Question: Is it actually possible to make good money as a drum teacher?

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The answer is simple…..Yes you can make a living as a drum teacher!

But how does it really work out financially?

For many drummers who are thinking about making a full time living from music with teaching drums as a major part of the income, it can seem scary. In many cases they are coming from a position of having a day job that pays the bills and feels stable. So the thought of giving up that stability is often so terrifying that many don’t take the leap of faith.

But let’s break down the reality. There are two key points to consider.

Employment isn’t as stable as it seems compared to running your own small business. If you are employed then you don’t really have huge amounts of control. Great people get laid off or made redundant all the time through no fault of their own. Maybe your company restructures. Maybe business isn’t going well and they need to cut costs. You are at the mercy of the company and your boss. That feels scary to me.

Let’s compare that to running a music teaching business where you have total control. Your business is made up of many different customers who are your students. The chances of every student leaving you at the same time is practically zero. I can attest to this having taught music through two recessions. It just doesn’t happen. You will lose students from time to time but you will also know how to gain new students to replace them (if you don’t know how to get students yet, just watch this free training). So this option gives you way more stability reaslitically. And that’s without getting into how much more flexible it is to take time off, increase your hourly rate, work more hours, work less hours, etc.

So how much can you earn as a drum teacher?

The big question. How long is a piece of string? OK, that wasn’t very helpful.

But you have the flexibility to earn more of less depending on how much you want to work.

But let’s break down some numbers to give you an idea. In many cases you can earn much more money as a drum teacher than you can in your current job. And more importantly, you can use your passion to inspire other people and look forward to going to work everyday!

First you need to work out your potential hourly rate. This varies from town to town so see what other music teachers are charging in your area. New drum teachers often choose to go low here but my advice is always go the highest you can in your area and then deliver the best service. Do not under value yourself. There’s too much to get into with that for this short article because you might need to work through some psychological barriers, self worth, imposter syndrome, etc as well as knowing how to deliver a great service. But trust me when I say that you can do it.

So once you’ve researched the best rate that you can charge in your area you can scale it up.

Let’s say you can charge $60 per hour. If you taught for 30 hours per week then you would make $1,800 per week. Let’s say you worked for 45 weeks a year (taking 7 weeks off for holidays) then you would earn $81,000 per year.

Now bear in mind that you’re only working 30 hours a week when a full time job is 40 or more. And we haven’t factored other revenue such as gigs and sessions. So there is potential to earn more than that.

But hopefully that helps you understand how you can easily earn good money as a drum teacher. And you might have shifted your mindset to understand that although this brave new world of running your own business can seem scary, it can offer you a lot more stability and control over your earnings.

So now what? If you need some help getting started then click here to join the FREE drum teacher training that will make the whole process much clearer for you.