How can I grow my business?
If you have a full timetable of students, at some point you may feel a bit stuck. With a full timetable you can't increase your student numbers so you can't increase your income. So how can you grow your business when you have no room for more students?
Let's look at a few different options so you can figure out what path is right for you:
Hire other teachers
In the past the most common way full time teachers would grow their business was to start hiring other teachers and start a music school. By hiring other teachers, you're able to grow your business in a way you can't on your own. The easy way to understand this is: if you're able to pay a teacher less than what you charge a student, you earn a 'profit' on each extra student you book for the teacher you hire. So each new student you bring in slightly increases your income.
The downside of hiring other teachers is that it changes your job. You're no longer just a guitar teacher - you now need to also be a manager. The more teachers you hire, the more time you will need to spend managing your teachers, dealing with staff issues and other admin work.
If you like the idea of being a manager, then this option is worth considering. But if your passion is teaching, be very careful when considering hiring other teachers. You're likely going to need to cut back on teaching so you can manage the business so be sure it's the path you want to take. In five years time if you need to cut out teaching completely so you can manage your school, would you be happy?
While this option may suit some teachers, it shouldn't be your only option to consider. There are other ways to scale a business that are far less risky than trying to build a music school. Check out the other options before you commit yourself to hiring another teacher.
Group lessons & workshops
A very simple way to increase your income and teach more students is to teach multiple students at a time. If you currently only teach one-on-one lessons and you want to teach more students or increase your income, consider teaching groups or starting workshops.
Let's say you charge $20 for one-on-one lessons. That means you can only earn a maximum of $20 per lesson. With a group lesson you could charge each student $15 and easily earn $45-60 per lesson. It's quite easy to dramatically raise your income when you can teach multiple students at once.
Workshops give you an opportunity to earn a significant amount from one session. Teaching in a workshop is very different to teaching one-on-one or small group lessons, so if you haven't given a workshop before, it's a good idea to start small to see what it's like. If you like the way you interact with students in a workshop format, then you can start planning towards larger events.
Find out more on teaching group lessons here and workshops here.
Raise your rate
This is a simple way to increase your income after you've already filled your timetable. Work out how much extra you would earn per year if you raised your rates by $5 or $10. If you teach 40 students per week, a $5 increase could bring you an extra $10,000 per year.
A strong sign that you should raise your rates is if you have a waiting list. If you have a booked out timetable and people are still trying to book lessons with you, that's a sign you could easily raise your rates. While you might feel uncomfortable at the thought of charging more than you are now, having a waiting list is a sign you're not earning what you deserve.
Find out more about changing your rates here.
Multiple streams of income
If you've ever had to cancel a week's worth of lessons because you were sick and couldn't teach, you've discovered an important issue with teaching - you need to be there to earn income. If you're unable to teach, you can't earn money.
A way to protect yourself in this situation is to earn an additional income 'stream' from a different source. This could be selling online courses, books, physical products or other services other than teaching. The key is that the income doesn't require you to block out a set amount of time to earn that income. If you sell a book, you don't need to do anything other than give that student the book. If you sell an online course, you don't need to do anything as the student can log on and access the course in their own time.
It's now easier than every before to create multiple streams of income. While it still requires time and effort to set up, it can be an excellent way to grow your business without needing to take on more students.
Find out more about building multiple streams of income here.
The key lesson to take away from this answer is that there are three main ways you can grow your business:
- Hire other teachers to take on students on your behalf (and earn a profit on each student)
- Earn more per hour by either raising your rates or teaching multiple students at a time
- Earn income on the side in ways that doesn't require a time commitment
You can use one or more of the methods above to grow your business. The right option for you depends on what you want to achieve and how you want to work.