What do you do when there is reduced demand for music lessons? Also Instant Book and credentials.

Mage

Hi music lessons teachers! 👋🏽 I have talked to a couple of Thumbtack Pros who are music teachers, and they have noticed the same thing that I have observed for the last 1-2 months: there is significantly less demand for our services, even for this slow time of the year. What other avenues of revenue are you pursuing? Do some of you perform either solo or in bands?

⭐️ One thing that I would love to see for our profession on Thumbtack is the Instant Book feature. I believe that this will eliminate those "non-responsive customers" who never sign up with us because there is no easy way to do it. I would love it if there was a way for us to get these clients to sign up for at least our initial consultation lesson/interview (I charge for mine; it's not free unless they wish to attend a group office hour session). Thumbtack, is there any way we can have this feature enabled for our industry? I believe it will really help us to get more committed leads who follow through and pay us for our time for at least the initial consultation/assessment.

⭐️ Secondly, I have noticed that in other industries, Thumbtack allows the Pro to upload their certificates and licenses, but I don't see this option for music teacher. I am a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music, for example, and I believe that is even more valuable of a credential than my degrees because not everyone with an advanced degree in music is a good teacher! 😆 I find that the public has no idea that this designation exists, and I even wrote an article that shows the public how to find qualified music teacher that's worth their good money. How can I better position myself on the Thumbtack platform when things like my Nationally Certified status don't factor into my credentials unless I manually type it on my profile? I really think that the public needs to know the difference between a certified teacher and a non-credentialed teacher.

Thank you so much for reading, and I look forward to hearing back from Pros who are music lessons teachers to hear what you are doing during this "slow season." 😎

DustiO

@Mage thank you for posting - you always add so much value to any discussion. So sorry to hear that things have slowed down for you.

I wish we had the ability to upload licenses in each category, but I believe for now it's only in industries where licenses are required, as there is a team that verifies those. For now I would say to post a picture of that in your profile and for sure mention it in your intro (I am sure you are already doing both of those things)!

I will find out if/when instant book is expanding to other categories and update you here when I learn anything new!

Mage

Thank you @DustiO! I will have to be creative in finding other jobs out there that I can do. Thumbtack was my source for 2/3 of my studio, but now there have been barely any hires. I did get one the other day, but only for one session–I don't know if the student will continue past the initial consultation. At least I charge for that! 😎 Thank you for looking into the Instant Book, and I will do what I can to educate the public about certified teachers in my profile.