With texting, e-mail, and social media, students and families can reach you 24/7. And now business activities creep into your personal time. Not to mention the unpaid time necessary to prepare for your students’ weekly lessons?!
A Voice Teacher’s To-Do List
Here is an incomplete list of unpaid, yet still important activities for most private teachers.
- Responding to student or parent emails/texts/Facebook inquires
- Listening to/discovering new music
- Learning/practising new music for students
- Organizing recitals or other performance opportunities for students
- Creating programs for recitals
- Finding sheet music for students
- Purchasing music for students online and at store
- Updating teaching website/social media
- Accounting/invoicing/scheduling
- Recording accompaniments for students
- Transposing songs for students
- Cleaning/maintaining/organizing studio
- Travel time to and from studio or in home lessons
No doubt you have other unpaid time traps.
Here are a Few Suggestions to Get Some of Your Time Back
- Set business hours and let your families/students know that you can only respond during set hours.
- Stop volunteering your outside lesson time to your students. Let them find their own music or do their own research.
- Teach families/students how to purchase the correct sheet music – in the music lesson.
- Try www.mymusicstaff.com to organize your schedule and simplify accounting.
- Try www.mailchimp.com (for free) to send out professional email notifications to large groups.
- Turn your phone off in the evenings. (gasp!)
- Check out this 3-minute video on time management: 10 Time Management Tips That Work
- Check out www.canva.com for quick graphic design options! (Free)
Truth Bomb: Passionate teaching doesn’t mean giving away hours of your time. And if you keep giving it away – they will come to expect it.
Check out our blog about Assertive Communciation For Teachers
(FYI we aren’t affiliated with the above companies…just sharing some time savers with you.)
