The piano is often one of a few common choices parents tend to introduce to their children when helping them find an instrument to play. If you happen to have knowledge and skill in playing the piano and realize this fact that pianos are so widespread in introducing kids (and many adults) to a musical instrument, then you have a marketplace and all you need to do is reach them with your expertise.
There is no better way to do so than through the use of the Web and all the great platforms one can utilize to find their slice of the marketplace and get business underway. Here are a few of the core steps you should follow for launching your own online business of selling piano lessons, tutorials, and guide:
Identify Expertise, Research Competition, and Examine Marketplace Viability
These are the three keys to starting it all:
- Finding what you’re good at
- Finding what the competition is good at
- Finding what the marketplace wants to buy
Expertise isn’t a make or break event – you don’t have to be Beethoven in order to teach others the piano – you simply need to be proficient and have enough practice under your belt like applying for any type of job. You may identify with different genres of music or you may prefer to work with different age groups so keep this in mind as you do the rest of your research.
Next, I’d say go right to the source and take a look at the competition through a site like LessonRating.com, which offers a way to review and compare piano lessons in your area. Here you can do your competition and market research in one place as it will share profiles of those that provide lessons in your area (or you could search a wider region to gather a larger data set). The market viability will also be shown based on the reviews and feedback so if you know they are frequently receiving praise then you know the market is there for what they’re offering.
Create a Core Set of Lessons, Tutorials, and Guides
Once you’ve done the core research, it’s time to get started with creating the content and formatting for the tutoring side of the services. Doing this now is vital because it gives you motivation to continue on with the business and lets you slowly introduce items to the marketplace as they’re developed, rather than waiting months (or years) trying to get it “just right” before launch.
My recommendation would be the following:
- Purchase a decent video camera, web camera, and microphone
- Look through the common lessons you’d find when learning piano and add a personal twist
- Set up and record yourself performing these teaching lessons
Now, what does this do?
You now have video, which can be shared on your website, social platforms, and bundled into an online course, but also you can take still images for sharing, blog posts, infographics, and more. It’s a top-down approach that saves time.
Place the Content, Promote like Crazy, and Learn from Feedback
Now you have two things in your arsenal:
- Physical/information products you can sell
- Tutoring services
Products can encourage individuals to seek your tutoring (in person or through live casting), whereas the tutoring gives you the opportunity to pitch the additional physical/info courses you’ve created as a complementary item to aid in learning.
The big decision is where you’ll be placing this content in order to handle payments, reviews, and all other aspects of online business. For one, go back to a site like LessonRating.com and place your profile on there.
Promotion is as easy as just sharing content to your site or a YouTube channel (consider showing off cover songs and link back to your services/products). Get active on Facebook with a page and utilize their advertising. Put together an email list which could share news, music sheets, tutorials, and more. Another way is to simply get out and start throwing up fliers, business cards, and other small print campaigns around your area to get out the word.
Finally, take the time to listen to your students and customers so you may make appropriate changes to the format, pricing, delivery, and whatever else needs to be in order to create a better service/product.
Conclusion
All in all, though, don’t feel as if this is overwhelming as you may take your time and find plenty of additional resources and guidance on the individual topics. Once you convince yourself to share your skills and expertise, find the market, differentiate yourself from the rest, and keep at it – you’ll turn your love for the piano into a viable online business.