Transcription
Hello, this is Ian Green, the video editor and owner of the Music Matters video blog. I'm the owner and operator of Music by Ian Green in Hamilton, Ontario.
I've been speaking on a variety of different questions related to music education and other aspects of the music business and music industry. Today, I'm here to talk about the aspect of providing makeup lessons, how to invoice lessons, and some of the possible problems that could come up with this.
Over the years of being a music educator, I've completed a variety of different invoicing tactics. Some have worked, and some haven't, so I'm happy to share some of my secrets with you to hopefully help.
One thing that I found was that you have to be strict in the sense of creating a policy that is professional and also services the customer or your students. You don't want to be taken advantage of as a teacher. Nine times out of ten, clients are very appreciative of the policy that is put in place. There might be the occasional person that questions something, but as long as you stand your ground and create a policy that you feel fits well with your studio and stick to it, then everyone wins in the end.
One aspect that comes up regularly that I speak with colleagues on is the aspect of makeup lessons. Makeup lessons mean if you miss a lesson as a teacher or if the student misses a lesson, then there's a makeup lesson required to make up the time that was missed. Some teachers decide not to do makeup lessons regardless of who misses, and some teachers provide makeup lessons to a certain extent.
You don't want to have it where you get taken advantage of. Sometimes I remember there was one context that I can speak of a few years ago when I was first starting teaching. There was one family that I would visit their house every week, but at least once a month, they forgot that they had a piano lesson.
I'd be sitting there in their driveway, calling them, and no one answered. There was no one home. But then I would receive an email the next day saying, "Oh Ian, we missed the lesson. We need to do a makeup." I thought, "Well, okay, sure." You know, after a couple of times, I thought, "Oh sure, the first couple of times they forgot and they were busy, so no problem."
But I never stood my ground about the number of makeup lessons that I should be taking into consideration. So it came to the end of the year, and there were six makeup lessons that were owed. We tried to organize the best that we could with them, and I doubled up a couple of them but didn't have enough time to fit them all in.
I was able to schedule four of the six lessons, so that's extra time on top of your regular week. I showed up for one of the makeup lessons, and of course, they forgot. I was sitting in the driveway again, calling them and knocking on the door, and no one was home.
So I left and went off with the other aspects of my schedule. Then I received another email the next day saying, "Oh sorry, we missed the makeup lesson. We need to reschedule it." At this point, you can look back at this scenario and think that, unfortunately, the teacher is being abused because the student was not respectful of the policy.
At that time, I didn't have a strict policy, so I had to decide on something that is also very much a scenario that is a nod to the norm. In regards to makeup lessons for my studio, what I do is if a student is sick, like with a cold, or if they're away on vacation, away for a school trip, or doing homework, or there's some other excuse like hockey or something, a sporting event, a concert in which they miss the lesson, then there's no makeup allowed.
This is basically because I have such a large studio; it's physically impossible to make up every class that every student misses. However, if a student is in the hospital, or if there's a death in their family, or there's a family emergency, I take those scenarios on a case-by-case basis. I usually check their attendance and make sure that they're respectful if we do decide to do a makeup lesson.
If I miss a class, let's say I'm sick or I'm away at another engagement or something, then I make up any lessons that I miss. Usually, because I'm a busy music festival adjudicator, I can anticipate during the course of the year if there are going to be some weeks that I'm going to be away, and then I don't include those in the invoicing for the year.
So I don't have to worry about doing the makeup lessons later. There are things that come up, though, but that's my policy that I have had for a few years, and it's worked great. There have been a couple of times in which students or parents have questioned aspects of it, but I stand my ground and explain to them that basically, by working with me, you are taking some of my time and using it for your music lessons.
Just as much as I respect that you would like to learn how to play the piano or learn about theory, I expect that there should be respect for the time that is being used every week for the lessons. You can always deal with that in a professional fashion.
Because of this, the retention rate every year is very high, and there are never really any problems that I encounter with my policy. By doing it on a case-by-case basis, I am able to create a really good rapport with the students, and they also know how everything works right from the beginning. It's very clear and organized.
I hope you take my comments to heart, and you can decide what you like to do about makeup lessons, if you'd like to do them or not. I find that by deciding on guidelines that are easy to follow and by sticking to your policy as much as possible and staying organized with it, that will help in the end. It will save a lot of confusion and potential complaints.
Thanks for listening. I appreciate you taking the time. You can follow me on YouTube. I'm also on Facebook; you can look up Music by Ian Green. I have a page, and also you can follow me on my website, www.musicbyiangreen.com.
I look forward to speaking with you again, and we'll discuss another topic at another time.