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From the mind of Michelle Markwart Deveaux…
Do you own a business that helps people use their voice? I do too. Here on the FcK blog, I do my best to provide actionable tips, words of wisdom, and high fives of encouragement so that running your voice related business will be easy and feed your soul.
“Independent Contractor or Employee” Matters More Than You Know
Learn the difference between an “Independent contractor” and “Employee” in your Multi Teacher Studio – so that you can be sure that your workers are classified properly. You need to think about it and it’s important.
Cultivating Your Colleagues’ Trust Through Attribution
We live in an on-demand culture. Through social media, we can access anyone we want any time we want. Because of this, it’s easy to forget that everything on the Internet isn’t ours for the taking. Learn from Christin’s story on cultivating trust through attribution in voice business.
Michelle’s Advice for Singers Looking for Voice Teachers
Michelle answers the question: If I wanted to get voice/singing lessons, how would you suggest I look for a good teacher for me? Or a class? Where do a start? Get the answer here, and if you are a teacher, see if you are prepared to answer this question yourself!
How to scale your business with ethical pricing strategies
Michelle delivered a presentation on pricing at NATS 2022 that brought up the question: “How to scale your business using ethical pricing strategies.” Find out the answer here
Aren’t You Worried About Sara Campbell?
Sara Campbell is a marketing coach, business coach, and online content creator. When asked this last week, I realized this person is seeped in the scarcity/competition narrative. Today, I explain how we can explore partnerships to improve our business instead of worrying.
Five Questions Better than “How are you?” to Start off a Voice Lesson
Learn the questions Voice Teachers can ask at the beginning of lessons instead of “How are you?” when you just don’t have the capacity to be a pseudo-therapist for your singer/client (you know those low-key energy vampires) and need some emotional regulation.
Do You Need an MBA to be a Successful Music Studio?
Here's a (very) shortlist of things today's studio owner needs to understand: How to develop an effective marketing strategyHow to choose and use payment gateways,...
How to Make Time for a New Program or Membership
You know you want to join a particular program or membership and you know that it will 100% meet your needs. That is, if you can actually take advantage of it. You’re already overwhelmed and these action items will help you overcome your frustrations.
Being Unproductive in a World that Glorifies Productivity
It's the time when we choose words for the year. It's an extremely valuable exercise - one that allows us to choose an intention and stick with it. There are no real...
Why a Year-Long Tuition Plan Isn’t as Impossible as it may Sound for Voice Teachers – Moving to a 12-Month Tuition Instead of Following the School Year
If you are a voice teacher that begins their tuition plans in September, follows the school year, and loves it, this blog isn't for you. If you are a voice teacher who...
How to Have (and implement) Boundaries During the Holidays
Every year, I read multiple comments and stories about what it's like to run a voice studio during the holidays. We are singers, after all, and even now in the semi...
Zero-Based Scheduling for Voice Teachers (and everyone else who needs help with time management)
Time management is the hardest part of running your nano-business. You wear all the hats – you’re the CEO, CFO, CMO, and chief service provider. Learning Zero-Based Scheduling can help you go from overwhelmed and under-fun to overjoyed and under control. Let me teach you Zero-Based Scheduling.
Three Ways to Start Building a Budget – Even if You’ve Never done Budgeting before
Budgeting can be SCARY. Especially when you've never done it before, or the only times you've ever heard the word "budget" was when it was connected to not getting that...
What to do when Things get Difficult to Manage
Content Warning: Grief/Death/Difficult Times I've been coaching myself on this question - "What to do when things get difficult to manage" - since November of 2019 when...