Music Studio Startup: Helping music teachers thrive as entrepreneurs

Today I’m sharing part one of a two-part episode with a guest you’ve heard from before.

Teaching piano has taken many forms over the years for today’s guest, Tony Parlapiano. From being a travel piano teacher and teaching students homes, to teaching online during the pandemic and then sticking with it afterward, to the studio we’re going to hear about today, that more closely resembles a college program than your standard 1:1 or group lessons.

Over the summer, Tony was featured in our studio snapshot series. In that episode he alluded to his new online instruction model and I was very curious, but I knew it needed more time than we had then to really understand it, so that’s what we’re talking about today.

The first part of our interview, which you’ll hear today, is more about the pedagogical and practical structure of the program and then we’ll get into the marketing and business side of things in the second half, next week.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode134.

MSS Entrepreneurs Hub + Mastermind

Music Studio Business Building 101

Business Finance for Music Teachers

I mentioned before that we will, again, be holding our studio launch grant competition this year! This grant is to help new or new-ish independent teachers launch their studios. It’s one of my favorite things that we do and it’s been so neat to see the impact the grant has on getting these studios off to a strong start.

Today I’m talking to our last MSS Studio Launch Grant competition winner, Anna Showalter. We talk about Anna’s studio, how she made use of the grant competition prize package, and also how she introduced some significant changes to her studio, including a 13% tuition increase and bi-weekly group lessons.

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode137.

MSS Studio Launch Grant Competition

MSS Entrepreneurs Hub + Mastermind

Music Studio Business Building 101

Business Finance for Music Teachers

We cover a range of topics in today’s episode: everything from branding and marketing, to starting a new studio in a new state, to building a business model that prioritizes flexible time and passive income.

Allie talks about how a year of traveling and living in a van gave her clarity on her values as a teacher and entrepreneur and how she gradually built her new studio to reflect those values.

I think you’ll get lots of inspiration and ideas from this Colorado voice teacher.

Show notes and full transcript can be found at musicstudiostartup.com/episode061

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about fiscal sponsorship as a way of launching a foundation or community-oriented project without having to set up an official non-profit organization.

Today we’re shifting gears and I’m interviewing the executive director of a more traditional 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. This foundation has a really interesting founding story and its director, Reed, has a lot of experience running non-profits, so I think you’ll learn a lot from the way he approaches business, branding, fundraising, and other interesting challenges he’s run into along the way.

Find show notes and a full transcript for this episode at musicstudiostartup.com/episode060

In last week’s episode, we got a great introduction to the concept of fiscal sponsorship from the San Francisco Study Center.

Today, I’m talking to a world-renowned bass player, Terry Miller, who has used the fiscal sponsorship model to start a foundation that brings music to kids, both locally and globally. Terry is joined by the head of the board for his foundation, Leslie O’Brein.

Show notes and full transcript available at musicstuidostartup.com/episode059.