Recently I had the honor to give a presentation to my fellow piano teachers on some business, and teaching, strategies that have helped me grow my studio. In my over-exuberance and enthusiasm I prepared far more material than I could present in the time allotted to me. Afterwards many attendees had questions, which I had not the time to answer, which was disappointing for all of us. Also, many asked for copies, and more information on different topics and I was at a loss how to proceed.
Blogging seems to be a good platform for disseminating information which, if I were of a different mind, I might be able to put into a book and sell, but for now, I am more interested in helping other new (and old) piano teachers grow THEIR studios. Hence this blog.
PLEASE, if you have questions, or topics you would like to see covered here, contact me (or my wife, who does much of the actual writing, and who had the nous to set up the blog in the first place) and I will be happy to respond.
You may ask, and rightfully so, what are my qualifications? Let me be plain: my academic background is strictly in music, I have no formal business education. I wish I did, but though I enrolled in Accounting 1A in college, it is the one Fail on my record. Still…
In my store front studio in Northern California, I teach over 70 private students each week from mid-August to mid-June. I have taught piano since the mid-1970s, first as a part time occupation, while holding down various other jobs, including a 20-year stint in telecommunications.
As our children grew up (we have five of them) and began to leave the nest, my wife was working full time, also with the same company, we determined that the extra income was no longer as necessary as it once had been. In 1999 I began a hiatus from teaching, which lasted two years. Then my employer offered me an early retirement package in late 2001. My last day there was in mid-December and by the end of January, word had got out that I was teaching again and the students started coming. Hardly a week went by without picking up one or two students. By June I was up to about 25 students.
After a couple of years of this, the number of students had grown to almost 50 and I was still teaching out of my living room. My neighbors were very understanding of the situation, considering the number of vehicles coming and going all day and into the evening hours, five and sometimes six days a week.
Then I caught a break. The father of one of my students, a firefighter at a local fire station, tipped me that a certain storefront was going to become vacant. How he knew I can only conjecture, but I contacted the landlord immediately. That was in 2004. In August of that year the Studio moved into this new location and continued to thrive.
Eventually my tax consultant began to urge me to incorporate, as I was paying far more than necessary in income tax as a sole proprietor. So in 2013 I finally did exactly that. There has been quite the learning curve, but it has all been worth it.
I am looking forward to sharing what I have learned with any who are interested in growing their studio, and prospering as piano teachers.
Musically yours,
Bill Becker
(and Nancy Becker)
beckerpiano 