Running a private practice or studio is tough work. Especially if you have 30+ students, an additional full-time job, and not enough hours in the day.
Welcome to my life.
Not that I’m complaining…in fact, I love my busy schedule. But I will admit, as I took on new students, it was getting harder and harder to keep my combined private practice and studio organized when it came to communication, paperwork, invoicing, and tracking income and expenses.
And then I thought back to conversations I’d had with my friend Lisa Casciola, who runs a large studio in St. Louis. She swore by Music Teacher’s Helper, a web-based software program that lets you manage all the business aspects of running a private music therapy and teaching studio.
So I checked it out. The site allows you a free trial, but after exploring for just a few minutes, I had made up my mind. You choose your plan based on the number of active students you have; I have the “plus” plan which allows up to 40 students for $29/month. It may sound like a lot, but here’s what this software allows me to do:
- Manage my sessions/lessons calendar, which is a job in itself
- Send automatic invoices to parents (or adult students)
- Give parents/students the option of paying tuition online
- Track my studio expenses and income (including from outside sources, like affiliate payments and Listen & Learn income)
- Let parents/students cancel or reschedule lessons themselves via my calendar
- Input student assignments and lesson/session notes, which can then be emailed
- Have students log their practice time online
- Email parents/students as a group or individually
- Track my mileage (though I do very little traveling these days)
And that’s just the beginning. I won’t officially introduce this system to my students and their families until the summer session begins, but just thinking about the time (not to mention paper!) it is going to save makes me giddy.
Music Teacher’s Helper lets you upgrade or downgrade your plan as the size of your studio changes, and the customer support is truly amazing. My only disappointment? That I didn’t start using it sooner! This software is truly a game changer, and I can’t wait to share some of my ideas which will only be possible because of it.
Do you use Music Teacher’s Helper or another program to manage your business? If you’re still doing it the hard way (like I was up until last week), I strongly recommend you at least take a look at my new favorite tool.
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I would have LOVED that when I was teaching percussion students in grad school!! That is a great idea! Glad it’s helping you :) Now I teach a few lessons a week for TakeLessons which is a nat’l lesson company.. and their website basically does all the same things you mentioned (plus they handle all the billing for me, which is great!)
Isn’t it cool!? Though it sounds like you have a pretty sweet system, too. After using it for just a week, I don’t know how I managed so long without it.
I’ve heard about Music Teacher’s helper. Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll take a look.
I hope you decide to go for it. I hemmed and hawed for a year or so, now I’m kicking myself for it! Seriously awesome stuff :)
I will make my plug for them as well! After teaching piano lessons for 12 years, it’s so nice to let them help me with my bookkeeping. They have a great facebook page as well, where I tend to share ideas with other teachers. Being in grad school for music therapy + a full teaching schedule + music teachers helper = time saved!
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