A Year In Review: The Best Advice For Small Business Owners To Take Forward

OK, this is a tough post to write. Working as the editor on Fons Amplify this year has been a huge privilege. I’ve worked with some fantastic business owners who write kick-ass copy. Choosing my…

How Mindfulness Can Inspire Your Business

Running a business is hard. You need so much more than a college or university degree, a heap of industry experience, or being a marketing whizz to survive and thrive. You need resiliency…

How to Bring Your Favorite Clients and Students to Your Door

Whenever small business owners gather together, especially ones that depend on having clients, patients, or students — a topic that always comes up is: “How do YOU get more…

How to Earn More When Your Studio Is Full

Congratulations! If you have a full studio and a steady stream of referrals, you have earned a reputation as an excellent and trusted teacher. However, you may have hit a revenue ceiling in your…

How To Get Paid For Every Minute

I’m a productivity junkie. I really get a kick out of knowing that I’m not wasting time. I do this almost to a fault: making a list of errands in order of geographical convenience and logic is…

How to Raise Your Rates and Keep Your Clients

Have you been charging the same price for your services for a long time? If so, it may be time to consider increasing your rates. In this article I’ll discuss how to decide if the time is right…

Reciprocal Advantages: Asking For Help From Your Community

For small business owners, our dreams can be as big as mountains are tall. Growth to rival the next Amazon.com might be part of your five-year-plan, and when you shop for partnerships and…

How to Feel Great About Setting Your Rates!

Setting rates and talking money is often a major stress point for independent teachers. Let’s chat about it. Many of you worked thousands of hours to master your craft, studying with the world’s best…

Sink or Swim: Here’s How You’ll Know When It’s Time To Jump Into Self-Employment

Working for a studio, company or school in a job you mostly love is mostly good, right? I mean, if you enjoy the arena you’re in, you’re pretty good at what you do, and you get paid almost enough to…

The Double-Edged Sword of Amazon Prime

As I wait for my brain to settle, imagining the creative juices that are responsible for my very career in the arts are reaching a rolling boil, preparing to write about Amazon Prime, I am tempted to…

What Does it Really Mean To “Make a Living”?

I have been teaching private guitar for around 12 years now. But I have only been teaching private guitar as my full time job for just over six months, at the time of writing this. After focusing my…

What To Do When a Student Wants to Quit

Miah collapsed on the floor in a pile of tears and frustration. “I do not want to have a music lesson, I do not want to practice, and I do not want to play guitar!” As a second grader who is a year…

Which Billing Model is Right for Your Studio?

A clear billing policy is essential to run a thriving teaching business. The right model for you depends on how you choose to balance flexibility with consistent cash flow. I’ve experimented with…

You are Valuable! Learning to Value Your Time and Work

How much is your time worth? Do you charge enough for your services? How much is “enough”, and how do you decide? It’s important to think about everything — tangible and intangible — that goes into…

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