I wish I were in a position where I could set the rules as you can. As I said in another post. Im still studying, in dire financial need and I really cant afford to do anything with my horrible students that would jeopardize the money I get for each lesson (even if its not all that much). Luckily I teach in a small academy/music bookstore, so I do not have to go to my students homes, but stay here in a set timeframe. The rates here in MExico are extremely lower. Im getting about 4 or 5 dollars an hour... although the cost of life is a lot lower too.
Try to adapt what follows to your own circumstances (think of them as principles rather than specific recommendations).
Yes, I have been there too.
But the truth is, you are always in a position to set the rules. But you must start to do it. If you keep waiting, you will never get there.
This is the vicious cycle you got yourself in (I speak from experience: I did the same):
1. You accept any student and let them follow whatever rules they want (pay whenever they want, cancel lessons, not practise, etc.). You hope that when you have enough students you will be able to select the best and kick out the worst.
2. But because the skill of a teacher is perceived through the achievements of his/her students, having a bunch of losers (that often delay payment, cancel lessons, don’t practise, or simply don’t play) leads to the perception that you are a bad teacher.
3. Because you are not setting rules, you attract the sort of clientele that would no put up with rules, the sort of parent who wants their kids to have a façade of musical education but no real work. Their train of thought is: Well, he is not really a good teacher, and my child is not really learning anything (by the way, such parents always consider this to be your fault, and shame on you if you suggest that the reason may be that little Mozart is not practising), but on the other hand he is pretty nice, I can delay payment, I can cancel lessons to save some money, and if my child shows any sign of development I can always move him/her to that teacher that has lots of rules.
4. In short: you will not be taken seriously.
It is a fact of human psychology that you only value that you pay dearly for. For some weird reason people feel reassured in the quality of a product if it is three or four times more expensive than similar ones. But most important, you will be attracting people with money.
So this is what you do.
1. Make an iron clad policy in writing stating everything you will or will not put up with. What you expect from students and so on. I have given examples of this sort of thing already. But you do not have to follow my requirements. Make up your own. But the most important points, which I believe every teacher should stand united on are:
a. Payment is in advance. If the student arrives at the lesson and does not give you a cheque the moment he crosses the door, send him home and tell him to bring the cheque next week. I only have to do this once, and cheques are never ever late ever again. Do students leave on account of that? Sometimes (I myself experienced this only once: the student never came back, or phoned offering an explanation). But so you want a student like that anyway? One that does not respect that fact that you are a professional and this is your livelihood? You are better off without such a student.
b. Payment is per month, not per lesson. Piano playing is not a series of one off lessons. It is a progressive course.
c. There are no cancellations or holidays. If a student miss a lesson, you try to make up the lesson, but the full fee is still due.
d. Every three (or six) months the student is evaluated in terms of his/her progress to see if s/he is worth your time and effort. Explain clearly that you are going to teach to the best of your ability, but the student is expected to learn to the best of his/her ability – which includes consistent practice. If the student is mocking about – explain this in your policy – s/he is stealing the opportunity of a more worthwhile student to learn from you. And since you have a long waiting list (this may not be true, but you must act as if it is), you cannot afford to waste time on losers who do not appreciate the great luck of studying with you.
You get the idea.
2. Increase your price. Find out who is the most expensive teacher in your area and price your lessons the same (if you are like me, though you will ask at least twice as much). Naturally I trust that you can deliver a high quality service (but believe me, even that seems not to be so important. People just assume that since the price is high the service is excellent).
3. Keep an eye for prodigies (especially if they come from low income families) and offer them a grant: you will teach for half your fee if they make a commitment to participate in Music Festivals and competitions. If they do get a prize or press exposure, you will upgrade them for free lessons grant. You see, this is the best advertisement you can get. And the loser students who will not amount to much will pay for it.
After a while you will start to attract the right clients: People who can afford to pay for piano lessons (the ones who cannot will be put off by your prices), people who always pay on time and monthly (people who are secretly not prepared to do this will be put off by your policy or by its enforcement). And finally students who practice (if a parent is disbursing a hefty amount every month of the year for piano lessons, they will make sure little Mozart practises).
But how do you move form where you are now to this piano teacher’s paradise? The same way porcupines make love: Slowly and carefully.
To start with make up your policy according to the guidelines above. Then continue teaching your usual students as always.
But only accept a new student under the new rules. Do not get discouraged – it may take a long time until that firs student appears, but believe me it will. When I first started teaching with my new system years ago I was in a similar predicament to yours. It took almost a year and a half for the first student to enrol under the new system. But once that first student enrolled others quickly enrolled. So you must be firm
Once you start having a few students under the new policy (remember, they will be paying more), tell your worse students about the change in policy and inform them that from a certain date (I would give them a term’s notice) all students will be under the new policy. They can decide if they want a new teacher or if they want to continue with you. Depending on how many stay and how many leave, you can then extend your policy to all of your students. This is exactly what I did, and boy, I am glad I did it.
The greatest obstacle in my case was psychological. I was too nice. I could not bring myself to demand these things from my students. So here is how I dealt with it. I pretended (to myself) that I was the employee of a music school. My job was to teach. It was the Music School (of which I was the owner, principal and sole teacher, he he) job to administer policy and finances. It had nothing to do with me as a teacher. By having this attitude suddenly everything became possible.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.