Neil has been producing The Tutor Podcast for five full years, every Monday, every week, without fail through pandemics, and economic crises, as well as running three successful businesses. In this episode, he shares why, and what he has learned from the experience. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Nearly everyone struggles with self-doubt and a fear of failure.
• People feel guilty about success and money. 
• Educate yourself, invest in yourself. Spend money on training and learning. 
• Creating the podcast has encouraged Neil’s hunger for information. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I’ve learned that nothing’s wrong with me, apart from an irrational desire to help other people define their own way to their own kind of success.’ 

‘The next thing I’ve learned is money and finance are still topics that need to be taught to kids.’

‘To really understand something, the best thing you can do is teach it to someone else.’

‘I no longer believe in writer's block.’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected] 

What are the motivations of successful coaches and teachers? What drives those people that keep plugging away at the job and never seem to lose enthusiasm or energy? Neil is one of those people and has been teaching guitar since 1999 and is still loving it. He reveals his reasons for never losing his love for his chosen career.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Neil has an addictive personality and wants to turn it towards all aspects of his life and has found it is not about your achievement but the nature of your goals.   
• It is not about the endpoint, it is the process that provides the drive. 
• Hitting a goal can cause a depressive period due to the sudden drop in dopamine produced by the body. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I’m sort of curious about why I still can’t wait to get in the teaching room every day to welcome my students, tune them up and start having fun.’ 

‘The sort of friction that you have to overcome stimulates the chemicals in your body that push you forward.’

‘So no endpoints for me. Milestones on the way but what I’m really looking to do is to play forever in a whole raft of endless games.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected] 

Change is the only constant in human life. Teaching is about changing students for the better and so tutors know more than most why change is so hard, and how and why we resist change. Neil explains how to break down that natural resistance and how to identify and remove a students limiting beliefs about themselves and what they are capable of. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Talent generally is irrelevant in guitar teaching, secondary to skill and technique.
• Students will often provide reasons as to why they find it difficult to learn, progress or transform that are simply not true. 
• Teachability is inverse in proportion to experience.
• It is up to you to deprogram your students of their limiting beliefs and bolster them with a new, dynamic and successful vision of themselves with the skills you teach them. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Round about all that stuff there is also my little belief that talent is mostly irrelevant as what I teach every single day simulates the idea of talent so closely.’

‘When you really listen to what students tell you they will tell you exactly how they see themselves.’ 

‘I figure out how they think and how they look at it, and then I go in and royally mess it up for them. I’ll mess up their programming so much they can’t get it back.’ 

‘People are funny things. They want to find a way to change and get what they always wanted, but then they find a way to beat it away from themselves.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected] 

The one thing that can bring your plans to further your tutoring business to a crashing halt is illness. No one can avoid this eventuality completely, but looking after your health and fitness is one of the highest considerations for anyone looking to mitigate the risks of debilitation. You need a healthy body for a healthy mind, and Neil is here with his tips on how to keep ahead and energised so you can concentrate fully on your business. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Unless you have an independent source of income or truly comprehensive health insurance you are at risk of loss if you find yourself unable to work. 
• How healthy are you? Nearly half of the population of the UK regularly take prescription drugs. 
• Avoid highly processed foods such as ready meals and snack foods. A low carbohydrate diet works for weight control and avoidance of type 2 diabetes. 
• Try not to eat too much sugar in foods like sugary drinks and sweets. Don’t trust additives and artificial fats and sweeteners. 
• Exercise and its plethora of options is beneficial. Find something you enjoy to supplement a good diet. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘You’re in trouble if you get sick. This was my wake up call when I had a big cycling accident in Spain and lost the tip of nine of my fingers and realised that if I couldn’t teach guitar I was in deep trouble.’

‘Nobody is coming to the rescue. That means it’s on you. We have to take responsibility for our own health so that we can keep doing what we do.’ 

‘There’s a lot of dubious stuff on the government dietary website. So my suggestion is you just eat fresh unprocessed foods.’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected] 

Continuing with his examination of blind spots in business and life, Neil is here with a cautionary tale of an intervention by a friend to alter his trajectory when distracted and entranced by a bright shiny penny. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• This story is about the value of getting someone else’s eyes on your blind spots, as well as the seductive power of bright shiny pennies, those alluring distractions that catch your eye and lure you away from your true mission.  
• When faced with the possibility of losing his guitar coaching business, Neil invested in training and learning about property investment. 
• That’s when a new member of Neils’ Blind Spot Council (go back and listen to episode 255 if you haven’t already) offered some timely and sage insight. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘At that point, I realised I was just one accident or one illness away from being skint and in trouble if I was forced to stop teaching guitar which I had never really thought of before.’ 

‘At a small table in the middle of the room sat my new mentor, Derek.’ 

‘I think that anything that takes you away from the work you love, your teaching business, is not going to be worth it because you’ll end up resenting it for taking you away from your true love.’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected] 

In this episode, Neil is going to take a look at your blind spots in business. These are all the things you constantly miss, action incorrectly or are unaware of. The only problem is, you cannot see your blind spots so your only option is to call for an extra pair of eyes!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Usually, our blind spots are completely obvious to the people around us.  The outsiders’ view is vital.
• If you are not as influential, successful, healthy and wealthy as you want to be, you have to admit you don’t know everything.
• Put together a group of people, preferably with knowledge of you and your business, to take a look at what you do and how you operate to see if those extra eyes spot anything you have been missing.

BEST MOMENTS

‘What are your blind spots? Well, chances are you don’t know, because you’re blind to them! The clues in the name.’  

‘Ask them the vital question, what am I missing? Ask them for their opinions. Don’t ask them for feedback as that can get a bit cringey in my opinion.’ 

‘My imaginary fiends gave me answers that were every bit as useful to me as real world counsellors.’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected] 

In this episode, Neil deals with other people. Musicians are always looking for more information, more music to play, more riffs, more chords, more tunes, and more songs. There are a few problems that are encountered within a student’s constant search for knowledge and Neil has some sage advice on how to turn what looks like a potential difficulty into an advantage.  

 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Being able to play the piano does not qualify you as a guitar teacher even if you play the instrument. Technical knowledge is key.
• Books and magazines often provide inaccurate or out of date information.
• Online material can be great but unless you know the difference between the quality and rubbish it can be a lottery.
• As a tutor you will often be competing with other sources for prevalence. Embrace this. Other sources may bring you knowledge and if they are inadequate they will be exposed over time.
• You can collaborate with the other source if you can find a teacher that will do so or embellish the students extra learning with your own techniques. But don’t get huffy!

BEST MOMENTS

‘I don’t think this is deliberate. I think this is genuinely well meaning people demonstrating that they have really poor technique and an unusual interpretation of reality.’

‘It’s not unusual for a student to show up for a lesson with me having got the point last session then utterly confused themselves by watching a ton of contradictory youtube videos.’

‘If little Jonny absolutely loves his other teacher, no matter how bad their teacher may be, if you slag that other teacher off you’re going to be the bad guy.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]

Mobile phones are divisive in that they offer us organisational convenience while simultaneously invading our private time and information. Neil gives his opinion on this constant helpful interloper into our existence and what we can do to fight its more unhelpful influences. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The dichotomy is that we run our lives via mobile phone tech but also suspect that it tracks your every move and that calls and messages are recorded and analysed by people that don’t have our best interests at heart.   
• It is prudent to bear in mind when handling your sensitive data that mobile phones allow unscrupulous tech companies to track and data scrape your private information.
• Phones constantly interrupt you with demands for attention. They can be a corrupting influence on your time management, relationships and safety.
• Turn your phone off when tutoring. To do otherwise suggests a lack of care and respect for your student. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I’m by no means a Luddite, by no means a tech-fearing tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorist. Like you, I use my mobile phone most days.’ 

‘Frankly, I think it’s a mistake and I think we’d be wise to manage our relationship with the phone very, very carefully.’  

‘Turn the phone off. What a radical idea that is! That’s actually too hard for most people to do!’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected] 

Neil explains the theory of Content Teaching and Principle Teaching, and the difference and advantages of the two compared or combined.   

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Principal teachers teach why. Content teachers teach by fact, writing and method. 
• The ‘why’ without the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ is as pointless as the ‘what’ without the ‘why’.
• The only solution is to be both kinds and present both. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘(Content Teaching is) Good old fashioned monkey-see, monkey-do rote learning. It’s extremely limited in scope and the pathways to developing the player and the student.’

‘(Principle Teaching) For me this is the dry, abstract, theory side of music. It’s the way music was rammed down our throats in school when I didn’t take it as an option even though I love music.’ 

‘We’ve got to be both. Good teaching is an elegant and dynamic dance between those two extremes.’ 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected] 

New Year is looming. What does that mean to you? Are you hoping for change? Well, Neil is here to remind you that nothing is going to change unless you do.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Whatever it is you’re going to do, try not to start with a New Year's resolution. The vast majority of those are broken, and you want to make permanent positive change.  
• The biggest failure point of New Year’s resolutions is the indefinite nature of goal setting. They are too vague.
• Set clear measurable markers and surround yourself with people who will hold you to account, support you and help you along your way. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Because change is fairly a one-shot and then done affair. More often it’s a process of constant reinforcement of the desired behaviour and the monitoring of results.’   

‘For many people, there’s no process. They’ll set the goal without any awareness of what they actually need to do to get there.’ 

‘For me, if something isn’t written down it doesn’t exist. That’s why business transactions are conducted on paper.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

 www.Neilcowmeadow.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

CONTACT METHOD

[email protected]