successful and THRIVING private music studio is INCLUDED in the course!

Happy Teaching,

xo Becky

New School Year Means New Students Ready To Start Private Lessons | BEST Tips For Budget Friendly Advertising

I LOVE the new school year! It’s that time of year where parents want the best, and enroll their kids in ALL the after school activities. Especially music lessons!

If you are thinking about starting your own studio RIGHT NOW IS THE TIME TO ADVERTISE that you are open / will be open for business this school year.

Then get to the presses and start making posters you can display or hand out to interested potential families.

BEST TIPS FOR BUDGET FRIENDLY ADVERTISING:

UTILIZE FREE ADVERTISING BULLETIN BOARDS! There are lots of places you can find a bulletin board. Make sure though that it’s open to anyone to post on first because some bulletins only allow non profit or have requirements to be able to post. Speak with the store manager first. Panera Bread has a bulletin board along with many grocery stores!

UTILIZE LOCAL BUSINESSES! You can also ask local shops or stores if you can display business cards or a poster in their shop. This becomes All FREE to advertise!

FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM ARE YOUR PERSONAL STORE FRONTS! You can make a post on your personal feed or business page and ask your local friends to share your post. And to make sure you stand out in local searches make sure to tag your city so that will show up on the search bar and in local friends posts.

BE THE ONE ALL THE MOMS WANT! Have you joined the local Facebook mom group? MOPS or often times there is just a local mommy group. Moms are ALWAYS asking for recommendations for a music teachers. Be the one that posts and also if you post in there enough, they will start to tag you as, “so and so is a teacher!'' My babysitter is super active on those pages and whenever she sees someone asking she always recommends me so that’s super helpful too! WORD OF MOUTH!

NEIGHBORHOOD ADVERTISING! Gone are the days of putting advertisements in the mailbox, you can still do that but another great idea to advertise, subdivision newsletters or the Facebook Neighborhood Page. Scope out your area and nearby neighborhoods and contact the HOA to see if you can be included in the next neighborhood newsletter or on their group page. There might be a fee, but with a newsletter that has 600 residences or more it might be a worthy investment. Most HOA’s newsletters, are reasonable.

WHAT TO USE FOR ADVERTISING POSTERS: You don’t have to spend major bucks to get your name out there, you just have to be consistent with posting flyers, telling people that you teach lessons while you are at church, or with the groups you are part of or even when you are out and about at the grocery store. Flyers that you post don’t have to be fancy either about your advertisement. Don’t go spend money on a thick poster board or pamphlet at Staples. While they look nice, they cost a pretty penny to make, it’s not really that necessary. Check out my typical poster I’ve used and had great success with when I have to advertise. I love using the little tear away strips, that you pre cut, because you get more use out of your flyer and you can continue to check in on it and see how much interest there is. Check back in a week and if only 1 tab is missing might be time to relocate it. If all the tabs are missing, PUT UP A NEW FLYER!

The best advice is to make your advertising, keeping it simple for you to make over and over again, efficient and to the point and easy for your prospect families to use so that you get your email box filled with prospect students wanting more info and the phones ringing!

Next step is to be prepared for what they are going to be asking you when they call to check your availability.

STARTING YOUR STUDIO SOON? You need to have a studio policy! Once a parent says, “YES! We’d love to start with you!” You need to have a policy in place as a way to protect you and your business and help answer all the questions before they happen. GET YOUR CUSTOMIZABLE PRE-MADE TEMPLATE HERE that covers Tuition Fees, What happens during snow days, Termination Policy, Studio schedule and more!

Be on the lookout! Get more in depth info and strategies like these in my upcoming COMPLETE 12 week course releasing this fall to help you START your studio, BUILD your students, RUN all the internal stuff easily, and MAINTAIN a THRIVING and SUCCESSFUL Private music studio! Be the first to know more by SUBSCRIBING TO OUR LAUNCH EMAIL LIST! Hours and hours have been put into the course and I know it will help make your life easier in setting up your studio and helping it run more efficiently!

Happy Teaching,

xo Becky

How To Become A Private Music Teacher And Start Teaching Lessons At Home In Your Own Business

Looking for a way to supplement your income or a way to work from home? Teaching private music lessons is a great way! You get to set your schedule, and often times it’s minimal hours per week, but can still produce a good income.

Can You Be A Teacher?

Not anyone can teach. You don’t have to have a degree in music but you do have to have knowledge and a basic understanding of music. If you’re here you probably already have experience playing an instrument or singing.

• You must be able to have a competent understanding of note reading, dynamics, rhythm and counting.

• If teaching beginning lessons you can build on your abilities over time as you continue teaching others. General rule of thumb is that you should only teach to your own level of playing. If you only learned up to early advance, then that should be as far as you teach unless you continue your own education and feel confident teaching higher level music.

• If teaching string instruments you should be able to tune the instrument, proper bowing techniques, fingering and maintenance of the instrument.

• Wind instruments you need to be able to teach the basic fundamentals of holding the instrument, blowing and producing a good tone and maintenance of the instrument.

• Vocal instructors must be able to teach proper singing techniques.

How To Get Started

Determine how many hours you can teach in a week, and that will determine how many students you can have. Beginning lessons are generally 30 minutes long. Intermediate are 45-60 minutes and advanced is 60 minute or more.

Decide much you will charge for tuition per lesson. You will have to compare other rates in your town so that you are at a reasonable rate but not undercutting other teachers just to get more students into your studio.

Locate a place where you will teach your lessons. If teaching in your home, You must have a clear space in your home, with easy access to a restroom for any emergencies just in case. Plus I ask my students to wash their hands before they begin playing. If you don’t have space in your home you can contact a music store to see if they are accepting new teachers. They will ask for credentials though. You can also look into places of worship, schools or the local community college or university to see if you can use a room.

Organize your business for bills and receiving bills. For tax purposes you must have record of all income received so you do have to be organized with that.

Plus side, you don’t have to go this alone! Get your IRONCLAD Studio Policy that will protect you and your new business HERE! And soon to be released is our 12 week online course Successful Music Studio Strategies. Video tutorials and access to all my templates and tools to help you Start, build and maintain a successful and THRIVING private music lessons studio.

Happy Teaching,

xo Becky

Music Studio Business Strategy: Maximizing Your Schedule

The great thing about having your own business, is that you get to pick your own schedule! You don’t have to work 9-5 if you don’t want to. Most of my teaching happens between 3:30-6:30pm. And it doesn’t have to be every single day either. Making it something super simple you can add into your life like a side hustle before you make the big jump to having private music teaching becoming your everyday, or every few days job.

Maximizing Your Schedule: If you are just starting and want to add in a few lessons in the week, take time to look at your calendar and see where you can teach. AIM for back to back lessons. You could fit 4 students in a 2 hour block teaching 30 minute lessons.

Make it a goal to have __ amount of students by __. And get your name out there. When potential students inquire, you already have your lesson times scheduled and then it’s a first come first serve. As you fill up you can apply the same strategy to fill up another day, then another day and so forth.

Now that you have students, The next step would be to start putting together your Music Studio Policy Contract! Not sure where to start? Check out our Private Music Lesson and Studio Policy Template with a step by step tutorial video on customizing it to fit your studio’s needs!

Happy Teaching!

xo, Becky