Make Money teaching music!

This is a great way to make money from music, and for me it's how I earn my living. I got into teaching as a 'stopgap' onto bigger things, but very soon it turned into something I wanted to pursue as a career full time. I reckon anyone can teach, but you need to ask yourself if it's right for you:

1) Are you patient? I love teaching people, no matter how many difficulties they have to learning. If you're only interested in teaching advanced players of you're instrument, you'll only find a very small market for that, as almost everyone comes to lessons as a beginner.

2) Are you just interested in the money? Students will smell that a mile away. only teach if you're prepared to the dedicate the energy it needs. If you're really only interested in performance and playing, maybe just focus on that. Having said that.....

3) Music teaching and other music projects work well together. Once your business is up and running and you've developed a teaching style you can free up time to develop other projects such as recording. I'm developing a video site with three other people, and I wouldn't really have the time if I had a full time job.

4) Teaching can be an easy way to moving from a non-music job into the music industry. You can begin teaching after work or on weekends, and slowly phase out your work as you build a student base.

Teaching gives great financial support to develop a career in music, but more than that, it shapes the way you play your music, and develops so many skills needed in other areas of your career.