When I first launched my guitar teaching business as a student in 2012, I was just like every other private guitar instructor. I filled my schedule with one private lesson after another. I buckled under the pressure of my students’ requests and subsequently spent all my time learning songs I didn’t like for students who wouldn’t practice them anyway, and I was barely earning enough money to put food on the table and to pay the rent.
In short, I was burning out and growing bitter towards the very thing I loved doing most: teaching guitar.
At that moment, I knew that the traditional guitar teaching model wasn’t working for me, and I needed a change before I went broke or burned out, so I invested my time and energy studying the fundamentals of business and learning from mentors.
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I was harnessing the power of leverage to grow my business and improve my life.
Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
– Archimedes
What is Leverage?
Leverage is the ability to control a lot with little effort. Just like a crowbar or a dolly, leverage allowed me to harness the power of systems and knowledge to move mountains. With the power of leverage, I was able to earn more money, reach more students, and enjoy more free time in my personal life.
Leverage Time
What I’m about to say is controversial but true. From an economics standpoint, teaching private lessons is bad business. When I committed to teaching private lessons, I wasn’t growing a business. Rather, I was selling my time, energy, and knowledge for money.
On the other hand, leveraging my time, energy, and knowledge to teach group guitar classes was good business because I was able to earn more money, reach more students, and spend less time learning songs I didn’t like.
In fact, I was able to triple my earnings teaching half the time in less than six-months, and you can too when you leverage your time to teach group guitar classes.
Leverage Other People’s Knowledge
I took my first guitar lesson from an amazing guitar instructor and a Berklee College of Music graduate named David Haas. Under his tutelage, I was able to go from absolute beginner to gigging musician in under one-year.
How did I do it? Was I exceptional talented? Hardly. In fact, I was what most people might call tone deaf. I couldn’t hear pitches at all at the time. Instead, I harnessed the power of my teacher’s knowledge of musical theory and learned everything I could about chords, scales, and structure.
Eventually, my ability to hear music caught up with my knowledge of music theory through years of ear training, but it was the power of leverage that helped me gain confidence and launch my career as a musician so quickly.
Leverage a Proven System
When I first began teaching guitar, I didn’t have a plan. Although I was enthusiastic and passionate about the guitar, I would show up to a lesson and ask my student, “So, what would you like to learn today?”
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. This is the same approach guitar teachers have been using for years, but it costs both me and my students time, energy, and money.
I published Guitar for Kids: Rock Dojo The Complete Belt System because I saw the power of leveraging a proven system first hand: students who never practiced began practicing, students who were zoning out during their lessons began setting goals and creating action plans to graduate from one belt level to the next, and my class roster began growing faster than I ever thought possible.
If you’re ready to begin teaching group guitar classes or private lessons for kids between the ages of 6 -12 years old, order Guitar for Kids: Rock Dojo The Complete Belt System
