Moosic Tooter

So, running my own business is one of the things that my widow-life has handed me. It is a lot of work and an accomplishment.
   Here is the latest stats. I have 13 students. 10 are "mine", 3 are "contracted". 3 are harp, 6 are piano, 4 are violin. 8 are sibling pairs. 3 are adults. 2 are online students, 11 are in-studio. 6 are every other week, 7 are weekly. 4 are hour lessons, 9 are half-hour. 8 I have taught for over a year.
   Broadly speaking, I have the most fun with the sibling pairs, harp students, and adults. One of my sibling pairs has begun doing duets (one piano, four hands). I love that.
   It is a job that won't sit still. I am always switching something, or something is always being switched on me. I have decided not to shut down my online teaching. Instead I have raised my online rates. (I couldn't do this with my contracted students until recently.) I am considering dropping violin: I'd continue with current students but not take any new. I am fitting my students into 2 days (T/W) instead of 3 (T/W/Th). I am not seeking new students nor am I turning them away. Speaking of turning, I might be turning a profit soon. Fingers crossed!

Bidness Woes

For my business, I independently contract with a company I'll call LatKes. LatKes recently rolled out a new website. On this new site, more of my stats are available to me.
   Earlier this year I noted a significant and repeating discrepancy between ostensible income (calculated simply by multiplying [number of students] by [number of scheduled lessons] by [price per lesson]) and my real income. I make a lot less than it looks like I will. It didn't take long to figure out why: cancellations.
   I've been, therefore, aware that cancellations are eating up potential earnings (I even took it up directly with one cancel-happy student), but I didn't track them precisely.
   Enter the new LatKes site with the new stats.
   A whopping third of my scheduled lessons for this year were cancelled. That includes any students who stopped taking lessons and cancelled anything remaining, and the lessons I cancelled when my computer died in September. So it reflects more than just current students and includes my own cancellations. Even discounting those things, easily one fifth of my planned lessons fell through!

I want next year to be different. My problem is that 85% of my clients are through LatKes and I can't change my cancellation policy for them. They have the option to cancel up to 24 hours in advance.
   What's an independent contractor to do?!

Musicings

Friday night I walked alone downtown to the Black Box theatre and took in some jazz — all originals. I enjoyed myself.

I thought about where I want my business to be in a year. My goals: 12.0 teaching hours* a week; T/W/Th; starting at noon. My current position is 8.0 teaching hours a week; M/Th; sometimes starting earlier than noon.
   I want to retain at least 3 of my students from now to then. This is not a goal because I don't have a good idea of how to effect it.
   Since Friday, in furtherance of my goals, I have

1. started moving my Monday students to Wednesday
2. posted expanded (Wednesday) hours with the company for whom I am an independent contractor
3. decided I will open up Tuesdays in June (health permitting)

The end.

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* 1.0 teaching hour is ≥1.5 working hours.