undertaking new adventures
When it comes to running my studio, I am always looking for the next big challenge. Just when I’ve taken my business to the next level, I’m ready to tackle something new and a little bit scary.
Taking a look back, here are some of the adventures I’ve experienced in the last two years: leaving a fantastic job to take my part-time studio full-time, completely remodeling my studio to better meet the needs of my family and my students, and hiring a subcontractor to expand my business.
Of course, there have been bumps in the road along the way, but overall, each adventure has made for a more successful studio…which is why I’m getting ready for the next one.
Up until this point, my studio has offered individual voice, piano, and guitar lessons along with music therapy services. And while this model has served me well for many years, I wanted to increase my incomewithout greatly increasing the number of hours I work in a given day.
This led to the idea of offering early childhood music classes, which is something I have done for years at my church. The classes at my church are free to families, and I have the built-in clientele of my church congregation, so they have involved little to no marketing or effort to fill on a weekly basis. Not to mention that I don’t have the pressure of making up for my expenses, since the church supplies my budget and the space to run the classes.
However, my new classes are a completely different ballgame. First, I had to secure a location that offered the amount of space I needed at a decent price. It took almost a year, but I did finally find a place that fit the bill perfectly. With that contract signed, the pressure was on to fill up my first round of classes and make enough to cover (and hopefully exceed) the rent.
Once that was crossed off the list, I needed to put my idea into words, both for my website and print materials. I wanted the copy to reflect my goals and objectives for the class while pointing out what sets it apart from others in my area.
When I was finally happy with my copy and design, it was time to get the word out. I hit my Facebook page, contacts I knew with connections to large groups of potential clients, my local music store, and my email lists. This has proven to be the hardest part of this adventure, since in the past I’ve haven’t needed to advertise in order to gain business — rather, I’ve relied on word of mouth. But since this class is brand new, I’m starting from the ground up.
There is still a week to go before my first class begins, and I’m working on filling up those spots while at the same time putting my curriculum together. I can tell that this might be my most difficult studio-related challenge yet, but that’s what makes it even more fun!
Are you in the process of undertaking a new adventure? If so, how’s it going?
