9:00AM Social time
9:30AM Business
10:00 Presentation, Eric Branner: Owning Entrepreneurship as an Independent Music Teacher- Encouragement, Strategy, and Outlook for What Comes Next
Music teachers are fabulous, resilient entrepreneurs! Let's take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate how the music teaching community adapted, continued to serve, and often thrived throughout the immense challenges we've faced in recent years. Eric will share ideas and strategies he's learned from his own experiences and through working closely with hundreds of other music teachers and music school owners. This presentation will explore ideas to authentically market and grow your business in any market condition, all through building and serving your community.
Bio
Eric Branner is a guitar teacher, and the CEO-Founder of fons.com, a third-generation music educator, the owner of Blackforrest Music School, and author of the Blackforrest Guitar Companion. He's taught millions of people to play guitar through lessons and his Youtube channel.
In 2016 he founded the technology company Fons to automate the business operations of his music school. He received funding, built a team of engineers and designers, and launched in late 2016. Since then, Fons has extended their reach to many knowledge and appointment-based businesses such as tutoring, coaching, wellness, and training. Fons currently manages over 25k lessons, and processes over $1m in transactions each month.
Eric is passionate about working to elevate the knowledge-sharing industry's level of professional compensation, operation, and image. He's the immediate past president of the Seattle Music Teachers Association, speaks regularly at colleges & events, has appeared on over 20 podcasts, and still teaches 12-15 private students each week. He lives in Seattle, WA with his wife Alyson, children Edie and Huck, and dog Happy.