All 9 styles of wood carving<\/a> for more ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNow let’s get into the first topic about how much of an expert you have to be in wood carving in order to teach it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expertise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
If you are a professional woodcarver and have done it for 10+ years you have nothing to worry about in terms of your expertise, so if this is your case be sure to skip this section and go to the next subheading. However, if you are somewhat intermediate there are a few things to consider when looking for students to teach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First of all, safety. You have to decide for yourself how confident are you at wood carving yourself, because if you’re not exactly sure about things when carving yourself then it’s definitely worth waiting a little longer before giving lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bottom line is that as long as you are confident that you can carve yourself you can pass that knowledge on. With that said, if a student asks you to carve something in the future that you don’t feel too great about, it’s best you try carving it first before teaching others how to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last aspect of expertise that is important to consider is how comfortable do you feel with taking more responsibility and teaching kids (anyone under 14 years) to carve. Safety is the main concern here, so it’s best that you have some other experience with kids (such as having your own) if you want to teach the kids of other parents wood carving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finding students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There are a dozen ways that you can find students locally, and most of them are free. Of course, they will vary depending on the area that you live in, however, the best way to promote your lessons is none other than the powerful word of mouth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThis works a little like rolling a snowball down a mountain, at first you will not get any new students from people recommending you, and later down the line, 95% of all of your new students will be recommendations. This is great and should be very relieving that all you have to do is start the mechanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now stands the big question, how to get your first, 1, and then 5, eventually 10 students. Here you will have to do a fair bit of promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your largest audience will most likely be teens\/kids and the elderly. Therefore you should keep it in the back of your mind when advertising. A good place to start from will be local schools<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you talk to the principal of some local schools about teaching a group of kids in an afternoon class to wood carve, you may get a positive answer, but even if they are not interested the school may leave your visit card at the reception or simply spread the word for someone interested to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you don’t want to go to school for any reason, you can simply send them an email<\/strong> explaining who you are, why is wood carving helpful for kids, and what safety measures will you take to avoid any risks involving sharp blades (e.g. only 3 students per group). <\/p>\n\n\n\nAnother good way of advertising is through online marketing, don’t let the term scare you, it’s a hundred times simpler than you think. In fact, if you have a son or daughter who is around 14 they will happily assist you in advertising through Instagram or Facebook ads. It costs very little and you can reach out to thousands of local people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Important things to remember when advertising on instagram:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Advertise locally, make sure you get this right as there is no point in people in another city viewing your ad<\/li>
- The price for 1000 people to see your advertising on Instagram is usually under 7$<\/li>
- Advertise less for a longer period (1-3 months) with a smaller daily budget than a shorter period of time but with a large daily budget<\/li>
- If you don’t know a lot about Instagram ads, get one of the youngsters to run it. It’s about 3 hours of learning how to do it well and another 30 minutes to run the campaign<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Now that we targeted a younger generation, let’s target the other half of our potential audience and try to get an ad or an article about wood carving lessons in a local newspaper.<\/strong> This is also much simpler than you think, reach out to them by sending an email, they will most likely be happy to mention you for free or print an add for a small price. If not, it’s still worth the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\nLocal wood carving stores<\/strong> if you have any should be the first place you go to. Ask the owner to leave your visit-card on the counter and maybe offer a commission for any students that visit you after his\/her store.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf there is a chance to participate in fares and events<\/strong> this too will bring a lot of attention to what you are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn important conclusion <\/strong>is that you may not get a lot of students from one single of these ways, but if you participate in different areas and people start hearing of you, some will certainly be curious about what wood carving is. Unfortunately, wood carving is different from piano lessons, people don’t actively seek to learn it, but if shown and invited many will gladly learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPrivate lessons vs. Group lessons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When you get your first few students it is very helpful to create a routine that you follow during every first lesson with a student. We also recommend that you establish that your first lesson is free to remove the hesitation of trying it out for new students, but this is up to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are pros and cons of private and group lessons, either way, you are most likely going to have both tutoring format but the ratio of Private:Group lesson will depend on what you see of the below factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pros of Private Carving Lessons<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Private carving lessons are a great way to start teaching wood carving, the main pros of private lessons are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n