Last spring, I was contacted by a local family photographer who was interested in setting up a little marketing trade with my studio. I had never done such a thing with another small business, so I jumped on the opportunity. The photographer's proposal was that she would include my brochures and business cards in her clients' packages, and in turn, she would provide me with canvases...
Read MoreBy Julia Kossuth As the first month of lessons has passed, for this school year anyway, it’s been interesting to watch the interest, progress, and motivation for each student take shape. Here at the Studios of Sarah Strout, we use a point system in which each student can earn points for practicing, memorizing, performing for family, and more, all going towards getting as big a trophy...
Read MoreBy Julia Kossuth As the school year gets underway and both old and new faces begin to arrive in the studio each week, the individual—yet ever changing—dynamic with each student and their teacher begins to set in. One situation that tends to occur at least a few times with every new set of students is this: Mom or Dad wants to sit in the lesson, every...
Read MoreBy Meridith Johnson As teachers, studio owners and managers and people on planet earth, it seems like there is a constant to-do list. Seasons change, jobs change, people move and our live seem to be in a constant flux. Our studio has gown greatly in the number of students we’ve had, and we’ve expanded our capacity at our studio to reach to providing in-home lessons. We have...
Read More
Since I first opened my studio back in 2007, I had a “no weekends” policy. I’ve had families ask about Saturday and Sunday lessons and music therapy sessions, but I always stood firm that I would limit my work week to 5 days. Until now.
The thing is, Sunday has never really served as a day of rest for me. After choir practice and church in the morning, I usually come home and work on a songwriting/recording project or prepare lesson and session materials, which works out nicely since my husband is usually busy watching football anyway. And on most Sundays, I head back to church in the late afternoon to teach my early childhood music class. So even though my studio was never open for business on this day in the past, I still was always in work mode.
This summer as I was planning my studio schedule, I realized that something would have to give. With a full load of students and no plans to downsize, my choices were to either work well into the night — 8:30 pm on most evenings — or open up a couple hours on Sundays (Saturdays will always be off the table).