Move Your Business and Piano Studio from Good to Great

Move your piano studio from good to great. The hedgehog teaches us how. Article by Wendy Stevens | ComposeCreate.com #piano #teaching #studio #business #thrive #hedgehog #collins #business #teaching #pianoteaching #teachingpiano

Move Your Business and Piano Studio from Good to Great

One of the wonderful realities and paradoxes about being a piano teacher in the 21st Century is that a good idea is only one click away. The proliferation of good piano teaching ideas and the increased connectivity that we have through email, social media groups, and websites means that there is a never a lack of creative ideas, games, and teaching techniques. Add to this local piano teaching workshops, conferences, and online resources, and it’s easy to see why our profession has joined other professions in entering a state of “information overload.”

The new, shiny ideas make us lose sight of our “hedgehog concept”

One significant issue this presents for professional piano teachers is that we become so distracted by all the new, shiny ideas that we lose sight of our “hedgehog concept,” one of the elements that can move our piano studio from good to great. When we fill our time with quick solutions (even if effective), this can crowd out time for more strategic reflection, analysis, and planning which is necessary to help our business become great.

Jim Collins uses the hedgehog concept to illustrate a key business principle in the book Good to Great, where he writes about his extensive study of businesses that moved from good, or even mediocre, to great. Though first published in 2001, it continues to be a best-selling business book and contains valuable insight for moving our teaching, accompanying, composing careers, or our piano studio from good to great.

Why do I need to be like a hedgehog?

Here’s the story Jim tells of the hedgehog and the fox:

The fox is a cunning creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for sneak attacks upon the hedgehog. Day in and day out, the fox circles around the hedgehog’s den, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Fast, sleek, beautiful, fleet of foot, and crafty—the fox looks like the sure winner. The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a dowdier creature, looking like a genetic mix-up between a porcupine and a small armadillo. He waddles along, going about his simple day, searching for lunch and taking care of his home.

The fox waits in cunning silence at the juncture in the trail. The hedgehog, minding his own business, wanders right into the path of the fox. “Aha, I’ve got you now!” thinks the fox. He leaps out, bounding across the ground, lightning fast. The little hedgehog, sensing danger, looks up and thinks, “Here we go again. Will he ever learn?” Rolling up into a perfect little ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The fox, bounding toward his prey, sees the hedgehog defense and calls off the attack. Retreating back to the forest, the fox begins to calculate a new line of attack. Each day, some version of this battle between the hedgehog and the fox takes place, and despite the greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always wins.

Move your business and piano studio from good to great

The hedgehog always wins, but he doesn’t do it by trying to become fast like a rabbit. He doesn’t do it by checking his Hedgebook every day and reading all the new ideas that are posted. He doesn’t do it by trying out seventeen new skills he learned at a conference. He does it with focus and by doing his one “hedgehog” thing better than any other animal.

In chapter 5, Collins proposes that you must discover three things and how they intersect in order to determine your hedgehog concept that can move your piano studio from good to great.

These three things are:

  1. What are you deeply passionate about?
  2. What can you be the best in the world at (and what can you not be best at)? Read the article for more.
  3. What drives your economic engine?
Move your Business and Piano Studio from Good to Great. The hedgehog concept
The Hedgehog Concept by Jim Collins

Here are a few things to think about as you process these questions:

1. Passion in piano teaching

What gets you excited when you are talking with a bunch of music teachers? What gets you excited during lessons? Is it innovative fingering? Is it recital etiquette? What about technique, repertoire, finding duets, siblings who play together at the piano, arranging music, children with special needs, iPad apps for students, or music therapy? What gets you really excited and ignites a fire within you?

2. Being the best in the world

Collins cites Warren Buffett’s comment about his $290 million investment into Wells Fargo: “They stick with what they understand and let their abilities, not their egos, determine what they attempt.” So while it would be nice to put on amazing pop music recitals, have students win concerto competitions, and compose music to sell online, it is impossible to be the best at all three of those things.

What is truly the thing at which you could be the best in the world? Is it teaching children with Down Syndrome? Is it organizing piano literature in way that makes it easier for teachers to find? Is it composing, arranging, accompanying, technique, teaching contest winners, teaching preschoolers, teaching adults to play without tension, or using puppets while teaching? Unfortunately, as Buffet’s quote indicates, the sky is not the limit here. What do your current abilities say that you do well?

And what if you have no desire to be the best in the world? Collins maintains that the concept works on a small scale as well.3 What is the thing you could be the best at in your community?

3. Your economic engine

What is the economic engine that bring the most profit to your business? Is it profit per student? Is it profit per lesson (group vs. private)? Is it profit per class? You may not initially have enough data to determine this easily. Keep in mind that in Good to Great, Jim Collins mentions that the companies he chose took approximately four years to discover all three things. Discovering your economic engine may simply be profit per student, but thinking through other possibilities is important.

Pulling it all together to find your hedgehog concept

Collins explains that the intersection of these three areas is where you can move your music business or piano studio from good to great. Defining these areas and then finding their intersection may take years, but piano teachers have done this.

Here’s an example:

Kristin Yost, a prominent piano teaching owner of the Centre for Music Minds, has become passionate about teaching pop music, inspiring students with pop music, providing exciting opportunities for students to play with professional pop musicians, and teaching teachers how to do these things as well. She is also a gifted pianist, teacher, and adjudicator. But, the focus that she has put into the intersection of her 1. passion, 2. skill set, and 3. economic engine means that she is becoming the best in the world at combining solid piano pedagogy and teaching students to play, perform, and be motivated by pop music.

Don’t get distracted by shiny, new ideas!

Finding your hedgehog concept will take serious reflection, analysis, and time. But don’t let shiny new ideas get in the way of moving your music business or piano studio from good to great. Though it may seem geared toward helping large companies, the book Good to Great can give piano teachers ideas for achieving this same status. Above all, give yourself ample time to think and process these elements of the hedgehog concept out loud with friends, colleagues, and even your piano students and families!

What are your thoughts? Do you have a story of how you took your business or piano studio from good to great? Do you know others who have done this? Please share in the comments below!

This article was first published in Clavier Companion.

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8 thoughts on “Move Your Business and Piano Studio from Good to Great”

  1. What a great article, Wendy. This comes at a perfect time for me as I’m trying to distill the things that are most important and let other things go, as good as they may be. The hedgehog example really makes an impact. In a world that constantly calls with a myriad of shiny temptations, we all need reminding that the hedgehog is where it’s at… Thanks for sharing.

  2. Hi Wendy! Thanks for sharing that. I wholeheartedly agree. I found that when I first started piano teaching, I was attracted to all the shiny new ideas. That can be exciting at first but after trying out many things I heard or learned at conferences and blogs each time, it can become overwhelming to try to keep up or exhausting after awhile. I feel like I am slowing down more these few years. I don’t have to do and learn everything. And everything I learn, I also need to discern and ask, “Is this right for my studio and my students at this point in time or this year?” I guess it is also a process we go through as music/piano teachers. Thanks for sharing this and encouraging us to ask those three questions. Thanks!

  3. Oh my! This so resonated with me. I have been telling my husband, there is just too much stuff out there. I was getting so stressed out trying to keep up with all of the emails, all of the Facebook groups, all of the online courses, that I didn’t feel like I was benefiting much at all except to stress myself out.

    What a great reminder to step back and reevaluate what is most important and work at doing that ting the best.

    Thank you so much!

  4. Wendy, I thank you for this article. It was encouraging and confirming to me. It confirmed some ideas I’ve had recently about me and my studio… I used to have the “I need to be the best” syndrome… and I won’t be the best – can’t be the best – at everything! Recently, I’ve been “whittling down” the excess “stuff” to focus on what I know I do well. I also love to try new ideas I get from articles and conferences, but usually I find myself getting overwhelmed because I try to do too much at once. I need to focus on one or two new ideas (that enhance what I do well), and stick with those for awhile. Test them out – see how they work for my studio… just because it’s worked for someone else doesn’t mean the idea will work the same way for me and my students. Thank you for the questions… these will help with this process!

  5. Wendy Stevens

    I’m so glad this resonated with you, Betsy! And you are so right it’s too easy to get stressed out just trying to keep up. It’s so free though to find what it is you are good and putting your energy to doing the best at that. We can’t all be the best at everything!

    Thanks for commenting!

  6. Wendy Stevens

    I know what you mean about being overwhelmed by all the new things from conferences, Trudi! I like what you said though to test them out, see what works for your studio and then just do those things to the best of your ability.

    It’s hard to “whittle down” as you say, but so worth it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It’s great to know it resonated with you!

  7. I’m new in the piano teaching industry (made my first real start last fall, though I had taught a couple other children short-term before), so this is something brand new for me to think about. It was a really good article. Will definitely keep this in mind as I move forward.

  8. Wendy Stevens

    Thanks, Sarah! I’m glad it’s interesting to you.

    Welcome to the world of piano teaching! I hope you have great success in building your studio. There are a few articles about that here, just in case they might be helpful:
    https://composecreate.com/marketing-piano-lessons-101/
    https://composecreate.com/marketing-to-homeschool-students/
    https://composecreate.com/marketing-piano-lessons-102-moving-to-a-new-community/

    Let me know if I can be of assistance in any way!

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