The Tutor Podcast

Whilst England may officially be out of Lockdown 2.0, it doesn’t mean that all can return to normal as England is still operating on a 3 Tier system depending on the R rate in your local area. To avoid breaking the rules in your local area, and to allow you to return to face-to-face tutoring in a safe manner Neil discusses the different tier systems and what this means for you and your tutoring business. Key Takeaways England will return to a system of three tiers from 2 December, with differences in what is permitted or prohibited across these tiers, and some elements which are common to all three. Wales and Scotland are subject to regional rules. According to the Incorporated Society Of Musicians face-to-face private tuition can proceed in all tiers. For tutors there are some common elements in all tiers, however, there are some small variations for those people who are working in different tiers. In all tiers in England, everyone must wear face coverings in an indoor public setting, meet others safely and essentially, wash hands and maintain a 2-meter distance. Should you find yourself living in a Tier 1 area, private music tuition can take place in the teacher’s and pupil’s home subject to appropriate risk assessments. You can find an excellent, free return to work checklist at safetyculture.com and it is recommended you complete it, print it and keep it safe, just in case you’re asked to justify yourself. Tutors who live and work in a Tier 2 area are able to continue private music tuition in either the tutors or the students home subject to appropriate risk assessments. It has not been made clear if there will be any further restrictions for education taking place out of school settings. For those in Tier 3, Businesses and venues can remain open, in a COVID secure manner, other than those which remain closed by law, such as nightclubs. Tutoring businesses are not on the closure list and therefore it has been interpreted that private teaching can take place in the teacher’s and pupil’s home subject to appropriate risk assessments. It’s unclear whether there will be any subsequent restrictions in the guidance for out of schools settings or other relevant information. Schools are open in tier 3 and music teaching can continue, so peripatetic teachers can move between schools. Best Moments “Lockdown 2.0 is over, so we’re having the death-grip on our freedoms and livelihoods relaxed a fraction” “I’m determined not to be downhearted by the restrictions and indignities being imposed on us all I can at least control my thoughts and my responses the last human freedom” “ I’m looking forward to getting back in the room with the members of my tribe who either cannot or will not receive their guitar lessons online.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Do you want to gain clarity on your past, present and future, understand exactly how you’re going to achieve your goals and have the ability to walk through your very own business timeline? In today’s episode of The Tutor Podcast, Neil shares with you an NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) mind exercise that will help you visualise your future, make better and more informed decisions and gift you with the position of perspective from both outside of time and inside of time. Contact Neil ([email protected]) KEY TAKEAWAYS Start by visualising your life from an outsider’s perspective. Aim to be like an onlooker of your own life and ask yourself how is it for you? This position is the view from OUTSIDE OF TIME. From this position, you can look on and imagine future events and changes in your life. The Outside of Time position is dispassionate and gives you a good overview of your business in the future and view the people you’ll need, operational changes and financial levels that will be necessary to achieve what you want from your business. NLP Exercise Find a space where you can imagine your future timeline. Go and stand off to one side of your imagined timeline – this is you OUTSIDE OF TIME. Stand about halfway along it and visualise 7 or 8 years to your left, The Past, visualise 7 or 8 years in the future to your right and visualise the present in front of you. Now imagine what happens in those 15 years and notice what you might want to have in place over the course of those years. Write all of your goals down on index cards, post-its or pages from a note pad, and place them on your timeline at around about where you think they should be.” You’re now standing alongside the imaginary line of time, OUTSIDE OF TIME, looking at what you want to achieve, now it’s time to move – to shift your perspective and to go INSIDE OF TIME – and check a few things out. When you are INSIDE OF TIME you move position and stand in your present. Start to move along the timeline, slowly, until you reach your first index card - pick up the card, read it and put it back in place, making a note of its position or placing a marker next to it. If it’s wrong, move the card, then return to the today position and check how it feels. If there’s something missing, write a new card and insert it, do another round of check & move. If you don’t actually want that thing, eliminate it. Completing this process will give you clarity on your timeline and enable you to check your estimations and assessments of what you’re looking to achieve. BEST MOMENTS“When you’re done, you’ll have a powerful and compelling vision of the next decade or more for your business and for yourself, outside of business.”“This position is the view from OUTSIDE OF TIME. From this position, you can look on and imagine future events and changes in your life.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Are you using the art of leverage in your mentoring, coaching or tutoring business to get more done in less time? In this episode of The Tutor Podcast, Neil shares with you benefits of leverage in your business to do more of what you most love to do and earn more money. Listen in to discover how to systemise your business, optimise your time, build up a network of contacts and use other peoples knowledge to get what you want. Contact Neil ([email protected]) KEY TAKEAWAYS Leverage is very important to growing and scaling your business but as entrepreneurs, there is a belief that ‘nobody can do it better than I can’. As teachers there are limited hours to teach so we must leverage our time, people, money, systems, knowledge and contacts. All of these can work for you with very little input, once set up and optimised. It’s never too early to start using leverage. Time: You can leverage your time more efficiently by setting a daily routine for yourself and listing out what tasks you want to get done by the end of the day and then set actions to complete those tasks. Aim to stay accountable for your time and get the best use out of it. People: Ask yourself who can I get to do this? Build a team of experts around you that will charge less than you do for teaching. Build up a network of contacts that you can leverage to get all of your tasks done so that you can remain focused on what you’re best at, teaching. Systems: Defined as a streamlined way of completing a task so that you can continue to grow your business in a reputable manner. Systems will make you fast and help you check the boxes off your daily routine and improve your teaching. Set up good and consistent systems for your business with a manual so that you can then farm out managing the systems for even more leverage. Knowledge: Who knows what you want to know? Use other peoples knowledge as well as your own to get what you want. Seek out a mentor, teach or coach to help minimise your competence to excellence by leaning on others inspired thinking. BEST MOMENTS “Decide to do what only you can and farm out everything else and only focus on the vital few things that you love to do.” “50% of something is better than 100% of nothing” “Figure out what it is that only you can do, what you’re unique at doing” “Farm out everything that you don’t what to do” “The first time you set up your systems will be the worst time you set up your systems” “What devices can you use to make you better at what you do” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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 will the new lockdown restrictions affect your tutoring business? In today’s episode, Neil shares his advice on how you can adapt and scale your business, continue to serve your tribe online and how you can set and achieve new goals both for your personal development and your business during the lockdown. Listen in and learn and why it’s important to stay positive, why you need to remain a leader to your students and how you and your business can thrive under new restrictions. Contact Neil ([email protected]) KEY TAKEAWAYS Use the new lockdown to set yourself a goal. Consider your accounts, out of date admin and if you’re learning anything moving forward? Set yourself an income goal, a health goal and everything to keep your business going and your mind active. This is a good time to think strategically about your business, how you will adapt and change and how to can diversify your business in order to reach 6-streams of income to reduce any risk. How can you continue to serve your tribe during the lockdown? Serve your tribe, contact your students and ensure you’re continuing to teach online, on social media and over the phone. This is also a good opportunity to ask for referrals, market and expand your tribe. Remember you can’t change what happens, but you can change how you respond. More than ever, it’s down to you and me to take action on our own behalf – nobody is coming to the rescue, so it’s down to us. We are responsible, meaning “able to respond”. This is your chance to LEAD and to SHINE, to be a reliable & positive influence in the lives of your students, clients and mentees. BEST MOMENTS “You can do NOTHING about the draconian legislation itself – but you DO get to choose how you respond to it.” “Work on all those projects that you haven’t had time for” “You should aim to have six streams of income in your business” “Get yourself more organised and figure out how you can do things better” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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 are you perceived by your students and in your marketplace? Listen in as Neil shares his tips on how to figure out how you are positioned and how you can align your view with your students. Discover why consistency is key to success, how to position yourself as an authority in your field and how to identify your lane and stay in it. Contact Neil ([email protected]) KEY TAKEAWAYS Be true to yourself. Integrity is honesty and it will give your students a sense of certainty. What is it you do that makes you special, different and authority in your chosen field? Ask yourself, why you want to be a tutor? Ask your students and get feedback from them. Ensure their perception of you is aligned with the tutor you are. Look at what creates the perception of your teaching. Consider your environment, the lighting, your accolades and the tidiness of your teaching room. Everything says something about you and impact on the impression student will have on you. Nothing says more about you than how you deal with time. Be on time and be professional. Being unprepared and failing to plan for your students will seriously undermine your status so take notes and keep records. Availability can affect how you are perceived, if your calendar is empty you will appear to be unpopular, if you are booked solid you will appear to be sought after. Consider your fees. Aim for the premium end of the market and you will attract a certain type of clientele. Additionally always offer a super-premium tier or package for your clients. Everything counts, when you meet your students you must be who they expect you to be. Don’t leave anything to chance. BEST MOMENTS “Consistently show up and be the same person each and every week” “Your appearance and your language is key to your student perception of you.” “Identify your lane and stay in it” “Who are you to your tribe?” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Is the amount of free video content online a problem or an opportunity for your coaching, tutoring or teaching business? Today, Neil shares his thoughts on the opportunity YouTube presents and how you can use it to created structured and sequenced lessons online but also validate your own one to one tutoring with feedback, accountability and tailored content. Listen in to find out more! Contact Neil ([email protected]) KEY TAKEAWAYS Students learning on YouTube suffer from the same issue of ‘monkey see, money do’ and as a result, there is no underlying knowledge that allows them to create beyond what they’ve learnt online. As a novice seeking to learn a new skill, you don’t know what’s good or what’s bad, what’s productive and what’s relevant and what will actually be useful to them. YouTube has become a massive opportunity for tutors providing structured and sequenced lessons with logical progression based on a system or approach. As well as providing inspiration and insights into what students are looking to learn. By tutoring an individual you can tailor lessons to their ability and evolve their together as their knowledge and understanding develop, whereas a YouTube video is created for the masses. Always give feedback to the students and create accountability for them that will create a solid foundation for them to build upon. It’s likely that everything the student needs is on Youtube, along with a lot of useless content and unless the student is an expert, they’re unlikely to know the difference. BEST MOMENTS “With the amount of video content out there is it a problem or an opportunity?” “A lot of students have self-taught from Youtube and pick up the basics but those students demonstrate the same problems of overwhelm” “With the amount of content online, students don’t know what content to consume and how valid it is” “Students learning online are trying to build on foundations built on sand” “People today are doing more work on Youtube and getting nowhere fast” “Humour and playfulness have to be built into your tutoring sessions” “Cover the basics and go from the centre outwards.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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’s good about this?’ By asking this question you can turn anything into something good and when you’re facing a situation at first glance, looking for the good is all that really matters. Tune in to hear Neil’s all-time favourite question and how you too, can benefit from a change in mindset, perception and fortunes when simply looking for the good and turning a negative into a positive. Contact Neil ([email protected]) with how you get on asking ‘What’s good about this’ in your business. KEY TAKEAWAYS By just asking ‘what’s good about this’ reframes whatever problem or issue you’re facing and takes it from being a negative situation to a situation that contains something good and valuable and allows you to dilute the gravity of the situation. The power of asking that question can bring about new opportunities and can allow you to turn a negative situation and mindset into a positive and profitable outcome when you apply this question to your business and personal life. Your perception will change when you begin looking for the good in the situations you encounter. If you begin to do this in all aspects of life. BEST MOMENTS “My favourite question of all time forces you to look at whatever the situation is and find the good in it.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Habits define who we are and who we believe ourselves to be but can also lead to our depression and our happiness and overtime habits will determine who we become. In today’s episode, Neil discusses the power of habits and routines and why they really matter to the success of your business, your tutoring and your wider life. Listen in to hear how to battle your inner moron and build better habits. KEY TAKEAWAYS Habits give you an evolutionary advantage, they speed up shortcuts, save energy and speed up actions. Habits really matter. It’s an automatic behaviour pattern, set off by a trigger with an exit routine that becomes unconscious. Socialisation forms our habits and governments, advertisers and marketers know we are susceptible to ‘under the radar influence’ and since negative and positive habits are formed in the same way it’s easy to be pulled in the wrong direction. The minute you admit you have a habit is the minute you’ve given up control to whatever person or organisation created that habit. Aim to create a tick list that forms habits that are in your best interest and in turn that will help you trigger, action, exit and you will form habits that help you instead of hurt you. Your own anticipation of ‘ticking the box’ will release dopamine rewarding you for your work. If your habits help and serve you, identify and optimise them to trigger them again and again. If your habits hurt you, identify the trigger and replace it with a new trigger for better behaviour. BEST MOMENTS “Not many people stop and think about their habits” “Tame your inner moron” VALUABLE RESOURCES Book - The Art Of War Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Communication is vitally important as a teacher because it is through communication skills that a teacher can utilise a students belief system and life experience to better tailor teachings to the student. In today’s episode, discover the art of utilisation and how you can use it as a successful teaching method to better educate and evolve your tutoring, teaching and coaching business. KEY TAKEAWAYS As a teacher you cannot focus on anything more vital than communications skills, it’s the conduit that all communication is delivered to your students. A more flexible and effective communicator will convince more people and get their message across more quickly. All beliefs and all paradigms will fight tooth and nail for their survival. People are very resistant to change and as teachers, you must harness the power of their beliefs to help teach and overcome their defensive belief systems. Aim to turn them into a delivery system for your new ideas and proven and trusted teachings. Always listen to your students as they will casually reversal overtime who they really are. Always ‘listen, listen and listen’ to discover whatever is in the student’s mind. The role of a successful teacher is to remove ego and empty and inject all of your knowledge and information into your student through the right channel for them. BEST MOMENTS “The greatest victories are the ones that require no battle” “Tailor the way you communicate to the receiving person (the student)” “No matter what age your students are, ask them about their life” “Gather intelligence about your students before going into battle” “People are often dug into mental trenches” “Speak in terms of the existing paradigm“ VALUABLE RESOURCES Book - The Art Of War Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Have you ever been taken aback by an unexpected question from one of your students during a tutoring lesson? Join Neil today as he discusses how to answer your student’s troubling questions and why you are a great source to answer them. Discover why it is important to immediately deal with your students’ query, how answering their anxieties can increase your value to them and why your own personal experiences can help shape the answer they need. KEY TAKEAWAYS An unexpected question asked during your tutoring session from your student is often something that has been troubling them for years. If they have been playing from their teens and are now in their sixties and they have finally figured out that it is worth getting lessons, then the tutor is able to be the source that answers that question for them. When a student asks you an unexpected question, answer it straight away. Otherwise, with that nagging question in their minds you will struggle to engage with them on the planned material, and so will you. The question has precedence and has put down some roots in the mind. It is hogging their attention and you should deal with it. If it is not dealt with the real material will bounce off their defences. Depending on how you’re wired up, how you respond to that question can be a problem, or it can be a chance to be of greater service and value to your students. If you’re hard-wired into the syllabus, the chances are it is a problem that needs getting rid of. If you have the knowledge and experience to formulate a solution for your students, then this is your golden moment. When you answer that question and resolve the years of anxiety then you have just ratcheted up your value to them. Answering their unexpected questions earns you loyalty and confirms you as their authority figure. The very fact that you care enough to shift your focus demonstrates that your student’s outcome matters more to you than dogmatically following the lesson plan. As tutors, by being useful you are able to help students by moving their lives in the direction of their dreams. You are able to help them become the people they would like to be. It is a fabulous way to make a living, and if you share all the insights and knowledge that you have to build up throughout the years, you are even more useful than if you confine yourself to a single narrow field of excellence. As you figure out the answers and effectively communicate the answers to your students, you make new connections. You are able to discover new routes and conduits for your subject matter or an unrelated subject. As everybody knows the teacher always receives the best listeners. The most valuable lessons of all are taught to us when we teach what's uncommon and what’s hard to teach. BEST MOMENTS “These little unexpected squirrels and the rabbit holes that take us off track are really where the gold is.” “You’ve demonstrated by your actions that you’re present for them and that you are able to respond to their needs You’ve made the lesson more about them and you have drawn on your own expertise and knowledge” “It is the greatest thing about what we do day in day out. We get to be more useful.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Discover today the benefits of perfecting the art of vanishing. Join Neil as he discusses the importance of going off the grid for the day to take yourself away from working in the business so you can focus on working on the business. Neil talks through how to eliminate your everyday distractions, how to prepare for your isolation day and why it is beneficial to take time away from your everyday life to focus on your future. KEY TAKEAWAYS The art of vanishing is giving yourself a day of isolation to just step back. It is really easy to get yourself sucked into the vortex of everyday ‘doing’. When you’re in business with yourself you are constantly busy, and that can be a danger. Many business owners can fall into the habit of doing little jobs for the business on top of your already large list of jobs coupled with your private life. Having an isolation day is a really beneficial thing to do. It should be your ambition to aim to vanish a couple of days each month. Getting away from your ‘normal’ life is a tactic. Take yourself completely off the grid and eliminate all distractions. Each interruption to your working day will take about 20 minutes out of your life. Even with the new COVID restrictions it is still well advised to take a day to yourself. This may mean not leaving the house. Tell your family members or housemates whom you live with, that you are not available throughout the day. Get your partner or your spouse on board but be prepared for some resistance and push back. Remember, you are not having a day off, you are having a clear day to think strategically and plan a better future for you both to share. Start thinking about what supplies you will need for your isolation day. You don’t want to have to break up the precious and sacred time you have set aside for yourself, in order to go and purchase supplies. Park your car offsite. If people think that your cars are not on the driveway, then you must also be out. Turn off the doorbell and house phone as well as drawing all the curtains to prevent you from being impulsively visited. Think about how you will structure the next ten years of your life. The best way to do this is by getting away from what you do on a day to day basis. Put some space between you and what would normally be done. Clear a whole day to escape from your desk and spend that time really thinking about how things are going. Review where you are and what you want to do more and less of. BEST MOMENTS “It is my way of guaranteeing I am going to work on the business, not just in it.” “Nothing life or death ever came via email.” “This is the time where you decide how it is going to go down for you.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Have you ever had a student confess to you that they are just not creative? That they have never been able to create something unique themselves? Today Neil provides you with an exercise to exhort that creativity from each of your students. Encourage your students’ imagination by asking them to imagine what is in the fictitious box, and encourage their creativity to evolve. KEY TAKEAWAYS It is no wonder that governments are such big fans of education. When you impose conformity and suppress new ideas, you have to inevitably kill imagination and murder the idea of play. When the right way to do something is dogmatically enforced and non-compliance is punished, it is no wonder that children shut themselves down to avoid negative consequences. This is what schools do to kids. Time after time students may tell you that they are not the creative type. Encourage your students to make mistakes so that they can get rid of the sounds that they don’t want and the ideas they don’t use. Start them very broad and narrow down their creativity. What’s in the box is a technique that came from Standford University. Ask your student to close their eyes and pretend you are handing them a small box with a lid on it. There is always something in the box. Ask the student to open the box and tell you what is inside? What they find in the box is the preferred subject of a song, story or poem which they have just created out of thin air. They have created the seed of an idea based on the position that there is something in the box at all times. Often they are reluctant to say what is in the box but you can always encourage them. Ask them ‘what colour is it?’ , ‘tell me more about it?’ or ‘where did it come from?’. Soften the questions by telling them that what they are telling you is really interesting to you. The more physical attributes that the student can conjure up such as weight, colour, smell and texture then the more vivid the thing in the box becomes. Your job is to help your students play with the contents of the box and throw ideas backwards and forwards until the student is capable of looking after the process all by themselves. BEST MOMENTS “They weren’t creative, they were compliant.” “That’s not bad for someone who isn’t creative, is it?” “I’ve lost count of the number of students who have discovered something in the box.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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 today's episode, Neil discusses how to create a treasure basket of teaching treasure to help your students learn in the best way possible. Discover how accumulating your thoughts on paper can lead to creating some of your best teaching material, how new ideas often come from non-typical students and why they love it when you try out new techniques tailored specifically for them. KEY TAKEAWAYS By allowing waste paper to accumulate, things that would have ordinarily been thrown away are able to be utilised for good material. Some of it may be everyday material but sometimes it comes out with a twist. Perhaps you will find a new pattern or a twist on the usual material. Pieces of material that you have jotted down in the past on pieces of waste paper can actually catch a nuance of something you have been using subliminally below the threshold of your own recognition. Let's say you have a new idea or implementation you would like to use on students, sometimes it may work and sometimes it doesn’t. New ideas usually come from non-typical students and you may need to come up with new ideas to help support them. Tell them that they are your ‘lab rat’ and you are going to test a new technique out on them. The first attempt will not often work, therefore you need to tweak it and do a revised version of the new technique. The early versions will end up in the treasure basket and that is where the teaching treasure is kept. You may find that your students love it when you try out new techniques designed to their needs as it makes the lesson solely about them. You are not just using a bog-standard approach to teaching, it is using their thoughts and processes to tailor the content to them. It is collaborating creativity because you are coming up with ideas, throwing them out there and they are giving you feedback on your new technique. If you are not catching this, you may be missing out on a source of solid teaching gold. If you are planning to write on what you do as a teacher then this is a no brainer. Capture your output, especially on paper and especially those brilliant ideas in their raw form. The paper part is vital as it will sit in the basket looking at you and invite you to mine some of that gold. It is tangible and visible and it won't vanish. BEST MOMENTS “It turned what I thought was trash into treasure.” “There might just be a shift in perspective from ourselves.” “Those early versions go into the treasure basket.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Have you ever wondered what separates a ‘pro’ from an ‘amateur’? Join Neil today as he outlines his 12 ways to identify if you or your tutor is a professional or not. Neil discusses the importance of punctuality, how pros are constantly evolving and bettering themselves along with why to be considered a pro, you have to be in it for the long haul. KEY TAKEAWAYS Pro’s are always on time. Punctuality is the politeness of kings and a professional shows up on time every time. When you hire a pro they will always show up and they will always be punctual. They know the value of both their own time and your time. Pro’s have got everything in order. They have everything they need at their fingertips. The work is important enough for the pro that they get organised and they stay organised. They know where stuff is and they can get hold of it quickly. By contrast, amateurs are disorganised and may potentially forget to bring things with them. Pros hold the frame. The frame of the interaction is the perspective from which the encounter is viewed. The pro will always control the frame of the interaction and they structure the whole of the session so they get the result they want. With amateurs, the direction could just go anywhere. There is no real sense of frame control and they often become easily distracted. Pro’s are always evolving. They work harder on themselves than they work in their job. They are always trying to do better, make things clearer and to teach a little better. They are often hell-bent on becoming better versions of themselves, it is endless and it is tireless. It becomes a lifelong journey of discovery for the pro. Amateurs settle, they tend to make changes only when they’re absolutely forced to. Pro’s are in it for the long haul, often for a lifetime. Pro’s will plan, think and act as though they are going to be in the business for the rest of their lives. Amateurs tend to be very short term based, they don’t have much of a plan and it is often just a stopgap for them. If you want to be a pro, figure out how to get into tutoring for the long haul and ensure you are enjoying it every single day. BEST MOMENTS “Pro’s have a space or a place where they do their magic.” “Whoever controls the frame most strongly, will control the outcome of the interaction.” “Pro’s would teach even if we weren't getting paid for it. To do it is its own reward and it is fun for us. Holidays and days off can seem like lost opportunities for us.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Ever wondered how to deal with customers who try to reject your pricing strategy? Are you sick of people trying to haggle down your rates? Well, join us today as Neil discusses how to handle price objections. In this episode, Neil looks at how your premium pricing should be used as a selling point, offering alternative options to those who haggle and why if you are a good tutor, you should be getting paid highly for your expertise. KEY TAKEAWAYS You should make your premium pricing a non-issue, better still make this a selling point. Always acknowledge your price difference, if you do not have a price difference with your competitors then ask yourself why? Are you setting your rates high enough to reflect the massive value you deliver to your students and clients? When you come across a client that is questioning your rates you need to ask if the cost is really their main consideration. If it is, this type of client may not be the best fit for you as a tutor, because if their first interaction with you is by them trying to haggle it’s you, then they are probably not going to be pleasant to deal with going forward. If the customer begins to object to your pricing strategy, offer them, alternative tutors, at the bottom end of the market. Explain that you are perhaps not a good fit for them, but you can recommend somebody at a lower price point. Ask them a soft version of whether they are looking for the cheapest option or the option that offers them the best results. Always agree with your customers. Agree that yes, they could find a cheaper tutor, but would they like a cheap tutor or would they like a good tutor? Let them join the dots to the implication that they can’t have both a good tutor and a cheap tutor, these two options simply do not go hand in hand. Offering a discount on a block booking discount for a large number of lessons could be an option for your client. If you are a good tutor you should be getting well paid for your expertise. Remember that being amongst the most expensive is usually thought to be the best. If you offer your services at a very cheap rate, you will be interpreted as being not very good. Being expensive will automatically position you as being better than others whose rates are lower than yours. BEST MOMENTS “I don’t think there has ever been a better situation in which to run a tutoring business. I don’t think there has ever been a situation quite as advantageous to us.” “You are almost giving them an invitation to argue that they should be allowed to work with you.” “Don’t be average. Aspire to be exceptional.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Discover today how altering your relationship with money, can allow you to attract more wealth and will enable you to amplify the person you already are. Listen in today as Neil discusses the strange ideas surrounding money that we have become accustomed to, how to stop attaching your emotions to money and how money is just feedback on how much value you are providing to the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS There are many strange ideas about money. One of them being that ‘money is the root of all evil.’ This statement is usually used by religious organisations or charities, closely followed by the suggestion that you should give them your money. This statement is a very clever manipulation of people which essentially encourages you to part with your money-making you poorer and give it to others to make them even richer. The saying ‘money can’t buy happiness’ is true in the sense that money cannot directly buy you happiness as happiness is actually an internal state and it is not dependent on something outside of ourselves. However, it can also be argued that money has bought a lot more comfort and therefore happiness than living in poverty ever has. If you realise that money is essentially neutral and stop attaching emotions to money, you will begin to realise that money will amplify who you are. If you are a good person, you can do more good if you have more money. Above all else, money gives you a choice. It gives you the power to choose the place, time and people you are in contact with. Money is just feedback on how much value you are providing to your customers and to the marketplace. The amount of money you make is an indicator of how well you are playing the game. Since money is just a game, you better learn the rules and get educated. Reading books about money will allow you to change your relationship with money and you will start to become more wealthy. Learn to love money, if you don’t love it then it will not stick around. Give your money a safe home, investing it into bank accounts and safe investments that you never touch. Set money targets for yourself, reviewing regularly and ratcheting them upwards. Use your money to help others as well as helping yourself. Charitable giving and being generous towards others will allow you to be comfortable with money leaving you. Our purpose of being alive is to be of value and service to everyone else on the planet whilst maximising our own abilities. BEST MOMENTS “We need to realise that it is all a game, and as in any game, we score more goals according to how badly or how well we play the game.” “Money is a lever, that allows you to become more of who you are.” “There are trillions and trillions of pounds in the British money system, some of that money belongs to you. VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Are you fed up with working your current job, but too comfortable to take a leap into something different? Join Neil today as he explains how working absurdly hard on yourself and your business will allow you to create your own normal and live a life most people can’t. Today Neil outlines why being comfortable in life can make you weak, why taking each challenge thrown at you will allow you to grow and why others will envy your new life since you decided to get out of your comfort zone and do what they didn’t. KEY TAKEAWAYS Beware of comfort. Comfort makes you soft, softness makes you weak, weakness makes you vulnerable and being vulnerable makes you a victim. Rather than maintaining a comfortable lifestyle, go for something that challenges you, because a challenge is an opportunity dressed in working clothes. If all you do is take these challenges and overcome them, you will have endless growth. When you leave your comfort zone, you will find out what you are made of. As a business person you have to be prepared to make unpopular decisions, when you begin to work absurdly hard on yourself you will begin to change. Calibrate your normal for what is going to get you where you want to go, and stick with it. Set yourself a normal level of income, for where you are now and then recalibrate it every so often, gradually moving the ratchet upwards and upwards as time goes on. Decide what is normal for you and then go and find yourself a convoy of like-minded people to involve yourself with. Day by day as you exert control over how life goes for you and you begin to work harder and harder you will begin to disregard the negativity. Throughout the time you will grow to trust yourself and develop and learn new things daily. What you have now become will allow you to help people and add something to the world. When you work absurdly hard, you can wind up doing exactly what you want to do each and every day and get very well paid for it. Working hard allows you to build and grow a business and a legacy which will allow you to help a ton of people in achieving what they want in life. You will look at others and see that you can do what they can’t because you did what they wouldn’t. BEST MOMENTS “Make sure the money isn’t driving you. Make sure it is just a byproduct of being successful” “If you never tested to see what you are capable of, how would you ever find out?” “Why try to fit in, when you were born to stand out.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Win the first battle of the day and you won’t end up chasing the rest of the day. Every day is a battle and the morning is the first fight of the day. If you can master morning routine and develop an organised plan your chances of a successful day/week will drastically improve. Listen in today to hear Neil share his thoughts on winning the morning battle and how you too can create a plan and see better results and a huge payoff every day. KEY TAKEAWAYS If you can win the morning battle then you don’t need to play catch up all-day. The morning is when you should take care of the crucial stuff that you want to be done before anything else. If you win the first battle of the day you can put yourself in a positive place, just by developing a positive routine and using it every day (including weekends) Ask yourself, what would your perfect morning look like? How would it feel to get ‘that’ done before you start the day? By creating a routine you will begin to operate by habit and will see better results with less effort, but if you make up your morning routine on the fly, it will take a lot more mental energy. One of the most essential things you can do is to have a plan for every day. You should prioritise and diarise your daily tasks so that you know what you’re doing and when you’re doing it. Brain dump. Write everything down that you need to do, plan and action that week, preferably with a pen so that you can’t remove it and you keep yourself accountable. Train your unconscious mind. When you layout your projects for the next day and tell your mind to ‘get to work on it’ your mind will gather, prepare and queue up everything that you need to complete your project in the morning. Your routine and your plan overtime will become who you are and you will automatically be admired by people and your position in the marketplace will improve. BEST MOMENTS“Don’t let the day begin out of control.”“Keep pace with a time-based plan than chasing your own tale and not having any plan at all.”“Life is a serious business and can be great fun, but ‘winging’ it is not an option”“Planning needs a little discipline. A little bit of discipline over time will bring about huge payoffs.”“I’m not driven, I’m compelled and drawn towards what I do”“Be someone with a good flight plan” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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 do you see your students? Are they just your customers and cash cows or are they something more, something of greater significance? Today, learn how to start, grow and love your tutoring, teaching and coaching business by going beyond your remit to help your students and undergo the process of not just being a tutor but becoming a mentor. KEY TAKEAWAYS Make your students your tribe, your extended family and go beyond your remit. The purpose of being a great teacher is to be able to empty yourself and refill yourself with more and better and to give away. As a teacher and a leader of your tribe, it’s your purpose to maximise how you can help them. If a student asks for help, it’s because you have their trust and you must respect their vulnerability. By becoming an expert and a teacher in what you do, your calling is to reach forward and help others learn and be better. Being the best version of a teacher you can comes from engaging with the whole person. A student cannot focus if their mind is elsewhere as where the mind goes, the body follows. Don’t be narrow in what you do, always try to help your student in life, the universe and everything. One of the most rewarding parts of being a teacher is seeing that person grow and develop and being part of the catalytic acceleration of change in their minds. Be a really good listener. Listen intently to the language that people use because it will contain clues for us to use to help them. Whatever you teach, take coaching or counselling course so that you can better resonate with your students. Have an ongoing relationship with your tribe and care about them, believe in them and be there for them because when you achieve this, tutoring stops being work and becomes ‘hanging out with your friends.’ BEST MOMENTS “Sometimes leading to becoming a confidant of the student and more often than not becoming their friend” “Save your students time and give them the confidence to go after what they want. Move them close to their dreams.” “Help your students understand the knowledge, understanding, music, passion and joy that there is in the world.” “Empty yourself and more will be given unto you”“Be the best version of a teacher that you can be”“Where the mind goes, the body follows”“You have to engage with the whole person”“Listen intently to your students and it will reveal their answers” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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 lockdown has affected us all and the change in daily routine and stresses of what’s to come, may have impacted your health and wellbeing. Today, Neil shares his personal experience with how the pandemic has affected his physical health and shares tips on how to overcome this, from being completely honest with yourself and admitting your bad habits, to looking back at when you were at your peak health and what you did differently then, as well as making sure your workspace is a stress-free environment, both physically and mentally. KEY TAKEAWAYS When you hit your crisis point, the key is, to be honest with yourself. Take a look at yourself and if your health is not where you want it to be, and you are able to control that, then be honest about it and ask yourself ‘what am I doing right?’ and ‘what am I doing wrong?’. Once you have figured those two things out, the process of improving your health and fitness can start. Look back at everything you have done, when you were in the kind of shape you wanted to be in and when you were functioning at a high level, look at what worked before. Look back down the timeline and figure out what you were doing back then to get you into your best shape. Have a shopping list. Having a shopping list reduces the chances you pick up stuff that doesn’t work for you, the battle for your health and your wealth is one that can be lost in the supermarket aisles. Use the right kind of shopping list to keep you on track. Get yourself some good lighting in your workspace. Without good lighting, you are going to be straining at everything, lay your work area out properly so that the workflow is simple. Ensure everything is at the right working height for you, the whole point of this is to reduce the amount of stress. When you are stressed emotionally and physically you release stress hormones which affect the production of fat in your body. Look after yourself, look after your health. Without your health, how can you thrive? Don’t chase the wealth at the expense of your health you have to think long term and as a business person, you want to go into every business encounter with boundless energy and mental clarity which you can’t get if you are poisoned by crap food and you are dragging excess weight. An ugly truth is that the better you look and the better you feel, the more attractive you are to the people with whom you interact on a business and personal level. This makes you a better asset to the business, you are more valuable if you look and feel better. BEST MOMENTS “The foundation of life is deep health and energy, and we should never neglect them. Without these, it is very hard to stay in business and work the kind of hours with focus energy and drive. “ “This was my crisis point, this was my wakeup call and I had to get really honest with myself, and that is the key.” “Anything that you realise is not good for you, stop doing it, it is not hard.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Learn today how to structure your course module or lesson pitch which will outline to your students why they are learning and what they are there for. Learn why it is important to tell your participants the relevance of the content they are learning, the consequences of not completing the course to the best of their ability along with the benefits they will reap when completing the material. Key Takeaways Whether you are starting a model to give the overview or whether you are in the detail of a lesson, it is important to use the ‘pitch structure’ to capture your student’s attention as to why they are learning in the first place. Firstly you start with The overview: What is it that this particular course or lesson is about? Pretty often this is just the title of the course, module or lesson. Secondly, tell the participants why it is vital that they learn this stuff as well as telling them why it is relevant. It is obvious why it is relevant to you, but make it relevant to them so they can buy into the idea of following the instructions or the course. Include instructions on how to use the course or module and how everything works. You then need to create a further incentive to apply with the instructions by outlining the downsides of skipping the content completely and the downsides of not using it. Reconfirm the benefits of completing the lesson along with the benefits of using the material. Remind them to go back and review the material over time and then revisit the consequences of them not using the valuable information they have learned. Best Moments “Really get that point across so there is no doubt and what they’re looking at.” “The downsides of not using what you’ve learned once you have learned it is more insidious if you learn it and you use it you have it and you’re on the path to mastery.” “If you’re not using it, you might as well not know it.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

about how to structure your course. The structure is as important as the content. No matter how rich the knowledge you offer, if the structure itself that will take them from A to B is not solid, then you have nothing. The transformation that you (and the student) want can happen if you set a formidable structure for learning. You don’t need to be a licensed teacher or educator to be able to do this. There are no specific rules. Let Neil help you. Listen in to this latest episode of The Tutor Podcast now to learn. KEY TAKEAWAYS First, the structure of your course must help you build a bridge that connects you to your students, so that it’s easy for information to travel. Also, to build a bridge that will get them from ‘feeling stuck’ to ‘enlightened’. It’s time to build that vessel. Second, identify what you’ll need (the resources), and they’ll need from you. What do they want? What specific parts of their guitar-playing do they still need to improve? Third, there is no one-for-all template to follow. No particular length, no particular number of courses, and no particular instructions on how you should section them. You have to learn how to adjust for your students. Fourth, study your own module. You are the master of what you created. There’s no one else who should know what lessons fall under each section than you. And also make sure that everything’s well-researched. BEST MOMENTS “Structure will make life easy for your customers.” “Focus on the structure of the course…content will present itself when you begin the structuring process.” “As far as the live face-to-face lessons go, I’m very happy with them.” “But people who came from different avenues, who didn’t study educational techniques, this [structuring] will be helpful.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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’s your tutoring business doing during this time? We are now in the fourth week of our Building Online Course Special, and Neil hopes that you’ve been jotting down everything since the beginning because he has more to share. Today, he wants you to focus on the WHY of things rather than the HOW. Why start this course? It’s easy to plan and deliver when we know the reason and the purpose. If we want to help our students effectively, then revisit our approach. What should be changed in your approach to really make a big transformation in their lives? There are a lot of questions that Neil can help you to answer so listen in now. If you missed the first three episodes, don’t worry--you can check the links to them below! KEY TAKEAWAYS Stage 1: Revisit the reason for the course’s existence. Neil deep dived on this in the second part of the special. (You can check the link below, if you have missed it.) The gist, for Neil: to help his students learn and love guitar playing more and more. Stage 2: Why does this course exist? How is this different from thousands of courses that are available online? If your approach won’t be any better than those, then why even bother? Make sure that you serve your purpose, aside from standing out. Stage 3: Figure out why they must choose you. Always make sure that you’re helping them achieve their goal. You don’t want to be presenting a forgettable and bland course out there. Stage 4: What’s in it for the customer? Time is always of the essence. Make sure that you provide worthwhile and clear lessons. Stage 5: What is their endpoint? Provide something that will change your students’ lives. Neil is sure that his students will graduate more confident, more agile, and more knowledgeable after each course. BEST MOMENTS “Focus on the results of your customers.” “I want them to feel that their breaks are finally off and that they didn’t lose anything.” “Overall, I want to transform their experience in guitar and music from something difficult into something that is beautiful and joyous.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on the Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Who are They? (Know Your Punters): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/who-are-they-know-your-punters/id1369191372?i=1000478984529 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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 the third week of our mini-series on building online courses, we focus on knowing who your customers are. This is another important matter if you want to really make sales. Neil gives the low-down on how to scrutinise the demographic aspects. Who comprises your target audience? What do they really want? There are a few questions that you can use as a the backbone when building your online course. They’re very easy to follow, just be open-minded and imaginative. If you’ve missed the first and second episodes of this mini-series on The Tutor Podcast, see links below! KEY TAKEAWAYS Which of the niches am I really passionate about? And what am I really good at? For Neil, aside from his expertise in guitar, he can teach well—simplification and clarity are what he offers. So, you need to be introspective and be honest with yourself first. You have to be totally clear on what you’re going to offer and what will your approach be. Some might prefer that the course be straightforward and fast-paced, whilst others might prefer it to be laidback with no fixed schedule. Your goal is to meet their needs. It’s true that there are many great resources out there for free. But if you aren’t aware what suits you best, then you’ll end up wasting time and money on poorly chosen online courses. Try looking for guitar tutors who can customise and adjust for you. What does my customer want first? Since there are different kinds of learners, gauge how your student responds first. Since they aren’t face-to-face classes, there will certainly be different challenges. You want the same great results but with a different approach. Brainstorm and do your research. Chances are there are already guitar experts who have done online courses before. Know what worked and what didn’t work. BEST MOMENTS “The course can’t be for everyone.” “What do they want most? Mostly, it’s fun and freedom to get up and play anything.” “Remind them that insanity is doing things over and over again and expecting different results.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Build Your Online Course Week 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Course Planning Week 2: Who Am I? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-online-course/id1369191372?i=1000477109724 Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Welcome back to the second part of our discussion on building your online course! This special focuses on how to construct your course design templates. But first, Neil discusses the most important thing before making any drafts—self-identity. Neil wants you to look inwards, and ask yourself: Who am I? This may seem useless for some, but it isn’t! You don’t want to be offering an online course that you don’t whole-heartedly know and want. He’ll be discussing this thoroughly, leaving no rocks unturned, so that you can also gain students even amid a crisis. There’s a list of essential questions you can jot down and use too, so tune in to The Tutor Podcast today! If you have missed the first part of this special, then make sure you go back to the previous episode to ensure you gain all the knowledge you need. KEY TAKEAWAYS Your self-identity must be at the very heart of crafting a course. As an educator, it’s your voice (literally or figuratively speaking) that they’re paying attention to. It won’t be easy to teach and impart value if, in the first place, you have attracted the wrong people. Be clear about what you want. What can you benefit from the courses you’re about build and put out? Impart value to others Generate leads Position yourself as an expert Increase sales Attract your target demographic What value are you going to deliver to your customers? Know your forte, and never stop learning about it. This ensures that the knowledge you impart to your students is of prime quality. Always aim high, as they say. What difference can you make to your customers? For Neil, he wants music to be fun and simple. Not as technical and theoretical or not as freeform as other tutors. Just the right amount, depending on the student’s capability and pace too. What is your strongest reason for creating your course? Neil: It’s to reach more and more people. It might be slightly different from everyone else’s. But the increased engagement is one of the benefits you’ll get from publishing your courses. What ‘special ingredient’ can you add to all these that you’ll serve? To put this simply, it isn’t just your brains and talent you need for this to work. You need to connect with them first. For Neil, it’s his humour and wits that contributes to his successes. What results do you want? Do you want them to have a fresh perspective on something? Do you want to just polish whatever talent they have already? Do you want them to want to take the next course with you too? It’s up to you! BEST MOMENTS “I’m a coach who’s helping people, and reaching back from where I am to help people forward to get where they want to be with the instrument.” “It’s important for me to get it done, to prove that limitation is entirely fictitious.” “It’s okay to have fun and to enjoy yourself… That’s the big result that my superpower can make.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Sow the seeds today, then harvest the fruits of your labour tomorrow! In this episode of The Tutor Podcast, Neil gives a step-by-step process on how you can build your online courses. People right now are looking for ways to cope amid the coronavirus pandemic. Why don’t you offer them your knowledge and expertise on guitar playing (or whatever you want!) instead? Start laying out your courses now. Learn some useful strategies from Neil when you listen in today. You’ll be helping someone in no time! KEY TAKEAWAYS Start building and producing your online courses right now. If you have already established your credibility then you have an advantage as people will come looking for you. But if you’re just starting, it’s best you manage your expectations, it will take time and effort building up your following. You’ll need a lot of patience if you want to see significant results from the content you post. These are little treasures waiting to be opened by the ones who need it. It doesn’t get deleted, and it doesn’t get lost. You’ll just have to update it from time to time. Do multiple online guitar courses. Portion them; write about sub-niches that you are very knowledgeable of. It’s better if you concentrate on a funnelled down topic since there’s already a plethora of resources available online for the mainstream ones. The best thing about this is it can be a passive means of an income stream, you can earn more if you create better quality content. This has been perfect for Neil since it expands reach. Whilst he teaches inside the classroom, he also assists self-study students online through his lessons. BEST MOMENTS “Once you’ve built an intellectual property, and it starts to generate money for you, you’ll realise it’s an asset.” “I can reach out to people who can’t get to me whenever and wherever I want.” “All you haven’t written yet…it can be paying you for years.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Which of your definitive goals have you not yet achieved? It’s difficult to keep track of deadlines or give your high performance for every single task when there’s a lot on your plate. Sometimes, you’ll need to sound the alarm and just ask for help. In this episode of The Tutor Podcast, Neil talks about the benefits of having accountability partners and invisible friends. Yes, that’s right. Even amid the lockdown caused by the coronavirus, you can still find someone who can help you keep on track. You’ll just have to do meetings virtually to make sure that both of you are being accountable for what you are doing. Listen in to know more about this today! KEY TAKEAWAYS Get yourself an accountability buddy. For some, it's difficult to stay on track when they do things alone. Find a trusted friend or colleague who can keep you motivated and responsible. Better if he/she is someone you’re comfortable with so there is no pressure. Take note: an accountability buddy differs from a mentor. Your accountability buddy should be most likely on the same level or journey as you. He/she will act as neutral support. Maintain the symbiotic relationship. Meaning, give, and take. Remember that both parties should benefit from this partnership. Availability is also important; it should be easy for both of you to consult each other once in a while. Sending them messages through email or SMS from time to time also shows that you care, aside from serving as a reminder. Neil, himself, admits that he needs an accountability partner. It’s always easier to slack, so his accountability buddy helps him avoid this from happening. Neil has to report to his partner regularly (i.e. monthly), and his partner assesses. If he sees that some tasks weren’t checked, then they go back to the planning board to keep Neil on track, again. If you’re thinking of looking for an accountability buddy amid the coronavirus pandemic, then go, it’s possible. Jot down first the qualities and benefits you want from them. When you already know who you want, then it’s time to interview prospective partners. Make sure you are also the one they’re looking for since it’s a two-way process! BEST MOMENTS “Find someone you like and trust, not someone you’re in competition with.” “This is a two-way street… It’s a back and forth all the time.” “Having someone who’s also an entrepreneur and on the same journey as you… is encouraging and serves as a great support mechanism.” “Anytime you have a deadline and a level of expected performance, it holds you to account.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow, which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Well, not literally! What we mean by ‘steal from everyone’ is get ideas and learn from EVERYONE. (Emphasis on the word everyone!) In this episode of The Tutor Podcast, we learn about the importance of learning in and out of a classroom. Sometimes, when we set our goals and lay down our paths we’ll walk on, we refuse to see the benefits of having to explore other paths. The truth is, there are many things you can learn from other fields, from everyone. Don’t be a snub. Diversions are fine, as long as we gain recent knowledge. Neil also discusses on how you can strengthen your tutor-student relationships, so tune in! KEY TAKEAWAYS Learning doesn’t stop once you leave formal education. This should be the time you become intentional in looking for ways to widen your knowledge more and broaden your skill set. Since there’s a chance you’ll stagnate or even forget all you’ve studied about. You should also see this as an opportunity to explore things outside of your field. Take guitar lessons, for instance. When Neil teaches, he notes all his students’ opinions, feedback, or critiques. Some may feel offended. But learning is a two-way process—a tutor must not be threatened by such. Why dismiss an idea that can improve your (teacher-student) relationship and yourself too? There are things outside your field/industry that may also help you advance in your own career. For example, for guitar tutors, a little knowledge on kinesiology, human behaviour, or even storytelling can make an enormous difference. The dynamics inside the classroom will change. Always aim to be better than who you are today. Keep progressing. Make use of the resources and tools—podcasts, books, workshops, and so on. There will always be something new you’ll learn once you utilise those. Theories, ideas, views, etc. are also changing. You need to be updated. BEST MOMENTS “Nobody has a monopoly on knowledge.” “The wider my view is for my world, the more I can look around for useful knowledge and insights bring back to what I’m doing.” “We know what we know, but we don’t know what we don’t know.” “Basically, I just know my stuff. As far as I know, for my students, it makes me much more credible and more valuable in their eyes.” “I tell my students, ‘Everything you learn from me will ripple out to all aspects of your life.’” “Learn more, earn more!” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Live your life YOUR way. It is only you who holds the wheel, and not anyone else. If you are controlled by others, then most likely, you’ll be confused where you should go. In this episode of The Tutor Podcast, Neil gives some useful survival tips for aspiring entrepreneurs, not just applicable for those in the tutoring business but also for those in different industries. It’s always the same problem that entrepreneurs face at the beginning—it’s having no time anymore for nurturing their relationships. The truth is… you have to accept that there will be people who will stay and people who won’t. So how do you determine who they are exactly in your life, you ask? Let Neil help you get some answers today when you listen in. KEY TAKEAWAYS Do something rewarding. If watching the television all day is what you see as the best use of your time, then you need to change something in your life. Successful entrepreneurs like using their time productively. As much as possible, they want to work all the time. But the key here is to achieve work-life balance, so you don’t burn out. A workaholic entrepreneur might sever a few relationships too. Some connections are worth saving while others aren’t. There are people who’d wish that you bring back the ‘old’ you, who you were before you were an entrepreneur. But things change. It might be difficult, but these are people you should keep a distance with. Though it’s true, that things will change when your priorities come clear to you, make sure also that you nurture the relationships you value. To achieve your dreams, there are things you need to sacrifice. A day of golfing with colleagues, your Sunday brunch with extended family, or the usual pub hangouts, will be hard to fit in a busy entrepreneur’s schedule. An understanding person will understand such changes in your life; remember that. Survival Tips For Aspiring Entrepreneurs: It’s your life. Nobody can live it for you. Nobody cares about what you do. Listen out for flattery in disguise. Listen to the language. Solitude is not loneliness. Be hard to reach. Get your mobile phones and other technologies that distract you out of sight. Be visible. Stay in contact with business stockholders. Whatever you do, you will be judged. So just be yourself. BEST MOMENTS “Don’t consume your life doing unhappy things.” “All I want to do is get back to doing to what I love the most, teaching, playing guitar, and building a business.” “As an entrepreneur, you don’t fit the old story of who you are.” “Life is not a popularity contest.” “You have to be comfortable with yourself to enjoy silence.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

Are you having a tough time managing your schedule lately? If some of you are having a eureka moment about money-making ideas, and not knowing when to do it and where to fit it in your schedule, then you need to know about the 70:20:10 model. In this episode of The Tutor Podcast, Neil shares how he uses this model to his advantage as a teacher, a property investor, and a music creator. It’s a matter of organisation and discipline. Easy-peasy, right? According to Neil, the only trick after learning about this concept is to JUST DO IT! Tune in now to know more about how you can divide your time among your activities. KEY TAKEAWAYS The trick is to figure out how much time you allot for work, business, or anything else, really. Divide them into three using the 70:20:10 model. The 70% division belongs to the core tasks, the 20% is for the secondary ones, and the 10% for the upcoming tasks. You’ll have to remove the time you allot for rest and leisure, just so you know. For Neil, the 70% of it is allotted to his foundational activity. It’s guitar teaching that is his ultimate passion and also his major income stream. He still does this most of the time, even today, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Another thing is he creates content (blogs, videos, articles, etc.), markets them, then tries to engage with every prospect (i.e. students). He believes that if there is enough of his quality content out there posted, then this can give him a passive income. This can help him move on to the 20% and 10% activities. The 20% of Neil’s activity is allotted to building and growing his property portfolio. This also acts as another stream of income. Tasks for this involve property maintenance, finance, budgeting, and looking for investors. Since he’s a guitar teacher, he also creates music. This is the 10% division. He writes, composes, and records. He’s got a million ideas, and he needs to transform it into something valuable. BEST MOMENTS “If I can make the fun things that I get paid for more fun than the things I don’t get paid for, then working 7 days a week should be a no-brainer!” “It’s very risky to have one income stream.” “If you use it, it’s gonna work.” “Having only one income stream leaves you very vulnerable.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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]

We all know how stressful life has become during this coronavirus pandemic, so in this episode of The Tutor Podcast, Neil lets you have a peek on his own list of surviving lockdown tips! The top priority is to keep your (physical and mental) health always in check. For Neil, having a routine helps. But since movement is very limited, Neil suggests ways on how you can tweak it. If you think there is no other way around how you can get yourself to sweat, well, let Neil prove otherwise! Neil also gives tips on how you can improve yourself and grow your business. There’s so much time made available to you right now. Be productive. Join in the discussion now. KEY TAKEAWAYS Have a plan set for each day. This forces you to envision having wonderful days. We aim for worthwhile activities when we detail our routine. We automatically don’t include something that we deem as a ‘failure’ or ‘pointless’. Move more. Since most work from home is sedentary, you need to take minor breaks to get your muscles moving. Walk around the room, do simple gym-free workouts, or even do some chores. Keep communication channels open. If you live with someone else, it may become stressful. It’s important to talk about your feelings and set some rules. If you’re feeling lonely, reach out to your friends. There are a lot of video calling applications out there that you can utilise. Check your food consumption. Most of us have limited outside access, the gym and sports facilities where we usually do physical activities are closed. We can neglect our health and fitness. For food, Neil advises that you keep a grocery list that ONLY has healthy foods. Get rid of old unpleasant habits. Remove triggers for negative behaviours to make this task easier for yourself. To get used to good habits you’re trying to incorporate, it’s better to associate them with pre-existing pleasant ones. Add new streams of income. If you have promising content in your backlogs, you can repurpose it. Now’s the time to market any extra content online as social media usage is at an all-time high Learn unfamiliar things. There have been many resources made available for free online lately due to the coronavirus. Maybe it’s time to try them out. BEST MOMENTS “I have observed that society is fragmenting, people have turned against one another… it’s very sinister.” “The best defence is to have a plan every single day.” “It’s now easier than ever to get healthy. It’s easier to get healthy food than to get a crappy Big Mac.” “Learn voraciously and insatiably.” “Keep on moving in the direction you want to go.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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 of The Tutor Podcast, Neil explores how you can redefine your ‘normal’ and set your trajectory in a positive direction during this unprecedented time. Neil talks about his experiences setting up new online coaching so that he can coach his students over the internet using streaming and video calling technology. Neil focuses on adding or changing 1% of your lifestyle or business every day, create incremental change to better your productivity and success in the long term. Neil also explores the theory of the ‘Locus of control’ and how it dictates how we react in these stressful times. You are the creator of your own reality! Take control and change your lifestyle to unlock your potential! 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 of The Tutor Podcast, Neil discussed Warrant Buffet’s Two List Model. The first list is the top 5 things that YOU can DO that will change your life. The second list is for everything else that you want to do. You should then discard the second list and primarily focus on the first 5 and most important ways that you can improve your life. This will give you CLARITY and give your life a mission statement. Neil gives his take on these lists, laying out the ways that he wishes to enrich and improve his life. He then gives his opinion on the Warren Buffet’s model, explaining how it has the potential to change your life and mindset. 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 UK government is giving out financial aid to small businesses, but do tutors who manage their businesses from their own homes get some? It depends. If you pay business rates, then you can receive from the Small Business Relief Fund. In this episode, Neil discusses more on what sole proprietors like him are facing amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The government has forgotten about hardworking educators. But not only them, several workers too are getting furloughed because of the current situation. Start learning on what does this mean for you, when you tune in. KEY TAKEAWAYS When you’re in furlough, you aren’t paid. You might get payment for an invoice on something that you’ve done before that, but not during the furlough period. The minimum time to be furloughed is 3 weeks. You must change your status if you want take on a job/task. Question and Answer: What type of task can I give to my employee that’s in furlough? Nothing. Not even a single sales phone call or email. Can a furloughed employee look for another job? Yes. BUT it should be treated as an unauthorized unpaid leave by your current employer. All eligible businesses in England, who pay business rates, can receive a £10000 payment under the Small Business Relief Fund. So, if you aren’t eligible, just like Neil, a tutor who works from home, you won’t receive any. For employers, ensure that the employees who work from home have the capacity and the equipment needed. Some aren’t capable of working from home because of their economic status. Note that the government allows people to travel for work, given that they don’t show coronavirus symptoms. BEST MOMENTS “When furlough directors need to carry out particular duties to fulfil statute obligations that they owe to their company, they can do that. But they must do no more than they’d be reasonably judged necessary for the purpose.” “The government does not recognise the vast number of sole proprietors and sole practitioners.” “Employers and employees should discuss working arrangements. And employers should take every step to facilitate.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Listen to The Tutor Podcast on iTunes (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tutor-podcast/id1369191372)! Read the Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow which is available now on Amazon. Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weird-Things-Guitarists-Do-Misconceptions/dp/1519026579/ Contact Neil via this website - 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’s a catalyst to action. That’s what we have now.” More than half of the world right now are feeling the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. The pandemic has caused delay in our businesses, our daily routines, and most definitely, the help we give to other people. There are a thousand ways you can help. (And they really weren’t kidding when they said that.) Surely, we can find alternatives, even at the middle of the quarantine situation. For educators, teachers, and tutors, maybe now is the time that we create or repurpose our content to online videos? Or online courses? Neil discusses more on how you can keep it going amid the Covid-19 outbreak, so tune in to the latest episode of The Tutor Podcast. KEY TAKEAWAYS Keep on helping people. Choosing to better yourself must not stop, even in quarantine. If you can teach and give them the resources they can consume during this time, go for it. Keep your routine going. Have a list of the things that need to be done, and schedule them. It’s more difficult now to follow your usual routine because you’re just staying at home. Remove distractions. Find alternatives for the parts that you usually do outside (i.e. running). The business goes on. You can continue delivering your services. If you can’t teach face-to-face, look into webchats, online courses, etc. Once you’ve recorded yourself teaching and posted it online, you now also have content that can gain traction whenever. Think of ANY thing you can do to keep the momentum going. You can change your ways on how to create or even repurpose your existing content. Just ensure you are being smart and responsible considering the current situation. If there’s a system in place, then you shouldn’t feel threatened whatever problems may arise. You’ll surely survive during and after a crisis if there’s a consistent flow of work and income. Start acting now. BEST MOMENTS “If you don’t believe in yourself, you’re up a creek.” “We need to preserve some self-control, because so much now is being taken away in terms of our freedom and movements.” “If we can keep heling others, we can help ourselves.” “This is the moment for growth and scale.” VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow 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 time on The Property Tutor Podcast, Neil gives his take on Covid-19. He discusses how it has affected businesses, with some already going into administration and others hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Neil gives sound advice on how to deal with your mental health and business problems, as well as giving ideas on how your business can survive Covid-19 through digital distribution. Above all, Neil looks for the ‘Opportunity in the Crisis’, to capitalise on Covid-19 to come up with creative solutions that benefit us all. He talks about his own personal near-death experience and how he learned first-hand to create income in a difficult time. VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow 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 are four types of people: Larks, Owls, Cows and Vampires. By working out which one you are, you can manage your life in order to fit your natural tendencies. But which one are you? In this week’s show, Neil takes you through each type in his own unique way, and tells you all about how you can achieve a far happier existence by applying a simple rule: To know and understand yourself is to manage and master yourself. KEY TAKEAWAYS Larks - The annoying types who wake up very early, full of energy and bounce and ready to take on the world. Owls - These are the opposite to larks. They tend to take all day to get going, but can work well into the night. Cows - Most of society stick to a regimented form of workday, finishing in the early evening and grabbing a few hours for themselves before going to sleep, so that they can do it all again the next day. Vampires - Those “nocturnal beasts” who do their best work during the wee hours, when the rest of the world is asleep. The Oracle Of Delphi had an inscription upon entering which read “Know Thyself”. This feeds into an invaluable lesson in life, that to know and understand yourself, is truly the best way to manage and master yourself. When transitioning between careers that had starkly different working times, Neil was told to diarise his day in order to identify where he was falling short. Through this process, Neil realised that his life was suffering a hangover from his previous life as a “vampire”. By making adjustments, he was able to make himself more effective in the daytime. By knowing the kind of creature you are, you can make sure that you’re doing your best work at the optimal time, and thereby making the most of yourself. Develop your own routine, and build it around your rest periods and the times of day in which you have the most energy, and produce the best results. Working for yourself allows you to really develop the best template for your working day. Don’t assume that just because your daytime is free, that you’ll do your best work there. Perhaps you could do something more productive, so plan ahead. BEST MOMENTS ‘I hate ‘em…' ‘I reckon I’m at least 51% vampire’ ‘Bit of a pattern developing there, guys…' ’The casino business had pressed me into the ranks of the undead!’ ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re a lark, an owl, a cow or a vampire. You can tailor your life to fit you' VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow 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]

105TTP Self Sabotage & Being Calibrated Perfectly DESCRIPTION ‘It’s all about calibration – we work perfectly, but if we are mis-calibrated we’ll work perfectly in pursuit of the wrong thing’ In this fascinating episode, Neil explains how self-sabotaging behaviours can be conquered if you are aware of the behaviours and take action to change them. The key is our own perception of normal and the story we have for ourselves, the inner voice that always seeks to return us to our own ‘normal’. If you want to bring your story into your reality and make choices that will drive you forward then listen in. KEY TAKEAWAYS Sabotage is defined as any deliberate action aimed at undermining or impeding the progress of a person or organization. Often it is voiced as a misunderstanding and rationalised in some way. If you are your own saboteur, you are potentially taking actions that could cost you time, money and impact on the relationships you have. Self-sabotage is linked to how we feel and what we perceive as normal. If things are going well and exceeding expectations people will self-sabotage to bring things back to what they perceive as normal – often a lower level because that’s where they feel they deserve to be. The same self-sabotage is in action when the situation is below expectations. We are our own worst enemies, and we are our own greatest assets. At the time of self-sabotage, you will justify almost any of the actions you take. Changing Becoming aware is vital – when you are about to do something self-sabotaging ask yourself; Is this what my business is really all about? Is this helping me, or is this hurting me? You must be honest with yourself because the easiest person to fool is yourself. Prevention Schedule regular time slots to analyse what you do and reflect and review your actions, it will help you stay on track. Update the stories you tell yourself as these have a habit of coming true. Your inner narrative should be constantly evolving as you do to provide the clarity you need. Calibrate your own stories: tell yourself better lies and start living in accord with them Check your progress honestly, eliminating what doesn’t help you and focussing on what you need to do to bring your story into reality. BEST MOMENTS ‘It can be easy to be lured into doing daft stuff that won’t help you’ ‘Our inborn tendency to stay true to whatever lies/stories we tell ourselves’ ‘We’ll unconsciously act to exert control and restore the situation to whatever our idea of normal should be’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow 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 Tutor Podcast Twitter

In this episode Neil explains how you can turn your problems into positives and how a problem can not necessarily be a problem. He discusses how problems can depend on the perspective and mind-set that you have on a particular issue. KEY TAKEAWAYS Whatever the problem is that you’re facing, ask yourself what is the reality? It’s all malleable and you might find that it’s not a problem. Where is the opportunity in the problem to find the positives? Some problems are great problems to have because you can choose how you frame the problem. Facts are facts but your perspective on those facts will determine whether the problem is actually a problem. Can you use the problem to motivate you to do something positive for yourself? If you can control the mind and its perspective, then you can turn problems into positives. Always question the reality when you face a problem and shift your perspective. BEST MOMENTS ‘When is a problem not a problem?’ ‘Situations are just situations’ ‘Seize every opportunity you have’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tutorpodcast ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of 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 Neil Cowmeadow [email protected]

Some very high-profile people have made excellent use of social media to position themselves as experts and to develop a personal brand – and that’s SM being used as a valid strategy and a powerful marketing tool. It helps if you are young, female and good-looking. In this episode Neil discusses how you can use social media to grow your business. KEY TAKEAWAYS We can all learn from their examples if we want to “big ourselves up” and be more visible. SM reaches countless people, so it should be possible to construct a following for yourself, regardless of what niche you are operating in. You have to be very consistent for a very long time to grow your tribe, but it’s doable. You’ll be posting regularly and often, dealing with fans and trolls – lovers and haters. Weigh up the pros of doing lots of SM – then consider the Cons. Social media is a really big deal to a lot of people – we, as tutors need to decide whether we want it to be a big deal for us. Use social media going to give you a commercial advantage or marketing edge There is way more people consuming content on SM than there are producing it – so the chances are that you will be a consumer rather than a producer. That time could be better spent face to face with clients, marketing, developing IP such as music, writing, courses and so on. BEST MOMENTS ‘Everything has up/downsides’ ‘Getting sucked in to the YouTube vortex is – for me – the kiss of death.’ ‘SM is a gold mine, but for the vast majority it is a black hole.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tutorpodcast ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of 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 Neil Cowmeadow [email protected]

What are the most important numbers for your business? Knowing your numbers is key to knowing whether your business is going to work for you. Being good at something doesn’t necessarily mean you can turn it into a successful business unless you know your numbers. Neil takes an in-depth look at the numbers in your business helping anyone who has a tutoring business to understand what and how they can have a truly successful business doing what they love KEY TAKEAWAYS As tutors, business isn’t usually an area of special knowledge There is a focus on the technical skills and knowledge needed to teach and the necessary business skills may be neglected. What are the most important numbers for your business? It’s not how much money you bring in to your business it’s what there is after you’ve paid for everything. There are two variables that generate profit - sales and costs Sales are generated through; Teaching fees Product sales Royalties & commissions Investment incomes Anything else that brings money into the business Costs are incurred through; Wages Cost of goods and materials (sheet music, strings, etc) Equipment purchase/leasing/rental Travel – motor use/trains/planes/hotels/food Rent, rates and other property expenses: fuel gas, electricity, insurance etc Everything else that is vital to the running of the business and which takes money out of the business. Until you understand and know what your numbers really are, you don’t really know if you have a viable business. Without the numbers, you can’t assess where you are. You have no baseline to and cannot measure the effect of any changes you may make to how you run your business. How can you increase your revenue? Think about it – could you:increase your customer base, Raise your fee rate,Increase the frequency of sales How can you reduce your costs? Look at all your costs – the fixed costs, and the variable costs of doing business Fixed costs don’t vary with the amount of work done – rent, fixed salaries etc Variable costs depend on the amount of work done – e.g. cost of travel to a client’s location You have the control to raise your income and reduce your costs if you understand the numbers in your business. Get the clarity you need on your numbers and then you can move your business forward and make more money. BEST MOMENTS ‘It’s easy to confuse our excellence and specific technical skills with having a good business, but they’re very different things. ‘Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow 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 Tutor Podcast Twitter

Neil has been thinking about time and its value and explains the importance of punctuality and respect for time in relation to your tutor business and to life in this episode. We all have people in our lives who are punctual and also those who are consistently late and Neil explains how our punctuality or lack of is woven into the respect and the trust we have with others. A lack of punctuality gives permission for others to mess you around whilst punctuality and consistency are the hallmarks of excellence – listen in and find out how you can respect both yourself and others through the way you manage your time. KEY TAKEAWAYS Not only do you have to respect your own time but you must also respect the time of others. If you don’t respect their time they won’t respect yours. Always be punctual and consistently on time. Consistency is the hallmark of excellence Punctual people are more likely to be perceived as trustworthy as opposed to those who show up late and are seen as unpredictable. Punctual people do better than people who are late because they get more respect. Punctual people earn more money because they command more trust and respect, It automatically positions them as experts. People who show up on time get more referrals as people won’t recommend someone who doesn’t show up on time. When you make it easy to deal with you, your students will back for longer. When you are punctual, reliable and consistent you are automatically perceived as having everything together in your life. The 3-step formula for earning extra credibility, respect and ultimately higher fees just by being punctual are; Show up on time and leave on time (don’t give the impression you have nothing else to do with your time) Show up prepared have everything you need and in working order Deliver a kick-arse content that is fun for your students and for you. BEST MOMENTS ‘Because I’m always on time my tribe is always on time’ ‘If you are consistent and punctual then your tribe will love you’ ‘There are only so many hours in the day so I put a start and end time on everything’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow 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 Tutor Podcast Twitter

You can wake up 2,3, or 5 years down the line and wonder what has happened and where the time went. This is particularly common to driven personalities and entrepreneurs who are immersed in their work, have a strong inner compass, determined action takers and some might say obsessed. Neil explains an easy method for how you can avoid this from happening. KEY TAKEAWAYS Check your progress every couple of months. A good way to do this is to have accountability days every month to check the performance of the business and work on the next acquisition or deal. Spend the whole of that day examining your business – get away from your desk and turn the phone off. If it’s urgent they’ll call back Make a date with yourself to do this regularly – in your diary – don’t let anything shunt it off your schedule, because it matters too much to let it slide. When you’ve done your reflection analysis – make your plans to implement what you noticed about your business. Do it, and see how you get on – I’m pretty certain that you’ll have an “A-ha!” moment or six when you do the work and get honest with yourself – I know I did! BEST MOMENTS ‘Planning and reflection works’ ‘Bottom line is that this stuff works.’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow 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 Tutor Podcast Twitter

In this episode Neil shares an effective technique for solving problems without having to ask anyone else or search anywhere for answers. KEY TAKEAWAYS This podcast is the tens of thousands of hours spent learning my industry and within business all boiled down to bitesize episodes. Have 10 minutes of uninterrupted time. No phone, no noise, no people or anything that can distract you. Have a really nice pen and really nice paper or whatever you’d enjoy writing with the most. At the top of the page write down the problem you have. Re read it and then write down as much as you can that pops into your head that may be helpful to overcome or solve this problem. Write without stopping and don’t stop or have a break. Don’t worry about any punctuation or spelling, just get it down. Often you already know the answer but the problem is hiding it. The main thing about this exercise is not to self critic or try to be clever, just get your thoughts down regardless of whether it’s good or bad. BEST MOMENTS ‘More important than all that cash is time investment’ ‘Time is the most precious thing you have’ ‘The more you do it, the better you get’ VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow 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 Tutor Podcast Twitter

Doing your tax Self-Assessment can be stressful because it can get you flagged for investigation by HMRC, you can have fines for late filing, additional charges and interest for late payment and you’ve no idea about upcoming tax liabilities. You don’t even know if you really have a business. So in this episode Neil tells you how you can get on top of your business finances and stresses the importance of doing so. KEY TAKEAWAYS Ensure you do your books and meet the deadline for your tax return so that you know you’re making money and don’t get fined. Keeping proper accounts of where your business finances are, are bloody important part of being your own boss. These days a book keeper isn’t necessary in order to keep on top of your books, use accounting software that can link to your bank and your phone. The benefit of doing everything digitally is that it’s fast and easy to do which allows you to do what you do best. It only takes 10 minutes a week to do your accounts, as long as you do it consistently and regularly. It’s also a lot better than leaving it all last minute. If you leave everything last minute, then you’ll get stresses which will then have a negative impact on all other aspects of your business and even your personal life. No matter how good you do your taxes, HMRC will find some way of fining you. If the business part of you isn’t good, then you wont be able to sustain being a good tutor. BEST MOMENTS “Accounts are vital for your survival and to your success” “There’s nothing mysteriously difficult about keeping your books in order” “If your back office is a mess then it’s likely to spill over into other parts of your business” “Business first then tutor” VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tutorpodcast ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of 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 Neil Cowmeadow [email protected]

Neil explains the benefits of tutoring in the private sector and why teaching in the mainstream system may not be for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable man persists to try adapt the world to himself, therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man The school teaching system for tutoring is boring and can give people itchy feet. If you’ve got a thought of your own, Ofsted is likely not to like it. When you’re stuck teaching in the education system you’re limited to the amount of money you can make too. Being a misfit from the mainstream can make you a winner. A lot of parents look for someone who makes learning fun. No one wants a normal tutor. BEST MOMENTS “don’t teach all day mark all night” “Creativeness and individualism is being squeezed out by the education system.” “The mainstream system is ill” VALUABLE RESOURCES The Tutor Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tutorpodcast ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of 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 Neil Cowmeadow [email protected]

the self-employed. You can minimise your tax bill, just to let you know. So, instead of missing the deadline, start learning about the benefits of being proactive for paying taxes. The self-employed people are at a better position in regard to taxation than the majority. Let’s do our responsibilities as citizens. Pay your taxes and sleep soundly at night. KEY TAKEAWAYS You’re only liable for tax on your profits, so make sure to: Claim all allowances Use of your own car for business Use of part of your home for business Investment reliefs Account for all expenses (e.g. materials, equipment, marketing, etc.) Ask accountant on how you can save tax. Your accountant should help you save on your taxes. If you think he/she doesn’t understand and help your situation, find a better one. Don’t file late. You save up and earn more when you avoid fines! If you still don’t have the exact figures, use provisional (best estimate) figures. Always plan. Know how you want your business to grow and where your finances will be. Neil assures you you can save mores on taxes when you’re on the right track. BEST MOMENTS “Don’t file late!” “Tax code is not your area of expertise, it’s theirs (accountants). They’re working for you” “Have a set day and time when you update your records and take care of business. It’s a pain, but it’s less of a pain than sweating over doing a year’s worth of your books at the last minute.” VALUABLE RESOURCES HMRC - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs The Tutor Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tutorpodcast ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of 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 Neil Cowmeadow [email protected]

'Most new years resolutions last up until March as they're far too demanding.' In this new year's special episode of the Tutor podcast, Neil explains how you can make your new year resolution more effective and long-lasting. He also explains why the resolutions and goals usually fail and how you can stop yourself from falling down the same pit! And of course a very Happy new year! VALUABLE RESOURCES Atomic Habits – James Clear | Amazon https://amzn.to/37pfC7Z The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change – Charles Duhigg | Amazon https://amzn.to/2O75SYN Do More Great Work – Michael Bungay Stanier | Amazon https://amzn.to/2qlirXm The Tutor Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tutorpodcast ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of 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 Neil Cowmeadow [email protected]

Neil explains the importance of using humour and fun in your lessons so that your students enjoy coming. Neil emphasises this for adult students even more than younger clients. KEY TAKEAWAYS Often when a I receive calls it’s from someone who’s looking to book lessons for someone else. Usually when it’s an adult who wants lessons it’s someone who wants to relive the days when they used to play in a band or understand more etc... Many other people do lessons after their kids have grown up that were on the back burner. However, it all boils down to one thing which is fun. As teachers you need to make it fun, figure our ways to make it fun so that your student enjoys their lessons. Also if you don’t find it fun then your student will often mirror that from you. Always praise progress and don’t be too harsh on them if they are going through a bad time in their lives and are struggling to play. Use humour and stories in your lessons to make them more interesting and fun. If it’s fun for you, it’ll be fun for them. BEST MOMENTS ‘It all boils down to fun’ ‘There’s no such thing as a stupid question’ ‘Bypass their limits and get them higher than they ever expected they would get’. VALUABLE RESOURCES Atomic Habits – James Clear | Amazon https://amzn.to/37pfC7Z The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change – Charles Duhigg | Amazon https://amzn.to/2O75SYN Do More Great Work – Michael Bungay Stanier | Amazon https://amzn.to/2qlirXm The Tutor Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tutorpodcast ABOUT THE HOST Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years of 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 Neil Cowmeadow [email protected]