I’ve just finished presenting both sessions of the “Stress-free Business Practices for Your Studio” workshop at the National Federated Music Conference’s conference in Oregon. I told all of the fabulous teachers that attended that I would write a post so that they could simply click on the many links to articles with further information. There are lots more articles about this and other pedagogy topics in the queue, so don’t forget to sign up for the email newsletter on the right (or below) to have these ideas delivered to your email every 3 weeks or so. Here are the links that you found in your handout and others that you might find helpful:
NFMC Stress Free Business Practices for Your Music Studio Follow-up
Tuition
Dealing with Students Staring Mid-year
Yearly Price Increases
CPI Index Calculator from U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics
Should I Raise My Rates This Year?
How to Increase Tuition (or make any policy change) Without a Revolt
Wording for your policy:
“Families should expect a yearly increase in tuition appropriate to cost of living increases, expenses, and services offered.”
Flex Weeks
More on Taking Unscheduled Time Off (this includes examples of how to do this if you use the school year + summer plan or the semester + summer plan)
Here’s wording for when you use your flex weeks:
“I will be taking this week off as one of my vacation weeks. You will not be paying for this week since I will still schedule myself to teach 40 weeks in the year as stated in my policy. Tuition will be the same for this month.”
Makeup Lessons
Top 5 Reasons You SHOULD Give Makeup Lessons (in case you want to chuckle again)
To Give or Not To Give Makeup Lessons (lists a number of options and the pros and cons of each)
How to Move to a No Make Ups Policy
Longer Lessons
A Guide to Moving Students to Longer Lessons Step-by-step guide to help you make this happen.
Here are suggested wordings about lesson lengths for your policy:
“As a student advances, they will need to move to 45 minute lessons.”
“Thirty minute lessons are only available for students in year 1 of piano. Students in year 2 or beyond will be enrolled in forty-five minute lessons.”
“Students may enroll in 45 or 60 minute lessons. Thirty minute lessons are only offered to beginning students and at the teacher’s discretion.”
Communicating
How to Increase Tuition (or make policy changes) Without a Revolt
Rhythm Session
Rhythm Manipulations Challenge
Tips for using Rhythm Menagerie, Manipulations, or Cup Explorations (including Zip and Unzippable binder clips that I recommended for adding units to your students rhythm book):
I love using the GBC ProClick P50 Desktop Binding Machine for Rhythm Menagerie, Rhythm Manipulations, and other camps and resources I make for my students.
My Favorite Teaching Tools
Pilot Frixion Erasable Highlighters
Pilot Frixion Erasable Gel Pens
More…
All Dollars and Sense Posts (all kinds of info here including marketing and more!)
Got Enough Money? (Kristin Yost’s take on these issues)
Policy tips from Daycare (An interesting idea on late payments)
And You Thought My Makeup Lessons Policy was Severe (Everyone does this differently, so here’s another take)
Business Plans (a thought and link to one of my favorite bloggers and her helpful business plan resource)
Marketing 101, Marketing 102: Moving to a New Community, Marketing to Homeschool Students
Some Favorite Blogs I Referenced
Wendy,
Thank you so much for putting this together in one area. All of these articles are very helpful and it’s great to be able to come to this one page and find all the business info I need. As always, thanks so much for sharing your brilliance:)
Hi Wendy,
I would love it if you could have a research post on IRS policies and the home studio. But not for nitty gritty tax details.
Here’s the deal. I called the IRS to see if I could deduct landscaping expenses for the walkway area into my home studio. After dancing from expert to expert I was finally propelled to the ears of the expert-expert who said with utmost conviction, that I, not the IRS, needed to find out what the “normal and usual” practices were for those in my profession with home studios. There is nothing stating yay or nay for these expenses. Just what we, as a group of music instructors, do as a common practice. Hello?
Based on this information it appears that if we teachers band together and make landscaping for our home studios an expense, just like Burger King or Walmart or the local town accountants do, it would be, ipso facto, an normal and usual deduction. Cool, huh?
Your thoughts?