I chuckled a few times when I read this Job Description for the 21st Century Piano Teacher by Gayle Kowalchyk of Alfred Music. In this article, she describes the journey she took that led her to teaching and then postulated the question, “If I saw a job advertisment for an independent piano teacher position, would I apply?”
It might be a little disheartening to read what position it is that we really have signed up for (except for the obvious love of music, teaching and children which makes it all worthwhile!). But, I think another great thing about our job is the flexibility we can choose to have. Mind you, many of us don’t feel the freedom to be flexible, but as self-employed people, we must realize that we create our own work environment, our own schedule, and our own policies. If we don’t like any of those things, it is usually within our power to change them.
So, our life doesn’t have to be controlled by makeup lessons…We can change our policy to control our makeup lessons. (See To Give or Not to Give Makeup Lessons). Our weekends don’t have to be filled with lessons…We can pick the days we want to teach. Our house doesn’t have to be trashed by our students…We can set boundaries for where our students can be. Our breaks don’t have to be interrupted by students arriving early…We can decline to answer the door until their lesson time (it only takes 1 time for the average student to remember that they shouldn’t come early).
Perhaps there might be times in our life where a need for income may seem to dictate that we have less flexibility in these things. But even then, there are often workable solutions to help avoid undesireable circumstances.
In my own situation, I still have to remind myself that I am the one that makes the decisions for my business. I must own those decisions and only blame myself when I am miserable or unhappy with their outcomes.
Making our own decisions about our schedule and policies is one of the best but often unnamed perks about being an independent music teacher!
Well said!
Thanks for the post, I found it very interesting.