A waiting list doesn't happen by accident. In this episode I walk through the four things that built mine, from defining who I wanted to teach, to letting the studio's reputation do the work over time.
In this episode:
What a waiting list actually means for your studio, beyond simply being full
The process of defining your ideal student and why it is the foundation everything else builds on
The free visibility tools that help the right families find you before they have even contacted you
How to communicate a message that attracts the families you want to work with
What a professionally run studio does for your reputation and your word-of-mouth referrals
How to manage a waiting list professionally and what to say when you're full
The four objections that hold teachers back from doing this work, and honest reframes for each one
Links mentioned:
How to Attract Your Ideal Piano Students blog post
One to One Focus Session (60 min, £67)
If you find this episode useful, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts: it goes a long way in helping other music teachers find my podcast!
-
Part 1: Why a waiting list matters
Two kinds of teacher?
I used to follow teachers on Facebook who talked about their waiting lists, and I'd feel this weird mix of admiration and deflation. I was happy for them, but I was also wondering how they did it. I couldn't work out what they were doing that I wasn't. I thought maybe they were exaggerating, or they'd been teaching for 30 years, or they lived somewhere with no other teachers for miles.
Because in my head, without really realising it, I'd split teachers into two categories: the ones who were full and turning people away, and the ones like me, who were grateful for every student who stayed and quite anxious every time someone left. I didn't think of those as two stages of the same path. I thought of them as two different types of teacher, and I was pretty certain I wasn't the waiting list kind. This episode is about what changed, and it wasn't luck.
The first time I had to turn somebody away because I had no space, it felt really odd and quite scary. Up until that point, I'd accepted every single student who'd come my way, and I thought, "This is a mistake. I should find space for them. I should make space for them." I was really quite surprised when I came to the conclusion that I needed to turn them away. But the result was quite impactful for me. The fact that some students were willing to wait for a space in my studio was a real boost to my self-esteem as a teacher. It signalled the value I'm providing, that people were willing to wait to be taught by me. So it was scary, but good.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about the four steps that built my waiting list, why none of them required spending money on advertising, and what the waiting list has changed about the way my studio runs.
I'm Victoria. I started teaching piano part-time 18 years ago alongside a career in pharmaceutical market research, and I made pretty much every mistake you can make when it comes to running a teaching business. But today I run a thriving studio from my home on the south coast of England, with students I love and a waiting list I'm proud of. I started this podcast because I want that for you too.
If you've ever said yes to a reschedule you really didn't want to do, felt your heart sink when your phone buzzed with another last minute cancellation, or found yourself putting off increasing your fees for another year because the timing never feels quite right, this is the podcast for you. I've been there and come out the other side with a teaching business that lights me up every single day, and I'm here to help you do the same.
Practical protection
To start with, I'm going to go into what having a waiting list means, and why it's not just a nice thing to have. The most obvious benefit is the practical protection it offers. When a student leaves, the slot is filled from the list, without scrambling to find new students, spending money on advertising, or having a dip in your income. So your studio stays full.
The psychological shift
The less obvious benefit, unless you've experienced it, is the psychological shift. When you know there are families waiting for a spot in your studio, you can make decisions more confidently, in a way that's truer to your values and ethics as a teacher. It gives you permission to support your policies more directly, and to stand up for who you want to be as a teacher and the students you want to teach.
Ending a relationship with a student who isn't a good fit feels much less frightening when you know the slot won't sit empty for long, because you have a waiting list to draw on. It gives you that extra bit of support to hold your ground. You don't have to apologise for supporting your policies, or for the way you run your studio, because you have people waiting to join, and that's a signal that you're providing what they want.
Social proof
The other side is that, for prospective families, the fact that you have a waiting list signals that other people are waiting to join your studio too. It provides really robust social proof that does all the talking for you before you've even had the first conversation.
It makes sense, doesn't it? When you hear about teachers with a waiting list, you think, "Oh, they must be amazing teachers. Everybody wants to be taught by them; that's why they have a waiting list." And it's not untrue. They are a desirable teacher because they have a waiting list, and there'll be many reasons behind that which make them a good teacher. But that doesn't make it an unattainable level. You absolutely can build your own waiting list. It's having faith that you're a good enough teacher, and if you're listening to this podcast, I can be 99% sure you are, because you're looking to improve and be the best teacher you can be by learning as much as you can about how this all works.
My security blanket
For me, when my waiting list started growing, it provided a security blanket, I suppose. I worried less about losing students. I've mentioned before that I have anxiety, and I've had it for a very long time, for as long as I can remember. So it's not unusual for me to be anxious about almost everything. Life is a lot more settled these days, so the anxiety is less, which is wonderful.
However, one thing I think we can all agree on is the worry that we're going to lose our students. It comes with the vulnerability of them having to choose us. They do choose us and we teach them, but the fear of losing them is always lurking in the background somewhere, no matter how long you've been teaching. A waiting list really helps to reduce that feeling, quite significantly, because you have an unavoidable signal from other families and students that they value your teaching. A spot in your studio is a desirable thing, so they're willing to wait for it.
It had a knock-on effect on me psychologically, and so on every area of the way I run my studio. It helped me support my policies, especially the really tricky ones, like turning away sick children from lessons, and the fear of losing a student because you turned them away when they were sick. Or putting your prices up. Episode 5 went into everything involved in raising your fees, but the very idea of increasing your fees strikes fear into many music teachers' hearts, for all the reasons I covered in that episode, and the fear of losing students is at the heart of it. When you have a waiting list, you have an abundance, an overabundance, of students waiting to be taught by you. It lets you make that price increase more securely, knowing you're running your business professionally and your services are in demand.
Part 2: Step one, define who you want to teach
Why we say yes to everyone
Okay, now we're moving on to step one of how I built my waiting list: defining who you want to teach. It's all about our ideal students.
I think we're all familiar with this. When we start teaching, we take on pretty much every student who comes our way, because we want to fill our lesson slots, start making an income, and not be scrabbling for new enquiries. So it's very natural to say yes to every student who gets in contact, even with a trial consultation lesson. And because we've all done it, I think we've all realised the downside. Taking on every student who comes your way ends up costing you a lot, in your energy, your fulfilment and the quality of your teaching week, and it can have a negative impact on your other students. That's why it's such an important area to talk about.
This isn't to make you feel guilty if you're taking on every student who comes your way. I'm just acknowledging that it's a very natural thing to do. But there's also a very important reason not to accept every student: not every teacher is the right fit for every student, and vice versa. It's no fault of either side. The combination of personalities, skills and approaches doesn't always line up, and that's fine.
The students I shouldn't have taken on
There are a couple of students who stand out when I look back, whom I definitely shouldn't have taken on. One was a teenage boy. I talk about red flags a lot, and there were quite a few with this boy's parent, but I was in full-fledged people-pleasing mode, and I wanted to take on as many students as contacted me. So even though almost everything went against my instinct, I took him on. I ended up ending his lessons within a couple of months, which was absolutely the right thing to do. Things just didn't line up with what I was comfortable doing.
He was preparing for an exam, which was red flag number one. Leaving a teacher when you're almost ready to take an exam doesn't bode well in most situations. But I agreed to take him on, see what his playing was like, and help him finalise his preparations for the exam, which we did. He did really well, and there was no problem with that.
It was the parent's subsequent expectation that he'd skip the next exam. I'd only had him for a couple of months at that point. I'd never seen him learn a new piece from scratch, and I had no idea of his understanding of theory or his approach to anything like that. I'd only seen him play his exam pieces, scales and arpeggios, and do some of the exercises. So it was all covered in red flags.
It gave me a lot of anxiety. My mental health really suffered for the short time I was teaching that student, because I was torn. The student was lovely, clearly very talented and well-meaning, but the parent's control was unmanageable and not something I felt comfortable dealing with in my studio. To be honest, I didn't feel I needed to keep this student and all the baggage that came with him.
But of course, if you've ever turned away a student or ended lessons with one, it's painful. Whatever the reasons, it's always painful, because we form these bonds with our students, even in a short time, like with this student. It's sad to see them go, because you're there and you want to help them. But if the situation isn't right for you and your studio, it's not sustainable. It will sap your energy in many ways, and that will have a negative impact on the rest of your studio: your students and families, yourself, your family, the whole lot.
No instrument at home
One of the things I always ask in a consultation lesson with a prospective student and their family is whether they have an instrument at home, and what it is. If it's not suitable, I recommend a minimum spec instrument they'll need to buy in order to start lessons with me. And I make it part of my studio policy agreement, which they sign to say, "We have this, and this is what we'll practise on."
I did take on a student where all of that was signed and agreed, and then I found out there was no instrument at home. That was red flag number one, but it was early on, so I thought, "Oh, I'll just remind them that they definitely need an instrument, and I'll do my best in the meantime." Of course, I couldn't send this child home with anything to practise, because there was nothing to practise on. So we did lots of theory games and playing on the piano in the lesson, but there was nothing I could get him to practise.
This is quite a big one, because you need a level of trust with your studio families, and when they sign to say they've agreed to something and then they don't do it, it doesn't feel very nice. If I'd had the experience and knowledge I have now back then (which of course wasn't possible, in the early years), I'd have responded completely differently. I'd probably have paused the lessons and said, "He can have a slot, and he doesn't have to wait, but he needs an instrument at home to practise on, otherwise you're wasting your money." I'd have been a lot more assertive about it. But back then, I just held out hope that they'd get him an instrument soon, and it ended up being six months without one, which was quite hard going in the end, despite multiple prompts from me.
So that was an example of a student who wasn't an ideal student. The other thing it signified was that the family wasn't on board with my approach to teaching, because that was a key requirement for having lessons with me. Right from the beginning, it showed a mismatch in expectations and mutual respect. That can feel quite awkward in the beginning, but it's an important thing to recognise if it happens to you. As a recovering people pleaser, I find this kind of thing very difficult. I don't want to upset anyone or cause anyone worry or annoyance, so I'll go out of my way to make sure everything's smooth, often to my own detriment. But I'm working on it.
Loud students and my hearing
This next one is a personal thing for me. I know it won't apply to most of you, but if it resonates with you, I'd be interested to hear from you. For a long time I've had hearing sensitivity: loud noises are painful. They feel physically painful, rather than just startling ("Oh, that's a loud noise"). It feels like real pain going on inside my ears. I can't be sure where it's come from, but it's definitely a precursor to migraines.
So when I've had child students who couldn't control themselves around the piano and not bang on the keys (and I'm sure we've all had a few), those lessons were particularly anxiety-provoking for me. I hadn't realised quite how much of an impact it had had on me until I started to dread certain days of the week when I had those students. It was the anxiety of having to endure the pain of these loud noises, which a lot of people can't understand if they haven't experienced it. It's called hyperacusis.
I bought those Flare inserts that you put in your ears, and they do help a little, but only by taking the edge off; the pain is still there. I'm getting fitted for hearing protection in the next couple of weeks, because on the last teaching course I went on, there was a session on hearing health. It was very informative, and something I'd never really considered before.
I have an Apple Watch with a decibel meter you can turn on to check the noise levels around you. It shows green for safe levels of noise, then goes into yellow and red. Quite frequently, when I'm sat next to the piano with my students, they don't have to be playing that loudly for it to go fully into the yellow section. So the combination of being made aware that hearing health is quite an important thing for us to protect as music teachers, and my particular experience of painful sounds, made me think, "I'm just going to get this done." Not so I can take on lots of non-ideal students who bang on the keys, of course not, but it prompted me to do something about it.
As for not taking on students who arrive at your door, I think I'd now have more confidence to say, "This student isn't ready for piano lessons yet, because they're unable to follow instructions and not bang on the keys," and things like that.
No days I dread
So even though it's painful to say goodbye to a student, when you end lessons for the right reasons, everything improves in your studio and in your general wellbeing. That's where I've got to at the moment: I don't have any days I dread. Isn't that a much better place to be?
Really look at your teaching week. "Dread" might be too strong a word, but are there days you like less than others? Really think about why. It might be because you have too many lessons packed into one day, or there might be a student you find very challenging. I'm aware we can't, and shouldn't, just cull students from our studio willy-nilly. But I think it's important to reflect every so often on how you're feeling about your studio, your lessons, your students, how you're teaching, the way it's laid out and the timetabling, because there are likely to be small things you can change that will make your teaching week that much more enjoyable. I don't want to say "bearable", because that's not what we're aiming for. We want to enjoy our teaching week, not endure it.
I'm sure we've all had serial policy breakers or boundary pushers. The odd push of a boundary here or there is fine and human, and you can just support your boundaries. It's not really a reason to remove a student from your studio. But if you have ones who come back again and again, it may be worth considering whether another teacher, in another studio with different policies, might be a better fit for them. And that's okay. Yes, you'd be turning away a student, but if you're full, you're making space for one of your ideal students.
Identifying your ideal students
When it comes to identifying your ideal student (or students, because you'll likely have more than one profile), consider the whole picture. It comes down to so many things. How old are they? Why do they want to learn? How do they respond to challenges? What does their week look like? What ethos does the family have about music lessons, and how do they value them? How involved are the parents in their activities, and therefore how likely are they to be involved in helping the student practise?
It doesn't have to be overly complicated. You could start by looking at your current students and thinking about the ones who feel really easy and enjoyable to teach: the ones whose lessons you look forward to, because of who they are, how they approach practice and how they respond to your style of teaching. That can point you in the direction of your ideal student, because you may already have some of your ideal students.
I mentioned the instrument requirement earlier. Of course they need a minimum spec instrument, so you're looking for students and families who are willing to invest in a decent instrument. We all know that practising on a poor instrument, or in the case of piano, a keyboard with no weighted keys and no touch sensitivity, only gets them so far. Practising on a toy keyboard is so unsatisfying compared with a digital piano (you don't have to have an acoustic, of course not) that it takes away a lot of the motivation to practise. So it's a really key element: your ideal student needs to have the right instrument.
Once you've answered those questions, you may well have a couple of rough profiles for your ideal student. You might have a child profile and an adult profile, if your ideal students fall into those categories.
Red flags
I also want to talk about some red flags: attributes that may mean a student isn't your ideal student. One is their weekly schedule, whether it's a child or an adult. If they have a very packed schedule (for a child, a different activity every day after school and more at the weekend), they won't have room for realistic practice, no matter how dedicated they are. It's an important thing to bring up in the consultation lesson. It's one of the questions I always ask, because it sets the expectation from the beginning that this isn't "come to the lesson once a week and that's it", like lots of other clubs. As music teachers, we know the lesson is just one part of the music practice they need to be doing across the week.
Another red flag is inconsistent or slow communication from the adult student or the student's parent. If their responses are sporadic or very slow, that's very likely to cause issues if they become your student. Communication is key, and you need to be able to stay in touch to keep them updated on everything going on in your studio, whether it's events like a festival, exams or a recital, or teaching dates, such as days you won't be teaching. You don't want them turning up because they haven't checked their messages. So communication is quite an important one.
One of the big red flags for me, in the early stages of meeting a new child student and their family, is when the parent has an excessive focus on exams and grades, because that doesn't fit with my approach to teaching. I'm not an exam treadmill kind of teacher, and I'm proud of that. But because a number of teachers operate that way, and a number of parents expect it, it's one of those things to get out of the way early on. If the first enquiry is about exams for a beginner, or comes with exams in mind, it's highly likely that's where their focus is.
Yes, you could meet them and find out how strongly they feel about it, and how they feel about your approach to teaching and assessments, and see if it could align. But there's no point forcing a square peg into a round hole, as they say. If that's how they're thinking about music lessons, you're not the right teacher for their child, and their child isn't the right student for you. There's nothing wrong with that, but in my opinion it's quite a deal breaker, because of the past experiences I've mentioned.
There's no one perfect ideal student who will fit everybody. It's unique to you: your personality, your approach to teaching, the things you value, and the personalities you can adapt to and get on with. It doesn't have to be a perfect match. It just needs to be good enough to allow effective teaching and an enjoyable experience for the student and for you.
Part 3: Step two, build a visible and credible presence
Families find you on Google first
Okay, so we've identified our ideal student. Now we're on to step two: building a visible and credible presence. And yes, I mean online, because that's where all the searching is done these days, even if you teach local students. There are obviously ways to make yourself visible in real life, but online is the main focus for this section, because that's how it works these days.
Consider this. You're at home, something has gone wrong with one of your light switches, and you need to find an electrician to fix it. What's the first thing you do? These days, it's probably asking an AI platform for help. But more often than not, I'd say, you go to Google, which now has Gemini, is it, that answers all your questions. So you search Google for an electrician, and then you make your decision based on a number of different factors.
It's exactly the same process for parents looking for piano teachers for their children, or adults looking for lessons for themselves. They go to Google and search for "piano teachers near me", or "flute teachers near me", or whatever instrument you teach and they want to learn. The families who'll become your best students will find you on Google before they ever contact you in person, and what they find in that search either builds trust or doesn't. So it's a key part of the pathway to being found by your ideal students.
There are three main foundations that I feel very strongly every music teacher needs in place to make this whole system work. The first is a Google Business Profile, which literally puts you on the map. When you Google someone and they show up on Google Maps, they have a Google Business Profile, and it's completely free. It also lets people leave Google reviews for you, so public opinion can be shared that way.
The second is a simple website. It doesn't need to be all singing, all dancing, and it doesn't need to cost the earth. It just needs to be a tiny corner of the internet that you own, where you can put your information and be found.
The third is a social media presence. Lots of people have polarised views about social media, and even if you hate it and disagree with all of it, it's the way many people communicate. It's a huge part of where parents share recommendations with other parents in groups, so it's key to helping your ideal students find you, which is the whole purpose of this. It's not about getting sucked into social media for likes and follows. It's about being visible online in a way that's relevant to your ideal students and families. I'll go through each one separately.
Your Google Business Profile
The Google Business Profile is very easy to set up and doesn't take long at all, and as I said, it's completely free. You apply and put your business name in. I'd recommend against being really clever with words for your teaching business name, because when you string words together, they can create a funny name or an unfortunate word. I just went for Victoria Clark Piano, so people would know my first name, my last name and the instrument I teach. It makes it super clear, and you basically need to be as transparent as possible.
You apply, and a couple of days later you receive a little postcard at the address you've listed as your teaching address, which for me is my home address. It has a number code on it for you to enter, basically to prove you live at the address you're setting up the profile for. And that's it. Then you appear on the maps, and you can adjust all your profile information and put as much on there as you want.
I chose not to put my mobile number on there, because it's my personal number and I didn't want phone calls at all hours of the day. So I kept it to email only, which has been fine, because I can answer in my own time and I have a log of every contact I've received, rather than going through voicemails and missed calls, which I find a bit more confusing. But if you have a separate mobile number or landline you want to give out, that's obviously your choice, and it's a perfectly valid way to be contacted. I've found that these days people prefer to text, WhatsApp or Messenger message, as well as email, when they're reaching out about a consultation lesson.
Needless to say, a Google Business Profile is essential if you teach in person, because it gives you local visibility. It lets people in your town and the surrounding areas know where you are, and for an in-person lesson, how far the student has to travel is a key factor. Your ideal students could be living right around the corner, and until you put yourself on Google, neither of you will know.
A simple website
Now, websites. I know not many music teachers, certainly not piano teachers, have websites. Some do, and there's a big cohort who don't. I'm just going to put my opinion out there, and you don't have to agree with it, that's fine. But I feel that if you want to attract your ideal students, as opposed to any students, a website is a very effective way to do it, because you can control things in a way you can't on social media. You can put exactly what you want on your website to describe who you are, what you offer and who you teach, and to show your ideal student that you're right for them.
Yes, there's a cost involved, but you can have some very, very inexpensive websites made these days. I have a Squarespace website, which costs me just over £200 a year. It is an outlay, every year, but in the grand scheme of things, so many enquiries have come through my website and brought me so many potential students. I have no doubt it's the reason I have a waiting list of more than 50 people, in combination with the other things I'm talking about today.
Your website is likely the first or second place a potential student will "meet" you (I say that in inverted commas): the first time they come into contact with who you are in some form. So it's a really important place to make a good impression. Just having a website with your name on it goes a long way to building trust. It shows you're a committed music teacher, not someone doing it on the side to make a bit of extra money. Those teachers aren't committed to teaching in the same way as someone who does it full-time.
So this advice is really for full-time teachers, or those who'd like to become full-time: have a website, so you've built up a solid foundation. Having your own little piece of internet real estate gives Google something to show in search results, in addition to your Google Business Profile, when people search for, I don't know, harp lessons in Surrey, or something a bit more narrowed down, like harp lessons in Guildford. Yes, there's an outlay, but compared with the income you'll earn from the students who find you through that website, it very quickly pays for itself. And of course, it's an expense you can offset against your tax bill.
What to put on your website
This episode will become far too long if I go into lots of detail about what to include on a website, but at a basic level, you need a clear description of who you teach, what families can expect from you, a contact form that makes it easy for them to contact you, and definitely an "About me" page, so they can get to know you.
One major piece of advice: try not to be a teacher for everyone, because then you'll end up being a teacher for no one, with nothing to help you stand out. Be honest about who you are and what your experience is: when you learned your instrument and for how long, any study you've done since, any teacher training and any continuing professional development. You can include bits of those too.
But I'd recommend making it real. Make it a bit personal: things you like, for example, so you're not just a generic teacher who'll teach all students regardless of age or ability, and can prepare them for everything from playing for fun to exams to this or that. I say that as someone who used exactly that as my first description on my website. Once I realised how generic it was, I put my own personality into it, and that was the start of things really taking off.
Social media
As for social media, I started with a Facebook page; you can make a business page on Facebook. When I switched to full-time teaching, I obviously didn't have many students, so I didn't have many student videos to share. So I recorded myself playing some of my favourite pieces of music, and posted different things about teaching and what I enjoy, basically sharing a bit about who I am. That's the best you can do before you've built up a big cohort of students, because it starts to let your ideal student in to see who you are, make connections, and maybe enjoy the way you explain things. That could mean doing some talking-to-camera videos about things you love about teaching or playing your instrument. You don't have to, but the more you share about yourself, the more likely your ideal student is to find you and connect with you.
I also set up an Instagram business account at the same time, but I found a lot more enquiries came through my Facebook page than my Instagram account. That may have changed these days, but it's worth going with the platform you're most comfortable with. I picked Facebook mainly because of Facebook groups. In local groups, people often ask for recommendations for the nearest, or a good, piano teacher or flute teacher or whatever. People who know about you can then tag your business page in those local groups, and that's how students can find you as well. So it's a very useful thing to be involved with.
Getting yourself visible on Facebook also means engaging in conversations in local groups and showing your knowledge and understanding of your instrument and of music in general. It lets people know you know what you're talking about. You can offer advice to adult learners, for example, even if they're not going to become your students. By helping and offering sound advice, you become more visible as an expert in your field. If you're a flute teacher offering advice on the best flutes to buy because someone has asked about that, that's a great way to show who you are, and it could lead to enquiries from other students who've read your comment in that group. The possibilities are endless.
Google reviews
Something I kept a log of was asking students to leave me a Google review once they'd been with me for about six months. This really started to build social proof, so prospective students could read Google reviews and see what my current students think of me as a teacher and the teaching they receive. It goes a long way to building trust with potential future students, and it carries enormous weight for families trying to decide whether to trust you with their child. It's the trust you need to develop with a parent for them to feel comfortable leaving their child with you for half an hour every week.
In person: networking and flyers
On the in-person side, albeit a smaller one: if you have a music shop in your town or the next town over, or there are local music teachers nearby, reach out and connect with them. Do some networking, if you don't feel too icky about it. Find out who the other teachers are, and maybe meet them. A teacher with a full studio and a waiting list may well refer students on to you if they understand a bit about you and how you teach. They obviously don't want to refer blindly to another teacher, but if they can't take anybody else on and their waiting list is already massive, they may well want to refer future students to you, which could be a great source of new students. But they won't do it if they don't know you exist. I say that as someone who's great one-to-one and finds groups a bit more difficult, and reaching out to strangers is probably the most difficult one on my list. But, as with everything, things get easier with practice.
Just an aside: I had flyers made. I can't remember which website I used, but I had about a thousand flyers printed, and I made myself walk around my local area, down roads I'd never walked down (if you haven't driven down a road, you don't know it's there), going door to door putting leaflets through people's doors, just to let them know I was around the corner and offering piano lessons. I'd designed the flyer with all the details, and I did get a few students from it. It reaches people who aren't on social media and don't use the internet to find services and people. That's a much smaller part of the population, but not a useless one to reach for your student base.
I got a lot of steps in on those weekends. I remember doing one entire, really long road near where I live, and I was quite impressed with myself. I think it took about two hours, in the summer: one hour on the way up, then I stopped at McDonald's for some food halfway, and then made my way back for an hour in the blazing sun. But it was very useful, and it made me more confident about speaking to new people, because occasionally they'd be outside in their front garden or just coming home, and I'd introduce myself: "I'm a local piano teacher, and I'm taking on new students. I'm just sharing some information about myself."
I will say, though, that the vast majority of my enquiries, and then real students, have come directly through my website, followed by being contacted on Facebook, followed by "I got a flyer from you."
Seeing the patterns
I remember a time when everything was set up. I had the Google Business Profile, my website (albeit basically set up, with some images I'd taken myself and text I'd written about myself), and my social media business pages. Then I started to notice patterns. Typically towards the end of the summer holidays, then again around New Year, ready for the start of the year, and again around the middle or end of the Easter holidays, there'd be an influx of enquiries through the website and messages on Facebook, asking whether I had availability for new students. Those are the typical times when parents are thinking, "Now's the right time for my child to start learning an instrument," so they reach out.
When you start seeing those patterns, you can see how well the system works. They can find you on Google; you've got a website to build trust and give them a way to contact you outside social media; and then social media itself lets them learn a bit more about you day to day, and what you regularly post and talk about.
You don't have to do it all at once
If you're listening to this thinking, "There's no way I can do all of that; I don't have time," that's fine. You can take it to the bare minimum: be on Google, have a placeholder website with your contact details, a picture of you, maybe a tiny bit of text and a way to contact you, and just set up your social media pages. You don't have to post every day. No one has time for that.
When you do find yourself wanting to spend time on this, remember that it's your business development. It's you finding your students, or allowing your students to find you. Time spent on social media in the ways I've mentioned (responding to queries from potential students and getting involved in conversations related to your area) is worthwhile, even if at the time you can't quite connect the dots and see that it's what leads people to trust you as a music teacher.
So don't panic. You don't have to overhaul your life and spend your life online. These are just three areas that have allowed me to build a reputation as a piano teacher in my local area, which gives me a nearly continual stream of enquiries and a growing waiting list. The goal of this episode is to help you understand how to get to the point where you can build your own waiting list by attracting your ideal students.
Part 4: Steps three and four, and managing your waiting list
Step three: communicate a clear message
Okay, now we're on to step three of this system: communicating a clear message. I've touched on this in the last section, but we'll go into a bit more detail. You need a clear message about yourself that makes the right families decide to contact you.
If you have a studio policy agreement, that communicates a lot to a potential student or family before you even get to the first lesson. The fact that you have one adds to the professional side of things. It tells them you run a well-organised business, and first impressions like this really do matter. If you don't have a studio policy agreement, I have a free studio policy template, which I'll link in the show notes. It's my most popular free resource; loads and loads of people have used it, which makes me very happy. It provides all the clauses you might need, written in a way that's clear and assertive, and you can remove the ones that aren't relevant. So definitely make use of it if you don't have one already.
In terms of what you say about yourself, there's lots you could cover. You might talk about how long you've been teaching, or, if you're brand new to teaching, how long you've played and enjoyed your instrument. You can talk about what you value in the student-teacher relationship, whether it's the joy of making music together, or the satisfaction of seeing a student learn a challenging skill and succeed: whatever it is you really enjoy and value in that relationship.
Definitely talk about who you teach. If you don't make it clear, adult students who aren't sure whether you teach adults as well might be reluctant to reach out and ask. So always be very clear whether you teach adults, children or both.
Some of the personal things you can share are why you chose to become a teacher. That can be a really nice way to let prospective students and families in, to see who you are and why you love teaching. Talk about what lights you up about it, what you most want for your students, and what your goals are for the students you teach. These are the kinds of details that help a parent decide whether to trust you with their child, and whether you're the right person for their family.
Writing for parents
If you're communicating with adult students, you can write things you'd say directly to an adult student. But for child students, you're communicating with the parents, because they're the ones who'll find your information and make the decision. So all of that messaging needs to land with the parent first.
Think about what a parent would be looking for for their child. What reassures them about a music teacher? What makes them confident this teacher will be the right one for their child: kind and consistent, but also pushing them? And think about particular worries a parent might have. As the parent of an autistic child (not that I think she'd go for one-to-one music lessons with a stranger), it's something that would be on my mind: how comfortable would this teacher be teaching an autistic child? Of course, if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person; you don't know what all autistic people are like. That's not to say you should write something just for them, but considering the students and parents you're looking to connect with, these are some of the things you can keep in mind.
Be transparent about your fees
A quick word on pricing transparency. I know a lot of teachers are reluctant to put their fees online anywhere, because they don't want future students to be shocked or put off, or not bother contacting them because they think it's too expensive. To allay your fears: any students who look at your prices and decide they're too expensive aren't your ideal students, and that's fine. You don't want them to contact you anyway if it's not the right fit in that sense.
I'd definitely recommend listing your fees on your website, because it's the very first question a lot of people ask. They need to know whether they can afford you. It's not a case of, "If I meet them first, they'll understand how good a teacher I am, want lessons, and make it work." If the fees are too high, the fees are too high, and if that outweighs everything else, it's important to know up front. Music lessons aren't cheap, and it's not a set of ten lessons and that's it, is it? It's a long-term investment, certainly for the students who'll be your ideal students.
So I think it's important to have it on your website. Otherwise, you'll be continually answering this question. It's nicer and more convenient, when you're searching for any kind of service provider, to see how much they charge, just to know whether you're in the right ballpark and whether it's even feasible, so your potential students aren't wasting their time.
Consistency builds trust
One last point about putting a clear message across. If your website, your Google profile and your social media pages all say roughly the same thing and use the same tone, whatever tone you've used to write your copy, it really does build confidence. As an outsider, seeing that consistency lets you get to know this person through their online presence, and that consistency leads people to trust them more, and so they're more likely to get in touch about lessons.
I noticed a very distinct change when I refreshed all my website copy, changing it from a generic, catch-all teacher to "This is who I am, and this is my approach to teaching." I even put a specific part on there about not being an exam treadmill teacher. I used more words than that, obviously, but I got the point across that if all you want is for your child to work through exams one after another, I'm not the right teacher for you, because I feel quite strongly about that. The number of enquiries I've had along those lines has fallen dramatically, which is great. It means the right people are finding me.
Something I added when I put more of my personal story on the About Me page was that losing my mum to pancreatic cancer in 2019 was what prompted me to switch from part-time to full-time teaching. That's why I do what I do. I realised how short life is and how much I want to do the thing I love, which is teaching. For me, it shows my passion for teaching, and that when things got a bit scary, I realised what was worth spending my time on, and that's teaching the piano.
It's an example of how, when you open up a little and let people know who you are and what your values are, your ideal students will find you.
Step four: let your studio's reputation do the work
Now we're on to step four: letting your studio's reputation do the work. Once you have all these foundations in place, a well-run studio builds its own reputation, and you can just get on with the job of teaching and enjoying it, while keeping tabs on all these elements as you go.
From a family's point of view, a well-run studio looks something like this: lessons start on time, the teacher communicates professionally, studio policies are clear and applied consistently, and the teacher is visibly invested in the student's progress. When your student families are confident in you as a teacher, they talk to other parents. The playground is where it's all shared: "Oh, did you know so-and-so started piano lessons? They're having a lovely time." "Oh, I was thinking about piano lessons for my little ones. Who do you go to? What are they like?" That word of mouth is useful. They share recommendations, and when your studio is professionally run, you get recommended precisely because you're reliable. You won't get recommendations if you're disorganised, things are confusing and communication is lacklustre. But I doubt you're any of those types of people.
The thing about studio policies and building a good reputation is that it might feel counterintuitive, but a teacher with a really clear cancellation policy who sticks to it doesn't look difficult. They look organised and serious about what they do. They take their profession seriously, which in turn communicates that they're serious about your child's musical education. That clarity and professionalism is what attracts committed students. It attracts ideal student families purely because of how you operate.
As time goes on, the quality of the enquiries you get keeps improving. The families who contact you are more likely to have already read about you, seen your reviews and understood your approach, and decided you're a good fit. So you get fewer awkward conversations and fewer students leaving after a short time, and your retention rate, as we all like to call it, is really high. You end up with more students who stay, progress and get further along, because you can have lots and lots of beginners, but they filter out as you get into the intermediate and advanced levels, don't they? So allow the right students to find you: the ones who'll stay, learn and progress to those higher levels. That's what this is all about as well. And even if you don't want to teach advanced students, if you prefer teaching only beginners, or beginners up to intermediate, it all still applies, because the quality of the student is there.
Replying when you're full
When your studio is full and you keep receiving enquiries, which you will if you get all of this set up, here's how to respond to prospective students. As long as you're direct, warm and professional, you don't need to apologise for not having any space. A simple message explaining that you don't have any spaces right now, offering the waiting list as the next step, is kind and businesslike. It's not dismissing them; it's being clear that you can't take them on right now.
Some people will ask, "Well, how long is the wait?" That's quite hard to answer; how long is a piece of string? Depending on your retention rate and the ages of your students, the time until a space opens up can be quite variable. For example, if you have some child students who are 16, 17 or 18, they're likely to go off to university and free up some slots. But beyond that, if your students are content and making progress, it could be a very long time until spaces open up. So, whatever time of year it is, I always say it's unlikely a space will come up in the next year. That gives them an idea of how long the waiting list is.
Just a side note: depending on their availability, students who can come during the day are much more likely to get a spot sooner than those who can only come in the afternoon or evening, because those are the prime slots; they fill up fastest and are in most demand. So, in addition to asking whether they'd like to go on the waiting list, the first thing I'll say is, "If you're able to come for a lesson during the day on a weekday, you're much more likely to get a spot sooner than if you need an afternoon or evening slot."
When not to add them to the list
Sometimes turning away a student, and not adding them to your waiting list, is the most professional thing you can do. If the family's requirements aren't in line with what you can offer, or your approach isn't a good fit for what they need or are asking for, recommending another teacher is truly helpful. It's the mark of someone who knows their own studio well.
I remember the first few times I turned away students without putting them on my waiting list, because I couldn't offer them what they needed. There was an adult student who wanted to compose music. I can't remember what it was for, but it was to do with backing tracks, and very little of it aligned with the way I teach and what I was confident offering. So I had to be honest and say I wasn't the right teacher for him, and wouldn't be able to provide what he needed. It felt really good to be completely honest like that, and he understood. I didn't have anyone I could recommend him to. But I'm sure we've all been there, thinking, "Yep, I can do this," even though it's outside our comfort zone, and sometimes we offer more than we can live up to. That's not a good place to be, is it? So being honest with yourself and the student about whether you can provide what they need is very important.
Managing your waiting list
Once you have a waiting list, there are good and bad ways of managing it. The bad way is ignoring it entirely, which I'm sure you wouldn't do. Managing it professionally involves keeping in touch with families on the list. Not all the time, but set yourself reminders on a regular basis, maybe every three months. I'd say don't leave it more than six months. Check in on whether their availability has changed, and whether they have any questions about getting an instrument. Don't overpromise about when you'll be able to teach them or their child, but checking that they're still waiting for a lesson slot is very useful.
Periodically, I contact my entire list to check whether they're still looking for lessons, and update the list when they reply, "No, we've found a teacher," or "We're no longer looking," or whatever they come back with.
I created a Google Form to send to my entire waiting list, to capture all the information in a way I could analyse and use more effectively: what availability looked like across the list, and how much demand there was for each chunk of time across the weekdays. That was a really useful output, because you can export from Google Forms into Excel, and I used it to work out who I could offer slots to when I recently opened up a number of teaching slots at the start of March. I could see exactly where I could place people, without trawling through hundreds of emails. It was very useful.
"I'm not experienced enough"
Even after hearing me talk about all the elements that went into building my waiting list, you may still be thinking, "No, it's not for me. I'm never going to have a waiting list." There are mindset blocks we all have at some point, and I think it's important to address them. Some of us just don't see ourselves as teachers who could be in demand, until maybe it happens by accident and we realise, "Oh, we are." So I want to talk about a few things that hold teachers back from doing the work that gets you to the point of building a waiting list.
You might think, "I'm not experienced enough to turn students away or have a waiting list." A waiting list isn't something you get permission to have once you reach a certain number of years' experience. It's what happens when more people want to learn with you than you have slots for.
You may not be available to teach every day of the week. In fact, on that note, I don't think you should teach every day of the week unless you absolutely have to, and if you do, we've got some other things to talk about, like prices and fees. But you may end up with a waiting list sooner than you think if you need to restrict your teaching to certain days, and that's all you can offer. That means your studio is full, and that's fine. It can happen at any stage of your career.
The things that fill your studio are a clear message about yourself and who you teach, a visible presence and professional policies, and that work is available to every teacher, regardless of how long they've been teaching or how many qualifications they have. I don't have a degree in music, and for years I thought you needed one to be a very successful music teacher. But you don't. You need to know your stuff, but a music degree doesn't automatically make you a great teacher, or give you all the skills you need to teach the variety of students you'll teach.
"There aren't enough students where I live"
Another objection is, "I live in an area where there aren't enough students. There isn't the demand." Most teachers who believe this haven't made themselves visible enough yet. They haven't done the visibility work. So, to recap: you need a Google Business Profile, a clear website, and some kind of presence in local community spaces, whether that's local groups online, or physical places like music shops, making local schools aware that you're a music teacher, parent community groups and so on. All of these create visibility where there might not have been any. The demand could be there; the teacher might just not be visible to the people who have it yet. So if you think, "I live in the middle of nowhere," remember you don't know every person in every house, and that means they don't know who you are. It's always worth exploring further.
"I feel guilty saying I'm full"
Another one: "I feel guilty saying I'm full. It feels like I'm letting people down." I'm not going to lie: every time I turn someone away and put them on my waiting list, I feel a little bit guilty. It's normally a message from a parent saying, "My son (or my daughter) has been asking for piano lessons for ages, and we got them a little toy instrument," and I think, "I love that, though they'll need a proper instrument later." "But they can't stop playing it." Some of them sound like totally motivated, enthusiastic little kids who can't wait to get started on the piano. Or a grandparent has a piano at their house, and every time they visit, they can't drag themselves away from it. That kind of thing.
It does feel sad, and it feels like you're letting them down. But you are only one person. As a music teacher, however much you want to, you can't teach everyone without overstretching yourself and reducing the quality of your teaching, your quality of life and everything that goes with a balanced life. So you do have to let some people down, and that's just the nature of it.
But when you say you're full and offer a waiting list, you're not letting them down. You're being honest: "I have this much time, it's already promised to these students, and it would be a disservice to the student and to myself if I took them on without the time to teach them properly." A family who has to wait for the right teacher is better served than a family who ends up with an overstretched teacher. We don't want to go down that road. So if you reframe it, you're not letting people down. You're continuing to provide a high level of teaching for your students, and that's evidenced by the size of your waiting list, your student retention and your students' Google reviews.
"My studio doesn't look professional enough"
Another objection: "My studio doesn't look professional enough to attract the students I want." I hear this so much: teachers who feel they can't teach in their own home because it isn't big enough, doesn't look professional enough, or isn't fancy enough. But I know lots of teachers who teach from home in small rooms, maybe with the piano in the living room and furniture and a table all around it. That's fine. You just need enough space for you and the student at the piano, with you sitting next to them, and a little space for your notepad or planner. That's all you need. You don't need a super fancy setup to teach from home, or to attract lots of students.
This problem is almost always a messaging problem, not an ability problem. As long as you have a clear Google Business Profile, a tidy website with accurate information, and reviews from current families, that's often enough to shift the first impression significantly. I don't think a family is ever going to turn up at your house and say, "Your house is too small; you can't give us lessons." If you have a piano, a room it fits in, and room for you, the student and maybe somewhere for the parent to sit, that's all you need. You don't have to be perfect before you start being visible.
When I started teaching, we lived in Putney, renting a one-bedroom flat. The lounge was the main living area, and we had a tiny bathroom, a galley kitchen and one bedroom, and that was it. We were on the middle floor of a big Victorian house, so students had to ring the buzzer, I'd let them in, and they'd come up the stairs and straight into our living room. We had a big dining table, a sofa, the TV on the wall and our stuff everywhere, and my little Yamaha Clavinova digital piano in the corner, because of course we were renting, and there was no way an acoustic piano could go up there. And it was fine. It was enough. I was able to teach effectively, sat next to them at the piano. The dining table was where I put the notepad I used back then to keep track of everything, and I had my stack of books on the piano, and it was fine. You don't need a fancy setup to teach well and attract a lot of students.
One thing to do this week
If you have a little bit of time this week, one thing I'd like you to do is sit down and write a description of your ideal student: not necessarily the students you have now, but the student you really want to teach. I'll link to my blog post "How to attract your ideal students" in the show notes, and you can refer to it for the questions that will help you with this task. Things like: How old are they? Why do they want to learn? How do they respond to challenges? If they find something difficult, do they throw their hands in the air and run away, or do they try a bit harder and persist? You know where I'm going with that, when it comes to the challenges of learning an instrument. And what does their week look like? If it's too busy, they might not fit practice in.
Writing a description of your ideal student can really clarify your thinking, and once it's clear, it starts to come through in everything you communicate. That's where the waiting list starts. As soon as you've got your ideal student in mind, everything you write for your website, everything you put on social media, and everything that comes out of your mouth when you talk to potential students will be about helping that particular ideal student, with the values you want to offer them in mind. That's how you'll grow your studio, and that's where your waiting list starts to grow.
The "How to attract your ideal piano students" blog post and the free studio policy template will both be linked in the show notes. I also offer Focus Sessions, which you can book via the website, if you'd like one-to-one support with any part of your teaching business.
What it feels like
I'd like to finish by sharing what it feels like to have a full teaching studio, full of students who found me because I communicated who I teach and who I am. It feels very safe, and it feels like a collective piano family, especially when I run my recitals and we all come together. It's the same parents, siblings and grandparents each year, because those students stay with me year on year. It's a really wonderful bit of community that has come about because of the students I teach. It's a really nice feeling, and it's very fulfilling, and it goes a long way towards reminding me that I'm doing the thing I love, and that switching to full-time teaching back in 2019 was absolutely the right decision.
If you have any questions about running your studio or anything to do with your teaching, feel free to reach out to me. I'm here to support you. Please believe in yourself: you can fill your studio, if it isn't full already, and grow a waiting list of your ideal students, so you have that security in your teaching studio. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I always love to hear from you, so send me a message if you have any questions, and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. Bye bye.
