Traditionally, when we study with a teacher, we meet with them privately or in a group, pay them for their time and leave. This business model essentially trades time for money. The student pays $x for an hour of the teacher’s time. If they want more, they pay more. This is a wasteful use of our time. All artistic practices have core fundamentals that students need to learn. Repeating this to every student individually is also redundant and wasteful. These two aspects of traditional teaching are redundant, and they are also limiting your ability to serve a larger audience. Teaching online [...]

Derek Sivers, the creator of CD Baby, writes in his book Anything You Want that your success is directly related to the amount of people that you help. I believe in this idea, and I feel that guiding your efforts with the aim to help first and foremost will result in a successful business. After all, what businesses really do is solve problems. There is a time and place to provide training and information for free. However, for the sake of your own sustainability and also the dedication of the student, you need to charge a fee for your tutelage. As [...]

When creating materials for online education, add what is necessary and nothing more. Bloated courses can become confusing and cumbersome. Long videos take a long time to watch and too much text is taxing. Padding things out to make them seem substantial doesn’t benefit anyone. Keep it simple. There is power is simplicity.

There are many attractive features to online teaching but there might be a few more gems that you don’t know yet. Your Audience Is Interested In You, Not Just Your Teaching Once you have built an audience you have a group of people that trust you and that have given you their attention. This is a privileged position. From this place you have the ability to serve your audience in a multitude of ways not just through education. It never ceases to amaze me when I see every artist lining up to go through the same door. Musicians want to be [...]