I’m 57 Years Old. Am I Too Old To Start A Guitar Teaching Business?

“The Elite Guitar Teacher’s Inner Circle changed my life… totally totally changed my life. That’s been huge. Teaching in groups has been awesome. It’s not just here’s a lick or here’s a chord or here’s a song… it’s like Tom says 80% people and 20% teaching. So the groups are great because you can group people that are similar levels, but it’s the social interaction too I think helps a lot with students… they can see people who are sort of in the same boat as them in terms of what they want to be able to do with playing and they’re playing together so that sort of concept there is great. And just the ways to teach… strategies instead of just tactics from week to week… preparing lessons… I mean, it’s huge I can speak for hours actually.”

I’ve been teaching for 17 years and it’s been on and off. I started going to the student’s house teaching and then I did teaching in schools more recently the last 4 or 5 years. I’ve taught in shops, I’ve taught a lot and I’ve always… or more recently… probably a year before I met Tom and the Elite Guitar Teacher’s Inner Circle, been sort of more thinking about setting up my own business at home for teaching, because that’s just more security, I don’t have to rely on someone else’s business or shop or school or whatever and I can sort of do things more of the way I want to do them, so that sort of made me want to do that… exactly that. So I started advertising a few fliers, a few posters… nothing too big so... Then I found the Elite Guitar Teacher’s Inner Circle. I just wanted to have my own business and control, and not have to leave the house.

Tom just knows how to do the teaching side of things. I just read what he had on his website, what Tom had on his website for teaching and that was it… I was there definitely. It was just so huge. Not just teaching and business and setting up a business… and just I got the impression that when I read that I was going to be shown everything… and holding your hand … this is what you do. So I just thought if I am committed, I can’t not make this a success. I guess I just thought I got a choice… I can do it on my own, or I can have somebody who knows what they’re doing, and I always think, if you want to know how to do something, go to someone who’s done it and done it well. Just reading information on it, I just learned so just much right there without having any contact with Tom. And I just don’t know anything else like either… never come across anything like it. I know guitar teachers who just teach by default really. Great players, but not necessarily great teachers… or just clueless you know, on what to do. So just I thought I can do it myself or I can go down that route so it was a no brainer.

With the Elite Guitar Teacher’s Inner Circle, my business skills have gone from nothing to pretty good. I feel like I have a lot of information that I can use that no one in my area who teaches guitar has… I can see it. You know, where I used to teach before the Elite Guitar Teacher’s Inner Circle and set up my own business… it was just hopeless. So just knowing how to set up a website… optimize a website so people can actually find it… delivering flyers… making video brochures… and how to write ads… I used to just have information on how to write guitar lessons and my address and that was it.

Since joining the Elite Guitar Teacher’s Inner Circle, at the time I had about 8 or 9 students at home and I was teaching in a shop, and at schools… now I’ve got 65 students, they’re all in groups… I’m just about on 6-figures… I probably am on 6 figures… I’ve at least tripled my income. I’ve been able to buy a new house, get a studio built at home… teaching studio. And for your family and kids, it’s just awesome to be able to do that. And to do that with teaching… which you love. You can get up when you want, and you’ve got time, you can make your own hours and stuff like that. To me, if you would’ve told me 18 months that I would have 65 students and that sort of income… it just wouldn’t have been conceivable… and to me that’s like, just the start. You know, I can see that doubling again… the numbers for sure. So that’s… yeah that’s just changed my life… definitely changed my life big time… mindset and just… yeah, what you can do.

I’d say to anyone who wants to join Elite Guitar Teacher’s Inner Circle who doesn’t live near me to join definitely. I mean if you’re thinking about teaching, just do it. It doesn’t even matter if you’ve been playing a couple of years or whatever, just do it, you’re going to learn so much for your own playing anyway to start with, and then you can start teaching beginners pretty early on… it’s not like you have to be at any virtuoso level to be teaching. So if you’re thinking about teaching, just do it. Make the investment and do it right.

Simon Candy, Melbourne, Australia

"Tom Hess has helped me teach my own guitar students better via a lot of new ideas that I never had before."

Music teaching is a bit of a lonely sport in some ways, and you're a leader in a big school and there’s sort of no one to connect with in lots of ways. You know, you connect with your teachers from your school. I might know the odd teacher around the country, but there’s no one who’s really kicking you and pushing you and giving you new ideas. That’s what Tom Hess does. And it’s all these new ideas that benefit me and the students. Cause since I’ve been with Tom Hess, I’ve created all these new programs. I’ve shifted into commercial premises, which mean that I can run more group classes and jam sessions and things like that, which I never could before.

I came across Tom Hess when I was searching for some information when I was studying at a local university. And a page on Tom Hess’s website came up with the information that I wanted. And from there I clicked on a few links and I read Tom Hess’s sales page about the Elite Guitar Teachers Inner Circle. For a start, it sounded too good to be true. And then I read a bit more… I read a bit more and I couldn’t believe that there was a guy… someone else in the world that actually thought like I did. I thought that was a bit uncanny as well. It still sounded too good to be true, but I signed up for Tom Hess’s free book that he was giving away and I’ve been with him ever since. It’s been quite a few years now, and best decision I ever made.

The forum alone is absolute gold really, and the people that were on the forum were just hard to describe. They were so helpful and full of great ideas. So it’s not really just about Tom Hess, it’s about a whole community and program that everyone’s helping each other. I’ve never seen anything like it in the world.

Since I started with the Elite Guitar Teachers Inner Circle, my business has nearly tripled. That’s quite a big movement actually. I was already doing okay before I started, but I still had high hopes that we could go bigger and better.

My life now is a lot easier than what it was before I joined the program. Because before I joined the program, I was doing everything myself. I was working 40 -50 hours a week. I was absolutely mentally drained, physically drained. I was absolutely a nutcase by the end of the week. Now I got other teachers working for me. We’ve got people coming in after school and helping out. We’ve got a teacher training program working, and I can actually cut back a bit and start working on the business more. What that will do, is that will create more opportunities for people coming through so we all rise. Everyone rises. Everyone gets an opportunity. That’s how it changed my life. By changing my life, it’s changed everyone around me's life as well.

My advice to any new guitar teacher, or even a guy that’s got 20- 30 guitar students would be: you need to get into some sort of community program that’s actually going to give you a kick along. You know, light a fire under you, because when you're working by yourself it’s very difficult to keep motivated. Even the best people find it hard to keep motivated. I was pretty self-motivated, but I’m more even on fire now. And the thing is when I first started this program, I was actually doing reasonably well, but I’m doing a lot better now. And it’s just that whole synergy thing of everyone being together. And you’ll never get it working by yourself. You’ll never get it. And this is just the best program ever to be in.

Kevin Downing, Palmerston North, New Zealand