This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
What if the difference between earning $50 an hour and $120 an hour came down to a single marketing decision? That's exactly what Jake Pasco discovered when he transformed his guitar teaching business with one bold strategy that doubled his rates, more than doubled, in fact, and filled his schedule. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau, your host. Welcome as well to Weekend Workshop.
This is our format helping you learn the key steps to a new hustle in 2025, one step or concept per week. It includes activities, examples, and more, and of course it's all free. Today we're talking about how a music teacher raised his rates to $120 an hour. Most music teachers don't earn that much, but Jake Pasco found a way to do it. So for this particular segment, we're using the book Side Hustle from idea to income in 27 days.
It's available wherever books are sold. And for the first half of the year, we went through those 27 steps. And now in the second half, we're looking at more detailed case studies so you can understand how people apply the framework. Let's get into it. As for Jake, he was already teaching guitar, but like most music teachers, he struggled with some typical challenges.
His rates were stuck around $50 an hour, which seemed reasonable, but didn't reflect the value he provided. He also had to do some extra work that wasn't paid. So he's trying to figure out how can I increase my rate? He also had students canceling, showing up unprepared, and Jake found himself competing primarily on price with other local instructors. The breakthrough came when he realized he was thinking about his service completely wrong.
Instead of positioning himself as just another guitar teacher, because a lot of people play guitar, he decided to become something more specific. In fact, he called himself the provider of the most awesome guitar lessons in the universe. This wasn't just clever wordplay, although it was clever. Jake also understood that his potential students weren't really shopping for guitar lessons in the traditional sense. They were looking for confidence, the ability to impress friends, for the satisfaction of finally playing songs they loved, and basically they wanted transformation, not just instruction.
So much instruction is now available for free, they wanted actual change. Why was this positioning change so important? Well, perhaps three reasons. First, he completely changed how he described his service. Instead of offering standard guitar lessons he was now talking about, I'm offering the most awesome guitar lessons in the universe.
This immediately differentiated him from every other instructor advertising beginner, intermediate, or advanced lessons, which of course is kind of basic, right? And second, he restructured his value proposition around outcomes rather than process. He stopped focusing on scales and theory, and began to emphasize how quickly students would be playing recognizable songs and impressing their friends. His marketing highlighted the emotional payoff of learning guitar, not just the technical aspects of instruction. And lastly, he redesigned his entire student experience to match this premium positioning.
Jake created lesson plans that prioritized enjoyment and quick wins. He focused on teaching students their favorite songs first, then working backward to fill in technical gaps. So basically, Jake chose a premium pricing strategy. He immediately raised his rates to $120 an hour, positioning himself as the premium option in the market, therefore no longer competing on price with all the other instructors. And these results were immediate and dramatic, not only did his hourly rate more than double, but in fact the schedule filled up faster than ever before, which is kind of wild, right?
Like he charges twice as much, more than twice as much, and all of a sudden the schedule is filling up. For more benefit, the students who paid $120 an hour were more committed, more prepared, and more appreciative than those who had paid the lower rate. So basically no downside in this situation, focusing on transformation more than information made all the difference. Let's take a quick break. I'm going to thank our sponsor when we return a bit more about the results, and also how you can apply this to your business or your side hustle idea.
How can you implement a strategy to increase prices, or radically increase prices, let's say? Within months of implementing his new positioning, Jake had completely transformed his teaching business. That hourly rate jumped from $50 to $120, a 140% increase. But as noted, the benefits went far beyond higher prices. These students showed up more consistently, they came better prepared, they practiced more between lessons because they had a bigger investment in their progress.
This created a positive cycle where students progressed faster, led to better testimonials and referrals, which all the more justified the premium pricing. Jake's schedule became fully booked. He no longer had to compete with other instructors on price, at least, because he had positioned himself in an entirely different category. And I should have mentioned as well, Jake also began enjoying his work more. Being highly motivated students was significantly more rewarding than working with price-conscious students who showed up unprepared.
This is how it worked for Jake. What could you do? What is your positioning strategy to your own side hustle? Well, first of all, identify what your customers really want beyond your basic service. Jake's students, or any music students, they're not just like, "Teach me the scales, teach me the theory." They really do want some outcome out of this.
They want growth. They want to go away knowing how to do more than they did before and how this can better their lives, or at least increase their enjoyment and satisfaction. So, consider, are they buying your service or the outcome it provides? Focus on the emotional and social benefits, not just the functional ones. Also create bold, memorable positioning that differentiates you from other providers.
That's what Jake did when he called his lessons, it's somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the most awesome guitar lessons in the universe, it's very memorable. People in that area are like, "Oh, I could just go and have guitar lessons, or I could have beginner or intermediate lessons somewhere, or I can have the most awesome ones." Even if you don't end up paying the $120 rate, you remember that, so that's very important. Next, restructure your service delivery to match your premium positioning. Obviously, if you're making a bold claim and you're charging a premium price, you need to exceed standard expectations, but there are lots of different ways to do that. Essentially, you're trying to solve the puzzle of matching, which is how do you find the right clients?
How do the right clients find you? Because when you do have the right clients, then everything else is easier. You're making more money, but also, like in the case with Jake, it's just simpler and more rewarding and more fulfilling all around. This approach works across a lot of different service-based businesses. A couple ideas here, a tutor could provide the most confidence-building academic support available, rather than just homework help.
A photographer could create the most stunning portraits imaginable, rather than standard photography. A fitness trainer, most transformative workouts in the city, rather than just personal training. The whole key is identifying what makes your service approach genuinely different, and then positioning that difference boldly and memorably. Jake's transformation from a $50 an hour teacher to a $120 an hour provider demonstrates the power of strategic positioning. The difference was not in his teaching ability or credentials, it was all in how he positioned and marketed his service.
Consider, what service could you provide that would benefit from bolder positioning? The opportunity to transform your rates and results might be just one decision away. Last but not least, for today, as always, it's better to have a simple idea you can start right away than a brilliant idea that never launches. Thanks for tuning in today. I'm so grateful to make the podcast for you.
New episodes coming out every day. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project
