Teaching, Value, and the Fear of Raising Your Fees
Raising our fees is how we can continue to move forward as musicians, teachers, and business owners. But for many of us, even that feels like an uncomfortable truth.
As we approach the end of one academic year, and the beginning of another, you might be starting to think about your income in the year ahead. Whether you plan or make projections - or operate on a ‘wing and prayer’ basis - you may have realised that to sustain and grow your business - your teaching studio - in a way which is both profitable and fulfilling for you, now might be the time to reflect on and increase your fees.
But increasing lesson fees - or any prices for that matter - can feel like seriously scary stuff.
We’ve all experienced those sleepless nights where we wrestle with anxiety and fear - with the voices in our heads which echo imposter syndrome at every turn.
But the truth is that for a business to move forward - to make a profit - to be sustained and to grow in a way which gives us - as teachers and musicians - the opportunity to thrive and grow too, regularly reviewing and where necessary, increasing our prices is an essential part of the job.
It feels icky just talking about it, doesn’t it?
Of course, our teaching studios - our businesses - aren’t all about us and the money we want to make. They’re about the people we’re here to serve - the students, their parents and their families who trust us enough to invest in what we offer.
If you’re wrestling with those fears and anxieties right now - stuck in a place of self-doubt - then here are some things which might help unravel some of those threads, so that you might move forward as a teacher - as a studio and as a business owner - with a plan which is right for you.
Why do you want to raise your fees?
There are lots of reasons why we find ourselves in a position where we need to raise our lesson fees. It might be:
So you can reduce the number of students and hours you teach?
So your fees can take into account increasing experience, skills, knowledge, qualifications, and professional development?
So you can increase your income?
Because your fees are lagging behind others - behind the ISM published averages and MU recommendations?
To keep up with inflation?
To reflect the increased costs of running your studio and your teaching business?
Because you want to invest in yourself and in your business?
There are lots of other reasons too, and there are no right or wrong answers. Trying to unravel what’s motivating you to increase your fees can help you make informed and intentional decisions. It removes that feeling that you’re increasing them because you ‘should’ - because that’s what ‘other people do’.
These are some of the questions I ask myself each year when I review my lesson fees. It isn’t a given that they will go up every year - it is not necessarily a default annual increase. I still need to consider my ‘why?’. I think there’s a little bit of a myth that teachers raise their fees every year ‘just because’ - for me, and perhaps not for you, that’s necessarily a good enough ‘why?’.
What are you afraid of when you think about raising your fees?
These fears - the ones which often lead to those sleepless nights - are real, and it’s important to acknowledge them, to give ourselves the grace to sit with them on the journey. Perhaps you think:
You’ll price yourself out of the market and fail to attract new students?
You don’t have the skills, knowledge, qualifications, and experience to charge more?
You’re too young to charge what others charge?
You don’t feel you can justify the increase?
Increased fees will put more pressure on yourself and your business to deliver results?
Others are struggling financially, and you don’t want to add to those struggles?
It makes you look as if you’re just trying to make more money - that you’re greedy?
Alongside all the other fears - some of which we can name in our own hearts - know that you’re not alone. We have all battled these fears - these insecurities - on our teaching journeys. We feel these fears because we care - we care about our students and their families, about our businesses, and about ourselves - that’s not a bad thing.
By acknowledging these fears, by exploring and unpicking them to see whether they are justified, or simply born of imposer syndrome, we can move forward.
Reflect on Your Teaching Impact, Successes and Breakthroughs
One antidote to fear is fact. If you are to make peace with raising your lesson fees as a music teacher, then reflect on some of the successes and breakthroughs you’re proud of on your teaching journey. Why not make a list of 10?
They might be exam results, audition successes, and career breakthroughs - but more often than not, they are the gentle ways your teaching has supported others on their own journeys - the impact it has had on them and the positive effect it has had in their lives.
These are the things which remind us why we do what we do. In the busyness of day-to-day teaching, we rarely stop to name them and reflect on them - now is your chance.
Are you convinced yet?
By now, you should have a good idea why you want to raise your lesson fees, and some of the fears and anxieties which are holding you back. You should have also given yourself a huge pat on the back for the positive impact you’ve had as a teacher - not just when it comes to musical growth, but individual growth and development too.
I can’t tell you what to charge - no one can.
I can’t remove all those fears and anxieties - the ones which exist because ultimately, we care about what we do - it is, and probably always will be, slightly scary stuff.
But if you’re agonising about whether or not to raise your fees - whether that be this coming September, in January next year, or at any other time of the year - know that you are not alone.
I hope that if nothing else, this post has given you a bit of a framework to reflect as you deliberate, as well as a huge permission slip to give yourself some grace and encouragement.
Let me know below - are you raising your prices for the next academic year? What’s the ‘why’ behind your increase, and how are you moving past the fear?
Brand photography © 2019 Christina Lynn Creative.
If these questions around teaching, sustainability, confidence, and building a more intentional studio are ones you’re wrestling with, you might also enjoy exploring The Reimagined Studio - my one-to-one mentoring space for music teachers seeking a gentler, more rooted, and creative approach to teaching and studio life.
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