Starting Up Your Own Teaching Business
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Getting started as a music teacher can be a daunting prospect but fear not, it is not as difficult as you may think. It doesn't matter if you are giving Singing Lessons in Edinburgh or Banjo Lessons in Moscow, the rules for starting your own business are the same. How sucessful that business becomes is down to you.
If you want to teach privately, the great news is you don't actually need any formal training. Of course, understanding how to teach and being a subject matter expert in your field goes without saying. If you wanted to teach music in schools, different schools will have requirements for what they expect from their teachers (Payroll or hired in for specific lessons). Let's say for now, you just want to set up a business at home or travelling to students houses and teaching them their instrument of choice. Here are some key things you'll need:
- An Online Presence - Before you can really get any students through the door, you need to make people aware that you are offering the service they might desire. The internet is the best way to advertise in 2019. Sure, physical media has its place but most people hit Google or social media to find a service before they look at flyers and printed ads. Get yourself a Facebook business page set up with some video content showing off what you can do. It takes a while to build a following but get your friends and family to share your posts and spread the reach far and wide. Students will soon follow.
- An Open Diary - You need to enter into this with a clear picture of how many hours you are able to free up for teaching and when. Many students will prefer to commit to a set time once a week so you need to consider if you have that stability in your diary. If you work shifts, it will be hard to maintain a teaching practise.
- Students - Once you've established your name in the community and you've put yourself out there online, people will start talking. The hardest part is getting that first student through the door. Word of mouth will soon spread so be patient and keep pushing.
- A Goal or Vision for your Business - What do you want to acheive with this? Are you looking to just supplement your current income with some extra cash or are you looking to turn this into your full time job? If you are looking to make it full time, consider what your current income vs. outgoings are. How does that translate to lessons? This will help you decide how many students you need to hit per week to maintain a living. Be mindful that lessons aren't always guarenteed so you should always take on more than your "target" number to account for any shortfall.
- A Competative Hourly Rate - One big mistake many new teachers make is under pricing. Sure, the idea of cheap lessons is great, but if the average rate in your area is £25p/hr and you come in at £10p/hr, this could be seen as highlighing your inexperience. Price yourself fairly and evenly in line with the other teachers in the area. Spend some time looking at their websites to see what they charge. There is nothing wrong with being a little above or below other teachers, but, try to remain in the same ball park. Never sell yourself short.
When your starting out, do your research on how to run a business. Look into tax filing and tax deductables if you're working from home. There is a lot of help out there for musicians starting their own business. When you venture into the world of working for yourself, you will be accountable for every aspect. You'll need to do a lot of forward thinking as you get started. Remember that you won't get paid holiday or sick time, and you won't have an employer paying your pension. Consider all these things when you set out on your own and factor it into your earnings.
It takes patience and hard work, but if you want it, it's there for you.