Music Teacher's Helper - Your music studio manager

Hiring An Assistant

Wed May 21st, 2008 by Michelle Payne

About 4 months ago, I took the plunge and hired an office assistant. I wish I had done it sooner! After reaching a roster of 40 students, I realized I couldn’t go on any longer trying to do everything myself! Sure I worried, “I have to pay money for an assistant and what if I can’t afford it?” Well, my studio grew to 50 students, and that is a lot of managing! Having an assistant has given me more time to develop other educational programs, create my games that I want to sell in stores, my newsletters, create new lesson techniques, and ***GASP*** practice a little music myself! She comes in twice a week for a total of 8 hours, and here is what she does:

  • Orders books and supplies
  • Searches for sheet music online
  • Searches for Karaoke tracks on itunes
  • Files
  • Runs simple errands
  • Copies sheet music and CDs for my students
  • Puts together lesson aides at my instruction

Each time she comes in, I have a list of things I want done for the day. I have a simple filing system by my office door. She puts sheet music in the Monday file for the Monday students, Tuesday Sheet music in the Tuesday file, etc. Having an assistant is the BEST expense I have, and I highly recomend it to those who are growing their studios. I would also recommend that you not wait until you have 40 students like I did! I should have hired her when I had 25 students.

Posted in Studio Management |

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9 Comments (Add Comment)

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  1. Thanks for the advice. Sounds really nice. One comment though. I noticed that you said that you are copying sheet music for students. I know that copying music for educational purposes is somewhat legal, but I don't photocopy music for students (unless it is public domain). They can purchase the music online for $4.00 and that keeps everything above board (and saves a ton of work.) Its probably not likely that the copyright people will come after you, but if they did it would be VERY expensive.

    by Amy Gould — Thu May 22, 2008 @ 6:04 am

  2. I was thinking the same thing as Amy, but about the copying of CDs. Presumably these are recordings you make yourself for lesson materials? If not, it's hard for people to take this in when it's so easy and common, but burning CDs for others when they should be purchased is simply theft.

    I will say that with some 60 students including mostly privates, plus a few classes, my primary office assistant is Music Teachers Helper! It allows me to enter things and not have to keep them on file or on my mind until I need to check them, and allows students to check on most information for themselves, including lesson notes, schedules, payments, and available lesson times. But I guess we all know that!

    I should disclose that I teach at two locations, one of which has an office with a secretary, but I still do most of the work myself and via MTH.

    by Ed Pearlman — Sun May 25, 2008 @ 12:35 pm

  3. No no no you guys. It's all legit. I guess I should have mentioned that I purchase the sheet music copies from musicnotes.com, print them and just charge the student for reimbursment. As for CDs, I buy the tracks on itune, burn them and just charge students the 99 cents for the song, and $1 to help pay for the CDR. See... no big deal :) Also to ease the copyright fears: there are tons of sheet music out there that you are allowed to copy for "educational purposes". You just need to read the fine print. And classical pieces? Aren't those public domain? Same with many folk tunes. But recordings, yes.... better to just purchase those every time. The performer has some copyright on their performance.

    by Michelle Payne — Sun May 25, 2008 @ 1:00 pm

  4. @Michelle: Didn't mean to gang up on you about the copying of CDs and music, but do appreciate your explanation. In fact, it might be a helpful post to the blog if you could describe, with some specific examples, how you get sheet music from the internet and how and what kind of music you buy from iTunes for students, how you charge students for them, how you make use of it in teaching, etc.

    by Ed Pearlman — Wed May 28, 2008 @ 11:34 am

  5. Ed has a point. It would be great if you provide some explanations to enlighten us readers.

    by Virtual Assistant — Sat May 31, 2008 @ 6:45 am

  6. This just confirms what I've learned--always delegate your tasks by hiring people. That's why successful businesses in general can grow much faster without overwhelm.

    Also consider hiring a virtual assistant.

    by Laetiseaya — Mon Jun 2, 2008 @ 5:28 am

  7. Please tell us more about virtual assistant (besides the fantastic music teacher's helper of course). Do you mean someone who communicates with you through email? What kinds of tasks do they do?

    by Michelle Payne — Mon Jun 2, 2008 @ 12:55 pm

  8. A virtual assistant is an independent contractor who provides administrative support via the Internet. Email is just one form of communication. Virtual Assistants support all types of businesses from solo entrepreneurs to large corporations. Support tasks include bookkeeping, web site design & maintenance, marketing which includes blog maintenance, press releases, graphic design, customer relationship management...the list goes on and on.
    For example, Nancy Seeger is a virtual assistant offering support to the music industry. "With 16 years experience as an orchestra administrator and manager, Arts Assistance provides knowledgeable administrative, managerial and website design and support services in the music industry." Check out her web site http://www.artsassistance.com/
    Suppose you want to verify a copyright or you want someone to research for new sheet music, that is the type of service I provide. As a virtual assistant, I specialize in Internet research.
    Also, you can check out the International Virtual Assistants Association for more information. http://www.IVAA.org
    I hope this helps answer your question about virtual assistants.

    by Lara, The Data Digger — Wed Jun 4, 2008 @ 6:35 am

  9. There are virtual assistant organisations all over the world. I run one in Australia but with members in 17 countries. As Lara says, our main form of communication is via email and we can provide all sorts of services. Anything your admin assistant might do on a computer, we can also do for you.

    by Kathie Thomas, A Clayton's Secretary — Thu Jun 5, 2008 @ 6:28 am

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