Diversifying Your Income with the Flute Center of New York

Guest Blog Post by Anamarie Diaz, The Financial Flutist

With the start of the new year comes big goals and ambitions. For many, that includes increasing your income. As a music teacher, it can be hard to figure out how to increase your income when it seems like your income is solely dependent on students. However, instead of just looking at increasing your income, often it is better to look at diversifying your income streams. 

What do I mean by income diversification? This is the process of adding variety to how you make money. Instead of just relying on teaching lessons for income, you open up the avenues in which your private studio can make money. Believe it or not, there are many opportunities for private music teachers to increase their income besides just teaching lessons. Before we dive into how you can diversify your income, let’s talk about why you should. 

One of the main reasons you should diversify your income is so all of your eggs are not in one basket. This was one of the main lessons learned across all industries during the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic. Similar to having an emergency fund equal to 3-6 months of expenses, having multiple income streams allows you to have an “income safety net”. So even if one source of income brings in less money one month, you can rely on your other sources to make up the difference. Something that is important to mention is that while diversification of your income is important, the next step to ensure financial stability is having a money system, so you know exactly how to treat each dollar you make. 

Besides the obvious benefit of increasing the amount of money you make, income diversification allows you to pursue other passions within or outside of music. Sometimes we can feel “stuck” in our career believing that our income can only come from one place. When we look at diversifying how we make money, not only can we increase the amount we make but we can have other creative outlets. 

It can be a daunting task to start a teaching studio, so how do we then go about diversifying our income streams? Here are 5 ways to create income diversification as a music teacher:

1. Create other opportunities for your students

The way private music lessons look and how private studios are structured is changing! No longer is it just a weekly 30 minute lesson. Instead music teachers are finding creative ways to offer their students more opportunities and thus diversifying and increasing their income. This could include things like offering recitals, masterclasses, and workshops.

      2. Host one-off music events

What you offer doesn’t just have to be for your students. Hosting different music events that are open to all students is a great additional income source and a way to get more eyes on your studio. This could include events like All-District Band mock auditions or mini lessons, music history classes, memorization classes during marching band seasons, etc. The opportunities are endless!

      3. Create a summer camp

One of the biggest stressors for music teachers is the irregularity of income during the summer. Many times students will either stop lessons or cut back on how many lessons they have over the summer months. This can cause our teaching income to severely drop. One of the best ways to combat that is by creating a music camp. While the idea of creating a summer music camp may be a daunting task, remember that parents are always looking for activities their child can do during the summer, even if it’s just for 60 minutes. Creating a summer camp is a great way to diversify your income and boost that summer income drop. 

      4. Monetize your teaching materials

How many worksheets, exercises, arrangements, etc. have you created for your students? As private teachers, we go above and beyond to create teaching material that will help our students. And because of that, we have a whole library of teaching material just sitting around waiting to be used. Think about selling that teaching material! There are so many music teachers that would love to have those worksheets you created to help them. Selling your teaching material is a great way to add another income stream that can offset some of that time you put into making those materials.

      5. Join ClubFCNY

Did you know that the Flute Center of New York has a teachers club designed specifically for flute teachers to add another source of income? The mission of ClubFCNY is to help flute teachers account for the amount of time they spend helping their students upgrade their instrument. Flute teachers spend time recommending brands, discussing options, coordinating shipping, etc. It’s time for flute teachers to get compensated for their expertise. With ClubFCNY, flute teachers will be paid a consultation fee for each referral made to the Flute Center of New York that results in a purchase. This is an incredible opportunity that will diversify your income. Here are the additional benefits of joining ClubFCNY:

• Free shipping for all trials and purchases
• Longer 10-day trials
• Extended 18-month Standard Service Guarantee
• A consultation fee paid directly to the teacher
• 10% off all sheet music orders for you and your students at www.FluteSheetMusic.com
• Free advertisement on our Flute Teacher Map
  
  

As a music teacher your time is valuable anytime you are working with a student. For more information on ClubFCNY visit: https://flutecenter.com/pages/clubfcny-signup.

With the start of the new year, remember that one of the easiest ways to increase your income is by diversifying how you make money. The world of private teaching is evolving and you have the opportunity to transform not only your private studio but also how you make money as a musician.

For more information on creating financial stability as a musician and building a money system, consider joining The Music Money Workshop. Visit www.thefinancialflutist.com for more information.