December in the studio can be a stressful time for your students. They are likely busy at home, and some may have end of the semester commitments such as choir/drama performances or school finals. With so much going on, this can be a nice time to take it a bit easier on your students and boost their morale by having some holiday fun. Here are a few suggestions for planning holiday parties/activities at the studio:
Our interview with The Centre for Musical Minds of USA SH: Tell us about your studio. The Centre for Musical Minds is an Internationally recognized Music School with two campuses in the Dallas metroplex, and an online learning option. We have some great music teacher resources on our website that may be useful for others: http://www.centreformusicalminds.org/resources/ SH: What is your experience, and the style you teach? Our music teachers...
Read MoreBy Julia Kossuth As of January 2014, the Studios of Sarah Strout are very excited to announce that we are moving to a new location! As the studio has exceeded 160 students, we've outgrown the three-room studio at Sarah's home and cannot wait to be in a new commercial space. We will continue to offer in-home lessons via traveling teachers, but are excited to expand our studio...
Read MoreInstead of a typical informative blog post, I want to ask readers a question: What's your attendance policy? Everyone is different. I'm curious about how others do it. What works best for you? What have been some mistakes you made and learned from in the past? Currently, my policy is students pay me at the beginning of the month, in advance. If they cancel on the...
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The administrative aspect of owning a teaching studio can be tricky at times, especially when it comes to money. And though it wasn’t easy, this summer I made the decision to go forward with a payment policy change that I’ve been contemplating for a couple years now.
Up until now, I had been charging per lesson. If a family cancelled — regardless of the reason or amount of notice given — they didn’t pay. Now while most of my students attend regularly and give plenty of notice for absences, this lax “per lesson” payment policy was resulting in quite a bit of lost income for me. It took some brainstorming, but I came up with a solution that I think will benefit everyone.
It’s always nerve-racking to make a big change like this, so I spent quite a bit of time putting my new policy into writing. I wanted to be clear yet concise in my explanation, and judging from the positive feedback that I’ve received so far from my clients, it seems that I managed to do so.
I’d like to share the letter explaining my new payment policy for those of you who, like me, need to revamp your own policies. Perhaps I can save you a little bit of the time I took to write it!