Today I’m talking to Celeste Watson, the owner of a thriving private piano studio in North Carolina. We cover a lot of studio nuts and bolts in this conversation: things like studio policies, parent communication, handling tuition increases, setting expectations for new students, and much more.

But before we get into any of that, we talk about the journey it took for this teacher to get to the place where she could even consider full-time teaching. This journey included facing a playing-related injury and years of retraining, that eventually transformed her approach to teaching and influenced the way she built her studio.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode115.

Today we’re back with part two of a great conversation with someone you may have encountered on YouTube - The Ukulele Teacher aka John Atkins. John is YouTuber, Patreon creative, and now podcaster who got his start on YouTube back in 2011.

We talk about the opportunities and the challenges of being an early user of platforms like Patreon, how monetization on YouTube has changed over time, and how John is continuing to find new creative outlets to keep his work fresh and meaningful. 

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode114.

Today we’re back with part one of a great conversation with someone you may have encountered on YouTube - The Ukulele Teacher aka John Atkins. John is YouTuber, Patreon creative, and now podcaster who got his start on YouTube back in 2011.

We talk about the opportunities and the challenges of being an early user of platforms like Patreon, how monetization on YouTube has changed over time, and how John is continuing to find new creative outlets to keep his work fresh and meaningful. 

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode113.

Today’s episode is a little different than usual. Amy Elmore (who you may remember from Studio Snapshot 007) is returning to talk about mindset and goal-setting. We’re also pulling back the curtain on a little thing we’ve got in the works to release later this spring.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode112.

2022 has officially come to a close. With the turn of the calendar, many of us are closing the fiscal years for our businesses and wrapping up our bookkeeping for the year in anticipation of the tax season ahead.

I am a HUGE fan of a low-stress tax season and the way to accomplish that is to get started early and tackle one step at a time.

Which is why I invited back to the podcast, Andrea Yahr, a certified tax preparer, to get us going.

Andrea’s first appearance on the Music Studio Startup podcast was back in Episode 012 when she talked about Business Structures and Their Tax Implications.

Today Andrea is back to talk about some tax basics for self-employed teachers, how to get a smooth start to the filing season (even if you feel behind already), and we also talk about some short and long-term strategies to consider to lower your overall tax bill.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode111.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode110.

Today I’m joined by two guests who have started two businesses together: a thriving, multi-location conservatory, and a practice app to motivate and inspire students.

You’ll get to hear about how Chris and Robert manage both  businesses and what they’ve learned along the way.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode109.

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming back Chris Swan, a guest who was on the podcast back in Episode 066. In that episode we talked about Chris’s studio STL Piano Lessons and all the changes he made in his first years in business to get his studio where he wanted it to be.

Chris was super transparent about the highs and lows he had experienced as a business owner, and he was really good at articulating the challenges he was facing, and how he was iterating along the way to address those challenges. It was a great conversation and if you haven’t listened to it, I highly recommend you do.

When I heard that Chris had sold his business in St. Louis, moved to New York City, and started a new studio, I knew I wanted to talk to him again to hear about this new chapter. 

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode108.

Over the next two episodes, you’re going to hear from two teachers who have moved and restarted their studios in new cities. The circumstances are pretty different, so I think you’ll enjoy hearing the contrast between the two experiences.

Today I’m joined by a teacher who relocated from Colorado to Utah. We talk about the steps she took and timeline she followed to close one studio and how she went about filling her new studio.

Here’s my conversation with Cheyenne Olson.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode107.

Today’s podcast hits on one of the harder aspects of being a music studio owner and one of the harder aspects of life in general: navigating through a personal crisis.

In a time of crisis, your world is turned upside down. You might be facing uncertainty, confusion, grief, pain, or a whole host of emotions, but the rest of the world is still turning.

And as business owners, taking time away to figure things out may not be as simple as calling your admin and trusting them to take care of all the logistics.

Today my guest, Leila Viss, shares the story of the crisis that hit her family a few years ago and how she journeyed through the first hours, days, weeks, and months that followed, both personally and professionally.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode106.