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Hello, music teacher friends!  Welcome to Episode 85 of the Beyond Measure podcast.  Thanks for choosing to visit with your Anytime Piano Teacher Friend today.  My name is Christina Whitlock, and I’m happy you’re listening.

One quick reminder before we dive in, if you enjoy this podcast and want to help keep it happening, please consider joining my community over on Patreon.  You can choose to support the show for $3 a month, or, if you want a fun little bonus, $6 a month.  These contributions may feel small and inconsequential to you, but they add up quickly on my end, and they allow me to keep this show a priority in my creative life.  I do host a get together on Zoom on the final Friday of each month for anyone at the $6/month level…and we have a really great time.  It’s a fantastic chance for us to have an ACTUAL conversation in real time.  So, if you feel like you get $3 worth of enjoyment out of this podcast each month, please do head over to patreon.com/beyondmeasurepodcast.  That’s patreon (p-a-t-r-e-o-n) dot com, slash beyond measurepodcast.  That link is also in the shownotes for you. Thanks so much for whatever support you are able to throw my way.

Today, I’m answering a question I get asked frequently:  How do you find more students for your studio?

In full disclosure, I am most certainly NOT trying to find more students for my home studio.  😊  In fact, NEXT WEEK, we will talk about strategies involved in how to DOWNSIZE your studio, which is the path I’ve been walking the last year.  However, I’m very aware there are many of you struggling out there.  The economy is dicey, which means many of you are dealing with higher numbers of attrition than usual.  Some of you are new to studio teaching and are trying to get yourself established in the community, or have moved to new locations and are looking for ways to drum up new clientele.

So, I wanted to speak to THOSE teachers first, knowing it is incredibly stressful and emotionally-draining to feel unsure of your studio numbers.  If you’re in my position and are basically chasing students off your front porch with a broom – haha! – well, we’ll talk next week.

PS: it should absolutely be noted that NONE OF US KNOW when tables are going to turn and we are going to be in a position to recruit new students.  Just like we never know when downsizing is going to be necessary.  Whatever your enrollment situation is today, it’s best we all understand our rosters are never guaranteed.  Studio teaching is an incredibly fluid business.

Alright.  So.  With that behind us – let’s get right to it!  HOW DO YOU GET MORE STUDENTS IN YOUR STUDIO?

There are a lot of suggestions that get tossed around a lot.  I’m sure you’ve heard them.  Many of those suggestions really ARE true.  That’s why you hear them so much.  😊

I’m talking about things like…

Happy studio families are the best recruiting tool.

Do your job well and the results will speak for themselves.

Word of mouth recommendations are the bulk of our business.

I absolutely believe these things to be true.  Happy families, word of mouth, and sharing results ARE the best kinds of marketing out there. So, first up, let’s talk REALLY QUICKLY about posting on social media – and this really SHOULD be it’s own episode, but for today, I’m just going to touch on it briefly.…

Sharing posts regularly on social media – with parental permission, of course – can be incredibly good for recruitment.

When festival and recital times roll around, I always brace myself for an onslaught of additions to my waitlist.  Because when parents share videos and pictures of their kids playing online, THEIR friends inevitably ask – where does little Billy take his piano lessons?   You can make this process even MORE frequent by featuring student success stories on your page.  Post a great photo or video of your student during their lesson, with a well-written caption.  Parents will OFTEN share these posts on their own personal pages, and voila!  Requests often start coming in.  Does it mean ALL of those students will end up signing on?  Of course not.  Not even close.  But, it gets your name out there and you just never know when your next studio cheerleader will sign up and recruit as many people as they can for you.

Here’s kind of a fun exercise.  Sit down with your current student roster.  Beside each student name, write down how they found you.  If you’re anything like me, the majority of your studio roster can be traced back to referrals from studio families.  In fact, if I trace those referrals back, like some sort of family tree, the bulk of my students can ultimately be traced back to just 2 or 3 families who were faithful supporters back in the day.  It’s wild.  And humbling.   Sometimes it hits me how I make a decent living solely from families who believe in me enough to pay for knowledge I have.  I never want to lose sight of how incredible that is, and the responsibility I have to meet their expectations.

Anyway.

I’m sure you realize that the right family with the right connections can bring MANY students to your door.

And THAT’S primarily what I want you to think about today.  I want you to pursue genuine – hear me now – GENUINE relationships – with the right people.

I hate saying this out loud because it sounds calculated, but I will argue one of the most beneficial relationships I had when I was building my studio in its current locations was with one of our local elementary music teachers. Do YOU have relationships with your local music teachers?  I’m talking elementary music teachers, as well as the band and choir directors at your local middle and high schools…

THESE are the friends you need.  And this is why my #1 tip for recruiting new students is to make friends with local music teachers.

Again  – I say this, and I immediately fear people will think I’m advocating for, like, “False” friendships.  Or to manipulate school music teachers into THINKING you are friends for your own personal gain.  Hear me.  That’s not AT ALL what I have done – nor do I think that’s the way to go.  The LAST THING our busy school teachers need is to have their time wasted on someone else who wants something from them.  Yikes.  Just no.  Leave them alone if you’re not sincerely looking for friendship.

BUT.  Once I finished grad school and got married, I began the process of building my new studio.  I had the incredible fortune of teaching a couple of kids from a family I quickly grew to love.  The mother of these kids happened to be an absolute SUPERSTAR elementary school music teacher at one of our local schools.  I can’t even begin to tell you how great she is.  I have yet to EVER see a school music teacher who managed to develop the relationships she did.  At concert time, I kid you not – every. Single. One. Of those kids got on stage and did their absolute best because they just loved her so much.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Anyway.  I grew to love and respect this woman SO much, and the feeling became quite mutual.

I say all this because – at one point – somewhere around 70% of my studio could probably be traced back to recommendations from this one music teacher.

Think about it.  Your school music teachers are the ones who field questions of potential private teachers more than anyone else.  Parents often ask them first if they know anyone who teaches violin.  Or piano.  Or Voice. They are ALSO the ones who see raw talent at work.

There were many years where I considered my studio roster full, but I would get a message from this particular teacher telling me, “you REALLY want this kid…” She got to know the kinds of families I liked to work with, and the kinds of students who flourished with me.  It was really a brilliant sort of pre-screening system.  I never regretted taking a student who came to me through this particular teacher.  She sent me many of my ALL TIME favorite studio families and some incredibly talented young people.  If I ever had an opening, the students who joined my waitlist on HER recommendation always got first dibs.

Anyway – my advice is this:  As a teacher in your community, make sure you have a relationship with your local music teachers.  Don’t overthink this:  start with one.  You probably won’t jive with all of them, but find one you can be buddies with.  Not in a manipulative way, but because the two of you have LOTS of common ground!

You have much to bond over, including your passion for bettering the world around us through music education, humorous stories of your own musical studies, and – sure – your shared frustrations over lack of appreciation for the arts in your community or problematic student behavior or whatever…

Don’t reach out with the sole purpose of trying to recruit more students; just reach out as an ally in this crazy world of music we all live in!  Attend their concerts and introduce yourself afterwards.  I don’t think there’s a school teacher out there – in any subject area – who feels like they have TOO much support from community members.  If you have time to volunteer, ask if you can be of any help once or twice this coming semester.  This could be anything from playing for rehearsal or leading a sectional or just coming in to talk to their classes about the life of a professional musician.  Even just sending them a quick friend request on social media with a note that says, “Hey!  I keep hearing we should be friends, so I thought I’d reach out.  I’m a local piano teacher in town and feel like we can’t have enough friends in the music teaching profession.” Maybe even message them with a favorite podcast you think they might enjoy (ahem).  😊

Approach it with the intention of genuinely building a relationship with a new music teacher friend. Ya’ll know I’m kind of into that.  😊   Seriously – music teacher friends are THE BEST!  I am so much better off due to the friends I have in this profession; in a wide variety of roles.  And, like so many things in life, if you approach these new relationships with sincerity and good intentions, life has a way of rewarding you right back.

I just have to say how much respect and gratitude I have for our school educators.  I know many of you listening ARE school teachers and I just can’t tell you how thankful I am for you.  I feel incredibly spoiled I get my students one on one.  Meeting the needs of a classroom is a whole new arena and I have mad respect for anyone who does it.  It’s also exhausting for a thousand reasons.  Maybe that’s another reason I tend to have good relationships with school music teachers:  show them appreciation – because they NEVER get enough of it – and they’ll probably WANT to keep you around in their life! 😊

Alright.  So, that’s really the gist of today’s show friends.  Honestly, whether you need students or not… GO MAKE FRIENDS WITH YOUR SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHERS.  Frankly, they need your support, regardless of whether they ever funnel you a single student or not.

Of course, there are all kinds of other avenues to find students.  I know many people have luck with joining local facebook groups and the nextdoor app and all kinds of online advertising resources.  For me, connecting with my local music teachers, and finding ways to be visible in the community (playing for local ensembles, posting on social media, etc.) have proven to be incredibly fruitful strategies – with wonderful friends as a fun result.

Alright.  That’s that:  build relationships with your local school teacher friends.  And, be awesome at your job.  That’s the best advice I have to offer.  Let’s wrap up with a toast, shall we?

Music teacher friends from all over the world, today I wish I could just wave my magic wand and grant you exactly the number of students your heart – and bank account – desires.  😊  Alas, I don’t think I’m going to be able to make that happen for you today, but I *do* hope I’ve helped convince you to form relationships with your local school teacher colleagues.  Sometimes there feels like a weird divide between school ensembles and private studios, but that actually makes ZERO sense.  We are in the same game here, friends.  And, I’ll just say – you both have much to learn from the experiences and the skill sets of one another.  In my book, anyone who decides to devote their life to the musical education of young people is someone I want to learn with and from.  SO, with that, I’ll raise my glass and say CHEERS to you, AND your local school teacher colleagues.  Here, here.

Thanks again for listening to episode 84 of the Beyond Measure Podcast!  I will be back in your ears next week, talking about the flip side of this coin:  how to downsize your studio.  Sigh.  It’s a great problem to have, but it’s no without its stressors, I assure you.

Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram and Facebook, consider joining the Patreon for $3 or $6 a month, AND email your thoughts any time to [email protected]

Thanks friends, onward and upward to the studio numbers of your dreams! 😊