How do I stand out from the crowd as a guitar teacher?

If the area you teach in is crammed with guitar teachers, standing out from the crowd is a hard job. Then when a potential student notices you, they will be comparing you to a wide range of other guitar teachers.

Let's have a look how you can get noticed by more people and improve the chances that a potential student will choose you.

In the business world, there are two main ways to succeed:

• Be better, or
• Be different

Understanding what it means to be 'better' or 'different' is important to your success so let's look at each option:

What does it mean to be 'Better'

The reason people now tend to buy HDTVs now compared to standard definition TVs is because they give a better picture quality. The reason the first iPhone was so successful was because it was better than other devices at that time. People are always looking for better alternatives and when they find an alternative that is better (in their opinion), they will jump on the opportunity.

So it should make sense that if you can be better than other guitar teachers, you will stand out from the crowd and gain more students. That's great in theory, but what does it take to be better than other guitar teachers?

Thinking that you can be better than every other guitar teacher isn't possible for the same reason a guitarist can't be better than every other guitarist. There's no clear set of rules that says whether one teacher is better than other teacher. A great teacher will be clearly better than a horrible teacher, but compare two competent teachers and it gets very muddy.

If the public education system has trouble comparing the quality of different teachers, how would potential students be able to figure out which guitar teacher in their area is the best? It's an impossible challenge.

The reason why so many guitar teachers struggle when it comes to standing out of the crowd is because it's incredibly hard to be better. Even if you are a better teacher than your competitors, potential students aren't likely to be able to figure that out.

Which apple below do you think is better than the rest:

There's no way to know which apple is best until you try each one and compare them. While the appearance of the apple might give you a clue whether it's ripe or not, until you bite into the apple, you won't know for sure. If you've ever bitten into an apple that looked perfect and found out it was rotten inside, you know how outward appearances can be deceiving. Even if the apple looks perfect on the outside, we'll never know for sure until we bit into it.
This simple example shows how hard it is for a guitar teacher to win by being better. A student has no way of knowing for sure which teacher is the best without trying every teacher. A student may find a guitar teacher boasting formal credentials and decades of teaching experience only to find out that the teacher is rude and poorly organized during lessons.

When you also consider that the majority of guitar teachers list something similar to 'offer superior quality lessons' as one of their main selling points, it quickly becomes clear how being better isn't the path to success. If you want to stand out from the crowd, trying to be better is an impossible challenge.

What does it mean to be 'Different'

Which apple below grabs your attention the most:

Obviously the red apple stands out over all the green apples. Does that mean the red apple is better than the green apples? Of course not, it depends on your personal preferences. Some people prefer red apples while other people prefer green apples. But it doesn't matter which you prefer, the red apple will still stand out in the photo.

It's a simple example, but that's exactly what happens in the real world. If you're different to other guitar teachers, you will stand out. Some people may not prefer your style of teaching or what you offer, but you will still stand out from the crowd.

If you're competing in a crowded market and want to stand out as a guitar teacher, being different is your best option. You will get noticed and once that happens, it's far easier to convince people to sign up.

Examples of guitar teachers being different

Let's look at a couple examples of guitar teachers offering something different to the norm.

mattwarnockguitar.com

Matt Warnock's website is crammed with free jazz lessons and information for students. He's built himself up to being very well recognized online as a leading jazz guitar teacher. Look through his website and you will be blown away with the amount of free content he has for anybody wanting to learn jazz guitar.

Why is this different: the majority of guitar teachers' websites all look the same. They contain a handful of basic pages talking about the teacher, the lessons they offer and a contact form. Matt has taken a completely different approach: he has gradually created free lessons, examples and downloadable eBooks for students. He's standing out from the crowd by doing what other guitar teachers aren't willing to do. The reason he has over 9k followers on Facebook is because he is different to most guitar teachers.

Look around his website and you may not even realize at first that he offers one on one Skype lessons. While we haven't contacted Matt, we'd be very surprised if he wasn't constantly booked out.

By creating a website completely different to what other guitar teachers create, Matt has established an extremely strong brand for himself. It's worth mentioning that Matt launched his website in 2011 so if you feel like you could never achieve what he has, remember you don't need to do everything at once.

guitopia.com

While Dave Weiner did start off with a clear advantage over other guitar teachers (he's in the Steve Vai band), what he has created definitely stands out and is worth analyzing.

Around 2005 Dave started uploading videos to YouTube weekly teaching different riffs and licks. 'Riff of the Week' gradually gained popularity and eventually Dave started charging 99c per week for access to his videos. He eventually rebranded to 'Guitopia' and continues to offer his educational videos to subscribers for a fee. In addition to this video service, he also offers Skype lessons to supplement income when he isn't touring.

The reason this is worth analyzing is because not many guitar teachers are willing to create a free video lesson every week and stick to that commitment for years. Dave didn't start out making money from his videos, but eventually it built up enough traction that he could start charging people for his videos. He started down a path that other guitar teachers weren't taking and now has a clear advantage in that area.

Instead of focusing 100% on one-on-one lessons, Dave has created a way to reach a far larger audience and earn an income at the same time. While this approach may not suit your goals, it gives you an idea how trying something different can lead to big results.

Lessons from the examples

The main lesson from these examples is that if you're willing to do something that other guitar teachers aren't willing to do, not only will you stand out, but you will have an advantage. If other guitar teachers aren't willing to put in the effort to copy you, you're protected against competition. It would be extremely difficult for a jazz guitar teacher to try and directly compete against Matt Warnock because he already has a big advantage.

You definitely don't need to create something as massive as Matt Warnock's website and you don't need to commit yourself to weekly video lessons like Dave Weiner, but you can learn from those examples.

These examples focus on online guitar teachers but this still applies to offline teachers. What are you willing to do that other guitar teachers in your area aren't? What opportunities do you have that you could take advantage of and set yourself apart from other teachers?

Ideas on how to stand out

The two examples above may look like extreme cases. If you look at Matt Warnock's website you will probably feel overwhelmed with the amount of content there. You may feel like you could never get to that point, that you don't have the time or a range of other reasons why you couldn't do that.
But even he started with an empty website. For Dave Weiner to build up the video subscription service he has now, he had to start on his first video.

It's easy to look at a success story and come up with excuses why you couldn't do that. But the reality is most people are able to create something great if they just get started and work towards a goal.

Let's look at a few basic ideas so you can see different paths you could take as a guitar teacher. Remember the goal here is to stand out from the crowd, so the ideas try to avoid what every other guitar teacher tries to do (eg: give great lessons).

Teach in a different language

If you speak more than one language, that's a great way to stand out from the crowd. Offering lessons in more than one language is such an easy way to reach more students who aren't able to see a normal guitar teacher.
As an example, if you live in the US and you speak Spanish as well as English, you can start promoting yourself to Spanish speaking people (a massive percentage of people in the US speak Spanish).

The reason this is a great path to take is because other guitar teachers won't be able to compete against you without first learning a new language. That's a massive barrier and it protects you. Over time you could easily build up a reputation for the only guitar teacher in the area who teaches in language X.

Teach guitar via X

Teaching in person is the most popular option for guitar teachers. But it isn't the only option. Teaching guitar via Skype is becoming more and more popular but again, there are other options. What about teaching via email or IM? Sounds crazy, but there will be students out there who don't need thorough lessons, they simply need coaching and email works perfectly.
What about teaching via interactive courses? Guitar teachers are already making money selling guitar courses online and that trend will only continue. Teaching via books? Teaching via apps? Via Soundcloud? Facebook?

The point here is that there are so many different needs for guitar teachers. Some students will want an inperson teacher while others simply need somebody to email when they get stuck. Other students may only need videos demonstrating different songs and are willing to pay for those videos.

Choose any of those options and you will immediately stand out from the crowd. Of course this isn't for everybody, but you might find that you're a lot happier as a guitar teacher when you're recording and sending videos to students rather than teaching in person.

Offer 'coaching' instead of 'lessons'

There are a lot of self-taught guitarists out there and more and more people are choosing that option over lessons. At the same time those guitarists will need help along the way. They won't be looking for traditional lessons, but they might want some coaching.

Coaching is different to offering lessons. Instead of explaining a technique, giving the student exercises and helping them learn different topics, you're helping the student plan out their future as a guitarist. As a coach you could help them understand songwriting, help them get gigs, help them promote their music or discuss difficult guitar based topics. Coaching can still include what you might cover in traditional lessons, but it feels very different for the student.

Being a guitar coach is very different to being a teacher and when you start down that path you start to stand out from the crowd. Instead of there being thousands of guitar teachers available around the country, there may only be a handful of guitar coaches. By targeting different types of students and offering a different service, you can avoid a lot of your competitors completely.

Only give workshops

Most teachers offer one-on-one or small group lessons. But a lot of people enjoy learning in a workshop style environment. We talk about workshops in BWK-01 and BWK-02, so to keep this short, just remember that workshops are significantly different to standard lessons. Because of that, most guitar teachers can't compete against a teacher offering a workshop because they're two very different services.

There are plenty of other ways you could stand out as a guitar teacher and it really depends on what type of career you want to have. Hopefully the above examples give you an idea how different the possible paths can be.

Recommended actions

If you have an idea how you could set yourself apart from other guitar teachers, great! You can get started down that path. Whether it takes six months or three years to achieve your goal, that shouldn't change your decision to get started. Here are some steps to get started:

1. Read through the EXP series of business guides. If you find that your idea is covered in one of those guides, that will help clarify what needs to be done.
2. Create a business plan. Having an idea floating around in your head is a good start, but if you want results you should write it down. Use our simple business plan tool and if you want you can even request for us to give you advice on your plan.
3. Start simple. Matt Warnock's website started off very basic and he gradually added to it over time. You can do the same - start off simple and gradually work towards your goal. Don't over commit yourself in the beginning or you might burn out.
4. Give value. Both Matt and Dave started out by giving free information to the public. If you can find some way to give value to potential students, you raise your chances of gaining new students or income in the future. It's a pattern we see again and again - start by giving something valuable for free, then you will receive something back later on.

If you don't have an idea how you could set yourself apart, start by working through the SWOT Analysis Course. It will help you identify any opportunities you could take advantage of as well as your own person strengths you could put to use. Once you work through the course (and take action on it!), check out the EXP series of business guides for ideas on what you could be doing to set yourself apart from other guitar teachers.

If you can offer something different to what other guitar teachers offer, you will stand out. How you choose to stand out and what you offer depends on your own goals and strengths. Check out the websites mentioned above and get started on the recommended actions.