The Business of Running a Voice Studio with Tom and Heather

Welcome to the Vocal Advancement Podcast: Season 3! Tom and Heather delve into a side of being a self-employed voice teacher that we seldom cover — the business side! Because, let’s face it, when you’re running your own business, keeping good records and promoting your services are skills we all need to develop. Here at the Institute of Vocal Advancement, we’re all about sharing what worked for us when we built our careers. So, join Tom and Heather as they discuss strategies and provide tips for running a successful voice teacher business. In this episode, you’ll learn: (5:43) How digital tools and spreadsheets help you keep accurate records and complete your taxes. (9:20) The importance of understanding your country’s tax laws. (9:40) Where to find business advice (for free!) using online and offline resources (11:30) Tips for creating a simple recording system (12:33) How to reduce your tax liability by learning what you can claim as a business expense. (14:08) How grants can help you get your business started. (14:33) What type of equipment you need to start your teaching business (and how to keep your startup costs low!) (15:55) What type of online presence you need to promote your business — and what important information many voice teachers neglect to include!  (18:09) Why continuing to invest in your own education is important (and how this can be a business expense you can write off). (19:19) Why you might need to invest in a professional studio space outside your home. (20:11) How to determine what to charge for your lessons (22:15) When working with other voice teachers in the same studio space makes sense — and the importance of having a waiting area. (25:22) How to increase your income by offering complementary services (27:20) The true cost of teaching in a commercial building (28:15) How to retain and attract more students by offering choirs and workshops (31:07) How offering group classes can build student confidence and help establish teacher-student rapport (32:32) When to start increasing your teaching rates — and what to do when you start pricing yourself out of certain student budgets. (34:32) How to use your growing skillset to justify your higher rates. (36:17) How to create a fair teaching rate by studying your local market. (38:04) How to adjust your rates for inflation — and how offering advance warning can help you retain students. (39:19) When (and how) to offer scholarship opportunities for exceptional students (41:00) Why offering lessons at a lower price point can provide you with valuable teaching experience (42:17) Where to find offline opportunities to promote your business — and how offering free or discounted lessons can build your client list. (44:06) Good online marketing opportunities — from Facebook groups to lead generation companies (48:04) How to test marketing strategies and learn which ones work best for you. (51:00) Strategies for nurturing cold leads into warm leads We want to hear from you! What business strategies helped you the most when you were building up your teaching career? What questions do you still have about starting out as a vocal coach? Send us your comments and questions to [email protected].  We’ve got many more guests coming up this season, including experts in social media marketing and more! Make sure you hear from them all by following us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribing to our YouTube channel!  About the Institute for Vocal Advancement The Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from an empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style. Check out our webinars in our list of upcoming events and learning how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee!

And that's a wrap! IVACON 2024 was one for the books, and we already can't wait for the next conference! Learning and growing alongside voice teachers from all over the world is an experience like no other. Join Tom and Heather as they review the past 5 days.Did you enjoy learning more about our conference? Follow us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel to see all the latest coverage of IVACON! We'll also be sharing even more footage and photos on our Instagram and Facebook, so make sure to follow along.About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style.Check out our webinars in our list of upcoming events and learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Day five is here, can you believe it? We're fresh off a great karaoke night with our attendees, and we're excited to share a recap of our final day of the conference!Don't miss out on an episode! Follow us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel to see all the latest coverage of IVACON! About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style.Check out our webinars in our list of upcoming events and learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to day four of IVACON! Heather and Tom share some reviews of our interactive classes from today! From learning to riff to finding pitch, seeing our attendees get hands-on experience and training is great! We can hardly believe we're already almost at the end, so tune in to hear how our second to last day is going. Don't miss out on an episode! Follow us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel to see all the latest coverage of IVACON! About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style.Check out our webinars in our list of upcoming events and learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The conference has been flying by! Day three of the IVACON was filled with lectures from our guest speakers. From learning about teaching singers with Sensory Educational Needs and Disabilities, to teaching our students how to practice-- there is something for everyone! Join Tom and Heather for this recap from today.Don't miss out on an episode! Follow us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel to see all the latest coverage of IVACON! About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style.Check out our webinars in our list of upcoming events and learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re back from another exciting day at IVACON 2024! Join us as Tom and Heather give a recap of our second day at conference. From masterclasses and workshops to lectures and community building— there’s a lot to unpack!Don't miss out on an episode! Follow us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel to see all the latest coverage of IVACON! About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style.Check out our webinars in our list of upcoming events and learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to IVACON 2024, the premiere 5-day conference for voice teachers. We are thrilled to host our first in-person conference in several years in beautiful and historic Edinburgh, Scotland! Voice teachers join us from around the world to learn, grow, and deepen their knowledge and training, and of course, have plenty of fun along the way. Join us each day this week as Tom and Heather share some behind-the-scenes from the conference. Without further ado, here's a recap of day one.Don't miss out on an episode! Follow us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel to see all the latest coverage of IVACON! About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style.Check out our webinars in our list of upcoming events and learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here at the Vocal Advancement, we give teachers access to a wealth of knowledge. Between our webinars and conferences — not to mention our delightful podcast — you can learn a lot about vocal anatomy, singing careers, vocal pedagogy, and much more.But how much of this knowledge should you share with your students when you teach?It’s a question that has no “right” answer. Some beginners get confused when you bombard them with too much technical information, slowing down their progress. Other students hunger for this knowledge and will take up class time bombarding you with questions about vocal theory. Ultimately, it’s up to each teacher to walk that fine line between teaching theory and practice.In this episode, Tom and Heather talk about how to effectively impart technical knowledge to students and turn that theory into practice. They look at the art of teaching and the importance of learning how different students process information to instruct them better.    We explore:How imposter syndrome can cause beginner teachers to overshare their knowledge — and why that can be detrimental to students (8:30)The type of students who can benefit from learning theory, and the type who require more practical instruction (13:50)What to do when you encounter students who do want to learn more about theory (16:03)How to explain voice concepts without being overly technical (17:40)The art of using your technical knowledge to help a singer develop their vocal techniques (23:58)What to do when a student comes to you with a question you don’t know how to answer (26:47)The value of being a teacher with more experience (28:40)Teaching voice concepts to students who are neurodivergent or have other educational needs (30:49)The importance of having enough self-knowledge and humility to know when you’re not the right teacher for a student (32:16)Understanding the different goals of your students and the importance of letting them have fun in the lessons (33:59)How to keep students motivated and aware of what they’ve learned and achieved through their lessons (39:39)What’s next for the Vocal Advancement Podcast — and how you can listen to our bonus episodes! (47:19) The 2024 IVACON Conference is just around the corner. It will run from June 17 to 21 in Edinburgh, Scotland. But don’t worry if you can’t join us in person; we’ve got you covered! Tom and Heather will host a special bonus podcast season with daily episodes so you can feel like you're part of the action! Follow us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up! The Vocal Advancement Podcast will return with many more exciting guests later this year. If you know a teacher, performer, or researcher who would make a great guest on our show, email us at [email protected]!About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style. Learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you help your students make pop music “pop”?At one point, many voice teachers saw pop music as a performance that flaunted the conventions of traditional music and didn’t need to be studied as a singing technique.This episode’s guest, vocal instructor Renee Maranan, disagrees. To Renee, breaking the rules of classical singing requires singers to have a firm grasp of those rules in the first place so they can make deliberate, sustainable choices that form emotional connections with their audience.This means pop singers need to be instructed in vocal science and conventional singing techniques even as they build their own aesthetic. Come hear how Renee breaks down both the art of singing pop music and the challenges of teaching this music style to students. Learn how the very definition of “pop music” encompasses a wide range of sounds, requiring singers to become comfortable with exploring their voices and the places they can take it. And discover why becoming an effective pop music singer ultimately requires training to produce an effective — and intentional — sound of their own. In this episode, we discuss:How growing up in a Filipino musical culture of pop music provided Renee with a unique perspective on pop music performance and teaching (3:03)Why teaching multiple genres of music help reveal new teaching techniques that are more effective with different students (4:40)The style choices that create the aesthetic of “pop music” (7:07)Cultural differences in pop — and the rising popularity of collaborating with pop singers from different states and countries to produce new flavors of music (11:17)How artists find a “good” pop sound through exploration and being open to change (16:08)The value of listening deliberately to pop music and picking out the details (20:11)Why mastering pop music singing requires training (25:00)How the relationship between pop musicians and their audience has changed in today’s online age (26:48)New opportunities for sharing your pop music and passion projects (30:05)How to direct students’ attention to the details of a pop music singer’s technique (32:30)Renee’s advice for new voice coaches just starting to teach pop music (35:07)The importance of developing a strong musical foundation in your pop singer students (41:55)Book a session with Renee Maranan by visiting her website and follow her on Instagram to learn more about her upcoming classes.Is there a teacher, performer, or researcher you think would make a great guest on our show? Email us at [email protected] and let us know!About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style. Learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Voice teachers today can build expertise in so many different fields — vocal anatomy, musical theory, acting, multiple singing techniques — that many teachers feel they need to have all the answers.And that’s too much to ask of anyone. Because the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know — and how developing a network of experts is essential to provide you and your students with the knowledge they need.Our guest today, singing voice specialist Kari Ragan, knows a lot about the power of collaboration. While she’s been teaching singers for over forty years, Kari appreciates that she doesn’t know everything about vocal health and regularly collaborates with medical experts to help rehabilitate singers with injured voices or vocal pathology.Join Tom and Heather as they learn more about how Kari has collaborated with doctors, teachers, and other experts in her decades-long career to help singers. Reflect on when it’s important to know when you need to refer out to provide students with the best teachers for their needs. And discover all the resources available today (including many provided by the IVA!) for developing a support network that helps everyone achieve their full potential.In this episode, we cover:How Kari’s teaching career led her to work with many music genres, age groups, and singers (5:12)What a Singing Voice Specialist (SVS) is, and why they need to work in tandem with a medical team (9:47)The major trends and changes Kari has witnessed in vocal pedagogy and research over her decades-long career (16:01)Misconceptions surrounding evidence-based pedagogy, and how this form of pedagogy includes multiple areas of expertise (22:01)The purpose of Kari’s book, “A Systematic Approach to Voice” (30:56)The evolution of teaching classical and contemporary singing techniques (37:29)Why being willing and able to refer to outside experts is important (41:45)The necessity of staying current with vocal research for voice coaches (45:19)All the opportunities for collaboration available to modern voice teachers (46:10)The strength that comes from admitting what you don’t know (54:30)Stay in touch with Kari at her website where you can find links to many of her articles. Check out Kari’s webinar “A Systematic Approach to Voice,” which covers the definition and application of Evidence-Based Voice Pedagogy (EBVP).And make sure you hear from all our other guests by following us on the Vocal Advancement Podcast and subscribing to our YouTube channel! Is there a teacher, performer, or researcher you think would make a great guest on our show? Email us at [email protected] and let us know!About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementThe Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from an empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style. Learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.