Thank you for attending the Magic Valley Music Teachers Association’s meeting featuring “The Best Stress-free Business Practices for Your Studio!” I hope you found the recorded workshop to be helpful as well as the live Q&A.
Below, you will find links to articles and resources that further discuss many of the points in the workshop. By signing up for this follow-up, I will also make sure that you get our Monday Morning Business tips emails as well as our regular Tuesday newsletters. These emails should be helpful in making good business decisions for your studio and in showing you very useful music resources, teaching materials, and Music Kids Love.
Tuition
Dealing with Students Staring Mid-year
Yearly Price Increases
CPI Index Calculator from U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics
Yearly Price Increases Article
Wording for your policy:
“Families should expect a yearly increase in tuition appropriate to cost of living increases, expenses, and services offered.”
Can You Raise Your Rates Too High? (Most teachers are not in a position to even be asking this questions, so this is for the future when you more at market value)
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 Makeup Lesson Policy
The Secret to Saying No and Enforcing a No Makeup Lesson Policy
Makeup Lesson Boundaries: Are You Enabling Bad Behavior?
Longer Lessons
How to Move Students to Longer Lessons
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.”
Swap Lists
Dueling Students at My Door – Time for Swap List Rules – Here’s that articles I talked about in the Q&A
Communicating Value
Get Your Free Studio Newsletter Sample and Template!
How to Become an Indispensable Piano Teacher
More…
Don’t forget to visit the ComposeCreate Piano Teaching Business page where you can see all articles related to the business of piano teaching.
Some Favorite Blogs I Referenced
Leila Viss
Diane Hidy
Elissa Milne