Becoming a guitar tutor - advice needed

beed84

After well and truly having enough of retail work and all the usual crap that goes with it, I recently handed my notice in.  Suffice to say, I'm relieved, and after a two week break I'm feeling refreshed.  Time to get back to it.

For a while I've considered doing guitar tuition but didn't have the confidence to do it. My tutor had faith in me years ago and said I could easily be charging £20 per hour.  So after this leap of faith, I ordered some business cards and flyers in an attempt to make this real and I feel all the better for it.

I'm under no illusion that I'll make megabucks from this venture, and I know it'll take time to build up clientele; however, I'm up for this and determined to make it work.  Alongside guitar tuition, gigs, busking and a part-time job with a friend will be in place to rack up the income. 

So having said all that, and because this is all very new to me, any advice on becoming a guitar tutor - electric, classical and acoustic, and specifically for beginners - will be most appreciated. 

tony99

register with HMRC as a sole trader,

trust me you don't want them knocking down your door when you're trying to teach a student the intro to smoke on the water

Funkfingers

Register with the police for a CRB Disclosure.

Blaendulais

Look into all the VAT, tax etc business.  Doesnt that mean gear becomes VAT deductible (or something!)

fandango

Set aside time to sort out your finances. You'll need some discipline throughout the year, so when the time comes to fill in your Personal Tax Return, you're not running around like a lemon. Keep a spreadsheet of all your income and another to track all your expenses. Get a routine sorted early on, so you don't waste time later (when you could be earning).

On a practical note, get in with your local music shops. They might not have their own tutor, but you'll be thankful of the odd student they'll pass your way. BUT you've got to earn the trust. Get yourself out and about. Small flyers in shop windows? Renew regularly. Keep going around and renewing the contacts that will bring you the clients.

Be prepared before you have 50 students pounding your door and get some outline plans ready in advance for different types of student. Think how you'd help a newbie 12 year old, as distinct from a newbie 30 year old, as distinct from someone returning to the art after a few years away from the guitar. Be prepared to cope with a teenager who might know more than you do. Humbling? Your role as tutor may be a mentor to one student, a teacher to another, a sounding board for another ... so familiarise yourself with the different character types of people as this will have a big impact as to how successful you are retaining students.

And remember, a good coach/tutor isn't necessarily the best player, but is the one who can help the student to improve and reach the next stage. But it does help if you know your stuff. You'll be found out otherwise.

thebreeze

fandango said:

Be prepared before you have 50 students pounding your door and get some outline plans ready in advance for different types of student. Think how you'd help a newbie 12 year old, as distinct from a newbie 30 year old, as distinct from someone returning to the art after a few years away from the guitar. Be prepared to cope with a teenager who might know more than you do. Humbling? Your role as tutor may be a mentor to one student, a teacher to another, a sounding board for another ... so familiarise yourself with the different character types of people as this will have a big impact as to how successful you are retaining students.

All the advice so far is very good, but this is particularly good advice imo.  Treat each client as a different person, listen closely to them and get to know them as the people they are.  You can use that in the teaching and they'll respond better to you.

CarpeDiem

thebreeze said:

fandango said:

Be prepared before you have 50 students pounding your door and get some outline plans ready in advance for different types of student. Think how you'd help a newbie 12 year old, as distinct from a newbie 30 year old, as distinct from someone returning to the art after a few years away from the guitar. Be prepared to cope with a teenager who might know more than you do. Humbling? Your role as tutor may be a mentor to one student, a teacher to another, a sounding board for another ... so familiarise yourself with the different character types of people as this will have a big impact as to how successful you are retaining students.

All the advice so far is very good, but this is particularly good advice imo.  Treat each client as a different person, listen closely to them and get to know them as the people they are.  You can use that in the teaching and they'll respond better to you.

I agree with @thebreeze in terms of considering different types of students in advance. Consider whether you want to teach them grades and whether there are any areas you need to refresh, eg ear training, sight reading. Ask any students what they are looking to achieve, and personalise accordingly. Good luck with your new venture!

57Deluxe

you won't get rich being a Guitar Tutor - there aren't sufficient hungry punters willing to commit and 'guitar teachers' are ten-a-penny  - just look at the multitude in listings in your area. Even if you had 6 slots a day 6 days a week you would have no time to do prep for each individual student and let alone follow-up support.

Barney

Teach them what they want to know ....some dont want to be the next Steve Vai ...just to play a few songs around a barbecue..no system will fit all everybody wants different things out of the guitar

Vibetronic

all great advice - I'm currently doing exactly the same as you, although I've taught intermittently for the past 20 years so have some previous experience to fall back on. @fandango 's advice re different types of student is absolutely spot on. It's all about the student; quite often I've found myself hardly picking up my own guitar at all. You will eventually be able to make a living from it - I'm nowhere near yet, but have only just started up promoting it all properly now; I did work out that I should be able to earn roughly what I was on before though, in time, which is fine. I think you will have time to prepare once you have a full roster of students, but it'll just be hard work (but fun; I like preparing lessons!). I have a few friends in regular teaching and they have to put in a lot of hours outside of school - I don't see this as being any different if you want to do it properly and get a good reputation.

One good thing to do is register with the RGT (Registry of Guitar Tutors) - you'll need a couple of referees, but it's good to be on their database  - students can find you through there, and being certified with them lends you a degree of credibility.

Also, make sure you have a decent social media presence and a website. Check out the local competition, and make sure your online presence looks as good or (hopefully) better than theirs. Looking around my area for example, there are loads of teachers; a couple with really good websites who have excellent videos/soundclips and are very good players. There are others though that have either really outdated or just very strange websites, and playing that's out of tune. You'll also want to boost your site (if you have one) on the Google rankings; lots of business will come from there (again, in my area, lots of the local music shops have now shut down, so not much advertising opportunity - I've done the card/leaflet thing like you). I spoke to a guy from Yell recently, and there are roughly 500 searches via Google for guitar lessons in my area per month, which isn't bad; if your site is on the first page of a Google search, and near the top, that's obviously going to help get business in. I have also aimed my site/teaching more towards what I'm good at; I'm not going to be teaching people flamenco or jazz for example...there are people around who can do that, but equally fewer around who can do the stuff that I can, if that makes sense. 

Sorry, bit of a ramble but hope it helps a bit. I'm absolutely no expert and have been lucky enough to get loads of help from people who know what they're on about - sure you can do it. Having the confidence to actually start doing it was the biggest thing for me.

daveyh

Funkfingers said:

Register with the police for a CRB Disclosure.

Just a small point, it's called a DBS now. You can also register with their update service for a small annual subscription, saves having to get new ones for different employers/purposes

beed84

@fandango - brilliant advice and great insight too, thanks for this.

@57deluxe - like I said, I don't believe I will make a lot of money out of it, but as long as I have enough to pay the rent etc, then I'll be happy!

@Vibetronic - some really good points here; you weren't rambling at all. I think having an online presence is an important aspect which will be the biggest challenge for me - it's not something that I get on with.  But if it helps earn me students/money, then I guess I'll have to work at it.  Becoming registered with RGT is also another area to work towards.

Cheers everyone, it's genuinely appreciated

close2u

Do any of you experienced tutors do:

# signed agreements / t&cs?
# payment in advance / block booking discount?
# discounted introductory lesson?
# cancellation policies?
# long-term bookings - maybe towards grades?

etc etc

longshins

Join the ISM, you can claim your annual subscription back off of the tax man, they will support you with contracts, standardised pricing etc. The new 2018- Trinity Rock grade books are good, for little ones the best book by a country mile is guitar basics by James Longworth and Nick Walker. I’m a full time guitar teacher, work for a music service. Any questions please feel free to ask. Cheers!

Lestratcaster

Guitar tutor going into my 10th year next year.

The hardest thing is getting started. Advertise wherever you can, online, shops, schools etc. Get people in through the door and start building a name for yourself. It won't happen overnight so you have to be patient and be prepared for dry months (Christmas and Summer Holidays can be shitty for guitar lessons).

Also, don't be too cheap with your rates. I know with competition and the market can sometimes force you to go bargain basement prices but if you advertise for like £15-20 per hour you simply look cheap and people will wonder why you are so low in cost. Is that how much you value your services? I noticed when I was charging well over £30 I started to get more serious enquiries, and learners would actually practice. I've retained students for longer and the working hours offset against pay is much better. 5 learners at £30 per hour is better on time than 10 at £15 per hour. £15-20 means jack to people, I've got £20 in my wallet! There's no sense of investment in there so they are more likely to not practice or not even show up! I encountered this a lot in my early teaching days and lost a lot of money. Once the start having to pay better quality fees they're going to have to invest more time into it resulting in a more dedicated learner.

Also, to combat the whole late cancellations/no show thing I now charge in monthly blocks of 4 lessons, payment upfront via bank transfer before the first lesson starts. That way there's no messing around with people forgetting cash (have had learners running to cash points before the lesson, not bringing correct change or you not having the correct change), not showing up or cancelling on you, then not turning up ever again. You kinda get your wage for the month already there.

I use a written agreement for all my learners, via the Musician's Union. Its basically a contract which they agree to and sign meaning they'll forfeit any lesson fee they've already paid if they haven't given sufficient notice to cancel, or not show up. There's also a 4 week written notice policy to terminate the agreement so it gives me a month to find another student. Out of my 8 years I've only had to contact the MU for advice 3 times to help with lost fees. 95% of the time people are decent humans who pay on time, in full and turn up. 

My first lesson is a reduced one off rate, however if they like it and decide come back I offer an introductory discount where they pay the 4 weekly lesson fee but get the trial thrown in so 5 lessons for the cost of 4.

I also do a 10 lesson block booking scheme for the more serious longer-term learners which is good but getting someone to pay for almost 3 months of lessons can be difficult.

I am a registered RGT and Rockschool tutor so can do all the grades if needed be. I'd say its 50-50 splitof my learners who do grades and learn for fun.
 
Doing your own accounts is really important too, I keep a spreadsheet of all my income and receipts and do my self-assessment once a year. The previous 2 years have seen considerable rises in profit I'm proud to say. The tax bill did kick me in the bollocks though. 

Having your own website and social media is also very important to advertising yourself. On my website and Instagram I regularly post lesson video clips so potential customers can see exactly what the teaching room and myself look like and also there's a learner there doing a lesson so it proves I exist!

For the amount of local tutors I've seen round here that don't even have a website its shocking (good for me if they're competition) but how they do expect to sell themselves? Ads only contain a bunch of irrelevant spiel on how good they are and the video link is of them endlessly shredding. Seeing them performing is great but it offers no connection to the viewer. Last year I shot a lesson trailer video where I was in front of the camera introducing myself and also had 2 of my learners giving video testimonials.

Once the numbers build you can start turning people away and be a bit more picky about the ones you take on. There will still be timewasters around and ones who just won't respect your time.

It is very rewarding though if you get it right, making a difference to people's lives is what makes me pleased. The fact they couldn't play at all a few months ago and now they're strumming their favourite tune comfortable is good progress for me.

Alot of people will have a "dream" whether its to reach grade 8 or woo some girl with a love song. If you can sell that "dream" can come true guaranteed how much will people pay you to achieve it?

Anyway I think I've covered most points, good luck with it and feel free to ask if you need any more advice.

designerseye88

Not sure it's been said but from a business point of view it's worth setting up as a sole trader. However most accountants will tell you if you earn anything under £1000 per year you don't need to disclose it as HMRC won't really be interested. However if you are going to be earning more than that which it sounds like you will If you are doing a number of different jobs be careful. Im not an accountant but I run my own business and my partner is a sole trader. My main advice is to always put 20% of your earnings aside for the tax man. You might not even reach over your personal allowance but with a number of jobs this could be the case. If the tax man does ever start looking into your earnings they will also then no doubt be looking into how you are paid by your friend and gigs etc. The chances are always small but my main point is just do everything legit. It's always tempting to cut corners but don't. 

On the upside though anything you do buy is tax deductible. If you rent a space, buy furniture or buy guitars etc keep a receipt!!! and most importantly get friendly with an accountant. Im sure there will be some one here that can give you advice. 

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life"


Good luck! 

Phil_aka_Pip

Haven't read everyone else's advice, but I say Take payment with booking and ask for 48 hours notice of cancellation or change of lesson time. You will lose money hand over fist if you don't.

It is however the best job in the world. People pay you good money to sit there and witter about your favourite subject

Make sure you know your theory and that your reading is up to scratch. Insist that either your pupils do their Rockschool grades (or whatever you go with) or that if they don't sit the exams they do all the set pieces in the book to your satisfaction. Don't put them in for exams until you know they will be ready (but don't leave it so long they go off the boil either).

Haven't taught for a few years but the last recommended MU rate that I knew about was £30 per hour.

Lestratcaster

MU rate for 2017 is £33 per hour.

OnTheRopes

Blaendulais said:

Look into all the VAT, tax etc business.  Doesnt that mean gear becomes VAT deductible (or something!)

It's really not worth it for a sole trader dealing with the public. Yes you can claim VAT back on all business purchases but then you will have to charge clients VAT which will add 20% to your fee. This will make you noncompetitive compared to non registered teachers.
It's only really worth it if a large part of your business is with other VAT registered businesses because they can claim back your VAT charge. Unless you are expecting to be over the VAT threshold, in which case you must of course.

DulcetJones

On top of all of the above:  I kept a book with my schedule in order with each students day, time, and a quick note at the end of each lesson about what we were working on.  That's a lifesaver.

siraxeman

@Lestratcaster ;

"Ah'p norf" you'd be extremely lucky to get away with charging that much. Possibly so if you worked out of a shop doing 30min lessons @£15 You'd more likely be doing it as a sideline.