What if you injured your hand and couldn’t play your instrument? What if you developed a chronic illness? What if you were diagnosed with cancer and needed months’ long treatment? These are questions no one wants to face. Especially, small businesses or those who work for themselves. Health insurance is expensive and disability insurance even [...]

Recently I was at a doctor’s appointment and was asked what I do for a living. I told my doctor I taught piano. He was very interested and asked many questions, which is typically the response I get whenever I share about my profession. However, as I later reflected on the conversation, I thought that [...]

Previously, I wrote about how to use time effectively while teaching a lesson in Self-Help Pedagogy: Part 2. In this month’s blog, I will address the topic of how to make the best use of our most precious commodity as studio business owners – Time. Time is very valuable; once it is used, it is [...]

I recently came upon an article entitled 10 Tips for Engaging a Volunteer Community. The article piqued my interest and led me to Jeffery Cufaude’s blog. Here is a quick summary of his work; Jeffrey Cufaude is an architect of ideas …custom-designing keynotes, workshops, and leadership conferences that promote learning and community. What most impresses [...]

I am not a lawyer, or an experienced business person – and I have absolutely no idea how to handle payroll, but I am a teacher who has been filling the role of teacher, bookkeeper, human relations, events coordinator, etc – so what I will address today is related only to the fact that I [...]

The book I have been making my way through the past couple weeks is called Corner Office by Adam Bryant. Mr Bryant is a NY Times columnist who seems to have dedicated recent years to tracking down and interviewing 100s of CEOs of companies both large and small. He has a Sunday column of the same name in the Sunday Business section of the Times. From these interviews he has drawn what he believes are five key qualities required of all business leaders. They are: Passionate Curiosity, Battle-Hardened Confidence, Fearlessness, A Simple Mindset, Team Smarts.

I have just finished reading both Tim Ferris’ book, ‘The Four Hour Work Week’ & Michael E Gerber’s, ‘The E Myth Revisited.’ They are both wonderful reads for generating new and interesting angles on how to manage your studio or school. Today I wanted to discuss some of the tools I have implemented, based in [...]

Although your studio may be based on furthering artistic pursuits, a studio is a business, and a good part of its success depends on being realistic about this.  I taught and helped manage one music school where the board of directors hired an orchestra conductor with fundraising expertise as the school’s director.  Unfortunately, she’d had [...]

How does your studio stack up against the schools around you?  Do you try to match up with schools,  or to contrast with them?   A studio is a kind of school, so it’s natural to make the comparison. While many studios probably don’t make a deliberate decision about it, some feel they are taken [...]

Last blog entry I discussed how I communicate with clients, faculty, and staff at my music school, Brooklyn Music Factory. This entry is going to be a follow up pointing out what seems to have worked and what seems to have failed for us. Assessing regularly your system of communication and outreach is vital, I [...]