guitar teaching/ finding students

[llldavid]

Hello orange community

So i decided i was gonna start giving guitar lessons. ive been playing for about 9 years and i used to teach some kids so i figure i have enough know how to teach guitar.

Ive been putting up flyers around my local schools and have seen atleast 15 numbers pulled off of my flyers but i haven't gotten one call.

Do any of you guys have tips on how to find students!

[Randy Bass]

You could start poaching at Guitar Center .

[llldavid]

im considering putting flyers there the only problem is the closest one is pretty far but i guess its worth a shot

[Ddjembe Mutombo]

If you are serious about making this a full-time job, I'd recommend trying to get a position at a musical instruction school (you know... the places stacked with vocal, guitar, piano and drum teacher). Most kids are signed up by their parents, and most parents are more comfortable with going though a company that hires instructors instead of dropping their kids off at a practice space or house.

[baytamusic]

I'd suggest driving around in a white van with no windows with a large bag of candy preferably near elementary and middle schools. I'd wear sunglasses and a hoodie too. After you lure the kids into your van you can give them a flyer and drop them off around the corner from their house.

[Wendigo]

It's funny that I'm reading this today, as I just got back from a fairly frustrating staff meeting at the music school where I work last night. The topic was "how to get more students" for our school. I also teach in another town and privately, and I have a total of about 50 students. This school however, is run by a guy who really doesn't seem to "get" marketing, or the fact that word-of-mouth is your best advertisment. He's always going on about having live school shows, open houses etc but fails to do the basic type of advertising that really lures in potentials. So far this year, despite several live performances here and there, the school has gotten about 4-5 new students for all of the teachers since September the 12th.....not enough.

Here's what I do. I put up a poster with big bright colors (I had 150 of them printed for 60 bucks online) in the outdoor pool in the town where I work on Thurdays and Fridays. Every kid in town, as well as his parents, had to walk past that poster for the entire summer every day. So far, I have 13 new students for myself, and there will certainly be more until Christmas or so. In January there is also typically a surge in interest as well.

Now, I didn't just put posters in the pool hallway; I put one in the town office, in the school front door (with permission) and at the bus top where kids all have to wait. Once a week in the summer I would drive around and check the status of the posters and replace them if need be. Keep in mind, one student pays 60 bucks for one month of lessons, so even if I only got that, I'd have my money back.

Phase 2: Print flyers (also around 60 bucks for a couple hundred) and give them to my new students to hand out in mailboxes and at school etc. You'll find if you do this, the people who are getting the flyers handed to them have often already seen the posters and think, "Oh yeah I've heard about this guy". That's how you get the ball rolling in the word-of-mouth department. Then I let my lessons speak for themselves, and I also have a website (40 bucks per year) that I show all my students, and they will often show friends, as I have some vids for them to look at and so on. All the while the website gets a higher ranking on google due to hits and my constant cross linking on websites and forums (see my sig ).

Now, you dont have to put it in a pool necessarily. Just use your head and think of a place where people will see them when they are not in a rush, and also where the posters/flyers wont get removed. Always ask permission. If you wanted to really go nuts, I suppose you could put a small ad in the local paper, but that's getting into more money and may be something you only want to do once you have a few more students. Be persistent, and always reinvest the money you earn back into the business at first. In fact, you should set a budget once you are earning money at teaching that you always put back into posters and stuff.

Hope that helps you. Good luck, although you probably wont need it.

[Randy Bass]

I'd suggest driving around in a white van with no windows with a large bag of candy preferably near elementary and middle schools. I'd wear sunglasses and a hoodie too. After you lure the kids into your van you can give them a flyer and drop them off around the corner from their house.

+1

You're also going to want to buy a moustache if you don't already own one.

[defrag]

Offer 1st lesson free as well.

[Ddjembe Mutombo]

and a handjob.

[Randy Bass]

Adult Guitar Lessons - the greatest idea since the Adult Tax Return!

[Ddjembe Mutombo]

[Thinline_slim]

Have you checked with the local music stores? Do they have instructors or would they like to start?

I honestly just started with one and it snowballed. At one point I had about 25 kids/adults wanting lessons (some were serious, some weren't) and I had space for 8. That's a bad place to be too but I sure wasn't trying to make it a full time thing. I already have one of those.