How To Grow & Build A Music School

With the evolution of the internet there's been a lot of coaching programs formed for music school owners. But since 2008 Music Academy Success® has emerged as the world's largest and most established. On this podcast we interview three current Music Academy Success® (MASS) members on how they think MASS compares to other programs.  So if you're looking forward to an honest insider's look into how MASS can help you grow and build your music school you'll want to listen to this asap. Not all coaching programs are the same. So enjoy this podcast as we pull back the curtain and examine the opinions of current MASS members as to why it's their #1 choice for coaching. 

Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to another addition of the Music Academy Success® podcast. Music Academy Success® is the largest and number one program for music school owners. Since 2008, master business coach, Marty Fort, has worked with school owners and teachers in 44 states and on six continents. On the Music Academy Success® podcast, you'll hear interviews with music lesson industry leaders, so you can learn how to better your business by getting more students, keeping students longer, and building the music school and lifestyle of your dreams. And now, here's your host for the podcast, CEO of Music Academy Success®, Mr. Marty Fort.

Marty Fort:

Welcome to the Music Academy Success® System podcast. This is Marty Fort here, your host. I'm the founder and head coach of the Music Academy Success® program, which we call MASS®. MASS®, since 2008, is the world's largest and leading program. We work with hundreds of musical owners all around the world in six continents. We work with musical teachers that are teaching in their homes. We work with music school teachers that teach in their students' homes. We work with small schools, 50 to a hundred students, mid-size schools with 500 students. We even work with large schools that have 4,000 students. I myself have over 1,600.

Marty Fort:

I own and operate currently three locations. They are the largest schools in South Carolina. What I do is I help musical owners to grow their businesses, grow their enrollment, fix their student retention and a variety of things with our coaching and our live events. We enjoy doing this podcast. We bring you guest experts in the music education field. Some that are MASS® members, like our podcast today. Some that are different authors. We have a lot of great episodes planned. So keep checking out the Music Academy Success® podcasts on iTunes and all other podcast outlets.

Marty Fort:

Today, we're going to be talking about Music Academy Success® reviews, comparing MASS® to other musical coaching programs. And what I've done is, I've assembled three current schools that are currently in MASS®, some of which have been with us a very long time, and they're going to give you their perspective on what MASS® is like, what MASS® has to offer, and what makes us different, and the reason they chose MASS® versus other places. I'm going to start here first with Muffy and Wayne Hoover from Virginia. And if you guys will come on, tell everybody who you are. Tell the name of your school, a little about your school and, specifically, Wayne and Muffy, how many students did you have before MASS®? How many do you have now? And welcome Muffy and Wayne.

Wayne Hoover:

Well, thank you, Marty. Me and Muffy, both, are very glad to be here today, and thank you for inviting us. Well, we have two schools in... one in Chesapeake and one in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We currently have just topped 700.

Marty Fort:

Awesome.

Wayne Hoover:

And when we started with you, we had somewhere in the neighborhood around four, 400, because we been with you nine years now.

Marty Fort:

Well, that's awesome. And just so everybody has some reference, what's the name of your school? What's the website?

Wayne Hoover:

Qualitymusiccenter.com is the website, and it's Quality Music Center and Quality Music and Dance in Chesapeake.

Marty Fort:

You have two locations. Cool.

Wayne Hoover:

Yes.

Marty Fort:

All right, well, let's go to your friends in Arizona. I'm going to bring on Bobby and Nicole Flanagan. And what's also interesting, Tarab, I've never met your wife. I'm very similar. I personally run my schools on my own, and Valerie has her degree as a professor. But Muffy and Wayne, and Bobby and Nicole, actually more than norm, I guesstimate that at least 75%, maybe 80%, of MASS® members are married couples.

Marty Fort:

And I never knew that going in, but I think it's very cool that Muffy and Wayne, you guys are the same as Bobby and Nicole, you're all very into the business together. And that's just an interesting tidbit for me. But Bobby and Nicole, same question, guys. You're in Arizona, tell everybody who you are and your school, about your school, website and how many students you had before MASS®, how many you got now. Welcome, Bobby and Nicole Flanagan.

Bobby Flanagan:

Thanks Marty. Thanks for having us on here. Yeah, so we started MASS®. I started it originally, Nicole came in later. I was a band director before I started MASS® and I had about eight students on the side, doing the solo-teacher gig, going to houses and that sort of thing, but really joined MASS®, and then implemented everything right from the get-go, which was a game changer for our lives. We now have, Nicole joined the business, and working with me.

Bobby Flanagan:

We've grown from the eight students or eight lessons I had per week, initially, to now almost 600, two locations, and that thing's grown like crazy. And meanwhile, we're on vacation, actually, out here in Ft. Lauderdale right now. And the schools are taking care of themselves, basically. We have an office manager that's a rockstar, kicking butt, and she's managing the whole, both schools for us. And we're able to come out here and just hang out with our young kids and enjoy a nice family vacation before the conference. Yeah.

Nicole Flanagan:

And our website is peoriamusicacademy.com, and that's the name of both of our locations, is Peoria Music Academy. And like he said, I just wanted to add, he started himself, by himself, in the end of 2017, beginning of 2018. I didn't come on until 2020 when COVID happened. So we just had a choice and we made that choice, and so now, we're doing it together.

Marty Fort:

And you're doing an amazing job. And it's just only going to get better and better. It's funny, Bobby, I've helped a lot of public school teachers, whether it's band, chorus, administrators, to transition up to better careers. And I love what you said, Bobby, about the lifestyle improvement, that MASS® not only helps you financially, but we also work heavily on work-life balance and, as you said, taking vacations and just step up our game. So hang tight, guys, we're going to go to Texas for our friend Tarab Ali. Tarab's newer to me, relatively new, but I've enjoyed working with him and getting to know him. Talk to him every month. And Tarab, if you'll do the same thing, tell everybody who you are, about your school, your website, your name. How many students before MASS®, how many students now, and welcome, Tarab Ali.

Tarab Ali:

Thank you, Marty. So my name is Tarab Ali. I run Muse Mantra School of Music and Arts in the Woodlands, Texas. We launched the school June of 2020, so in the middle of the pandemic. And then, I joined MASS® in September, about three months after launching my school. I wish I had found Marty before launching the school, would've been even much better. But anyway, I found you at a very good time. And then, when we joined MASS®, I was at 55 students. In two months after joining MASS®, we doubled our enrollment to 108 students, and today, after one and a half years, we are at 370.

Marty Fort:

Awesome.

Tarab Ali:

So growing very good. I think I have already gained the escape velocity, as they say. So there is just sky's the limit from here. Our website is musemantra.com. It's M-U-S-E-M-A-N-T-R-A dot com.

Marty Fort:

This is going to be a blast for me today because I love seeing your guys' progress and all you do. And I'm going to go and dive in with some questions. Again, what we're trying to do is give them an insider perspective of what MASS® members see, because you guys are all current clients, and many of you have said almost, some of you have been with me almost 10 years. So the first question I have for the group is, many music school coaches have sold their schools, they don't own their school anymore. As you all know, I still own and operate all three of mine and I own the commercial real estate for each. So Muffy and Wayne, I'm going to start with you. Why do you think it's important that someone work with a coach that still owns and operates their school? Do you think that's an advantage? What's your opinion on that?

Muffy Hoover:

Well, Marty, I have to tell you, I definitely think it's an advantage, because you're in the trenches with us every day, but you know what it's like when a teacher calls out or a staffing issue, versus somebody who's really removed themselves from the business and doesn't have the insight of what's happening currently in the industry. For example, when COVID hit, we were so grateful that we were a member of MASS® so that we were able to follow your guidelines. We quickly got on board with getting our staff the-

Wayne Hoover:

We did. I went out-

Muffy Hoover:

... an iPad so they could go online and do Zoom-

Wayne Hoover:

... I went out right after the online meetings and I bought all the iPads I could from the Best Buys locally. And then, when they actually declared that they would shut whole town down on lockdown, governor did, I was ready, we were ready. We were calling people, we were telling them, hey, they were wanting to cancel and we were telling them we can do Zoom, and a lot of them did it. So thank you for that.

Muffy Hoover:

Yeah. I mean, I don't know if another coach would've been as invested when those kind of, when that, that's like a... The whole world changed that day. So, I mean, we are really grateful that you had to roll up your sleeves, go to work just like us to save every student that we had.

Wayne Hoover:

Whereas, proactive.

Marty Fort:

And that's the big thing is that, we'll talk about this later on. We're all about to celebrate 15 years of me doing Music Academy Success® and Wayne and Muffy, I'm so stoked because you guys are going to be there at the conference. We're getting ready to go to Graceland. It's sold out. You know what I mean? It's our biggest crowd ever. I definitely think, in my opinion, it's paramount that as a coach, I have to keep running my schools, even though... Here's the difference. It's not that I have to, I love to. I really enjoy my lifestyle.

Marty Fort:

One of the big things I'm going to be talking about at conference, Wayne and Muffy, is how the bigger you get, things get easier. You got more cash flow, you got more people around, multiple locations. It's counterintuitive, right? I think the people that have the hardest are the people that have one. But all three of your rockets are taking off, COVID is in the rear view. We've made it through, and I really just enjoy running my schools. I would never sell them. They're too important to me, they're too profitable for me. And again, they just, as Bobby was saying, they just run themselves, you know what I mean?

Marty Fort:

Bob and Nicole, I want to go to you for a second. A lot of programs only give digital content. They give no print. So they have archives of videos and audios. But again, no print materials. As you know, Bobby and Nicole, MASS® gives its members the best of both worlds. We have our video university series, which is tons of videos on all the topics we do in the books, and I tape them at a community college. They're very high quality. So people who are into digital video, we've got that. They're searchable by topic.

Marty Fort:

We've got over a hundred digital audios from all the years we've done this, since 2008. We have our digital newsletters. As Wayne said, we have online meetings. So we have all the digital stuff on lock. However, I was a university professor at University of South Carolina for six years and I'm still a print guy. So, for those that understand print and like print, we also print our books. We have our print manuals, our print newsletters and CDs. And yes, I do still listen to CDs. But again, if you don't, fine, you have the digital audio version.

Marty Fort:

And we do that all for $99 a month, which is very, very low. Most of our competition's gone way past that, but we're going to keep that price low, because I love taking people that have two students and taking them to 500. So Bobby, Nicole, what do you think about the way MASS® is delivered in terms of digital and print, and also, what was it like the day the Flanagans got their big box from MASS® with the manuals? Do you remember that time?

Nicole Flanagan:

I do, but I... Bobby? So at the time I was working as a CPS investigator and I was actually really mad that he enrolled, because when I went to work that day, he was supposed to enroll in a graduate program at ASU and I came home and he said, "I'm not doing that. I found this program and I'm doing this." So he was anticipating with it. But what, it's kind of funny, we call the MASS® manuals our bible. Because when we get new people, either coming in, as far as front desk, we have them read through it. Or, if we can't, we have an issue, we look through that first, if we can't find certain things. I love that we have both, access to both. We do keep them locked up in our school, but he's very, very, very serious about them, like very serious.

Bobby Flanagan:

Yeah, Nicole leaves them out a lot of times and I'm like, "No, nobody else can get ahold of this. This is proprietary," and I lock them in drawers. But it's that precious to me. I had tried to mess around with word-of-mouth or whatever, trying to get some students here and there. And the most students I ever got before MASS® was 15 at a time, 15 lessons a week. But once I got that manual, it was like the first day of school. You sign up for a college class and, all of a sudden, you get all your textbooks, but it was way, way better, and way, way more exciting than that. I was just on cloud nine and just going crazy through all those manuals.

Bobby Flanagan:

And then, now, it's like, I can also go on the website and hit Control+F and find a topic in a newsletter or find an audio thing, and I can really just sort through and find and go exactly to where I need to go. So yeah, having both of them is, it's amazing. And I think the excitement, too, of a tangible thing showing up, this huge box of all these materials, and that's after we got the shock and awe package originally. But there's just this feeling of excitement that came with that.

Bobby Flanagan:

And that really helped ignite my passion and my energy, and I really needed that in the beginning, because I was a little still... I don't know, I was not on the fence at all, but I just wasn't... I always just need a kick in the butt and a little fire lit up under my butt to get going, and those manuals, the paper manuals and all that stuff that got shipped to me really lit a fire up under me. I was super excited, it was like Christmas day.

Nicole Flanagan:

And the thing that helped the most is that as Bobby was on this process, I came in when he only had, we had about 300 or 400 at the time. So then, anytime I had a question, he would say, "Can you just go to the manuals," if I couldn't log on? So then, I was able to start reading and going through everything. So that was really helpful.

Bobby Flanagan:

So then I could share my brain with Nicole and then, also, we could share our brain with the office manager. And now, people come to her with questions, she's like, "Oh, Bobby would do this," or she'll even tell Nicole, "Well, if-

Nicole Flanagan:

But Marty.

Bobby Flanagan:

... you ask this, he's going to do this because Marty's told him to do that and this is the answer for this question." We have an FAQ, basically, which is the MASS® program.

Marty Fort:

So, some inside baseball that you guys may not know. It took me 12 months of my life to make the MASS® manuals. They're incredibly detailed. And, Bobby and Nicole, as you guys know with the new MASS® video university, I've taken them and expanded them. We keep them current. We keep them current with our newsletters, as far as working to go forward with that. But I'm a big believer in a success library. I have a huge library of books, and I think the problem, for me, Bobby, becomes logistics.

Marty Fort:

I think most of us on the podcast today have kids. We're up late at night. I tend to work very late at night, and I've got a book out on the coffee table or in my office, I'm going to go through it. But having to go sift through, where is the login? Where's this and that and the other? It doesn't really interest me as much, I'm more of want to have it in my hands and move through it. But also, we do the digital as well. So we serve all learning styles is the big message.

Marty Fort:

Tarab, I want to go to you. One of the cornerstones of the MASS® program is helping schools with their search engine optimization to rank higher on Google. All three of my schools rank on page one of Google for their towns. And the first thing I do, Tarab, with all new members, as you know, is help them with their SEO on their website. Some people would say, "We know MASS® been around real long time, is it current?" It's extremely current because SEO is a passion of mine. It's a skillset of mine. How, Tarab, has MASS® helped you with your SEO and your website?

Tarab Ali:

Okay. Yeah. I think it's been a cornerstone, Marty. So the first day, I had a one-on-one meeting with you back in September, and you told me to add a request info button on the website. I did that the first day of our talking. And then, next day I had two submit requests for our school. And then, since then, it's been just ramping up and up. For example, in one year, I have had 142 request info forms filled from the students, or the potential students, and then, I'm assuming if I'm not, wrong, 80% are conversion. So just that small button on the website that you told us, request info button, has given us at least a hundred students in the past year.

Marty Fort:

Awesome.

Tarab Ali:

So, following your recommendations has tremendously helped us. And then, we went to Tim Benson for our SEO that you recommended. And again, we were ranking maybe fourth on the Google search page when I started with Tim Benson, and today, of course, we are on the first page. I'm running Google ads and I am also doing the SEO program with Tim Benson, continuously, to stay on top of the page of the search. 90% of our potential customers and conversioins are coming from Google now.

Marty Fort:

Yeah.

Tarab Ali:

So that's how important the SEO has been for us.

Marty Fort:

Absolutely. To support what you said, so what we do in MASS® is, when people join, they get a call with me. We'll talk about that in a second more. We send them the manuals, you've got the Google webinars, you've got the MASS® video university, so we show you everything I know about searches and optimization. Tarab, some people listening to the podcast today, they're not great with computers. They don't know anything about SEO, they don't want to know, they just need help. They need to get their site fixed. They are not ranking on page one of Google.

Marty Fort:

So that's why we have a partnership with Tim. So he's there to, for a very, very economical price, if someone, I would encourage them all to read the MASS® stuff so they understand the concept, but if they don't actually want to do it or don't have the capacity or desire to do it, then Tim can do that for you.

Marty Fort:

Muffy and Wayne, I want to go back to you. Since I own all three of my schools, and you guys have been to my schools at conference in the past, I'm always doing new things to make them better, and then, I teach it to you guys, the MASS® members. With the MASS® monthly calls, newsletters, live events, I'm always working hard to bring you guys the newest and latest. But some people think on the market, "Well, MASS® has been around since 2008, and we're an older program," I personally just do not think that's true. I think it's the opposite, which is why we're growing bigger and bigger, which is why we're still selling out events, and which is why the one coming up next week is the biggest we've ever had. Muffy and Wayne, does MASS® bring you updates on new things to do for your school. And if it does, can you talk more about that, so others can understand it?

Muffy Hoover:

Sure. So sometimes, Marty, I have to say there's so much content I almost can't keep up with what to implement next. It's that old saying of drinking from a water hose? I mean, a fire hydrant? Your mouth isn't big enough to contain in our brain. We have to make a to-do list of all the ideas to implement, just to stay as current as your schools do. So I would definitely say to anyone who thinks that it's old, that is not true. And I think since we've joined, like Wayne said, almost nine years ago, we've gone to every conference and it's always new materials. It's not-

Marty Fort:

Always new material.

Muffy Hoover:

The content is always fresh and new and exciting. It always has a theme. We look forward to going to that every year to network with other school owners. And I have to say that, we monthly look forward to our newsletter. And now, I like that it comes in a bright color envelope instead of just the plain white one, like the bank statement comes in. So we look forward to that. And we like, even, I know this wasn't the original question, but we still even have, because we're old school, we like to pop in the DVDs, or the CDs, that you send to listen to them even. So the delivery of the materials, we really like that part, but we learn something new. And even if we are thinking of something, like we might even go back to our old notebook from a conference two years ago, because it was a topic that might be relevant to a current issue.

Wayne Hoover:

Yeah, because it's always so much new stuff and new material being handed to us that I can go back two years and this stuff that I didn't get to implement the first time around. So yes, it's great and I really appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Marty Fort:

And I got some great news, Wayne and everybody, and going back to your book comments. We've got the conference bags, everything set up for Graceland. We've put together, between the school of the year contest and the new workbooks, the presentations that I put together, Tim has put together, almost 500 pages of stuff, all full color. It's gorgeous. So we're really excited about that.

Marty Fort:

Bobby and Nicole, go to you for a second. We're getting ready to hit the road again for our sold-out conference at Graceland, at the Guest House of Graceland, Music Academy Success® holds the largest annual conference in the world that is just for music school owners, we do it every year. So guys, for someone that's never been, Bobby and Nicole, why do you go to the MASS® conference? And what are they like? What can people expect?

Bobby Flanagan:

Yeah. So, like Muffy said, it's a fire hose in the face kind of situation, where you're just getting gobs and gobs and gobs of things to implement. And you really have to write a list and prioritize. And when you get back to start implementing, you have to take one thing at a time and not go too crazy, because you're going to be tempted just to try to implement everything all at once, because it's all good ideas. And then, I will say that the first couple conferences I was at, it was just me. I was going by myself and they were really, really good. We got all the same stuff, but it was also very, very different when I brought Nicole. Nicole was sort of involved, but she was one foot in, one foot out. But once we went to that first conference, I mean, she was gung-ho, 100%, getting all the manuals out and starting to go crazy with it.

Nicole Flanagan:

Part of it, too, was that he had to bribe me with a vacation. So it was in Nashville and he's like, "If you want, we can go a couple days early and you'll have your, we'll do some things, hang out and go to, and just have alone time." Because we have a four-year-old, a two-year-old, and a one-year-old. At the time, it was a three-year-old, one-year-old, and nine months or whatever. So, he bribed me in that sense.

Nicole Flanagan:

I get there and still new, trying to figure everything out. I'm listening. I think it was by the end of the first day or the beginning, yeah, the end of the first day, he offered to, say, "Hey, if you want to bump up your membership," and I think we were only at gold, and I said, "We're doing Titanium." So I sign up with Marissa and I get in, and I was just in awe of everything and all the information, and realize, "No wonder." Because I would joke with Bobby a lot of like, "We don't always have to do what Marty says. Marty's not always right. He's not here in the business. I'm here in the business." There's a lot of things. And then, I was just like, I have just stalled or stonewalled my husband and his business, because what he was saying was actually legit.

Nicole Flanagan:

It makes so much more sense, and it made me realize the benefits and just even being at the conferences, because we were able to talk to so many other people dealing with the same things that we were dealing. We weren't alone anymore. And they had good ideas and everyone had different ideas. But what Marty was giving was such gold and it changed me instantly. And now, it's just really changed our marriage, our relationship in the business because of every thing that we were doing. So it is really imperative to continue to go to the conferences, because you can get so much out of it.

Marty Fort:

And I've also had a chance to work with you, Nicole, in Cleveland, and I completely agree. And what I love about that scenario is, there's a lot of married couples listening to this and they're trying to navigate how to work with each other. And my biggest thing is, is that cash doesn't solve everything, but I do believe that cash solves a whole lot. And my job is to help you all grow your businesses, as you have. When you have more cash, then you can take the vacation, you can have the alone time, you can go to, take a couple days and tack on to Nashville or Dollywood or Disney, as I'm going to see you guys at Disney this September. We'll talk about the at a bit.

Marty Fort:

But just love that because, again, you're reiterating what the Flanagans said earlier, which is MASS® not only helps you with your business, but it helps you with your lifestyle, mean work-life balance and your family. And I'm also married, Valerie and I've been together 20 years, a seven-year-old daughter, and four dogs, and that's what it's all about, you know? Tarab, I want to go to you. This is an interesting question for me, because it's important for people to know logistics of how coaching programs work that are out there. Tarab, I don't know if you're aware, but a lot of coaching programs, if you discontinue, they cut off the access to your materials.

Marty Fort:

So for example, you'll be a member, you're paying them, they have some kind of audio/video archive, no print materials that you can keep, no licensing that I'm aware of that you can keep, and then, when you stop, everything just comes to a stop. MASS® doesn't do that. As you know, Tarab, you get to keep your manuals forever. A lot of people come into MASS®, take some time off, and then come back. Of course, they've got their audios that we've sent them. They have a license for our website, help and design forever. You know? So, Tarab, why are the three MASS® manuals an important resource for any musical owner to have in their office and library, that they never get cut off from, that they get to keep forever, even if they only come with us for 90 days?

Tarab Ali:

Yeah. It's very important. Just recently, we were implementing MASS® proprietary lessons makeup program, and the manuals came in very handy. In fact, I had to go back and review them when we were doing the makeup program just recently. And then, I had to share them with all my staff. And then, we shared a memo with the teachers, how the lessons makeup proprietary program is going to work. So it's very important to have these manuals handy with them, with us, and for us to get them, to keep them forever, even somebody leaves. So yeah, it's very important. They are, like, and the host said that, "It's like a bible for us." So we use ours, it's very important for us to use them and review them back and forth as we learn.

Marty Fort:

Yeah, because I'm a big believer in people taking their time. And a lot of people... I went to see, just this past week in San Diego, Camille Hasting. She was our most recent national school of the year winner, Tarab. And she has a very common story in MASS®, is that she didn't do much with MASS® for about four years, and she finally caught fire with it. Bobby, you mentioned the same thing. I mean, there's a variety of factors. Musicians, we tend to get into something. It's like learning a guitar or piano, or in your world, band, saxophone, trumpet, whatever.

Marty Fort:

And then, we kind of just, just like our music students, we just catch fire on a certain day for whatever reason. So I'm also a big believer in giving time, because people are busy and they're working hard and they've got gigs, they got lot stuff pulling on them, they're stressed out. So Muffy and Wayne, I want to go back to you. A lot of coaching programs don't offer money-back guarantees at all, or if they do offer them, there's hoops to jump through, such as completing assignments or a small window of time. So maybe a two-week, money-back guarantee or a 30-day, money-back guarantee. MASS® is the only program in business, for almost 15 years, with a full 12-month, money-back guarantee. But our refund rate is quite small. Wayne and Muffy, why do you continue to stay in MASS®?

Wayne Hoover:

Well, Marty, as I've already stated beforehand, the information we get is priceless in itself. And also, the fact that we can, we have access to the online, we have access to the manuals, we have access at the conferences. We get the calls with you. We get a little bit of everything. And like I said, we've been here nine years and I haven't asked for a refund yet. I'm very happy with the product.

Muffy Hoover:

We haven't really talked much, too, about the Facebook page, but that's always nice, too. You can jump on and get in touch with other MASS® members that way. And through all the different years of being in, we rely on our MASS® members as well. We've made a lot of friendships and we love to go to the conferences, and that's one of the big things that we look forward to year-

Wayne Hoover:

Networking.

Muffy Hoover:

... after year is the networking. And if we are in an area where we know somebody, we'll look them up and say, "Hey, let's grab lunch," and check out their studio, and we've had a lot of MASS® members come to our studio. So I think that we just stay in, and it goes back to our last question, because there's always new content and we stay on the top of, basically, the competition is the best way to put it, because there's always a new music studio popping up in our area, anyway. We're in a very transient military area and somebody will move in and try to be the biggest game in town. And so, you help us stay on top of our game that way. I don't think that many people would want their money back, because they're going to make a lot more money if they just follow the materials.

Marty Fort:

And that leads me to the next one, which is the question about community. And I'll go to Bobby and Nicole, and I want to thank you, Muffy, for bringing that up. Because when I do my fast track with new members, I always tell them that getting into our closed, private, members-only Facebook group is so huge. And what I love seeing, Muffy and Wayne, is when people go out, they announce themselves. Everybody is so happy to see them, so welcoming of them. Same at our live events.

Marty Fort:

So Bobby and Nicole, let's talk about community, and it's cool that... Like I said, I think, I would assume, Nicole, part of the reason why when you went to Nashville, and Bobby had been going solo, but when you came with him, I'm going to ask you direct, did you feel that community is a big part of success of coaching programs? So members have support. Many coaching programs, Nicole, I don't know if you're aware of this, they don't put on live events at all.

Marty Fort:

But MASS® has live events all throughout the year, big ones, small ones. We are training with Disney Business Institute. It's going to be awesome. So Nicole and Bobby, what do you guys gain from your friends in the MASS® community? Not only in the Facebook group, but at the conferences when you go? Especially, when you walked in that door, Nicole, first time, that first morning, or I guess, really the first evening when we have our kickoff dinner, we have to do a kickoff dinner. We got a big one planned at Graceland. What was that like? And how did you feel being new? And talk to us about the MASS® community, especially at our events.

Nicole Flanagan:

Well, when we first got there, we had our table and we were sitting with Russ was there and Zeljko. And at first I had no idea who he was, and he was just, he just gave a lot of information and was very insightful. And then, as time went on, we just really enjoyed being able to talk to them and what they do about this, what they do about that? And just introducing ourselves. But as the conference went on, we were able to meet the Rios family. And even I got to meet the Rios girls. And so, that connection that I, individually, had apart from him, was that I was meeting other women and even other couples that were in the same part of life as us and just getting insight.

Nicole Flanagan:

So the community is really important, because when you're doing something as a business, whether it's small to have even 50 to a hundred students or large to have over 800 students, you still need a community to keep going, to not give up, to want to keep doing better. And then, hearing Marty has three schools, 1,500 students. And it's like, is that really achievable? And then to know throughout, at the conference, we met so many people that were in different areas and you start to think, "Yeah, it is achievable." And was just so hung-go on it. But I didn't realize the Facebook group was where it really was.

Nicole Flanagan:

Because when we were able to join Titanium and even the Facebook group, they, you always answer our questions. And we were able to see these people and interact with them at other events, which was really just so helpful. Because then you gain friends, and you're like, "Oh, I got to 600," and you have all these people that are so excited for you. And it's just such a refresher. Because when COVID hit, you need friends, whether it's virtual friends or not, but you need encouragement. And sometimes running a business can be discouraging at times, or wondering, "Am I doing a good job?"

Nicole Flanagan:

As a wife and coming onto his business, I had many thoughts, "Am I ruining his business? Am I ruining his legacy?" And it was like, "No, I'm not, because we're working as a team." And even Marty and Marissa have always given us such great insight in what to do. But the community is just so important, because everyone is doing similar things and growing, and they're all about how to teach you to grow better. But I just love being able to go to the conferences and say, "Hey, how are you doing? Haven't seen you in a while. How's it going?" And familiar faces. That's one of the best things is to gain that community.

Bobby Flanagan:

With the in-person connections and things that you make at conference and the relationships that are built there, then you have a good opportunity, going out to dinner with people and networking with them, conversations in the hallways, in the lobby at the hotel. All those kinds of things are really relationship starters in a way. And then, you can further that through the digital world once you get on the Facebook groups and whatnot. You can continue to maintain those relationships and those connections that you've already made in person, which is really cool. And no other coaching programs that I've experienced have that kind of thing going on. A lot of them are just all online and there's no personal connection, you know? So that's been a really game changer for us.

Nicole Flanagan:

Yeah. Well, and people know what we're going through when we have those things, because everyone's running a school. So we have the same problems everybody else does.

Marty Fort:

Absolutely. Nicole, thank you for bringing up Marissa. One thing that's awesome about Music Academy Success®, due to our size, is we're able to facilitate full-time office staff, Monday through Friday, with Marissa Alexis, 9:00 to 5:00, to help our members with whatever they need. And what's interesting about Marissa and Alexis is, they used to both be assistant directors in my music schools. They're happy to listen to your story. You're not bothering us by calling MASS® office. We want anybody listening to this podcast to call the office, text us, let's talk about your music school, let's talk about your situation. And Marissa and Alexis were on the front lines of that position for many, many years.

Marty Fort:

Tarab, a lot of coaching programs, once you join, they'll send you a login, PDFs, clients on their own. But as I said in MASS®, not only for myself, but Alexis and Marissa in the office, Tim Benson, one of the coaches we have. From day one, we spend time personally with our new members on their fast-track calls to make sure they get their unique situation addressed. Tarab, do remember your fast-track call with me and did it help you? And if so, how?

Tarab Ali:

Yeah. I clearly remember, Marty, our first one-on-one fast track with you and Tim Benson. Like I said earlier, you gave us very tangible, doable things on the first day, which I implemented on the first day itself, and we saw tangible results. So it was a very eye-opening conversation we had in our fast-track call, and it was a great start to our relationship, a long-term relationship with Muse Mantra and MASS®. So yeah, definitely it helped. And you guys were very patient, because I was new, of course. You were very patient with me, answering all my questions and apprehension, because I was new to the music industry also. Just a little background. I am not a musician, professionally, I'm an engineer. I quit my corporate job, and then I started a music school because I like music. So you guys were very patient with me and just hand held me to success.

Marty Fort:

Tarab, we're going to get you to 500 and a thousand. And the patience theme becomes... I'm the author of the number one, Amazon bestselling-book, The Ultimate Guide to Music Lessons. I've been a guitar teacher, Tarab, for 35 years. As I said earlier, professor for six, we translate those skills into working with business owners, with business mentorship. Because at the end of the day, Tarab, music mentorship and business mentorship is the same thing.

Marty Fort:

Muffy and Wayne, I'm go back to you. I always say joining MASS® is an easy decision. It's not a hard decision. It takes two students to recoup the initial investment. Given that you've been inside the program for a long time, do you think that most people coming on board with us, spending at least 12 months with the Facebook community, the manuals, the training, an event or not, or whatever they want to do, is that going to get them two students or maybe a lot more? Muffy and Wayne-

Wayne Hoover:

It's going to get them a lot more.

Muffy Hoover:

They would have to just not open the book or not even try to go to work, to not get more than two students. I mean, I think Bobby said earlier that joining MASS® was a game changer and I would say that's the same. I would encourage anybody on the fence to give themselves... We're goalsetters, so we'll make a list of goals. But if you're really on the fence about MASS®, I would still say join and set your clock and put it at the 12-month mark. And if you don't think that you're.... They're going to make way more than two students is what I'm trying to say. Because when they get to the end of the 12-month period of starting, and if they haven't had more than two students, then they must not have done one thing you said.

Muffy Hoover:

Because I remember a long time ago, one of our very first tapes, you guys were talking about ponds and I was like, "What are they talking about? Ponds?" And then, I realized, ponds is another idea of how to get something. You're fishing, basically, for students, but one pond leads to the other pond. But even if you just did one pond, you're going to get those two students. Yeah, I would say that anybody.... You're already a gambler if you're a business owner. You have to be, right? Being an entrepreneur is already taking a bet on yourself. So now, you just got to take a bet on MASS®, and I guarantee that they will... Heck, I'll give them their money back, Marty, because they're going to get more than the two students.

Marty Fort:

Absolutely. It's like, Muffy, people will go to college-

Muffy Hoover:

Right?

Marty Fort:

... and... a hundred thousand dollars in Virginia, the University Virginia, study music, but they're hesitant to spend around 1% of that on themselves, you know? But when you look at the community, when you look at the history, you look at our track record, you know what I mean? And I want to go to Bobby and Nicole for a second and talk about thinking big. And I think this is so true to the Flanagan family because, guys, I'm going to get all of you to the schools of your dreams. And now we're seeing people in 2,000; 3,000 students.

Marty Fort:

So here's my specific question, Bobby and Nicole. A lot of coaching programs have small successes. So they're a coach and maybe they got 40 students themselves, or maybe they sold their school and they want to just only coach. They don't have a school anymore. So they'll showcase helping somebody by growing by 10 students or 20 students, et cetera. We're getting ready for our awards ceremonies at Graceland, we've got more planned than ever. And as you've seen, Bobby and Nicole, we have over 1,500 success stories from our members.

Marty Fort:

This year at conference, we're celebrating members that have reached 500, 1,000, 2,800, 4,000 students. And if you just want to get 10 more for your home, fine. But if you want to go to what we call the Bezos rocket and go all the way to space and have a gazillion students, we have people doing that. I have 1,600 and growing. Bobby and Nicole, let's give them a report from the front lines. What are you seeing from your fellow members in terms of their success of big numbers, big leaps? Everyone on the podcast today is a great example of that. But the Flanagans, like I said, you're a very specific example of big, big results. So what are you seeing with your peers in MASS®?

Nicole Flanagan:

Well, before I answer that, Marty, I just wanted to piggyback off the other question, but it goes into this one as well. When Bobby signed up with you and it was just him, he, I told him, "Okay, if you're going to do this, I need to see results. And if you don't have anything by the summer, then we're done." Because I had a newborn at the time, whatever. And so, he set a goal of a hundred students within six, by the end of the year, and 50, within six months. He was at a hundred students within, way before the first six months, I think. And within the year, he had over 200 students.

Nicole Flanagan:

So, seeing that success, I was like, "This is what you're going to do. You do it, of course." But then, when I got on board and seeing the success of other people, you have people constantly saying, "Oh, I got 300 students," "Oh, I'm up to 400," "Oh, I'm up to 800." We personally were up to 600 a couple months ago for the first time in forever. We've never made 600. So that, for us, has been such a success. But everyone's just congratulating everyone when they hit a new number, but especially you see those results in Facebook, too.

Bobby Flanagan:

Yeah.

Nicole Flanagan:

Right?

Bobby Flanagan:

Yeah. I mean, being around other people and seeing their success, and then talking to them and knowing them and sharing their brain, so to speak, it's like, it feels really easy to see somebody's vision and then really follow in their footsteps. The path is just, it's been paved already in a way. So Zeljko's got over 4,000 students. That makes me know and see that, "Okay, well, why can't we do that someday? Why can't we have 4,000 students someday? It's doable. We've talked to this guy, we know this guy. Yeah, he's a good businessman, but he's not a superhero. He's somebody that's been doing business well for a long period of time.

Bobby Flanagan:

And we can go behind him and learn from his mistakes and we could get there, at least in the same amount of time it took him to get there, but probably much faster. We'll probably get to 1,500 students, I think faster than Marty did, because Marty's already gone ahead of us and paved a path for us to follow. And that's what we've seen, we've seen other schools that are just quickly growing because we're not wasting our time going to the right or the left. We know the path and we just follow what's been done before. We don't have to recreate the wheel. So it's, I have no doubt in my mind that we'll have 4,000 students someday because-

Nicole Flanagan:

And it's not, it's not-

Bobby Flanagan:

... we know people that are doing that.

Nicole Flanagan:

... It's also not the same schools being able to say, "Oh, we made 500," "We made 800." In the MASS® group, it's everybody is having a chance and everybody's growing, and it even pushes you like, "Oh, okay, that's our next goal," or whatever. But you're constantly seeing, it's almost like everyone's able to get there, and it's really cool to see as a group, to see everyone being able to grow together and have different goals for themselves and what their needs are.

Marty Fort:

And you're absolutely going to get to 4,000. That's the whole thing is that I'm still working on mine. And everybody on this podcast today listening, ask themselves, in master or no secrets. I tell my clients, everything I know, everything I do, I give them access to my staff, my team, all the support in the world. I couldn't get any more support if I tried. So if I can have 1,600 in a small market like South Carolina. We have people in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Manhattan. We have them all over, in six continents. You can have 1,600, too. And every day you're waiting is the day that's not happening.

Marty Fort:

So I want to encourage everybody listening to go to musicacademysuccess.com/apply, A-P-P-L-Y. Just take a chance. There's only two outcomes, either you join and you're happy, you get your two students, or 20 students, or 2,000 students, or whatever it is. Or, for whatever reason, no hoops, no short timeframe, you say, "You know what? Not right for me." We give you every penny back. And for almost 15 years, there is not one complaint on Google or on the Better Business Bureau about us not honoring that refund. No one has ever gone online and said, "Hey, I didn't get my money back."

Marty Fort:

Because first of all, we don't get many requests. Because look at all the awesome stuff we're doing, with our support, our events, our coaching, our system. But when somebody does want out for whatever reason, fine, we've always honored that refund, we've honored it quickly. So take the next step, musicacademysuccess.com/apply. I'm going to go around the circle for just closing words. Wayne and Muffy, final thoughts for anyone considering joining MASS®. And you know how it goes, most of them are hesitant about the investment.

Marty Fort:

It's three payments of 499. That's 30 days apart. So, it's the price of Les Paul guitar, it's the price of a Spinet piano. You cannot buy one college course for the price of MASS®. I'm going to say that two times, Muffy and Wayne. If I went to Virginia Tech, you cannot buy one semester course for the price of MASS®, you know? You probably can't even buy the textbooks for the price. So, for those that are hesitant about the investment in themselves, and just any thoughts you want to share, Wayne and Muffy? What would you say to people that are considering joining MASS®?

Muffy Hoover:

I would say sign up. I mean-

Wayne Hoover:

Again, I wouldn't hesitate. I would, I mean-

Muffy Hoover:

I was just in here thinking, one, I couldn't remember how much it was when you were like, "Oh, the cost of two students." But on the flip side of that, in this economy that we're experiencing today, I almost can't think of anything that does give you your money back. So right there, alone, I mean... I recently was trying to order a piece of furniture that I couldn't see in person, and I asked, "Well, what happens if it gets here and I don't like it?" Well, it's a 15% restocking fee." Well, you're not even saying there's a restocking fee. So I mean, don't hesitate. Like I said, you're already a gambler if you opened your own business. So go ahead and go for it and join MASS®. You will not regret it. Because you will make friendships, your business will soar, your lifestyle will change and you'll be on easy street.

Marty Fort:

And Muffy, this is new to you and Wayne. You guys don't know this because you came in earlier, but we've even made our terms more favorable now to where, to make it easy on people that don't have a lot of students, we now ship it for free. And we also, Muffy, let them choose their own billing date. So they can choose whatever date works for them when they know they got some tuition coming in, to get them going, you know? Bobby and Nicole, same thing with you guys. You know what I mean? Final thoughts? Anybody looking at this saying, "Wow, these guys are doing amazing. Seems like lot of great stuff." They're considering joining MASS®, they're unsure. Bobby and Nicole, floor is yours.

Bobby Flanagan:

Yeah, you have nothing to lose. And the only way you would lose is missing out on the opportunity and paying the opportunity cost of not doing it. I mean, literally, I talked to one of the first students that signed up in January of 2018, right after I opened the school. I talked to them last week, that customer alone has, is worth 5,700 bucks. So, I mean, we've made a back fivefold, five times our investment with one client.

Bobby Flanagan:

And then, think of all the clients we've had an opportunity to serve over the years and how much money is involved in that. And then, how much freedom we've had for our family, being able to go on vacations with young kids and bring babysitters and grandparents along, and pay for their trip. And it's just, you really will pay a huge cost in opportunity if you don't participate in this. Just do it, because you're not going to regret it in any way, shape or form.

Nicole Flanagan:

Well, and part of it, if you're researching or looking for a program, there's a reason why. There's a reason why you are actively searching for something like MASS®, and what it comes down to is you're trying to find a reason to have changed and to be able to invest in yourself. And let me tell you, MASS® is definitely investing in yourself, especially, because I fought MASS® for so long, because I didn't know what it could really do. And when I did finally jump in and support Bobby in it, our business has exploded.

Nicole Flanagan:

And like he said, we're currently in Florida, at Fort Lauderdale, with three babies, my parents, and we were able to fly everyone here and rent a beach house for a week before we go to Graceland. And I never thought that was possible. There's so many things that we're goal-setting. I never thought it was possible, but MASS® gave us that ability and it is continuously teaching us how to better our lives, personally, and better our business lives, and even people that work for us as well. So I would just say invest in yourself by choosing MASS®.

Marty Fort:

And thank you, Nicole and Bobby. I want to echo something you said. You talk about the people that work for us. I'm very proud that this past year, so many of my employees at my schools, Nicole, have become first-time homeowners. You know what I mean?

Nicole Flanagan:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Marty Fort:

I'm pushing forward, you guys are riding along with me, my staff's riding along with me, your staff's riding along as well, and it's just going to go awesome. Tarab, you came out of the corporate world which, as you know, they don't do money-back guarantees. They definitely don't do personal attention. And you came to me on the smaller side, you know what I mean? And you came to me one of the most difficult times in our recent history, of June of 2020, and look at you now, on the way to 400 students. So, really, on the way to 4,000. So, Tarab, final thoughts for anyone considering joining Music Academy Success®.

Tarab Ali:

Yep. I would say, everybody needs a coach, whether you are a small business or a corporate owner, every corporate CEO today, they have a coach. And small business owners is not different, especially, you need a community, you need a coach. Well, when you're stuck, when you don't know what to do, and this has happened to me. There was a time there something happened, I had no clue what to do as a music school owner, for teachers. I went to our Facebook group with MASS®, and I had a one-on-one meeting, emergency meeting, with Marty. And I got, they got me through that crisis. So, it's no matter if you are a small business, every businessman or entrepreneur needs a coach. And if you are a musical owner, MASS® is the way to go.

Marty Fort:

Well, listen, I appreciate all your time today. I look forward to seeing you all in person soon. Conference coming up, and I look forward to this. As we say in MASS®, kicking MASS® and taking names and everybody getting bigger and better. So again, take the next step. You got nothing to lose. Full, 12-month money back guarantee. And I hope you've learned today, these are current members on the current landscape of MASS®, giving their honest reviews of why we're different and, in my opinion, why we are the best program on the market because of all we do and all we bring. So come on board and let's get your music school rocking and your enrollment up. Go to musicacademysuccess.com/apply, musicacademysuccess.com/apply. Reach out to our office, Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, Eastern. Musicacademysuccess.com. Here's to your Music Academy Success®.