RECLAIMING YOUR PERSONAL TIME

With texting, e-mail, and social media, students and families can reach you 24/7 and now business activities creep into your personal time.

Not to mention the unpaid time necessary to prepare for your students’ weekly lessons?

Here is an incomplete list of unpaid, yet still important activities for most private teachers. 

• Responding to student or parent emails/texts/Facebook inquires
• Listening to/discovering new music
• Learning/practising new music for students
• Organizing recitals or other performance opportunities for students
• Creating programs for recitals 
• Finding sheet music for students
• Purchasing music for students online and at store
• Updating teaching website/social media
• Accounting/invoicing/ scheduling
• Recording accompaniments for students
• Transposing songs for students
• Cleaning/maintaining/organizing studio
• Travel time to and from studio or in home lessons

No doubt you have other unpaid time traps. 
 

Here are a few suggestions to get some of your time back:

• Set business hours and let your families/students know that you can only respond during set hours.
• Stop volunteering your outside lesson time to your students. Let them find their own music or do their own research.
• Teach families/student how to purchase the correct sheet music – in the music lesson.
• Try www.mymusicstaff.com to organize your schedule and simplify accounting.
• Try www.mailchimp.com (for free) to send out professional email notifications to large groups.
• Turn your phone off in the evenings (gasp!)
• Check out this 3 minute video on time management.http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219553
• Check out www.canva.com for quick graphic design options! (Free)

 
Truth Bomb: Passionate teaching doesn’t mean giving away hours of your time. And if you give it away – they will come to expect it.

Check out our blog about Assertive Communication
(FYI- we aren’t affiliated with the above companies…just sharing some time savers with you.)