Has it ever crossed your mind to walk into a PetSmart and ask for a haircut? What about asking to purchase 1/4 of a shrimp at your local grocery store?
If these sound absurd… then I know I’m writing for a sane audience. If not, then you’re either off your rocker or a big fan of Jia Jiang.
Who Is Jia Jiang?
In 2013 Jia Jiang completed 100 Days of Rejection Therapy. As the name implies, Jia made absurd requests for 100 straight days to help him overcome his fear of rejection. He recognized that his fear of rejection was a huge stumbling block in attaining his personal and career goals, and decided to do something about it.
Jia Jiang does not live in fear alone. Would you be anxious walking into Petsmart and asking for a haircut? Would you be anxious requesting the grocer quarter a shrimp for you?
Or what about this; would you be anxious asking a school or preschool to distribute advertising for your piano studio?
If you’re like me, the answer is yes! I am not at all comfortable approaching people with requests to hand out a brochure or support a piano studio fundraiser or participate in a local music event.
But I have done it. And I continue to do it. And it does get easier.
Rapid Studio Growth
If you’re a new piano teacher or a new piano teacher in town, getting out into the community, meeting people, making friends, and asking for support is a necessary step towards rapid studio growth. But for many, it’s simply too terrifying and so they exist in anonymity and take the much less attractive path of slow growth.
And I don’t blame them. I know exactly how these piano teachers feel. But I also know how good it feels to overcome that fear. And I have experienced the success that comes along with it.
So, if you’re an introverted piano teacher like myself, I encourage you to start your own little experiment; 100 Days of Rejection Therapy: Piano Style. Get out into the community and start letting the world know what you have to offer.
Oh… and are you wondering if Jia actually got the PetSmart haircut? Watch the video below…
Robbin says
Great post! As I consider the possibility of moving my 15-year-old-word-of-mouth-studio to a city 80 miles away, I realize that my current methods won’t work very well. Any more ideas? I hope to need them very soon!
Alexandra Weiss Toronto Piano Teacher says
In my experience, specifically in east Toronto, very few schools accept private piano teachers advertisements, Toronto Public Library does NOT allow private businesses (such as piano studios) to post on their boards, and grocery stores (specifically in Don Mills) do not have community advertisement boards, so sometimes online promotion is one of the best ways to find new students.
Kelly Koch says
Thank you for this post! I am very afraid of rejection, so I just don’t call. Then the fear grows and grows. I want to punch that fear in the face and CALL. I believe so strongly in the power of music on the brain and development, especially for children. Why wouldn’t I call? I have a SERVICE to offer. And if I approach it with a Servant’s Heart, then rejection is no problem. Thanks again.
Denise says
Sadly my school district in Crosby, Texas will not allow us to distribute flyers to school children.
Mary Gray says
I’m thinking of applying for a nonprofit status for these very reasons. Non-profits are allowed to distribute paper flyers to schools, libraries, etc. and local businesses will allow nonprofits to post on their bulletin boards. Online is great, but the old fashioned poster-flyer method has merit.
Debi says
Hi Mary .. I was thinking of doing the same. Did some basic “googling” but couldn’t really find much info. I would love to hear your experience during this process. Curious which area you are located …?
Kristen says
How would you apply for non-profit if one is making a profit to pay yourself, spend on business expenses etc. Seems like piano teachers don’t qualify for non-profit.
Mary Gray says
Debi, I’m just beginning the process, am located in NY state. It’s quite involved..You have to create a board of directors, and meet certain requirements as far as fiscal oversight….If you’ve ever written a government grant, you will have an idea of the amount of work involved.
Kristen, You pay yourself a salary. Non profit doesn’t mean you work for free. Your business expenses are all figured into
the equation. A sample of a nonprofit might be a music school. The teachers, administrators, and staff all earn a salary, but the structure of the business model is different compared to for-profit business.
Laura says
Anyone considering this should check into it carefully. Simply being non-profit does not guarantee that the schools, libraries, and other businesses are allowed to distribute promotional material. Distributing materials implies an endorsement of the product or service and most of these places are not in a position to do so. Also, free advertising through community boards usually requires that the event or service is offered for free by a non-profit. As a non-profit, I can, for example, offer free classes through the library’s summer program and the library itself and local community news services will post information about that. I cannot, however, place flyers for the studio in the library. I have found that online advertising has produced the best results.
Kathy G says
Our local MTA was asked by one of the public elementary school music teachers to give a list of local piano teachers. We sent it by email and it was distributed (by her) to all the others. Emailing is fairly safe — anyone?
Colleen Branson says
As others replied, that depends upon your location. Twenty years ago you could go to individual schools and their response was individually decided upon merit by the principals. Now however, here in Surrey at least, there is a district policy and it costs roughly $1000 to be able to advertise at all the schools and/or get on their email distribution list. I am not sure of the exact numbers but I found it personally prohibitive when I looked into it. I am sure they have changed to make it safer and easier, but I kind of wish I could just go put a notice up!
Jolene says
Your local music store is a great place to advertise. People always ask where to find a piano teacher. Even if you get rejected at the school, the person you ask might give you a reference. That happened for me!
anna says
I’ve never advertised. It’s all been word of mouth from parents of my students. So, I wonder if it’d be okay to have a special promotional deal w/ current parents (of piano students) saying something like: Piano parents, for the month of ________, earn a free lesson for your child with each referral from you that signs up for lessons. (Something like that?).
Barbara says
Hi Anna, I’ve done that in the past. I didn’t get a lot of new students but looking back I would do it a little differently now. I think you have to put a time limit on it (i.e. from June 1-June 30 You can earn FREE lessons…) and keep it in front of the parents as much as possible for that amount of time — a poster in the studio, on the door, in the waiting area, email, Facebook etc. Also, remind them (through email and in students’ notebooks) when you’re coming down to the last week of the “campaign.” People don’t respond very well to open-ended offers. Definitely add the time limit:) Good luck!
anna says
Thanks Barbara. That’s a good tip. 🙂 I love this site.
Heather says
I found that volunteering at the School was an excellent way of spreading the word……..and getting to know my children’s school better too! I even directed our Middle School Choir for 5 years……thank goodness the children can sing! But we had fun…….and the community knew who I was. It became a relationship with the staff and schools until all of our children were grown…….and I had, and have, many great music families as a result.
Kathy says
I also decided to volunteer at our local school helping the music teacher with recorders. It is quite fun!
Beth says
Even if the school district bans advertising, you can sometimes reach parents through the PTA. In my area, the PTA sells advertising in their student directories, solicits businesses to donate to their silent auctions or sells sponsorships for their large school events. It isn’t free, but it is advertising dollars going directly to your target market and supporting a good cause. You can usually find contact info for the PTA on the school’s website.
Natalia says
I agree with this post! Probably why my new studio is not growing fast enough…but I do also find people not as willing to make friends (ie. similar children services).
Jeannie says
Rural Texas; My school does accept advertising if you sort out for each teacher. When I first started I went door to door and left a flyer. Average: 1 new student per 43 flyers. I also went business to business and left flyers and/or business card. NOW, with Wunderkeys, I made flyers and took to day cares, church nurseries. I average 36 students at any given time but most of my students pay for 45 minute lessons so I make a decent living. Last summer and again this summer, I am using ‘Muttzart’ as summer camp. Be creative with the material you find here. Last year I got a lot of newspaper and radio coverage for doing a fundraiser for a local lady who needed eye-surgery. We made our $$$ quota and I got 4 new lessons.
Colleen Branson says
Now the fundraiser is a good idea. Doing something worthwhile at the same time. I love it.
Jeannie says
I had churches get involved. It was a lot of work because each week students took home 7 papers: why we give to others, story written by blind person, what is community service, one eye disease each week, eye care, and a worksheet for coloring or a puzzle. But, overall, it was worth it.
Barbara says
Jeannie, would you be willing to tell us more details about your fundraiser? Benefitting the community is a win-win. You may get free advertising and a community charity gets some $$ as well. Would love to know how you pulled it off:)
Tammy says
What did you do for a fundraiser? That sounds like a great idea.
Fay says
Thanks so much for the ideas. I recently held an open house as I am new in the area and restarting my business. Not one person showed and only received one phone call. Very small community here. Tried advertising online and in paper to no avail. Wrong time of year? Feeling very discouraged at this point.
Heather Korn says
In today’s age, flyers, yellow page ads, etc are a waste of time and money. You must have an online calling card – Your clientele (parents and students) are in the digital age 24/7, they look for things online and you must have an online presence. Google “music lessons” in your area and see what comes up in the top 5 results. Those are the people getting all of your potential business.
Google Ads, YouTube Channel, Facebook ads, Pinterest, Twitter, Mailchimp and many other (some free) online advertising works very well. You can cut your advertising costs by doing as much of this work on your own time as possibly. Get a good basic web site or blog and keep it updated and fresh looking – be sure to submit your site maps to search engines so that you can be easily found.
On the other topic, I am a 501 (c)(3) consultant. it would be difficult for private music teachers to legally apply for any kind of non-profit status. It is a very costly and lengthy process and you must meet specific qualifications such as establish a board, write by-laws and mission statements.
A nonprofit is a corporation. All the necessary tax paperwork with federal and state agencies has to be done to establish a legal corporation. There are many legal steps involved in the starting up of a nonprofit corporation. You cannot go into it to be working to benefit yourself via income and claim you are working as a “non-profit”. The income is “Profit.”
If you want to be able to file taxes in a way that benefits you more as a company then create an LLC for your business so you are not taxed as a sole propriator or independent contractor.