Empowering Yourself as a TakeLessons Teacher

Monet PayneCommunity Manager

Aldo BustosTeacher Support

TakeLessons.com

Hello!

Monet Aldo

Empowerment

We want to empower you to have confidence in working with us, by giving you the skills, resources, authority, opportunity, motivation that you need to be successful!

What does it mean to be an empowered teacher?

• Confidence• Leadership• Core Values• Your best self• Know your rights• How to stay on top • Studio Policies

Confidence

• You’re a pro!

• Ability to take on challenges– Students who want different genre– Students with high skill level

• Reach out for advice

• Duty to your students

Why?

• Top 5% of teachers who apply

• Best of the best• Passionate about

teaching!

Leadership

• Exemplify and you will be rewarded down the road

• Ways to lead:– Reach out to TL staff– Ask for more

responsibility– Give feedback– Stay on top of

procedures

Your best self

• CANI - better yourself by learning more about your students’ musical tastes and styles

• Learn a new genre you are not familiar with

• Learn from mistakes or cancelled students. What can you do differently next time?

• Be the CEO of music teachers!

Know your rights

• Marking lessons: reschedule vs. missed• Make-up Music Lessons from an Economi

st’s Point of View– Music lessons are “non-refundable

merchandise” – You have the right to be compensated for

missed lessons – You need to pay the bills!

• Tax deductions: Helpful blog post

Studio Policies

• Establish yourself as a professional• Participation expectations for students• Participation expectations for parents• Recital and performance policies• Materials policy• Adherence statement with blanks for

signature and date• Don’t be afraid to enforce it!

How to stay on top

• Simple tasks– Mark your lessons within 72 hours– Reach out to your new students within 48 hours– Update availability every 30 days– Enter time off and communicate with students– Research students musical tastes if you are not

familiar with them– Keep track of missed lessons – Open communication with the TL staff

Empowerment Challenge

• As a TakeLessons teacher, what does empowerment mean to you?– Make a commitment to yourself on the forum thread– Examples:

• “I will not be afraid to mark lessons missed when a student cancels last minute.”

• “I will set ground rules for my studio by creating policies.”• “I will learn how to take advantage of tax write-offs.”

– One teacher who posts on the thread by the end of the day on Friday will be randomly selected to win $50!

• http://takelessons.com/forum/teacher-community/teacher-webinars/empowerment-challenge

Q&A