multiple income streams

You Don’t Need 50 Students: How to Build a Freelance Music Business That Actually Supports Your Li

You Don’t Need 50 Students: How to Build a Freelance Music Business That Actually Supports Your Li
I still remember sitting in my car in the school parking lot, running the numbers over and over in my head.

How on earth was I supposed to leave my stable teaching job and somehow bring in the same amount of money—on my own? From scratch? As a freelance music teacher?

It felt impossible… until it wasn’t.

If you’re a teacher thinking about making the leap—or you’ve already leapt and now you’re flailing a little—I want to share what I wish someone had told me sooner.

Not just “you can do it,” but how to actually make the money work.

Because you absolutely can. You just need a plan that works with your life, not against it.

Get Clear on the Real Numbers

The first step to replacing your income? You need to know what you’re actually replacing.

And I don’t mean your gross salary listed in your contract. I mean net, after taxes, after commuting, after all the little expenses that came with being in a classroom all day.

Those emergency Starbucks runs. The stress shopping at Target. The gas. The last-minute supplies you bought for a student.

When I really sat down and did the math, I realized that what I needed each month was less than I thought—but also more layered than I’d considered.

That clarity gave me something I hadn’t had before: a target.

And when you know your target, you can finally build a structure that supports it. Not guesswork. Not wishful thinking. A real, doable plan.

Build Smarter, Not Heavier

The biggest mistake I almost made? Assuming I had to work more to earn more.

I was this close to cramming 30+ one-on-one lessons into every corner of my week. But then I realized—I didn’t leave teaching to burn out in a new way.

The key was diversification.

Instead of just offering private lessons, I built a mix of services that supported both my income goals and my energy:
  • Private lessons in voice and piano
  • Group classes (more students, same time)
  • Homeschool enrichment programs
  • Seasonal workshops and camps
  • Digital resources and asynchronous learning tools
  • Affiliate recommendations for things I already loved and used
Each offer served a different purpose, and together they created a business that was sustainable, profitable, and actually enjoyable.

You don’t need to teach 40 hours a week to hit your number. You just need the right combination of offers.

The Pricing Shift That Changed Everything

Let’s talk about something tender: pricing.

This is where so many amazing educators trip themselves up—not because they’re not worth it, but because they’re used to being underpaid and overgiving.

Sound familiar?

Here’s the shift that changed everything for me:

You’re not charging for your time. You’re charging for the transformation you help create.

That includes:
  • Your years of experience and training
  • The prep time you don’t bill for but always do
  • The emotional energy it takes to show up, week after week
  • The confidence and joy your students walk away with
When I started pricing based on value instead of fear or what I thought people could afford, my entire business changed. I showed up differently. My clients showed up differently.

And no surprise—the money started working.

You Deserve More—and That’s Okay

There’s this unspoken belief in the teaching world that we’re supposed to give until we have nothing left. That we shouldn’t want more. That rest or financial security somehow means we care less about our students.

But here’s what I believe now:

You teach better when you’re not exhausted.
You create more when you’re not scrambling.
You serve deeper when your own cup isn’t empty.

Wanting a business that supports your life isn’t greedy. It’s wise.

This isn’t about chasing luxury. It’s about building stability. Sustainability. Options.

One More Thing...

There’s one more piece to this puzzle—something I’ve never heard anyone talk about in teacher-to-freelancer circles. It’s something I had to learn the hard way that first year, and once I understood it, everything clicked into place.

I break it down in detail inside this week’s podcast episode: Episode 4 – Making the Money Work.

Whether you're still in the classroom or you're already out and trying to rebuild your income from the ground up, I made this episode for you.

Give it a listen and let’s walk this out together—one intentional step at a time.


You're not stuck. You're not behind. And you’re definitely not crazy for wanting more.

You’re building something brave. And it’s going to work—if you build it with intention.

Freelance Music Teacher Myths: Debunked! Part 1

Freelance Music Teacher Myths: Debunked! Part 1

As a freelance music teacher, you may have encountered various misconceptions about the profession. In this blog post, I will debunk some of the most common myths surrounding freelance music teaching and reveal the truths behind them. Let’s dive in!

Myth #1: You Have to Work Evenings if You're a Freelance Teacher

Truth: This is a prevalent myth that many aspiring music teachers believe. While it’s true that some freelance music teachers choose to work evenings to accommodate students' schedules, it is not a requirement. One of the greatest advantages of being a freelance teacher is the flexibility it offers. You can set your own hours and create a schedule that best suits you and your family.Personally, I have structured my teaching hours to avoid evening work altogether. There are plenty of opportunities to teach during the day, especially with homeschooled students, retirees, or adult learners who have flexible schedules. Remember, as a freelance music teacher, you are in control of your time!

Myth #2: You Can't Make a Living Teaching Freelance Music Unless You Work Crazy Long Hours

Truth: This myth often discourages talented musicians from pursuing a career in teaching. The reality is that you can absolutely make a comfortable living as a freelance music teacher without working excessively long hours.The key is to structure your offerings effectively. By diversifying your services, setting appropriate rates, and managing your time wisely, you can create a sustainable income while working reasonable hours. In my case, I maintain a thriving teaching practice with only 15-20 hours of work per week. Of course, there are exceptions—like concert weeks when everyone in the music world tends to put in extra hours—but that’s part of the excitement!

Myth #3: Freelance Teaching Only Works if Your Spouse Holds the Insurance

Truth: While having a spouse with employer-provided insurance can be beneficial, it is not essential for successful freelance teaching. Many self-employed individuals can secure health coverage through various options. In my family’s case, both my husband and I are self-employed, and we utilize health sharing programs (currently this specific one but we have used others in the past and saved a lot!) as an affordable alternative to traditional insurance. It’s crucial to weigh the pros and cons of different health coverage options based on your family's specific needs.

Being a freelance music teacher allows you to create a career that fits your life rather than conforming to traditional job structures. By debunking these myths, I hope to encourage more talented musicians to explore the rewarding path of freelance teaching. Join us in the Freelance Music Teachers group on FB and stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll tackle more myths and share additional insights into this fulfilling career!

Diversifying Income Streams for the Freelance Music Teacher: Exploring Options

Diversifying Income Streams for the Freelance Music Teacher: Exploring Options
In today's dynamic landscape, many educators seek alternatives beyond traditional teaching roles to diversify their income and regain control over their lives. For the music teacher juggling a full-time teaching job with parenthood and a desire for autonomy, balancing these responsibilities can be overwhelming. However, there are opportunities beyond the classroom worth exploring.

As a music teacher, passion for nurturing young minds through music is undeniable. While the demands of the public school system are draining, the desire to create a more fulfilling career and lifestyle is achievable -- I've done it!

Whether offering private lessons, workshops, or community collaborations, this venture allows you to set your own schedule and align your work with your values. Transitioning to entrepreneurship requires careful planning and realistic expectations (which we've talked about here and here). You can begin by testing the waters with freelance gigs while maintaining your teaching job if you want to. This gradual approach allows you to build a client base and generate income without risking stability. I preferred to have multiple income streams moving and lined up before I quit my J.O.B.

One misconception about diversifying income streams is that it requires more time and effort. However, by selecting income streams that complement your main source of income — music teaching — instead of random income streams that aren't aligned, you can create synergy and make them all fit together seamlessly. This really depends person-to-person on what they are doing and how it fits best, but I learned how to do this in a way that saves me SO much time from my own business mentor through her signature course.

While the journey may be challenging, the rewards of reclaiming your time and passion for music are worth it. Embrace the possibilities and dare to redefine success on your terms.

If you have multiple income streams going already, what are they?

What Online Systems Do I Use as a Self-Employed Music Teacher?

I get asked all the time what online systems and processes I use as a self-employed music teacher!

Such as... What website host do you use? How do you keep track of all of your students' families? How do you send all of those onboarding emails without forgetting any? How do you give online music lessons? How do you accept payments? And more.

I found that there are some free options that work for some of these functions, but it was really hard to get them to "talk" to each other, and often there were glitches or other frustrating technical issues. Once I found a system that does it all, I realized it was worth paying for so that I didn't waste time on glitches or having to do those onboarding tasks manually. Once I set it all up, it automatically sends emails or adds new students to the appropriate tags so that I send them what they are supposed to receive. It even includes Zoom, so I don't have to pay for that separately!

My all-in-one resource is called AttractWell. It is a CRM, blog, website, landing page system, payment processor, and more all rolled into one, and their customer support has been amazing. I even asked to go "between" their different levels at one point because I didn't need to upgrade yet, and they were so easy to work with. A simple email got me exactly what I was looking for, saved me money, and provided what I needed.

If you're interested in trying out AttractWell, you can try it for $1 for the first month here!

I know that there are other resources out there created specifically for music teachers, but this has worked so well for not only my music teaching business, but other aspects of my other multiple income streams as well, making it a great option if you want to be multi-versed or generate income from multiple places.

Can I teach music without a degree?

Can I teach music without a degree?
Can I teach music without a degree?

This is a great question! The very short answer is YES.

The long answer requires asking some more questions, such as...

  • Are you referring to having no music degree or to having any undergraduate degree?
  • What setting are you wanting to teach in?
  • What kind of music are you wanting to teach?
  • What time of day are you wanting to teach?
  • What type of students are you wanting to teach?
  • What background knowledge to do already have as credentials?
These are some of the first questions you'd need to answer in order to answer the initial question. For example, I teach a few homeschool choirs (which are bursting at the seams, I almost need to start another one to keep up with the demand!). I have a music education degree, but would not need to have a degree in order to conduct these choirs. I do have some experience and great classroom management techniques as well in order to be successful at managing large groups of elementary through high school age singers in a choral context. So depending on your background knowledge and experience, that may be more important than the degree itself in being able to do the work successfully.

What time of day and type of students are you wanting to teach? If you want to teach private lessons and do that full-time, you will likely need to have evening and weekend availability, something that I myself did not want for my family and work rhythms. I only teach a handful of private lessons for this reason, and currently most of my private students are homeschooled so that they are available during the daytime hours for their lessons.

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Hopefully considering a few of these factors helps in answering the question, "Can I teach music without a degree?" for you. If this was valuable and you'd like more guidance in considering these options as you want to start a music business, I offer coaching for those wanting to begin in either a part-time or full-time capacity (my own business is part-time hours but the income is full-time level due to how I've structured it). And we have a support group with resources for those interested which you can find here too!

3 Summertime Income Streams for Music Teachers (That are NOT Teaching Lessons)

3 Summertime Income Streams for Music Teachers (That are NOT Teaching Lessons)
I know, I know...

Every music teacher out there asks, 'How can I make extra income during the summer and/or during the school year?' We don't get paid enough, or maybe we're even bored during the summer not making any music (is this possible?!?). Or we just want to make some extra spending money to do fun things with the kids (raises hand -- I just went strawberry picking with my 8mo and it was a blast!).

But maybe you don't like teaching lessons or you don't want to deal with the schedules around vacations and hassle of that, etc...

So, here are 3 income streams (you can start today!) that are NOT teaching private lessons:

#1 Affiliate Marketing -- you can share about stuff that you like and use (teaching related or not!) with your friends and make income from it. Your friends aren't charged more for it; the companies who use affiliate marketing are spending their marketing budget on this instead of on billboards and ads because it WORKS. I learned how to do it well without feeling salesy from my business mentor, you can check out her course all about it here! And it doesn't take much time, you can work it around naptime or other busy schedules of life.

#2 Baby Music Classes! There are SO many moms out there who are looking for cheap & fun things to do with their littles, especially first time moms (haha, that was/is me!) who are looking to meet people. Find a park and teach a baby music class for moms and their littles! Need help with marketing? Happy to help, I've coached people through this process so they get more turn-out for their classes without having to go through community education and plan WAY in advance or charge a LOT because they have fees. Tip? As long as your parks don't have rules around renting space in the summer, you can just find a local park to teach your class and have a rain date if needed!

#3 Coaching/Consulting -- are you an expert in a certain topic (could be music or otherwise) that you could help people with? Maybe you have a hobby that you'd love to teach people how to do. You can walk them through that step by step with a coaching program (live or evergreen or a combo)! This is just a tiny sliver, tip-of-the-iceberg tip from the massive signature program that is HBR (Home Based Revolution), the multiple income stream course & coaching program by my own business mentor. Check it out here (& reach out for a massive discount code if you're interested!).

Hope these 3 options get your creative juices flowing and get you rolling making some cash for summertime fun (or even more)! I could make $1500 in 4 hrs once I structured things correctly. If you'd like help structuring something like this to fit your needs, check out coaching here.

Considering becoming self-employed but you're a planner and want to look at how budgeting and the money side of things might look? I made a tips list that was stuff I wish I'd known before diving into the self-employed world, things I learned myself work best. Check it out here!


This is my health story

 

I have always been sensitive. That's a word that has described me, my body in particular, my whole life. I have skin sensitivities to fabrics, bruise easily, I get cold easily, I tend to be on "alert" all of the time (no coffee needed here!), I'm a musician and very creative, and I don't even THINK about using any conventional personal care or other products that are scented... they bother my skin, and they bother my respiratory system too. I've never been able to use any scented products because of the discomfort and increased sensitivity they cause. I can't be around people who wear perfume or scented deodorant, because I can't breathe well and my head has discomfort. I can't go into a public bathroom that has been just cleaned because of the toxic chemicals they used to clean it. I can't enjoy candles or most lotions or makeup like most women I know because I'm sensitive to it.

During my first semester of college, I started to develop debilitating discomfort in my jaw, which I was later told is TMJD or temporomandibular joint dysfunction, not just the kind of little twinge when you bite down on something too hard, but long-lasting aching, along with clicking and cracking. It was exacerbated by singing, gum-chewing, caffeine, and other things, and I was easily able to cut out all of the things listed on my doctor's list except for one -- singing. I was a vocal music education major, and singing was my livelihood (or at least soon-to-be), so I couldn't just not practice! I struggled so hard for 2.5 years through long choir rehearsals, voice lessons, practice sessions, and more. By the end of the day, it would be so bad that I'd almost be in tears. My roommates and boyfriend (and his roommates!), bless their servant hearts, would bring me freezing cold ice packs to numb my face enough so that I could fall asleep at least, though I would wake up in the night unable to fall back asleep due to other sleep issues I also was dealing with.

It seemed like a vicious cycle that I needed to stop. Maybe I needed to change majors and give up my dream of making music, of teaching others to make music too. Maybe I needed to pick something that didn't require so much singing and talking. Even smiling a lot bothered me, so maybe I needed to pick a major or job with less human interaction. But THAT idea broke my heart. I didn't enjoy any of the things I could think of! My boyfriend at the time (now husband!) and I had many conversations about what I should do... singing was part of the fabric of my BEING. I am MADE to sing. If you know me, you know that hardly an hour went by without me humming or singing some little tune. But my jaw bothered me so much most of the time that I needed to change SOMETHING. But what?

And that's when change came...

I found some natural and pretty simple solutions -- though simple doesn't always mean easy! It required a LOT of discipline and self-control on my part.

I'm blessed now to have so many versatile tools in my tool box for any emotion, body system, or issue I may be experiencing. So, where am I now? Healthier than I’ve EVER been. I have NO jaw issues anymore when I keep up my self-created protocol. I sleep through the night. I feel so much better now that I'm sleeping more and deeper. I've spent 4 years now working through the emotional issues I faced in early career, and I am so happy that I can now FEEL emotions without feeling completely run-over and frozen by emotions. I’m also happy to say that I have only had little illnesses since finding solutions, not the constant strep throat and other illnesses I was getting at least once per month before! And, that’s saying a lot as I was constantly around germs while working full time with 500+ elementary students. But once I started supporting my immune system, I stopped getting sick every couple of weeks. I can clean with the most amazing smelling cleaner without coughing. I can wear my own homemade "perfume" and get compliments, and not only does it smell good, it supports my body systems. I can use amazing smelling shampoo now! I can have twice as much energy for the day without drinking any coffee or sugary drink. When I started having these successes, I was at first in disbelief, and now in awe at all that God's created, I believe, and given us for our good. Now these are my first line of defense, my go-tos, the first thing I do when something is off, which is not very often anymore (usually just when the weather changes, ah MN life).


I look forward to living a beautiful life of freedom and feeling empowered every single day, enjoying the life I was meant to live. That life includes sharing my story of overcoming and helping you also find better, safer solutions to overcome your daily struggles.

Are you ready to live empowered to be your own best advocate? Let's chat.

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