By: David Millar
At times working as a guitar tutor can have a slightly solitary or isolated nature associated with the job, and indeed one of the most important aspects of the annual RGT guitar teachers’ conference is to give RGT tutors a chance to meet up and share ideas and experiences together.
Each year many attendees come away inspired to re-think how they conduct their teaching business.
Large companies and organisations will continually re-evaluate their operating procedures to seek out more efficient ways of conducting their operations and business, and even though many guitar tutors operate independently as sole traders, it can be useful to occasionally take a step back from your daily routine to look for ways to make the most effective use of your time when teaching.
Small Changes
Consider how small changes might improve your business.
Every guitar tutor has their own particular set of circumstances and way of conducting their business, so assessing how you do things is very much an individual process, although there are some common activities most tutors can identify with. Small changes to how you do things can have a cumulative effect over a whole academic teaching term and make your teaching practice more efficient.
Minimise Travel
Cutting down travel time between teaching locations will save both time and money.
If you work as a peripatetic tutor, consider if you can minimise the time you spend travelling between schools. This may mean starting at a later or earlier time to avoid traffic problems at peak commuting times, or avoiding times when there is congestion around schools at the beginning and end of the school day.
Changing your teaching schedule to visit some schools on a different day can also sometimes make a difference to journey times.
Remember to plan ahead and always leave ample time for journeys – as you do not want to create unnecessary stress rushing from one place to the next.
Make Use of Unexpected Free Time
Make effective use of free time when students do not turn up.
Nearly all tutors will at some time or other have unexpected slots of free time when a student does not show up or cancels their lesson at short notice. Even though your lesson terms should ensure that you are not ‘out-of-pocket’ for these occurrences, it is useful to always have some other activity ready to hand so that you make effective use of this time.
This may be some extra music to practice and prepare, or some other business activity such as an administrative task like catching up with emails from students.
Manage Phone Calls and Enquiries
Set aside a specific time to deal with phone calls and enquiries.
With mobile communications it is easy to get interrupted with calls and messages during your teaching day. While it is important to make yourself accessible when running your business, setting aside specific times to return calls and messages is usually a more efficient way to operate.
Keep Tidy
It is more efficient to teach in a tidy work space.
Most of us are guilty of occasionally letting our work space become cluttered or untidy. By taking time to do a clear out and tidy up you can greatly improve your efficiency by having books, music, recordings, etc. readily available to find when you need them and a clear environment to teach in.
It is best to do this at your next available opportunity or it can easily become one of those jobs that never seems to get done!
Back Up Data
Set aside time to regularly back-up your data.
Computing devices form an integral part of many aspects of business activities, and nowadays much of our music is also stored in electronic form. Consider how long it might take to recover or replace important information you use regularly if your main computing device unexpectedly fails.
It is vital to make time to keep a regular backup of important data and have in place some sort of contingency for devices you rely on such as computers and printers.
Specialist Tasks
It may be more efficient to use the professional services of others rather than attempt all business activities yourself.
For some tasks it can be more effective to employ the services of other people to do specific tasks where their specialist skills may save you time and money, and do a more professional job.
Maintaining accounts, filling tax returns, website development, marketing, administration and bookkeeping are all important aspects of running your guitar teaching business and although you will have to pay for someone to do these tasks you may be able to offset these costs as deductible expenses for tax purposes.
Time Outs
Look for other ways to react to market opportunities.
It is useful to occasionally take some time out to think ‘outside the box’ of different ways to enhance your teaching business and react to changing market demands. This may involve learning and teaching another instrument or musical style such as bass guitar or ukulele, or providing tuition services online.
If you have a large waiting list, you could consider providing group tuition. Most guitar tutors are first and foremost musicians and educators, but it is important to have a sound business sense to enjoy continued success.