The Tutor Podcast

When trying to challenge students' ideas of their own identity, or even one's own, there are 3 parts to this easily applied psychological method to make your efforts flow much more easily. KEY TAKEAWAYS Absolutely ; find what the student believes is absolutely true for them. For example ‘I’m tone deaf’ or ‘I have no rhythm’. Always ; find something the student believes they are good at, but haven’t always been good at. Use this to identify change and improvement. For example ‘I used to be bad at guitar playing, but I’m much better now.’ Sometimes ; find one moment where they have been good at what they think they are bad at, and remove the absolute nature of their belief. BEST MOMENTS‘Today a mature student told me that they used to sing all the time when they were little, but stopped when they were seven after the school music teacher told them that their voice was awful’ ‘Those beliefs are actually temporary over the long term. They’re changeable. I think our job as teachers is to change the buggers.’ ‘I have taken their identity of being capable and able from one context and grafted it into the guitar lesson.’ 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]

These are the two elements that being a successful teacher really hinges on, but which has the greatest affect on the student, imparting skills and knowledge or the ability to change their belief systems? KEY TAKEAWAYS Your communication skills are your ability to present, demonstrate and explain practical skills in a way the student can understand. Ultimately the imparting of skills will lead nowhere unless you can change the students belief in themselves. Belief drives everything. A negative belief will prevent the student from using any of the skills you could impart to them. Unless they believe themselves to be a musician, they will not play. BEST MOMENTS ‘Since I’m a guitar teacher I’ll spend lots of time building the students foundational skills and their technical base using the music they love, moving from a very simplified, paired down version and adding layers of complexity and nuance as we go.’ ‘People will stay true to who they believe themselves to be, for better or for worse.’ ‘Without changing their beliefs, you and I are going to struggle to help them to get what they want because what they want to do most is confirm their beliefs.’ 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]

Pacing and Leading is a concept within Neuro Linguistic Programming, or NLP, which is applied linguistics and psychology to alter or set patterns of human behaviour. Pacing and Leading is a great way to gain rapport and trust with students and allows you to take an unmotivated, stressed out student and move them to a more positive position. Neil tells you how. KEY TAKEAWAYS Pacing is where you move yourself into the same state that the student is in. Connect with them as they currently are to gain rapport. You may need to observe closely adopting posture, breathing, movement and language. When you are matched you can then move yourself into a more positive state. If you make small subtle changes and see if they follow, you can influence them into a more positive position. This method allows not only learning but can give the normally challenged student a positive experience that they will want to repeat. BEST MOMENTS ‘You can think of it as falling into step alongside someone, a friend perhaps, while you’re walking down the road. It just makes everything easier if you’re walking in step.’ ‘When I’ve got a depressed or a sad student I’ll move into their world and then bring them back into mine so they are uplifted and empowered and capable of learning.’ ‘As with any skill, use this for the benefit of your students and your clients’ 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 leads you through how to identify the right price to charge for your tutoring sessions and what factors to consider and ignore when reaching your decision. Pricing matters, but maybe not in the way you think. KEY TAKEAWAYS It is not greedy to charge as much as people are willing to pay for what you do, its just sensible. People don’t pay just for your actions but for your knowledge and experience. If you reduce your price too much, people will assume you are of low quality and avoid you. Discounts often result in difficulty when the rate reverts to normal. It may result in constant price renegotiation. BEST MOMENTS ‘If you’re charging £20 an hour and people would gladly pay £30 for what you do, doesn’t it make sense to give them the opportunity to give you that higher rate?’ ‘A big part of your fee will be due to trust. Trust that the customer has in you.’ ‘If your customer demographic is affluent, you should charge what they expect.’ ‘Having delivered all my technical stuff they still want to come and spend time with 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]

Many people think they are not creative, devoid of inspiration or don’t have the required skill or natural makeup to even improvise. Neil disagrees and believes that all of us are creative to a greater or lesser extent and it is a skill that must be practiced to be developed. He explains how he encourages and teaches his students to move beyond their own narrow definitions of themselves. KEY TAKEAWAYS Everyone is creative at whatever age and whatever background. There is a natural drive in every human that seeks expression. Give your students a safe place to express and just allow it to happen. Don’t judge it or allow your students to judge themselves. Give them technique and then encourage them to disrupt it to create something new. Creativity is often discouraged by mainstream education so it is up to individual tutors to fan that creative spark back into life. BEST MOMENTS ‘You don’t learn much from what you already know and what you’ve proved to work, that’s a done deal. It’s when you make errors, when you try stuff out, that’s when you create something new.’ ‘Make them curious. Get them to ask the correct questions of themselves.’ ‘There is no place for creativity in a great deal of the mainstream education system because that’s all about passing exams. It’s about compliance and conformity.’ 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 Great Escape’ or ‘The Great Retreat’ as a preventative measure for those who get swamped, overwhelmed or over absorbed in their business or work. Here is Neil’s method of getting back to the big picture, the long view, and strategic planning if you get caught up in the nitty-gritty, everyday grind of your business.KEY TAKEAWAYS We tend to miss small details, trends and shifts in the marketplace, miss openings and opportunities. Make regular time for your strategic planning. Take more than one day out from the business to properly consider it from a distance and see what you may have been missing. Disconnect from the daily tasks of the business to take real time to consider its direction and forward planning. BEST MOMENTS‘We can end up neglecting the long view and this is absolutely normal because we’re working ‘in the business’, we’re not working ‘on the business.’’‘I need to disconnect from the day to day running of the business. So I deliberately don’t do email. I also don't phone, I leave it at home.’ ‘The big thing is to be away from my teaching work completely. And that means no scheduling, no admin, no taking calls..nothing.’VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.comABOUT 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]

A ‘brand’ is a product, service, business or even person that is easily identified and widely known. But what is it that makes a brand and how do you become one? Neil takes a look at how you can get started on the road to being well known for the services that you offer.KEY TAKEAWAYS A brand is not simply a logo or a slogan. These are all just signifiers, signposts for the potential customer to follow. A strong and unified idea of what the business or product is about is the brand. If you can provoke an emotional response people will behave irrationally when purchasing products and services, allowing you to charge more. You need to be known for something positive and then make every one aware of it in exactly the same way. Be consistent in what you offer, be the same person, if possible even in dress and behaviour. BEST MOMENTS‘The brand isn’t the logo. That’s just a signifier. It’s a distinctive symbol designed to capture attention.’‘It’s the widely held belief that the particular business or product is actually doing something special, perhaps even magical.’‘To me ‘rock god’, ‘guitar hero’, I mean, how’s that for elevation of an ordinary person to a very high status? How’s that for pushing that high perceived value?’‘Where I am, everybody knows Neil Cowmeadow because there are big banners on the fence outside of my house, with the stupid name on it! Cowmeadow! Its just daft, everybody knows Neil the guitar guy.’ VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.comABOUT 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]

If you are in business for yourself your are in a significant minority with currently only 13.7% of working people self employed, the lowest since 2011. There is a lot of peer pressure to get a job and be miserable. However, Neil urges you to carry on with your own business and keep your time and happiness under your own control.KEY TAKEAWAYS Avoid the ‘loser speak’ because that’s what you are going to hear a lot of and you are going to hear it from the majority of the people around you. Don’t take career advice from unhappy, unfulfilled, underpaid people. Some people will resent you in your freedom and success. BEST MOMENTS‘If you’re busy, they’ll tell you not to work so hard. They’ll tell you that you need to chill out. And I hate that term.’‘Because we’ve chosen to leave the safety of the herd, break rank and separate ourselves from who we used to be, believe me, it changes you.’‘Nobody else can live our life for us.’VALUABLE RESOURCESThe Tutor Podcastwww.Neilcowmeadow.comABOUT 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]

If you are listening in the UK this episode may trigger some of your British reticence. This ones all about negotiation and selling, so steel yourself to have the nerve to ask for what you are worth. Neil explains how good sales is actually providing a service that people really want and negotiation is just the pathway to it. KEY TAKEAWAYS Sales is often seen as a shameful occupation dedicated to persuading people to buy things we don’t need in Britain. Negotiation is often perceived as adversarial and unpleasant. It is actually about leading the customer to the correct decision so they can get what they want while satisfying your requirements as a seller. Understand that the customer is trading something of lower value for them for something of higher value. Once the intention to buy has been agreed upon then negotiation is just the details of the means of delivery. BEST MOMENTS ‘We don’t big ourselves up. We don’t stand with our heads held high and proud. It’s really not the British way, is it? But if there’s one thing that we’re brilliant at here in Britain, it’s misunderstanding the ideas of sales and to a certain extent negotiation.’ ‘Then enable them to exchange something that’s of low value to them, money, for something that is of enormous value for them ; understanding, technical skill, accelerated learning and time compression.’ ‘I’m offering them, for an amount of money, a pathway to become who they most want to be.’ ‘If you sell properly, ethically and effectively you’ll probably have a lot less negotiation to do when you present your prospective student or client to the solution they’ve always wanted.’ 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 talks about wealth, what it is and what it ain’t. Different people have different concepts of what it is to be wealthy, so what do they mean when we talk about wealth? KEY TAKEAWAYS Money is just a small component of the whole ‘wealth ecosystem’. Friends and people you love are part of a rich experience of the world. Time is your most precious and your most finite resource. BEST MOMENTS ‘Money is important. You can’t ignore it.’ ‘I believe if you have just one pound more than you need, you are actually pretty wealthy.’ ‘I think it's primarily a three way balancing act and every single one of us will have to find their own unique balance point.’ 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 easiest person to lie to is you. We tell ourselves reassuring stories of how great we are and how we are productive and doing our best while binge watching the latest Netflix drama. Neil gives his tips on how to avoid long bouts of indolence and denial and keep asking the right questions of yourself. KEY TAKEAWAYS We can all distort reality to reassure ourselves we are progressing. It is not easy to be real about how things are, constantly. Ask yourself some serious questions. How am I doing in my business? Really? REALLY? Where am I going with things as they currently are? What’s your trajectory? Is it profitable? Is it sustainable? What are the opportunities I have not noticed? What are my risks and pitfalls? And what is the cost of action and inaction? BEST MOMENTS ‘Where we can happily delude ourselves that everything’s peachy or everything is crap. That we’re right or that we’re wrong, that things are going up or down, or any other point on the continuum.’ ‘As I’m writing this and then recording it I’m also running these questions back and forth in my own mind.’ ‘I’ll try new things. If they work better than what I was currently doing then I’ll implement that as a policy. Test. Test.Test.’ 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 a guitar tutor patience is not only a virtue but a necessity. After being asked by his students how he never loses his temper, Neil shares his tips on managing your emotions in this episode. KEY TAKEAWAYS Recognise that you are having an emotional reaction and identify it. If you can’t recognise it, you can’t manage it. What you call the emotion will affect your response to the emotion you’re experiencing. Rename it and interpret it positively. Pause and reach for your next technique to overcome the situation. BEST MOMENTS ‘Just like you, I have to manage frustration and impatience because if it gets out of control I might respond badly.’ ‘Emotions never rest, they’re always moving this way, that way,’ ‘I think this is why I’ve become such a fan of Neurolinguistic Programming, applied psychology, behaviour and linguistics and some of the techniques of hypnosis.’ 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 really interesting things you get to do when you are exposed to lots of people socially or via business is choose between the plethora of opportunities that come your way if you listen and connect with people. The possibilities are endless for business, pleasure or helping people if you keep your ears open and see the collaborations possible between those in your community. KEY TAKEAWAYS Problems, puzzles and challenges can be solved if you listen carefully. People share their challenges and you can ask yourself, is there opportunity for me, them, or how can I help? If you cannot help them yourself, ask yourself, who do I know that can help? Think ; be useful. By helping people you will find opportunities to come to you. BEST MOMENTS ‘Where is the way to make things better? How do I make things better?’ ‘I wound up believing that life is like walking through a field strewn with diamonds.’ ‘As tutors we have a network of contacts, students, parents, and all their associates, so who can we help? All we have to do is listen and be prepared to play. Maybe we can join the dots that they can’t see.’ 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]

Teaching, coaching and mentoring people is about change. We are constantly shaping and changing their minds. Neil shares how he helps his students grow by bypassing their habitual psychological defences to teach new habits and techniques. KEY TAKEAWAYS The teaching process is fairly consistent, it's about shaping and changing people's minds for the better. The students' sense of identity will embody all sorts of beliefs including morals, self worth and level of talent. It is the teachers job to slip past these defences and re-teach the students an idea of their limits. Pre held misconceptions of, for example, coming from a musical family and believing they must follow suit, perhaps ideas of their lack of talent or they have been playing for years, making little progress, and believe the task impossible. Having students read an affirmative statement that is the opposite of their preconceived idea of their shortcomings. BEST MOMENTS ‘Before a student or a client can effectively absorb and use the information we are trying to put across to them the mind has to be ready to receive it.’ ‘Where the mind goes the body follows.’ ‘That will massively affect the outcome because the student, the client, is gonna try and make those words come true.’ 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 talks about how working in the occupation you love and gaining energy from is difficult to relinquish. In fact, should we really retire at all if we gain so much impetus from a job that we love? KEY TAKEAWAYS We are all at our best when we are useful to other people. The work itself is the reward if you enjoy your job. Why give that up? Don’t let society, or anyone else, talk you into doing less than your best work and especially not into giving it all up. BEST MOMENTS ‘Now that he’s retiring he doesn’t feel useful anymore and it's eating him up inside. I totally get it.’ ‘Is retirement a good thing? Let's suppose that after years of work, challenge and growth, achieved mastery of your craft, you’re at the top of your game and it's still tremendously fun for you. Why would anyone want to stop when you’ve finally got it down like that?’ ‘Given that the vast majority of people hate their jobs, and they’re not having much fun, why would anybody in their right mind take tips like that from unhappy people?’ 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]

Following on from the last episode of the importance of alternative income streams to support you doing the job you love, Neil explains the options available to you with the BEEP model, your four choices when deciding on the types of extra business you want to adopt. KEY TAKEAWAYS Business/commercial activity (with or without your active involvement.) Earn it through an extra job or tuition fees. Equity. Own assets that increase in value which can be extracted. Passive Investment including dividends or managed property rental income. BEST MOMENTS ‘A single income stream is a big problem. It’s vulnerable, it’s not safe, it’s not secure.’ ‘If you want more money you’ve got to work more hours and you don’t actually set the hourly rate. It’s difficult to negotiate a good increase in your salary or arrange yourself a good bonus.’ ‘Passive 'really for me means hands-off. This income you really don’t have to physically work for.’ 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]

Teaching, tutoring and coaching may be the thing you love primarily, but being in business for yourself can often open your eyes to more business opportunities that come your way. Neil talks about the dangers of the bright, shiny project that can pull you away from your first love, tutoring but also how having more than a single business can free you to enjoy what you find the most fun. KEY TAKEAWAYS Choose businesses that are fun for you or offer a hands off model. A second business is about decreasing risk and increasing stability. Joint venture with others especially if they have complimentary skills or resources Be careful when you choose your venture that it does not rob resources, time and energy from the pastime that you love.. BEST MOMENTS ‘Don’t get me wrong I think we should all have a second business or a third or a fourth, just as a source of income.’ ‘It could potentially make you more useful to the people around you in all sorts of capacities.’ ‘Then ask yourself, what would I have to give up in order to pursue this new idea?’ ‘What are the opportunities that are lying all around you? One of them could be exactly what you need.’ 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]

Summer Term is coming to an end and students are providing holiday dates. Neil thinks holidays are overrated. If you enjoy your job, why would you need one? KEY TAKEAWAYS Don’t do stuff that makes you unhappy. Like golf. Others don’t understand the drive of the entrepreneur and their single mindedness. Keep your eyes open.Continue to look for opportunities in your down time. BEST MOMENTS ‘I think holidays are just, for a lot of people, an escape from a life you don’t actually like that much. But what if you, like me, love your work and you hate being away from it?’ ‘As entrepreneurs, as business people, we are different to people who have a job in the straight world. We are entrepreneurs and not everyone is gonna get it.’ ‘Can you recharge yourself? Can you come back stronger, recuperate. Can you reinvent yourself and with the same resources come up with something better than you're currently 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]

In this episode Neil addresses the biggest problem affecting you in your tutoring business, time. It is something we all wish we had more of and so Neil has a few tips and rules to stick to when deciding how to use this precious resource. KEY TAKEAWAYS You could be using your time upgrading your skills, creating systems that make your use of time even more efficient or investing it in people you actually like. What could you build, buy or acquire that will pay you without much effort from you? Property, music, online tutorials, written pieces all have steady onward returns once acquired or created. Investments such as these free you up to to do the job that you enjoy. BEST MOMENTS ‘How you us it could be anything. You could waste it on negative or unproductive activities and things like TV and hangovers and doing things that make you unhappy or spending time with people you don’t really like that much.’ ‘The first thing that springs to mind for me is intellectual property. These are things like books, courses, music, systems.’ ‘I love being useful. I love helping my students, my clients and even my tenants do better for 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]

Neil presents to you The Encyclopaedia of Applied Fantasticness, the tome containing all the positive and inspiring notes, reviews and information provided by his students over the years. If you don’t have one yourself, Neil tells you why you should be starting one immediately. KEY TAKEAWAYS Your own collection of positivity provided by your students can be a book you can return to when you feel you need a boost and reminding of all the good work you’ve done. Neil stashes all his thank you cards, notes, quotes from his students in the The Encyclopaedia of Applied Fantasticness. In our negative world, good memories disappear first, so preserve them. BEST MOMENTS ‘Last week I talked about The Locard Principle and if you didn’t hear it you’re very naughty. Go and stand on the naughty step and don’t come down until I tell you to.’ ‘If you’re in the teaching business I hope you have such a book. If you don’t have one yet I hope to convince you that its well worth your time.’ ‘Even after the rainy days have passed you’ll have wonderful memories of the members of your tribe and you’ll be able to keep them forever. The memories of lives that you have helped to change for the better.’ 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 recently discovered a textbook on forensics and was reminded of Edmond Locard who created the first crime lab. He presented the theory, The Locard Principle, that every criminal brings something to a crime scene and also leaves with something and both of these can be utilised in forensic detection. Equally, every contact between tutor and student will also leave a trace of the exchange, as Neil details. KEY TAKEAWAYS Locard invented the principle of every contact leaves a trace, or, with contact between two items there will be an exchange. A constant stream of exchanged information flows between student and tutor. Gather evidence at the end of your day. What did you learn? What did you teach? What feedback did you get? With each detail you can improve. BEST MOMENTS “Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, even unconsciously, will serve as a silent witness against him.” - Paul Kirk ‘Every student teaches us to be better in the same way that we would teach them to learn and grow and to become better themselves.’ ‘Ask yourself what worked today and what didn’t. What can I do more of?’ 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]

Everyone running a business has an obligation to keep up to date records of their finances to satisfy tax law. However, not everyone has accounting or record keeping skills or are organised enough to keep on top of the task. Neil explains the basics of what is required for you to be able to rest assured that you are covering all the legal bases. KEY TAKEAWAYS Please don’t ignore these requirements as ignorance is no defence against the tax man. Consider your business as separate from yourself. Business money and personal money should be kept apart. Keep basic records as you go. Keep it simple, just a monthly A4 page or spreadsheet. BEST MOMENTS ‘Johnny tax man is armed to the teeth and can make your life hell if you ever get on the wrong side of him.’ ‘The first thing I want you to do is open a separate bank account that’s just for your tutoring money. If you’re a sole trader you can use a simple personal bank account for free and there are some free business banks out there.’ ‘Once a year I will also add an extra entry on to the cash sheet which is the HMRC yearly allowance for home use.’ 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 first step in becoming an expert in any field is to read up on it yet in modern times fewer people seem to consider this as essential. Neil explains why you are what you read. KEY TAKEAWAYS By seeing the books that people are reading you can roughly predict how peoples 5 year future is going to pan out. A constant reading regimen or habit can catapult you in to expertise in any field you choose to be interested in. What you read not only informs your knowledge but also your personality and world view. BEST MOMENTS ‘Out of curiosity I asked him whose ideas resonated most with him, who his rock start philosopher would be. His answer absolutely floored me. “I’ve never read anything about philosophy.”’ ‘Let’s say you read a book a week plus another one a week when you’re on holiday. So you go on holiday for a fortnight so that’s two extra, 54 books a year. If you read 54 books on anything you’re going to be pretty clued up about it.’ ‘Show me your library and I’ll show you your future.’ 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 loves a list. The highly organised usually have several ‘to-do’ lists on the go at once, but in this episode Neil shows you his ‘not-to-do’ list. KEY TAKEAWAYS DON’T do anything that makes you unhappy. DON’T deal with t*s*@rs. DON’T pursue projects or work that conflict with the core values of fun, honesty, usefulness and success in your own terms. DON’T waste too much time on adventurous frivolity. BEST MOMENTS ‘As many of you know from previous episodes, I’m a big fan of lists and putting things in writing.’ ‘Avoid getting sucked into glittery, potentially lucrative property projects, refurbishments of time demanding strategies that will prevent me from teaching guitar.’ ‘So if you find yourself doing something that actually isn’t your idea of fun, walk away.’ 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 tackles the hot topic of the moment, the dreaded inflation. It is the true enemy of savings and the economy in general, but is it all bad? KEY TAKEAWAYS Inflation is the rate of increase in prices over a given period of time. Often referred to as the ‘cost of living’. Vast quantities of currency being dumped into the economy by our Government helped create inflation. If you have your savings in an account with interest that does not surpass the inflation level, your savings, in real buying terms, will be decreasing in value. The value of any debt you have will be halved and if that debt is financing income producing assets such as rental income you are reasonably protected from inflation. BEST MOMENTS ‘Generally speaking, governments and central banks aim to control inflation, but they’re often the greatest causes of it. For example, when the supply of money outpaces economic growth.’ ‘Inflation is bad news for savers, and the higher the rebate of inflation the worse it is. This leads to glib little phrases like ‘cash is trash’’ ‘So as an investor and a business person I like inflation, as a private individual I dislike it a great deal.’ 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 talks about teaching mature students in this episode. Many of Neils students are fully grown adults of three kinds, absolute novices, lifelong players and people that used to play but quit in order to pursue other priorities. What problems do they present and how can you overcome them? KEY TAKEAWAYS The non players may think it’s all talent, but its all about skill and work at the end of the day. They present with no learnt bad habits. Current players appear frustrated and stuck on a plateau. Old techniques are holding them back. It usually relates to the fundamentals of technique. Former players usually approach you as an expert that can provide their teenage dream. They have engrained feelings of failure and frustration but they enter into the student role believing that things are possible. BEST MOMENTS ‘Each one of these groups has their own special set of problems and I see my job is to get them past their problem, their blockage and it really all boils down to how they think and what they believe.’ ‘So they end up struggling with self doubt and they ask themselves ‘is this as good as I’m gonna get? Is this a far as I can go?’ Or ‘What am I missing?’’ ‘I can usually read them so well they think I’m psychic. It’s taken decades of study, a lot of money and a lot of time invested in building that skill base.’ 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 explains the value of time. How do we value, use and sell our time in our teaching and coaching businesses? KEY TAKEAWAYS You are never going to have enough time to do everything you want. Choose tasks that have the highest value to you to make your time count. If you are spending too much time working in your business, you may not be spending enough time working on your business. Make investments that can make money for you in the background with little or no intervention from you. BEST MOMENTS ‘Its very interesting to nip back and have a look at what I was thinking four years ago to what I’m thinking now.’ ‘Working in the business is face to face with your customers, with your students. Working on your business is figuring out how to make more money out of what you do in less time.’ ‘Anything that you can hire out consider adding that to your business.’ 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]

Time Boxing is a simple and useful time management technique that Neil utilises to keep his tutoring business running chaos free. With this method you will not waste time, and subsequently, money. KEY TAKEAWAYS Use paper so you can see it all in front of you without having to open software or be distracted by social media alerts. In your diary spaces have two columns, one for notes and the other half hour increments with three columns ; Plan A, B and C. Plan A is the game plan for the day. For each allocated time and task, draw a horizontal line in that section. Include meals and breaks. Plan B is the backup plans when plan A’s aren’t possible and are blocked by circumstance. Plan C column, usually blank due to plan A and B failing being remote, is for this eventuality. Have start and end times for activities and as you use the method more often you will become more knowledgable in how long tasks take and this diary is there to be referred to as a record of your time use. BEST MOMENTS ‘Paper is the real deal. It will always tell you the truth and will always be straight and honest with you.’ ‘I do this at the start of every weekend as part of my week ahead preview and also have a look at it at the end of every day.’ ‘Let’s say, my plan is to get up and cycle to the gym do the workout and come home. But I get up and we’ve had a snowfall overnight. Maybe my bikes got a technical problem or something unexpected comes up that prevents plan A from happening. So, maybe plan B is to drive to the gym.’ ‘The whole point is to always have start and end times for your activities. Now I find that his focuses you terribly well and it always has a properly thought through, ahead of time , automatic go to plan just in case.’ 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 talks about the value of routine when built into the function of you and your business. What sort of routines are beneficial to your business in standardising your methods and improving your mindset day to day? Consistency is key. KEY TAKEAWAYS A routine is something that you perform the same way every time you action a task. Once established they become habit and can come in the form of written, formalised instructions to staff on official operating procedure. They can be checklists to be completed for things such as signup or new tenancy agreements. Schedule the day ahead before it starts. Be prepared ahead of time to give the right impression and make the best of your time. From the first greeting to saying goodbye at the end of the session, having a routine with your client can give a good, professional impression and put them at ease. If you standardise your language you can also effectively communicate. Make a habit of asking your client if they got what they needed from your session. Routine feedback keeps them and you on track. Keep relevant notes so that next session you know where you left off and the improvement can continue with as little time wasted on recaps as possible. Back office routines are important in day to day operation. Accounting and record keeping kept to routine can stop those tasks piling up. Regular marketing will keep the clients rolling in. Make self improvement routine. Self development keeps you ahead of the curve. BEST MOMENTS ‘They’re actually your yardstick for the standard of performance that you’ve are going to accept from the people you employ and from yourself.’ ‘I honestly ask myself “how did I do today? Was I the sort of person I wanted to be today?”’ ‘Your language is a big chunk of how your going to communicate with your clients. Make sure it’s appropriate. Make sure it’s interesting. Make sure it’s correct.’ ‘Stupid people wish they knew what the answer was but the clever people ask the question.’ 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]

Don’t wing it! Think long term, and think big. Neil talks about how thinking 5, 10, or 15 years ahead with your plan can result in better long term results and how a solid overview can bring clarity to an otherwise muddled and random business. KEY TAKEAWAYS Consider a strategy in terms of how lucrative and engaging it can be over years rather than in the short term. Try to think a few moves ahead with your business and anticipate rather than react. Weigh up the long term effects of your actions and the costs of short term decisions. BEST MOMENTS ‘Big picture thinking and the long run is really the ability to look beyond today, to 3, 5, 10 or more years down the line, as though you are looking down from a high point perhaps onto everything that you are doing in that future reality.’ ‘I showed him my epic budgeted business plan which pretty accurately modelled the first ten years of the property journey along with my guitar teaching business.’ ‘My old boss told me this and I thought it was a crock. Not listening to his advice back then cost me at least ten years of progress based on that singular insight.’ 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]

A simple idea. If what you are currently doing is not producing the results you want, change it. Disrupt it. Trying another method has got to be better than continuing with a system that does not work. Disruption makes good sense. Break the pattern. KEY TAKEAWAYS Instead of asking “how do I succeed?” ask “how do I screw up?” Chances are your already doing some of these things. Identify the things you need to change. Your present normal is just an ongoing trial. If the trial isn’t working, trial something else. Observe the people around you. Around 85% of people are unhappy in their jobs. Their normal isn’t working, don’t do those things. BEST MOMENTS ‘It’s a great idea. On many levels it’s a great, great idea to disrupt yourself, to muck things about, bugger yourself up a bit, especially if your everyday normal isn’t working for you.’ ‘What would I need to do to ensure I was unsuccessful in my business? What would I need to do to guarantee I was a failure in my health? What would I need to do to guarantee I never accumulate wealth? What would I need to do to remain frustrated in my creative endeavours?’ ‘If the TV washes you everyday in depressing bad news and fear soaked propaganda, wouldn’t it make sense to eliminate the TV from your 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]

Neil details his teaching method to keep his students engaged, entertained and inspired. Borrowed from a method found in Christopher McDougall's 2009 best-selling book, "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.", Neil has adapted it to his own guitar teaching and added in his own ingredient that guarantees a return student ; fun. KEY TAKEAWAYS Easy. Use simple ideas, shapes and forms that regenerate and repeat themselves. Keep things familiar and comfortable and eschew complexity for accessibility and ease. Light. Minimise physical effort. Position and comfort is key. Understand biomechanically correct technique. Smooth. Use a natural, soft style to lead towards a subtle mellifluous sound. Fast. After initial stages of easy routines learned to an automatic level the student will be able to achieve more speed. Fun. The underpinning of all of this. Use jokes and playfulness. Be relaxed, informal, encouraging and supportive. Use language that is fun. ‘Have a play around’ instead of ‘Go and practice’. BEST MOMENTS ‘The idea originated with McDougall’s running coach, a guy called Eric Orton. He got Chris running a 50 mile trail race in spite of his busted up legs and a string of running injuries.’ ‘Cause if it ain’t fun the student won’t want to do it and I’ll get fed up with teaching it because I get fed up with doing anything that isn’t fun. There are better ways to spend my time and better ways for them to spend their time. Is that true or is it just true?’ ‘You end up with sore fingers as well. The whole ‘playing ‘til your fingers bleed’ is just moronic. It’s a cliché propagated by idiots and drongos.’ ‘However heinous an error, a misunderstanding actually is, I will try and figure out how it’s a good thing. If they make a mistake, they’ve just figured out a cool way to not do something.’ 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 discusses the self doubt that plagues us with a special episode created for his friend, a retired science teacher, the best teacher during his time as a school guitar tutor. As great a teacher as she is she still struggles to believe in herself as a private tutor. There is one lesson Neil teaches that can quieten the doubts and make tutoring a comfortable place to be, DDWT. KEY TAKEAWAYS Part of the job you have when you are running your own business is making sure that you only work with the right people. Invariably an undesirable will remove themselves from you by just their own nature. When asked to follow rules, instructions or consequences, they walk. Fire your worst customers. There is no amount of money that’s worth being that miserable for. BEST MOMENTS ‘Her inner voice says nasty things to her. Like “people wont like you”, “nobody will want you”, “no one will need you”, “they’ll say your too expensive, that you’re not worth the money”, “they’ll bugger you about and they won’t show up for lessons and that’s because you’re not good enough.”’ ‘As you know I boil this down to a rule, DDWT, which stands for ‘DON’T DEAL WITH TOSSERS’. And the tossers always self select themselves off the schedule.’ ‘You take someone who makes you miserable and you replace them with someone who makes you feel fantastic. And you get payed more money for it.’ 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 traditional sport training model, one that can be applied to a number of teaching applications including Neil’s guitar tutoring business. SAID is an acronym for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand and can be used by you in your teaching, mentoring or leadership role. KEY TAKEAWAYS If you are not conscious of how you train you will get any old result. The body and mind will only produce the most suitable changes in response to a given stimulus. If a student is convinced the training will be difficult, it will be. When learning guitar students tend to use force but they can be trained to play gently and precisely. Explain the desired outcome, how it will affect them, and the mechanism and techniques you will use to create it. BEST MOMENTS ‘If you teach anything which demands core skills, or if you’re a coach I think this is a very useful idea to drop into your mental melting pot.’ ‘Almost nobody in over 23 years teaching guitar now, nobody really trained to be gentle, smooth, elegant or precise.’ ‘It’s wise to assume nobody has the basics. I’ve never met anybody in 23 years teaching who has.’ 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]

Hi, it’s Neil Cowmeadow here EPISODE 210 of The Tutor Podcast, the weekly show that’s all about how to Start, Grow and Love your tutoring business... whilst staying sane and having fun in the process. In today’s Episode 210 - Free Introduction Sessions Specifically, how I do it now (not how I used to) and the reasons why I think this is the sanest and best business way of finding the right students for you. First up – I’m a guitar teacher: 23 years in and loving it! Who else can say that? How do I do it? Two rules: Don’t do stuff that makes you unhappy - DDSS Don’t deal with tossers – DDWT Simple. DDSS takes care of itself: figure out what you love to do what you’d do for nothing because it is so much fun (teaching guitar) figure out how to get well paid for doing it spend as much time as you like doing that thing. You’ll never do a day’s work again! Your enthusiasm rubs off on your students DDWT is another story: Initially you’ll work with anyone – just check for a pulse! Before long the tosssers will begin to grate on your nerves. Fire them. That’s the hard way, and most people start that way. Now I do this instead: When taking the sales call or answering an email enquiry I invite them to come for a free half-hour one-to-one I can find out what they want Can I honestly hep them? Do I want to work with this person? Do they want to work with me – am I a tosser in their view? Whatever happens, this is being done for the best reasons: if they are not our tribe we can steer them towards another person who would be a better fit for them. I try to solve their biggest problem right there and then, for free. (usually bar chords and awful biomechanics – go hand in hand) Why do I do this? Because I can give massive, life-changing benefit on day one, for free! If I only do that – get over a 34 year obstacle in 2 minutes, like I did today (chuck Berry Bounce with Matt, who’s played in bands since he was a teenager but couldn’t do this thing) they’ll automatically assume that if I can give THAT secret away, for free and with NO OBLIGATION I must have a ton of other great stuff, because what i’ve just done is clearly the tip of the iceberg. I ask them if it helped – they say yes, more than anything they’ve ever done – and (if I want to work with them, I’ll ask them if they’d like to work with me. Of course – having just had a decades-old problem fixed in a few minutes – they are desperate to work with me – I’m clearly a screaming genius!!! They will then gush enthusiastically to their friends about this miraculous teacher and what I did in a free session. What would happen if I’d held back and not given them a free consultation and the gift of what they want most? Maybe I’m salesy Don’t display expertise and generosity They wouldn’t leave in a better state than they came in Maybe I’d be so-so...? I didn’t Wow! them What would happen if I didn’t eliminate the undesirables at an early stage?? I might have to spend time with unpleasant people That might ruin my day Might undermine the joy of teaching for me They might be stuck with someone who doesn’t get them Potentially problematic relationship for a long time So that’s how I do it, and why I do it. I think it’s completely ethical, honest, generous and the very best way to turn a prospective student into a screaming fan and an enthusiastic advocate of my business. I can’t think of a better way to do a free intro consultation - How about you – got any ideas to throw into the mix? I’d love to hear from you, because I’m here to learn, too. Just send them to [email protected] And Remember to subscribe to The Tutor Podcast and get all the updates and more tips to help you to Start, Grow and Love Your Tutoring Business. And you can find me on Twitter where I am @tutorpodcast So, until next time – Have a Fabulous Day!

What do you say when someone asks “What do you do?”. It is time to have your Elevator Pitch ready. Employ an interesting, detailed, and productive reply that truly shows what you do for your clients and what, potentially, you could also do for them. Neil explains how and why. KEY TAKEAWAYS Plan and rehearse your speech so you can use it off the cuff in conversation when your occupation is enquired after. It is much more than just ‘I’m an accountant”, and should be an approximately 30 second advertisement of you, your business, and the skills that you offer. A perfected Elevator Pitch will give you confidence in social and business situations as you can be assured of a positive response. There will be no further questions as you will have been comprehensive in your response and you could possibly have gained a potential client. Develop, enhance and evolve your Elevator Pitch. If part or all of it falls flat, don’t be afraid to rewrite or tweak it until it is perfect. BEST MOMENTS ‘I think Elevator Pitch is a pretty good name. An elevator is a lift in the states and a pitch is a sales presentation that attempts to interest someone.’ ‘It should be crafted, tested and revised. It’s an iterative process.’ ‘Well. Officially I’m a guitar teacher but what I really do is hang out with my friends and play guitar all day, infecting them with my love affair for the guitar and helping them to learn quickly and make music of their own, using a unique back engineered teaching system to bypass boring old fashioned music teaching and do what really works right from the get-go. But best of all, I make it fun and part of that is I’ll only ever work with people I like.’ 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 recalls an experience when a seemingly impossible task was suggested to him, with apparently very little chance of success. Having said yes anyway, a surprising unforeseen resulted in a few life lessons learned, and Neil recounts them in this episode. KEY TAKEAWAYS It is important to say ‘yes’ and then to say ‘it’s possible’. Never discard an opportunity. Children all have the initial spark of creativity before they have it removed from them. Make the lessons fun and they will be successful. Even if time is an issue, get the basics in place first. Have a firm faith in your students and they will develop faith in you. BEST MOMENTS ‘Is she playing acoustic, electric or bass guitar? ‘She wants to play ukulele’ says the voice down the phone.’ ‘It’s a completely unreasonable request. It’s crazy. In fact you couldn’t make this up. So naturally I said yes.’ ‘They’d given her one of the highest musical aptitude scores they’d ever awarded. Wow. I knew she’d be ok but that top score was a total surprise.’ 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]

Write a book! Neil has written two, one on time management, ‘Elephant Sandwiches’ and the other on guitarists, ‘9 Weird Things Guitarists Do’ (both available on Amazon). Being a published author showcases your expertise in your field and can be fine marketing tools but how should we go about achieving this? Neil shares his advice on how to create your first written work. KEY TAKEAWAYS Set aside a good amount of time, a minimum of three slots a week at fixed days and times. It is a matter of discipline to show up and do the work. Plan your writing. Think about what you are most eager to share. Define your audience. Create yourself an avatar, an imaginary representative of your target audience for you to ‘speak’ to in your writing. Outline the book. Define style and length. How many chapters, titles and in what order? Plan with pen and paper and mentally dump all your ideas for each chapter. BEST MOMENTS ‘Always write in the same place in the house. I have two offices. I have my business office, where the teaching company and the property business operate out of, and then there’s my writing office, my little nook.’ ‘The aim for me was to help other people get past themselves to solve the problems that I used to have.’ ‘Where are they? How much world experience do they have from their position in the world? Then think about their goals. What do they want out of it?’ ‘I’ll outline the chapter titles. I’ll put the chapter title at the start of a page and then I’ll mentally dump all the points I can think for that chapter title.’ ‘And seriously guys do this on paper, don’t do it on your PC. Generally speaking the PC is too slow. If you want to write a book on your phone good luck with that. I can’t. I write on the PC but I outline and plan 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]

Neil details how we communicate with our students can help us to gain their trust and confidence. Using his training in Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, Neil identifies the mode of expression his students use and matches it, increasing not only the speed and efficiency of learning, but his likability as a tutor and mentor. KEY TAKEAWAYS In Neils experience as a tutor, NLP has been an invaluable tool in communicating with his students and improving his interactions generally. By observing how people are expressing themselves you can gain insight into the ways that they think. People often use phrases such as “I can’t see it, that doesn’t look right” or, “It doesn’t sound right”. These identify them either as a visual language user or a auditory language user. Others may be smell based or sensory, someone who “feels”. By matching your language to theirs, using visual imagery for instance for a visual language user, you can improve your relationship and influence with your student. BEST MOMENTS ‘When I began to listen more acutely to what they were saying, it gave me a window into the way they thought.’ ‘Conversation used to be me waiting for my turn to speak, but as NLP got into my system I started to really listen to what people were saying. ‘ ‘There are just an odd few people who are what I call “taste mongers”. These are generally known as olfactory or gustatory sensation streams, or language types. They’re all about taste and smell.’ 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]

Many of us have a very unhealthy and self abusive relationship with the concept and acceptance of failure. Neil discusses why it matters to tutors and business people and how, instead of using it as a mark to your detriment, you should try seeing it as a learning step and opportunity. KEY TAKEAWAYS Remember, failure is an interim state unless your response to it is to give up. Encourage failures to your students as the necessary steps towards success. We are often taught from an early age that we should avoid failure no matter what. However this can just be a block to learning that can eventually prevent us from acquiring the skills and knowledge to achieve success. BEST MOMENTS ‘I work with lots of students and mentees who are terrified of failure so they hold back, either never try or half arse it and kid themselves. Imagine showing up for a guitar lesson and being so afraid of failure that you cant even play any note.’ ‘Just about everyone who has ever done anything to better mankind failed before they succeeded. Lots of their efforts didn’t work , so they paused, reviewed what went wrong and what went right, then got on to develop another approach.’ ‘Remember, by avoiding the risk of failure you are also avoiding the risk of success.’ 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 nature of money and your attitude towards it can be complex and difficult and can affect all areas of your life. Neil shares his own ideas and beliefs about money which have allowed him to achieve success in his own field as a guitar tutor, and will also assist you in your endeavours by understanding moneys nature and its place in your life. KEY TAKEAWAYS Money is a tool. It’s a construct for storing value and a neutral social convention. Gold used to be the social equivalent of its value in gold held by the countries and institutions that press or print it. This hasn’t been the case since 1931. With money, skills and services that would never fit into a barter system can be given value. Your beliefs about money directly affect how you acquire it. Distrust of money will stunt your efforts to gather it. Be aware that your attitude towards money may have been manipulated by outdated religious ideas spread to pass your money to them and has resulted in the concept of money as evil. If you are wealthy you then have the freedom to express your inner self unfettered by lack of funds. BEST MOMENTS ‘Moneys not good, its not bad, its just a tool. Like a blade you can use it to harvest food or slice people up into little pieces.’ ‘Because it’s not actually backed by anything, money is not worth a damn thing. It’s made up and agreed upon and that’s fine as long as everyone agrees…’ ‘I’m struggling at the moment to imagine carrying enough teaching to the bakery to go and buy some bread.’ ‘What I now know is that people who tell you that money isn’t important don’t have any.’ ‘Don’t take money advice from poor people.’ 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 tackles the thorny issue of pricing. The issue of how you set your price is often tied into how you actually feel about your product and can be the biggest clue to your client about the level of quality they can expect. Neil details the possible results of high, medium and low pricing. KEY TAKEAWAYS Your price you charge will tie very closely to your sense of self worth. If you feel that your product or service is high quality you will charge a high price accordingly. If you believe you are average you will be uncomfortable charging a high rate so will set your price medium range. If you feel you are low quality you will struggle to charge anything above low wage levels. It is very common to undervalue our skills because we find it easy but ease does not mean easy. You will attract custom that does not value the service you are offering and thus will be a poor student. BEST MOMENTS ‘Person one believes they are worth top dollar. Person two believes they are okayish, average and then there’s the person who believes they are not that great. Three different belief systems that will give you very different results.’ ‘That higher pricing gives them automatically a higher perceived value in the eyes of the customer. It also gives them more status.’ ‘If they an get you to argue about your rates they’ll get you to argue about everything else.’ 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 talks about saying no. Sometimes we have to say no for the betterment of our mental health and to guard our wealth but often saying no can be difficult and socially awkward. How and when should we say no to save ourselves from taking on tasks which disadvantage our resources? KEY TAKEAWAYS We can say yes to the wrong thing, job or person and quickly get out of our depth. We must get good at saying no and not replying yes by default. Pause when presented with an opportunity or request. Look a few years ahead and see if it will affect your real goals. Will it eat up your time or money? Will it require you to compromise your standards or ideals? Bluntness is the clearest way of communicating but you can be careful with your refusal to save hurting feelings. You can always point them in them in the direction of someone who can help. BEST MOMENTS ‘Saying no to people can make us feel uncomfortable. We are perhaps afraid we might hurt their feelings or we might say not to a “bright shiny penny” of an idea that looks great but might just leave us in the wrong place.’ ‘Perhaps a better tack is “not yet” or “not now”. You could say “that’s not really what I do so I’m out of the game on this one”.’ ‘There are always loads of ways to say no. Be creative. Be courageous.’ 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 200th episode Neil tackles the problem of facing up to uncomfortable truths. What must we do to face up to identify what is good and bad for us, about us and move forward with a more honest viewpoint of ourselves? KEY TAKEAWAYS Recognise the habits and routines that are not taking you where you want to go and change them. We always want to justify to ourselves our damaging habits but concentrate on not telling lies to yourself. Be courageous with yourself consistently with brutal honesty. BEST MOMENTS ‘Coach said that if my aim was to be ripped and lean I should go to my kitchen and remove everything that wasn’t going to help me to be lean and strong.’ ‘I had to recalibrate everything based on a harsh reality.’ ‘It conceals the truth behind a smokescreen and that’s a recipe for disaster.’ 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]

Research suggests that 80% of New Years resolutions are broken by the end of January. Neil has suggestions about how you can direct your good intentions more fruitfully by detailing what he’s going to be doing at this turning of the year. KEY TAKEAWAYS New Years resolutions are a daft idea because they’re a one-off that fails for most people. How about a daily resolution. Do something every day that propels you forward, benefits your business or increases your success. Your finances are a result of your actions throughout a whole year not just one day. BEST MOMENTS ‘Joggers will be all over the place for a week or two’ ‘What if you had 365 New Years Days and you just rolled the start of your year forward one day at a time.’ ‘I love hearing from you guys because I’m here to learn from you too.’ 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 talks all things Christmas and what it means to him from his spiritual take to what he will be doing over the holiday. KEY TAKEAWAYS Why is Christmas the one time of the year where you break away from your normal way of being and demonstrate good will to all men? Neil is going to be in the mountains this Christmas, walking and riding and surrounding himself with nature. He needs to keep himself occupied when not teaching. Spend Christmas looking forward at your finances and any changes you can make for the future in your business and your personal life, your health and your family. BEST MOMENTS ‘I’m not going to rant about it.” ‘It’s important to step back and take care of your principle tool, your body.’ ‘My family is he reason I do what I do. My big family ; my students and my blood family ; my son, my brothers, cousins, nephews, nieces.’ 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 covers accounting for expenses and all the not so obvious in and out costs of the business that can affect your profitability and your tax liability. He details the tax allowances you are entitled to and what you should be asking your accountant about. KEY TAKEAWAYS If you are using a vehicle for your business you are entitled to claim a mileage allowance for use of that vehicle. Keep a daily record of your mileage. If you take any training courses, uniform or mobile communication keep receipts and claim it back. Remember to include depreciation of assets. As your assets devalue, you may claim that back that as an expense. BEST MOMENTS ‘I keep a single A4 sheet across all my business and they just have a single column each from which I can extract the data.’ ‘Parking for business is essential. Claim it back.’ ‘These are things that aren’t tangible. This is where your accountant should be doing some work 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]

This week, Neil explains how crucial it is to keep accurate regular accounts of your sales. In the second of this three part series of episodes detailing his method of accounting, Neil shares his tips on how to accurately record your daily sales into an easy referable format to streamline you and your accountants overview of your business and not fall foul of the taxman. KEY TAKEAWAYS Do not second guess the taxman! Don’t assume what they will and won’t want to see especially when recording cash transactions. This will protect your peace of mind in the future. Keep a simple record sheet of everything you’ve sold during each day by all transaction methods ; cash, cards or transfer. Use this to cross reference against your banks statements. Keep your personal finances and business completely separate from each other. Bank cash promptly. BEST MOMENTS ‘31st of January is your deadline. Get everything lined up, get it sorted. You won’t want to do it after Christmas’ ‘If you’ve got clear records of how you’ve been impacted you can obtain grants.’ ‘Like they said in Ghostbusters ; “Don’t cross the streams! It could be bad.”’ 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]

This week, Neil explains how crucial it is to keep accurate accounts of your purchases. In the first of this three part series of episodes detailing his method of accounting, Neil shares his tips on how to easily and accurately store and record all your purchase invoices for easy reference. KEY TAKEAWAYS Every unaccounted for purchase means you are voluntarily going to pay more tax. Use an easy software package like QuickFile to electronically record your purchases. Write the software generated code for each entry directly onto the hard copy of your purchase invoice for easy cross reference. BEST MOMENTS ‘Get your ducks in a row so you don’t fall foul of Jonny tax man.’ ‘My purchase invoices are easy to find.These can add up to hundreds of pounds every year.’ ‘HMRC love sloppy business owners.” 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]