Transcript: Snapshot 043 – Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer
Transcript for Snapshot 043 – Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer
[00:00:00] Andrea: Hey, it’s Andrea with Music Studio Startup, the podcast about the business of teaching music. Learn from the startup stories of music teachers who are doing incredible things with their studios. Be inspired by creative musicians who are branching out and thriving as entrepreneurs. Be empowered by the insights of experts who will help you grow your own studio.
Let’s get started.
Welcome back. We are doing a special series on the podcast this summer called Studio Snapshots. Rather than the in-depth process oriented interviews, you’re used to hearing these rapid fire interviews, give us a glimpse into a guest’s studio at a moment in time. They’re part reflection, part anticipation of the future, and fully a celebration of where these teachers are today.
Today I’m talking to Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer. . Here’s Arielle’s Snapshot. Hi Arielle. Welcome to the podcast. Can you introduce yourself and tell us briefly about your studio?
[00:01:05] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Sure. So I’m Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer. I just moved from Arizona to Virginia and my studio is therefore currently in transition. It’s called Sounds and Friends Piano Studio, and I was based in Tempe, Arizona had about 20 ish students, both online and in person. And for now, I will just have about five online.
[00:01:31] Andrea: Okay. And I am so grateful that you were brave enough to do this interview at a moment of such transition in your studio because we’ve all lived through transitions and that’s just a, a part of life. And so you need to drop into your studio right now and see what it looks like in this moment.
So we’ll jump in. What are you celebrating from the last school year?
[00:01:52] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: So I’m really happy that all my families are looking into getting new teachers, which sounds kind of weird. But since I was leaving, I took the time to find a couple of new teachers, put them in contact. I had them observe a little bit, and then I asked each family, do you wanna continue online with me just to give them the option or do you want me to send you these local teachers contact information. And none of them said, “oh, actually we’re thinking about taking a break from lessons, so it’s okay.” I’m really happy about that.
[00:02:27] Andrea: That is great. How were you challenged last year?
[00:02:30] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Well, financially and professionally it was a much more stable year. But personally it was rough ’cause I had a car accident. I was fine, but the car was totaled and there was insurance stuff to deal with. Then I had some family stuff going on. So by like December I was pretty burnt out.
[00:02:52] Andrea: You participate in our Hub Mastermind and I really appreciate it.
You were very open about being burnt out and it was cool because we got to see you kinda like process through that and the things you did for getting over burnout. Can you talk about some of the things you did, like how you dealt with that challenge or burnout last year?
[00:03:10] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Yeah, you were really helpful with that. I started planning rest time, but not just time, but like specific activities. I made the soul food list of what actually recharged me, which I had never thought of before. I had started earlier when I was feeling tired. I started scheduling rest time, but then I just got bored with it. And then I think I just found more things to entertain myself, which were work related because I know those interests really well.
But when I made the soul food list, I discovered that it’s stuff like movement and deep conversations where I’m not just listening to the other person, but they’re also listening to me and we’re, you know, actually having a great conversation and drawing. Touching plants. It’s stuff that’s, you know, definitely not work, but not exactly standard leisure activities either.
I mean, walks were helpful, but it, it wasn’t just like, go for a walk or go to the spa or read a book. Although I love reading books that wasn’t on the social list, interestingly enough.
[00:04:21] Andrea: So just kind of studying yourself and how you receive rest.
[00:04:25] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Yeah. So that was very helpful.
[00:04:27] Andrea: Did you take any risks or go outside your comfort zone last year?
[00:04:30] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Yes, so making the soul food list and getting introspective in that way led to some introspection in other things as well, and so I stepped back from. My freelancing gig at the time, which was primarily playing for young singers at the local university, which I had enjoyed, but I realized I didn’t want to do it for the rest of my life.
And between juggling my own studio and six singers, I didn’t really have time to figure out what I did want to do with the playing side of my career. So I just decided I’m not playing for vocalists in the spring semester. And that was kind of scary because all six of them would probably have continued with me.
So it sort of felt like I was just throwing away a few thousand dollars. But it was nice because I did have time to accept a really cool gig. Playing for an opera chorus, opera chorus rehearsals for Carmen, which I would not have been able to do if I had the six singers, because I got the music like two weeks before and it’s a full opera.
And then I got to play for a trombone recital, and I also just had some more time and I found that I was dedicating not exactly more time to planning or preparing for classes, but just better time, if that makes sense. And I also took on a few four year olds. That was challenging.
[00:06:03] Andrea: Definitely a risk.
[00:06:05] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Definitely risky because they were young, four year olds, like they had just turned four.
[00:06:11] Andrea: Lots of energy. What were your takeaways from that experience of saying no to the singers, even though you could have, it was almost guaranteed income. Like what will you take away from that experience into future risks that you might take on?
[00:06:24] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: I think that I’ll take away the assurance that opening up space by letting go of something that you don’t want does leave room to explore things that maybe you don’t know if you want, but at least it leaves room to explore new things. That you can then figure out whether you want those or not.
[00:06:46] Andrea: Hmm, that’s good.
Yeah. What do summers look like in your studio for your students and also for you?
[00:06:50] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: So that’s changed. First during COVID, that was really when I started to take on more students because that’s when I graduated. I took a year off in between, so that summer I was also moving after COVID because I was going to grad school.
But what I did was I advertised summer lessons, like just packages, I think I called it, Make More Music. MMM. And it was like packages of four or eight lessons that families could schedule, you know, whenever they wanted. It didn’t have to be four weeks, it could be all four within a week, because I needed some extra income.
And I didn’t want to require summer lessons. I figured if I advertise them, then there would be more buy-in. Be like, oh, this is a great idea. We should absolutely do summer lessons Uhhuh. So that was fun and I don’t think we did anything special. It was just kind of normal lessons, but not much special was going on in people’s lives at that point.
After COVID, like there weren’t any huge trips usually. So that was all right. And then the past two years I have gone to professional development courses, so that’s been for me. And then the students have had six weeks off, so the summers have more been for me to rest and recharge and plan and do some professional development, and then the students just have time off.
It’s also been like a time of marketing for me.
[00:08:21] Andrea: Okay. What are you doing this summer to prep for the next school year?
[00:08:25] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Honestly, I’m not quite sure yet. We are figuring out where to live and all of that. So I have a course that I need to finish going through, and then I am meeting up with another teacher who has a similar pedagogical style.
So. We’ll be able to compare notes and then I’m just doing like the nitty gritty stuff of figuring out whether I need to move the LLC or updating my systems.
[00:08:55] Andrea: Yeah. Putting out fuelers for new opportunities.
[00:08:58] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Yeah.
[00:08:59] Andrea: What app or tool has made the biggest impact in your studio or life management this past year?
[00:09:03] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: So for life management, the bullet journal, that’s been really cool. Because I am a planner person, but I’m also the person who just stops using the planner after a few months because I’ve memorized my schedule so the flexibility of the bullet journal has been great because each day looks a little bit different, but not completely different.
So I can just write down the things that change, and I can also have all my notes in one place and keep them organized with the index, which is like your personalized table of concepts. Mm-hmm. So that’s been wonderful. And then for the studio side, it’s been Notion, because I was lesson planning in Trello, and then I just had a little too much so it became unwieldy. But I started using the notion databases and that has been amazing. So I have like one page for each student and for the older students, they have like a repertoire and like learning objective list that I can just keep track of. It’s great.
[00:10:06] Andrea: What’s one area of your business where you tend to get carried away or go overboard because it’s something you really enjoy or nerd out about or just like to spend time on?
[00:10:15] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: It would be by end of year showcases, for sure. And it’s kind of weird because I don’t stress too much about my students practicing for most of the year, but before the showcase, like a good month and a half is dedicated to showcase preparation. And we’re talking about like interactions between the audience and the students and bowing, and why the audience claps and I try and get them to think about the audience so it’s not just like terrifying. You know, go up player piece and go back and you’re scared the whole time. But then I was thinking about it this year too, and I split the cost of piano tuning with the venue. I got one of my friends to help decorate. We did it with like flowers and stuff, and I hire a photographer. I feel like that’s weird.
I don’t know.
[00:11:13] Andrea: So it’s every detail is thought about.
[00:11:15] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Yes, we do food. Last year I bought like five gallons of Italian ice based on the headcount and what they recommended for the surfing size. But we had probably four and a half gallons left over because only the kids had full cups.
So this year I also had a student planning committee, and together we used this formula to calculate, okay, how much of each thing do you need? And they made a menu. And so we figured out, okay, we need exactly two cartons of cherry tomatoes
[00:11:50] Andrea: And you didn’t have a carton and a half left.
[00:11:53] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Well, I think it was two to three because the numbers were changing, so we did have one part left.
But other than that, we didn’t have a ton of leftovers, which is good.
[00:12:02] Andrea: I love how you include your students in the planning of that showcase and, and just like kind of show them how to put on an event too through all that.
[00:12:10] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: It was fun.
[00:12:10] Andrea: Well, Arielle, it’s been fun to get a glimpse into your studio this summer.
Where can listeners get in touch with you and follow along with what you’re up to?
[00:12:17] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: I have a website. Which is soundsandfriends.com.
[00:12:22] Andrea: Alright, and we’ll link that up in the show notes. And thank you so much for being here.
[00:12:26] Arielle Sukhram-Ziemer: Thank you.
[00:12:27] Andrea: It’s an honor. Thank you for taking the time to be with us, Arielle. We’ll include a transcript in all the links mentioned in this episode at musicstudiostartup.com/snapshot043.
The Music Studio startup website is also filled with lots of other resources for music teachers just like you who wanna set up their studios for success this summer. Including our very popular self-paced Business Building 101 course, and our hub and mastermind for studio owners who wanna be supported and challenged to grow as entrepreneurs.
If you are ready to dive in the live summer cohort of Business Building 101 is underway, teachers are actively working on setting up and revamping their studios, and it’s not too late to join in. Visit musicstudiostartup.com/businessbuilding101 to enroll. That’s all for today. Thanks for listening.
I’ll be back next week.