From the Bench to the Backend: The Village that Built My Studio
Did you know May is Small Business Month?
And if you are reading this right now, I guess that YOU are a small business owner.
Whewhoo! How will you celebrate?
You probably have no plans now because recital programs need printing, and summer lessons need scheduling. It’s Maycember. (By the way, the Holderness family coined the term “Maycember” in 2016 with their viral video.
I don’t have a big party planned either, but Small Business Month reminded me that we think of ourselves as music teachers, far more often than business owners.
As a small business owner, there’s a tendency to feel isolated; every decision is yours. If you don’t decide, who will?
We all crave control, but at the same time, we can quickly fill up on decision fatigue.
Navel-gazing like this can make us feel alone. When you take a step back and make a list of the people and tools that support your business, you are NOT alone.
In fact, it takes your vision PLUS a village to build a business.
Chuck and I will be celebrating our 38th anniversary in July.
As I approach a milestone birthday (I’ll let you guess which one), it’s the right time to reflect on the village of humans and tools that have seen me through the past 30+ years of owning a business. Each one represents a unique business model—itty bitty to gigantic—and I’ve come to treasure them all.
Let me introduce you to my support village.
Family
My husband, Chuck, is the head chef, grocery shopper, and gardener, as well as a highly respected expert in his field. For years, he was the carpool line and soccer “dad” of our three sons while I taught other people’s kids. Yep, I’m incredibly spoiled. Oh, and he’s also my accountant and couch-time business adviser.
Students and Clients
My studio and online offerings would not exist without loyal families, students, colleagues, and fellow teachers. I’m eternally grateful to those who entrust their music-making to me.
Organizations
A recent board meeting and the newly inducted board members.
South Suburban Music Teachers Association.
I’ve been a longtime member of the SSMTA local music teacher association, and just recently plugged back in to the meetings after a long hiatus for reasons I won’t get into now. Reuniting with this community of teachers has been one of the most uplifting experiences in 2025.
Colorado Music Teacher’s Association
Along with jumping into the local scene, I’m now the VP of Teacher Enrichment for our Colorado State Teachers Association, which broadened and deepened friendships throughout Colorado.
Music Teacher’s National Association and Conferences.
Regularly attending and presenting at national conferences opened the floodgates to friends and networks around the globe, which have transformed my business. Specific names are listed a bit later.
Big-Name Subscriptions
If I can shop local and brick-and-mortar, I do. But in this day and age, I’ve come to rely on these mega online tools, which, by the way, were long ago startups by small business owners with a dream.
Amazon = need I explain?
Quicken = for bookkeeping and taxes.
Loom = to create quick instructional videos easily shareable with a link that saves oodles of time.
Canva = a graphic design “rabbit hole” where I generate the majority of my content for my studio and LeilaViss.com
Dropbox = where I used to store most of my content, but now houses digital sheet music.
Google Drive = where I organize the majority of my content and where I share and access files with colleagues.
Google Workspace = an inbox and email address for my business.
Grammarly = sentence structure and punctuation in my blog posts have been dramatically improved by this AI writing partner.
iCloud = invisible storage that syncs between all my Apple devices.
Podbean = the platform that hosts my Key Ideas podcast.
Practice Space = how I organize and deliver multi-media lesson assignments and communicate with students between lessons.
Spotify = if I’m not talking to a human while walking, I’m listening to an audiobook, podcast or music on this streaming platform.
Squarespace = my blog, store, and studio information housed at LeilaViss.com is hosted on this platform.
Vimeo = a place to store videos for Jumpstarts for Space to Create and other content I wish to protect.
YouTube = since I use YouTube with my students so frequently, I subscribe to YouTube Premium so the videos are ad-free. It’s also where I store performance playlists of all my students.
Zoom = for streaming and recording free workshops, Composiums and Live Trainings within Space to Create.
Music-Related Subscriptions
Chordify = instant chord charts and audio for just about any pop tune.
Hook Theory = top chord progressions and a database of chord progression trends.
My Music Staff = my top assistant for lesson scheduling and invoicing.
Noteflight = a notation platform for my students and my own compositions.
Piano Maestro = one of the first apps to boost sight reading skills with instant feedback.
Sproutbeat = a vast library of worksheets and games for Off-Bench time
Sheet Music Direct = an enormous library of sheet music available to view from a device or print for a small fee.
[Sheesh….are all of these really necessary to teach someone piano?
No, but they certainly helped me scale my business.
If asked to eliminate a few NOW, I’d be hard pressed to shed any of them.]
Friends and Colleagues
Being your own boss has some perks–you call the shots. Yet, collaborating with friends and other small-business owners enriches your experiences and deepens your skills. [These dear peeps are listed in no certain order and I decided to include no photos because who would I choose? They all mean the world to me!]
Bradley Sowash With Bradley Sowash, I co-founded 88 Creative Keys, which provided online clinics and workshops devoted to teaching teachers how to teach improvisation and composition at the keys. Although still close friends, we “closed the doors” to 88 Creative Keys and still see the positive ripple effects our workshops have had on teachers and their students.
Wendy Stevens of Compose Create encouraged me to continue blogging AND open a store with resources. I can never thank her enough for her sage advice and generous spirit, which nudged me to expand.
Tim Topham and I joined the blogging scene around the same time, and we share the same mindset about teaching pop music and composing. Being a podcast guest several times has been a privilege, and I count him as a longtime friend.
Debra Perez is a pioneer pedagogue in the recreational music-making arena. Her friendhsip and work has inspired me for decades, and I adore her Musical Moments series.
Janna Carlson of Studio Rocket Webdesign migrated my decades-worth of blogs and resources to Squarespace and has schooled me on how to use the platform. CSMTA just hired her to revamp their online presence.
Andrea West designs gorgeous graphics to elevate recital programs, binders and social media posts. What fun to see her teaching resources become just as popular as her graphics at LeilaViss.com.
Dorla Aparicio began selling her summer camps years ago at LeilaViss.com. Her rockstar plans guarantee that kids will come back for more.
Paul Myatt has frequently invited me to participate in his course offerings. Every time I do, I learn more about his brilliant whole-body learning.
Chee-Hwa Tan trusted me enough to lead her piano prep program at the University of Denver. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up and one I had to give up after a life-changing incident.
Marie Lee needed a new home for Group IlluminatED, and so her conference on demand for group piano teachers is now housed at LeilaViss.com. I’ve enjoyed making room for this unique new way to conference.
Samantha Coates and I became fast friends when we met at the MTNA Conference in Baltimore. Through the years, we’ve enjoyed sharing webinars on all the best pedagogy topics imaginable. Come to our “unmasterclass” session on Saturday morning at the NCKP Conference this summer!
Available at Amazon or ask your local bookstore to carry it!
Sara Campbell helped me take courage and develop my membership Space to Create. For the past year, Sara has been my sounding (and venting!) board and a stellar coach for my biz, website, and marketing.
Nicola Canton seems to be an eternal fountain of youth, bubbling with a prolific collection of forward-thinking resources. Don’t miss her Teacher Turboboost in June.
Gail Fallen and Melissa Martin were essential to the publication of our family’s book, Found in the Wake.
We couldn’t have asked for a better team to let our darkest moments shine.
A few last thoughts
Every one of these humans propelled my business forward. Some have walked me through incredibly dark valleys and bright peaks.
I know each business owner listed above has had highs and lows of their own.
Have you ever had a rough patch personally or physically?
Have you ever made mistakes along the way?
Yep, me, too.
Do we call out and “fire” our students when they make a mistake in a recital performance?
I sure hope not.
It’s our job to remind them of how they glossed over the glitch to play a stunning amount of right notes at the right time!
Mistakes are information. They shape us but never define us.
So here’s one more reminder: As one business owner to another, let’s lift each other up!
Find the good, be honest when we need to, and remember…
Behind every face–every business owner– there is a secret sorrow, a diagnosis, a family crisis, a flooded home…
In an UNCERTAIN world, let’s be CERTAIN about how we respect and show up for our fellow small business owners.
“The greatest thing a person does is to take the lessons of life, the hard knocks of life,
the surprises of life, and the mundane realities of life, and refine their own consciousness
so that they can gradually come to see the world with more
understanding, more wisdom, more humanity, and more grace.”
― David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
Thank YOU for being part of my village of support over these past 30 years.
What tools and humans would you give a shout-out to during Small Business Month?
Please share in the comments.
