August 12, 2023 • 33 mins
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Have you ever dreamt of swapping late-night gigs for the comfort of teaching music from your own home? You're in luck. In this enlightening discussion, we'll guide you through our journey of trading traditional teaching for an online music education business. The shift didn't just pique our passion, but it quadrupled our income in a few short years!
We're talking about liberating schedules, boundless revenue opportunities, and the untold advantages of outsourcing. Find out how we transformed our lives and replaced both our incomes, allowing more quality time with our young children. This isn't just about boosting your pocket; it's about achieving a rewarding work-life balance. So, tune in and embark on this exciting journey towards building a profitable online music education business together.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I have been teaching music online for the past seven
years and it's been the mostexciting, rewarding and
fulfilling thing I have everdone in my musical career.
So today I want to share withyou six reasons why I believe
you should also build an onlinemusic education business if
you're a music educator.
(00:20):
So that's what we're going todiscuss today in the Business of
Musicians podcast, episode 5.
Stay tuned.
Years ago, I took my teachingskills online and now I make
multiple six figures in annualrevenue, teaching piano to
students worldwide while workingless than eight hours a day.
My name is Warren McPherson,the founder and CEO of Piano
(00:44):
Lesson with Warrencom, and ifyou want to learn how I broke
free from the nine to five pianostudio teaching, the late
nights and weekend giggingschedule, you came to the right
place.
At the Business for Musicianspodcast, I'll share tips,
strategies and tools to help youbreak free from the trading
time for money hamster wheel, soyou, too, can build a
(01:07):
profitable online business whileworking fewer hours and from
the comfort of your home.
Now, if you've been listeningto the previous episodes of
Business for Musicians, I sortof stumbled into the online
(01:29):
piano platform online world ofteaching music.
It's never something that Ireally set out to do Never
something.
I thought that was possible andslowly but surely, I've
discovered new information andI've learned new things along
the way, and I was able toquadruple my income in a few
years, and I just think it issuch an opportunity that a lot
(01:51):
of other musicians are missingout on.
A lot of other musicians outthere can and should be taking
advantage of this opportunity,because there's still only a few
people teaching music online.
There's still a lot moreavenues and potential for folks
to jump in and also grow theirincome, grow their revenue, in
(02:13):
teaching music online.
So, for me, my first reasonsthat I want to give you is that
you get to make money doing whatyou love.
This is probably somethingyou've heard being thrown around
from time to time make money,do what you love, or you should
pursue something that you loveand the money will fall in place
.
Well, that has never been trueuntil today, or I should say
(02:35):
until now.
With the age of the internet,you can really now pursue
something that you're passionateabout, something you love,
something you enjoy doing, whilemaking money.
The internet now makes thatpossible and for me as a
musician, I remember when I setout to pursue music.
A lot of folks in my communitysay so what are you going to do
(02:56):
when you graduate?
And I could not give them ananswer, because back then your
two options as a music schoolgraduate is either to go teach
in the public school or you tryto find a band and tour with an
international artist orsomething like that.
Piano studios, especially whereI grew up in the countries of
(03:18):
Jamaica, wasn't really a thing.
There wasn't really a pianostudio.
It was not a thing.
It was more popular in the cityof Kingston.
I grew up in St Thomas east ofKingston, so there was no real
sort of piano studio opportunityin the rural areas.
So those were your two options.
(03:39):
I didn't want to do either ofthose things, but I just knew I
wanted to pursue music and Ithank God every day that I never
gave up on that dream, becauseit is what has led me to now
doing what I'm doing running anonline business, teaching music,
doing what I love, and makingmultiple six figures from that
(04:01):
annually.
So that's my first reason foryou you get to really do what
you love while making money fromit.
So if you're a drummer andthere's a specific style or type
of drumming that you love andyou want to teach, you can get
to do that online.
Because here's the thing whythis online thing is so magical
(04:25):
Before the online world openedup like this for musicians, you
were pretty much limited topeople in your community to
teach.
That was it.
There was a certain radius.
Outside of that either gets toofar or you would have to travel
very far to find people toteach that's interested in the
(04:46):
thing that you want to teach.
It just gets super difficult.
So that opportunity wasn'treally there.
And I remember when I used toteach piano before I got online
I had to teach stuff that peoplewanted to learn.
Some of the things that peoplewanted to learn.
I didn't want to teach, Iwasn't interested in that, but I
had to teach it.
If I wanted to make a living,if I wanted to keep my piano
(05:09):
teaching thing going, I neededto just focus on what students
wanted to learn.
Online.
You don't have to do that.
You can completely shut out awhole subset of people and focus
on the ones that you want,because now we're talking about
an international audience, noborders.
You have people from literallyall corners of the world at your
(05:31):
disposal when you go online,and so whatever your niche is
and your niche is sort of thething that you're interested in,
that thing you can find acommunity of people a lot of
them as well to pay you to teachthe thing that you want to
teach.
Because, likewise, I mean likemind, if you're interested in
(05:53):
something, then there are otherpeople out there that are a
sheer similar interest and thoseare the people you're going to
try to attract to your teaching.
So the online thing makes thatpossible.
You get to pursue what you love, teach what you love, knowing
that there's going to behundreds and thousands of people
from around the world that alsoshare that same interest.
(06:16):
So you no longer have to bestuck bored teaching weird stuff
and just random things.
You really get to focus on whatyou want to do.
Like, for me, my whole thing isteaching gospel piano online.
That's it.
That's the other genre of music, not because I can't, but I've
just decided to niche to justthat one thing.
(06:38):
It's a very narrow niche,because I don't teach Christian
contemporary songs either.
Hardcore gospel, that's it.
That's my lane, and my YouTubechannel has well over 200,000
subscribers, so that tells youthat, whatever your niche is.
There are hundreds of thousandsof people out there that wants
(06:59):
to hear from you.
So that's reason number one forstarting an online Music
education business.
You might be thinking willpeople be interested in what I
have to offer?
Absolutely, If you're an expert, if you have knowledge, if this
is something you've been doingfor years, there are people out
there who wants to learn fromyou and is willing to pay you.
(07:21):
I Recently came across a podcast.
I was listening to this womanwho pretty much lives on a boat.
That's it a boat and and shedecided to start writing blogs
about how you can transition toliving on a boat.
Now she's making like 30 granda month from her blogs.
(07:44):
Now, there's a whole lot ofbusiness prying that goes on the
behind the scenes To be able to, you know, scale up a business
to that level.
However, that's her niche.
She only write blogs about thatstuff, and now she's also doing
blogs about living out of yourvan.
You know the whole nomadslifestyle and she's making
(08:07):
multiple six figures, and thatgoes to show you that there are
so there are hundreds ofthousands of people From around
the world who are alsointerested in that lifestyle, as
Neat as it might be.
There's enough people out thereto have her running a multiple
six figure business.
So, whatever your thing is, youmight think there's not enough.
(08:27):
People know there are, and sojump online Today, this week.
Start making content about whatyou love.
It will start to grow, peoplestart to find you and Eventually
you'll be able to turn that andmonetize that skill into some
form of business revenue.
(08:48):
Now, number two reason numbertwo for starting or in creating
an online business as a musiceducator, is that you get to
create your own schedule.
I know it might sound simple,but, man, if you're like me, I
Was never a good employee.
I was always late Because Iwould sleep in.
They were talking about when Iwas in.
(09:09):
I'm talking about when I was incollege, but I was just never
really a good employee.
I was just my mind was alwayselsewhere.
I like to do things differently.
I was just never the guy thatlikes to follow a lot of rules
in terms of being a goodemployee.
Now, when you, when you'rebuilding your own business
(09:29):
online, you really get to buildyour own schedule.
Now, this is something thatcomes a little bit later,
because if you're already, ifyou already have a nine to five.
You can't just quit To go startan online business.
You got bills to pay, family tofeed, so you're most likely
going to be working your nine tofive while Building this thing
on the side, right.
(09:51):
But once it's built to thepoint where you can quit your
day job and transition into thisonline thing, it's magical.
I Don't start working beforenoon Any day and this is
something I've been doing foryears now.
I Start working at like noon,12, 30, 1 pm.
(10:12):
That's when I start working.
That's when my work day starts.
Why?
Because I spend the morningswith my sons, hanging out with
them, taking them toappointments, going to the park.
I Just I do whatever I want inthe mornings, that's it.
The mornings I hang out with myfamily.
We have breakfast.
We do whatever we want.
(10:34):
Because I work online, there'sno opening and closing hours.
I get to build my own schedule.
I Start working at noon.
If, at five, I said, ah, I'mdone for the day, that's it.
I don't have to ask anyone.
I don't have to request hey,I'm leaving at five today, I
(10:54):
just literally say I'm done andI get up.
Some days I wake up if I don'twant to work.
I don't when I'm sick and I'mnot feeling well for days at a
time.
I just don't work for thosedays, literally don't have to
answer to anyone, do have tosubmit anything to anyone and to
(11:15):
me.
That's what living is aboutthat freeing and refreshing
feeling, knowing that you're incontrol of this thing.
And so that's my reason Numbertwo why you should start an
online business.
It really does free you up,give you the time, so you can
then reinvest that into whateveryou want.
If you have a family, you getto spend more time with your
(11:38):
family.
And that leads me into Reasonnumber three, which is that you
get to do this from home.
Everyone I know who runs anonline business and I know a lot
of people who do this now.
I mean a lot of online groupsand forums of Similar business
owners, educators some of themare musicians themselves, some
(12:00):
are in other fields, but they'reall doing it online and they
all work from home.
I mean, just think about it.
You never have to navigatetraffic anymore, especially if
you live in a city.
City life, the nine to fivetraffic it's aggressive.
You know, down here in Florida,and, like Orlando, it's easy
(12:22):
for you to be in traffic for 45and out 45 minutes an hour, hour
and a half on your way home.
It's, it's insane.
I Remember the last time I'vebeen stuck in traffic because
I've been working full-time inthis business since 2019.
I started the business reallysort of in 2017 and by 2019 I
(12:46):
was able to make it my full-timebusiness.
The wear and tear in my carSignificantly decrease because I
only drive now to go to thegroceries Appointments.
You know leisure activities.
I don't do a lot of drivingevery day.
I do everything from home.
I roll out of bed, I eat, Ihang out.
(13:07):
When I'm ready, my office isupstairs, I go upstairs.
I don't have to change clothes.
I don't have anything workrelated.
I work in my sweatpants, in myshirt.
I have these branded t-shirtsthat I create and these are sort
of like my work thing, and Ionly wear these shirts when I'm
Shooting videos.
(13:27):
If I'm not doing any video,sometimes I'm shirtless, sitting
by my computer doing my thingor sitting by my keyboard
creating a new track.
Whatever it is, I'm wearingslippers.
It's just such a relaxed way ofliving, a relaxed way of
working.
I Love it and everyone I knowwho does this Love the fact that
(13:51):
they don't have to leave theirhome to work.
So that's reason number threewhy you should start an online
business in and teaching andmusic.
Right Number four.
Let's jump to number four.
So reason number four forbuilding an online business in
the music industry or musiceducation industry is unlimited
(14:16):
revenue potential.
I mean, think about it.
If you're in your day job rightnow, you know exactly how much
you're gonna make the end of themonth.
You've probably been makingthat same amount for a few years
right now, it doesn't matterhow much work you put in.
It doesn't matter how early youshow up to work.
You could be the hardest workerteaching music in a school or
(14:40):
in your studio.
You know exactly how muchyou're gonna make at the end of
the month.
Your effort doesn't meananything.
This is what you make andthat's it.
If you wanna make more money,you have to either work overtime
, if your job allows that, oryou have to get a second job.
(15:01):
That's it.
When you work online, yourpotential, your revenue
potential, is virtuallyunlimited.
There's no caps.
I remember when I made my first$100 online, I was like, wow,
this is amazing.
In a few months I was making acouple hundred dollars online.
(15:24):
By the end of the year I wasmaking $1,000.
And every month it grew.
The amount of work I wasinvesting didn't change, so my
work volume stayed the same, butevery month my income kept
rising 500 a month, 5,000 amonth, 10,000 a month, 12,000 a
(15:52):
month, 15,000 a month, 20,000 amonth.
My income kept rising eventhough my workload stayed the
same.
Think about that ratio.
So it's not like I'm putting inmore work to increase my income
.
My workload stays the same, butmy income keep rising.
(16:18):
And that's the beauty of onlinebecause we're talking about,
instead of just your immediatecommunity, your immediate
surrounding community or yourstate, being your reach, the
world now becomes your playingfield.
That's your potential reach.
Eight billion people right, Imean not eight billion people is
(16:40):
gonna be following your niche.
Little online music, but youonly need to have like 1,000
people paying you monthly.
Just think about that.
Only need like 1,000 to breakinto multiple six figures in
revenue.
It's not a lot, right?
(17:01):
And so that's one of the beautyof teaching online.
You don't have to put in moretime to make more money on the
backend, because the reach is sogreat, and if you've listened
to my previous episode, you knowthat I'm a huge fan of YouTube.
If you're going to build anyform of online teaching platform
(17:22):
, youtube needs to be yourcentral hub.
And if you want to know why I'msuch a big advocate of YouTube,
go back and listen to theprevious episodes episodes four,
episodes three I give all of myreasons why I have pretty much
built a multi six figurebusiness on the back of YouTube.
(17:42):
Youtube is my largest audienceand that's where 99% of all my
paid customers come from.
That's where they find me.
So, reason number fourunlimited revenue potential.
If you're struggling to makeends meet, if you're tired of
living hand to mouth and it'sjust not working out for you,
(18:08):
then you should probablyconsider online.
Now let me pause here to saysomething.
It might sound like I'm talkingabout some form of fairy tale
situation.
You just get up and startmaking all this money online.
It does take real work.
So this is not some form of getrich quick or make money quick
(18:28):
thing.
Like I said, I've been at thissince 2017.
So I've been at it for a fewyears and I've poured hundreds
of hours into developing myskills learning about online
marketing, learning aboutcontent creation, learning about
SEO.
A lot of stuff to learn.
But again, just think about it.
(18:51):
In seven years, I was able tobuild this.
If you've been teaching outthere in the school or running
your own studio for 10 years, 15years, 20 years, and you're
looking at your income andyou'll be like, ah, I wish it
was more.
Just imagine investing not evenseven years because, like I
(19:12):
said, I already overshoot thesix figure mark, three years in
the business.
Just imagine if you can investthree years in working on these
things that I'm talking about.
You can potentially replaceyour day job.
If your day job isn't payingyou six figures a year, you
(19:32):
could potentially replace thatin three years online.
This is serious.
This is some game-changingthing I'm talking about here.
So think about it.
While it takes work, this iswork that the benefit far
outpace the hours you're gonnaput in, because you're putting a
(19:54):
lot of hours up front, but thenafter a while, you're able to
back right off.
Like I said, if tomorrow, meand my wife decide you know what
we're gonna go on a trip for aweek, I can do it and I'll still
be making money Every day.
Money will still be coming intomy bank account.
Think about that level offreedom.
(20:16):
Now, reason number five is nomore trading time for money.
That's what we've been talkingabout With the online thing.
It's not a trade where you putin your time and you get paid
for that time in terms of hours.
It's not that direct trade and,like I said before, in the
(20:37):
initial stage you're gonna beputting in a whole lot of hours
up front that you won't get anypayment for.
So you can't shoot one videouploaded and then where's my
money?
For the first year.
Let me back it up.
I started my YouTube channel in2014.
It has just a hobby Posted ahandful of crappy videos,
(21:01):
disappeared for two years.
Then I came back in 2016 andtook it seriously.
I shot videos Every day.
I was shooting a video in 2016.
I mean not every day, everyweek.
So I shot 52 videos on averagefor 2016 and I didn't receive a
(21:21):
dime for any of that work.
And that was hours, becauseback then I barely knew how to
do audio editing and videoediting and recording.
Everything just took me a lotof time to complete back then.
So a lot of hours invested forthat first year with zero
returns.
2017, I decided to sell my firstcourse because people kept
(21:48):
asking me about online coursesand where can I purchase my
courses.
So I created a course and Isold it for $12.
Took a while a few weeks, butthen somebody buy it.
Then I kept promoting thatcourse and a second person buy
it, and that was when I startedto see.
Like I said, I remember thefirst month I made $100,
(22:09):
approximately $100, selling thislittle one-hour course online,
but that was the affirmation Ineeded to say huh, this thing
really work right, it can reallymake money online.
So I put in a year of work,basically in 2016, without
getting any monetary returns.
(22:31):
That's what it really takes.
And so a lot of people jumponline and they put in a few
months of work in terms ofvideos and stuff, and then they
don't see any monetary returnand they get discouraged.
I went for an entire yearbefore I was able to see a dime
and then, once I saw thatthere's potential, people will
(22:53):
actually open their wallet andpurchase what you have to offer.
That motivated me to learn moreabout how this thing works,
because you don't just create acourse and put it out into the
abyss and say, how am I notgetting any sales?
No, you have to learn aboutmarketing.
Marketing is everything, andwe'll be talking more about
(23:14):
stuff like that in the futureepisodes of this podcast.
I had to learn about marketingbecause you can have the best
course in the world, but ifnobody knows about it, it
doesn't matter, and so if you'reconsidering doing this, it's
important to know that you'regonna need to put in a year's
(23:35):
work of a lot of hours upfront,but you will reap the benefit of
that later, and so that's themost important thing.
Now let's take a look at thelast reason for building an
online music education platform,and that is you get to work
less hours 8 hours a day, 9 to5,.
(23:59):
None of that stuff reallymatters when you're online.
You work when you want and forhow long you want.
Some days I work 3 hours.
Most days I work 5 to 6 hours 8hours.
I don't remember the last timeI cranked in 8 hours a day.
(24:19):
See the other thing, too, aboutthe way my work life is set up
because I work from home, I workin bits and pieces, so it's
kind of sometimes hard for me tocalculate how many hours a day
I work, because I might put in 2hours, and then I get up and go
downstairs to have lunch andI'll hang out for 3 hours down
there with my boys or justwatching a TV show or something,
(24:42):
and then I'll come back up andI'll do another hour and I'll go
back down and I'll come back upand I'll work another 3 hours
and I'll go back down and that'sprobably the night for me.
And so I just work in bits andpieces and so because of that it
doesn't really feel like workand it's hard for me to tell how
much hours of work I put intoday, because I no longer think
(25:03):
in terms of hours.
I think in terms of tasks.
So I said, okay, this is on myto-do list for this month or for
this week.
Let me knock out this thingright here.
So one of my biggest tasks forthe week are video recordings.
I record quite a bit of videosevery week, up to probably about
(25:26):
an hour and a half worth ofvideo every week.
So I just sit down and I'llspend an hour and a half just
recording content, recordingvideos, right.
But outside of that, all of myother tasks are a little
bite-sized 20 minute here, 30minute there, things that I have
to do.
I no longer edit my videos, soI shoot the videos, I send them
(25:47):
off to my video editor and shedoes the editing and everything
like that.
So I've outsourced a lot of thework that I used to have to do
in the day.
So I have a team of people nowthat I work with.
I have a video editor, I haveweb designer and developer.
I have virtual assistant thatrespond to all my emails, so I
(26:08):
barely do any email work anymore.
I have a social media sort ofvirtual assistant that does all
my social media uploading stuff,making sure that the SEO search
engine optimization is right sothat my videos get ranked in
Google and in YouTube searchRight.
I have a bookkeeper that doesall my books.
(26:34):
I have a CPA that does all mytax filing.
So I have a team of people nowthat I work with, which is
partly why my days are sofreeing, because I don't need to
do all of that Now.
Like I said before, fast forwardto like 20, or I should say
back up to like 2017, 2018,.
(26:55):
I was doing all of that stuffand I felt like man.
I was burnout, but I knew itwas necessary.
I had to learn all thedifferent ins and outs and the
different parts of the business,so then I can begin to
outsource, and this is whatMichael E Gerber calls creating
(27:17):
a franchise business.
Now, if you don't know what I'mtalking about, this is the book
that helps me to start think interms of building systems and
outsourcing work to people.
It's called E-Myth, revisitedby Michael E Gerber.
It's a brilliant book if youwant to build an online business
(27:39):
that generates multiple sixfigures, where you have multiple
sort of outsource work to.
I call them subcontractors.
I wouldn't call them sort ofemployees because they don't
work full time for me.
They do work a lot of hoursevery week for me, right?
I don't have to pay them healthinsurance or anything like that
.
And all my subcontractors outof all the people I listed, only
(28:02):
four of them are from the US.
My web developer is from India,from Pakistan, one of my
virtual assistants fromBangladesh.
My video editor is also US.
One of my content creatorsocial media person, she's from
(28:30):
the UK, and so I have sort ofthis international team of
people too.
You don't need to hire justwithin your ecosystem or within
your country.
The beauty of outsourcing.
The internet again makes thatpossible, and so I am telling
you all of this because it hasreally changed my life If I
(28:54):
didn't discover the beauty ofonline teaching, I would still
be doing what I was doing backin 2014, 2015, which is, I was
teaching piano locally to like30 students.
I was playing multiple gigs aweek, late nights, traveling
across multiple states, whichreally took a toll on my family.
(29:16):
Being away from home for allthat time and the length of time
takes a toll on you physically,on your family, because you're
never really around, and thenyour income.
After all that work is the same.
I'm glad I discovered thisonline thing, which is what
(29:40):
inspired me to start thispodcast, sort of like a journey,
a journal of me documenting myjourney but then also sharing
the tips, sharing the thingsthat has worked for me, sharing
the things that allowed me tobuild this wonderful life.
Right now I'm recording thispodcast.
My wife and my sons are out at atheme park enjoying themselves.
(30:04):
I'm home recording this podcastbecause my wife no longer works
.
She hasn't worked since 2019because she don't need to work
anymore.
The revenue that I make onlinenot only replaced my income that
I was making back then, it alsoreplaced hers.
(30:25):
So now she gets to stay homewith our kids I have young kids.
She gets to take care of them,so we don't need babysitter and
we don't need daycare, right,because she get to play the role
of all of that which she lovesto do.
She loves staying home, sheloves spending time with the
boys.
Now she's out entertaining withthem.
(30:46):
When I finish this podcast,I'll go join them, and that's
the beauty of building an onlinebusiness.
So, to recap, six reasons whyyou should build an online
teaching music business, andthat is reason number one make
money doing what you love.
Reason number two create yourown work schedule.
(31:10):
Reason number three work fromhome.
Reason number four unlimitedrevenue potential.
Reason number five no more timetrading money situation.
You don't need to be tradingmoney, trading time for money
anymore.
You need to think in terms ofhours and trading time for money
(31:34):
when you're building an onlinebusiness.
And the last reason is you workway less hours than you will
than you would in your day job.
So that's what I have for youguys today for the business for
musician podcast.
And, like I said, what hasallowed me to start to think in
these ways think about thebusiness this way is the book
(31:58):
the E-Myth, revisited by MichaelE Gerber.
It's a great book Anyone whodesired to start a business and
this book is not only applicablefor online.
In fact, I think it was a morewritten for brick and mortar
business, but it applies reallyto any business style, whether
it's online, which is brick andmortar.
(32:18):
You need this book because oneof the things I learned in my
early years of building thisonline business was that I
needed to change the way I thinkabout being a business owner.
Think about, because that'swhat you're doing when, when you
create this online thing,you're becoming an entrepreneur,
you're building a business,something to run and sustain on
(32:41):
its own, and this book gives youthe model and the mental shift
needed to do that.
All right, so thanks forlistening to the business and
musician podcast.
If you haven't done so yet,please give me a rate and a
review in the Apple storepodcast or wherever you're
listening to this podcast.
If it has a rating and reviewfeature, please do so.
(33:04):
I know that the Apple podcasthas this feature to be able to
rate and review a podcast.
When you do that, it helps usto rank higher in the results of
podcasts, so that definitelyhelps me to continue to create
content like this, sharing myknowledge, sharing my journey in
how I built an online businessand change my life.
(33:27):
All right, so stick around fornext week.
Try to drop out new episodeevery week for the business or
musician podcast.
Have a blessed week and bye fornow.
I have been teaching music online for the past seven
years and it's been the mostexciting, rewarding and
fulfilling thing I have everdone in my musical career.
So today I want to share withyou six reasons why I believe
you should also build an onlinemusic education business if
you're a music educator.
(00:20):
So that's what we're going todiscuss today in the Business of
Musicians podcast, episode 5.
Stay tuned.
Years ago, I took my teachingskills online and now I make
multiple six figures in annualrevenue, teaching piano to
students worldwide while workingless than eight hours a day.
My name is Warren McPherson,the founder and CEO of Piano
(00:44):
Lesson with Warrencom, and ifyou want to learn how I broke
free from the nine to five pianostudio teaching, the late
nights and weekend giggingschedule, you came to the right
place.
At the Business for Musicianspodcast, I'll share tips,
strategies and tools to help youbreak free from the trading
time for money hamster wheel, soyou, too, can build a
(01:07):
profitable online business whileworking fewer hours and from
the comfort of your home.
Now, if you've been listeningto the previous episodes of
Business for Musicians, I sortof stumbled into the online
(01:29):
piano platform online world ofteaching music.
It's never something that Ireally set out to do Never
something.
I thought that was possible andslowly but surely, I've
discovered new information andI've learned new things along
the way, and I was able toquadruple my income in a few
years, and I just think it issuch an opportunity that a lot
(01:51):
of other musicians are missingout on.
A lot of other musicians outthere can and should be taking
advantage of this opportunity,because there's still only a few
people teaching music online.
There's still a lot moreavenues and potential for folks
to jump in and also grow theirincome, grow their revenue, in
(02:13):
teaching music online.
So, for me, my first reasonsthat I want to give you is that
you get to make money doing whatyou love.
This is probably somethingyou've heard being thrown around
from time to time make money,do what you love, or you should
pursue something that you loveand the money will fall in place
.
Well, that has never been trueuntil today, or I should say
(02:35):
until now.
With the age of the internet,you can really now pursue
something that you're passionateabout, something you love,
something you enjoy doing, whilemaking money.
The internet now makes thatpossible and for me as a
musician, I remember when I setout to pursue music.
A lot of folks in my communitysay so what are you going to do
(02:56):
when you graduate?
And I could not give them ananswer, because back then your
two options as a music schoolgraduate is either to go teach
in the public school or you tryto find a band and tour with an
international artist orsomething like that.
Piano studios, especially whereI grew up in the countries of
(03:18):
Jamaica, wasn't really a thing.
There wasn't really a pianostudio.
It was not a thing.
It was more popular in the cityof Kingston.
I grew up in St Thomas east ofKingston, so there was no real
sort of piano studio opportunityin the rural areas.
So those were your two options.
(03:39):
I didn't want to do either ofthose things, but I just knew I
wanted to pursue music and Ithank God every day that I never
gave up on that dream, becauseit is what has led me to now
doing what I'm doing running anonline business, teaching music,
doing what I love, and makingmultiple six figures from that
(04:01):
annually.
So that's my first reason foryou you get to really do what
you love while making money fromit.
So if you're a drummer andthere's a specific style or type
of drumming that you love andyou want to teach, you can get
to do that online.
Because here's the thing whythis online thing is so magical
(04:25):
Before the online world openedup like this for musicians, you
were pretty much limited topeople in your community to
teach.
That was it.
There was a certain radius.
Outside of that either gets toofar or you would have to travel
very far to find people toteach that's interested in the
(04:46):
thing that you want to teach.
It just gets super difficult.
So that opportunity wasn'treally there.
And I remember when I used toteach piano before I got online
I had to teach stuff that peoplewanted to learn.
Some of the things that peoplewanted to learn.
I didn't want to teach, Iwasn't interested in that, but I
had to teach it.
If I wanted to make a living,if I wanted to keep my piano
(05:09):
teaching thing going, I neededto just focus on what students
wanted to learn.
Online.
You don't have to do that.
You can completely shut out awhole subset of people and focus
on the ones that you want,because now we're talking about
an international audience, noborders.
You have people from literallyall corners of the world at your
(05:31):
disposal when you go online,and so whatever your niche is
and your niche is sort of thething that you're interested in,
that thing you can find acommunity of people a lot of
them as well to pay you to teachthe thing that you want to
teach.
Because, likewise, I mean likemind, if you're interested in
(05:53):
something, then there are otherpeople out there that are a
sheer similar interest and thoseare the people you're going to
try to attract to your teaching.
So the online thing makes thatpossible.
You get to pursue what you love, teach what you love, knowing
that there's going to behundreds and thousands of people
from around the world that alsoshare that same interest.
(06:16):
So you no longer have to bestuck bored teaching weird stuff
and just random things.
You really get to focus on whatyou want to do.
Like, for me, my whole thing isteaching gospel piano online.
That's it.
That's the other genre of music, not because I can't, but I've
just decided to niche to justthat one thing.
(06:38):
It's a very narrow niche,because I don't teach Christian
contemporary songs either.
Hardcore gospel, that's it.
That's my lane, and my YouTubechannel has well over 200,000
subscribers, so that tells youthat, whatever your niche is.
There are hundreds of thousandsof people out there that wants
(06:59):
to hear from you.
So that's reason number one forstarting an online Music
education business.
You might be thinking willpeople be interested in what I
have to offer?
Absolutely, If you're an expert, if you have knowledge, if this
is something you've been doingfor years, there are people out
there who wants to learn fromyou and is willing to pay you.
(07:21):
I Recently came across a podcast.
I was listening to this womanwho pretty much lives on a boat.
That's it a boat and and shedecided to start writing blogs
about how you can transition toliving on a boat.
Now she's making like 30 granda month from her blogs.
(07:44):
Now, there's a whole lot ofbusiness prying that goes on the
behind the scenes To be able to, you know, scale up a business
to that level.
However, that's her niche.
She only write blogs about thatstuff, and now she's also doing
blogs about living out of yourvan.
You know the whole nomadslifestyle and she's making
(08:07):
multiple six figures, and thatgoes to show you that there are
so there are hundreds ofthousands of people From around
the world who are alsointerested in that lifestyle, as
Neat as it might be.
There's enough people out thereto have her running a multiple
six figure business.
So, whatever your thing is, youmight think there's not enough.
(08:27):
People know there are, and sojump online Today, this week.
Start making content about whatyou love.
It will start to grow, peoplestart to find you and Eventually
you'll be able to turn that andmonetize that skill into some
form of business revenue.
(08:48):
Now, number two reason numbertwo for starting or in creating
an online business as a musiceducator, is that you get to
create your own schedule.
I know it might sound simple,but, man, if you're like me, I
Was never a good employee.
I was always late Because Iwould sleep in.
They were talking about when Iwas in.
(09:09):
I'm talking about when I was incollege, but I was just never
really a good employee.
I was just my mind was alwayselsewhere.
I like to do things differently.
I was just never the guy thatlikes to follow a lot of rules
in terms of being a goodemployee.
Now, when you, when you'rebuilding your own business
(09:29):
online, you really get to buildyour own schedule.
Now, this is something thatcomes a little bit later,
because if you're already, ifyou already have a nine to five.
You can't just quit To go startan online business.
You got bills to pay, family tofeed, so you're most likely
going to be working your nine tofive while Building this thing
on the side, right.
(09:51):
But once it's built to thepoint where you can quit your
day job and transition into thisonline thing, it's magical.
I Don't start working beforenoon Any day and this is
something I've been doing foryears now.
I Start working at like noon,12, 30, 1 pm.
(10:12):
That's when I start working.
That's when my work day starts.
Why?
Because I spend the morningswith my sons, hanging out with
them, taking them toappointments, going to the park.
I Just I do whatever I want inthe mornings, that's it.
The mornings I hang out with myfamily.
We have breakfast.
We do whatever we want.
(10:34):
Because I work online, there'sno opening and closing hours.
I get to build my own schedule.
I Start working at noon.
If, at five, I said, ah, I'mdone for the day, that's it.
I don't have to ask anyone.
I don't have to request hey,I'm leaving at five today, I
(10:54):
just literally say I'm done andI get up.
Some days I wake up if I don'twant to work.
I don't when I'm sick and I'mnot feeling well for days at a
time.
I just don't work for thosedays, literally don't have to
answer to anyone, do have tosubmit anything to anyone and to
(11:15):
me.
That's what living is aboutthat freeing and refreshing
feeling, knowing that you're incontrol of this thing.
And so that's my reason Numbertwo why you should start an
online business.
It really does free you up,give you the time, so you can
then reinvest that into whateveryou want.
If you have a family, you getto spend more time with your
(11:38):
family.
And that leads me into Reasonnumber three, which is that you
get to do this from home.
Everyone I know who runs anonline business and I know a lot
of people who do this now.
I mean a lot of online groupsand forums of Similar business
owners, educators some of themare musicians themselves, some
(12:00):
are in other fields, but they'reall doing it online and they
all work from home.
I mean, just think about it.
You never have to navigatetraffic anymore, especially if
you live in a city.
City life, the nine to fivetraffic it's aggressive.
You know, down here in Florida,and, like Orlando, it's easy
(12:22):
for you to be in traffic for 45and out 45 minutes an hour, hour
and a half on your way home.
It's, it's insane.
I Remember the last time I'vebeen stuck in traffic because
I've been working full-time inthis business since 2019.
I started the business reallysort of in 2017 and by 2019 I
(12:46):
was able to make it my full-timebusiness.
The wear and tear in my carSignificantly decrease because I
only drive now to go to thegroceries Appointments.
You know leisure activities.
I don't do a lot of drivingevery day.
I do everything from home.
I roll out of bed, I eat, Ihang out.
(13:07):
When I'm ready, my office isupstairs, I go upstairs.
I don't have to change clothes.
I don't have anything workrelated.
I work in my sweatpants, in myshirt.
I have these branded t-shirtsthat I create and these are sort
of like my work thing, and Ionly wear these shirts when I'm
Shooting videos.
(13:27):
If I'm not doing any video,sometimes I'm shirtless, sitting
by my computer doing my thingor sitting by my keyboard
creating a new track.
Whatever it is, I'm wearingslippers.
It's just such a relaxed way ofliving, a relaxed way of
working.
I Love it and everyone I knowwho does this Love the fact that
(13:51):
they don't have to leave theirhome to work.
So that's reason number threewhy you should start an online
business in and teaching andmusic.
Right Number four.
Let's jump to number four.
So reason number four forbuilding an online business in
the music industry or musiceducation industry is unlimited
(14:16):
revenue potential.
I mean, think about it.
If you're in your day job rightnow, you know exactly how much
you're gonna make the end of themonth.
You've probably been makingthat same amount for a few years
right now, it doesn't matterhow much work you put in.
It doesn't matter how early youshow up to work.
You could be the hardest workerteaching music in a school or
(14:40):
in your studio.
You know exactly how muchyou're gonna make at the end of
the month.
Your effort doesn't meananything.
This is what you make andthat's it.
If you wanna make more money,you have to either work overtime
, if your job allows that, oryou have to get a second job.
(15:01):
That's it.
When you work online, yourpotential, your revenue
potential, is virtuallyunlimited.
There's no caps.
I remember when I made my first$100 online, I was like, wow,
this is amazing.
In a few months I was making acouple hundred dollars online.
(15:24):
By the end of the year I wasmaking $1,000.
And every month it grew.
The amount of work I wasinvesting didn't change, so my
work volume stayed the same, butevery month my income kept
rising 500 a month, 5,000 amonth, 10,000 a month, 12,000 a
(15:52):
month, 15,000 a month, 20,000 amonth.
My income kept rising eventhough my workload stayed the
same.
Think about that ratio.
So it's not like I'm putting inmore work to increase my income
.
My workload stays the same, butmy income keep rising.
(16:18):
And that's the beauty of onlinebecause we're talking about,
instead of just your immediatecommunity, your immediate
surrounding community or yourstate, being your reach, the
world now becomes your playingfield.
That's your potential reach.
Eight billion people right, Imean not eight billion people is
(16:40):
gonna be following your niche.
Little online music, but youonly need to have like 1,000
people paying you monthly.
Just think about that.
Only need like 1,000 to breakinto multiple six figures in
revenue.
It's not a lot, right?
(17:01):
And so that's one of the beautyof teaching online.
You don't have to put in moretime to make more money on the
backend, because the reach is sogreat, and if you've listened
to my previous episode, you knowthat I'm a huge fan of YouTube.
If you're going to build anyform of online teaching platform
(17:22):
, youtube needs to be yourcentral hub.
And if you want to know why I'msuch a big advocate of YouTube,
go back and listen to theprevious episodes episodes four,
episodes three I give all of myreasons why I have pretty much
built a multi six figurebusiness on the back of YouTube.
(17:42):
Youtube is my largest audienceand that's where 99% of all my
paid customers come from.
That's where they find me.
So, reason number fourunlimited revenue potential.
If you're struggling to makeends meet, if you're tired of
living hand to mouth and it'sjust not working out for you,
(18:08):
then you should probablyconsider online.
Now let me pause here to saysomething.
It might sound like I'm talkingabout some form of fairy tale
situation.
You just get up and startmaking all this money online.
It does take real work.
So this is not some form of getrich quick or make money quick
(18:28):
thing.
Like I said, I've been at thissince 2017.
So I've been at it for a fewyears and I've poured hundreds
of hours into developing myskills learning about online
marketing, learning aboutcontent creation, learning about
SEO.
A lot of stuff to learn.
But again, just think about it.
(18:51):
In seven years, I was able tobuild this.
If you've been teaching outthere in the school or running
your own studio for 10 years, 15years, 20 years, and you're
looking at your income andyou'll be like, ah, I wish it
was more.
Just imagine investing not evenseven years because, like I
(19:12):
said, I already overshoot thesix figure mark, three years in
the business.
Just imagine if you can investthree years in working on these
things that I'm talking about.
You can potentially replaceyour day job.
If your day job isn't payingyou six figures a year, you
(19:32):
could potentially replace thatin three years online.
This is serious.
This is some game-changingthing I'm talking about here.
So think about it.
While it takes work, this iswork that the benefit far
outpace the hours you're gonnaput in, because you're putting a
(19:54):
lot of hours up front, but thenafter a while, you're able to
back right off.
Like I said, if tomorrow, meand my wife decide you know what
we're gonna go on a trip for aweek, I can do it and I'll still
be making money Every day.
Money will still be coming intomy bank account.
Think about that level offreedom.
(20:16):
Now, reason number five is nomore trading time for money.
That's what we've been talkingabout With the online thing.
It's not a trade where you putin your time and you get paid
for that time in terms of hours.
It's not that direct trade and,like I said before, in the
(20:37):
initial stage you're gonna beputting in a whole lot of hours
up front that you won't get anypayment for.
So you can't shoot one videouploaded and then where's my
money?
For the first year.
Let me back it up.
I started my YouTube channel in2014.
It has just a hobby Posted ahandful of crappy videos,
(21:01):
disappeared for two years.
Then I came back in 2016 andtook it seriously.
I shot videos Every day.
I was shooting a video in 2016.
I mean not every day, everyweek.
So I shot 52 videos on averagefor 2016 and I didn't receive a
(21:21):
dime for any of that work.
And that was hours, becauseback then I barely knew how to
do audio editing and videoediting and recording.
Everything just took me a lotof time to complete back then.
So a lot of hours invested forthat first year with zero
returns.
2017, I decided to sell my firstcourse because people kept
(21:48):
asking me about online coursesand where can I purchase my
courses.
So I created a course and Isold it for $12.
Took a while a few weeks, butthen somebody buy it.
Then I kept promoting thatcourse and a second person buy
it, and that was when I startedto see.
Like I said, I remember thefirst month I made $100,
(22:09):
approximately $100, selling thislittle one-hour course online,
but that was the affirmation Ineeded to say huh, this thing
really work right, it can reallymake money online.
So I put in a year of work,basically in 2016, without
getting any monetary returns.
(22:31):
That's what it really takes.
And so a lot of people jumponline and they put in a few
months of work in terms ofvideos and stuff, and then they
don't see any monetary returnand they get discouraged.
I went for an entire yearbefore I was able to see a dime
and then, once I saw thatthere's potential, people will
(22:53):
actually open their wallet andpurchase what you have to offer.
That motivated me to learn moreabout how this thing works,
because you don't just create acourse and put it out into the
abyss and say, how am I notgetting any sales?
No, you have to learn aboutmarketing.
Marketing is everything, andwe'll be talking more about
(23:14):
stuff like that in the futureepisodes of this podcast.
I had to learn about marketingbecause you can have the best
course in the world, but ifnobody knows about it, it
doesn't matter, and so if you'reconsidering doing this, it's
important to know that you'regonna need to put in a year's
(23:35):
work of a lot of hours upfront,but you will reap the benefit of
that later, and so that's themost important thing.
Now let's take a look at thelast reason for building an
online music education platform,and that is you get to work
less hours 8 hours a day, 9 to5,.
(23:59):
None of that stuff reallymatters when you're online.
You work when you want and forhow long you want.
Some days I work 3 hours.
Most days I work 5 to 6 hours 8hours.
I don't remember the last timeI cranked in 8 hours a day.
(24:19):
See the other thing, too, aboutthe way my work life is set up
because I work from home, I workin bits and pieces, so it's
kind of sometimes hard for me tocalculate how many hours a day
I work, because I might put in 2hours, and then I get up and go
downstairs to have lunch andI'll hang out for 3 hours down
there with my boys or justwatching a TV show or something,
(24:42):
and then I'll come back up andI'll do another hour and I'll go
back down and I'll come back upand I'll work another 3 hours
and I'll go back down and that'sprobably the night for me.
And so I just work in bits andpieces and so because of that it
doesn't really feel like workand it's hard for me to tell how
much hours of work I put intoday, because I no longer think
(25:03):
in terms of hours.
I think in terms of tasks.
So I said, okay, this is on myto-do list for this month or for
this week.
Let me knock out this thingright here.
So one of my biggest tasks forthe week are video recordings.
I record quite a bit of videosevery week, up to probably about
(25:26):
an hour and a half worth ofvideo every week.
So I just sit down and I'llspend an hour and a half just
recording content, recordingvideos, right.
But outside of that, all of myother tasks are a little
bite-sized 20 minute here, 30minute there, things that I have
to do.
I no longer edit my videos, soI shoot the videos, I send them
(25:47):
off to my video editor and shedoes the editing and everything
like that.
So I've outsourced a lot of thework that I used to have to do
in the day.
So I have a team of people nowthat I work with.
I have a video editor, I haveweb designer and developer.
I have virtual assistant thatrespond to all my emails, so I
(26:08):
barely do any email work anymore.
I have a social media sort ofvirtual assistant that does all
my social media uploading stuff,making sure that the SEO search
engine optimization is right sothat my videos get ranked in
Google and in YouTube searchRight.
I have a bookkeeper that doesall my books.
(26:34):
I have a CPA that does all mytax filing.
So I have a team of people nowthat I work with, which is
partly why my days are sofreeing, because I don't need to
do all of that Now.
Like I said before, fast forwardto like 20, or I should say
back up to like 2017, 2018,.
(26:55):
I was doing all of that stuffand I felt like man.
I was burnout, but I knew itwas necessary.
I had to learn all thedifferent ins and outs and the
different parts of the business,so then I can begin to
outsource, and this is whatMichael E Gerber calls creating
(27:17):
a franchise business.
Now, if you don't know what I'mtalking about, this is the book
that helps me to start think interms of building systems and
outsourcing work to people.
It's called E-Myth, revisitedby Michael E Gerber.
It's a brilliant book if youwant to build an online business
(27:39):
that generates multiple sixfigures, where you have multiple
sort of outsource work to.
I call them subcontractors.
I wouldn't call them sort ofemployees because they don't
work full time for me.
They do work a lot of hoursevery week for me, right?
I don't have to pay them healthinsurance or anything like that
.
And all my subcontractors outof all the people I listed, only
(28:02):
four of them are from the US.
My web developer is from India,from Pakistan, one of my
virtual assistants fromBangladesh.
My video editor is also US.
One of my content creatorsocial media person, she's from
(28:30):
the UK, and so I have sort ofthis international team of
people too.
You don't need to hire justwithin your ecosystem or within
your country.
The beauty of outsourcing.
The internet again makes thatpossible, and so I am telling
you all of this because it hasreally changed my life If I
(28:54):
didn't discover the beauty ofonline teaching, I would still
be doing what I was doing backin 2014, 2015, which is, I was
teaching piano locally to like30 students.
I was playing multiple gigs aweek, late nights, traveling
across multiple states, whichreally took a toll on my family.
(29:16):
Being away from home for allthat time and the length of time
takes a toll on you physically,on your family, because you're
never really around, and thenyour income.
After all that work is the same.
I'm glad I discovered thisonline thing, which is what
(29:40):
inspired me to start thispodcast, sort of like a journey,
a journal of me documenting myjourney but then also sharing
the tips, sharing the thingsthat has worked for me, sharing
the things that allowed me tobuild this wonderful life.
Right now I'm recording thispodcast.
My wife and my sons are out at atheme park enjoying themselves.
(30:04):
I'm home recording this podcastbecause my wife no longer works
.
She hasn't worked since 2019because she don't need to work
anymore.
The revenue that I make onlinenot only replaced my income that
I was making back then, it alsoreplaced hers.
(30:25):
So now she gets to stay homewith our kids I have young kids.
She gets to take care of them,so we don't need babysitter and
we don't need daycare, right,because she get to play the role
of all of that which she lovesto do.
She loves staying home, sheloves spending time with the
boys.
Now she's out entertaining withthem.
(30:46):
When I finish this podcast,I'll go join them, and that's
the beauty of building an onlinebusiness.
So, to recap, six reasons whyyou should build an online
teaching music business, andthat is reason number one make
money doing what you love.
Reason number two create yourown work schedule.
(31:10):
Reason number three work fromhome.
Reason number four unlimitedrevenue potential.
Reason number five no more timetrading money situation.
You don't need to be tradingmoney, trading time for money
anymore.
You need to think in terms ofhours and trading time for money
(31:34):
when you're building an onlinebusiness.
And the last reason is you workway less hours than you will
than you would in your day job.
So that's what I have for youguys today for the business for
musician podcast.
And, like I said, what hasallowed me to start to think in
these ways think about thebusiness this way is the book
(31:58):
the E-Myth, revisited by MichaelE Gerber.
It's a great book Anyone whodesired to start a business and
this book is not only applicablefor online.
In fact, I think it was a morewritten for brick and mortar
business, but it applies reallyto any business style, whether
it's online, which is brick andmortar.
(32:18):
You need this book because oneof the things I learned in my
early years of building thisonline business was that I
needed to change the way I thinkabout being a business owner.
Think about, because that'swhat you're doing when, when you
create this online thing,you're becoming an entrepreneur,
you're building a business,something to run and sustain on
(32:41):
its own, and this book gives youthe model and the mental shift
needed to do that.
All right, so thanks forlistening to the business and
musician podcast.
If you haven't done so yet,please give me a rate and a
review in the Apple storepodcast or wherever you're
listening to this podcast.
If it has a rating and reviewfeature, please do so.
(33:04):
I know that the Apple podcasthas this feature to be able to
rate and review a podcast.
When you do that, it helps usto rank higher in the results of
podcasts, so that definitelyhelps me to continue to create
content like this, sharing myknowledge, sharing my journey in
how I built an online businessand change my life.
(33:27):
All right, so stick around fornext week.
Try to drop out new episodeevery week for the business or
musician podcast.
Have a blessed week and bye fornow.
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