Ready for another On Air Coaching Call?

Great, today I have with me Ms. April, a voice, piano and theory teacher from Ontario Canada. I have a great affinity for Canadians because I am one! Although I’ve been living in the USA for my entire adult life!

Anyway, let’s get right into the coaching call highlights.

In March 2020 (doesn’t that sound like the start of every conversation lately???) April had to quickly shift from in person teaching to online teaching. And once she did, she realized that theory was something that just didn’t translate as well as the other parts of her lessons… which made her go down the course creation path.

April’s initial goal was to have her existing students continue with their theory. That's it. Just some courses that her students could use to learn the theory outside of lessons. Using the theory books that she was already teaching, she received permission from the publisher to record herself teaching the material week by week. This is what she sent to her students. It was a solution that worked for her and her students. She received fantastic feedback from parents too!

The feedback has led many parents to request that theory continue to be delivered via online courses instead of inside the lessons, whether online or in person!

Now that April knows her courses are successful at teaching theory, she wants to go beyond her private student base… and now we’re getting into the coaching part of the call!

I asked her if she was interested in having a larger group of students go through the theory courses together, rather than independently which piqued her interest, for sure!

That could be a challenge, a workshop, a webinar, etc. - or even an email sequence of some kind and get them to buy into your methods and your teaching style through some free introductory outlet. April and I chat about some ways to come up with that free content that is valuable to her audience, as well as ways to incentivize signing up right away.

April’s students are kids and therefore it’s really talking with and to the parents that is going to lead to courses being purchased.

And the other way that we determined that April could have more students using her theory courses is to collaborate with and partner with other music teachers who use the same collection of method and theory books. The thought being that if other teachers were not interested in creating their own theory courses, they could send their students to April’s courses and form a partnership with her.

This direction is something I really hope April pursues because it’s a winning one for all parties - April, the students and the other teachers.

As April continues to explore launch events, she’s going to want to evaluate the benefits of groups or cohorts going through a theory book at the same pace. It might include having monthly workshops or group zoom sessions to discuss a set of lessons. And it might come to a point where April has a few teachers that she works with who do those group lessons with her – these are the teachers who have all their students going through April’s theory courses while they teach the method books and practical elements.

There is really no limit online – right? We’re always expanding!

So, there’s the angle of going straight to the parents and the angle of working with other music teachers… but the fundamental elements don’t change: need to have some kind of launch event that will entice the other party to be open to the possibility of this format for their student/child.

“It's really the teachers that use the theory, it's not the parents that go out seeking theory lessons.“

Back to the launch events… we discuss the role of an email marketing platform (I recommend ConvertKit BTW) and April’s question specifically is “what would be the step by step that you would take in order to get them onto that list to then have that progression go through of the know like and trust email sequence?”

The two methods of having people join your email list are through some kind of freebie that you’re giving away or through the launch event.

For freebies…

I love when we can do a download that the parent can learn about the advantages of piano. Are you on the fence about piano lessons for your child? Here are some of the reasons why and here is an activity that you can do with your child to see if they're ready.

Any time that we can educate the parent and inform the parent and excite the parent where they can translate that into the conversation that they're having with their child. It's a winning situation.

When I'm working with people who work with adults, it's a little bit different because you want to make sure that whatever your freebie is is something that they can actually do. And in April’s case where the student is a child, you want to make sure that what you're bringing to the table is something that the parents feel confident in. It's that it's that trust factor.

We talk about linking social media posts with this type of content back to the freebie, instead of it staying in social media land.

For the email sequence, I recommend a 5 - 10 day sequence of 3 - 6 emails.

Once the email sequence ends, send monthly emails to your list to keep the idea of piano lessons top of mind and for the parents to determine when/if their child is ready.

And once the once-a-month thing becomes doable, start sending emails more often. But no more than once a week, probably. And we want these to be educational not promotional :)

We wrap up the conversation with a bit more chatter about ConvertKit and using social media. If you’re interested in connecting with April, her Instagram account is @msaprilsmusicstudio  and Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/msaprilsmusicstudio/.

Would you do other music teachers a huge favor and take a moment to leave a quick rating and review for the podcast? Share what you’ve been loving and insights or takeaways that you’ve had from this or other episodes.

Be sure to book that call with me http://callwithjaime.com/ and let’s connect on Instagram!

It’s time for another on air coaching call. My guest for this session is Niccole Modell and she is delving into online group programming! And you probably already know, I love online group programming.

Niccole is a full time musician, teacher and performer. She has a teaching studio, and offers mostly one on one lessons. She is looking to expand and go into the world of virtual group classes since her days are currently full with private lessons. (It’s important to add, too, that Niccole doesn’t really have the space or a location for in-person groups right now.)

This shift from one-on-one to group feels a little intimidating, and she came on the call with the hope to get some ideas and a little confidence. At the time of this call, she was prepping for her first ever group class where students would be performing for each other in lieu of private lessons, with the hope that if it went well, she would be able to expand on that and maybe offer more of those in the future.

To help Niccole best, I needed to first know if she wanted to offer group programming for both piano and for flute, or start with one or the other? It’s best to be super clear, so that we can focus on realizing a goal that is realizable rather than trying something too lofty!

Niccole thought piano would be a good place to start because she has a lot more piano students than flute students right now.

With online group lessons or online group workshops or online group programs of any kind, our job is to help the students see how the group format is going to benefit them. Obviously, it's going to benefit you because you are able to work with more students in less time. But the benefit for the students can be a little bit trickier to demonstrate. It’s important that group programs don’t feel like a private lesson in a group setting.

In order to determine what can make a group lesson cohesive and uniting for the students, I asked Niccole to share some of what she is currently doing in her lessons to make it motivating and engaging for her students.

She likes to encourage her students to perform and gives them opportunities to perform and compete (if desired.) She also offers standardized testing every year for really motivated students, and keeps her lessons engaging with games and activities. She provides a well-rounded curriculum with exposure to A LOT of things (history, technique, improvising, repertoire, etc.) at all ages in order to provide value and the ultimate goal of creating a well-rounded musician.

These are the same thoughts that go into making a group environment fun and implactur.

An example: Group lesson on composition

Students work on their composition after some direction from you, the teacher. Once they are happy with it, they pass it to the next student who will get the opportunity to play it! Hearing your own music played by someone else has an even greater impact than playing your own composition. Everyone gets to be part of a collaborative experience.

Another example: looking at a historical piece

The music is not going to change and you need to repeat the lesson for every student. Instead, using it in a group setting allows the conversation, analysis and appreciation to go further. Perhaps bringing a set of students together on a monthly basis in lieu of their private lesson to discuss the piece would be a great way to get started with the online group programming model.

Then we get into logistics and practicality… like how to make it work across student levels or where students have gravitated towards different sub-disciplines. I like to think of it as catering the content to the age rather than the experience level. There are a lot of fun activities that 4-6 year olds enjoy whether they are playing Mozart or Twinkle-Twinkle!

While group lessons and group programming are the focus of our coaching session, the reason this is so appealing to Niccole is to help her balance her time (and regain some time) – is that something that you’re interested in as well… be sure to message me on Instagram or book a call at http://callwithjaime.com so we can quickly find a way to make that happen.

In addition to group lessons sprinkled into the private lesson schedule, I also share some thoughts on a full time group program using an entire 16 week curriculum. This works really well for 4-8 students who all start out at the same level and have a similar goal. You can take the best parts of your private lessons, the best things that you teach and the best methods that you teach and teach them in a group setting and then provide some level of asynchronous support.

Asynchronous support in my mind is where students can record a video or an audio file and send it to you… then you provide feedback via video and or audio. This is a great way of providing the personal touch so that students all advance individually all while the learning is done in a group environment!

As far as the group curriculum, well you have to hear what Niccole’s thoughts are on that! So honest and realistic about where she is at and what she wants to do next :)

With group programming, it's all about the journey.

I think that's one of the big differences between programs and lessons… There's an end date which basically says this is when you're ready to take your test. This is when you have been taught the entire curriculum for this stage. Group programs can be as short at 4 weeks and I would recommend tapping them out at 16 weeks. Students are going to progress at their own rate and we don’t want to let the group get too far out of sync.

Here’s an idea for a short group program: teaching kids how to play a song on the piano for their moms for Mother's Day that you offer in April.

These are the kinds of ideas that I encouraged Niccole (and you!) to start embracing!

These groups can be an additional resource for students who are all gung ho and want to do more, but it can also be an introduction for new students because it's not a super long commitment.

The final thing we discuss during this coaching session is about Niccole’s group classes coming up next week (at the time of the recording and last week as of the time of the release of this episode!)  She asked for ideas that she could use to supplement which would engage and excite her students.

When we give ourselves time to brainstorm without putting parameters or filters in, some great ideas come out. Then we can pluck the best ideas for the moment from that bin of ideas and implement them in our classes. And only at that point, we can figure out the logistics to make it happen.

Brainstorming and dreaming are part of every coaching relationship I’ve ever had, either as the coach or the coached. And I believe that this episode has given you a peek into how my coaching sessions go, so if you’re interested, head on over to http://callwithjaime.com and book a call. I’d love to hear from you and chat more about where you’re at on your journey!

As far as connecting Niccole, you can find her at www.niccolemodell.com.

This is the first of several on-air coaching calls that I am airing this month.

Today's episode is circled around adding an email list to your studio, and Joellyn has graciously joined us to ask really pertinent questions. As you listen in to Joellyn’s questions, I want to invite you to think about how YOU are going to grow your studio and what the next online step is going to be.

One thing I mention in my conversation with Joellyn is ConvertKit, which I really recommend that you check out. (That’s my affiliate link)

And, as always, I love being in conversation with you. So any feedback that you have for me or for Joellyn, please share with me over on Instagram at @jaimeslutzky or feel free to send me a friend request at Jaime Slutzky on Facebook.

Now, for this coaching session where we talk about some of the considerations going into adding an email list to your studio.

Joellyn had posted in a Facebook group - about the whole idea of having an email list for her studio and after chiming in on the thread, I invited her to join me for this coaching session.

She has been working on marketing this year, but not seeing that turn into new students… it’s kinda just been “like a trickle.” So, she also started a Facebook group because that seemed like a new and fresh avenue. And other people were talking about it in regards to marketing- start a community. That hasn’t converted to students either… so this is where we start.

The Call To Action

What is Joellyn inviting group members to do once they start interacting with her content? How does she want her Facebook group and her email list to function together?

Part of this journey is really just trying to figure out how you want things to work and discover how you can best serve your audience.

Tweaking Joellyn’s approach and trying to get people onto her new email list is a starting point. It's really a matter of understanding what you're wanting to get out of that list and how you are going to serve the people on it. Everything that we do, if we don't create it for the benefit of the consumer, then it's going to fall flat.

Joellyn and I go on to chat about how to give people just enough in your unrestricted free content to want to provide you with their email address, and the importance of nurturing that audience by continuing to provide value and credibility to the content you share and what you have to offer.

I advise Joellyn that, with your email marketing strategy, it’s ok for you to give away a lot in there- just because you give the how doesn't mean that you give the energy that's going to help them put the how into practice.

“So I'm going to hold their hand really. It's like you can give away everything. But what they're paying for is for you to hold their hand through it.”

I asked Joellyn, when it comes to getting people interested in her email list, if she has any ideas as to what type of freebie or product that to give away. Her first reaction was no, but we talked it out. Thinking about quick wins that she’s getting in her interest-based piano lessons.

This also brought up the question of what type of people she would ideally like to work with? But then also, if the ideal client is working with children, the parents are your audience - so how do you tailor value toward them when it’s the child who is actually benefiting? Therefore what does the parent need to do in order to say, YES, my child's ready for piano lessons with Joellyn!

Joellyn had the best answer-

And YES, she is exactly right! You don’t necessarily need to give away something to DO, you can share results that will make the parents really appreciate the value of your lessons for their child. Something that the parents can see their kid's eyes lighting up, that's the kind of experience we want the parent to have for them to say, OK, I think I might try lessons.

The freebie is definitely important being that this email is the one that gets opened most often, but then we move into talking about ‘post-freebie mode’ where we switch into educating the parents into all the reasons why having their child in music classes and having their child learn is a value. We can remind them of the freebie and WHY they chose to sign up and get that, and then we go into a little bit more education and giving them the experience of what it looks like to work with a music teacher.

We talk all about email sequence and cadence, and I share with Joellyn some of my best recommendations as far as timing and how not to inundate your audience, but how to give them enough information that they are going to take action quickly while this is on their mind, because the longer that they're on your email list, the longer it may take for them to actually take action.

It’s also important to keep in mind that you want to do what is sustainable for you to make happen as a music teacher, but also that you can recycle your content rather than starting from scratch each time. And remember, the focus of your email should ultimately revolve around what is going to benefit your audience, especially at that moment they are reading it! Give people the opportunity to explore working with you, and then you can offer sales emails every once in a while.

We talk about the incentive of the freebie, word of mouth advertising, current students being added, and really knowing that it’s permission-based and making sure people are giving us permission to email them.

Next, Joellyn asks about what services I recommend most often for email lists?

As mentioned earlier, I recommend ConvertKit most often. (My affiliate link again!) And remember, it doesn't cost anything more to go through someone's affiliate link than if you went straight to their website. It just means that they're going to pay me a percentage of what you pay on a monthly basis as a thank you for sending the client over.

My reason for Joellyn for going with ConvertKit is because of the price point and functionality. I really like the ease of use and I've been able to help a lot of other music teachers feel comfortable using the platform and I can't say that for some of the other platforms that are out there.They have landing pages and they have forms so you can actually have a landing page right on their site. It doesn't have to live on your website. You can actually have it right in there that you can send people to as well, which is always nice. One of the really nice things about ConvertKit and many of the other platforms that are out there is that you can write your emails in advance.

This brought up the follow up question of, could I ask permission through emails?

The short answer is yes, you could email them a landing page. As long as you get permission from them, you can add them. You really just don't want to add them blindly.

One of the last things that I touched on with Joellyn is when we grow an email list, the biggest advantage to us as the service provider is learning who the people are, who are on our email list. So you want to give people an opportunity to re-engage with you. We talk about fun ways to get the engagement going, and really making the opportunity for a two way conversation We are starting the email with the emails that go out the broadcast emails, but we're always looking to engage with people because the better that we engage with them, the more likely that we're going to create content that's going to be relevant to them and then they're going to become our customers.

I really loved this on air coaching session with Joellyn talking about all things related to email list building. Interested in being on the podcast for a coaching session like Joellyn? Be sure to reach out on Facebook at Jaime Slutzky or on Instagram at @jaimeslutzky.

And of course, if you would like to have a call with me off air, head on over to http://callwithjaime.com and book a call. I’d love to chat with you!

I am so excited to share Brocha’s story with you all. You’ll hear all about the trajectory of her music teaching and what she did before creating courses. If you’re a music teacher listening and looking for inspiration, this episode is for you!

Brocha started her journey as a piano teacher, as she says, “just a regular piano teacher teaching piano....and mostly just teaching my students for exams.” At the time, she was completely content with what she was doing, gave her best to every single lesson. She also acknowledges that doing those things and having had a studio really helped her to transition to her online course.

If you have a solid studio and you’re looking to fill in the gaps of your actual studio, creating a course is the next step. But you aren’t just limited to a course - you can make workshops, you can create a membership... they're also closely related. And this is exactly what Brocha did.

After having her first child, she was reluctant to go back to work. So, she managed to build her in-person studio to full-time. The only problem was she didn’t really know how to market it, and pretty much just winged it. She focused all of her time and energy on putting 100% into her lessons and making sure her students were happy.

Enter COVID. Brocha had wanted to go online for a few different reasons, but she knew she had to put herself out there in order to land students. So, she managed to work on her social media, and ultimately was able to get more students and run her own studio online. She didn’t start off full-time, but it was enough to get it going. She said “I literally had no idea about tech or websites. Nothing landing pages, nothing. Marketing, nothing. I literally just learned from scratch. Basically, I had a huge dream to do it.”

Brocha admits that she would have had much faster results than she did if she had found the right coach to help her on her journey of creating and marketing a successful online music course. But, she went ahead and taught herself, leading her to the system that she has in place now and that keeps getting her the sales she is getting now!

But let’s back track a bit… Brocha started learning some of the marketing techniques to be able to get online students. She got to a point where her online studio was good enough, but that was one on one lessons. She quickly realized that in order to be able to be there for her child’s bedtime, to be able to create her own schedule, one-on-one lessons wasn't going to cut it, and it wasn’t what she wanted to do forever.

She started looking for someone to help her go into the one to many model. So she created her own course. She started by thinking-  What do my students really enjoy learning? What is missing in the music education space?

Now, Brocha has her course, and has also moved into coaching other music teachers. And hey, that’s why Brocha and I are working on these projects together!

Who doesn’t love an organic story like this one? Brocha was teaching in person, then the lockdown happened, she figured out how to get students who are willing to work with her online, figured out the whole marketing thing (and enjoyed it), found success with the marketing and with the course, and has created a framework to help other music teachers do what she herself has done. And of course, had a baby along the way, too. What a journey!

Brocha now offers social media and course creation coaching, with a primary focus on social media coaching. With her course and coaching, it really has allowed her to be home with her kids, who have so much of Mom when they get home from school.

“If you have a good studio, if you have a good basis for your studio, you're going to be able to do a lot. If you have a good basis for your social media and you have a good basis for quality people who follow you and can learn from you, then they're going to say yes.”

If you're listening or reading this in real time and you haven't signed up for our webinar this Thursday, December 9th, be sure to click the link to sign up: https://onlinemusiccourseaccelerator.com

If it's after the fact, definitely reach out to us on social media because we have every intention of running this again... over and over and over again.

The opportunity is limitless. The opportunity is absolutely limitless. I hope that you found Brocha’s story to be the source of inspiration and motivation you needed to take action on your dreams and goals.

As always, feel free to send me a message over on Instagram @jaimeslutzky or connect with me at http://callwithjaime.com

You can find Brocha over at @iambrocha on Instagram as well!

I am so excited to be in this space with you right now sharing episode 200!

This podcast has been a roller coaster and an adventure for sure! Back in episode 100, I changed the name of this podcast and changed the direction of my entire business. And by doing so it opened up doors and opportunities that I am eternally thankful for.

I love interacting with all of the podcast listeners, my followers on social media, members of the Expand Online Community and my email list. It has been an absolute joy reaching in and becoming part of the online music educator landscape.

As you know, I am not a music teacher, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to see this industry succeed online. I think that online is the perfect place to do so much more with music education.

Download the Make Money Teaching Music Online guide.

This episode is about mindset and online music education.

Sometimes I feel way out of my league and I have to reel myself back in and say to myself that music education chose me as a conduit to help you get where you need to go.

Having a positive mindset, for me, is combating the negative self talk.

These (and more) are all things that we kind of continually tell ourselves. They can break us down and keep us out of showing up.

Having a positive mindset allows us to show up for our people to show up for the people who want to engage with us on social media, through our podcast, through our emails and most importantly as students and clients.

My greatest mindset hack is to remind myself of my definition of the zone of genius:

Okay, just visualize it. You've got skillset coming at us from the left and you've got passion coming at us from the right and they collide and what happens when two things that come together? They create an explosion!

It’s an expanse of space where we can spend more time. So the way that I see it, we have a really finite expertise and we have a finite passion and when we bring those together, our expertise can grow, our passion can grow and the product that they create together is even larger.

This keeps me so excited to have conversations with you. It fuels me to learn new things and to try new software and to help you accomplish something more and something new. That is my magic. That is what keeps me in the right headspace.

Another thing that I do regularly is to remind myself of the journey that I have been on from knowing that I just wanted to be home to raise my kids and to be mom first where work/business allowed me to do just that. As I worked with more and more clients, I was able to get super clear on what I do best. What fills me up the most and what I wanted to do more of it also allowed me to figure out what I wanted to do less of which I think is equally important.

These two things keep me in a positive headspace! They keep me wanting to show up every single week on the podcast, to show up every single week in your inbox, to show up every single week inside the Expand Online Community and for all the conversations that I get to have with you.

First off -- you are so insanely lucky, you knew that you had a passion and a skill for the given instrument or instruments and modalities that you teach. You are an expert unto yourself.

There are not a lot of people who can do what you do and knowing that sets you up for success.

You already have experience. You already have successes. You have already done everything you need to to validate that what you're going to do next is going to be successful.

You have what it takes to go forward and what you don't know or what you need assistance on can be learned. You can take courses, you can take programs, you can outsource, you can tinker and tinker and watch youtube videos and read blog posts.

When you're thinking this is not for me, it's too hard…  think back to what I just said: You've done it before, you can do it again. You have what it takes to be successful.

Coming out of the pandemic, more and more teachers are going to choose to stay online and reach a larger audience. I think there are going to be more online music programs, more online music courses and more online music group programs.

I see a teachers coming together and creating umbrella organizations where there is cross referrals between one program or another program or synergies between educators. In this vision, multiple teachers will work in collaboration, each having their own programs with links and paths through one anothers. And some collaborative programs too!

The final thing that I see coming is a greater level of higher music education online. Right now there are a lot of places for beginner knowledge and as we go up the experience, there are fewer and fewer places. As we get into the intermediate and advanced level programming, there is going to be more opportunity for you to take hold and to teach at a higher level at a deeper level.

Book a call with me, go to http://callwithjaime.com and let's talk about what you're going to accomplish in 2022 beyond. I would love to be part of your success story.

This is the fifth and final episode of the incredible Founder Series.

Has the Founders series inspired you to take a look at any of the platforms we’ve been discussing? Please share your feedback as a review on Apple Podcasts or by sending me a DM over on Instagram!

My business is here to help you expand your music studio and music teaching business online. I know how much passion you have for music education and everything that I put out on the podcast, social media and in my broadcast emails is designed to inspire, motivate, and help you move forward.

I know that there is a lot of material, and a lot of things that you could be doing. Sometimes we just really can't do this alone -- that's really what I'm here for. I am here regardless of what phase of your online journey you are on -- from getting your first client or creating your first program, to leveling up and building out your own private empire!

This series was all about software to help you provide the best possible private lessons, which are, in my mind, the first major stepping stone towards being able to EXPAND. What you do in private lessons can be extrapolated and pulled out and put into a group format (online interactive group programs, online courses, online workshop series, single workshops, membership sites or anything that leverages the one to many business model!)

It’s all about your content being delivered to many people through a system.

If you have one-to-many programming on your vision board, then you are my kind of person and I’m thrilled you’ve been enjoying this series.

Let’s connect on a call- http://callwithjaime.com and if you haven't downloaded the Make Money Teaching Music Online guide, be sure to click here to download it now!

Now, to get to what you’re actually wanting to see… the questions!

In addition to the podcast series, I have pulled a ton of content together in a blog post that came out today. You can check it out here!

The sooner that you have a platform that you feel confident teaching with, the more opportunities you're going to bring to your students and into your studio.

And that's what I want for you, for your online studio to thrive now and well into the future.

Please share this podcast series with friends and other music teachers that you know will appreciate it -- and so will I! And so will our Founders!

Don't be a stranger - connect with me on Instagram @jaimeslutzky and book a call with me using this link http://callwithjaime.com

And if you’re feeling inspired and you’re serious about making teaching music online your full-time gig, I have lots of ideas as to how you can Make Money Teaching Music Online, so be sure to download the guide now!

Many of your remaining questions about using these made-for-online-music-lessons software options will be answered in this episode.

SaaS products, or Software as a Service products, really do require a test drive to determine if they are going to work the way you want them to. It’s easy to look at them “on paper” but until we’ve sat down in front of the screen and interacted with them, it’s impossible to know exactly how you will jive with them. And that’s what today’s episode is all about… using the software and being part of their ecosystem.

Before we get into the episode, if you haven't downloaded the Make Money Teaching Music Online guide, be sure to click here to download it now!

To get started, we talk about $$$ Yup…

Then to give you a good idea as to what you need to effectively use the platforms and how to make the best experience for your students, we discuss hardware (computers, phones, tablets,etc.) and apps and browser settings.

Long ago were the days of computer stores where we pick up software in a box and load floppy discs into the drive to install the software onto our hard drives. Nowadays everything is instantly accessible through app stores and websites. And the same goes for customer support and community. So, I asked what that looks like -- because when you know you’re able to connect with other users and the founder in a way that matches your needs, it’s a compelling factor!

I know you’re looking at running the best possible online lessons for your students. And this leads right into the final question of this episode…

This episode was probably the meatiest of this entire series -- I wouldn't be surprised if you want to listen to it more than once!

And I’m sure that you know another music teacher who wants to compare and contrast these software options. Will you do me, Rebecca, Eric, Mike and Sam a favor and click the share button inside your podcast app and to forward this episode to another music teacher?

I know that making the decision to buy into a new piece of software can be overwhelming and that’s truly the last thing I want to see. Reach out to me if you have any questions or would like clarification. And know this, you are in great hands with all of our Founders.

If you’re serious about making teaching music online your full time gig, I have lots of ideas as to how you can Make Money Teaching Music Online, so be sure to download the guide now!

Come back next week for our final episode in this series! And in the meantime, be sure to book a call with me at http://callwithjaime.com so we can chat about where you are on your music teacher journey. You can also find me on Instagram at @jaimeslutzky.

(If you haven’t listened to episodes 195 and 196 yet, I recommend jumping back to those before proceeding with today’s episode, they all kinda build on each other and I want you to be empowered to make the best choice for your online music lessons!)

All of them have graciously given us so much insight already into how their software works to support the online music education community, especially your private lessons. Today, we’re diving a little bit more into the technical side so that you can begin to understand how software works and how to best take advantage of all the software updates.

The first question covers the software update process --

The second question relates to how each software is overcoming bandwidth and latency issues that come from being online.

I want you to be able to offer the best lessons to your students and I believe  that these software solutions are going to help you get there.

I chose this set of questions for this week because all we want is for our software to work and to make us shine, right? And by peeling back a little bit about how the software works, it's going to empower you be super confident that you are going to be comfortable bringing this software into your studio and introducing it to your students.

Be sure to hit the follow or subscribe button in your podcast app. You don’t want to miss next week’s episode in this Founders Series!

I’d love the opportunity to chat with you if we haven’t already done so, so be sure to head on over to http://callwithjaime.com and book a call with me. You can also find me on Instagram at @jaimeslutzky

(Be sure to listen to all five episodes in order, to make the best choice for your online music lessons!)

Remember when you first listened to a podcast? That feeling of having so much opportunity to learn, be entertained, be informed and gain knowledge… you feel like you’re on top of the world. It’s kinda the same thing when you hear about a piece of software that was designed specifically for music teachers like you.

And I know, because I’ve seen it, as soon as we hear about one of these SaaS products, we are bound to hear about another and another and another… and soon, our heads are spinning. In this series, I’m taking you on a journey to not just understand what the tools can do for you and your students, but also to help you make the best choice based on what the software provides, the trajectory it’s on and some of the guiding principles.

In this episode, my guests will be sharing with you the why behind the software and some cool features that help to define their products.

I want you to come away from this episode with a better idea as to who Mike, Sam, Rebecca and Eric are and the passion they have for the music education industry.

This episode covers the following questions:

Remember there is going to be a full detailed blog post at the end of this series which will include the answers in an easy to navigate format.

Be sure to hit the follow or subscribe button in your podcast app because next week we are continuing the conversation with a deep dive into making sure your lessons are as top notch as possible.

I love chatting with my podcast listeners, so whether you’ve just started listening with this series or have been listening since episode 1, book a call with me at http://callwithjaime.com; I’m also over on Instagram at @jaimeslutzky

This episode is the Introduction to The Founders Series.

This is a series of five podcast episodes with the founders of Musicology, Muzie.live, Rock Out Loud Live, and Blink Session Music. This is going to be one of the most powerful series that I have ever done on the podcast -- I'm so excited that you are here to be a part of it.

Sam Reti is the founder of Muzie.Live, an all in one virtual music studio allowing teachers to save time, stay organized and conduct a high quality online hybrid or in person music lessons.

Muzie.Live - Virtual Music Lesson Studio

Michael Grande is the creator of Rock Out Loud Live, the only United States patented virtual platform that captures the entire tonal range of any instrument. Rock Out Loud Live has high definition audio and near zero latency provides a teaching experience unmatched by any other platform.

RockOutLoud

Rebecca Featherstone is the CEO of Musicology, a peer to peer video conferencing platform that is built to empower the non power user with interactive and collaborative features, bringing down the barrier of the screen and engaging students, lessening teacher exhaustion, and breaking the barrier of online lessons and making it more like an in person lesson.

Musicology - Musicology

Eric DeGrove is the founder of Blink Session Music, a platform that exists to help you as a music teacher succeed in teaching lessons online, creating an easier time taking what you've done in person and transitioning that online. Knowing music teaching is more than just what happens online and that it's more than just that video conference, we take into consideration that it's also about what happens before and after the lesson- homework, appointment reminders, etc.

Blink Session Music - The Future of Music Lessons

Any one of these software options can change your business. They give you the confidence that when you teach music lessons online you are giving the best product to your students. It’s all about setting them up for the success that they want out of lessons.

Sam, Mike, Eric and Rebecca have put your music studio at the forefront of the work they do daily on their apps and in their respective communities. They look at technology as an opportunity rather than a barrier so that you can be successful.

Whether you decide to look at Muzie, Rock Out Loud Live, Musicology, or Blink Session Music, my goal with these next four episodes is to bring you answers to some of the most important questions that you have about them and how they compare and contrast with each other.

Also forthcoming (at the end of the series) is a mega blog post that has all of the details that we discuss in a nice easy to read manner which will allow you to compare the solution side by side by side by side.

This series came about because I was seeing a lot of teachers, just like you, asking in all sorts of Facebook groups, what people are using to teach online? On every single one of these questions, I will see the exact same thing, over and over:

And that does absolutely nothing for the original poster… they have a ton of options shared and no value given. I knew I had the right platform and angle to do something different.

This podcast is my response. This series and the blog post are going to become the go to resource to respond to those questions. And, at least quarterly, I’m planning on updating the blog post with the latest and greatest from these offers.

As you know, I’m not a music teacher. I’m a tech and strategy gal. I know that teaching a full docket of private clients online is the first milestone to moving onto group programs, courses and membership sites (which is what I focus on with my clients.)

This podcast series is something that is near and dear to my heart; I am so gracious that Mike, Eric, Sam, and Rebecca all said yes. They all agree with me that their respective software solutions stand on their own and it's time for there to be a definitive impartial comparison of them.

Be sure to hit the subscribe button in your podcast apps so that the rest of the series comes to you, and check out my brand new guide --> Make Money Teaching Music Online.

And, as always, don’t forget to book a call with me at http://callwithjaime.com and we can just jam on whatever is going on in your business. Or, find me on instagram @jaimeslutzky