Interview with Elizabeth Wight from In Session Studios

Liz bought In Session Studios from its previous owner in her early twenties and has now been running it for 14 years. She leads a team of 4 teachers, plus teaches within the studio herself, covering singing, piano, guitar, ukulele, songwriting, music theory, and performance coaching. Liz found Octavia through a Facebook page and is currently partway through a 6-month pilot of the Studio Plan.

Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and relevance.

Hildy: First of all, tell me a bit about your background — how you came to find yourself running a multi-teacher studio.

Liz: So I was quite young — I was early 20s, and I was actually working for the previous studio owner. She decided to sell it, and I put my hand up and said I wanted to buy it. I was very early 20s, about 22. So it was a big step at that stage, but it felt like the right step, and I went for it. And here we are — 14 years later — and still doing it.

Hildy: So maybe tell me a bit about your studio now — how many teachers, what you teach, how long you've been running it.

Liz: I have 4 teachers working for me, plus I teach within the studio as well. We teach singing, piano, guitar, ukulele, songwriting, music theory, and of course performance coaching on top of all of that. I've been running the school for about 14 years.

Hildy: And what were you using to manage your multi-teacher studio before Octavia?

Liz: It's a bit sad — I was just using Word documents and Dropbox for the other teachers to access those Word documents. They also had Dropbox, and that's how they were accessing them. So it was very, very old school. I hadn't changed a thing in 14 years, and it was definitely time to find something more user friendly and more current and up to date.

Hildy: What did you find most frustrating about running it with those tools?

Liz: Everything felt like I was double and triple doing everything. Whereas now I'm able to log into one system and get everything done on that one platform, rather than opening five Word documents and then potentially also emailing them to teachers as well as putting them on Dropbox. It was chaos.

Hildy: You're 3 months into the 6-month pilot of the program — what were you hoping for before you started?

Liz: I'm a creature of habit, so changing anything is really hard for me — that's just one of my personal issues. So I just wanted to feel comfortable within the program, and having your support has been incredible. When I don't know how to use something, being able to talk to a real person on the other end of an email is just everything to me, because otherwise it's way too overwhelming for me to try new things.

Hildy: And from a business point of view, and from your teaching point of view, what were you hoping for as well?

Liz: A scheduling page that is clear, so you can see all your students really clearly — who's coming in next. And notekeeping for my students, and for that to be really easily accessible, because I find it very hard to remember what I've said to my students from one week to the next when you've got so many students. If I don't have proper notes kept, forget it — I could not tell you what we were doing. Unless I can quickly access those notes in front of me in every class, I'm hopeless. So being able to see those notes on Octavia so clearly, whether it's on my iPad, my laptop, or even my phone, has been really, really helpful.

Hildy: What were the kinds of feelings you had before, when everything was in different places?

Liz: Everything was in different places. I was using my iPad notes for some things, I was using Word documents, trying to make my own templates — but then you're scrolling through 50 pages to find your current page of notes. Everything was just so messy. Both overwhelmed and frustrated, and just hoping to find something user friendly. Which I did.

Hildy: So at 3 months in, how does it generally feel now running your business with Octavia?

Liz: Everything's starting to come together. It's taken me a while to settle into it, but now that I'm in the groove, it's so easy — I actually can't believe how easy it is. I keep going, "Am I doing it properly?" because it's actually that easy, and I doubt myself. I'm loving how simple it is, how quickly I can check students' notes, how quickly I can check and mark their attendance. I love being able to quickly click onto my other teachers and see if all their students have come in by checking their attendance. Everything's just at a glance, really easy.

Hildy: Is there a favourite tool that's changed your life as an admin of the studio?

Liz: My favourite would have to be the makeup lessons, and how you can see them sitting at the top of your page, so you always know at a glance how many makeup lessons you've got owing. That's always something I found really overwhelming, because I had all my makeup lessons written down in another Word document, and I'd always have to go back and check who I owed makeup lessons to. Whereas this is easy — it's just at a glance and I can go, "Oh, I've got 4 makeup lessons owing." As soon as I get a cancellation, I can see if someone wants that spot. I'm not having to go back and forth through different Word documents just to schedule a makeup lesson.

Hildy: What do you think is saving the studio the most time or effort as an admin?

Liz: Definitely the makeup lessons, because it's so much easier. That used to take so much time going back and forth, especially with the other teachers, because I can quickly see their makeup lessons too. They're able to schedule their own makeup lessons now — I'm not always having to do it for them. They can actually do it themselves because it's so easy.

Hildy: Have you needed to use the substitute coverage yet, and how did that go?

Liz: Yes. That was great — the substitute coverage was fantastic. Again, saved so much time, because I'm not having to tell the teacher, "Go onto this thing in Dropbox, you'll be able to see this," and then copying and pasting things here and there. It's just literally subbing it into their schedule that's already there. It's so easy.

Hildy: And how has the bulk scheduler improved your process?

Liz: That has been really good — I love the bulk scheduler. I'm still wrapping my head around Week A and Week B — I need to write that down somewhere so I'm not constantly having to figure out which, because we do a lot of fortnightly classes. So that's probably a me thing, or maybe I just haven't found the right way to figure it out on the calendar.

Hildy: That's not a "you" thing — that's something I can fix for you, by giving you a little button you can click to say what date is Week A and Week B.

Liz: Oh, thank you — I so thought that was a me issue, that I need to just write it down somewhere.

Hildy: No, I struggle with that in my own school as well, to be honest — you have to look up, "Oh, which week are we on now?" It's so annoying.

Liz: Fortnightly's tricky, but people love fortnightly, so you do kind of have to offer it as a school. So the scheduler I love, and I love being able to actually bulk schedule fortnightly classes, because in the past I've had to literally get my phone calendar and write down the fortnightly weeks and figure it out myself. Whereas in Octavia, it does it for you.

Hildy: You mentioned that you'd checked in with your teachers beforehand — what did they say that you want to report?

Liz: Funny enough, a lot of their answers overlapped, which I think is probably a good thing. They all said they're finding it really easy to use, especially keeping track of their lessons — now it's so much easier. Keeping track of students' attendance and lesson notes, and having everything in one place, they are absolutely loving.

One thing they found frustrating, which I believe we have corrected, is in the duo classes — having to mark them as separate attendances, and then not being able to schedule those makeup lessons together. What I've found works for our studio is I've combined any of our duo students into one contact, because they're always attending together anyway. And even if they don't — the parents just send one student because the sibling's sick, so that one can just have a private lesson today and it doesn't matter. That way they don't have random students sitting in the makeup lesson tracker who aren't even owed makeup lessons. So I've figured that out and tidied it up — that was feedback from two of our teachers, who had the exact same issue.

Other than that, they love it. They said they'd genuinely recommend it to other teachers. Other than getting those smaller technical issues ironed out, it makes managing lessons and keeping track of students much easier, so they're really happy. One of the other teachers is a bit funny — he said, "Oh, I'd love to have an actual app on my phone to click on." That was the only thing he said, and otherwise, "I love it." The other three loved it too.

Hildy: Was there anything they brought up that surprised you?

Liz: I was surprised they said it was so easy to use. Because we've been doing it the same way for so long, I was so nervous to roll it out — I thought they just weren't going to like it, that it might be extra admin for them. I didn't know what it was going to look like on their side of things. But they've all said it's so much easier — I'm like, "Damn it, why didn't I just start earlier?"

Hildy: What feature do you think your teachers find themselves using the most?

Liz: Probably the makeup lesson tool — always clicking on that and using it. The notes. And within the notes, for myself, I'm always using the metronome — love the metronome. I know that two of them are mostly using their phone for it, and the others are using their laptop. The ones using laptops are getting the most benefit out of it, but the mobile site is still really good for those who just want to quickly mark attendance and check their makeup lessons. For them, I think it's perfect.

Hildy: Now that you're partway through the pilot, does the studio plan feel like it's paying for itself yet — in time, in ease of running things, or in what it's letting you take on?

Liz: Oh yeah, definitely. It's funny, I keep thinking about the other end of this for us, when we start paying for it — where am I going to be saving in other things? Obviously I won't have to pay for Dropbox anymore, I won't have to pay for other subscriptions I've maybe used in the past, and everything will be combined into the one payment and the one program.

Hildy: If you had to decide today whether you'd continue past the 6 months, which way would you be leaning?

Liz: Oh, definitely, without a doubt. I feel like I've already invested so much into it — there's no way I'd want to stop using it.

Hildy: Is that the only reason — the sunk cost of investing your time in it?

Liz: No, definitely not. Once I hone in on something clearly — I used Word documents for nearly 15 years — once I'm locked into something, it's very hard to change my mind that I want to use anything else. Once I'm set on something, and I know how to use it, and it's easy to use, that's it — I'm locked in.

Hildy: Who would you recommend the studio plan to?

Liz: Any music schools like my own, I would definitely recommend it to. And I wonder if teachers just teaching on their own, who go out to different locations and different schools, might find it useful as well, for time management and for seeing everything in one place.

Hildy: What would you say to a studio owner who's thinking about trying it?

Liz: I would say definitely give it a go, because it's going to save you time in the long run, and it's going to make your life so much easier.

Hildy: And what would you say to someone who thinks they don't have time to onboard a whole team onto it?

Liz: That's exactly how I felt initially, and I was proven wrong. So you've just got to give it a go — once you dive into something like this, yes, it might seem overwhelming initially, but once you dive in, your life's going to be easier on the other end of it.

Hildy: How did you come across Octavia?

Liz: It was recommended to me on a Facebook page.

Hildy: Is there anything as an admin you expected to be able to do but couldn't, or that took longer to find than you expected? And did any of your teachers mention friction points you hadn't run into yourself? Is there anything that would make the second half of the pilot go better?

Liz: The only friction point would be the one I already mentioned, and I hadn't run into it myself — when the teachers brought it up, it was new to me, I hadn't seen it on my end. But it was easily solved, and it wasn't even a big issue.

In terms of things I thought would be good to see that aren't there already — from a studio owner point of view, some sort of waiting list, where you can keep track of inquiries you can't quite place within a class yet, people waiting for placement within the school. I currently keep a Word document for that at the moment, so having that within Octavia would be incredible.

Hildy: We definitely want to get rid of your reliance on Word documents. Already, you can set the status of a student to something like "pending" — let me log in so I can check the exact wording... Yes, there's a trial status, and you'd be able to search by that. But that's at the enrolment level — for someone saying, "I want lessons with teacher X," and you put them on a waitlist for that teacher. You'd then be able to search for those under My Students — the teacher would see their own trial or prospect students, and as an admin you could search across all teachers. So that's already in place. Unless you don't want to attach the trial or prospect status to a specific teacher — is that what you're after?

Liz: Yes, exactly — because usually it's someone who's called and I can't even fit them in for a trial yet, so they don't have a preference of teacher. They're just waiting for any placement.

Hildy: Okay, that makes sense — I'll be able to update the master student list to have its own status field. I need to do that anyway, since you also need to be able to retire students from your studio, which isn't quite in place yet either. So that'll be on my list.

Liz: Love that, love that a lot.

Hildy: Is there anything that would make the second half of the pilot go better?

Liz: I don't think there's anything that could make it go better — I'm so happy with how it's going. Everything I'm currently using is fantastic, and whenever I run into issues, we just chat about it and figure it out. I'm just so happy with how it's going.

Hildy: I really appreciate the detailed feedback you've been giving me along the way. It's really helped to make it a super useful, intuitive and reliable platform for multi-teacher studios. Thank you for investing your time and trust with it!