Frequently Asked Questions

Compensation:
You will be paid a flat $150 for presenting a workshop. That's just a starting guarantee. Your compensation could quickly climb based on enrollment and sales of required materials and optional materials. Your total compensation for each class will be based on sales of materials, both required and optional. These sales are easy to make. First you will automatically collect a required materials fee for each student.

As for optional sales, that can vary. Our better workshop leaders average over $70 in extra sales per student. In a class of 20 students the net income could quickly climb.

Our best workshop leaders earn over $100,000 a year. But in a worst case scenario, we will guarantee you will walk away with at least $150 for the night, even if we have to come up with the difference out of our own pocket.

Is there an investment?:
Yes and no. Before you are certified there will be an interview, audition, and training program. You are responsible for all your travel expenses involved with these steps. However, we may be able to do the interview and audition over the phone. However, it's mandatory to attend a three day training program which will be held periodically at various locations throughout the country. You will be charged $400 at the beginning of the training session to cover costs.

And you will need to come up with enough to cover your basic starting inventory. That number will vary depending on which plan you start with. We have an economy plan that places your inventory investment at about $300. But you are encouraged to get on the Fast Track plan which will make your income potential much greater. Figure on about $1250 to start with the Fast Track plan. But remember, you will start making this investment back from the very first workshop.

All these details are subject to change, so be sure to read the final paperwork carefully. We will do our best to explain things to you. Don't hesitate to call us at any time.

Is this a business opportunity or a job offer?
Since 1990 our Workshop Leader program was set up as a business opportunity, requiring a $5000 investment. For that investment we trained you to handle every aspect of the seminar business. Then we stepped back while you ran your own business.

With the old plan you were responsible for all aspects of setting up your business, including finding places to teach, negotiating your own contracts, setting up your calendar, ordering inventory, and in general running a business as an independent contractor. A successful workshop leader had to be an accomplished pianist, and accomplished teacher, and an accomplished business person. And they had to be able to come up with the $5000 investment. It wasn't easy finding people with all these qualifications. This new plan is different.

First, we will do all the work involved with finding and setting up your classes. It's a lot of phone work and paper work for us, but you won't have to do it. We will offer you locations to teach months in advance. You select the ones you want to do. We will be responsible for providing the venue and filling the seats. You just show up, teach the workshop, and collect your money, all in the same afternoon or evening. The only real office work you will have to do is to make sure you always have inventory for your next class. Our web ordering system makes that part easy. You will need to have a credit card on file with us. Oh, and there will be a simple report you have to fill out after each class.

How successful was this business opportunity program for the investor?
I would like to be able to say that everybody who signed up to be a workshop leader succeeded. But of course that didn't happen. In fact some people signed up, and then we never heard from them again. I wish I knew the reason for that.

But I will say that the last time I checked the stats, about 50% of those who got certified made a successful go of it, as determined by the fact that they reordered inventory after their initial inventory was depleted. That's a 50% success rate. I challenge anyone in the business opportunity industry to claim a better one. However, because we are going to be a lot more discriminatory about who we select for this program, we're planning on the success rate to be much higher. We're shooting for 100%.

In that earlier program you never had interviews or auditions or in person training. Why now?
Simply because we want to have the best possible people working for us. Even though you will be an independent contractor for tax purposes, we are looking at this as a partnership. We think we know how to identify the kind of piano player/teacher who will do well in this business, and those are the ones we will select. The interview and audition process will help us find those people. And the training program will help guarantee their success.

What are the steps involved in becoming selected for this position?
If your resume meets with our approval, you will be asked to submit a short application. The application will be evaluated, and if favorable, we will set up an interview. We'd like to do the interview in person, but we are headquarted in rural Northern California, and realize travel may be difficult. So we can do the interview by phone, or preferably by video conferencing.

The interview will be evaluated and may lead to a playing audition. This can be done by phone or video conferencing too. Don't worry, you won't have to demonstrate complete piano virtuosity in the audition. In fact, over virtuosity can work against you. Instead we'll be looking for basic competence in playing pop piano from a lead sheet. We'll also evaluate your knowledge of chords and general music theory. Upon the successful evaluation of all these steps you will be invited to a three day training session. The session may be held at our offices in Chico, California, our branch in Phoenix, Arizona, or possibly at some location where one of the trainers will be doing an actual workshop.

What is the training process?
Training will focus on three general areas: the mechanics of presenting a workshop, the actual teaching of the workshop, and salesmanship. Our future as a business as well as yours depends on how effective you are in class at selling our fine materials. THIS IS NOT--REPEAT NOT--TO BE A HIGH PRESSURE COUNTY FAIR TYPE OF SALES HYPE. Rather it's a very low key three minute presentation in the class designed to inspire rather than annoy. In fact if we get complaints that the sales presentation is too heavy handed, it will be grounds for dismissal.

Learn to do this presentation right, and it will mean hundreds of extra dollars per day (thousands per month) in your pocket. A good sales attitude is a must in this business, and we will be looking for it in the evaluation process.