[Kat Hunter]

Hey Ben,

Not to worry, I don’t think it’s bad form at all to talk about money. I think within a friendly community like this one, transparency is only a good thing!

As much as this is unhelpful, I think you have to really think through how much you feel what you’re offering is worth. For quite some time I was charging what you are; 25 an hour. But I knew I was underselling myself, AND I was burning out because I was fully booked, and was taking on so many students that I wasn’t able to pay the attention to each of them that I wanted. In that case I really should have raised my prices much earlier, and set a limit on how many people I wanted to see each week. So… here are some questions to ask yourself:

Keeping in mind that running a business like this involves time spent on other things (accounting, marketing, scheduling lessons, etc. etc.), how much time per week do I want to spend 1-1 with students? How many different faces do I think I could see in one week and still offer maximum value to each and every student? if you taught this maximum number of hours per week at the chosen price (and allowing for some cancellations and losses), what would your monthly income look like?

Also… a business coach I read called Jenny Shih says “if you double your rates, you have to be able to feel like you’re also doubling your value”. She says that although it’s always a good idea to aim high, often when businesses aim too high without actually feeling ready to take that on, they end up self-sabotaging by feeling embarrassed about their prices and no longer being as enthusiastic to tell people about their business.

So yes, DO raise your prices for sure. But you might choose to only do it in increments and test it for a while at each price. Make sure you do whatever work is required to feel really comfortable and proud of whatever price you’re asking, and you’ll be good to go :).

[Kat Hunter]

@Louisa As for asking for money upfront, you definitely don’t have to make it compulsory. If you put on a little discount for a certain number of lessons booked at a time, and let all your students know about this (and the fact that it means they don’t have to think about bringing payment separately to every lesson, so, less to have to think about), you may find that even young adults jump on board.

@Ben, the subscription idea could work. I know a guitar teacher in my area that uses it. Just some things to think about though: a) what system would you put in place for weeks where the student would have 5 lessons (for example there are 5 Mondays this month), b) if you’re allowing students to offset (which is a good idea), would you still have to have a normal cancellation policy in place? For example 24 o 48 hours?

[Kat Hunter]

Yesyesyes! Since I started offering block bookings it’s made the admin side of my life SO much easier, especially where cancellation policies are concerned because people have already put the money down, and know what kind of commitments they’ve made and make sure they know their way around the policy, which avoids any confusion. But you’re right, it does take some self control when you’re looking at your finances. I tend to put away as much as I can in separate savings accounts for rent, bills etc. when I get a big lump of money so that I know exactly how far it’s going to go.

[Kat Hunter]

I think it depends what you mean by “public performance”. Often when public performances take place, it’s the venue that pays the performing rights association, not the performer.

Are you concerned about recitals?

[Kat Hunter]

For women:
Taylor Swift is good for beginner songs, but very wordy, so that’s the trade-off.
Valerie (Amy Winehouse) is upbeat and fair easy.
I’m like a bird by Nelly Furtado only goes up to Bflat and is fairly speaky.
Royals by Lorde is fairly straightforward and low too.
Somewhere only we know (lily allen did a version of this from memory)

For either:
Let it be by the beatles it pretty simple and doesn’t have a huge range if you can put it in a key that suits the student
Same with yellow by coldplay.

For men:
Most things by oasis (wonderwall or don’t look back in anger, both dead simple)
Hallelujah
Under the bridge – red hot chilli peppers
Other side – david gray
Four seasons in one day – crowded house

A few ideas to get started with at least:)