Harmonizing Business and Passion | Andrea Miller

PROFITABLE TALKS...

In this episode of the Profitable Creative, host Christian Brim speaks with Andrea Miller, a music educator and business coach, about her journey in the music industry and the importance of financial literacy for music teachers. They discuss the challenges of starting a music studio, the transition to coaching, and the significance of understanding financial management through tools like Profit First. Andrea emphasizes the need for community support and accountability in overcoming personal and professional obstacles, encouraging listeners to seek help and make proactive changes in their businesses.

PROFITABLE TAKEAWAYS...

• Andrea Miller emphasizes the importance of financial literacy for music teachers.
• Starting a music studio can be challenging but rewarding.
• Community support is crucial for business growth.
• Profit First is a valuable tool for managing finances.
• Regular financial insights help business owners make informed decisions.
• Behavior change is essential for effective financial management.
• Music teachers often lack access to practical business advice.
• Accountability can help overcome personal and professional obstacles.
• Networking with other entrepreneurs can provide inspiration and motivation.
• It's important to seek help and not stay stuck in your business.

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Transcript

Christian Brim (00:02.316)
Welcome to another episode of the Profitable Creative, the only place on the interwebs where you will learn how to turn your passion into profit. I am your host, Christian Brim. Special shout out to our one listener in Tokyo, Japan, Domo Arigato. That is the extent of my Japanese. But welcome, thank you for listening. Joining me today is Andrea Miller of Studio Startup.

I screwed that up. I'm sorry. Give it to me again and I'll say it again.

Andrea Miller (00:32.77)
Yeah, music studio startup.

Christian Brim (00:37.684)
Joining me today is Andrea Miller of Music Studio Startup. Welcome to the show Andrea.

Andrea Miller (00:45.198)
Great to be here. Thanks so much.

Christian Brim (00:47.286)
Well, I'm glad to have you. I got connected to you from one of our mutual clients, client of yours, client of mine, who owns a piano music studio. And she said, you need to check out Andrea. And then I go to Andrea's website and she has a coaching cohort for, and she's going to explain it. I'm just repeating what she's going to say, for music studios. And then I see on her website that she also does accounting.

I'm fascinated. Now I really want to talk to her. So Andrea, I've done a poor job of explaining what you do. Why don't you tell us what you do?

Andrea Miller (01:18.305)
Yeah.

Andrea Miller (01:26.572)
Yeah, yeah, thank you. So I work with music teachers and music teachers who want to make a living teaching music, whether that's as a solo independent teacher or as a multi-teacher studio owner. And I tend to gravitate toward the finance and accounting and tax side of things, although I'm not officially an accountant. I just say I'm a nerd about such things. And I partner with people who have the credentials. But yeah, I love...

I love talking about money actually and breaking that down for music teachers especially. I have been a music teacher since I was in high school and I just see it's a place where money conversations, people take themselves out of the conversation before they've even given it a chance. And I think that's not necessary. So try to break down those doors.

Christian Brim (02:10.52)
Mmm.

Christian Brim (02:18.296)
No, well you you've come to the right place and now that you said that you said you're a self-professed nerd. I remember I signed the copy of my book that way to you. Yes, which some people might be offended by being called a nerd. Not, not Andrea and I were fine with that. Now, but I want to break down the music studio startup, but tell us how you got there.

Andrea Miller (02:29.494)
Yeah, I chuckled when I opened it,

Andrea Miller (02:48.984)
Sure, yeah. So like I said, I have been a music teacher since I was in high school. I studied entrepreneurship and piano performance, knowing that I wanted both music and business to be part of my life. And then after I graduated, I graduated in 09, a great year to start a business and start a career. But I started a multi...

Christian Brim (03:08.888)
For those younger in the audience, that was right after the financial crisis of 2008. It was shit, but you know, yeah.

Andrea Miller (03:13.966)
It was kind of the worst time. I kind of see it as a blessing in disguise though, because I didn't know any better. I just knew the cards that were dealt to me and what I had to deal with. And actually through that time, I found my music teaching was a very reliable source of income. And my music teacher, my piano teacher was saying that all her piano majors who graduated that year were buying houses. And because they had their paycheck coming from 35 different families often,

Christian Brim (03:30.989)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (03:42.71)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (03:43.087)
So they weren't losing all their income overnight when a job, you know loss happened. So I don't know what it would have been like to have launched the business two years earlier. I don't know if I actually said this. I started a multi-teacher studio right after I graduated. I don't know what it would have been like two years earlier to launch it. Maybe the enrollment would have been doubled. I don't know, but it was fine. So that was kind of how I got my start. And then

Christian Brim (03:48.802)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (04:01.228)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (04:12.595)
I ended up getting married and my husband's job moved us to Maryland. had been in St. Louis and music schools don't travel well.

Christian Brim (04:20.728)
Now was that a was that an improvement? I've never lived in St. Louis. I've been to St. Louis. I've been to Maryland. It depends on where in Maryland. So was it an improvement?

Andrea Miller (04:30.168)
Well, I was about halfway between DC and Baltimore, kind of in a DC suburb. And I love St. Louis. I have moved back to St. Louis. I live in the city. It's great. It's affordable. I love it. I'm like the biggest St. Louis fangirl. So I liked the region in Maryland. It was fun for doing. If you had a weekend, you could do a lot of fun things. But I found it challenging if you had a surprise. Wednesday night, that was free. It was hard to.

Christian Brim (04:35.18)
Okay.

Andrea Miller (04:59.01)
hard to do anything with that DC traffic.

Christian Brim (05:01.72)
Fair enough. Okay. So you're, you're in, you're in Baltimore, not Baltimore. You're in Maryland now. You have to start over.

Andrea Miller (05:09.01)
And Maryland starting over. Yeah. And it was a hard move for me. So I wasn't eager to just start another multi-teacher studio, not knowing if I was going to be disrupted again. I wasn't really planning on getting married. So all of that kind of was a disruptive season. Pleasantly surprised, but yeah. So I didn't know if we'd be there for four years, if we'd be there for 40 years, but I didn't want to.

get four years into a business again and then not have a choice about whether or not I passed it off to someone, which is what happened with my original studio.

Christian Brim (05:45.272)
Well that was my question. So did you sell it?

Andrea Miller (05:47.823)
Yeah, I ended up just passing it off to someone and I tell people I don't think I got great advice in that transition. talked, I gave it away. I gave it away.

Christian Brim (05:57.57)
You gave it away Okay, that's not no no I wouldn't be the optimal advice, but go ahead sorry

Andrea Miller (06:04.532)
Yeah, so I was, you know, in my 20s and I talked to another small business owner who had been involved in several businesses and I think he knew small businesses generally, but I don't think he knew music studios and kind of the culture there and I don't think there's a ton of precedent for selling music studios, which actually that's kind of...

fueled some of my career is like making precedent for that kind of thing and just professionalizing studios. It is very common for music or piano tuners to sell their book of business when they retire. So it's not completely outside of, you know, the reality. But yeah, I don't think there has been or at that time a lot of precedent for it. I think there's getting to be more. I don't think I got great advice. I think I could have sold it.

Christian Brim (06:32.013)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (06:36.482)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (06:42.881)
Yes.

Christian Brim (07:00.18)
Absolutely, you could have.

Andrea Miller (07:00.392)
And so, so yeah, I, I advise people differently, but, but that's what I did when I was 27 and, and then moved to Maryland and kind of started, I, I decided I would go more into the business side then. And I started working with some startups and solo entrepreneurs and loved, loved doing that. I made a good first hire or like a contractor because I had worn so many hats and

could treat their business like an owner would treat a business. So that was super fun. But then I was going home, I did have a private studio at that time. And then I just decided, you know what, I love what I'm doing with these solo entrepreneurs or startups, but I want to do it for music teachers because they have all the same questions. And I felt at that time kind of under-resourced on real business practices.

Christian Brim (07:29.921)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (07:49.023)
Mm-hmm

Andrea Miller (07:57.475)
You're an accountant, there's makeshift accounting practices and then there's like GAP. And I didn't feel like music teachers were always getting the best advice on.

Christian Brim (08:09.504)
Wait a second, let me clarify. You didn't force GAP on these poor piano teachers, did you?

Andrea Miller (08:13.646)
No, but I found them kind of struggling to implement maybe haphazard advice when they were facing problems that were pretty well solved in the general business world. And they weren't complicated in the business world and they were maybe being overly complicated. They were new to them. Yeah, yeah.

Christian Brim (08:30.712)
Yeah.

Christian Brim (08:37.656)
They were new to them. Yeah. Now for the audience gap is generally accepted accounting principles. That's the accounting standard in the United States. virtually no small business uses gap. As a matter of fact, I had a client, a fairly large climbing. They were doing like $50 million in revenue. And they said, we want gap. We want to do gap because we're thinking about, you know, potentially selling. I looked at them because they were literally still running their

$50 million company on, on QuickBooks. said, you, you need timely, accurate financial information just on an accrual basis. We're not even going to touch gap. Like, I mean, but it's funny because it kind of speaks to this general idea of people speak out of, out of a lack of knowledge and, and, and someone had told him that he needed gap financials. And so he's like, yeah, I want that. And I'm like, dude, you don't even know that you don't have, you don't have

Andrea Miller (09:30.04)
Mm-mm.

Christian Brim (09:35.618)
good financial information just at its foundation. Like we're talking about, you know, building a skyscraper and you haven't even dug the foundation here. Yeah, so.

Andrea Miller (09:47.119)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I just found that music teachers were, yeah, I thought they could be getting better, better insights into business practices that were commonplace in other businesses and industries.

Christian Brim (10:01.783)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (10:06.752)
Yeah. And I think my experience, one of the reasons why I started this show was that creative entrepreneurs, however you wanted to find them, have a tendency to avoid processes. They don't necessarily like to think linearly, not that they can't, but they just don't, that's just not how they function. But you know, the reality is that if you're going to have a sustainable, profitable business, you have to bring some of those things in.

whether you want to or not, it's something you have to deal with. So in launching this and bringing this to your fellow creatives, what was the response? I did you have to kind of convince them that there was a need or was there definitely like, God, you've got exactly what I want?

Andrea Miller (10:59.758)
Well, yeah, I think there was a need and kind of a relief like, someone's finally talking about this. I liken it to learning to read music versus playing by ear. And can you have a fulfilling musical life and only play by ear? Absolutely. You can go your whole life and just enjoy playing by ear. But you might encounter a ceiling and you're trying to communicate with some other musician. And if you're not speaking the common language of written music,

Christian Brim (11:09.196)
Mmm.

Christian Brim (11:23.392)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (11:28.534)
And it's really hard to do that. And I think I was, I was speaking to that teacher who was like, I am at my limit. I, I'm doing this thing. Like I've got this spreadsheet thing that I've concocted to track my finances. Let's say, mean, there many systems that teachers implement, but let's say it's finances. And now I need to apply for a bank loan because I'm expanding. I've been very successful and I want to expand. And I don't have the language of business or finance to go and do that. And.

Christian Brim (11:30.924)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (11:54.773)
Hmm.

Andrea Miller (11:58.763)
So it wasn't cutting it anymore for them to just like do the thing they'd concocted, even if it got them that far, like it wasn't going to get them that next step. So I think they were hungry for that like real, real information and also everyone faces taxes and wanted to be set up for that.

Christian Brim (12:05.675)
Right.

Christian Brim (12:15.82)
Well, I love that you use the analogy of a language because I've often said that accounting and finances is a language. It's the language of business. every business has a story to tell in their finances. It's just how you standardize the story so it's not random that anybody can read it. Right? So I love that analogy because it's one that I use. I love it.

so were, most of the people coming for, like, was that their, their bleeding neck was the finances or was it something else that they came to you normally for?

Andrea Miller (12:57.87)
Sometimes it was they were struggling to get students and they needed marketing help. But I think my sweet spot is that making sense of their financial situation. And there's a lot of flavors to that question. Like usually people will come and they're like, I'm stressed about money. You know, I feel stressed over the situation, but often they haven't identified like what exactly it is. And it might be, I'm doing great. I just don't know if I can actually afford to spend money.

Christian Brim (13:18.424)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (13:26.302)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (13:27.554)
because they might have that insecurity about spending. Or it might be, I'm not making enough, I'm afraid to raise my rates. And in that case, it's some coaching around, really you can. So yeah, it was a lot of different things. Some of it, it definitely touches on the personal finance side of things, but also that leads into business.

Christian Brim (13:37.708)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (13:52.554)
Yeah, I think the thing that most business owners missed with finances is they're strictly looking at it from a have to compliance standpoint. You mentioned taxes. Everybody's got to file taxes. And so when most business owners think in terms of accounting, that's what they're thinking. I've got to get my finances in order for taxes, or maybe if they're real...

Andrea Miller (14:06.36)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Christian Brim (14:21.288)
into not intuitive. They're really savvy. They might like, well, I want someone to help me with my tax planning, like, you know, forward thinking to lower their taxes. But I think they're missing the boat there, because I think the most powerful use of accounting is to tell you the story of the business so that you know the answers to those questions that you have as a business owner, for instance, can I afford to expand? Can I what happens if I raise my rates? Can I expand?

Andrea Miller (14:27.885)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (14:51.306)
You know, those are questions that accounting, although it's historical information, you have the story of what's actually happened in the business to help you make those decisions. it just, blows me away how many business owners just leave that information on the table. It's like, we've got it for you. Like, let me help you use it. And it's like, I'll just kind of still do it by gut or something.

Andrea Miller (15:05.368)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (15:20.909)
I don't know.

Andrea Miller (15:21.774)
Yeah. And I understand like business owners, especially small business owners. And if they're a solo entrepreneur, like you're busy, you've got a lot of things commanding your attention. Um, and, and it, but it's so worth it because people do get those insights at tax time. You know, finally you get everything in order so you can send it over to your tax preparer. And often, I'm sure you get this all the time. Like people are like, Oh, I finally know how profitable I was last year. And like, Oh, I want you to know that.

Christian Brim (15:30.423)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (15:49.143)
Right.

Andrea Miller (15:51.595)
at least every month, but maybe weekly, or at least be able to pretty quickly get to that information. because then you can make decisions from it. And it makes sense if you're exposing yourself because it's a language, if you're only exposing yourself to it once a year, you're just, you're not gonna be familiar. Yeah.

Christian Brim (16:11.234)
You're not going to get very proficient, right? Yeah, no, no. it's like I turn on Telemundo once a year and watch the world cup. I'm not going to get very good at Spanish. So, but, you know, I think that's what really I have come to love about profit first is this idea of how much money did I make? Well, the answer is always there. Right.

And, and even if you have an accountant, you may not know that information until they're done with the month close and they send you financial information, right? And you're in arrears on that information. But with profit first layered on top of it, do you have instant information via, via your bank bank, via bank account, via the process that you know exactly how much profit you've made and that's powerful information.

Andrea Miller (16:50.222)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (17:05.239)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (17:08.64)
Yeah, for sure, for sure. And once you're getting that regularly, you can make decisions from that and you're making decisions from a really strong place instead of like, well, I hope this works. Can you tell me more about how you lay your profit first over the accounting that you do?

Christian Brim (17:15.704)
Mm

Christian Brim (17:26.24)
Well, I would love to. This was not a plant. I swear to God, I did not send her questions. Yes, absolutely. As long as it makes me look good. So that's a great question because we find people that come to us that are looking for a profit first professional because they read the book and they want to implement it.

Andrea Miller (17:31.178)
Sorry, am I allowed to hijack the interview? Okay.

Christian Brim (17:51.808)
And they go to their accountants and they're either not familiar with it, or sometimes they're like resistant. They're like, you don't, you don't need to do that. You don't want to do it. But I think it's because it's a fundamental misunderstanding from accountants about what profit first is. Profit first is not a replacement for an accountant. Profit first is the cash management tool that you as the business owner use, right? You don't have to use an accountant to use profit first. You don't have to understand accounting to do profit first.

Andrea Miller (17:57.23)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (18:21.88)
I highly recommend that you do engage an accountant while using ProfitFirst, but they're really independent of each other, right? And so a lot of our clients, you know, when we outline what's involved to implement ProfitFirst, you know, I'd say at least half of our clients say, yeah, that's not for me. And so we don't force them to use ProfitFirst. If you don't want to do it, that's totally fine.

Andrea Miller (18:30.872)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (18:48.874)
But you know, it's really not that much. think some people just get overwhelmed with the implementation, even though we help them do it, do a lot of it for them. And I think what it comes down to, to be honest with you, is that the Profit First is a process, it's a tool, but it doesn't work if you don't change your behavior, right?

Andrea Miller (19:17.528)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (19:17.976)
And really that's what they're resisting. They're resisting having some structure and accountability to how they spend money. just a brief example is, InProfit First, you're familiar with it, right? Okay, yeah, I thought so. So, InProfit, for the listeners, InProfit First, you take your money into a staging account, a deposit account, and then you allocate

Andrea Miller (19:27.585)
Mmm.

Andrea Miller (19:37.623)
Yeah, yeah.

Christian Brim (19:47.5)
that money to accounts based upon where it's going to be spent with intention. So you're going to set aside profit first. That's a great name. And essentially, there are other accounts. But essentially, after you set aside your profit, and you set aside your taxes and your pay, then what's left over is what there is to spend. OK, if you do that, and then at the end of the month when you're running short,

Andrea Miller (19:56.11)
Hehehe.

Christian Brim (20:13.75)
you go ahead and move the money back from your profit account and spend it anyway, well, you've defeated the purpose, right? And so that's what I think they resist more, is the change of their own behavior than it is the structure itself. I don't know if that answered your question.

Andrea Miller (20:21.112)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (20:29.494)
Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. So you would treat profit first. It's almost like the budget. Like this is how you're allocating into these categories, right? Is that do you use that kind of language to talk about it?

Christian Brim (20:41.398)
I don't like the word budget and I'll tell you why. Because budgets, here's people's experience with budgets, right? They have a personal budget, maybe. They have a New Year's resolution. I'm going to be more intentional about how I spend my money. And so I get all prepared and I say, is what I'm gonna do for the year. And then February, the wheels fall off. And so then they just, the whole thing collapses, right?

Andrea Miller (20:44.247)
Okay.

Andrea Miller (21:06.69)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (21:10.992)
And so they go off the rails. Well, the budget was designed for a larger entity to delegate spending authority, right? And so like in our company, we have a couple of line items that we have budgets for, right? And all that means is, is this is what we have anticipated to spend, what we're willing to spend, and you...

Employee have the authority to suspend it So so it's a it's a control process. It's a control mechanism the problem with an Individual is and this is the same thing with profit first is that if you're the one that's responsible for it and have authority of it Who's going to hold you accountable to it? Right if I don't if I want to go ahead and spend that money I'm going to spend that money and there's there's nothing a budget or profit first or anything can do about it. So

Andrea Miller (21:42.232)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (22:04.078)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (22:08.916)
We use, we use forecasts and that may seem like a nuance, but a forecast is continually updated. We like to use 12 month rolling forecasts where we're looking at the next 12 months. But the difference in that and a budget as a management tool is that like, if you set out a budget as a business and you say that we're going to grow this much over the course of the year,

Andrea Miller (22:22.584)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (22:38.942)
and you're going to add this many customers or this many clients and then that doesn't materialize, then you end up with a budget that's useless because the numbers that you started with don't make any sense anymore. So the forecast, the rolling 12 forecast goes off of actual from the prior month. you're not, you're never, you're never having to scrap the budget because it is no longer based in reality, right?

Andrea Miller (23:06.936)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (23:08.888)
And I find that a much more useful tool to help business owners make decisions and it gives them great feedback. So like in that example of we're projecting to grow and so we have this revenue number in our forecast for next month and the next month shows up and you didn't meet that number. Okay, it doesn't mean you add on to it for the next month because you never got the original growth.

But it's a trigger also to say, what didn't work, right? We spent this money, we did these things to generate the revenue and it didn't happen. Okay, so if we're gonna update our forecast, we need to understand what went wrong, what went right, so that we can update it and make it more accurate, right? So that's why we prefer the forecasts.

Andrea Miller (23:54.818)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (23:58.785)
Okay, so you talk about forecasting out into the future and then for profit first, it sounds like that's how you want people to manage their cash. Like as it comes in, it immediately gets distributed. And so if you're out of money in the whatever utilities account, then you're pausing and saying, do I need to turn down the air conditioner because it's not so hot anymore? Like you're wanting it to be that

Christian Brim (24:11.031)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (24:28.01)
Yes. We, well, yes, we don't get that granularly granular usually, and most of our clients don't. We usually have one or two expense accounts that things are paid out of, but it's absolutely, it is the trigger and we we've experienced it in our business. Right. And, we've, I've seen everybody that implemented profit first have that situation where they run out of money. Right. And it's like, shit, what do I do? But it,

Andrea Miller (24:28.728)
that trigger for them to.

Sure.

Andrea Miller (24:52.344)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (24:57.314)
forces you to stop and ask the question. Now you can blow right through that question, you can transfer the money, and you can keep spending and nothing's going to change. But what it does is it gives you the structure to ask the question, well why did I have to transfer money? What happened? Because something did not happen the way I planned it.

Andrea Miller (25:12.44)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (25:17.666)
Yeah, I tell my clients so often, it's so much of accountability and just reviewing is about like honesty and honesty with yourself. And if it happens one month, sure, there are surprises, like that's fine. If it's happening month after month after month, that's when you really need to get honest and be like, okay, this wasn't a fluke, it wasn't just a surprise, this is maybe an ongoing thing and how am I gonna reconcile that? But such a great position to be in.

Christian Brim (25:23.778)
Yes.

Christian Brim (25:27.871)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (25:45.583)
when you can do it proactively, you know, on the front end, it's not like you're waiting until April 15th and discovering, oh, I overspent by 20 % in that category. You you can see it in April, May, and June of the year as it's going along.

Christian Brim (25:57.28)
Yeah, and most businesses, I mean, even before we wrote Profit First for Creatives and we started working with creatives specifically, there were three questions that every business owner asks their accountant. They ask, how much money did I make? How much taxes do I own it? And where did the money go? Right? Because

invariably, you're going to end up with a tax bill. That's a surprise. One and two, this question of how did I, wait a second. You said I made how much money? Like, where did it go? Right. and, and, and it sounds very pedantic. It sounds very simple, but these are the needs that business owners have. And the, the short answer is that there is a solution. You don't have to run your business that way.

Andrea Miller (26:38.222)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (26:55.968)
You, there is an alternative. but you have to be willing to change your mindset around money. You, starts with you. It starts and ends with you as the business owner, because you pick up the tool that's a hammer and you try to drive a screw. It's not going to work. Right.

Andrea Miller (27:05.55)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (27:14.958)
Yeah, right. Yeah, it always comes back to you as a business owner, for better or worse. Yeah.

Christian Brim (27:19.626)
Absolutely, absolutely. So I'm curious, know, non-financial things, what are the things that you find that your clients struggle most with? You mentioned a couple of things, marketing, pricing, like what, are those the most common?

Andrea Miller (27:40.783)
Those are probably some of the questions that prompt people to come talk to me. One thing that we talk about, this goes back to that accountability and like, are things getting done? In my alternate life, I'm also a, I've been a director of operations and chief of staff for a couple of companies. And I always say my superpower is annoying people to get things done, like so that they rise to what they want to do, accomplish themselves.

Christian Brim (27:45.74)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (28:08.486)
but not annoying them so much that they shut down. So just like helping people keep moving in their business, everyone's got goals and I want to see them accomplish those goals. And so I have masterminds and we have small cohorts of people who meet weekly or do an online check-in and it's just that setting quarterly goals, saying every week what's on your plan for that week and then checking in.

Christian Brim (28:11.17)
Yes.

Andrea Miller (28:37.324)
the following week and seeing whether you're on track or off track on those things. And it's just, yeah, that check-in, it's that honesty with yourself. Like, I not making progress on this because I truly was swamped, my mom was in the hospital and my car broke down and like legit life happened? Or am I not making progress because I'm scared about something and I need to face that? And so, yeah, a lot of that, just helping people.

Christian Brim (29:01.803)
Yes.

Andrea Miller (29:07.862)
stay out their own ways, move forward, get help as soon as, know, have someone else have eyes into your business. Cause that's really hard as a solo entrepreneur. You know your business so well, but you can spend a lot of time in your head. I mean, I find myself in the same place where I'm just like spinning on something in my head. And sometimes you don't realize like, I've been spinning on this for three months and not done anything about it. And when you're, speaking those things, three years, lifetimes.

Christian Brim (29:09.505)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (29:20.375)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (29:30.52)
Three months, try three years.

Andrea Miller (29:34.551)
Yeah, you can really lose track of how long you've been stuck on something and when you're setting your goals, speaking them to other people. And I think our groups are amazing because they're so kind and encouraging. It's never about like, you didn't finish that. It's just like, hey, what's going on here? Are you stuck? Can we help you get unstuck? Is there a resource you need? Do you need to talk this through with someone? Just to, yeah, keep us.

keeps all out of our own ways.

Christian Brim (30:04.856)
I love that and I think it speaks to the need that all business owners have, which is a community. I think we all can get real isolated and siloed in our own business and it can become a very lonely and scary place. it can be a formal structure like a mastermind or cohort.

Andrea Miller (30:11.618)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (30:31.316)
It can be a one-on-one with a business coach. It could be, you know, for me, my initial support network was joining entrepreneurs organization. you know, so, so it can, it can come in many forms. but it really, it starts with you wanting it to be different, right? Like you, you are tired of making excuses for yourself.

Andrea Miller (30:54.296)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (30:59.448)
Or you're tired of the situation that you're in as a business owner and you're just like, I'm done with it. And I understand the human psyche that, you know, people will resist change because even in a situation where they don't like it, because they're afraid of the unknown, they're afraid of the change and that fear of the change is stronger than the

Andrea Miller (31:21.763)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (31:28.918)
the pain that they're currently in, right? But, you know, the reality is the change is usually not that hard. I mean, like the fear is unfounded and there really is a better life once you get past it, right? So I would encourage anybody listening, like if you're not happy with the situation that you're in, don't settle, don't, don't, don't, and it doesn't have to be core.

Andrea Miller (31:30.754)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (31:45.166)
Truly. Yeah.

Andrea Miller (31:55.17)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (31:58.528)
It doesn't have to be Andrea if you happen to run a music studio, but find somebody that can help guide you and walk you through that process because you don't have to be satisfied with the situation.

Andrea Miller (32:01.742)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (32:14.378)
Mm hmm. Yeah. And to follow someone else's progress too. I mean, usually teachers are thinking about a change they want in their their own lives or studio. But another thing that they're experiencing when they're in some kind of community, whether it's core, I was in Vistage and different things, you're seeing other people make decisions, seeing how they process that and the outcomes. And so you kind of get to live vicariously through other people. You're not just seeing outcomes, you're seeing the whole whole path.

Christian Brim (32:28.119)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (32:31.725)
Yes.

Christian Brim (32:38.103)
Yes.

Andrea Miller (32:43.366)
And I think, I mean, every day I see teachers assured like, this teacher did that hard thing. She survived. Maybe I can too. And just like it all becomes more normal. Cause the fact is there are business owners every day making these decisions behind the scenes. You're just not seeing it. You're seeing their outcomes and their successes. but, but there's a path behind every one of those and yeah, just catching a glimpse into it. And yeah.

Christian Brim (32:51.168)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Christian Brim (33:06.359)
Mm-hmm.

Christian Brim (33:10.2)
Yeah, I 100 % agree with you. Two things about what you just said. One is you do learn from watching others, absolutely. And you understand that like, oh, I'm not abnormal. I'm like everybody, you know, these other people are going through the same shit, right? And they're having the same feelings, which is the first point. The second point is it is inspiring, right? Like,

Andrea Miller (33:26.678)
Yeah, right.

Christian Brim (33:36.904)
In entrepreneurs organization, I remember the first time that I was asked to be on our local chapters board and I'm sitting around looking at the other seven or eight entrepreneurs on this board. And I was like, I am an absolute pissant. Like these people are so much more successful than I am. it, and, and I didn't feel belittled. mean, they didn't, they in no way were belittling me, but I was just, it was, I was just struck like, holy shit. What is possible?

Right? Like I'm not limited the way I think I am in my brain.

Andrea Miller (34:06.03)
Mm-hmm.

Andrea Miller (34:10.946)
Yeah, yeah. It's such a, without, like so many things with entrepreneurship, you unless you make that decision to reach out or seek out something, like you will just stay stuck. It is limited by you as the business owner to, yeah. Get it going. Yeah.

Christian Brim (34:28.152)
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Andrea, how do folks find out more about Music Studio Startup? I remembered it, didn't I? That was correct, okay. And what you got going over there?

Andrea Miller (34:42.53)
Yeah, that's it.

Yeah, well, probably the best way to get to know me is through the podcast, which is music studio startup. And you can find that anywhere you listen to podcasts. I'm, I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on Instagram most actively, a little bit on YouTube, a little bit on Facebook. and then the website is music studio startup.com. And I do invite people to schedule a 15 minute call with me to just, if they're like help, so send it, send a detailed email and, happy to set up a call.

Christian Brim (35:13.122)
Perfect. Listeners will have those links in the show notes. If you'd like what you heard, please rate the podcast, share the podcast, subscribe to the podcast. If you don't like what you heard, shoot us a message, give us some suggestions and we'll get rid of Andrea. Until then, ta-ta for now.

Andrea Miller (35:28.398)
I'm