Music Studio Startup: Helping music teachers thrive as entrepreneurs

A new cohort of our Business Building 101 course is starting this week! If you're launching a studio, rebuilding after a move, or just want to build a more intentional, financially sustainable business, this course is designed to help you do exactly that—with clarity, structure, and support. And today's guest is a perfect example of what can happen when you combine a fresh start with the right too...

Today's episode is part two of a super interesting two-part conversation with Sam Reti, a music teacher and a visionary behind the popular online music lesson platform Muzie. Live. If you haven't listened to the first part, I highly encourage you to go back and listen to that one too. In this episode, Sam shares how a college class at Berkeley, countless Uber and Lyft rides and a whole lot of Chip...

Today's episode is part one of a super interesting two-part conversation with Sam Reti, a music teacher and the visionary behind the popular online music lesson platform Muzie. Live. In this episode, Sam shares how a college class at Berkeley, countless Uber and Lyft rides, and a whole lot of Chipotle burritos helped launch his first business. And why learning when to quit was just as important as...

This time of year I get a lot of financial questions from teachers. We've just gotten through the holiday spending spree, new year's might have inspired some financial goal-setting, and then there's the looming tax deadline in April, so there's a lot to think about. Sometimes the questions I get are really specific to an individual, but lately a bunch of clients and listeners have said "hey, you t...

If you've ever thought about expanding from being a solo, independent teacher to hiring teachers and assumed your first step would be to rent a commercial space, think again. Today's guest shares how the studio she started with a few students in her living room eventually grew to serve 200 students and took over her family's entire home. A full transcript and resources from this episode can be fou...

With the MTNA conference right around the corner, we got Charles Harris, CPA back on the podcast to discuss tax deductions for business travel and attending conferences. We talk about common expenses associated with business travel, which ones are deductible and which ones aren't. We answer questions like: Are meals 100% deductible when I'm traveling? Can I deduct my plane ticket it I pay for it w...

Today I'm talking to the Christina Whitlock - an independent piano teacher whose studio has flexed and changed many times throughout her career to adapt to what she wants and needs out of life and business in different seasons. If you are familiar with Christina and her podcast, Beyond Measure, you know she is a huge encourager for music teachers and you'll get a huge dose of that in this episode....

We've had a lot of tax talk on the podcast lately and I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. I get it. I promise we'll keep it to a minimum today, but I do want to let you know about an upcoming webinar that I will be co-presenting with our CPA, Charles! Join us on Thur, February 6 for our Self-Employment Tax Crash Course. You can register for that at musicstudiostartup.com/tax . That's it! That...

Charles and Andrea sit down to answer some of the questions we've been getting about our new tax prep services for music teachers ! Can I self-file taxes? What are the tax deadlines I need to be aware of? What is the mileage deduction? How does the mileage deduction work? A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode159 .   FREE Webinar: Self-Empl...

Happy new year! For a lot of studio owners, January represents the beginning of tax season so I've got Charles Harris, a CPA, as our guest today to talk about all things self-employment taxes. We'll cover a bunch of things including the earning thresholds for when you need to earn to start filing taxes and what to do if you did not earn a profit in your business this year (spoiler: it can benefit...

 If you've ever wished you could travel, but have told yourself that you can't take time off or it's too expensive or whatever, this interview will have you rethinking those assumptions.  Today, I'm talking to a returning guest about how he has designed his studios, plural, to be able to take extended backpacking trips every year. We talk about budgeting for the trips, how he preps his students an...

A quick reminder that next Tuesday, Dec. 10 is our BOIR Filing Party. If you have an LLC and it's been on your To Do list to file this report, join us! If you missed Episode 156 where I talked about the new BOIR filing requirement for LLC owners, you'll definitely want to check it out.   📅 Register for our BOIR Filing Party on Tues, Dec. 10 MSS Entrepreneurs Hub + Mastermind Music Studio Business...

Today's episode is more of a public service announcement for studio owners who have businesses that are registered in the US. On January 1, a new reporting requirement from the US Treasury Department went into effect and it might impact you. I'm talking about the Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting rule or BOI Reporting requirement from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), par...

Sean Murphy is a saxophone teacher who managed to teach 112 students on a weekly basis by teaching in schools, during the school hours. In our interview, Sean shares his scheduling strategies, communication tips, and how he keeps his income up in leaner summer months. A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/episode155.   MSS Entrepreneurs Hub + Mast...

Today's podcast episode is part 2 of a two part conversation with a returning guest. Christopher Maloney was on the podcast last year to talk about founding Practice Warriors, an online practice program aimed at teen and adult students. You can hear that story in Episode 132 . In that conversation, Christopher mentioned that he had formerly owned a multi-teacher music studio, which he sold. That w...

Today's podcast episode is part 1 of a two part conversation with a returning guest. Christopher Maloney was on the podcast last year to talk about founding Practice Warriors, an online practice program aimed at teen and adult students. You can hear that story in Episode 132 . In that conversation, Christopher mentioned that he had formerly owned a multi-teacher music studio, which he sold. That w...

Today's conversation is one about being a lifelong learner, managing competing priorities and finite time, and aligning a team to work towards a shared vision.  Most of us can probably relate to at least some of these things from our roles as teachers and studio owners, but my guest today is neither a music teacher nor a studio owner. Today I'm talking to Bradley Kunda, a musician and Product Owne...

For the first time in two years, we're forming a cohort of teachers to go through Business Building 101 together! Join today at musicstudiostartup.com/BB101 You'll get weekly video lessons to complete whenever it's convenient and you can join the live office hours to get personalized help and hang out with other teachers in the cohort. Today's mini interview comes from Jenica Nevala, a music schoo...

Today's episode is a rebroadcast of one of the earliest episodes of Music Studio Startup, but it has stood the test of time. It's worth noting that at the time of recording, my guest Shannah's podcast was called "Millennial Money", but the name has since changed to "Everyone's Talkin' Money." Here's the episode: If you're in the first few years of your career, money can be a complicated topic. You...

Quarter 2 wrapped up for us at the end of July so we're bringing you another quarterly recap. You'll get to hear what's going on behind the scenes with our team. Today I'm joined again by Cindy from the MSS team. If you listened to our Q1 recap in Episode146 you'll recognize her voice. Episode 146 – 2024 Q1 Recap with Cindy Hsu A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at Musi...

We're doing a special series on the podcast this summer called Studio Snapshots. Rather than the in-depth, process-oriented interviews you're used to hearing, these rapid-fire interviews give us a glimpse in a guest's studio at a moment in time.  They're part reflection, part anticipation of the future, and fully a celebration of where these teachers are today. Today I'm talking to Ivan Kolar.    ...

As many of you know, this year marks our third Studio Launch Grant Competition. We received a record number of inspiring applications this year and last week I announced our seven finalists . After much angst and deliberation, our judges have finally chosen a winner. Thank you to the sponsors that made this year's competition possible: Alfred Music, Fons, MakeMusic Cloud, Muzie. Live, Alamo Music....

Welcome back! We're doing a special series on the podcast this summer called Studio Snapshots. Rather than the in-depth, process-oriented interviews you're used to hearing, these rapid-fire interviews give us a glimpse in a guest's studio at a moment in time.  They're part reflection, part anticipation of the future, and fully a celebration of where these teachers are today. Today I'm talking to A...

A full transcript and resources from this episode can be found at MusicStudioStartup.com/snapshot030.