Why Becoming A Successful Guitar Teacher Requires Knowing What NOT To Do

By Tom Hess

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Your guitar teaching business is less likely to succeed when you only focus on what TO do while never thinking about what NOT to do.

This causes you to overlook common guitar teaching mistakes that create roadblocks for the success of your teaching business.

Achieve greater success as a guitar teacher by asking yourself these two questions:

1. What should I NOT do to achieve [insert goal]? And...
    
2. ...When should I NOT do it?

Here is an example of what not to do:

Your goal is to earn $100,000 per year teaching guitar (which is a very achievable goal by the way). If you make the same mistake as many guitar teachers, you try to fill up your teaching schedule as much as possible.

As a result, you are constantly losing students and trying to replace them with new ones. This frustrating situation leaves you well short of your goal.

This thinking comes from the thought: “To make $100,000 per year, I need to get more students.” Although there is some truth in this, there is much more to it. A better approach is to ask yourself, “What should I NOT do to achieve my goal?” This results in several of many answers:

• Focus only on getting new students and not on keeping current students longer
   
• Neglect improving my teaching effectiveness
   
• Teach only private lessons

Some of these answers apply in general, but some also apply at specific times. When you ask when not to do these things, the answer helps you avoid tons of wasted time and frustration.

For instance, it might make sense to teach only private lessons for your first 10 students, but not once you’ve gained 65 students. Teaching 65 one-hour private lessons per week overwhelms you and makes guitar teaching much more stressful than it should be. A better solution is to use creative group formats to reduce your hours (while making the same amount of money).

The best way to understand the specific answers to these challenges is to work with a guitar teacher trainer who will show you the specific path to take in order to reach your teaching/business goals.

Want to learn the main things NOT to do in order to quickly grow a successful guitar teaching business? Read this guitar teacher training article to learn the common mistakes that teachers make at the wrong time.

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