Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jordan Taylor, Founder of Denver Soundscape, located in Westminster, CO, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I provide lessons in piano and drums to anyone who wants to hone their musical skills. I have students as young as four years old, and I have a student that's 93, and everything in between. I have students who are completely new to learning an instrument, and I have students that have been studying music for several years. The one thing my students all have in common is that they love to make music and are making the world a better place by playing and performing music.
Tell us about yourself
After teaching music in public schools across the country, I wanted to try teaching privately in my own studio. Opening my own studio has enabled me to provide a more personalized and detailed experience for students, and the musical progress that students are making fuels my teaching.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Honestly, the biggest accomplishment that I feel that I've achieved is not giving up on my studio. When building a client base, it can be discouraging at first building a client base that traditionally has relied on services that are in person during the pandemic made everything more difficult as well, so the fact that my studio is still open for business is a huge feat.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The hardest step in opening my studio was simply getting started. Unlike public education, I had to find students or at least make finding my studio easier for prospective students.
However, once I formulated and implemented my marketing strategies, I have had a consistent number of students sign up for lessons, which makes all of the efforts so far worthwhile.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be willing to reach out to others for help and advice. Having a network of peers that have experience in what you are doing and going through (or have gone through) similar struggles is really important.
- Know that failures will happen along the way. As anyone in the education field can attest, all students will have failures along the path of learning. Experiencing failures is a powerful way to learn important lessons, so knowing that this is part of the process is a key to future success.
- Be willing to take smart risks. "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten" is a phrase that I heard when I was studying music, and it's very relevant in the world of business. If you never take smart risks and try something new, your business most likely becomes stagnant, and you could miss out on huge opportunities.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://denversoundscape.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JordanTaylorMusician
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-j-taylor/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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