Ten Tips To Make Six Figures On Outschool
In April 2020, much like millions of others in the world, I was laid off from my music school marketing job due to the global pandemic. I had a fair amount of experience teaching music lessons and marketing for a national music lessons franchise, so I took this as an opportunity to jump into running my own online music lessons business.
After quickly Googling “how to get music lessons students online” I found Outschool.
Here’s the process I followed in order to go from unemployed musician to my first $100,000+ income year.
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1. Sign up for Outschool
This can take some time and research. It helps to plug into a community for feedback on your application. Try the “New and Future Outschool Teachers” Facebook group and please email me for some personal coaching when you sign up with my Outschool teacher referral code.
2. Set up your teaching space
You’ll need a quiet space in your home with good lighting, strong internet connection, and a comfy desk and chair. You don’t need to purchase anything to get started, as long as you have a working laptop and microphone. I would recommend you wait until you’ve made some money on Outschool before investing in equipment.
After a few months teaching, I chose to upgrade most of my office and musical equipment to improve my experience and the experience of my learners. Here’s what I went for:
More specifically to music teachers, I also upgraded my guitar and keyboard:
3. Market research
Some teachers sign on to Outschool and price their classes as low as possible to get new learners. For an inexperienced marketer, this technique can work for a short period of time, but I’ve found that pricing low attracts “discount shoppers” and lower-quality customers.
You’ll want to do some market research to see what other teachers are charging for lessons/tutoring in your subject area. Research what your local tutoring schools are charging for private and group classes. Research what people are charging for online teaching as well. Be honest with your own education, time, and value. I feel like it’s better to price slightly higher and over-deliver on class value than to undercut and be in competition with other low-priced classes.
4. Create your class listing for your first one-time class.
You have to complete a one-time class on Outschool in order to expand to other types of classes.
Be thorough but to-the-point in your class listings. SPELL CHECK and GRAMMAR CHECK your class listings. Remember, this is the parent’s first impression of you and your online resume. If your class listing has bad spelling and grammar, would they really want you teaching their child?
It’s ok to look at other teachers’ class listings and borrow the way they have formatted their class listings, but NEVER copy and paste another teacher’s class ideas and listings. It will get you banned from the platform and not well-received by the teaching community.
5. Use “search keywords” in your class title.
Think how your client will think. When searching for a music class, a parent could search for a few different keywords. For ex: music, voice, vocal, voice coach, singing. Try to include as many of those in your title and class description as possible.
6. Set goals, dream, and plan your schedule
If you have a great first class and enjoy teaching on Outschool, try to set some goals for yourself. Mine were to fill 40 hours of teaching (that’s a lot) classes and to reach $100,000. I created “mock schedules” on my iCalendar to plan out when I would teach certain classes before scheduling them.
I spent a lot of mornings with a cup of coffee and a journal, asking myself questions like these:
Why do I want to run my own business?
What would I do with my life if money wasn’t a limiting factor?
What skills do I have that make me perfect for this job?
How can I continue to grow and learn so that while I am growing my business, I am also growing as a person?
What are the underlying principles and ethics that I am trying to teach my students through music?
7. Teach as many one-time classes as possible
One-time classes are a great way to build a following on Outschool and to test out new class ideas. I’ve had some classes take off, and others flop. Get a few different classes on your schedule. Once you’ve taught a few months as a one-time class teacher, introduce ongoing, Flex, and multi-day versions of those classes.
8. Accept and integrate feedback!
Some of the reviews are harsh, but for the most part, people want you to succeed and will offer constructive feedback in the reviews of your class! Of course we want to aim for a 5-star learning experience every time, but what’s more important is that you are listening to your clients and adding in the feedback that you feel is true. You should use your best judgement on this. Sometimes parents will offer feedback that is over the top or just not possible, so integrate where it makes sense.
For example, I had been placing class materials into the classes the morning before class every day. After a few notes from parents saying it wasn’t enough time, I moved to 24 hours and eventually to the week prior to class for class materials.
9. Create “Class Funnels”
After you’ve been teaching one-time classes for a while, you’ll hopefully start to notice that you’re attracting repeat clients! Enjoy and nurture your relationship with these families. Enjoy getting to know them and learning and sharing what you know with them!
You should also create different types of classes for them to enjoy with you. Expand on what you’ve been teaching them by offering ongoing, multi-day, and flex courses that lead into each other.
10. Read and learn about your subject, business practices, AND about teaching!
Hands down the best thing that I can recommend every teacher do is to be constantly reading about how to become a better teacher, craftsman, and business person. I’m always taking in new ideas and implementing them into my business. As teachers, the best thing that we can teach our students is that learning is a lifelong practice and that we do it every day! Here’s my book recommendations to get you started:
Flowers in the Frost
Connecting with Students Online
Strengths Finder 2.0
The Secret
The Richest Man in Babylon
Six-Figure Musician
The Music Lesson
Or improve your business, marketing, and graphic design skills on Skillshare: