Argh!

I swear, I am THIS close to bagging this whole "I'm a piano teacher/running my own buisness" thing. If I have one more family tell me that they're not sure if they're continuing or not I'm going to go insane. My studio is barely hanging on as it is. I've advertised, put the word out via word of mouth, I'm on teacher referral lists of all manner.... I'm friends with a million moms, the problem is none of them have kids old enough to take lessons. And very few of my current students have siblings or friends of the age where they're wanting to start lessons. Most of my students are middle school/high school.... you know, the point at which they start dropping like flies. And that's exactly what my students are doing. I've lost 3 students at the end of the fall semester, possibly another one is going at the end of January, and 2 other long time students are going to every other week lessons. I'm so frustrated. I've not gotten one single solitary call from an interested new student since OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!! I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do. What's crazy is that I have awesome babysitters to watch the kiddos while I teach. The only problem is that I can't afford to keep them if I don't have anyone to teach. I attribute this paucity of students to the economy. But perhaps its just the cycle of one's teaching career. You go through boom and bust cycles just like any other. I'm trying to ride it out and take joy in teaching the few that I have. Because they are committed, bright and generally wonderful to teach. But, when you've got 2 other little people demanding so much of your time, your energy, and your soul every single day, there is a point where you have to ask yourself "Is it worth it?"

I love teaching piano. I never thought I'd be 10 years into my career and asking "Where have the students gone?" I know I've kind of killed my word of mouth momentum by the fact that I took two sabbaticals to have kids, in quick succession. But, I thought "Hey, there's always a wealth of young kids looking to take piano" I thought, with my close proximity to 2 neighborhood elementaries, plus the hordes of young families in Circle C, there would always be budding pianists knocking at my door. I have connections with home schoolers, evangelical Christians, Montessori school families, the Chinese community, and the Catholic church. My luck has got to improve at some point, right??