Why I Completely Changed My Music Lesson Make Up Policy…

This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on June 15, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.

And How Music Teacher’s Helper Made it Possible and Even Easy…

​Last year, I wrote a blog post about why I don’t teach make up lessons. I still firmly stand by some of the things I said in the post, but a lot has changed. I was a staunch supporter of the no make up lessons movement. Now, I have moved to an unrestricted rescheduling policy. My students can reschedule lessons for any reason, provided that they let me know the day before.

Are you freaking out?

I know, I know. Believe you me, I know all the reasons not to do this. But, even with my old no make up lesson policy, I was still losing money and time scheduling make ups and giving people credits.
Everyone was sick. All. The. Time. So I gave make ups. And, to make matters worse, some parents would tell me that they were to busy to do a make up lesson, so they wanted a credit instead.  I couldn’t count on my income.

Maybe I could have forced the issue, but I didn’t want to. It’s not me.

I was spending a lot of my time calling and scheduling make up lessons, and then teaching make up lessons on Saturday, when I wanted to be with my kids.

It was exhausting. And, I didn’t feel like the policy was respecting my time…or my students’.
There are only so many hours after school, the hours between 3pm and 8pm are precious. Every single extracurricular is stuffed into those times, not to mention, practice, family time, homework, and playing. Remember playing? It is becoming increasingly rare for kids today.

These hours are precious for  me, as well! I want to be done teaching at 5:30pm or 6:00pm so I can have dinner with my babies and put them to bed.

We can draw comparisons to sports or dance, and say that students don’t get make ups or credits when they miss those things. But, to be fair, it really isn’t the same is it? There are more children involved in those things, and often they are cheaper per child than private lessons.

After reading these two blog posts by Daniel Patterson,
Never Get Hassled About Make Up Lessons Again, Part I
How to Solve Your Music Make Up Lesson Problem, Part II

I was convinced that I needed to change my make up policy.

Daniel argues for a Nordstrom approach to make up lessons. Nordstrom’s customer service policy is extremely generous. Everything about Nordstrom’s communicates premium service and high quality. Their customers are willing to pay more because of the experience. Nordstrom’s has an amazing profit margin, so obviously the model is working.

I highly recommend you read the above blog posts, because they really did totally change the way I thought about make up lessons and my business.

My old way of thinking painted my students and parents as the enemy. Manipulative consumers bent on taking advantage of me and my personal time.

My new way of thinking about make up lessons puts my students and I on more level ground. I serve them by offering make up times, and it serves me because I have to do little or no scheduling.

Little or no scheduling? How does that work?

Daniel’s method uses a google calendar listing every open time in the schedule, all the students have access to this calendar and can see when the open times are. He lets students know when more times open up, for example if a student cancels for the next day. Then when parents contact him to say they want one of the open times, he goes to the calendar and marks that time as unavailable.

When I saw how Daniel’s google calendar worked, I realized that I could use Music Teacher’s Helper to make it even more hand’s off on my end.

(Seriously guys, this has made my life SO MUCH BETTER.)

In my Music Teacher’s Helper Calendar, I have all of my students’ lessons scheduled. In addition to their regular times I built in a few extra make up times at the beginning or end of my teaching day. I only add these at times that I really am willing to teach, and I have babysitting lined up for those times.

(If I don’t end up teaching during my make up times, I simply do other work I need or want to do. Like blogging, or folding laundry without toddlers unfolding as I go. It’s amazing.)

These make up times show up in my students’ individual Music Teacher’s Helper Calendars and they can register for the times that they want.

Once they’ve registered, Music Teacher’s Helper sends me an automatic email telling me they’ve registered for a make up lesson and when it is. No more spending hours on the phone each week scheduling make ups for students who have been sick.

Parents feel relieved that they can get to Parent-Teacher Conferences at school, and still make it to violin lessons that week.

I no longer give ANY credits so my income is much more predictable. And I love that I have to do very little scheduling via email or on the phone with my students.
In my next blog post, I will walk you through how exactly I set up these open make up lesson times for my students. If you are interested in trying out Music Teacher’s Helper, you can get a free 30 day trial and 20% off your first month here.

What is your make up lesson policy?  Are you happy with it, why or why not?  Please share in the comments!


Comments

1. Jane Newman says
   June 15, 2016 at 8:15 am
   This is an amazing post Brooklyn. I as a parent would never expect my teacher to give makeup lessons or credits! If we are sick we forfeit. If we are double book and skip a lesson, we forfeit. I love the idea of Nordstrom approach to music lessons though. And online would absolutely be the only way to do it. Thank you for being so generous to us parents!
   • Brecklyn says
     June 15, 2016 at 2:13 pm
     I do still charge when people just forget and don’t show up, but I love being able to be flexible when people are sick or know in advance they have a conflict. Logistically though, there is NO WAY I would be able to do it if I didn’t have parents take the reins and schedule the lessons online themselves. If I was calling around, emailing, trying to coordinate schedules it would be a nightmare!
2. Sangeeta says
   June 27, 2016 at 4:43 pm
   Ive’tried something similar, but not nearly as flexible, but the problem I found is that people sign up, then cancel and keep wanting to reschedule, and it was still too much work for me. I have MTH but you still have to monitor when they contacted you, whether they paid, post open times every time someone cancels. It is still a lot of work and it is not completely hands free even though its online. Plus if people cancel, you still have that open slot which not much can be done with. You might enjoy that free time but I don’t enjoy having an open slot that is in the middle of my working day. It looks like you never really had a no make up policy, but actually gave in to your students quite a bit. I find that if I am firm and communicate my policy and stick to it, it works very well during the school year. I am going to pilot offering video webinars to students who miss at the last minute, just so they can have something to work on, since they are already being charged. Glad your policy is working for you. I’ve done that before when I was younger and that would not work for me at all!
   • Brecklyn says
     July 10, 2016 at 4:30 am
     Hi Sangeeta, I have found it not to be too much work for me, and I do enjoy a free half hour during the day sometimes. It gives me a chance to catch up on the blog! You’re right though, I do give in to my students quite a bit, but I like being able to do that. Thanks for your thoughtful comment, it’s an important point–there is still a fair amount of work involved. I would love to hear about how the video webinars go, that sounds very interesting!
3. Teresa says
   June 29, 2016 at 6:08 pm
   You stated at the end of your article: “In my next blog post, I will walk you through how exactly I set up these open make up lesson times for my students.” Have you published that follow-up post yet? I’m re-vamping my studio policy this very week as I prepare to send it out next week and I, too, have been greatly ‘corrected’ in my thinking on rescheduling policy. I’m going to implement the calendar – I also have been with MTH for the past 4 yrs but never thought to use THEIR calendar for this purpose! Hoping you share how you do that so I might do the same!
   Thank you!
   • Brecklyn says
     July 10, 2016 at 4:28 am
     Hi Teresa,
     I haven’t published the follow-up post yet, I’ve been a bit behind… I will get it out on Monday, for sure!
     • Teresa says
       July 19, 2016 at 1:36 pm
       Where do I find a link to see your follow-up post?
       • Brecklyn says
         July 24, 2016 at 4:08 am
         Here is the link to the follow up. Sorry for the delay!
4. Mary Kay Warner says
   July 11, 2016 at 11:28 am
   Hi Brecklyn. Thank you for the flipside! I have been teaching over 15 years and this is the first year I have a no makeup policy, and to charge tuition instead of a 1/2 he rate. Students will still have the monthly payment option. I’m in a new location and decided to try it here. I did find myself giving credits when people cancelled and couldn’t make up the lesson in the times I had available. I’m curious to see how this year will go. I may change back to the old way next year, but keep the tuition plan.