The Complete In Home Music School Business Plan Template:  A 16-Year Proven Approach to Launching Your Own Program

Launch your very own in home lessons program with our comprehensive Music School Business Plan Template and step by step guidance.  We share our 16 years of experience developing this exact concept from inception to earning seven-figure-revenues each year, so you can pursue the same dream.

Our goal is to empower music educators who are serious about this undertaking and give them the tools to be successful with our proven blueprint and insights.

We include the details you need to consider in the brainstorming phase through reaching profitability, as well as a customized template to organize your vision into an actionable launch plan.

So, you want to own a music school?

When I speak with music teachers who want to start their own music lessons business, I often hear phrases like, “this is my dream job”, or “managing a group of teachers is my ultimate goal.” 

There is a passion behind the idea, because they are music teachers wanting to expand their reach, as well as help other professionals.  Owning a school can seem like the path to sustainability.

In the job industry for music educators, this type of business is also their most tangible shot at making a stable and professional salary without any further training needed…

…other than the skills and background needed to run an entire small business and staff of teaching artists when none of this is covered in music school, that is. 

Many musicians are up for this challenge of learning to be a business owner if it means a lifetime of working in music and a career they can live well on. This drive is NOT because they are passionate about being entrepreneurs.  It is because being a musician is their identity, but they realize the challenge with making a living, or achieving stability in this space.

Over 16 years ago, I was in this group!  I was a passionate musician who wanted to have a career in music. And obviously, I still have a deep passion for this industry even today, but it has evolved.

After teaching music students – then coaching and managing the music teachers working with those students – I now have a drive to help music school owners and solo teachers find their way in the business world.

My partner at AstroCat shares the same mission, and the plan we present here pulls from our decades of combined experience in this industry.

We have tested which strategies work to launch a new program, and we give you the initial framework to map out your organization…exactly as we would do it.

Proceed with caution and consideration as you start your music school

Before you dive in and take on owning a music school (even an in-home one), a few words of caution from my own experience: 

Starting a music school and being on the front-lines of this operation is going to require all your time and dedication for at least a decade if you really want to be good at this.  It will take a tremendous amount of work and at least a few months of uncertainty to get to your first 50 students enrolled.

Once you have a student base, you are going to have to eat, breathe, live, and operate by what this community will need from you, and that’s once you build it. Your lifestyle will need to adapt to the school, not the other way around.

After around 7-10 years, your school may be in a place to run on its own without your dedicated attention.  But that’s going to be a long time down the road.

Are you ready to take on that kind of responsibility and really create some lessons magic? 

If you have given this some thought and this amount of work to achieve your dream is not a deterrent, this guide is for you. At the end of this piece, I give you the only business plan you will need to get your music school off the ground and on to enrolling new students. 

But first, there is a bit more to consider in the brainstorming phase and initial conceptualization of your in home lessons program.

How profitable is a music school?

No business is worth pursuing if you are unable to project what the profitability and revenue potential will be.  It is very important to know what you are working towards as a reward for all your hard work and the time investment it takes to start your own operation. 

Otherwise, it truly is easier to simply work for someone else who inherits all the stresses while you are free of those worries.

However – so often, I would talk to music teachers, afterschool programs, and even music schools that were unsure of the data correlation between the work they were doing and profitability metrics most business owners and freelancers monitor. 

Not only that – these music lessons businesses and freelancers are not operating from sales and retention data at all! 

Why is this happening with music schools and lessons providers?

Like with most specialized trades, the individuals who run music lessons services and own music schools are typically – you guessed it! – music teachers themselves.

Now back to profitability:  this is actually the best news about the in home music lessons businesses. 

If you do it right – which we show you in the following sections – you should be at a point of meeting your monthly operating expenses within four months on the worst end of the spectrum. On the best end, you could be at this milestone within one month.

What does this mean?  Essentially, your business is paying for itself to run on a monthly level when you are meeting your ‘monthly operating expenses’.  What you are putting in for advertising, software, office supplies, and other expenses are all getting covered by what your business earns from lessons.

To reach profitability, you will first pay back any start up expenses you initially invested to launch, then any earnings after that are true net profit.

However, there is a sharp difference between meeting monthly operating experiences and reaching profitability versus being livable as a new business.  If you are breaking even, which is almost ‘profitable’, you still will have a hard time staying in business without maintaining your own lessons, or working another position.

Therefore, the more important question is…how much does it cost to run a music school? From there, we can determine how quickly you will see your bottom line increase.

How much does it cost to run a music school?

Because every single geographical area will have its own nuances and requirements for running an in home music lessons operation, I will keep categories and projections broad for cost estimates.  As a short answer – you need very little start up capital if you launch and build out in stages.

With advertising – especially paid advertising, like Google Ads – you can easily spend $3K in your first month without batting an eye, but not be able to handle the traffic coming in.  So that $3K is at least partially wasted as an investment on leads you are not set up to handle.

Instead, ‘scaling’ is the important concept to keep in mind with business costs.  In home lesson programs can have little overhead, because no facility is needed, but this requires discipline and fully understanding the development stage you are in.

If you run a program out of your home (I did this for all 16 years with my school), your only monthly costs after starting will be different forms of advertising for teachers and students plus basic business services like accounting, software, etc.

The challenge is – it’s always possible to burn through start-up cash quickly at the launch of a new endeavor if you are over-zealous and / or fail to do your homework with mapping out your endeavor.

Having a plan to scale and balance your increases in business expenses with the revenue you are generating is a key to success.

The beginning of your program should be very ‘lean’ with budget and the technology you adopt.  Those business development and infrastructure pieces should grow throughout your operation’s existence.

**A studio management platform is a web-based interface to manage your program and operation all in one place.  There are many levels of products available as a subscription software. The goal is to streamline your family account data, payments, schedule management, and even KPI tracking. This is an essential product for all music schools.

Overall, to launch a new in home lessons program and have all the resources to generate initial sign up traffic, the total investment is between $5K – $10K to launch. There will also be monthly recurring fees for subscriptions and miscellaneous services, like a CPA and web development.

However, that’s it!  If you save – for example – $7K to launch your operation, then teach your own private lessons to keep your personal earnings strong, you will have all the funding needed to start making money through your business by bringing on additional teachers.

Any profits from the initial lessons acquired and taught by a member of your team will typically cover the recurring fees within 2-4 months.

How much should I charge for music lessons?

Once you know it will take $5K – $10K, plus monthly expenses to get your school launched and to an operational point, you only need one additional data point to determine what your general earning potential will be:  how much the lessons will cost.

I have set pricing menus for lessons several times in my day, as well as researched our increases that occurred every couple years, so we could give teachers a raise.

My preferred strategy is to first see what at least 5 competitors are charging, though 8-10 different programs will give you a much better picture of the lessons-landscape in your area.

Choose a mix of in home and in studio programs to research.  Virtual lessons are also quite popular, but the in home and in studio methods of meeting will have the closest data to pull from.

Once you have these price points, look at all the 30 min lesson rates side-by-side, as well as the 60 minute rates.  You will want to position your rates just a touch higher than the highest in home offering on your list.

Compare this in home rate to the in studio rates.  Is your rate greater for the 30 and 60 min lesson lengths?  If yes, we are good to go! 

But if the amount you have in mind for in home and in studio rates are close, consider raising tuition a little bit more. Optimally, you will be between 20-35% more for on-location teaching tuitions.

Why pricing your lessons higher than your in home competitors is wise

My personal belief with marketing music lessons is that your on-location music lessons customer is looking for quality more than they are a price break.  Having a teacher come to your home is a boutique product. If potential students are looking for the best price, in-home services of any type are the wrong choice. 

By pricing your lessons a touch above the next-highest in-home competitor, you are signaling confidence.  You are saying “my program is one of the best, so we are a little more than our friends at (x) school.”

Even more importantly – you are able to provide the best rate of pay for your teachers when you are charging a higher price-point than your competitors, as well as guaranteeing your staff a higher level of dedication from the students assigned.

With this appeal for your program, you can curate the absolute best staff in your area. Though counter-intuitive, this strategy works for this type of music school!

The average cost of in home music lessons

Depending on where you are geographically, the cost of music lessons can vary widely.  Our firm is in a very expensive part of the US, and when we ran an in home program that was part of a national franchise, we had the highest lesson-tuition of any of our sister-schools. 

On the lowest end – outside of major cities’ metro areas  – 30-minute in home lessons are an average of $150 per month for 30 min lessons, or $37.50 per 30 min block.

On the higher end and more expensive parts of the US, 30-minute in home lessons can cost up to $250 per month, or $62.50 per 30 min block.

That’s a wide difference!  But in both scenarios, each price point generates a solid profit that will get you to the “black” and paying back your starting investment quickly.

How to pay music teachers (employee vs contractor)

Out of the total tuition a family pays for lessons, the industry standard is to pay your in home instructor AT LEAST 60% of the total charged.  Greater than 60% is always better to attract the highest caliber staff, and you’ll find your teachers are very-much worth the investment when running an mobile music lessons business.

At 60% going to the teacher, this means a month of 30-minute music lessons billed at $150 for the student would equal $90 to the teacher, $60 to the business. 

For a $250 payment, the teacher would keep $150, and the company keeps $100.

This leaves the music school with 40% of the amount generated from the lessons, which will go back into expenses and operational costs first.

But once the start up investment and monthly cost of staying in business is fully paid by incoming funds, getting to a place of profitability happens quickly! Everything after monthly and start up expenses is profit, which is why the high margin for teacher pay still works out.

Most music schools pay their in home teachers as independent contractors and allow the appropriate flexibility around scheduling and autonomy required of this business relationship.  This means that no taxes are withheld, and you are basically paying teachers cash, like the example above. 

This division of the profits from the lessons keeps compensation easy, though the tax burden on the teacher is heavier with this model. Your staff will need education on freelancing and how contractors pay taxes to get the most out of your work experience, and this is important training to consider.

Brick and mortar music studios are more likely to make their teachers employees, as there is a central location their teachers work from, as well as more overhead for the studio to manage on both an accounting and earnings level.

The drawback is that teachers often see a much smaller take-home amount in each check than a traveling teacher sees, because of the lower cost of studio lessons combined with the variable style of work teachers music experience.

With either option you choose for your staff – contractor, or employee – paying by direct deposit and on a weekly, or bi-weekly basis are the current gold-standards for music teachers. This detail is important to make your role attractive to instructors.

The financial outlook for starting your music school

With all the information above considered, we have projected it will take between $5K – $10K to launch your school and pay for initial services and supplies.

Then, the typical total for your expenses in the first year will between $1K – $2K per month. This amount will go towards keeping up advertising and software subscriptions, as well as any miscellaneous expenses that could occur.

My advice is to save up a $5K – $10K investment to launch, plus 1-2 more months of expense coverage for maintenance to get started.  Initial students starting lessons will help with mitigating expenses as you build up.

On the cautious side, saving up for 4 months of expenses would be the most conservative approach, but I do not believe this is needed if you are in an active location where starting an in home lessons business is possible.

As a maximal estimate, an upper-end projection is $18K- $20K to save up to start. This would be an ultra-prepared investment in case you experience almost no lessons sales at the start.

Again, please know this slow of a pace is unlikely if you do your homework first with our business plan.

On the lower, you only need $7K with our projection, though I personally took an even less-expensive path.

By working a 2nd job – in addition to teaching and launching the school – I could reinvest my own earnings back into covering my cost of living early on. This allowed for faster scaling. We could bring on 10-15 teachers at the start of our operation versus 3-5 teachers if I were trying to keep costs and growth more balanced.

Ultimately, you will choose the pace of growth that is right for the type of program you are starting, and the thought-process shared here is a good way to create your own estimates.

If you are able to sign up just 35 students with your in home teachers who are giving your lessons, you will cover your monthly operating costs. 

This level of success with a new on-location program is tangible. A total of 35 students is just one, or two teachers’ studios with an average of 15-20 each.

Within 5 months, having 50 students enrolled would take care of your monthly operating costs PLUS earn back your starting investment.

Why is this estimate and point of profitability important?

When you have paid back your initial investment in your business and are covering your operating costs, every dollar you earn after is yours to keep.  If having 35 students will cover being in business, think of what your personal earnings will be as an owner when you reach 100 students…and 200 students.

My only caution is to keep setting aside a portion of your profits to fund further business expansion and scaling the entire time you are in business. 

You must continue to invest in infrastructure, or you will not have the capacity to serve more than a few teachers.  We do not want you to cap your company’s potential by failing to plan ahead!

Our In Home Music School Business Plan Template

To help you have the strongest start to your journey with entrepreneurship and owning your own music school, we have created a template for planning your operation to launch through initial sustainability, then profitability.

Fill in each of the 11 areas prompted to form your own business plan.

The goal of a business plan is to give you a foundation for your operation and a system of accountability for your team. 

This is not a fixed document without the ability to edit, though.  Some parameters will be adjusted over time, and this is expected.

Music School Business Plan

• School Identity:  outline the type of lessons you provide, style of teaching, and where the lessons will take place

• Mission Statement:  share what is special about your music lessons and makes you stand out from the other providers a student could select

• Company Leadership and Management:  who are the owners, or primaries of your in home lessons program?  What is everyone’s role, and who will be running the management side of the school? 

At the beginning of a new on-location service, it is normal for the owner to also run the business operations.  However, hiring an administrator is possible.  This additional team member will just increase your expenses, which is why we advise against it. The added expense is not a ‘lean’ principle.

• Target Locations:  what locations, neighborhoods, towns, or areas will your in home lessons program serve?  What locations have the highest density of families?  Which have the highest property values?  The areas where you have the highest home values and density of schools and families will also be your best market for advertising.

• Competition:  who are the other in home music lesson providers serving your target locations?  What do they charge for their 30 and 60 minute lessons?  We encourage you to do your research on this and call around to your competitors if needed!  

• Menu of Services:  outline the lesson lengths you offer, the frequency of the lessons, and the pricing per option (monthly, or by the lesson).  Provide details about how your billing will work for families – how often they pay, when payments are due, payment methods you accept, etc.  Include general policies for families, teachers, and creation of a central resource (like a handbook).

• Sales and Termination Processes:  outline the customer experience of signing up for lessons with your program and the steps they will take from initial outreach to having their first teacher-visit.  Be specific about the information you require to schedule and move to each new step in the process.
  • Then, outline how students will terminate lessons when ready.  What will be required?  Who do they inform, and how much notice is needed?

• Marketing for Students:  how will you advertise for lessons?  What is your budget to test and launch?  What is your monthly budget for student leads once we are running and through testing?

• Budget and Expenses:  how much start up capital do you have to launch your music lessons program?  If you do not yet have the amount you need to launch, what is your plan to save, or acquire this amount?

• Revenue Projection:  what is your reasonable timeline for becoming profitable based on the rough figures we shared in our explanation of expected expenses and what to charge?

When considering your revenue projection, we recommend creating a worst-case and best-case scenario, so you can see the extremes of what to expect. 

For the worst-case, estimate that you will not cover all of your monthly expenses for 4 months, but will incur full operating expenses that add to your initial investment.

For the best-case, plan that you will cover monthly expenses after 1 month.

The reality of what occurs will typically be somewhere in the middle, as in home music lessons programs tend to start making money fast if the launch is well-planned.

As soon as you have your initial teachers onboarded, initial advertising radius set in your most marketable service areas, and leads are coming through, you will have some revenue coming in – at least to cover monthly operating expenses. This income will build up in your initial year and beyond.

When you start receiving more than the monthly expenses entail, your initial seed investment of $5K – $10K for start-up expenses will be quickly repaid too – often within the first 9-12 months.

The 90-Day Business Plan for Launching a Music School

As a bonus, we encourage you to create a 90-day business plan for your in home music lessons program that outlines the specifics of setting up your business, the order you will do each step, projected timeline, and other details that keep you on track.

A 90-day business plan is different than the primary business plan we created in our 11 points, though.  Its purpose is to take a formed initiative (like launching a music school) and break the goal down into a set of action-based steps that can be achieved in 90 days.

For example, in starting a music school, each month of the first three would have a smaller goal to meet that gets us closer to launching, or from launch into the initial operation.  It is a planning tool for completing a large objective in a certain amount of time, like a roadmap.

Oppositely, our primary business plan for the first year is the “how” side of planning your program and what the school will look like when it is fully formed.  It defines what the business is and how every component relates back to the mission and school identity.

Important points to map out in your first 90-day plan are your website build-out, or redesign, and setting up advertising. In many cases, initial advertising will involve your leg-work too!

You will also need to set up your school softwares and central management system, insurance, an LLC and business bank account, and more basic items like these.

Though these starting steps can be cumbersome, keep in mind that they are critical and should be done at the start.

The good news is that the list will be complete if you stick with it and work through. Don’t let these details weigh down the process for you, and seek out additional support if you are stuck – even if it’s a small investment from your miscellaneous start-up fund.

The added support will be well-worth it if you are serious about this endeavor and are in a good market for on-location services.

The In Home Music School Blueprint – in conclusion

Building an in home music school is a brilliant way to start a lessons program, and for music teachers, the dream is tangible. With the low overhead of on-location services, plus insight into how music lessons work, you can be very successful at this.

It was my dream to have my own music school too, and in home instruction not only allowed me to build that exact business – it allowed me to build a mega-school that conducted over 800 lessons per week for many years. 

You cannot just dive in to an endeavor like opening your own music school without a plan, though.  In this space, developing a blueprint for starting your business is just as important as a chef creating the theme and menu for their new restaurant. 

Your success as an in home music school owner is based in your ability to set and achieve goals plus your work ethic as an entrepreneur.  If you can master these two concepts and REALLY stick to the vision you create with our 11-point template, we are positive you will reach for the stars and make your wildest dreams come true.

Want help implementing this plan for your music school?  Or do you need help improving your established program?  Book a free discovery call with us to learn more about how we can help!