Private Voice Lessons to Students of All Ages - Sarah Reynolds
Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in music education but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Sarah Reynolds, a singer, and voice teacher based in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I teach out of my home studio and over Zoom to serve clients inside and outside Los Angeles. I specialize in personalized vocal lessons crafted for singers, actors, speakers, and hobbyists. My background is in classical music, and opera and my techniques and sensibilities apply across musical genres. All ages and experience levels are welcome, and I have a knack for working with beginners. I am a highly skilled vocal technician, equally focused on empowering my students with language and tools that inform their practice and performance outside the studio. I've been praised for creating a comfortable and fun learning environment. I take great pride in this compliment, knowing first-hand how deeply personal (and vulnerable) the pursuit of singing is.
Tell us about yourself
My earliest memory related to singing is simultaneously wanting to do it and fearing that I was no good at it. Since then, I've lived and learned some comforting truths. First, singing is a fluid skill; it can be learned and, when nurtured, evolve. Also, the level of satisfaction you experience with your singing is directly proportionate to how curious you are about it and how this curiosity drives the integrity of your work. Understanding these fundamentals has allowed me to thrive as a teacher. My journey has included two coasts, two degrees, brief experiments in 9-5 admin and middle school music education, and a post-graduate school hiatus followed by a post-improv-comedy return to singing. I'm grateful to have built a busy career freelancing as a classical singer and voice teacher. These two sides of my career inform and balance each other. The more I teach, the more I understand my own singing and vice versa. It's exciting.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment was becoming my own boss. When you work as a subcontracted voice teacher, the responsibility of recruiting students, managing schedules, and charging fees belongs to someone else. This can be a great way to start as a voice teacher, but it comes with a pay cut and less autonomy. Aligning my teaching schedule with my other interests and priorities meant going into business for myself. I've never looked back.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things is setting and enforcing the hours, rates, and policies that are truly commensurate with your experience and worth. Recognizing your own agency and staying in your integrity will keep you, the service provider, fulfilled. This, in turn, will continue to attract the right clients to you. And by "right," I mean a great fit.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Practice resilience when it's hard and humility when it's easy. Know and hold your boundaries. Choose hope and possibility over fear and cynicism.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://sarahreynolds.studio/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahreynoldsvoice/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-reynolds-73474b122/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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