The Tutor Podcast

In this episode of The Tutor Podcast, Neil Cameron delves into the topic of money and explores its true nature and the beliefs surrounding it. He emphasizes that money is a neutral tool, a means of exchange that amplifies who we are. Neil challenges the common misconceptions about money and encourages listeners to change their beliefs and mindset about wealth. He shares personal experiences and insights, highlighting the importance of financial education and surrounding oneself with successful, wealthy individuals. Ultimately, Neil aims to empower listeners to take control of their financial lives and make money work for them. KEY TAKEAWAYS Money is a neutral tool: Money is not inherently good or evil, but rather a means to make transactions and exchange value between people. It is like a knife that can be used for good or bad purposes depending on how it is wielded. Money amplifies who you are: If you are a kind and generous person, having more money allows you to do more good and help others. Conversely, if you are selfish or irresponsible, having more money will only amplify those negative traits. Beliefs about money shape your relationship with it: Your beliefs about money, whether positive or negative, greatly influence your financial success. If you believe that money is evil or hard to come by, you will struggle to acquire and keep it. It is important to change negative beliefs and adopt a positive mindset towards money. Learn from successful wealthy people: Seek advice and insights from successful and wealthy individuals who have achieved financial success. Read books, listen to podcasts, and surround yourself with people who have a positive relationship with money. Avoid taking money advice from those who are not financially successful. Education and action are key: Take the initiative to educate yourself about money, investing, and building wealth. Invest in your own financial education and take action every day to improve your financial situation. Money is a tool that can empower you to make better choices and help others, so it is important to actively work towards financial success. BEST MOMENTS "Money is neutral. It's not good, it's not bad, it's like a knife that cuts bread or stabs someone. How you use it, or how you get used by it, that's the interesting part to me." "Money isn't good. It isn't evil. It's just neutral. What it actually is, is kind of an amplifier. As I said before, it just amplifies who you are." "Don't take money advice from poor people." "People who talk about money in that kind of way, people who tell you that money isn't important, don't have any money." "Get yourself a financial education. I spend thousands of pounds every single year on my own education because education is way cheaper than ignorance." ABOUT THE HOST www.Neilcowmeadow.com [email protected] Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

Neil shares his two golden rules for a happy and successful life, both at work and outside of it. The first rule is to avoid doing things that make you miserable, while the second rule is to not deal with "tossers" or difficult people. Neil discusses the importance of removing unsatisfactory people from your schedule and surrounding yourself with more positive and enjoyable individuals, encouraging listeners to identify and eliminate one "tosser" from their own lives! KEY TAKEAWAYS Rule one for a happy and joyous life is to not do things that make you miserable. This applies to both work and personal life. Rule two is to not deal with "tossers" or unsatisfactory people. It is important to avoid working with individuals who make you unhappy or drain your energy. Identifying and eliminating tossers from your schedule is crucial for maximizing your time and working with more satisfying and enjoyable individuals. It is not necessary to feel guilty about removing tossers from your life. By doing so, you are creating space for better fits and more positive experiences. The mission is to locate and fire one tosser from your schedule, freeing up time to work with nicer, happier people and enhancing your teaching experience. BEST MOMENTS "Don't deal with tossers or DDWT for short." "Having something like that on your schedule darkens your day. It's like a cloud on the horizon." "He immediately got the grump and asked me if I knew who he was and how big his company was… he would have been a total pain to deal with." "The whole organisation failed the DDWT test." "Look at your schedule right now and play spot the tosser… every hour they fill up on your schedule is an hour you can't spend with better students, with nicer people, with happier people." www.Neilcowmeadow.com [email protected] Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

Neil takes a closer look at two ways to get stuff done: erosion and explosion. He talks about how erosion is like chipping away at a task bit by bit, kinda like a stream slowly carving a path in a rock. On the flip side, explosion is all about going all-in and tackling a task with a big burst of energy in a short time. Neil spills the beans on his own experiences, like teaching, growing his property stash, and staying fit. He really drives home the idea that it's super important to make a plan, set some deadlines, and carve out time to get things done, no matter which way you choose. He's all about trying out both methods, but he's got a soft spot for the slow and steady approach, where you grind away at things over time. So, give it a whirl and see which one floats your boat! KEY TAKEAWAYS There are two approaches to getting tasks done: eroding the task over time and exploding the task in a short period of time. Both approaches can be effective depending on the situation. Eroding the task involves consistently working on it day after day, week after week, gradually wearing it down over a long period of time. This approach is sustainable and can lead to significant results over time. Exploding the task involves taking massive action and total focus on the task in a short period of time. This approach is useful for dealing with crises or when a task requires intense concentration and effort. It is important to be aware of the task at hand and create a plan to achieve it, regardless of the approach chosen. This includes setting deadlines, blocking out time for the work, and working from a schedule rather than a to-do list. While both approaches can be effective, the erosive approach (consistently working on the task over time) may be more sustainable and less stressful in the long run. It allows for flexibility and the ability to say yes to other activities and people. BEST MOMENTS "There are two extremes of behavior when it comes to taking care of tasks and goals we set ourselves." "Eroding the task means wearing it down day after day, week after week over a very long period of time." "Explosive approaches like this do work, but they tend to be a one and done sort of thing." "By scheduling those task-eroding activities into my weekly and daily plans, I find that I can reap the benefits of constant, frequent repetition." "I'll grind the task or the problem into dust. That's frankly where most of my best results have come from." ABOUT THE HOST www.Neilcowmeadow.com [email protected] Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

This is part two of Neil sharing his organisational strategies and insights for running a successful tutoring business as well as his love for a Filofax! Neil emphasises the importance of doing a brain dump to get all thoughts and tasks out of your head and onto paper. He then explains his process of sorting tasks based on importance, urgency, and consequence. Neil also highlights the significance of setting long-term goals and breaking them down into smaller, manageable chunks. He encourages listeners to schedule their tasks and activities in a diary, allowing for better time management and control over their daily lives. KEY TAKEAWAYS Writing everything down on paper can greatly reduce the chances of missing important information or forgetting tasks. Using a physical planner, like a Filofax, allows for easy visibility and quick reference. Setting goals is crucial for success. By having clear goals and constantly thinking about them, our brains become more attuned to opportunities that will help us achieve those goals. Break down long-term goals into smaller, more manageable chunks. This helps to create milestones and progress along the way. Setting one-year goals that align with the larger goals can provide a sense of direction and focus. Use a monthly planning session to set specific goals for the upcoming month. Break these goals down into weekly tasks and allocate time in your schedule to work on them. This helps to ensure that important tasks are prioritized and completed. Delegate tasks that you don't want to do, can't do, or are not the best use of your time. Learning to delegate effectively can free up time for more important and strategic activities. BEST MOMENTS "I call myself an organized idiot. So let's look inside the file of facts and see how I get organised because that's really not my nature." "If it's written down on paper right in front of you and you see it at a glance… the chances of me and you missing something or forgetting a vital piece of information is hugely reduced." "Set your goals big… Write them down. Get some detail on it. Describe where you want to be, who you want to be with, what you're doing. Think about what it tastes, smells like, feels like." "If you start every day with no semblance of a plan, the chances of you achieving success are basically the zip." "This system works for me… It keeps my inner idiot in order and takes care of the most important things first by just setting blocks of time aside so I can actually get those things done." www.Neilcowmeadow.com [email protected] Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

Neil discusses the value of writing things down and the power of having a plan. He shares his personal experience of using a Filofax, a physical planner, to organise his life and stay productive. Neil emphasises the benefits of writing longhand and how it activates the brain, aids memory retention, and accelerates learning. He questions the trend of relying on laptops in education when research shows the effectiveness of pen and paper. Neil encourages listeners to design their lives through planning and shares his own process of visualising and writing down what constitutes a good day for him. KEY TAKEAWAYS The use of a physical planner, such as a Filofax, can be beneficial for organization and productivity. Despite the prevalence of digital calendars, having a tangible planner allows for easier access and avoids technological issues. Writing things down by hand activates more of the brain and aids in learning, idea generation, and memory retention. This is supported by research and suggests that using pen and paper is more effective than relying solely on laptops or digital devices. Planning ahead and creating a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule can reduce stress and increase productivity. By visualizing and writing down what a successful day would look like, individuals can better prioritize tasks and focus on what is most important. Luck is not simply a matter of chance, but rather the result of preparation meeting opportunity. By designing and following a plan, individuals can create their own luck and increase their chances of success. The act of writing, reviewing, and acting on what is written can have a transformative effect on one's life. By consistently following a plan and taking action, individuals can see their goals and aspirations come to fruition. BEST MOMENTS "I love working on paper, it keeps me sane, it keeps me grounded, stops me forgetting things." "The act of writing longhand, with a pen no less, activates more of the brain and accelerates learning." "Memorisation is not education. Not by a long chalk." "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." "The magic isn't in the branding or that lovely leather binder. It's in the act of writing, longhand, then reviewing and acting on what you've written day after day." VALUABLE RESOURCESwww.Neilcowmeadow.comCONTACT [email protected] ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

Neil explores the concept of the reticular activating system (RAS) and how it can be harnessed to achieve goals more effectively. Neil explains that the RAS is a filtering mechanism in the brain that determines what information is important and worthy of attention. By setting clear goals and affirming them daily, individuals can activate their RAS to seek out and notice opportunities and evidence that align with their goals. Neil also introduces the idea of confirmations, which involve actively observing and documenting instances that support one's goals. By implementing this feedback loop of goal-setting, affirmation, and confirmation, listeners can enhance their belief systems and manifest their desired outcomes. Neil encourages listeners to try this approach and shares his own experiences of its effectiveness. The reticular activating system (RAS) is a small network of neurons in the brainstem that plays a crucial role in attention, focus, and motivation. The RAS acts as a filtering mechanism, allowing only information that it considers important to pass through to the brain. When we have a specific belief or goal, the RAS becomes more attuned to noticing information and sensory data that align with that belief or goal. Setting clear outcome goals and process goals is essential for achieving success in a tutoring business. Using affirmations and confirmations can help strengthen beliefs and reinforce the RAS's focus on bringing more of what is considered important into one's life. The Process Set Goals: Specific – eg hours taught per week Written down Present tense What I want – not what I think someone else want for me See yourself doing the things which produce progress toward the outcome goals Have quantifiable results – eg the number of new students recruited per month Visualise taking the call from a new student and adding them to your tribe Design the perfect execution of the activity Outcome goals – e.g., to have a full roster of guitar students and a waiting list to study with me Process goals – the activities which will bring me the outcome goals Read and/or re-write your outcome goals every day – the well-known idea of affirmations. Add emotion of any kind to those affirmations and kindle the interest of the RAS: if you’re excited, fearful, anxious or whatever, the emotion you use will goose the RAS and prompt it to allow what we want to be noticed. This is all well and groovy – and it works, to a point CONFIRMATIONS Take note of information and sensory data which relate to your process and outcome goals Write them down, either immediately or as part of your day-end review and shutdown routine This simple act loops back to the RAS and encourages it to gather more of that good stuff Tomorrow the RAS will be even better at bringing you more of what you believe – strengthening your belief in whatever you’ve decided is significant to you Refine your goals: in light of all this confirmatory data, recalibrate your goals and update your affirmations BEST MOMENTS "And if we can figure that out, how do we use it to get more of what we want, to get it faster and to get it with less effort?" - Neil Cameron "The RAS actually rejects vast amounts of sensory information, prevents it from reaching the brain. It only allows information that it considers important to pass." - Neil Cameron "I think it's really important to read and probably rewrite your outcome goals every day. I do mine every day. This is the well-known idea of affirmations." - Neil Cameron "If affirmations work, confirmations turn up the turbo boost. A confirmation is really taking note of information and sensory data which relate to the process and outcome goals." - Neil Cameron "Once you've given it a go, drop me a line. I always love to hear from you guys, because I'm here to learn from you. I'm here to help, to share what I've learned so far on my journey." - Neil Cameron VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com CONTACT [email protected] ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

In this episode, I'm excited to share two heartwarming stories of the impact my teaching has had on my students. One of my former students credits me with changing his life through guitar lessons, which ultimately led him to pursue a successful career as a professional musician. Another student, who visited from the US, commends me for simplifying the complexities of playing the guitar, making it easy to understand and master.I firmly believe in the power of minimalism, striving for maximum return on investment for my students.KEY TAKEAWAYS The power of simplicity: The podcast emphasises the importance of simplifying teaching methods and language to make it easier for students to understand and learn. The host believes in stripping away unnecessary complexity and focusing on the core principles. Impactful teaching: The podcast shares a story of a former student whose life was profoundly changed by the host's teaching of guitar. The student went on to become a professional musician and credits the host for his success. Making it easy: The host believes that the role of a teacher is to make learning easy for students. They aim to simplify the learning process and provide tools that enable students to play the music they want to play with less effort. Rejecting pretentiousness: The host expresses a disregard for academic and pretentious language in teaching. They prioritise plain and simple language over fancy words and esoteric concepts. The focus is on practicality and effectiveness. Continuous improvement: The host emphasises the importance of constantly refining and improving teaching methods. They strive to make their system leaner, slicker, and more useful, always seeking maximum return on investment for their students. BEST MOMENTS"He verified my identity and then said, I just want to say thank you to you. He said, the way you changed my life through your teaching of guitar has been profound." "That's the sign of a really great teacher. They take something complicated and difficult and make it simple.""I know that approach will upset many academics and it will really annoy the dyed in the wall old fashioned traditional types. But frankly, I couldn't give a monkey's.""Her job and my job as teachers is to make it easy. Period.""The writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry put it beautifully when he said, perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add but when there is nothing left to take away." VALUABLE RESOURCESwww.Neilcowmeadow.comCONTACT [email protected] ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

In this episode, Neil Cameron tackles the topic of perfectionism and its impact on students. Neil shares his own perspective on embracing imperfection and highlights the fear that many students have of being anything less than perfect. He emphasises the importance of playfulness as a superpower for teachers, explaining how it can help students overcome their fear of imperfection and create a more enjoyable learning experience. Encouraging tutors, teachers, and coaches to have fun with their subjects, be silly, and not take themselves too seriously, as this can help students feel more at ease and open to learning. By fostering a playful environment, Neil believes that both teachers and students can thrive and experience the joy of learning.KEY TAKEAWAYS Perfectionism is a common struggle for students, causing them to fear being imperfect and preventing them from trying new things. The norm of learning less and less is becoming prevalent due to the fear of imperfection and the overwhelming prospect of beginning something new. Playfulness is a powerful tool for teachers to help students overcome perfectionism and fear of imperfection. By being silly, playful, and having fun with subjects, teachers can create a lighter atmosphere for students and encourage them to be more open and less critical of themselves. When both the teacher and the student are having fun during lessons, learning becomes more enjoyable and effective, leading to peak moments of flow and better overall outcomes. BEST MOMENTS"I'm totally well adjusted to being imperfect, to being gloriously bad at stuff to begin with and progressively less bad over time.""Even Japanese kids are lousy at speaking Japanese to begin with, aren't they? Doesn't stop them trying though.""And here's the paradox as far as I see it. We've all learned this perfectionism paradigm, but we weren't perfect at perfectionism to begin with.""Because if you take that deal, it's pretty much guaranteeing failure to even start. Because the prospect of beginning the new thing and being imperfect at it, well actually being bloody awful at it to begin with, overwhelms most people to the point that they don't even try.""And that's why fewer and fewer people are trying new things. And the norm now seems to be to learn less and less."VALUABLE RESOURCESwww.Neilcowmeadow.comCONTACT [email protected] ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

Neil delves into the often overlooked aspect of self-care for driven entrepreneurial individuals. He emphasises the importance of prioritising oneself and taking care of personal health and well-being. Neil shares his own experiences and insights, highlighting the detrimental effects of neglecting self-care on both personal and professional aspects of life. He encourages listeners to schedule downtime, engage in physical activity, cook nutritious meals, and spend quality time with loved ones. Neil also emphasises the need to detach from negative influences such as media and politics for mental well-being. Ultimately, he emphasises that self-care is not selfish but rather a necessary foundation for success in business and life. KEY TAKEAWAYS Taking care of ourselves should be a top priority as tutors, teachers, or coaches. Neglecting our own health and well-being can have negative consequences for our business and relationships. It is essential to schedule downtime and allocate resources for self-care. This includes activities like exercising, spending time with loved ones, and enjoying personal hobbies. Avoid letting your business mission take over and encroach on your self-care time. Set boundaries and prioritise your own well-being. Cook your own food and prioritise healthy eating. Avoid fast food and make a shopping list of nutritious ingredients. Detach yourself from fear-mongering media and negative influences. Take care of your mental health by removing negative sources and focusing on the positive aspects of life. BEST MOMENTS "Making ourselves top of the list and the most important thing we must do every single day." "If you're messed up, how can you be good for your business or for your customers?" "If someone else is more important than you, you don't really have a life." "Whatever else is happening in your life and your business, there's one common component central to everything that you do. And that's you." "Looking after number one is the priority one. Everything else relies on it. Because everything begins with you." www.Neilcowmeadow.com [email protected] Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

Neil delves into his unique perspective on the renowned book "The 5AM Club" by Robin Sharma. Neil charmingly categorizes individuals as larks, night owls, or even daring vampires, all while emphasizing the significance of personal rhythms over rigid routines. He underscores that success thrives not solely in the crack of dawn, but in one's ability to shape their environment, concentrate deeply, and manage tasks and engagements. Neil warmly invites listeners to explore diverse approaches and exchange their stories. Ultimately, Neil offers a down-to-earth stance on tailoring the perfect formula for success within the realm of tutoring entrepreneurship. KEY TAKEAWAYS The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma promotes the idea of waking up early and following a structured morning routine before the rest of the world gets busy. While this approach may work for some, it is not the only morally correct way to start the day. It is important to work with your own natural predisposition towards being a morning lark, a late night owl, or somewhere in between. Whether you are a lark or a vampire (night owl), you can still achieve success by taking time for yourself, isolating yourself, and focusing on activities of high value when there are no distractions. The core truth of the 5am Club is not about the specific time you wake up, but rather about isolation, focus, and control. Having routines and systems in place to take care of business while nobody else is looking is what truly matters. The book may have a tacit attitude towards non-5am Club members, making it seem like there is something wrong with them. However, it is important to remember that everyone has their own natural rhythms and ways of working that can lead to success. Ultimately, it is up to each individual to find what works best for them and their own unique circumstances. Experimenting with different waking and working schedules, and finding a routine that allows for isolation, focus, and control, can lead to personal and professional growth. BEST MOMENTS "Getting up at 5AM and immediately running your same structured morning routine before the rest of the world gets busy and starts making demands on you will change your life." "These people are the larks and the wannabe larks. Those annoying gits who wake up early with a big smile on their face, ready to go and seize the day." "Maybe I should write the 3am Club. The nocturnal antidote to Robin Sharma's smug larkery." "Larks do get things done before the world's up. They're five miles down the road before the world has got its boots on. But the vampires, that's us, we work deep into the small hours when everybody else is lost in their dreams." "It's not the time of day you wake up that matters. It's your ability to isolate yourself, to focus and control your activities and your interactions. That's the 5am club's core truth." ABOUT THE HOST www.Neilcowmeadow.com [email protected] Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

People are by far the most complex conundrum for anyone to ever face. People are invariably the root of any problem that challenges and vexes us. Neil takes a look at the eternal walking mystery that is other people. KEY TAKEAWAYS Take away the humans from almost any situation and most of the problems go away. People bring problems, but our ability to help them is a possible rich opportunity. If you find yourself in the presence of a control freak, narcissist or gaslighter, do yourself a favour and extricate yourself promptly. There is no amount of money worth being made completely miserable by another toxic human being. BEST MOMENTS ‘People are without doubt the most complex, baffling, vile, beautiful, perfect, flawed, adorable, intriguing, savage, noble, mendacious and honest organisms in the cosmos.’ ‘Some people are not good opportunities. The person may be just an opportunity to spend time with someone you don’t like.’ ‘Don’t waste your life on a person who is a fixer-upper.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Almost everyone worries. From niggling concerns to full-on, sleep-crippling, progress-crushing hand-wringing, we are all sidetracked and stymied by possible disastrous outcomes that may happen or may not happen. Neil gives his take on worry and the futility of constantly considering future catastrophes and some alternatives to this drain on your time. KEY TAKEAWAYS If we are fixated on future events we rob ourselves of the joy of the present moment. Worrying is a habit that gains us nothing. While we are worrying, we cannot deal with current problems and make long-term plans. You may begin to expect things to go wrong. Worry solidifies the expectation of failure. BEST MOMENTS‘That dismal, catastrophic future burns all our time and energy that we have right now that we could be better using to create different future outcomes.’‘Very often the flip side of worrying is that we can become so over-awed by what we’ve worried into existence in our own mind that we become paralysed by it.’‘Write down your current assessment of the reality that you’re dealing with. Take a little time and write down your worst-case outcome, the very thing you’ve worried into existence.’ ‘Block some time in and mark it ‘worry hour’. If you know that you must sit and worry about a problem for an hour, or two hours or more, you’ll immediately get total clarity on whether that’s a good use of your time.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

Neil tackles the difficult decision of when to quit work and retire. This is often not only influenced by finances but also societal pressures, family, health and your own love for your job. He shares his thoughts on this landmark point in most of our lives. KEY TAKEAWAYS What we do is part of our identity. Retirement can be the start of a mental and physical decline. Work can provide an active brain and a sense of achievement. If we choose to continue to work we can continue to pass on our skills, insight and knowledge. Say no to golf!! BEST MOMENTS‘I believe there are significant downsides to retirement as envisaged by my parent’s generations.’‘The state pension system is bankrupt now and has been bankrupt for decades.’‘Over the working life that we all have we tend to accrue a vast body of knowledge, a wealth of insight and understanding. If we retire, all of that knowledge, insight and understanding is removed from circulation.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

The key question you should ask yourself is ‘What are the 100 stupid things that I’m doing that really muck things up?’ Neil encourages you to take the time to give real thought to the truth. KEY TAKEAWAYS Honesty is important to find your worst stupid things. Do not stop until you have at least 100. The counterpart question is ‘What are the 100 smart things that I’m not doing?’ BEST MOMENTS ‘I want you to charge at it!’ ‘This is going to be an uncomfortable process if you do it right.’ ‘Objectivity is tough because we all rationalise a lot of the stupid things we do.’ ‘Just trade one bad thing that you are doing for one good thing that you can start doing.” VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil explains the concept of scripts, the simple and powerful tool for defining all things that you would like to have and be, and that are particularly good when used by people with poor self-image, low motivation or lack of direction. KEY TAKEAWAYS A script should be properly written down and consistent and should be read aloud at least twice a day. We tend to manifest the things we say. Begin with the idea of anything you want to come true for yourself. Write in the present tense, ‘I am..’ to reinforce the statement. You will naturally in your actions begin to assume the virtue that you aspire to. Incorporate your goals and target date them. BEST MOMENTS‘I’ll ask them to read it aloud at least twice a day. First thing in the morning to prime the mind for the day. Almost like giving them a prod and saying, remember this? Then last thing at night is to program the unconscious mind for integration of those ideas whilst sleeping.’ ’How will you know you’re failing if there’s no parameter for success or failure?’‘Try it on yourself guys. Write yourself a script if you feel that you are lacking in purpose or if you fear making mistakes or you don’t really have your direction sorted out.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

Neil explains the absolute importance of sticking to your word especially when it comes to your work and the advantages you can gain if people know they can rely on you. KEY TAKEAWAYS Reliability is the foundation of everything a tutor does. If we have to make sacrifices to be reliable, so be it. Unreliability is a crippling reputation to have. BEST MOMENTS‘This got me thinking about reliability and the role it plays for us as tutors, teachers, coaches and all the other areas of our lives, both business and personal.’’We have to be completely reliable to be useful to our students. We have to be there for them, deliver our very best to them every single time we say we are going to be there.’‘Who is best for the student? A really great teacher who isn’t there, or an adequately good teacher who is there?’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

Most of us carry with us everywhere one of the most corrosive, divisive, wasteful and narcissistic forms of evil currently affecting modern society. Wherever you go, you have an electronic tag and listening device with you stealing your focus, time, energy and attention. Neil reminds us of how much better things could be if we cut the cord to the mobile phone. KEY TAKEAWAYS Despite laws to the contrary, people are addicted to their phones and still drive while using them. Social media is corrosive with little hits of positive dopamine which are not set in reality. The unity of the family is being eroded by the mobile phone. Give yourself, and others, time away from your mobile phone. The world will not collapse without your connection to it. BEST MOMENTS‘I had several near misses recently with distracted pedestrians. They’re wandering around in a dream world, they’ve got their earbuds in, watching videos or texting, not looking where they’re going..’‘It takes you away from real life. The face-to-face communication you engage with other people should matter more to you than your online audience.’‘I’m not saying the phone isn’t useful as a tool. What I am saying is that it’s a bloody problem when it becomes the dominant presence in somebody’s life.’‘Are you hooked on your phone? What’s it doing for you really?’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

Neil explains the need to test any new idea, method, acquisition or project to confirm its efficiency within your setup and to consistently keep abreast of your measurables. KEY TAKEAWAYS Change is the one true constant. Testing can help you eliminate less effective methods and replace them with more favourable ones. You cannot manage what you don’t measure. BEST MOMENTS ‘Looking at life in general I think that everything that you’re currently doing is only a trial. It’s an extended test of a behaviour.’ ‘Write a plan so you can catch up on your weak points, so you can reinforce and maximise your strengths.’ ‘Test everything! Have a bash at it and see how this testing mindset works for you.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil reveals his secret to ensuring the productive use of your time and resources every day. Before you settle in, however, grab yourself a pen and paper, because this is the equipment you will need to achieve a daily, focused, worthwhile effort in the running of your business. KEY TAKEAWAYS Every day needs a plan. A plan is nothing unless it is written down. If you follow a written plan you are less likely to be distracted. Prioritise your tasks in order of necessity if you think time is a problem. BEST MOMENTS‘As your attention is drawn onto the latest problem, crisis or bright shiny thing the chances of you achieving what you set out to do at the start of the day are massively diminished.’ ‘I’m a fan of paper because paper doesn’t crash. How many times have you lost data on your phone or tablet or some other device that’s just gone upside down and doesn’t work anymore.’‘It’s so much easier to get a list down on paper the night before so you literally just step into tomorrow.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com CONTACT [email protected] ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

Neil’s favourite acronym, False Evidence Appearing Real, fear is the focus of this episode. With two very different students fifty years apart in age suffering the same problem, Neil focuses on this very common and familiar block to progress with two different strategies to overcome the problem. KEY TAKEAWAYS You may need differing strategies for different students. By using the student’s personal interests and philosophies to communicate you can overcome their doubts more effectively. Be ready when you overcome fear for others to be envious. The nature of fear changes from person to person. BEST MOMENTS‘It’s fear of getting it wrong, fear of making a mistake and, ultimately, fear of even trying.’‘Figuring out who she is, I'm going to try to use her world view. The crystal pendant that she wears suggests to me very strongly that she’s what I call ‘spiritually interested.’‘The masses are invariably too afraid to take a shot at it. All they want to do is stay in their little comfort zones and as you and I both know, that’s where dreams go to die.’ ‘All we did was take what was there, the feeling in his stomach that he assumed was fear, gave him a different suggestion that worked a little bit better.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

Neil shares with you the RUSH model. RUSH stands for Ruthless, Unflinching, Self Honesty. This is his core philosophy for building a robust self-image and attitude towards any useful and worthwhile project, task or opportunity. KEY TAKEAWAYS Exercise an unflinching and dispassionate attitude towards oneself to attain a rational viewpoint of your position. Stay steady and forthright when meeting problems of your psyche. No one else can do this for you. Tell the truth to yourself and avoid self-delusion. BEST MOMENTS ‘Expect pain. Expect grief and expect to suffer. Be ruthless.’ ‘Get to know that shadow. Get to know that inner enemy so well then you can dance with that dark power and you can harness it and let it drive you away from your own dark side.’ ‘Nice doesn’t work on its own. Nice is an empty velvet glove, utterly limp and impotent without the iron fist that is its necessary counterpart.’ ‘Truth is simple. Truth is lazy. Truth is efficient. Truth is effective. Truth is eternal, it resists the assaults of time and the slander of fools.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

It may not be a completely good idea to forget, obfuscate or deny our failings on our journey to being an expert in our field. Although it seems like a good idea to only present the positive, Neil explains the advantages of being open and honest about our past failures and mistakes in the content of our teaching. KEY TAKEAWAYS Honesty builds a bridge between you and your students. Students will be more confident and hopeful to see you have overcome your past difficulties as they are currently. You will be making it clear that they are not the problem. Difficulties should be expected and overcome. BEST MOMENTS ‘If he told them that he hadn’t always been an expert they might somehow assume that he wasn’t an expert after all.’ ‘To my tiny and thoroughly addled mind, it makes absolute sense to share with my own students the sad, twisted story of my own appalling lack of talent, my own frustration and utter bewilderment.’ ‘Every day I remorselessly manipulate…er..sorry..influence them so that they can get out of their own way and get more of what they want in music and in life.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

How is it possible that in so many tutor’s experiences a student claims to forget everything they have learned as soon as they leave the teaching room? Neil shares his theories on this puzzling phenomena of instantly vanishing memory. KEY THEORIES Maybe the lesson hasn’t been embedded properly by the tutor. The student may be resistant to learning for their own reasons. There could be a conflict in the student’s beliefs and how they visualise themselves. Your teaching room and yourself have secret magical powers that imbue the student with knowledge which is then mystically removed when they leave. BEST MOMENTS ‘It’s possible that I've not made the ideas stick enough, that I haven’t put it in a form that is inescapable for them.’ ‘Students frequently tell you that they understand something when they don’t because they don’t want to look stupid. We need always to make them feel safe and know that if they don’t understand something it’s not because they’re stupid, it’s because they don’t understand it yet.’ ‘When they go home they start to argue with themselves about what they did and begin to dismiss it.’ ‘The language used will massively affect the perception of the experience that’s being coded and understood via that language.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

In light of the recent Ed Sheeran’s recent success in court defending himself against a spurious copyright claim, Neil takes a look at Intellectual Property and Copyright in the UK and how it applies to tutoring in terms of teaching tools and materials. KEY TAKEAWAYS Tutors get to add their flavour and slant to the materials they teach. These materials are a tangible asset to you and your business, your Intellectual Property. Copyright is an automatic legal basis that says that if you create it, it belongs to you. It is a good idea to put ‘Copyright of’ and your name and the year on all the materials that you produce for your teaching. Marking yourself as creator solidifies your image as an expert. BEST MOMENTS ‘Unless you’re content to just play through standard texts and, in my opinion, go through the motions you’ll doubtless be creating your own teaching materials; examples, explanations, diagrams, exercises, stories, music and so on.’ ‘Let’s say you write an explanation of a concept in your own words. And, hey presto, that particular form of words is yours and yours alone.’ ‘If they do (nick your stuff) you’ll have records and timestamps all over the metadata of anything that you’ve created on a computer.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil shares his evil genius with you in this episode explaining how, when you overturn your student’s expectations, difficulties and complexities so extensively that they sit there open-mouthed, it really makes your tutoring job worthwhile. KEY TAKEAWAYS Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. Peel away the complexity and present the core of an idea. Resistance exists when there is no clarity. BEST MOMENTS ‘Sometimes the things that are the most stripped back and simplified have the greatest impact and help the students to move past the limits that they thought they had.’ ‘I’ve actually been called an evil genius twice today by two students whilst sharing with them, in separate lessons, a simple idea that really allowed them to dominate the fretboard and produce cool-sounding improvised guitar solos.’ ‘They had incontrovertible proof that it was simple and doable. Oooh, evil me!’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil addresses the myth of getting rich quickly and explains the reality of getting rich slowly. He’s done the latter himself so he’s here to explain to you how. KEY TAKEAWAYS From today you could decide to become wealthy, whatever that means to you. Write down your target, think medium to long term, and remind yourself daily. Discipline and dedicate your efforts to achieving this, keeping up your effort and avoiding distractions. Shut out the doubters. Invest in yourself and educate yourself in the ways of money and finance. BEST MOMENTS ‘That really leaves us with getting rich slowly. Sounds sort of meh, doesn’t it? But here’s the thing, it’s possible.’ ‘Can you open your mind to possibility?’ ‘Invest any savings you may have in low-risk, high return tax efficient schemes to increase your tax flow.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

The people in your network, your friends, your family, your students and anyone who positively knows you, can not only be a social support but a business one too. Neil explains how people you know can recruit students for you with a little incentive. KEY TAKEAWAYS You can turn your friends into recruiters by providing your network with a reward for finding you students or allowing them to offer free lessons or other incentives on your behalf. You can use cash rewards, competition inclusion, free lessons, free merch, or anything else that has value for them. Word-of-mouth marketing is the very best kind of marketing there is. Make sure you capitalise on it. BEST MOMENTS ‘The idea is just to make your network enthusiastic recruiters for you.’ ‘I offer any recruiting student an incentive, either cash or free lesson time.’ ‘If you don’t like the idea of having too many students then don’t use this idea!’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil explains The Benefit Trap, the mistaken belief that you have to accept any idea that has any kind of benefit to it despite the amount it offers or its compatibility with your current methods. He urges you to raise the bar when you consider a method and think carefully if any idea is worth including in your tutoring tool kit. KEY TAKEAWAYS A technique that has some benefit may not have enough to justify using it. Consider what other tutors are doing and decide if what they are doing is helping them in their progress and if not, look for other methods that work for you. Challenge, enthral, disrupt and inspire your students by introducing them to all the ideas, methods, tricks, styles and shortcuts you have access to as a tutor. BEST MOMENTS ‘The Thinking Book is a safe place where I let my pen ramble through and around, in and out of whatever it is I’m interested in at that time, a huge journal on steroids if you like.’ ‘I share every single hack, cheat, shortcut, under-handed mind-bending reimagining of music that I possibly can with them and I stretch them. I have them playing what they wouldn’t normally listen to.’ ‘It’s got to be fun for them. It’s got to make it the high point of their week. It’s got to be something they cherish and they look forward to every single week of their busy lives.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

Neil expands on the concept of ‘The Work’ and how, rather than being a source of angst and torture, it can be the main source of fun and joy in your life. KEY TAKEAWAYS Neil is compelled to teach. It is his reason. Tutoring is an opportunity to spend time with people you love. The job is to help people to shine a light in their darkness. BEST MOMENTS ‘If someone else’s idea of a bad night is sitting in front of someone listening to them mangle a fairly simple piece of music that’s their opinion. I love it because I know I can get them to do it better.’ ‘Every day I’m hanging out with people I love. I’ve become very loyal to my tribe.’ ‘I want to honour the guitar. I want to share its beauty, its finesse, its brilliance, its intelligence and its history with as many people as I possibly can.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

What is the difference between tutors that are struggling to make ends meet and always working, ever popular, always booked tutors? Neil identifies the ‘special sauce’ that turns clients into raving fans whereas someone with the same technical skills can struggle to make a living. KEY TAKEAWAYS You are the selling point of your business. You are the unique offering. All your skills and experiences are not reproducible by anyone else. You can gather all the technical skills in the world but they are useless if you cannot communicate them. BEST MOMENTS ‘The difference is you. When you boil it all down what you deliver to your clients, your students are you.’ ‘You can be a very highly qualified specialist in your field, that isn’t going to count for very much for a tutor unless you can communicate that to your students.’ ‘Why would anyone in their right mind not be ‘all-in’ in this game?’ ‘Be absurdly optimistic, ridiculously generous, brilliantly clever, hysterically funny and deeply groovy.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil has come to realise there are 2 kinds of work. The first is bookkeeping, routine admin, scheduling lessons, lesson plans etc, the everyday routine work that is so regular that it does not require 100% focus. The second kind is ‘deep’ work, the most challenging, energising, absorbing and ‘time-distorting’ work. KEY TAKEAWAYS Deep work is characterised by a total focus on just the work at hand. Eliminate distractions. Deep work also requires solitude unless it involves collaboration. Schedule blocks of time for the activity, be it hours, days, weeks or months. Monitor your deep work. Choose a measurable result that can be easily tracked. BEST MOMENTS ‘This shallow work can be done pretty much while handling everything else, the phone ringing, the emails coming and going, the odd flash of seductive on-screen entertainment with lurid headlines and click-bait pictures.’ ‘Elimination of distractions! That means turn your phone off and put it somewhere else. Turn off your screen notifications. Get away from all those alluring non-subscription entertainment products like Reddit, YouTube, Twitter and so on.’ ‘Your deep work could be very different to mine and that’s totally cool. It just has to be the most important and demanding thing for you.’ ‘I’ve always said that all my problems come with hair on top. These days we are all expected to respond to emails, text messages, DM’s and PM’s and phone calls and the like in a very short time.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil explains the meaning and regular usage of his IDGAF muscle. As an entrepreneur and someone making things happen for yourself, you have to be willing to go against the grain of mainstream thinking. Listen in to find out what the ‘F’ stands for. No prizes though. KEY TAKEAWAYS 80% to 90% of people really dislike what they do for a living. Do not give a …. for what the world thinks. Use your IDGAF muscle to detach yourself from the ghastly groupthink. Remove yourself from the company of people whose actions and ideas hinder you. BEST MOMENTS ‘If you look around anywhere you will see that depression is now a massive problem.’ ‘It’s a basic human drive to try to fit in. We are tribal animals and ostracism and isolation from the tribe would have been life-threatening back in the day.’ ‘Are they helping or hurting you, the people around you? Are they improving your chance of success and happiness or diminishing it?’ ‘Maybe you just want to break your old patterns and your habits.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil introduces a few techniques to build rapport and increase the effectiveness of teaching to any student. If used well, they can be used to improve communication and ease, increasing your chances of making good progress with even a difficult client. KEY TAKEAWAYS The more like us we perceive a person to be the more we like them. The Neurolinguistic Programming Techniques of matching and mirroring can be employed to achieve this result. Matching is the replication of another’s body language and movements in order to gain rapport. However, be careful to not adopt this approach too early in case they think you are mocking them. Mirroring is a technique similar to matching, but using a direct reflective technique to create a mirror image of their movements. Match their language patterns. This can often happen naturally, as with the copying of accents or inflexions of speech, but also mimic the level of vocabulary. BEST MOMENTS ‘We are more able to influence them. As teachers, that’s what we do. This is why old sales manuals used to suggest that salespeople should be able to speak enthusiastically about almost anything the customer says.’ ‘As adults, we retain these unconscious ‘fitting in’ skills and we use them most with people we know and like.’ ‘Another language cue is the propensity to use colourful language. So if someone drops an F-bomb every sentence and you feel it’s appropriate, you drop one.’ ‘Take a look at their posture. Do they stand tall and straight or are they stooped over? If they’re sitting down, how do they sit?’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

There is the fear of failure and the fear of success. Neil examines both of these fears and how they can leave us stuck with his own story of encouraging success, how we jump through hoops to fool ourselves that doing nothing is a good strategy, and how we can fight the urge to take an apparently ‘safe’ route and defeat the fear. KEY TAKEAWAYS The actual task, goal or dream is in itself not scary, but the prospect of failure, ridicule and loss is. Fear of succeeding can be fear of responsibility and change. Doing nothing seems like a safe action, but is an active choice to cease to be in control. Write things down. This will help you process your ideas. Avoid distractions and examine your fears, the real possible disasters, and then all the benefits of trying and taking action, all the possible successes. When you look at the reasons for staying still and doing nothing, you will realise that most of them are ridiculous. BEST MOMENTS ‘Maybe we are afraid that if we fail, people will laugh at us and think we are a bit crazy.’ ‘Do you really want to be safe in your current position? I don’t think so. Inaction is actually an active strategy, you are choosing to do nothing.’ ‘Think of all the benefits and the upsides of trying and then succeeding and write them down.’ ‘Whether it’s fear of failure or fear of success, fear is the enemy. Action is the qkey.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil has been producing The Tutor Podcast for five full years, every Monday, every week, without fail through pandemics, and economic crises, as well as running three successful businesses. In this episode, he shares why, and what he has learned from the experience. KEY TAKEAWAYS Nearly everyone struggles with self-doubt and a fear of failure. People feel guilty about success and money. Educate yourself, invest in yourself. Spend money on training and learning. Creating the podcast has encouraged Neil’s hunger for information. BEST MOMENTS ‘I’ve learned that nothing’s wrong with me, apart from an irrational desire to help other people define their own way to their own kind of success.’ ‘The next thing I’ve learned is money and finance are still topics that need to be taught to kids.’ ‘To really understand something, the best thing you can do is teach it to someone else.’ ‘I no longer believe in writer's block.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

What are the motivations of successful coaches and teachers? What drives those people that keep plugging away at the job and never seem to lose enthusiasm or energy? Neil is one of those people and has been teaching guitar since 1999 and is still loving it. He reveals his reasons for never losing his love for his chosen career. KEY TAKEAWAYS Neil has an addictive personality and wants to turn it towards all aspects of his life and has found it is not about your achievement but the nature of your goals. It is not about the endpoint, it is the process that provides the drive. Hitting a goal can cause a depressive period due to the sudden drop in dopamine produced by the body. BEST MOMENTS ‘I’m sort of curious about why I still can’t wait to get in the teaching room every day to welcome my students, tune them up and start having fun.’ ‘The sort of friction that you have to overcome stimulates the chemicals in your body that push you forward.’ ‘So no endpoints for me. Milestones on the way but what I’m really looking to do is to play forever in a whole raft of endless games.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Change is the only constant in human life. Teaching is about changing students for the better and so tutors know more than most why change is so hard, and how and why we resist change. Neil explains how to break down that natural resistance and how to identify and remove a students limiting beliefs about themselves and what they are capable of. KEY TAKEAWAYS Talent generally is irrelevant in guitar teaching, secondary to skill and technique. Students will often provide reasons as to why they find it difficult to learn, progress or transform that are simply not true. Teachability is inverse in proportion to experience. It is up to you to deprogram your students of their limiting beliefs and bolster them with a new, dynamic and successful vision of themselves with the skills you teach them. BEST MOMENTS ‘Round about all that stuff there is also my little belief that talent is mostly irrelevant as what I teach every single day simulates the idea of talent so closely.’ ‘When you really listen to what students tell you they will tell you exactly how they see themselves.’ ‘I figure out how they think and how they look at it, and then I go in and royally mess it up for them. I’ll mess up their programming so much they can’t get it back.’ ‘People are funny things. They want to find a way to change and get what they always wanted, but then they find a way to beat it away from themselves.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

The one thing that can bring your plans to further your tutoring business to a crashing halt is illness. No one can avoid this eventuality completely, but looking after your health and fitness is one of the highest considerations for anyone looking to mitigate the risks of debilitation. You need a healthy body for a healthy mind, and Neil is here with his tips on how to keep ahead and energised so you can concentrate fully on your business. KEY TAKEAWAYS Unless you have an independent source of income or truly comprehensive health insurance you are at risk of loss if you find yourself unable to work. How healthy are you? Nearly half of the population of the UK regularly take prescription drugs. Avoid highly processed foods such as ready meals and snack foods. A low carbohydrate diet works for weight control and avoidance of type 2 diabetes. Try not to eat too much sugar in foods like sugary drinks and sweets. Don’t trust additives and artificial fats and sweeteners. Exercise and its plethora of options is beneficial. Find something you enjoy to supplement a good diet. BEST MOMENTS ‘You’re in trouble if you get sick. This was my wake up call when I had a big cycling accident in Spain and lost the tip of nine of my fingers and realised that if I couldn’t teach guitar I was in deep trouble.’ ‘Nobody is coming to the rescue. That means it’s on you. We have to take responsibility for our own health so that we can keep doing what we do.’ ‘There’s a lot of dubious stuff on the government dietary website. So my suggestion is you just eat fresh unprocessed foods.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Continuing with his examination of blind spots in business and life, Neil is here with a cautionary tale of an intervention by a friend to alter his trajectory when distracted and entranced by a bright shiny penny. KEY TAKEAWAYS This story is about the value of getting someone else’s eyes on your blind spots, as well as the seductive power of bright shiny pennies, those alluring distractions that catch your eye and lure you away from your true mission. When faced with the possibility of losing his guitar coaching business, Neil invested in training and learning about property investment. That’s when a new member of Neils’ Blind Spot Council (go back and listen to episode 255 if you haven’t already) offered some timely and sage insight. BEST MOMENTS ‘At that point, I realised I was just one accident or one illness away from being skint and in trouble if I was forced to stop teaching guitar which I had never really thought of before.’ ‘At a small table in the middle of the room sat my new mentor, Derek.’ ‘I think that anything that takes you away from the work you love, your teaching business, is not going to be worth it because you’ll end up resenting it for taking you away from your true love.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

In this episode, Neil is going to take a look at your blind spots in business. These are all the things you constantly miss, action incorrectly or are unaware of. The only problem is, you cannot see your blind spots so your only option is to call for an extra pair of eyes! KEY TAKEAWAYS Usually, our blind spots are completely obvious to the people around us. The outsiders’ view is vital. If you are not as influential, successful, healthy and wealthy as you want to be, you have to admit you don’t know everything. Put together a group of people, preferably with knowledge of you and your business, to take a look at what you do and how you operate to see if those extra eyes spot anything you have been missing. BEST MOMENTS ‘What are your blind spots? Well, chances are you don’t know, because you’re blind to them! The clues in the name.’ ‘Ask them the vital question, what am I missing? Ask them for their opinions. Don’t ask them for feedback as that can get a bit cringey in my opinion.’ ‘My imaginary fiends gave me answers that were every bit as useful to me as real world counsellors.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

In this episode, Neil deals with other people. Musicians are always looking for more information, more music to play, more riffs, more chords, more tunes, and more songs. There are a few problems that are encountered within a student’s constant search for knowledge and Neil has some sage advice on how to turn what looks like a potential difficulty into an advantage. KEY TAKEAWAYS Being able to play the piano does not qualify you as a guitar teacher even if you play the instrument. Technical knowledge is key. Books and magazines often provide inaccurate or out of date information. Online material can be great but unless you know the difference between the quality and rubbish it can be a lottery. As a tutor you will often be competing with other sources for prevalence. Embrace this. Other sources may bring you knowledge and if they are inadequate they will be exposed over time. You can collaborate with the other source if you can find a teacher that will do so or embellish the students extra learning with your own techniques. But don’t get huffy! BEST MOMENTS ‘I don’t think this is deliberate. I think this is genuinely well meaning people demonstrating that they have really poor technique and an unusual interpretation of reality.’ ‘It’s not unusual for a student to show up for a lesson with me having got the point last session then utterly confused themselves by watching a ton of contradictory youtube videos.’ ‘If little Jonny absolutely loves his other teacher, no matter how bad their teacher may be, if you slag that other teacher off you’re going to be the bad guy.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Mobile phones are divisive in that they offer us organisational convenience while simultaneously invading our private time and information. Neil gives his opinion on this constant helpful interloper into our existence and what we can do to fight its more unhelpful influences. KEY TAKEAWAYS The dichotomy is that we run our lives via mobile phone tech but also suspect that it tracks your every move and that calls and messages are recorded and analysed by people that don’t have our best interests at heart. It is prudent to bear in mind when handling your sensitive data that mobile phones allow unscrupulous tech companies to track and data scrape your private information. Phones constantly interrupt you with demands for attention. They can be a corrupting influence on your time management, relationships and safety. Turn your phone off when tutoring. To do otherwise suggests a lack of care and respect for your student. BEST MOMENTS ‘I’m by no means a Luddite, by no means a tech-fearing tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorist. Like you, I use my mobile phone most days.’ ‘Frankly, I think it’s a mistake and I think we’d be wise to manage our relationship with the phone very, very carefully.’ ‘Turn the phone off. What a radical idea that is! That’s actually too hard for most people to do!’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil explains the theory of Content Teaching and Principle Teaching, and the difference and advantages of the two compared or combined. KEY TAKEAWAYS Principal teachers teach why. Content teachers teach by fact, writing and method. The ‘why’ without the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ is as pointless as the ‘what’ without the ‘why’. The only solution is to be both kinds and present both. BEST MOMENTS ‘(Content Teaching is) Good old fashioned monkey-see, monkey-do rote learning. It’s extremely limited in scope and the pathways to developing the player and the student.’ ‘(Principle Teaching) For me this is the dry, abstract, theory side of music. It’s the way music was rammed down our throats in school when I didn’t take it as an option even though I love music.’ ‘We’ve got to be both. Good teaching is an elegant and dynamic dance between those two extremes.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

New Year is looming. What does that mean to you? Are you hoping for change? Well, Neil is here to remind you that nothing is going to change unless you do. KEY TAKEAWAYS Whatever it is you’re going to do, try not to start with a New Year's resolution. The vast majority of those are broken, and you want to make permanent positive change. The biggest failure point of New Year’s resolutions is the indefinite nature of goal setting. They are too vague. Set clear measurable markers and surround yourself with people who will hold you to account, support you and help you along your way. BEST MOMENTS ‘Because change is fairly a one-shot and then done affair. More often it’s a process of constant reinforcement of the desired behaviour and the monitoring of results.’ ‘For many people, there’s no process. They’ll set the goal without any awareness of what they actually need to do to get there.’ ‘For me, if something isn’t written down it doesn’t exist. That’s why business transactions are conducted on paper.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Treat yourself! Get yourself a time travel device for Christmas. The single most valuable asset you have is time. You can always make more money and more friends but you can never make or buy more time. Time to plan! KEY TAKEAWAYS Just do it now! Take a few days off to think and plan. Execute the plan and measure the results. Your life will change! You will change because the planning, vision and diligence needed to execute the plan will alter your character and your focus. Take a look 15 years into your future and see if you like what you see. BEST MOMENTS ‘From the second you came into the world the clock began to tick and later on it seems to tick faster and the days get shorter and then the clock starts to chime! Isn’t that a cheery thought?’ ‘People like that seem to glide through life, overcome challenges and they’ve got a certain energy and charisma. They command respect.’ ‘Write it all down. Be precise and specific. Now you’ve got a long-range vision of a possible future you’ve designed for yourself to live in.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil calls his teaching environment ‘The Vortex’ where he loses track of time, days disappear in what seems minutes and he never gets thirsty or hungry. Neil explains the theory behind this altered state of perception. KEY TAKEAWAYS People are happiest when they are in a state of ‘flow’ defined as a state of concentration and complete absorption with the situation or activity at hand. It is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation where it becomes its own reward. BEST MOMENTS ‘With this total intensity you’d maybe expect there’d be some kind of stress but it’s the exact opposite.’ ‘It’s a loss almost of the self into the activity. Musicians often describe this as being in the zone, in the pocket or in the groove.’ ‘For the vast majority of almost everyone else out there, you’ll sound like a bloody nut job when you talk about what work feels like for you.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

One of the aspects of tutoring students is having to manage the young ones’ parents as well. Part of being a parent can be to be nosey and interfering, but Neil has some ways to make the natural parental concern and control less intrusive. KEY TAKEAWAYS All parents are going to be different but they all have one thing in common, they are all doing the best they can for their children. Giving the parents a direct line of sight allows them to stay out of view of their child but keep an eye on you as a tutor. There cannot be anything hidden or concealed. Encourage mum or dad to address their questions to you at the end of the session or in a separate communication. BEST MOMENTS ‘I provide them with a nice comfy seat in the hallway or a hard wooden folding seat in the teaching room, for those that absolutely must sit in on juniors lessons.’ ‘Experience tells me that not many kids want their parents to watch them while they make mistakes.’ ‘Helicopter mums hovering on the kids’ shoulder can just stifle them. I’ve seen it over and over again.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

As Neil sees it, the vast majority of people are lost. They’re caught up in the make believe world of state controlled news that leaves them terrified, dissatisfied, fearful and powerless, lost in the media circus of petty celebrity, tabloid news and social media. With so much attention given by the vast majority to the trivial and the inane, how many of us can claim to actually be paying attention to our own lives? KEY TAKEAWAYS If your eyes are not on your own life, goals and future, then your present probably isn’t how you’d like it to be. Pay attention. Keep an eye on your own business, your own health and your own relationships. Ask yourself how much you’re earning and how you can earn more. BEST MOMENTS ‘As I wander through the world I am absolutely fascinated by the people I see and I’m struck by the distractedness of their lives, by the things they actually squander their attention on.’ ‘Ask yourself, how did I do today? Was I exceptional? Did I serve my tribe? Was there anything today I could have done better?’ ‘Eliminate as much TV, YouTube and social media as you can. This will liberate vast swathes of time and energy that you can use to improve your life, your business, your health and your fortune.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast www.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT METHOD [email protected]

Neil diligently battles through his fly to bring you this episode on diligence! As he defines it, it’s the ongoing execution of right action in the pursuit of worthy goals. Describing how to stay around the straight and narrow, Neil explains the advantages of being diligent about timescale and your attention and to be sure that what you are aiming for is worth your efforts. KEY TAKEAWAYS A lot of us are good beginners, and lousy finishers. Nothing beats the excitement of a new project. Worthy goals have to have value and be worth the effort. They should also be a vehicle for your own self expression, else you’ll reach a goal that means nothing to you. Set the time aside and never let anything take the spot. If we increase the frequency of our tasks it becomes more efficient. BEST MOMENTS‘Before anything else, I must confess, I’m actually pretty crap at this. I love the excitement of new stuff and I don’t much care for the mundane, routine things in life.’ ‘The trick is to keep taking the next step. You’ll know soon enough if you’re on the right path as each step reveals the next.’‘I know what my goals are. I’ve identified the goals that are worthy of my time and my effort. The teaching is to spread the love affair with the guitar. That’s worth my time.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]

We all have one. Yeah, you do! It’s the stupid idiot part of us that keeps on doing stupid things even when we know for sure it isn’t going to help us move forward, stay in shape, maintain our relationships and do better business and make more money. Neil is going to help you kick out that inner moron. KEY TAKEAWAYS The little inner voice that tells you deserve a Mars bar because you’ve been to the gym. Wrong. Refocus on what works. Never let your inner moron run you. Just stop, pause, take a breath, and take the choice that truly benefits you. BEST MOMENTS‘Your reward for going to the gym is to be a little fitter, a little bit stronger and a little bit better than you were.’‘This where the rubber meets the road and you either battle your inner moron or you surrender to it.’‘It will lie to you. It will bully and flatter you. It will coerce, control and manipulate you but you cannot let it win.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.com ABOUT THE HOSTNeil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS! CONTACT [email protected]