When I first opened my music school in 2013, I admittedly had very little knowledge of how to run a small business. I had just finished a four year degree with an 8 month internship in music therapy, followed by a post-grad diploma in Autism and Behavioural Science. With all the formal training I had in music and psychology, I didn’t have a single business course which taught me how to market myself or balance my books. It was never my plan to open a music school, either. It happened as a means of sheer desperation: on top of being a full time college student I was travelling house to house teaching piano students, leading music therapy groups, and teaching yoga in several gyms and studios. A typical day for me was 8am-8pm and I was practically living out of my car and grabbing meals to go, and it wasn’t a sustainable way of living.
Joanna (me) circa 2013 with our then-new sign. I kept it for nostalgia!
One day my friend Sarah was getting a pedicure the salon which was to be our first InTune location (across from Juniper Books) and called me excitedly to tell me about the property. I realized it was a very low-risk way to open a business – by renting a duplex and operating my business in half of it. I was so excited to have a studio teach in, and leave behind the days of travelling piano teacher where I had to haul books and materials to lessons, often was jumped on by the family dog (to be honest, I miss that, though!), and dealt with challenging behaviour because walking into a student’s turf changes the power dynamic.
The early days were extremely stressful. I was 24 years old, generally underconfident, and truly felt like I had gotten in over my head. But day by day, it got a little easier. Through all my experiences, I developed so many personal skills which I never would have had the opportunity to hone otherwise, and it’s a continuous learning process. Here are five things I’ve learned in the past five years:
1. Being your own boss is a double edged sword
Possibly the most common misconception about running a small business is how great it must be to not have anyone to answer to and to make your own hours. These are definitely huge perks, but the flip side of it is that it requires a huge push of self-motivation and fine-tuned long and short term planning skills. Because many of us need external accountability (myself included) to other people to get things done, it’s challenging to muster up the motivation on a day to day basis. Sure, I can take the day off whenever I want to, but it means that all of yesterday’s work is waiting for me the following day when I’ll have twice as much to do. Because you and the business are one and the same, it also can feel like your reputation is constantly on the line. However, one of the best parts of being my own boss has been consciously and carefully choosing my team of teachers. It was important to me to find not only really educated teachers (everyone has an undergrad or Masters in what they are teaching) but ones that are great people whom I deeply respect. Being able to hand-pick my coworkers means I look forward to going into work or even just touching base as we regularly do.
2. The importance of clear communication
When reflecting on issues I’ve encountered over the years, almost all of them could have been avoided with better communication. A lot of scheduling difficulties could have been resolved with better written communication and more reminders. This was a huge reason we moved from offering makeup lessons to offering masterclasses: it was all too common for someone to forget about the makeup lesson, or show up at the wrong time, or double book a studio, etc. When people leave the studio permanently and don’t give a reason, I wonder if it is for a specific reason they are not communicating. I think culturally in Canada we are kind and pleasant to the point that we aren’t comfortable giving negative feedback, and instead just walk away. I wish more people were willing to communicate feedback, because it serves as a way for me to know what we’re doing well and areas we need to work on. I find in my own life I’m a far better communicator because of my commitment to being as clear as possible in my work interactions.
3. You can’t please everyone
This is a tough pill to swallow when you’re a people pleaser, but the last 5 years have taught me that this is really true. I personally love getting input from our students families and teachers about potential changes, but it can easily be exhausting if you put too much weight on trying to please everyone. It took me quite a while to realize that I was constantly compromising my own boundaries by bending over backwards for other people. Writing up very clear policies that are fair to our families, the teachers, and the business itself, has been so helpful when I have to say ‘no’ to people’s requests. The policies are there to keep things as fair as possible, and I remind myself of that every time a situation arises.
4. The true meaning of value
Recently one of my favourite small businesses folded, and I was quite upset about it. It happened very abruptly and without explanation, and I wondered at length what had happened. They provided excellent product and service at really amazing value. Then I heard through the grapevine what my suspicions confirmed: they weren’t making money because of the great value. I get it. We all love a bargain. I used to be one of those people who only bought stuff on sale, and complained about high prices. Now I catch myself thinking something is overpriced, I think about everything your money is paying for in addition to the item or service. With our business, when you pay your tuition, there’s the larger portion that goes to the teacher, and the other portion that goes to the studio. The studio percentage goes toward all of our expenses including rent, utilities, phone and internet bills, printing costs, marketing, website, toiletries, and the list goes on. This is the main reason we moved toward a flat rate tuition and not per lesson – our expenses are fixed. So while some families don’t like having to pay the same rate regardless of whether they come to the lesson or not, it keeps your teacher paid which means they’re not going to find another job that will surely pay them for the hours they spend at work, and it keeps the studio paid which means our doors can stay open and you’ll have a studio to come to year after year. So I’ve really redefined what I consider to be good value to no longer mean cheap. To me, it literally means that I put my money into products or services that I really value and support the small business economy.
5. Small businesses are a labour of love
If you know any small business owners, many will tell you they opened their business in order to focus on what they love doing. Good thing, because it’s relatively rare to find someone that’s making millions from their small business. It’s an ongoing struggle to compete with larger businesses or corporations who can afford to charge lower prices, launch expensive marketing campaigns, and a huge team to keep everything running smoothly. I always love meeting other small business owners because they really get it. There are a lot of long unpaid hours that you put in just to see your creation succeed. It’s tough, but it is rewarding.