From MusicTeachersHelper.com: Cool idea about how to get 10 new students in two hours – http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/working-together-to-grow-our-music-business/

How to have an UNSUCCESSFUL career teaching guitar – http://thelaughingbard.com/how-to-have-an-unsuccessful-career-teaching-guitar/

From GuitarNoise.com: Ten Ways for Beginner Guitar Players to Improve In a Hurry – http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/ten-ways-for-beginner-guitar-players-to-improve/

Five Ways to Add Length To Your Practice Sessions – http://collaborativepiano.blogspot.com/2007/10/5-ways-to-add-length-to-your-practice.html

How To Practice Sight Reading – http://www.flutetunes.com/articles/sight-reading/

Got links?

If you have any links to interesting articles or news stories related to teaching guitar, please send them my way! Use this form to email them to me…I’ll include them in a future edition of the STG News Desk and make sure to give you credit for the submission.

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Teaching Guitar In the 21st Century

Agents of Change

• Globalization
• Technology
• Demographics
• Expectations

Education is Changing

Music is Changing

The Economy is Changing

Items Mentioned In This Episode:

• Article: History of the Guitar
• Square
• Paypal
• Tip Jar Link – if you find it beneficial, click to leave a donation for the Start Teaching Guitar podcast
• Free eBook: Teaching Guitar the SMART Way

To call in with a question, a comment or to leave feedback for the show, call the Listener Feedback Hotline at (719) 428-5480 and leave a message! I just might include your recorded message in a future episode.

If you have a quick minute, please click here to leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes tremendously! I would really appreciate it!

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This interview is with Kyle Ohlenkamp, from Minnetonka, Minnesota in the USA. To find out more about Kyle and his teaching business, visit his website at http://www.aspiremusicclub.com

Guitar Teacher Interview

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you live? What’s your background?

I live In Delano, Minnesota but I teach out of Minnetonka, which is a larger suburb of Minneapolis with a thriving arts and music supporting community.

I first started with piano lessons and I really did not like them. I couldn’t stand the melodies we were playing…even by age eight I was already into Kiss; not some “Snake Dance” tune on piano that every kid taking lessons had to play. It was all out of a book and every kid got the same book and even then I KNEW somehow there was a better way. I found it one day when I was about 13 and we were at a store where they had a magazine with a guitar on it. I talked my mom into buying it and it said it could teach you how to play the songs in it and one of them was by Journey.

Now, I did not know much at all and instead of a guitar I ended up with a bass because my mom didn’t know the difference. So, I started out by trying to learn the bass Line for “Stone In Love” by Journey! If I would have known how hard that bass line was (even now) to play I would have probably given up, but I didn’t know that it couldn’t be done so I did it! Now, I had a beginning and most of my learning during the next 3 years came from every guitar magazine I could subscribe to.

I then had a chance to go to Berklee when I was 16 and wow did that open my eyes! I was probably never going to be a professional level player, I realized, but that was alright. I enjoyed music and teaching as much as performing and that has made it possible for me to still have great energy to do this at age 41. After high school I put my dreams on hold and went to college and then got a job at a corporation. For the next 15 years, this is what I did. I hated it. I eventually, got to a point where I looked at my life and said: Is this what I would want for my kids? Of course not. I would want them to be happy in their job and contribute at a high level and that is not possible when you dread what you do every day.

As fate would have it I lost my job at about this time. I don’t know how I did it, but I went into a local music store and asked if I could teach lessons there a couple days a week. They said “maybe” but didn’t seem too thrilled about the idea. I should say that I knew one of the guys that worked there because from time to time I would still jam with local bands. He vouched for me with them and they said, “Alright…if you can get your own students you can have the space in the back to teach them lessons”. They did not have a formal teaching program in place.

Well, it took about 6 months for me to get 3 students and I was getting discouraged. Then, I thought, why not put all the kids I am teaching together into a group and see if they want to learn songs that way. I had another guy from the store play drums.

It went pretty well, so I started gaining the confidence of the owner and he saw that I really cared about the students getting to be excited about learning and finding out from them what it was they really wanted to do. It was less about playing guitar than it was the feeling of being part of something and having fun.

That seemed to spark something in me and renewed my desire to try harder. I set aside 40 hours a week to work on my business. The owner took notice and began to give me tips on how to grow my business.

Then, we moved to a bigger location with a big stage, and sound and lights and an ideal setting to bring bands, student groups and also teach lessons.

So, here it is a year and a half later and I’m still learning. We have done 6 Music Clubs and nearly all of the students still are here and keep signing up.

Tell us about your guitar teaching business. Are you doing it part-time or full-time? How many students are you currently teaching?

I have been teaching full-time now for a year and a half. I have had about 40 students during that time and we are gaining momentum as I didn’t even have a website until a few weeks ago. Now, I have a Facebook page and I am learning more and more about social media.

This next session in April is our biggest yet and will include 5 Music Clubs with 4 students each that run 8 weeks. We are planning to teach 20 private lessons and are also holding a Battle of The Bands during this time period. So I have my hands full because I have to run all aspects of the Music Club side of things.

All of my students are different in their motivation for taking lessons. Some start because their parent want them to. Some because they have an interest in an instrument and are not sure if they want to learn more, but maybe, so they come in and some that are REALLY into it.

I thought all of the students would be the later kind when I began but I have found they are only about 30% based on the 40-50 students that I have taught so far.

I try to offer classes that are diverse. Private lessons in many instruments and if I don’t know how to play it, I contact someone through the stores vital contact list that does, as they have been around for 7 years and know most musicians in the area.

I also have tried to branch out and offer groups lessons at local churches and schools, although we have not done one yet…we are very close to getting final approval.

We are also moving into a technology course that offers audio and video training and software experience.

The next round of classes in April includes a class called “Making The Video” and I have also found that theater people can benefit from using our stage to rehearse so I have rented the space out to them and that works as well.

Oh, also the top students I offer an internship to student/teach after they have done several sessions and that has gone great!

It is so important to keep offering progressive opportunities to create, because otherwise, after 6 lessons most students get bored as there is no motivation to practice for most because they are not going to try to be rock stars.

I look at private lessons as a gateway to offering them more opportunities and I let them know that. I also make it a policy to give 5 times as much as a customer would expect. I learned that from a businessman I respect. For example, I will offer a free lesson to someone who is doing really well or 10% off some gear and I will pay the difference myself.

People notice what your motivation is and they respond, I think. “Give way more than I take” is my motto always.

One other thing is that I will not turn a student down based on financial status. No matter what….if they have the desire to really learn. I find a way to make it happen. Often times they can pay a little. Some times, someone steps in and contributes from the local community for them and sometimes I just teach for free because it is the right thing to do, and besides, it is not for free because I am getting something more than money can buy by doing this!

What’s been the biggest key to success in your teaching business so far?

The number one thing is the ability to keep an open mind and continue to think like a beginner. That opens many doors. I am honest with everyone and if I make a mistake I make up for it right away.

Persistence and the willingness to keep going and keep getting better no matter what. This is what allows me to still be doing this going on 2 years at age 41. Most people would have said to themselves they are too old, no one will take lessons, it is not a legit career path at my age, there are million reasons why I should not teach guitar for a living, but I know this is what I was meant to do and that is the ONLY reason I need to keep going every day.

Every student that comes to me is a chance to make a difference. The lessons I really teach are about life and not giving up and finding a way. They just look like music lessons from the outside.

What’s been your most effective way of attracting new students?

For me it is by getting out there and promoting what I do by example. I engage in conversations and contribute in places where people that are interested in learning music gather.

On the internet is probably 50% of the way I pick up new business. Facebook allows people to get to know and trust you through their friends that know and trust you. So, I start with the network of people I already have and I look out from there.

I have a three-tiered approach to marketing and a check-list I use every day so that my marketing is effective. I know the things that work are the things that take time and generally are the ones I want to avoid. The ones that are easy like blind ads and such are the ones that do not work at all for me and yet are so easy to do!

What’s been your most effective way of keeping your existing students from quitting?

By soliciting feedback from them and from their parents, when appropriate. By changing if things are not working. Giving them options and letting them pick what they prefer. Really getting to know the student and trying to go in the direction that is best for them and not what I want to teach but what they want to learn. That is the key and it is different for every single student to some degree.

I always keep in touch with a departing student, if they agree that is alright, and have seen some come back after a break.

What helps to keep you motivated to continue when things don’t seem to be going as well as you would like?

The fact that I have a routine based on proven marketing strategies and the fact that I surround myself with successful people that have a positive attitude and are a resource for getting over hills.

When I am having a rough patch I look at what I can change or do better. Then, I go do it. Less thinking, more action during these times. Keep moving in a positive direction and you cannot fail because to me failure is no longer an option. Display this attitude and people that have no interest in music even want to be around and take lessons from you.

What advice would you have for someone who would like to get started teaching guitar lessons for the first time?

Very simple:

JUST DO IT

If they are really serious I would add:

RIGHT NOW

Can you share one tip that has worked for you to help your students get better results on the guitar?

By finding out how they learn best. Through their ears, their eyes, do a search on learning methods and choose the top 2 that fit for that student.

Then, I add in rewards and I try to make them intrinsic…meaning that it’s not something I can buy them, but I really let them know and their families know or maybe I post to their Facebook (if I know they are OK with that) about a milestone they have reached. When this is done from the heart it has an amazing effect. Yes, of course I celebrate with a pizza, too!

Well, that’s it for today’s Guitar Teacher Interview. If you’d like to be considered for a future interview, enter your name and email address below to join the Start Teaching Guitar community. I send out occasional interview requests to this mailing list.

If you have any questions, comments or feedback please leave a reply below!

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Student retention is the secret to keeping the “back door” closed (or at least a little more difficult for your students to open). In this article, I’ll tell you about 5 important things you should absolutely be doing to increase your student retention, starting with the first time you meet with them:

5 Things You MUST Do After You Get a New Student

1) Assess Their Current Skill Level & History With the Guitar

This one might seem obvious, but don’t assume that you automatically know what a brand new student needs to be taught. Take some time in that first lesson to run through all the basic stuff and identify any gaps in their musical development. Every student will have some gaps and some weak areas…these are things you can target in future lessons so that the student can develop a solid musical foundation and get better results.

Also, make sure you ask them about their history with the guitar…what other teacher’s they’ve worked with in the past…how long they’ve been at it…what they like the best about playing guitar…what frustrates them the most. Take some good notes while they talk about this stuff. These are all clues to help you understand how to teach that student in the most effective way, but what you’re REALLY doing is setting the right tone FROM THE VERY BEGINNING and letting them know that you ACTUALLY CARE about them. You’re communicating that the lessons will be about THEM…and not about YOU. That goes a long way towards removing any feelings of intimidation and makes the student feel more comfortable with you…which ultimately helps your retention rate.

2) Help Them Set Musical Goals

Once you know a little bit about where a student has BEEN, you need to help them figure out where they want to GO with the guitar. This is where some guitar teachers DOOM their students to failure! The first big mistake a lot of teachers make is to not set any goals AT ALL…they just “wing” the lessons from week to week and teach whatever strikes their fancy. The second big mistake is the exact opposite: to set goals FOR a student…to dictate what they will learn. Either one of those extremes will damage your student retention.

If you want to keep your students around, you need to give them what they want. I’m not saying that the customer is ALWAYS right…I’m just saying that they need to FEEL like they’re always right, because they’re paying the bills. As a teacher, you’re the most effective when you can take what your students NEED to learn, and deliver it in the context of what they WANT to learn. The problem is, many of them can’t really VERBALIZE exactly what they want (“I just want to get better on the guitar”). You need to do a little detective work here, and help them come up with a set of musical goals that works FOR THEM. Yes, YOU are the expert…yes, YOU have the knowledge and they don’t…but unless you deliver that knowledge and expertise in a way that GIVES THEM WHAT THEY WANT, your students will tend to get discouraged and quit.

3) Take Some Goals and Make Them Milestones

Once you’ve worked WITH the student to identify some musical goals, take some of them and make “milestones” out of some of them. These are the things your student can look forward to achieving, and can look back at to get a feeling of accomplishment. Kind of like earning different colored “belts” in a karate school, your students need to feel like they’re making progress…like they’re actually moving down the path to becoming a better guitar player. They need to see RESULTS. They need to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.

The easiest way to do this is to pick 2 or 3 of their biggest goals, write the word “milestone” next to them, and write down a reasonable deadline for each of them…then, do everything you can to help them meet that deadline. The benefit of doing this is that you’re students will always know what they’re working towards, and you can gear the lessons around helping them to get there. They stay more excited, more dedicated and more focused. They tend to practice more and work harder. Why? Because they’re working toward something THEY want, and you’re COACHING them so that they can get there. Students don’t just want to be TAUGHT…they need someone to BELIEVE in them and MOTIVATE them to greatness. They need a COACH. Be that coach, and they’ll stick with you through thick and thin.

4) Identify Some Rewards

Don’t stop with identifying some milestones for your students…take it one step further and identify some REWARDS they can achieve when the REACH those milestones. Rewards can be an amazing motivational tool. Try to write down a list of rewards that your new student would want and appreciate…they can be anything from small pieces of music gear, to branded merchandise, to even a “title” or a certificate. The rewards don’t have to be extravagant; just make them appropriate for the amount of work it takes to earn them.

The point is to CELEBRATE the successes of your students. As humans, we work harder and perform better when our hard work is ACKNOWLEDGED. That’s why student recitals can be so effective…you can hold a public event a few times a year at a club or coffee shop, and then give your students a chance to SHINE. You can reward them publicly, in front of their family and friends, for all the hard work they put in to reach their goals and milestones. It’s a great way to help close the back door and keep your students with you longer. Recitals can be a great way to promote your teaching business and get more people in through the FRONT door, too.

5) Send Them a “Thank You” Card

This might seem like a small, insignificant thing…but you want to make sure you express your GRATITUDE to your students. Always remember that your business exists to SERVE THEM and they can easily choose to leave and take lessons from anyone they want. It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to teach the students who come to you! They’re entrusting their musical development to you, so make sure you don’t take them for granted.

Something as simple as a small thank you card sent through the mail can do wonders for your student retention. It expresses your gratitude for choosing you as a guitar teacher, and it communicates the fact that you really do appreciate their business. Sometimes a small personal gesture like that can make a student feel like they made the right decision, and the more positive feelings you can reinforce at the beginning of your teaching relationship with someone, the longer they’re likely to stay with you.

There are lots of other things you can do to increase your student retention, but these 5 are some of the basic things that no one should overlook. If you focus on providing what your students are really paying you for, you can help them get the best possible results on the guitar…which will translate into a MUCH more successful teaching business for you!

Do you have any experience with these student retention ideas, or maybe some recommendations for others that should be on the list? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

Take The Next Step!

Enter your name and email address below to get your FREE copy of my eBook "Teaching Guitar the SMART Way", and join the Start Teaching Guitar community:

From UltimateGuitar.com: “What Skills Will Improve Your Guitar Playing Faster” – http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/general_music/what_skills_will_improve_your_guitar_playing_faster.html

Are you “stopping at the green lights” in your teaching business? This is a good article to help motivate you to action – http://www.jmlalonde.com/stop-stopping-at-green-lights/

From MusicTeachersHelper.com: “Personality Tests and Teaching” – http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/personality-tests-and-teaching/

Why Music Recitals Are Like Life Skills 101 – http://parkslopemusiclessons.com/2011/06/15/why-music-recitals-are-like-life-skills-101/

Courtesy of STG community member Bill Nork: “Music Lessons On Webcam Grow In Popularity” – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/us/music-lessons-on-webcams-grow-in-popularity.html?_r=1

Got links?

If you have any links to interesting articles or news stories related to teaching guitar, please send them my way! Use this form to email them to me…I’ll include them in a future edition of the STG News Desk and make sure to give you credit for the submission.

Take The Next Step!

Enter your name and email address below to get your FREE copy of my eBook "Teaching Guitar the SMART Way", and join the Start Teaching Guitar community:

RockStarTraining.com – Interview With Rich Lauletta

Special deal for STG Podcast listeners: get your first 6 months of RockStarTraining.com for FREE! ($60.00 value)

Visit www.RockStarTraining.com and sign up…then enter the following promo code to get your first 6 months for free:

ROCKCAST50

Items Mentioned In This Episode:

• RockStarTraining.com “Ambassador” program
• Tip Jar Link – if you find it beneficial, click to leave a donation for the Start Teaching Guitar podcast
• Free eBook: Teaching Guitar the SMART Way

To call in with a question, a comment or to leave feedback for the show, call the Listener Feedback Hotline at (719) 428-5480 and leave a message! I just might include your recorded message in a future episode.

If you have a quick minute, please click here to leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes tremendously! I would really appreciate it!

Take The Next Step!

Enter your name and email address below to get your FREE copy of my eBook "Teaching Guitar the SMART Way", and join the Start Teaching Guitar community:

This interview is with Matteo Miller, from San Diego, California in the USA. To find out more about Matteo and his teaching business, visit his website at guitarlessonsinsandiego.com.

Guitar Teacher Interview

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you live? What’s your background?

I live in San Diego, California.

Tell us about your guitar teaching business. Are you doing it part-time or full-time? How many students are you currently teaching?

I’ve always dreamed of being a rock star, ever since I was young… It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized it WAS possible for ME!!! I found a mentor who taught me how to build a teaching business, and now I’ve been doing it for a little over a year and making good money! I only have about 6 or 7 students but that’s because I was bad at converting people into students and retaining them for long periods of time. I’m getting better at it…the students also improve much faster now, and they are having a lot more fun! That’s really great because I only want the best for them. Unfortunately I don’t have enough students for a group class yet, but I do host a free class at a community center which I’m going to use as a recruitment outlet. ;)

What’s been the biggest key to success in your teaching business so far?

CONSTANT MARKETING!!! Every time I put up a new batch of fliers I get FLOODS of calls. I haven’t been motivated much these days to put them up so I haven’t gotten as many calls as I should. However, that’s definitely the biggest part of this whole thing. In order to get 100 students, you MUST ATTRACT THEM TO YOU FIRST!!! That doesn’t happen by just wishing, hoping or wanting…it comes from consistent marketing and having a complete STRATEGY and a WEB of systems connected and consistent with each other to get that.

What’s been your most effective way of attracting new students?

The best way so far for getting students has been putting up fliers in my local area. Sure, I’m #2 or #3 on google, but that doesn’t really matter much.

What’s been your most effective way of keeping your existing students from quitting?

Explaining to them WHY we’re learning a particular topic. Jumping around from one topic to the next, not staying on a single topic for more than 2 lessons. It keeps interest high because they don’t know what to expect next. Then, proving to them how effective this method is by showing them the results they’re getting!

What helps to keep you motivated to continue when things don’t seem to be going as well as you would like?

Listening to business training calls, my favorite music, picturing myself actually being successful, reading books about personal development and business, and keeping my mind clear of negativity in the first place is what keeps me going.

It’s difficult to get motivated to actually DO those things if you are feeling down, so it’s good to make it a habit to keep doing all of that during the GOOD times as well as the bad.

I know that business has bad times, but success also comes just after a bad time. After all, millionaires are made by recessions!

What advice would you have for someone who would like to get started teaching guitar lessons for the first time?

Remember that it’s not about teaching music. It’s more about the PERSON that’s in front of you. Get to know them, their weaknesses, their strengths. Make them feel confident, like they really CAN do this! If you don’t have the heart and mind of the student, you won’t get them a result. They’ll quit.

But make sure that they actually LIKE what you’re teaching them…they’ll quit if you try teaching them Bing Crosby songs.

Can you share one tip that has worked for you to help your students get better results on the guitar?

TRAINING!!! Don’t just give them something and send them home! Sit down with them and WALK THEM THROUGH the process of practicing. Taking it piece by piece, bit by bit…watching them…monitoring them…making sure they’re focused. That’s how they should be practicing at home, so why not have them do it right in front of you in the studio?

Well, that’s it for today’s Guitar Teacher Interview. If you’d like to be considered for a future interview, enter your name and email address below to join the Start Teaching Guitar community. I send out occasional interview requests to this mailing list.

If you have any questions, comments or feedback please leave a reply below!

Take The Next Step!

Enter your name and email address below to get your FREE copy of my eBook "Teaching Guitar the SMART Way", and join the Start Teaching Guitar community:

Since Start Teaching Guitar is one of those free online resources you can use to grow your teaching business, I thought I’d put together a list of 10 more online resources you should know about. There are obviously many others I could add to the list, but here are 10 of my current favorites:

10 Online Resources To Help You Grow Your Teaching Business

1) Music Teacher’s Helper

Music Teacher’s Helper is a really cool way to manage your teaching business…it gives you a suite of online tools that help you take care of billing, accounting and bookkeeping, scheduling your lessons, sending reminders, tracking your lesson notes and even setting up a basic website. The cool thing about MTH is that all of these tools are built into a single well-designed web interface that lets you manage everything from one place. It was built by music teachers with YOUR teaching business in mind, and it will save you tons of time and frustration. You can sign up for a FREE TRIAL ACCOUNT at MusicTeachersHelper.com…give it a try and you won’t be disappointed.

2) Square

You definitely want to be accepting credit cards from your students. The easier it is for people to pay you, the fewer hassles you’ll have with billing, invoices and collections. Square is the coolest solution for accepting credit cards that I’ve seen in the last 10 years. You just sign up for a free Square account and they send you a small card swiper (also free) that plugs right into your smart phone (iPhone or Android). You install the free Square app, sign in, plug in the swiper and you can accept payments right there in your teaching studio. Square is the perfect solution for getting paid ON THE SPOT. I just noticed today that PayPal is playing catch-up with these guys, and has released their own card swiper and smart phone app…we’ll have to wait and see if they can beat Square’s current momentum in the marketplace. You can get more info and sign up at SquareUp.com.

3) RockStarTraining.com

There are lots of music teacher directories on the web, but RockStarTraining.com is special. It’s more than just a place to set up a profile and “hang out your shingle” as a guitar teacher…these guys re-invest 50% of the revenue they generate into advertising to help you get more students. That means BETTER SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS for you, which turns into MORE NEW STUDENTS. Their prices are very affordable and their marketing is great. You can sign up at RockStarTraining.com, and if you use the promo code ROCKCAST50, they’ll give you your first 6 months for FREE!

4) Neck Diagrams

Creating lesson plans, diagrams and handouts for your students is always a time-consuming process. You either have to spend HOURS creating them yourself, use something free from the Internet that may not be exactly what you want…or just write them out by hand in the middle of a lesson. Neck Diagrams is the perfect solution to this problem. It’s a cool software app that runs on both Mac and Windows, and it lets you create professional-looking fretboard diagrams, chords diagrams and other useful lesson plan objects quickly and easily. Go to NeckDiagrams.com to get more info and download a FREE TRIAL to check it out.

5) Skype

If you haven’t heard of Skype by now, you probably live under a rock. It’s the world-wide standard for voice and video communications over the web. You’ve probably used it to talk to your Mom, or to a friend who lives on the other side of the world…but it’s the perfect tool for TEACHING WEBCAM LESSONS. You can use it to expand your local teaching business and take it world-wide, and it’s a great way to teach lessons in the mornings when your local students might not be available (due to the magical power of “time zones”). Check out this guest article by Joe Walker on how to teach guitar lessons using Skype…it’s easier than you think!

6) Aweber

If you’re not using email lists to market your teaching business, you’re losing money. An email list is one of the best ways to build an “audience” of prospects to market to, and Aweber is the best email list management service available. There are several “email list providers” out there to choose from, but Aweber is the most full-featured and easy to use service I’ve ever worked with. If you’re new to email marketing, I put together a complete multimedia training course that shows you how to set up and use Aweber to grow your teaching business step-by-step.

7) Google Docs

In the old days (before 2005), you had to purchase a copy of Microsoft Office or use one of it’s free variants (Open Office, etc.) if you wanted to do word processing, spreadsheets and other business desktop applications. Thanks to our friends at Google, you can create and use word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentation slides all for free using Google Docs. It runs right in your web browser and lets you access your documents from any computer with an Internet connection. Since your files reside “in the cloud”, you never have to worry about losing them…and you can collaborate with other people over the web and work together in the same documents at the same time. Google Docs are perfect for keeping track of your lesson notes, your budget, your marketing…you name it. If you haven’t already done so, check it out and see what you’ve been missing.

8) MindMeister.com

Mind mapping is a cool way to capture your business ideas, organize them in a way that makes sense and share them with other people. There are some free desktop-based mind mapping tools (like FreeMind), but my favorite is a web-based application called Mind Meister. It takes all the cool features of FreeMind and puts them into a tool you can run in your web browser…which gives you the same benefits you get from Google Docs: you can access your mind maps from any computer with an Internet connection, your mind maps are automatically backed up and you can share and collaborate with other people easily. I love using mind maps for planning (I use them for all of my podcast episodes) and they’re also great for keeping track of your to-do lists. Mind Meister will let you do up to 3 mind maps for free…check it out and let me know what you think!

9) Craigslist

Craigslist is another one of those sites everybody knows about…you’ve probably used it before to buy a piece of furniture or to sell that elliptical machine you never found the time to use. It’s also a really effective place to ADVERTISE your guitar teaching business, and best of all…it’s FREE! The beauty of Craigslist is that it gives you access to targeted LOCAL people in your area…tons of potential students are checking Craigslist all the time for music equipment and other stuff. It’s the perfect place to tell them all about what you can offer them as a guitar teacher and drive them back to your website and email list. Sign up for a free account and Craigslist will let you keep track of your ads and make the whole process even easier.

10) WordPress

The last online tool I want to tell you about is the free blogging platform called WordPress. It’s a website-building framework that lets you put together a world-class website in the blink of an eye and gives you access to all the features you need to make it show up in the search engines. Music Teacher’s Helper is a great tool for managing the “private” side of your teaching business, but WordPress is perfect for the “public” stuff, like marketing your teaching business online. The real advantage WordPress gives you is the ability to create a professional website for your teaching business YOURSELF…there’s no need to hire a web developer or a graphics designer to build or maintain it for you. Don’t believe me? Check out the free video I put together that literally shows you how to set up your own teaching website from beginning to end in 30 minutes or less using WordPress.

Like I said before, these are just a handful of the tools available on the Internet to help you be more successful as a guitar teacher, and there are new ones being developed all the time. Taking advantage of tools like these can really help you grow your business FASTER and EASIER than trying to do it on your own the old fashioned way.

Do you have any experience with these online tools, or maybe some recommendations for others that should be on the list? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

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Teaching songs is overrated…riffs rule! – http://www.jimbowley.com/2011/05/songs-overrated-riffs-rule/

Great article from Music Teacher’s Helper…”Why Do You Teach?” – http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/why-do-you-teach/

8 Ways To Get Better At Playing Guitar Chords – http://www.notplayingguitar.com/2010/05/8-ways-to-get-better-at-guitar-chords.html

Gary Marcus: Guitar Zero And The Science Of Learning (courtesy of STG community member Bill Nork) - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/gary-marcus_n_1336158.html

Only 10 Minutes To Practice? No Problem! – http://fretterverse.com/2010/07/01/only-10-minutes-to-practice-no-problem/

Got links?

If you have any links to interesting articles or news stories related to teaching guitar, please send them my way! Use this form to email them to me…I’ll include them in a future edition of the STG News Desk and make sure to give you credit for the submission.

Take The Next Step!

Enter your name and email address below to get your FREE copy of my eBook "Teaching Guitar the SMART Way", and join the Start Teaching Guitar community:

I go into MUCH greater detail about each item in the podcast, but here’s a rough outline for you:

Gardening and Guitar Lessons

1) Setting Up Some Structure

2) Adding Fertilizer

3) Pulling the Weeds

4) Daily TLC

5) Protecting From Pests

6) Harvest Time!

Items Mentioned In This Episode:

• Book: “Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew
• Photos: My Family Garden (from my wife’s blog)
• Tip Jar Link – if you find it beneficial, click to leave a donation for the Start Teaching Guitar podcast
• Free eBook: Teaching Guitar the SMART Way

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Take The Next Step!

Enter your name and email address below to get your FREE copy of my eBook "Teaching Guitar the SMART Way", and join the Start Teaching Guitar community: