Stop Wasting Money On Music Teaching Studio. Try This!

Lately, rent costs have been skyrocketing all around the world.

It doesn’t feel like it will slow down any time soon.

If you’re in a situation where the studio or office space costs have gone up lately, there is a way to adapt.

It’s a huge change, but probably a good idea to implement to future-proof your music teaching studio.

Just to clarify, I think running a local music studio is lovely.

Students can come in and learn face-to-face with a music teacher, play music live with others, etc.

But when it comes to the business side of things, many traditional small businesses and studios (not just ones for music lessons!) are simply forced to either adapt to changing circumstances or close their doors.

The good thing is that there are things you can do as a music studio business owner that will help you thrive even in the most challenging and uncertain times.

So if you feel like running a local music studio is not profitable anymore, and that rent and running costs are just too high, here are some ideas you could try:

Solution: Move To Teach Music Lessons Online

Let’s say you have 100 students enrolled for music lessons in your music studio.

You can move as many students as possible to online music teaching exclusively.

Most likely, you have already tried this before during the pandemic and have some experience.

Rent costs are too high, and you might feel like you’re wasting money on running a teaching studio “offline”.

Which you kinda are.

Solution: offer students an option to move to online lessons and see how many of them decide to continue their studies.

It’s likely that the number of students who decide to continue taking lessons with you online (or with one of your teachers from the studio) will be a pretty high percentage of your current student base.

Cut Music Studio Running Costs

Even if several students drop out for not wanting to take online lessons, this might work in your favor.

That’s because of the following costs that are involved with running a local music studio:

• Studio rent
• Energy costs
• Utility costs
• Maintenance costs
• Cleaning costs

The costs above are relatively high depending on your area.

When you teach music online, you don’t have any of those costs (it’s not cost-free but significantly less than renting physical space!)

Often music teachers have a dedicated music room/office in their house that they can use to host online music lessons via Zoom or other means.

I would be surprised if the above studio running costs are less than what you can lose from those students who would decide to stop taking lessons from your studio in case you go fully online.

This means that if you move to teach music online while cutting the costs of running an offline studio, you’ll profit from day one you make the change!

Survey Your Students To Make A Plan

Before you decide anything, you can simply test this with a student survey.

Ask your students if they will continue lessons in your studio if you decide to move to an online lessons format.

This is painless.

You’ll get valuable data that you can use in making a decision.

Once you have all the information, you can decide if you want to transition to online lessons.

How To Transition Towards Digital Music Lessons

Let’s say your survey data shows that you’ll make an extra profit if you offer online music lessons exclusively.

This means effectively cutting down all running costs of music studio/office space.

It also means losing some students, but that’s a good point, I think – I’ll elaborate later in this post.

To make this drastic change more manageable, I suggest doing it gradually.

Usually, when you rent a space, there is a lease cancellation agreement that specifies how long in advance you need to let the landlord know you’ll be leaving.

Use this time to transition students slowly and onboard them in your new online music studio.

Taking this slowly is essential because you and the music teachers in your studio need time to adapt.

Issues are bound to happen in this transitional phase.

So ensure you’re not overwhelmed and transitioning all students at once.

Gear & Technology For Online Music Lessons

Making your music studio completely digital and exclusively online comes with a set of challenges.

It’s anything from how to setup Zoom to get high-quality audio for music lessons to making gear choices.

Also, upgrading the computer is likely needed.

Finally, purchasing a video background for music lessons to make them look professional is always a good idea.

So yeah – there is an initial investment.

Ensure you do your homework here well and prepare well.

Make a plan of everything you need to achieve a unique and genuinely educational music lessons experience, all while everything is done online.

There is one thing you’ll need more than anything when moving to teach music lessons online.

Build A Music Lessons Website

I built my first website in 1995. using Microsoft Frontpage software.

I still remember long hours of writing code and experimenting just to do some silly effects like flashing headlines and stuff like that.

The good news is that it’s easy to build a website today.

There are different ways you can do that, ranging from beginner-friendly (simple as building Lego sets) to solutions that require training but are completely future-proof.

And, of course, you can hire someone else to do it for you.

Whatever you choose, please build a website for your music teaching studio and have it online as soon as possible.

Make sure the website is compatible and can support features you’d like to have when your online music studio starts growing.

This feature set entirely depends on the business model and the type of things you plan to offer.

I suggest starting simple and choosing a somewhat expandable solution.

Because when you start online music teaching business, you’ll make many changes or pivot the entire business model in the first year of running an online studio.

Once you start learning what your students want and need in this new online environment, you can work on setting everything up for success.

Why You Need To Do This

The answer is simple: who not?

Look at it this way: what have you got to lose?

Suppose you feel stressed out with the running costs of the offline studio.

In that case, you can use the technology and move towards online music education.

The worst thing that can happen is that it doesn’t work out as well as you hoped.

Or your end up with a hybrid model where you keep running the offline studio AND now offer the online option.

This bold move can only help you increase your profit.

You can even play it safe: simply don’t close the offline studio until you’re sure the online option generates enough money.

There is one reason you simply need to at least think about all this:

• What if everything works out for the best?
• What if most students move to online lessons and get used to the new format and benefits they get (like less travel!)?
• What if you can now offer music lessons outside of your area?
• What if the number of students taking music lessons online doubles because of the reach and marketing you’re doing for your website?
• What if you double your income just by moving online and cutting costs?

It’s a risk worth taking, I think.

But I’m biased.

I’ve been a technology geek since I got my first Commodore 64 computer.

I’ve seen how running an online music teaching business can be successful.

…and how profound it is to be able to impact thousands of students all around the world with music.

If you want to learn more about my journey, and get some ideas on starting online music teaching business, download my FREE e-book guide below:

…and don’t forget to get on my email list to receive helpful tips and ideas on online music teaching entrepreneurship.

I hope this post’s ideas will inspire you to think more about technology and the doors online music education can unlock for you.

What stops you from going entirely online right now when it comes to teaching music? Post your answer in the comments below.

All the best,
Bogdan
Founder, MusicTeachingBiz.com