My guitar coaching business failed (so that yours doesn't have to!)

I launched my first music coaching business in 2001.

Yes, I'm pretty long in the tooth when it comes to this whole music coaching thing.

Now, you might be expecting "overnight success story" like you're seeing everywhere else, you know - making $30m at 23 years old and that kind of thing.

But the truth is, my first music coaching business was a total FAILURE.

Yep, absolute crash-and-burn failure in such a spectacular way that I actually haven't taught guitar now in over 20+ years.

Not only was this a professional failure, it was a personal failure too - I really hated teaching guitar after this crushing experience, and if I can be totally honest, I actually lost a LOT of the love I had for even playing the guitar through this crash and burn failure.

Don't fret for me - I went on to launch one of the most successful voice coaching studios out there, and as we stand I bring in around $30k a month as a music teacher along (not even considering my B2B coaching business that brings in that, if not more each month).

$30k a month as a musician.

Sounds like a dream, right?

It's not a fluke - there's a system and process to this that I'm about to share with you.

But it's POWERFUL.

Now, let's start with WHY and HOW my first music coaching business failed so spectacularly.

#1 - I had no business plan.

Honestly, I just kept getting the question "how the fuck did you learn to play like that??" when I played live shows with my band in the late 90's/early 2000's.

Secondly to that, people often asked "can you teach ME to play like that?"

It was a no brainer - I just started saying "yes!" and charging $20 an hour for guitar lessons.

Not that I knew how to teach - i just had a passion for exceptional guitar playing, and wanted to help people become badass guitarists.

It was nice to get paid $20 an hour with this business instead of the $4.80 I was paid in my first job as an apprentice.

I was on a high.

Queue 12 months of teaching people the Smoke on the Water riff over and over and OVER again - and I honestly wanted to blow my brains out.

I fucking hated the whole damn thing.

That and Stairway to Heaven - don't get me started on Stairway.

Oh yeah, Enter Sandman too...

I was such an accomplished rock guitarist by that point that you could pull a Joe Satriani song out of a hat and I could probably play the whole thing without a second glance.

Metallica solos. Megadeth solos. Zeppelin solos. Sabbath songs.

All those hard rock and metal greats - they were flying out of my fingertips like welding sparks.

But I was teaching that damn A/C/D, A/C/D#/D riff over and over again.

I wanted to pull my hair out.

My students obviously started picking up on this - and instead of the joyous experience of growth they should have had with me, it was a bit of a bummer experience for them, and a bit of a bummer experience for me too.

Sure, I taught people what they wanted.

But absolutely HATED doing it.

By 12 months I started cruising the local job classifieds and eventually took an office job in finance instead.

A drastic change from the kid that used to skip class to play guitar in the music room most afternoons.

Suit, tie, hair back - this was apparently the new me.

It was such a traumatic experience that I actually haven't taught guitar again in over 20+ years.

But don't fret for me - I launched a voice coaching studio in 2010 that brings in at least $30k a month in profit.

My students achieve the WILDEST results you could ever imagine - and I've reached both time and financial freedom in a way I never even thought possible; considering I was working Sunday mornings and until 10pm at night at my lowest point as a teacher.

The main reason this coaching business failed?

It's actually the same reason my new voice coaching business (and the dozens of music coaching businesses I've worked with since) has been such a resounding success;

The STUDENT.

That's right, great student results and a successful coaching studio actually starts with the STUDENT.

Who is your ideal student, and HOW are you speaking to them right now?

Watch the video below to learn how I scaled my music coaching business from initial failure, to $45k a year, to over $250k a year in profit;