Building a Business Plan – Part 2

Feeling overwhelmed with your business planning?

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

Don’t hesitate to enlist help! Being an independent teacher, I am fiercely independent, self-sufficient, and sometimes stubborn! However, when I become willing to ask for help, it seems the teachers magically appear.

Everyone needs a little help every now and then. Many of us have not had the business training that running a successful busines requires – I am the first to admit that I am lacking in these essential skills. This month I will feature the newly formed Piano Teacher School founded by Kathleen Theisen and Kristin Yost. Kathleen Theisen is an assistant professor at Western State Connecticut University and Kristin Yost is the founder and director of The Centre for Musical Minds in Frisco, Texas. Both of these enthusiastic teachers are not only very successful in their music careers but are also thriving entrepeneurs. And now they are here to help! They have developed practical courses to help independent teachers with the myriad of different activities involved in the daily tasks of teaching.

Piano Teacher School offers affordable online courses in four areas: Business Planning, Organization Strategies, Image and Branding, and Technology. Their goal is to “maximize the efficiency and productivity of your music studio.” Each class offers videos on private links and includes personalized one-on-one coaching. There are detailed descriptions of the classes on their website at pianoteacherschool.com – each sound fabulous and I would like to take them all, if only I could find the time! Courses are also accepted by the Music Teachers National Association for recertification.

The Business Planning 101 course is five weeks long and includes four videos, PDF handouts, assignments, two Skype consultations, and a business plan outline. The cost is $150 with no travel needed. It can all be done in the comfort of your own studio! The course objective is to make teachers better business owners, which in turn, will make better teachers. Participants will prepare a business plan that offers immediate results, including evaluating current procedures, market analyses, financial analysis, etc. – all of the components that a business plan requires. I like their idea of seeing myself as the CEO of my company! The next series of classes begin on October 1st. Take the plunge, take a class and get cracking on that business plan.

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter yourself.”