Teach Guitar Lessons

Hi, everyone.
I am always amazed at some of my intermediate students. They have worked real hard and sound pretty good. More importantly they have a lot of fun just playing guitar. They jam with their friends and help others learn some songs. What amazes me is that, when I suggest they should think about teaching guitar, they look at me and say " I don't think I'm good enough! " . That almost dumbfounds me. The first time that happened I just thought it was humility. I later found out it was a little insecurity mixed in with the mystique of teaching.

For some reason, people think there is some magic in teaching others to play an instrument. There isn't. The main element is a strong desire to help other people. I still love to see beginners light up when they start to get it, even after playing for over 40 years and teaching over 30 years. It's one of my greatest joys in life!

Yes, sometimes you have to have an overabundance of patience, you should be organized and the more you know about playing guitar the better you will do. But you will also learn as you go. I have learned more things from my students and from trying to find things to keep it interesting than I ever would have on my own or from another teacher.

The other thing you need is to be a business person. Many guitar ( and piano teachers ) I know are lousy business people. They find a few students but not enough to make it a viable business. They feel they are an artist and can't be bothered with the business side of teaching. Well, without marketing and sales , you don't have a teaching business. You have a hobby. If that's what you want, that's fine. But it's wonderful to have your own business doing what you love to do . I know because I've done both; I've been a slave to others and I've been my own person. You don't have to try to figure out which I prefer!

The three key area you have to work at to be a viable business is Product, Marketing ( subset sales) and Financial. The product is obvious, the more you know about guitar and can organize it the more you have to teach.
Marketing is knowing your potential customer and targeting advertising ( be it Internet, paper or word of mouth ) to that customer; you have to let them know you are there. Then you have to close the deal, convince them that you are their best choice. You do that by showing them what you have and how that will benefit them. If you have a degree in music, you have to show them how that will help them. You can't assume they know, they might just thing you spent a lot of time reading music scores!
Then there is Financial. That covers a lot of things. Like accounting, banking, how and where you spend money, paying taxes (yeah, if you're going to treat it like a business you have to pay taxes), etc. If you don't keep a handle of the finances you can easily get into trouble.

One of the best ways to learn to run a guitar teaching business is to get Rob Hampton's eBook . He covers a lot of information. I swear he has been reading my mail for the last 30 years (jk) because he did everything I did but in a shorter period of time. It took me 30 years to learn some of the lessons Rob wrote about in his book.

Go to www.napervilleguitarlessons.com/ebook.html for more information about one of the greatest jobs in the world!