Latest updates and news

New Videos Section

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We're experimenting with videos to give members a different way of learning new topics and figuring out what actions and paths to take.

Our first video gives you an overview on what you need to do to start teaching guitar online. It will explain why you might want to teach online, the equipment you need, how to get paid, how to promote your online lessons and what software to use.

If you've thought about teaching online via Skype but didn't know where to start, this is a great way to get started.

How to teach guitar online video

Check out the video here: How to Teach Guitar Online

Note: if you find the video useful and would like to see more in the future, please fill out the feedback form to let us know. As this video is an experiment, we'll use feedback from members to decide on any future videos we create.

Applying marketing strategies from eBay, Hotel Booking websites and more

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When most guitar teachers think of marketing strategies they can use to attract new students, they often think of flyers, posters, business cards or maybe some advertising in a local newspaper. Most guitar teachers think of those strategies because that's what worked in the past. Today more and more teachers are finding that those marketing methods are no longer effective or less effective.

A guitar teacher used to be able to send out some flyers and put up a couple of posters and within a week gain some new students. That's very rarely the case today. Why? Potential students no longer wait for a flyer to arrive or look for a poster in the hopes of finding a guitar teacher. Instead they look online. A quick Google search will give them all the details they need.

As a guitar teacher, you need to also turn your marketing attention online. If potential students are looking for guitar teachers online, you want to be there too.

A lot of our guides and courses explain the basics of marketing online, but we can go much further. Learning from other industries and learning from how companies promote their services is a great way to find out what works and what doesn't.

In our guide BMK-23 Scarcity Marketing, you will learn the incredibly effective strategies and tactics used by hotel booking websites, eBay, online retailers and other industries.

At first you may not see any connection between a hotel booking website and your business, but there is. A hotel booking website's goal is to attract people wanting to book a hotel and persuade them to book one. Your goal as a guitar teacher is to attract potential students and book them in to lessons. While there's a big difference between booking a hotel and a guitar lesson, the marketing strategies you can use are very similar.

In the guide we explain the strategy hotel booking websites use to encourage people to take action now. With a few simple changes to your marketing approach, you can dramatically increase the number of potential students contacting you.

If you haven't heard of scarcity marketing before or don't know how to apply it to your guitar teaching business, read through BMK-23 as it will give you the tools you need to help persuade people to sign up for lessons.

Facebook Ads Course Expanded

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Our Facebook Ads Course covers all the essential steps and strategies needed to get the most out of advertising on Facebook. It walks you through all the steps and shows you how to track your ad's performance and make better decisions with your ads.

We've been running quite a few experiments with Facebook Ads to figure out best practices and strategies. One of our experiments yielded the best results we've ever seen in an online paid ad so we've added an entire module to the course to explain the strategy and how you can achieve similar results.

So what did we achieve with our strategy?

Our ad achieved two new students at a total cost of $0.66.

retargeting-ads-2

If you've run Facebook Ads before, the above figures may look a bit odd. How can an ad achieve 10 website clicks and only cost 66c?

If you haven't run Facebook Ads before, then to give you some context, usually when an ad achieves a click to a website, that one click can cost anywhere from $0.5-2.00. So the fact that this ad achieved 10 clicks for an average cost of $0.07 per click is significant.

 

If you've been hesitant on spending money on advertising but want to try and attract new students, this strategy is a great way to get some advertising exposure while keeping an extremely low budget.

Check out the Facebook Ads Course now to find out how you can apply this strategy.

Should you join a music school/agency/franchise?

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At some point you may consider whether you would be better off joining an established music school, studio, agency or franchise instead of running your guitar teaching business on your own.

If you talk to an music school, tutoring agency or franchise who are hiring teachers, they will likely tell you that their brand name is valuable and can help you attract students faster and easier. They suggest that when you tap into their agency/franchise network, you benefit from all the work other people have put in to building up that brand.

That sounds like a compelling reason to join an established brand and we were fortunate enough to be able to test this out in the real world.

Sam's Dilemma

One of our members (we'll call him Sam) asked us to help him choose between joining a large tutoring agency and teaching on his own.
The agency would charge him $150 per month and they would provide him with marketing materials, a page on their website, allow him to use their brand name and they may even potentially refer students to him.

Sam knew it would be a large expense but the promise was that their branding was valuable and he would be able to gain students faster if he was part of their brand. This was a nation-wide tutoring agency, so Sam felt confident their brand name would draw in students.

Testing The Agency's Brand Name

To help Sam decide between staying on his own or joining the agency, we helped him run an experiment.
We created two nearly identical ads on Facebook. The first ad would use the agency's brand name and logo with a photo of Sam.
The second ad would only use Sam's name (eg: Sam's Guitar Lessons) and a photo of him. Everything else would be identical apart from the brand name used and the logo.

This is called a 'Split Test' or 'A/B Test' and it gives you a very powerful way to find out what details matter. The only main difference between the two was the brand name used - so any differences in the results will be due to the brand name.
The goal with this experiment was to find out whether the agency's brand name would attract more potential students than simply using Sam's name as the brand name.

We ran two ads at the same time on Facebook (learn about Facebook Ads in this course - it also explains split tests you can run) with a budget of $150 per ad. If the agency would be charging him $150 per month, we wanted to find out what type of results Sam could achieve with $150 per month in advertising.

The Results

After three weeks, both ads completed with the following results:

  • The agency ad achieved 6 contacts resulting in 2 new students
  • Sam's ad achieved 21 contacts resulting in 9 new students

Neither ad produced impressive results, but there was a significant difference between the two.

The ad running under Sam's name generated 3x more contacts and new students for the same cost. That's a huge difference! Even though this was only one test with a fairly small budget, the results are significant.

Needless to say, Sam decided that he would stay on his own instead of joining the agency. Instead of spending $150 per month on the agency, he decided he could spend that same $150 on ads using his own name as the brand name.

In other words, Sam was far better off using his own name instead of using the agency's brand name.

Why Did Sam's Ad Win?

We've run tests and experiments like this before and almost every time the ads with a real person's name in it wins out.

When potential students saw the ad reading 'Sam's Guitar Lessons' and they saw a photo of Sam smiling and holding his guitar, it made it clear that Sam is a real guitar teacher. In that instant, the potential student knows who the teacher's name is and what they look like. That information makes it easier for the student to build up the courage to contact Sam and talk about lessons.

On the other hand, when the potential students saw the agency's brand name, it didn't come across as personal. While we still included Sam's photo, it didn't create the same connection. If we didn't include Sam's photo and simply had an image of the agency's logo, no doubt the results would have been worse.

It takes a lot of courage for a potential student to make contact with a teacher. Removing any barriers and making the experience as comfortable as possible is important. That's why Sam's ad achieved significantly better results than the agency's ad.

The fact that a sole teacher can outperform a nationwide brand is a significant finding.

Lesson From This Test

If you currently use a brand name (eg: ABC Guitar Lessons), don't immediately feel you need to change to using your own name. What this test should teach you is that instead of assuming that one way works better than another, test it out.

A simple split test could be all it takes to find out whether you would be better off changing your brand name or sticking to what you're already using.

Should You Join a Studio/Agency/Franchise?

Of course there are other reasons why you may consider joining an established business. The point of explaining this test was to show that the brand name shouldn't be part of your decision. The fact is that in the guitar lessons market, large brand names don't hold value in potential student's eyes. Students are more likely to choose John Smith over ABC Guitar Lessons.

While that may go against what businesses have been told for decades, the reality is that when it comes to guitar lessons, the more personal you are and the more you put yourself out there, the more you will stand out.

Why Live and Teach Guitar Isn't A Franchise/Agency

This test spells out clearly why we don't run as a franchise or agency. Our goal is to help guitar teachers like you build up your own business on your own terms. We provide you with the tools, strategies and principles needed to build a successful guitar teaching business. But at the end of the day, the business should still be yours. Build up your own brand using your own name, because that's the strategy we see work over and over.

If you want to run your own tests using Facebook Ads, check out our Facebook Ads Course here.

How to use Facebook Ads to find guitar students

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People looking for guitar teachers no longer look out for posters around town, they no longer look up the classifieds in their newspaper and they certainly don't sit around at home waiting for a flyer to appear in their letterbox. So what do they do?

They search online. They either jump on Google and try to find a local teacher, or they jump on social media and ask around.

The simple fact is that behavior has shifted online and if you want to attract more students, you also need to shift online.

Using social media such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube is a great way to put yourself in front of potential students. We've written guides on how to get started with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and being on those platforms is a good start.

But how can you ramp up your efforts and potentially attract more students in a short timeframe?

In our latest course, we explain how to use laser targeted Facebook Ads to attract new students. You might wonder why you should consider spending money on Facebook Ads when you don't pay money to run your Facebook Page.

Here are a few reasons why Facebook Ads are worth considering:

  • Target people by age: if you want to teach people in a specific age range (eg: teenagers or middle aged adults), it's easy to create ads that only reach those people.
  • Target people by interests: if you want to teach people who like a certain style of music, easy. People who like a certain guitar brand? Done. A band or musician? Simple. Targeting potential students by interests is incredibly powerful.
  • Target people by situation: want to target children? Target their parents with a simple click. Want to target school teachers? Simply select their job title and your ads will reach them.
  • Target people by location: targeting your nearby neighborhood or a nearby town is simple and highly effective. If you create an ad saying that you're within 5 minutes of the person's location, that's a compelling way to grab attention.

There are other benefits but the main point to consider here is that Facebook Ads allow you to target people in ways that aren't possible with any other marketing method. You can create a specific ad laser focused on a type of student and that ad will be far more effective than a general 'learn guitar' ad.

As an example, let's say you want to target potential students who meet the following criteria:

  • Live within 10 miles of Norwood
  • Fans of metal music and specifically Metallica
  • Fans of ESP guitars
  • Male teenagers

That's an incredibly specific type of person. When you get that specific, it's easy to create an ad that grabs their attention. Here is an example of an ad you could create:

Facebook ad example

Notice how well it will grab the attention of the people we're targeting. Instead of creating a generic 'learn guitar now' ad, this ad focuses on what those people are interested in. If a male teenager who likes Metallica, ESP guitars and lives in Norwood saw this ad and saw another ad that gave a generic 'learn guitar now' vibe, which one do you think they would go for?

That's the potential power of Facebook Ads - you have the potential to create highly targeted ads that will grab the attention of the right people.

In our course we will explain the best practices and tricks to get the most out of Facebook Ads. You will learn to avoid the common mistakes we see all the time and create ads that are designed to succeed.

 

Check out the Facebook Ads Course now to get started

Guitar Teacher Interview: Daniel Scarsella from Peterborough, Ontario

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It's always great to hear how teachers around the world give lessons and how they encourage their students. Here's an interview with Daniel Scarsella from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada on how he approaches teaching guitar:Daniel Scarsella

Tell us a bit about yourself and where you teach

I am based in Peterborough, Ontario. I have been connected to music for over thirty years and have enjoyed broad guitar experience including performing and recording. When I'm not teaching, I'm writing and producing music. I have a pretty comfortable home studio set up.

Tell us about the different ways your students learn in your lessons

My lessons are in person, however, I offer Skype sessions as an alternative. I aim to create a pressure free, flexible learning environment. For this reason, I deliberately do not schedule lessons back to back. Students will always receive their allotted time even if the previous lessons runs late. E-mail support is offered between lessons so students can clarify issues or forward ideas, songs, etc. I encourage practical concepts that help students with song writing as well as jamming with other musicians.

I think it's important to use the tools you learn in a musical way. I use my recording set up to help students understand the fundamentals of production as well as write and/or record their own music. I also record students playing as a critical listening exercise which we then sort of 'joint-evaluate' and look for opportunities to improve.

What styles do you focus on and what songs are currently popular with your students?

I teach beginners and intermediate players mostly with an emphasis on blues. Really, it's blues with rock and some countrified elements thrown in. I enjoy blues and the basic blues progression usually gets picked up pretty well and makes sense to many students. Classic Rock seems to be the popular choice for beginner guitarists...all levels really. No surprise there. Crazy Train is still something guitarists want to try.

What are some of the things accomplished by your students?

One of my students in particular has grown more comfortable with song writing. You can read his testimonial here. It's rewarding to see someone come to your lesson with an original idea that includes even a little piece of something previously taught.

Walk through a typical guitar lesson and how you approach teaching your students

I simply start with a recap of the previous week or multiple lessons as applicable. Once a student can demonstrate a new concept in a musical way, only then do I introduce new material. I don't think concepts should be abandoned to quickly. For example, if a student learns a scale shape but can't play a run or doesn't know what chords it works over, more time needs to be spent. I try to incorporate theory in a way that enhances the students playing. It's easy to overwhelm a student with theory at times.

What advice do you have for somebody wanting to learn guitar or currently learning on their own?

It's certainly well worth the effort it takes in the beginning. Getting a handle on some basic chords, progressions and some of your favourite tunes is very achievable with some discipline. It's quite rewarding when you can play something recognizable for the first time. If you are learning on your own try to avoid jumping from one internet site to the next with no real plan in mind. Remind yourself that it's not realistic to learn everything all at once. Consider correct hand positioning (which you may have to fix later if you get wrong), stretching, reading tab, chord blocks, tuning and other basics before jumping to the intro of Crazy Train. Essentially, set some realistic goals and follow through.

How can people who want to learn or are learning guitar get in touch with you if they have any questions?

I can be reached on my website - scarsellamusic.ca. I periodically post tips on my Facebook page as well.

Guitar Teacher Interview: Pete Farrugia

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If you're interested in teaching guitar or just getting started, it's always a good idea to hear about other guitar teacher's experiences. We've been reaching out to guitar teachers to ask them what they wish they knew before starting teaching. Here's a great answer from Pete Farrugia, who has been teaching guitar since the 70s:pete farrugia

Pete Farrugia on what he wish he knew before starting teaching guitar:

The main thing that I wish I’d have known about when I first went full-time as a guitar teacher some years ago, are the most effective places where I should spend my advertising budget.

I first started teaching on a part-time basis way back in the ‘70s. In those days, the thing to do was to put a postcard ad in local shop windows, usually newsagents. Back then, it used to work. A steady stream of potential clients would call from a single ad.

These days this method no longer works. I put a postcard in the window of about 20 local shops, negotiating a rate for a whole year. From this I got one new student, barely enough to recoup my outlay. My theory is that people are just too busy these days to spend time reading ads in shop windows.

Another ineffective way to advertise is newspapers, especially those free ones that you see in local shops. I paid for an ad in one of these that assured me they had a circulation of over 15,000 for each weekly issue. I advertised for six weeks, and received not a single call. I still get sales calls from them, and I turn them down every time. Why throw good money after bad?

Ads in the paid papers are not much better. I did get a few calls from one of these, but not enough to justify the price of a decent-size box ad.

The vast majority of my new clients come from two sources: word-of-mouth recommendations, and Google AdWords.

Some teachers incentivise their students to attract new clients from their circle of friends and family, offering a discounted or free lessons for every new referral. I’ve never had to do so yet, but this is something I’d consider.

These days it’s all about the Internet. You must have a good, regularly updated website, and a strong presence on social media. You could spend time and money optimising your website’s SEO, so that it appears near the top of the Google searches, but why bother when you can just pay Google to ensure that this happens, on a pay-per-click basis? It works, and it’s one of the few types of advertising that continues to work consistently. Every time I need a few new students, I simply increase my daily budget, and within days I have a full teaching diary again, whereupon I reduce my budget.

Joining the Registry of Guitar Tutors also yields results. I get three or four new students a year from the RGT, which doesn’t sound like many, but the revenue compared with the membership subscription makes this one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising around.

Lessons from Pete's experiences

Let's go through some of the important points Pete brings up:

1. What worked in the past might not work today

Placing cards in shop windows or paying for newspaper advertising used to be very effective in bringing in students but aren't effective today. The reason why these methods aren't effective anymore is because potential students' behavior has changed. In the past when somebody wanted to find a guitar teacher, they would look at their local newspaper or Yellow Pages as the first option. Today, when a person wants to find a guitar teacher, they will search on Google.

Technology is constantly changing the way people look for guitar teachers so the way you need to advertise for students also needs to change.

2. An effective website makes all the difference

Pete brings up an incredibly important point: you must have a good, regularly updated website, and a strong presence on social media. Every day we see the same pattern: teachers with poorly created websites that aren't updated regularly achieve poor results and teachers with well optimized websites achieve good results.

The mistake we often see is for a teacher to set up a website and let it sit there untouched for years. It's not enough to have a website - you need to constantly update it and improve it. The reason our Website Referral Machine Workshop has been so popular is because it provides teachers with an overall strategy to make sure your website does achieve the results you want. Don't think of your website as an 'online brochure', it needs to be a living and breathing part of your business.

3. PPC advertising (eg: Google Adwords) can be effective - if you know what you're doing

As mentioned earlier, people now search online to find a guitar teacher. Advertising works best when it is seen by the right audience. That's why newspaper ads don't work anymore - the right people aren't looking at them. It's also the reason why Pete and other teachers are having great success with Google Adwords. PPC (pay per click) advertising can be incredibly effective if you know how to write an effective ad and you know how to track your results.

As Pete explains, all he needs to do to raise his student numbers is raise his budget on Google Adwords. That's what can happen when you learn how to run PPC ads properly.

It's important to point out that while PPC ads can be very effective, if you don't know exactly how to create and track an ad, you can burn through a lot of your money very quickly. So before you dive in to PPC ads, learn how to run them properly. LTG members can check out these resources to a good starting point: BMK-21 Writing Effective Advertisements and Marketing 101.

 

Thanks to Pete for his great insights! It's great to hear from teachers with extensive experience like Pete. You can get in touch with Pete on his Facebook page, his website or check out his YouTube channel here.

New Q&A Section

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While our guides, courses and workshops cover a wide range of business and teaching topics in detail, sometimes you need some easy starting points.

Maybe you have a difficult situation with a student and don't know what to do or you want to grow your business. Whatever questions you have on your mind, our new Q&A section will help you out.

Here are some of the questions we've already answered:

  • How do I start teaching guitar via Skype?
  • How do I get my students to practice?
  • How can I rank higher in search engines?
  • Should I spend money on paid advertising?
  • How can I deal with students breaking my policies?

Having a strategy for the above questions can make a big difference to your success. The goal of the Q&A section is to give you a quick and easy way to find answers for questions on your mind.

If you don't see an answer for your question, simply ask us and we'll create a detailed answer for you.

Check out the Q&A Section now (also available in the 'Guides and Advice Menu).

Get involved in our first industry wide survey

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Guitar Teacher Industry Survey 2015

Find out how your business compares to other guitar teachers around the world. We've created an industry-wide survey to find out what makes a successful guitar teacher in 2015.

This survey looks at:

  • What marketing methods do successful guitar teachers use
  • What type of resources and strategies are most effective
  • How do successful guitar teachers attract new students
  • Whether social media, email marketing or other new strategies work or not

Every survey participant will receive a detailed report analyzing the survey responses. This will be a great way for you to plan ahead in 2015 and figure out what areas you should focus on and what areas you can safely leave behind.

Missed out on the survey? We've been sharing best practices with members and creating resources on the key points found from the survey. Become a member to gain access to the survey as well as all the resources we've created to help teachers out.

How to Attract New Guitar Students in 2015

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The way people search for guitar teachers has been changing over the last few years. What used to bring you new guitar students no longer works as well today. The demand for guitar teachers has changed but if you can understand how the demand has changed, you can actually benefit from these changes.

Let's have a look at how you can attract more guitar students in 2015.

Why traditional marketing is losing effectiveness

In the past all a guitar teacher had to do to attract new students was to place an ad in a local newspaper, place a few posters around town and send out some flyers. We've been working closely with guitar teachers over the past few years and it's crystal clear to us that those methods are rapidly losing effectiveness. It can take well over 1000 flyers to generate one phonecall/email from a potential student. Newspaper ads usually don't receive any responses.

There's a simple reason why these methods aren't as effective anymore: almost everybody now search online to find local services. While that might sound obvious, it's clear that many guitar teachers either don't believe that's true or don't understand why they should change their approach. If a person actively looks for a guitar teacher, they will search online. That person isn't going to walk down to the local community board to see your poster and they aren't going to sit around in case they receive a flyer. They will simply load up Google and find a teacher.

There's another reason why traditional marketing is losing effectiveness: mobile devices. Well over two thirds of Americans own a smartphone. That means if somebody ever has the spontaneous urge to start learning guitar, the chances are they will simply search online for ways to get started.

What does all this mean for you?

There's two key points to take away from this so far:

1. Offline marketing methods will be ignored now and in the future

People don't respond to direct mail as they did in the past and the trend is pointing down. That means if your main method of attracting new students is with offline methods (eg: posters and flyers), you're going to struggle in the future.

2. You need to be online

Not only do you need to be online, but you need to have your own website. A listing in an online directory or an ad in craigslist isn't good enough. You need to have your own website you can control. Fortunately it's relatively easy to set up a website today and anybody can do it.

Guitar Teachers Are No Longer The Go-To Option

In the past before YouTube, when somebody decided to learn guitar they would automatically look for a local guitar teacher. It was relatively easy for a guitar teacher to fill their timetable up. In 2015, you need to actively seek out potential students.

In 2015 when somebody wants to learn guitar, they can simply go to YouTube and instantly access thousands of video lessons. While you as a teacher know that you can offer far better quality lessons than any video, students today do not see it that way. The convenience and free access to online lessons makes them question why they need a guitar teacher. Why should they pay for a guitar teacher when they have all the videos they need available at any time on YouTube?

If you're struggling to find new students, that's why. Guitar teachers are no longer the go-to option for students and unless you change your approach, students in 2015 won't even give you a chance.

How to Succeed as a Guitar Teacher in 2015

If you try to promote yourself as a guitar teacher like you have in the past, you're going to have a hard time in 2015. In 2014 we worked closely with a lot of guitar teachers who were suddenly finding it very hard to find new students. Fortunately there is a solution and when applied properly teachers suddenly discovered that they could fill up their timetables instead of struggling to hold on to students.

There's too much detail to cover in one article, so we'll explain the outline of what you need to do to succeed as a guitar teacher in 2015:

 Focus on your website

If you don't have a website, set one up today - without one you will not succeed in attracting new students consistently.

If you do already have a website, make a commitment to work on it and apply the best practices and strategies available today. The truth is most guitar teacher's websites are terrible - they usually contain a handful of pages with basic information and nothing else of value. We run workshops to help guitar teachers improve their websites and we start out by analyzing and scoring every teacher's website before the workshop. The typical score out of 100 for most teachers was somewhere between 20 and 30.

That's a sign that there's a lot of room for improvement.

Your website will be your most important marketing tool in 2015 as a guitar teacher and we've been working very closely with guitar teachers to help them get their websites to a point where they start filling their timetable.

Don't waste money on printed advertising

If you've been thinking about spending money on print ads, you can stop thinking about it now. Over the last year we've talked to a wide range of guitar teachers who have spent money on print ads and be disappointed with the lack of response. While newspaper ads used to be effective in the past, today they're a waste of money. Don't spend money on newspaper ads, YellowPages listings or any other printed advertising. They just don't work anymore.

Give your business a complete review

What's your target market? What separates you from other guitar teachers in your local area? ("I go the extra mile for my students" isn't a good answer)

The guitar teachers who ultimately succeed understand who they're trying to target, how they will target them and what methods and strategies will help them work towards their goals. Giving your guitar teaching business a thorough review is a great way to find out what areas you're doing well in and what areas you need to work on. By giving your business a review we don't mean print a new batch of business cards or change your logo design, we mean to look at the areas that really make a difference and figure out how you can make changes that will impact your results.

Study Marketing

When some people think of marketing, they imagine themselves handing out business cards or coming up with a catchy slogan to go with their shiny logo. Hopefully you don't think of marketing that way because it's well over 50 years behind the times. If your marketing strategies involves business cards and slogans, you're going to have a very tough time attracting new students. Fortunately it's very easy to learn about marketing today and you will be surprised how dramatically your results can change just by changing your approach slightly.

Guitar Teacher Checklist for 2015

There are so many different ways you can work on your guitar teaching business this year. The list of activities that follow focus on the most important and effective ways you can achieve better results in 2015. The courses, workshops and resources linked to can mean the difference between struggling to find new students and filling up your timetable.

If you want to succeed as a guitar teaching in 2015, make a commitment to work through this list:

1. Join our Website Referral Machine Workshop

This workshop will go through your entire website and help you apply the most effective marketing strategies and tools available today. By the end of the workshop you will have an effective website set up to not only attract potential students in the right way, but it will help raise your credibility and reputation as a guitar teacher.

If you only did one thing in this list, we highly recommend joining our Website Referral Machine Workshop.

2. Work through our 12 week Business Fundamentals Course

Our popular Business Fundamentals Course gives your business a complete review and will help you identify any problems or opportunities you may have missed in the past. It's spread over 12 weeks so you will have plenty of areas to work on without it feeling overwhelming. Every important topic is covered from goals to marketing so whether you've been teaching for 20+ years or are just getting started, it's worth working through this course.

3. Complete a SWOT analysis

You may have heard about SWOT analysis but aren't sure how it applies to you as a guitar teacher. That's why we created the SWOT Analysis Course - to spell out what a SWOT analysis is and explain how it applies to you as a guitar teacher. The course includes a case study so you can understand how to apply it to your own situation. This is a great way to find any opportunities or problems you may have missed in the past.

4. Study Marketing

Marketing is the key to your success. If you understand marketing principles properly and can apply them to your situation, you will eventually succeed. There are a lot of methods and tactics out there, but without a proper understanding of marketing principles, they never seem to work out. How many times have you tried something only for it to fail? Our Marketing 101 course will give you the principles needed to properly apply any marketing method.

Extra Challenge: Earn an income online

This challenge isn't for everybody, but if you have been interested in earning an income online on the side to your regular guitar lessons, we've created a course just for you. Our $100 per month Challenge walks you through how to start selling your own product or service online and build it to the point where you start earning more than $100 every month. $100 per month might not sound like much, but once you build it up to that point, you will have all the knowledge and expertise needed to grow it from there. Our ultimate goal is to help guitar teachers earn $1000+ per month, and this course is a great first step.

Take the $100 per month Challenge if you're keen on building an income on the side to teaching.

Need help along the way?

It should be clear by now that there are a lot of challenges ahead of you, but at the same time there's a lot of resources available to guide you along. Whenever you get stuck or need a helping hand, Live and Teach Guitar is always here to help out.

Good luck in 2015 and get started working on your guitar teaching business now!