goals Archives - Music Studio Startup

Writing a Better Welcome Message

August 27, 2018

branding, communication, customer service, goals, marketing, new students, student experience, student retention, studio management

Last week’s blog post spoke about the tremendous value that comes from communicating well with students and (especially) their families. Today’s blog is an example of how we can practice good communication at the beginning of a new term (or anytime a new student joins our studio), with a strategically-written welcome message! At first glance,…

Episode 011 – Aaron Garner of Piano Marvel on Starting a Software Company When You’re Not a Developer

August 22, 2018

entrepreneurship, goals, marketing, music majors, networking, productivity, systems, technology

Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, or wherever you get podcasts! Summary Aaron Garner is a piano teacher and champion for innovation in music education. Like other teachers I’ve interviewed, Aaron’s business idea came from an inefficiency he noticed in his piano studio. The solution he came up with led him to raise $600k in…

Summer Reading List for Entrepreneurial Music Teachers

July 9, 2018

books, entrepreneurship, focus, goals, online marketing, productivity, studio management, systems, time management

If you want to up your game as a business owner and your summer schedule affords you some extra reading time, check out five of my favorite entrepreneurial books: 1. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber I first read this book in high school and it’s been a huge influence on how I’ve thought about…

Increasing Income Through Other Business Ventures

June 11, 2018

entrepreneurship, focus, goals, increasing income, introspection, lifestyle, passive income

We’ve been focused on the music studio startup phase, but now I want to fast forward to when your studio is at full capacity. What’s next for the motivated music teacher? At this point, most teachers I coach are looking for ways to increase their income through other business opportunities. The Natural Next Step? Many…

Startup Checklist for Music Teachers

April 16, 2018

college, entrepreneurship, goals, increasing income, music majors, organization, starting, studio management

As the school year winds down, it’s a natural time to think about “what’s next?” for our studios. Maybe you’re graduating and preparing to start your career as a full-time, independent music teacher. Or maybe you’ve been teaching for a while, but you’re getting ready to make a big investment in your studio by moving…

7 Smart Ways to Use a Tax Refund

April 9, 2018

budgeting, finance, goals, personal finance, taxes

If you have a tax refund coming your way, take a minute to read this before you spend it all on a spontaneous weekend getaway to Mexico. (Even if that does sound delightful right now…) Spending the money on something fun might be good, but also consider putting part (or all!) of that refund toward…

My Business Goal-Setting Process

January 22, 2018

focus, goals, introspection, productivity, studio management, systems, time management

In my last post, I talked about some of the questions I reflect on when evaluating my previous year in business. After I’ve finished looking back, I get to do the fun part…looking forward and planning the future! When I threw out the idea of starting new year’s goals on January 1, I also threw…

Reflection Questions for Music Studio Owners

January 1, 2018

focus, goals, introspection, time management

Let’s talk New Year’s resolutions. Most people know me as a very goal-oriented person (and I suspect you might be, too, since you’re reading this blog), so it often surprises them that I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. The truth is, with all the holiday craziness in December, I never felt like I have the…

Gift Guide for Entrepreneurial Music Teachers

November 27, 2017

goals, holiday, organization, productivity, studio management, systems, website, WordPress

With the new year just around the corner, I’m thinking a lot about the goals I have for my studio and business. Some of these goals require investing in equipment or software. Call me boring, but I’ve always been a big fan of practical gifts. When I put together my wishlist for the family gift…

Engaging Students with “Aha” Moments

September 11, 2017

goals, new students, student experience, student retention

In the early days of Facebook, the team behind the social network came up with a metric that could predict the likelihood of whether or not someone who signed up for a Facebook account would become an active user. They determined that if a new user connected with seven friends in ten days, they would…

Track Goal Progress in a Helpful Way

January 9, 2017

goals, productivity

I picked up one more insight from “The 12 Week Year” that is helping me track goal progress in a much more helpful way this year. It’s not a fancy tool or complicated system, it’s two simple definitions for the terms “lead” and “lag” indicators. This isn’t an original concept, but it’s one I hadn’t thought to…

What Was Missing from My Goal-Setting System

January 2, 2017

goals, systems

My Goal-Setting System For the past five or six years, I have made monthly goals and tracked them in a Google Sheets spreadsheet. This worked alright, but I found the system less and less motivating (and effective) as time went on, especially for the tougher goals. It was too easy to just push any unaccomplished…