Ever thought of creating something to sell online?
If you're like many teachers, you already have some awesome arrangements, compositions, videos and lesson/teaching resources that you use with your students.
What if you could share these with other teachers AND bring in some extra money on the side?
Teachers are uniquely skilled at creating amazing lessons and learning resources, but we're not very good at marketing!
In Music Teacher Startup, I'll walk you step-by-step through the entire process of designing, building, marketing and launching a great online product or service, whether you already have something to sell or not.
In the Evolution Membership mastermind meetings you get to connect with a community of 'starters,' get unstuck, have your questions answered, and stay accountable.
It's designed for music teachers by a music teacher and I can't wait to help you get started.
Everyday around the world, independent music teachers just like you are making huge sacrifices in order to teach their students.
Because you teach students after school and on weekends - during the hours most families are having fun and eating dinner together - you miss out on time spent with your own children, family, spouse and friends.
It’s a sacrifice that most of us make everyday and that can easily lead to feelings of guilt and even shame for music teachers - particularly those with their own children.
And those feelings can easily niggle away at us and, for some teachers, even spell the end of their teaching careers.
Compounding these feelings is the struggle we face making enough money to sustain a comfortable living when we're trading time for money and often failing to charge what we're worth.
But what if you could build an alternate income stream that generated enough dollars to allow you to scale back your teaching hours?
What if you could spend more time with your family by creating an online business that takes care of some of your income?
What if you could tap into the mind of a music teacher who’s done it all before and now runs a successful online business that generates enough income to teach only those students and those times that he feels truly passionate about?
I’m a music teacher and online entrepreneur, and back in 2014, I was in a similar situation.
I was burnt-out and struggling as a music teacher. I worked part time in the classroom, and I taught from home, after school and on weekends.
Like many music teachers, I had a portfolio of exhausting jobs required to keep the lights on, many of which required my focus after school hours when all the “normal” people were finishing their work days.
Life was stressful.
Four years earlier, in 2010, I’d started a blog and YouTube channel in order to share some of my ideas about piano teaching.
As a blogger, I became totally addicted to the many online business podcasts that shared stories of regular people starting simple online businesses and turning them into income-generating machines.
And it got me thinking...
What if the blog I’d started back in 2010 could be the ticket to a much simpler, more comfortable life where my income wasn’t determined by how many hours I could teach piano?
At the end of 2014, I developed and released my first online course for piano teachers called PianoFlix: How to Teach Pop Piano.
This was an 8-module online course designed to take classically-trained teachers step-by-step through the progress of teaching students songs that they wanted to learn.
It took me 3 months to record, edit, upload and launch. By the time I closed the doors on the course two years later, I’d made $40,000.
The skills I learnt building and promoting that course, and the success it had, enabled me to create and launch my Inner Circle piano teachers’ membership site.
This site now has over 1000 members in more than 20 countries, allowing me to influence, support and guide teachers all around the world.
In the last few years, I’ve had more and more teachers come to me and ask: “How did you sell your course? How did you build your membership?” and “I’ve got this cool idea - how should I launch it?”...
So it’s time to give back.
How can I share the skills I’ve learnt building my business in order to support teachers like you, to do the same thing?
And that’s what the Evolution Membership is all about: helping you create new income streams for your studio through offering online products and services.
Music Teacher Startup will take you step-by-step through the entire process of designing, creating, marketing and launching an online product or service from start to finish - even if you’ve never done this before.
Live feedback and coaching at the twice monthly Evolution Mastermind Meetings will keep you accountable, help you get 'unstuck' and support your progress.
Whether you’ve already created an online product or service and have been struggling to get the marketing right or whether this is a completely new opportunity for you and you have no idea where to start, Evolution has you covered.
Access to Music Teacher Startup is now open inside TopMusicPro Evolution membership.
Don't miss your chance to access this flagship course and lock in a huge stack of FREE extras and bonuses.
Click below to find out more and get started today.
Our first module is all about your audience - who are they and how are you going to help them? There's no point creating a great product if no one needs it! We'll discuss blue v red ocean strategy, creating (versus 'finding') niches and explore all these ideas through the lens of market and competitor analyses.
In Module 2 we'll take you through a whole lot of online business ideas and explore case studies from real music entrepreneurs about the ideas they've developed into successful businesses. We'll also make sure that your idea aligns with your audience's needs (See Module 1) and you'll even get to hear about one of my biggest business failures! Let's get your idea validated and confirmed so you're ready for Module 3.
In this module, we unpack everything to do with branding using our "Branding Quickstart". I'll help you define your 'voice' and work out your "Unique Selling Proposition" so that your sales copy (Module 9) really zings! You'll also get some great shortcuts for finding fantastic domains and where and how to get your logo designed.
Module 4 explores the idea around having a "Lean Startup" and how creating a Minimum Viable Product and then iterating (improving) that over time is the best way to develop an online business. We'll explore case studies of MVPs in action (including my own) and sum it all up with a great Value Proposition.
Do you need a website for an online business? If yes, how do you create one? Should you use Wordpress? What about SEO? We'll be unpacking these questions and many more in this module which is focussed on your online business technology. If you're not sure what a "Tech Stack" is, then you best not skip this module.
Creating a great product or service without creating a great offer can lead to disaster in online business, so in this module we explore both how to price your product/service and also how to bundle your offer to make it irresistible to your audience. "Stacking" your offer can have a big impact on sales, so we'll show you how others have done this effectively and give you ideas of what you can bundle for your own launch.
Module 7 is all about Content Marketing, which is the primary way in which I've built my business over the last 10 years. In the first video we'll talk about the basics of Content Marketing, the 3 types of traffic and everything you need to know about blogging including headlines, topics and where to find ideas. In Video 2, we'll discuss using Lead Magnets to build your email list and then how to nurture your leads using email marketing software. We'll also talk about paid traffic, advertising and conversion rates.
If you're not familiar with "funnels" (except in the kitchen), then this will be an important module for you. In Module 8 we unpack how you can use software to automate your new customer acquisition and 'nurture' them to a future sale. You'll get to see examples of my own funnels and you can swipe my entire email funnel copy in the Bonus section below, saving you hours of time.
Module 9 is all about sales pages - what they are, what they do and how to create your own. Sales Pages are one of the most important aspects of any launch/sales process for an online business, so we want to get this right. We'll use examples from big business to help us craft effective messages and we'll layout all the main sections of your sales page, step-by-step.
It's time to launch! Yes, you've done all the hard work but the best is yet to come! In Module 10, the last module in the MTS series, we'll explore how to layout your launch sequence. We'll explore the popular "Product Launch Formula" and how to make sure you tease your launch to create excitement within your audience. And you get to see my own planning sequence for MTS to use as a template.
Build a sustainable income that doesn’t rely on teaching more hours, hiring other teachers or running camps and events.
Have the freedom to pick and choose who you teach, when you teach and how many students you teach.
Stop feeling guilty about your teaching hours. Spend more time with your children, family and friends.
Unearth time to look after your health through exercising, better eating and enjoying more down time.
Finally make an income from the resources, music, videos that you’ve created but had little success selling online.
Spend time reconnecting with your own instrumental practice and reigniting your passion for playing your instrument.
For entrepreneurial teachers looking for help with online business development
If you want to scale your music teaching business, branch out into the online world, and break free of the “time for money” trap… this course is exactly what you need. I wish it had been available when I was starting out! The MTS course covers the same information as other (much more expensive!) business courses I took, and it offers extra insight about how to implement the strategies in the niche of music education.
I can’t recommend the course highly enough for anyone who wants to sell music related products online, since it has changed the way I view online marketing and content creation. I joined MTS, because I want to create and release my music composition courses online.
Before taking Tim Topham’s course, I had little to no knowledge about the business world - I'm a composer after all! It was a place I never thought I’d understand, let alone end up feeling confident in. Having now completed the course, I feel energised and confident to embark on my own business venture. I can’t recommend Music Teacher Startup enough, in fact I wish it existed sooner! Fraser Myers - Composer for Film, TV and Video Games: frasermyersmusic.com.au
I wish I had the Music Teacher Startup course when I first started my business. Though I have taken some business courses over the years, I really appreciate that this course is specifically for music teachers who are looking to start or expand a business. Tim Topham does not hold back in this course! He shares not only his wins to help you succeed, but also his mistakes so you know how to avoid them. Packed with SO much value, Music Teacher Startup is an investment you don’t want to pass up! Jennifer Foxx - Piano teacher, blogger: musiceducatorresources.com
If you’ve got a course or online product or service idea, or if you have a course that needs to gain traction... this is the perfect resource to take you where you want to go. Tim has truly thought of everything! You can finally stop spending hours and hours researching the “best ways” to get your content out there, because Tim has you covered. I can't recommend this course enough. Sara Campbell - Teacher, Business Coach: SaraCampbellBizCoach
Evolution is for instrumental music teachers looking to build an independent income stream through selling a product or service through an online business.
Whether you're completely new to online business or already have created a product and are looking for marketing help, we'll be there to support you.
We'll help you find an idea that will be a solution to a real problem, help you build your solution and set your marketing up to collect leads right from the beginning.
We'll then show you how to create a sales page to convert your leads to buyers during your launch phase.
From idea to launch, Evolution will be your guide.
I've hand-picked 8 music teachers who've become successful online business entrepreneurs and interviewed them about how they built their businesses.
Over the course of an hour's interview, learn their time-saving strategies, what software they use, how they built their marketing plans and validated their ideas.
Whether you're interested in creating Apps, Memberships, Crowd Funding a launch, Licensing, Franchising - I've interviewed a music business entrepreneur to help you.
Learn the super-fast 1-page business planning process I use to layout my new business ideas.
Plan your business faster and with more confidence using my recommended template. It's a business plan you'll actually reference again and again in the future!
Don't waste months creating unwieldy business plans - stay super focussed and get the planning done...fast.
Email marketing is a crucial part of any business operation, but it's even more important when you're only selling products and services online.
Let us walk you through some of the main software options available so you can save time and choose the software that's right for you.
Find out exactly what I use for email marketing and try it out yourself.
One thing you'll quickly realise as you create your business is that signing up to online software will make your life easier.
From social media and blog schedulers to accounting software. From marketing time-savers to sales page builders. From security software to email and team communication.
In this bonus, I lay out my my tried-and-tested software solutions, so you don't have to waste time and money testing your own products. It's like looking right under the hood of my business and seeing how it all works.
Almost all my online business knowledge comes from podcasts, blogs and online resources.
In this bonus resource, I'll share with you links to all my favourite podcasts, podcasters, influencers, articles and the books you MUST read to get ahead in online business...especially from a music teacher's perspective.
This list has taken 10 years to compile. Don't waste time on books and resources that aren't relevant. Go straight to the right source with this Resource Pack.
Creating your first sales funnel from scratch is a time-consuming process.
How should the copy flow? When should you introduce your product? How do you offer a limited-time discount?
All these questions will be answered when I give-away my entire "Top 10 Pop Songs" email funnel copy which you can use as a template for your own sales funnels.
Do I hear a "Wow Tim - that's crazy!"? :)
There’s a LOT of jargon around in online marketing circles and so I hope this list gives you a head start in tackling what might be a pretty steep learning curve for some teachers.
Save time and confusion with a quick-resource guide you can print and refer to as you progress through the course and unpack more and more about online businesses.
Feel free to add to it as you expand your knowledge using the blank pages at the end.
Spend more time with your kids after school? Not teach all the time? Choose how many hours you teach? Be more selective with your students? Bring in more $$ without trading hours to get it? Enjoy family dinners again? Have more confidence as a business owner? Have flexibility in your income if you have to move?
For entrepreneurial teachers looking for help with online business development
