How To Quit Your Current Job And Teach Guitar Instead

Do you hate your day job? As a guitar player, you can already see how working a job like this steals time away from not only becoming a better guitarist, but trying to build a successful career in music. Good news is, there is another option that is right in front of you. Teaching guitar for a living is that option – and it is easily the most effective way to do something you love while also making a great income.

Why should you teach guitar rather than working at a normal 9-5 job?:

– When you teach guitar, you can easily earn much way money than you ever could at a regular full-time job (successfully guitar teachers can easily earn $100k or more annually).

– You don’t need to work full time teaching guitar – you can easily work part time and not worry about making ends meet.

– You get to make your own time when you are a guitar teacher. Want to take a trip out of town? You can do it. Want to start working on growing a music career? No problem. Additionally, you will actually make money for your time off. Contrast this with working a normal job where you have to request vacation days (where someone else decides when you can or can’t take time off).

– Teaching guitar is extremely stable. For instance, if you have 56 students, this is just like having 56 individual paychecks. So if one student leaves, it’s not a big deal, because there are 55 other source of income still coming in. This is totally unlike a normal job where you get one paycheck only – and your entire well-being depends on that one check.

That said, so many guitarists completely look past teaching guitar because they believe they simply are unprepared for it. Truth is, probably are ready to teach even if you don’t think you are. Here is a tiny list of the frequent complaints (fears) guitarists have about being able to teach guitar, that are NOT valid:

Guitar Teaching Fear #1: It’ll be too hard to support yourself financially as you transition from your day job into teaching.

Reality: It’s much easier to transition away from your day to become a guitar teacher than you think. Getting a guitar teaching business off the ground is virtually cost-free, and you can make money from it while simultaneously working at your current job without losing a dime.

Guitar Teaching Fear #2: You don’t know enough to even make it through one lesson with a student.

Reality: You don’t need to be an expert teacher to get results for your initial students. Your skills will come to you over time and you’ll just keep getting better.

Guitar Teaching Fear #3: You aren’t sure if you have enough things to teach over a long period of time.

Reality: You don’t need an entire year planned out just to being teaching. Truth is, it’s actually highly ineffective to overwhelm your students with totally new ideas during every lesson you have together.

Guitar Teaching Fear #4: You haven’t reached a high enough level as a guitarist.

Reality: Some of the best guitar teachers are NOT virtuosos or anything close. In fact, you can teach only beginning students if you want to and make a ton of money doing so.

How To Transition Out Of Your Day Job To Get Into Teaching Guitar.

A lot of guitar teacher think that leaving their jobs is risky and find it to be a scary proposition. Reality is, you shouldn’t fear this, because it is a lot easier to transition away from your current line of work without putting your financial future in danger. Here are the things you should do now to smoothly move away from your current work and start teaching guitar instead:

1. Make it a point to attract “serious” guitar students only

– Create a website and advertise online in addition to using flyers in local guitar stores (with the owner’s permission), grocery stores, parks, schools, full parking lots and neighborhoods.

– Try to better understand how to convert the potential students who contact you into paying guitar students.

– Fill your weekends with as many students as possible, then save the profit you make from doing this. After you’ve earned enough from this to pay for six months’ worth of expenses, quit your day job and focus on growing your teaching business even further.

2. Work Hard To Build Your Guitar Teaching Skill Set

Even if you are new to teaching guitar, you CAN get great results for your students. Go through the following steps to start improving your guitar teaching skills:

– Discover how to teach beginner guitar students.

– Focus on your main area of expertise (i.e. playing jazz chords, metal technique, whatever it is etc.). It’s likely that there is someone out there who needs help in this area.

– Find a guitar teacher trainer who can show you effective strategies for transforming so-so students to great students, plus effectively teaching students of all kinds of learning styles.

Now that you have read the ideas in this article, you are much closer to actually teaching guitar for a living.