Let’s face it, your planning abilities make you more than capable of creating an elaborate family budget, time for volunteering, planning recitals, judging, social events, spending time with family, etc… but you just might not know where to begin when it comes to your teaching business outside of the usual scheduling. You’re a piano teacher who has a successful home studio and you know you could be making more money, and would certainly like to, but you’re doing everything in your power and your business still isn’t doing what you want it to financially. Here are 5 essentials that need to be a part of your business strategy in order to be financially satisfied in your piano teaching career.

1.  Plan your year, one year in advance; from private lessons, vacations, to master classes and summer camps. The planning process is best done after the first of the year, so you can hammer out all of the details of summer by March…when people start planning their summer vacations and other activities. Be sure to plan through May of the following year and include potential performance dates.
2. Plan your budget; additional insurance, taxes, music expenses (you know some months are greater than others), fees, piano tunings, etc…You know when taxes are due, the months you need to make large music purchases, months you need to purchase office supplies, photocopying expenses for recitals, etc…streamline any process you can think of to make your life easier. How much money do you need to be bringing in each month to live how you want?
3. Evaluate the previous year. What was your best new idea last year? What was your best old idea that has stood the test of time? What was your worst new idea? Was it the idea or your implementation of the idea? It’s important to evaluate and learn from our previous experiences. This evaluation needs to be from a financial perspective as well as an operational perspective.
4. Plan your salary. Yes, YOU can change how much you make with a very simple step: raise your rates. If you haven’t raised your rates in a few years, imagine me waiving my finger at you…and then begin writing your new tuition policy. I gave myself a 7% raise last year so this year decided not to raise my tuition, though I did raise the annual enrollment fee that goes to cover the cost of music and recitals. As a point of reference, in 2011 the national average for raises in the United States was 3%.
5. Compare/evaluate your budgets and income from the past two years and develop a two-year projection of where you think you will be (based on previous numbers) and where you would like to be. Are they close? If not, do you know how to get it up to where you would like it?

The operative words you see here are “plan” and “evaluate.” When you run a business (which you are,) the worst thing you can possibly do is the “sit and wait” philosophy or the “I will build it and they will come” mentality and find out that you have no money to pay the electric bill come next month.

We plan ahead for our student lessons, we plan ahead for recitals, we plan ahead for so many things but yet we financially (as piano teachers) seem to still be lagging in our collective financial successes. For those of us in single-income homes/families, it’s imperative we plan and budget. It’s just as important however, if the income from your piano teaching business is secondary – it’s important because the rest of us need you to make it a priority. If there is an “industry standard”, everyone wins!

When you planned this year, did you:

• Consult last year’s numbers?
• Address the challenging months and try to develop a plan to make those leaner months, less lean?
• Ask what works about your tuition collection?
• Ask what could be improved?

Ask those tough questions and share your feedback and questions here.

If you have questions for Kristin or Wendy about business matters, please email your question and we’ll get you an answer!

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• “New Music and the American Pianist”
• “Chopin’s Pianism and the Reconstruction of the ineffable:”

by Dean Terry

If you are interested at all in the concept of creativity, you need to read this Wall Street Journal article, “Chains That Set us Free.”  Now, there have been any number of articles, musicians, and all kinds of creatives that talk about the benefits of setting limits when attempting to be creative.  But, none have put it in such a way that really explained why boundaries are necessary for our brains to be most creative.  Jonah Lehrer says,

The larger lesson is that the brain is a neural tangle of near-infinite possibility, which means that it spends a lot of time and energy choosing what not to notice. As a result, creativity is traded away for efficiency; we think in literal prose, not symbolist poetry.

“Creativity is traded away for efficiency.” Wow, I’ve humorously labeled myself an efficiency guru. I’m always looking for the fastest route to the next destination (which is sometimes annoying I’m told), the most efficient way of covering teaching material at a lesson, etc.  So, it makes perfect sense to me now why, when I am sitting down to compose something for my students, I am paralyzed unless I know what I am writing about.  Knowing what technical skills of pianists I am writing for is also helpful, but not nearly so helpful as knowing what I am writing about.  If it’s a pirate, I am so much more efficient finding piratey sounds. If it’s a rainbow, then my creativity is efficiently channeled to a certain type of sound.  If it’s a piece for a string quartet, then at least some of those pathway searching neurons can be more effectively channeled.

I’ve wondered whether needing to know my subject or at least some boundary is a weakness or a strength, but I’m happy to realize that its just a part of the process of efficiency that helps me establish boundaries and find creativity in those boundaries.  Anyone else have these needs to find

It’s a great article, so don’t forget to read.

Well unfortunately you can’t do anything about people who change their minds!  But, you are right that this situation is definitely something where a deposit would help protect you from or at least keep you from being out any money! First, consider what you are really wanting to call this fee.  If it’s a deposit (meaning that it’s going to go toward something parents would pay for anyway like books, recital fees, etc.), then you just need to make sure that you explain the purpose of the fee and what it will be used for.  I would suggest that you call it a “registration fee” so that you can be more flexible in how you use it and you don’t have to worry about keeping a careful ledger to show how much was deposited and how much you spend.  A “non-refundable registration fee” accomplishes your goals here without parents wondering what it is going toward exactly.

I don’t always use my students’ registration fees for the same thing, so I’m pretty general in my policy. “Your registration fee guarantees you a place in my studio at the beginning of the term” is a sufficient reason for implemented a registration fee, but I also tell parents that “it helps to deflect expenses for preparing to teach your child (incentives, development of programs, supplies, etc.) for the year.” We all know that there are many expenses that we incur at the beginning of the year which benefit our students (MTNA dues, professional journals, workshops, etc.).  If you do use the reason of “guaranteeing a place,” then make sure you implement the policy at the end of your teaching year (say, May to be due in June) so that you know who will be returning to your studio.

Here are a few other options to consider: I charge a higher registration fee for new students than for returning students.  So, my policy states that the “registration fee is $30 for new students and $25 for returning students, not to exceed $50 per family.”

And here’s a few important principles that I have learned in piano business matters:

1. Do not change an entire policy based on one person or one problem. Evaluate the impact that your change will make on all of your families and then proceed cautiously but confidently. That said, I think you are right to charge a registration fee across the board. When a prospective student calls and you have to tell them that you are full because someone else will be starting, and that family doesn’t actually start, then you have not lost 1, but 2 students.

2. When it comes to making policy changes that you know are necessary, just do it. Be brief in your explanation, articulate how students are benefitting from the policy change (if applicable-don’t do it if you have to raise your rates because you charge too little), and then deal with the people who have an issue with it one on one. Chances are that only a few of your families, if any, will question this and when they do, you can explain it and see what their reaction is. If they are in financial difficulties, you can make a case-by-case way to help the family. In the case of large families, I state that they will be charged no more than $xx as a registration fee each year (it is usually the price of 2 registrations). In other cases, I have given a family 2 months to pay their registration so that it was not so difficult in one month. However, I would only do this for a family that is already in my studio and who expresses concern for their financial situation.

Remember, most families will not have a problem with your policy change if you state it clearly and don’t over explain yourself. Just do it…and deal one on one with the few that might have a question.

You can also get Drive in the Kindle edition for $9.99.

Admit it, you’re a piano teacher that teaches at least one lesson every week of the year, and you spend “summer” doing too many makeup lessons. When asked why you teach all the time, you say, “I have to make a living!” What if I told you that I have 12 months of revenue and have 8 to 10 weeks off each year? It’s all in the strategy!

After four years of teaching (too many) piano lessons while still trying to improve the quality of my life, I finally came to a couple conclusions that have worked great for me these past few years:

1. I need extended time off to “recover” from the insanity that comes with my student load and its activities.
2. Setting boundaries with my clients is wonderful – I (actually) SET them, and they RESPECT them!
3. The year is planned 12 months in advance. This requires a lot of “front end” work, but on the back end it’s much easier to make adjustments to the outline of the year, rather than creating it as you go.
4. I need 12 months of revenue, and a couple times a year it’s nice to have larger sums to work with.
5. Summer should involve lessons, but private lessons need to have blocks of times in your schedule, and you need to offer SOME group classes. These groups serve as community builders for your clients, students and you, as well as offering new musical experiences and enriching time making music with others.

Take a look at how I approach tuition collection…It’s actually quite simple. Each year has three semesters: Fall and Spring are 16 weeks and Summer has two different packages to choose from. When asked about an hourly rate, I say we don’t have one – think of it like private school tuition. You are paying for teacher’s time spent with the student, but also for their time spent planning their child’s lesson, the teacher’s expertise, experience, education, professional development, etc…

We send out invoices that look like this:

Invoices for the entire semester are sent to each family two weeks to one month before the semester tuition payment is due.

July 1 – Annual Enrollment Fee Due  (this keeps their spot reserved for fall…if unpaid, they lose their day/time preference)

August 1 – First Fall Tuition installment due OR Fall paid-in-full

September 1 – Second Fall Tuition installment due

October 1 – Third Fall Tuition installment due

November 1 – Fourth Fall Tuition installment due  (offer a promotion/discount for Spring to be paid in full early!)

December 1 – First Spring Tuition installment due  (or Spring paid-in-full)

January 1 – Second Spring Tuition installment due

February 1 – Third Spring Tuition installment due

March 1 – Fourth Spring Tuition installment due  (offer a promotion/discount for Summer to be paid in full early!)

April 1 – First Summer Tuition installment due   (if not paid on time, student loses place in your schedule for fall) or

Summer paid-in-full

May 1 – Second Summer Tuition installment due

June 1 – Third Summer Tuition installment due

Voila! Three semesters that have a set number of lessons involved so there is the same tuition amount due on the 1st of every month. Fall and Spring have 16 weeks, and you set summer according to what works for you. I recommend a camp plus a few private lessons option, and another option that has mostly private lessons with a few group lesson options. The point is to keep tuition as a set amount, that is due each month. Some months the students come more frequently, and others they don’t, but your income remains consistent.

Teachers, what works for you?

Read other articles in the Dollars and Sense category here.  Don’t forget to send your questions about the business of piano teaching to Wendy.   Wendy or Kristin will answer your question in a later post.

  Piano Teacher’s Guide to Creative Composition by Carol Klose

Piano Aerobics

Piano Teachers Resource Kit by Karen Harrington (see her interview on the book here.)

First, a bit about how the quizzing system works.  There are 2 settings: one where 1 of 2-6 players can press their “egg” which lights up the corresponding egg color on the master quizzing set.  This is the setting I am using most.  The other setting flashes the eggs (as many as you have turned on) and then randomly randomly chooses an egg to light up at the end. You can use this setting to make the students who answer more random.  The white egg, which the teacher controls, clears the lit eggs before you ask the next question.

Here are some of the things you can do with the Eggspert quizzing system:

• Flashcards Quizzes: Use any flashcards that the students need to review (note names, key signatures, major/minor triads, intervals, etc.)  Divide the students into 2 teams and have them sit at the table with their egg in front of them and their hand on the egg.  Show both teams a card and the first person to “buzz” in and answer in a specific amount of time gets the point. I put my Eggspert on the 5 second timer which will buzz if the students does not answer and you do not clear the system before 5 seconds.  This prevents students from buzzing in if they do not really know the answer right away.
  What I love about this is that it engages all of my students at once! In the past, I have used a call bell on a table between 2 students and then showed them a flashcard.  Only the 2 students by the bell could answer, so the students behind them weren’t always engaged.
• Trivia Game: Make your own version of Jeopardy or other trivia game. Make a list of 6 questions from 3-6 categories.  Show the students the categories and tell them how many points they will get for each questions they answer.  Categories might include music history, piano parts, notes, note values, interval ear training, etc. Begin the game with any category. For example, I might choose interval ear training as the first category and then play an interval on the piano (without letting them see me play it).  The first student who buzzes in and answers with the correct interval gets the point AND gets to choose the next category.
• Any Challenge Game: You might have some fun using the Eggspert with many games you are already playing. For example, with my beginning students learning steps and skips, I might give them some “jewels” and a laminated staff and give them this instruction, “Place one jewel on the middle line, then show me 2 steps down from that line.” After they place their 3 jewels on the proper places, they can “buzz” in and I will check their answer.
  The Key Words flashcards and  Spelling Bee flashcards on D’Net Layton’s site are also good for this quizzing system.

Some important tips: 

You’ll want to set a few ground rules before you play these games with your students:

• Take care of your egg. I don’t know how breakable they are (they seem pretty sturdy), but I tell my students to keep their hand on the egg at all times so that they are not slamming their hand down on the egg and possibly break the egg.
• Set “quizzing out” rules.  You don’t want 1 student from each team to answer all the questions, so set a rule such as this: If you answer 3 questions correctly, you have to sit out for 3 questions.”  If you have a student who rings in just for the fun of it but doesn’t really know the answer, you might say, “If you answer 3 questions incorrectly, you have to sit out for 3 questions as well.”
• Wide age ranges will still work!  I’ve played a quizzing game with students from age 6-19 and it worked great!  On the difficult questions, of course the older students will ring in and the younger students won’t.  But, you might designate some questions that only certain ages or levels can answer.  When a certain easy question is picked simply say, “Only students who are 6-8 years old can answer.” Or, “only students who  have taken lessons for less than a year can answer.”  For fun, “Only students with black on can answer, etc.

Check out the Eggspert system to see if its right for your studio!  I definitely can call it one of my best investments for 2011!