Episode 202: Cheers to Discernment in Coaching Programs and Other Online Offerings

What follows is a rough-edit of the episode, so please forgive typos and/or formatting errors.

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I’m going to tell it like it is, friends: if you’re looking to grow your music studio but you’re not taking a hard look at your actual teaching, there is no marketing guru or 7-step plan that is going to be worth the investment.

Aaaaand… that’s where we’re going today, my studio teacher friends!  Oooof.   Thanks for tuning into the Beyond Measure Podcast today.  Christina Whitlock here, your self-appointed Anytime Piano Teacher Friend.  I’ve made it my mission to support and encourage teachers of every instrument and voice type. I’ve been teaching for almost 30 years, people, and I’ve learned this: We are one another’s greatest assets in this work. I consider conversations with my teacher friends and colleagues to be the number one contributor to my success and contentment in this profession. So here I am – hanging out here in your podcast app of choice – ready to offer a little camaraderie for you each week. 

And – if you want to make this a two-way conversation – be sure you’re signed up for my Weekly e-letter, now called Piano Teacher Confessions.  That link, and everything else related to today’s episode, can be found in today’s shownotes at: ChristinaWhitlock.com/episode202.

And now, I bring you episode 202, the first official installment of my series examining our 21st century obsession with the Fast-Track.

Oh friends.  Today I want to talk about something that has become quite important in the landscape of our profession.  We’re going to talk about how to discern the benefits of coaching programs, course offerings, etc.

If you are a teacher who is looking to grow your studio or increase your income or learn more about pedagogical principles, there is NO SHORTAGE of people on the internet who are offering to help you do that.

There are coaches and mentors and teachers and courses and communities and consultants as far as the eye can see. There is an online course for – quite literally – anything you seek to learn in life. Music or otherwise.

And – just like piano teachers – there are GREAT programs out there, and there are also others that claim to be something they are not.

My goal today is to give you some parameters to help you discern what you are dealing with.  

Before we go anything further, I want to reiterate my message from last week’s episode: There is no quick-fix to becoming a master teacher. There are lessons we ALL need to learn out of our own experience, and that’s something that money just can’t buy.  

I’ll be honest with you:  This is an episode I said I’d never write.  I also said that about episode 019 – which was about making the most of online lessons. That one turned out okay, so I figured I’d be brave enough to change my mind and release this episode as well.

Please know, I’m not here to condemn the existence of coaching programs and online courses. *I* offering teacher consultations and *I* have a course and resources that I sell to teachers, too.  So obviously I believe in their benefit.

I also have many friends who offer these kinds of services and if you are one of them, I assure you: I am not over here secretly judging you for the offerings you put out to the world or the tactics you use to sell them.

Like pretty much EVERYTHING in life, there are great coaches and content creators out there, there are slimey ones, and there a many that fall somewhere in between.  There are resources that CAN help you, and there are those that are merely created for profit and lack any actual substance.

For that matter, there are great resources that AREN’T a great fit for YOU. We ALL know not every teacher is the right match for every student.  Well, that applies to mentors and resources as well.

I’ve talked to SO MANY TEACHERS over the last several years who are engulfed with feelings of embarrassment, shame, and anger that they gave good money to a program that did not deliver what they were promised.

So the question on the table is this:  When considering a coaching program or any other kind of professional development, how can you make a WISE decision about your investment?

Piano teachers, on the whole, have a tendency to be very cautious with how we spend our money.  At the same time, we are often very trusting AND easily-inspired by our colleagues. So when someone tells us they’ve had success and want to help us do the same, it’s easy for us to believe them.

So, lest you think I’m going to be overly-combative today, let’s actually start with GOOD reasons to sign up for a program; whether it be coaching or a course, or whatever.

First of all, there’s accountability.

NOT accountability to the person offering the program (in most cases, I don’t think that’s something you should expect), but accountability to yourself.  You’ve paid the money, now it’s time for you to follow-through. It’s like buying a gym membership.  You know you can work out at home, but when you’re paying for a gym membership, you’re often more likely to go because you have skin in the game and you don’t like paying for nothing.

So: if you know you need to focus your marketing efforts or learn more about a certain methodology, for SOME of us, signing up for help with that goal will be just the push we need to put our hiney in gear and do the work.  Maybe we COULD find similar information out there for free… but WILL we?  For some of us, financial investment provides a nice kick-in-the-pants to follow-through on the things we know we need (or want) to do. Again, this only works for SOME people, so know yourself and act accordingly.  If you are one of those people who pays for the gym membership but still doesn’t go… well, this may not be a good argument for you. :

Another good reason to purchase someone’s offering?  You want to support the creator.  I’ve told you here on the podcast before: if you consume a lot of free material from someone on YouTube or a podcast or whatever, buying their thing is a great way to support them in what they bring to the world while ALSO scoring quality content for yourself in the process. I wouldn’t buy a thousand-dollar offering based on that reason, but will I buy a book written by a creator I follow closely? Absolutely. That’s a win-win as far as I’m concerned.

Lastly – and maybe this is the most obvious – if you have a specific pain point in your work, it makes sense to seek out someone who knows a lot about that thing. Paying someone to learn more about their very specific area of expertise is often a very wise investment.  Sometimes it’s fine to piddle around online and try to piece together information.  But since time IS money, there are definite circumstances when it pays to pay someone for their expertise.

…so then, the question becomes, who do you trust?

To make an informed decision, it’s important you understand how we found ourselves in this particular landscape in the first place. We have to zoom out a bit from TeacherWorld, and, instead, look at the general world of online business and marketing.

I need you to understand, in case you’re not aware, there is an ENTIRE INDUSTRY of online business gurus out there, telling ANYONE they can be a coach for ANY THING.

…and they can make an online course about ANY thing.

…and they can sell PDFs and other downloadable resources about ANY thing.

I will admit to being fairly clueless about this until I launched this podcast in 2020.  I’m in the minority, that I didn’t create this podcast as an avenue to sell things.

…and if you’re not already aware of THIS fun fact, please *do* understand: most podcasts exist to ultimately get you to buy things.  As a general rule, if you are consuming free material, you are the product.

But I entered this arena with a very-Pollyanna intention to simply contribute to the profession I loved so much.

And it’s gone pretty well thus far.  Phew.

But almost immediately after beginning this show, I was launched into this WHOLE corner of the Internet about online business practices.  And online business marketing. 

There are formulas online marketing coaches sell to equip people with “all they need” to build a successful coaching business or online course. I *promise* you’ve seen the formulas at work… because they HAVE proven to be successful.  And I don’t have an issue with the formulas.  If you have ideas the world needs to hear, great. 

MY issue is this:

Coaching people to become coaches is BIG BUSINESS.  These big online business marketing types have made LOTS of money on the notion that ANYONE can coach ANY THING. I’ve witnessed it happen in real time:  I’ve watched people sign up for $5000 coaching programs before they even know what skills they have to coach people on.  I’m not talking about musicians here.  I’m talking about people who have no specialty to call their own at all. They’re sold a dream of INVESTING IN THEMSELVES and they leverage huge sums of money because they’re being promised they can build a 6-figure business if they just follow the formula.

…and what happens when they DON’T build the 6-figure business?  They get told they didn’t work hard enough.  Or they didn’t follow the program specifically enough.  Or they didn’t trust themselves enough. They didn’t dream big enough.  They were too afraid to put themselves out there. Whatever.

You might be wondering what on earth this has to do with you? Well, the people who get sold on THAT dream go on to become the people who enter OUR circles of influence.  And that is where the ethical landscape of these offerings gets foggy.

So – as promised – allow me to offer up some points of discernment I hope you will use to make wise decisions when it comes to coaching programs and other professional services and products:

First and foremost, I need you to ask yourself this:  Are you just stalling?

I’m going to say this as plainly as I know how.  And I say it out of deep love for you.  But some of us need to spend less time looking for people to teach us how to do things, and more time just doing the things.  

There’s a safety and an ease that comes with READING about how to do something. Or watching a video about how to do something.

ACTUALLY DOING IT? That requires discomfort and dealing with the unknown and the unfamiliar. We have to make decisions.  We have to adapt to unique circumstances.  Actually doing the work and learning about doing the work are two very different things.

It’s a lot easier to spend your time listening to other people tell you how to be a successful teacher than it is to get out there and TRY.  So, before committing to another thing, ask yourself:  Are you already making full use of what you know and what you have?  Or are you just stalling?

THEN – I want you to consider – REALLY consider – the promises being made.  While there are some commonalities that pertain to all of us, each of our studios are incredibly nuanced ecosystems. We each have different clientele with different expectations and different economic realities.

…as we – as teachers – have different priorities, different personalities, and different core values.

With all that considered, there is no single marketing strategy that is going to guarantee a doubling of your student enrollment AND mine. There is no curriculum that is guaranteed to please all of your students AND all of mine.

…and this sounds so obvious here in the context of my podcast, but it’s different when you’re right in the middle of a well-crafted sales pitch.

So before you commit to any kind of big-ticket purchase, ask yourself: does this creator understand my student demographic?  Will their promises hold up to my local economy? Does their personality jive with mine?

Pay attention to how they are selling to you, because they are likely going to train you to do the exact same thing.

And – my friends – to circle back to what I said at the tippy-top of this episode:  I just have to say.

If you find yourself in a position where you are trying to grow your studio, you need to be investing in your own teaching. If you run a multi-teacher studio and you’re trying to increase enrollment, you need to be investing in your teachers’ teaching.

Nothing drives me crazier than seeing teachers jump through a million marketing hoops when they don’t even understand fundamental truths of being a studio music teacher.

If you do not understand human beings, and if you cannot produce functional musicians, you are not going to have a booming music business. 

So, yeah, it’s a lot easier to focus on crafting email sequences and advertising strategies… but that’s only going to take you so far.  Getting students to enroll is often the easy part.  It’s keeping them there that matters most.  And that means you have to be an effective teacher.

So make sure you’re not stalling, AND make sure you’re focusing on the right problem.

I get it; being told you need better marketing is an easier pill to swallow than being told you need more teacher training.  I get it.  It’s a much stronger blow to the ego.  But, if you’re struggling to grow your business, you’re likely in a situation where you need to do a little of both.

Okay.  I know we’re going long on time today, but I have a few more considerations for you:

1.       I want you to consider the timing of the purchase. As a general rule for life, I do not purchase ANYTHING if someone says I have to place my order within the hour…or that day… or even within 48 hours.  This goes for home repair estimates, online services, you name it.  If you ever find yourself on a “discovery call” and the salesperson tells you that their best-price offer is only available if you make the decision RIGHT THEN AND THERE, that’s an automatic no from me.  If a service or a product lives up to its quality, there is no reason to use high-pressure sales tactics like telling me I have to BOOK NOW.  If I will truly benefit from a product, I will only get MORE excited about it with time… not less, right?  That premise of “I need you to give me an answer RIGHT THIS MOMENT” stems from a belief that customers will not book once they have time to think about it rationally.  And, again, that’s a HARD PASS from me.
2.       ALSO related to time – I won’t purchase a service or product without an understanding of how much time it will require from me to benefit from the thing. Meaning: if I’m signing up for a coaching service: how many hours do I need to be willing to commit to this process?  If I’m purchasing a video course: how many hours of instruction am I receiving access to?  This is important because – as I mentioned earlier – a common retort from scammy coaching companies is that participants didn’t put enough effort into the process. You need to be clear what kind of timelines and expectations are involved for a successful outcome.  Related, make sure you know how long you will have access to these materials.  Is there any kind of completion deadline you need to be aware of?
3.       Specific to coaching:  I want you to ask yourself: How does this coach spend their time? This is an important one, because many coaching programs are built on a model where you spend a decent amount of time with the face of the brand in the pre-purchase stage.  Yet, once you make your purchase, you are largely handed over to an automated delivery sequence.  This is because the person selling you the thing spends their time SELLING THE THING; not connecting with you afterwards.  This is not inherently bad; a human being can only do so much.  It’s just very important to understand what you can expect post-purchase (and to have that in writing).

Also:  can I just say this?  If a coach makes a claim based on how much money they’ve made doing the thing you want to do, PLEASE ask yourself: if they made so much money, why are they now running a coaching service at all?  Maybe they *do* truly care about teaching others.  It’s possible. But I promise you this; people who have made an extraordinary amount of money are generally not looking for ways to work HARDER.  They obviously see the coaching route as a path to easier money than doing the thing they’re coaching you to do. I obviously can’t speak for everyone… but I am saying, it’s something to consider.

Sigh. There’s SO MUCH more to be said, but I’m going to leave you with one more thought, friends: when it comes to considering big-ticket coaching and/or course offerings, here’s the question:  WHO CAN YOU TALK TO WHO HAS DONE THIS?

We live in a world where we can no longer trust reviews and testimonials we read online.  They’re still an important aspect of marketing; don’t get me wrong… but it’s no secret companies pay for reviews and business owners cherry-pick the best recommendations to feature on their landing pages.  Of course they do. That’s business.  But if I was ever going to consider spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a coaching program?  You’d better believe I’d be talking to someone who has been through it.  Ask around and see if you can find a few people who have been through the program.  If you can’t find anyone, don’t hesitate to ask the creator if they can put you in touch with a few people who have completed the course.   

YES, this takes work.  But this is what my current series of episodes is all about.  We can’t fast-track our growth as teachers, and we shouldn’t fast-track significant financial investments.  We are life-long learners here in the Beyond Measure Community and that means working through the weeds.  Feeling the discomfort and doing the things anyway.

OKAY FRIENDS.  I think we’ve all earned a toast after this one, don’t you?  Go ahead and locate the nearest beverage.  We’ll have a little toast and THEN we’ll celebrate our Teacher Friend of the Week.

Studio Teacher Friends from all around the world, today we raise our glasses in honor of ALL who genuinely seek to teach others a specialized skill. As teachers ourselves, we certainly do not want to disparage anyone from sharing knowledge.  Of course we don’t. At the same time, we band together FOR one another, vehemently rejecting anyone who discourages our colleagues by making promises they cannot keep. To those who HAVE experienced buyer’s remorse, I promise you are not alone.  I hear these stories ALL the time. There is no need for shame or embarrassment, and the truth is you DID learn something valuable from the experience… even if it wasn’t what you set out to learn at the start.  Cheers, my dearest teacher friends!  May we all be wise in discerning the merits of online offerings. Here, here.

If you found today’s conversation of interest, you will love the bonus conversation I recorded this past summer with Melissa Slocum, available exclusively to members of the Patreon Community.  Melissa and I had a rather candid conversation about red flags in the online coaching industry and there is much to enjoy there.  Join today at Patreon.com/BeyondMeasurePodcast.

Now that we’ve taken care of THAT:  Let’s talk Teacher Friend of the Week!  This week’s Teacher Friend of the Week is the fabulous Jaci Mrozek. Jaci is a longtime Patreon Community member, and host of the Piano Teacher Mastermind podcast. To know Jaci is to love her, but I am EXTRA thankful for her today because Jaci recently invited me to give a Masterclass for the Keyboard Teachers Association of greater Cincinnati.  I had the pleasure of giving that masterclass this past Saturday and it was the loveliest event.  Thanks to Jaci Mrozek for the invitation – and for lunch afterwards.  There’s something about working with OTHER students and OTHER teachers that makes a girl just fall even more in love with this musical adventure we’re on together.  If you are part of a local association and are ever find yourself looking for clinicians, I hope you’ll contact me and see if we can work something out. I present regularly in person and online.  You can view a few of my current offerings on my website at ChristinaWhitlock.com/speaking.  But, YES!  Congratulations to Jaci for being our Teacher Friend of the Week.

That’s it for this gigantic episode of the Beyond Measure Podcast, friends!  Thanks for hanging with me today and for processing all of these things alongside me.  Onward and upward, indeed, as we seek to discern the online landscape together.