Leading The Way To Success - Leading Note Studios - Camille Hastings

If you're looking for some inspiration to grow your music studio, this is the podcast you've been waiting for. Check out the latest version of the Music Academy Success® (MASS) podcast with MASS national school of the year award winner Camille Hastings. She's the Director of Leading Note Studios in San Diego California. On this podcast you'll learn how she's able to have an amazing work life balance as a Mom, wife, musician, teacher and entrepreneur. Camille digs deep and share her story and tips for growing your music school to multiple locations while still having a life. A true creative spirit, always making cool new things for her business, you cannot afford to not hear her story so you can use her techniques in your music studio.

Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to another addition to the Music Academy Success® podcast. Music Academy Success® is the largest and number 1 program for music school owners. Since 2008 master business coach Marty Fort has worked with school owners and teachers in 44 states and on 6 continents. On the Music Academy Success®, 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. Now here’s your host for the podcast CEO of Music Academy Success® mister Marty Fort.

Marty Fort: Welcome to the Music Academy Success® podcast this is Marty Fort here, your host. I am the founder and head coach of the Music Academy Success® which we call MASS®. MASS® since 2008 is the world’s largest and leading program. We work with 100s of music school owners all around the world on 6 continents. We work with school teachers that are teaching in their homes, we work with music school teachers that teach in their student’s homes, we work with small schools 50 to 100 students, mid size schools with 500 students, we even work with large schools that have 4,000 students. I myself have 1,600 in 3 locations, they are the largest schools in South Carolina and 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 and studio industry, some that are MASS®’ members, some that are just different authors, and we’ve got a lot of great episodes planned so keep checking out the Music Academy Success® podcast on iTunes and all other podcast outlets. Today’s guest is Camille Hastings she is the director of Leading Note studios in San Diego California. The reason why I wanted to have her on the podcast today is a variety of reasons, she is the winner of our National School of the Year contest which we had in Nashville, Tennessee, we’ll talk about that, she runs 2 locations in San Diego under the Leading Note Studio brand, she’s got a really great family, really interesting stuff they do we’re going to talk about that. She’s a musician. But she’s been able to grow her business and have family, work life balance, still play music, still do all kinds of things. She’s very creative so if you’re looking to grow your studio you’re going to learn a lot from Camille today so let’s just go ahead and dive in and Camille Hastings welcome to the podcast. How are you?

Camille Hastings: Hi Marty thank you so much for having me part of your Music Academy Success®  podcast. I’m really excited to be here so thank you for inviting me. 

Marty Fort:I know you’re very busy there and I appreciate you taking the time and like I said you are just a great story teller, you’ve got a lot to share with people and we’ve got a lot to go over so let’s just kind of break the ice. Camille for those that don’t know you and your story tell us all about Leading Note Studios San Diego California.

Camille Hastings: So, we opened in 2009 and we’re actually in the North County area of San Diego in the cities of Encinitas and San Marcos. So, I opened up the Encinitas location in 2009 in July and in the month of August I had 5 students. Now today my Encinitas location has 450 and my San Marcos location that has just been opened a year and a half, we just broke the 200 marks. So, all in all we have over 665 students at the 2 locations.

Marty Fort: Yeah, Camille you’re going to get to 1,000 it’s going to be amazing. You’ve also got not only an interesting story as a business owner and entrepreneur, you’ve got a cool musician story. So, take us through your history of your background as a musician from taking lessons as a kid to performing around and being different bands. Let’s learn more about your history and background as a musician. 

Camille Hastings: Well, I grew up in LA county Claremont area. There is a Claremont in San Diego so not to be confused with the Clarmonte in LA county, I grew up there. I started taking piano lessons from a lady down the street and then I had flute lessons and joined the marching band in middle school and high school I was in the choir. So, I just jumped into music and never left and then sometime around middle school and high school I started doing musical theater, I was in shows year-round from playing Wendy in Peter Pan to playing in Bye Bye Birdie, playing Frenchie so I’ve done a lot of musical theater. I performed as a back up singer for Barry Manilow in the Hollywood Bowl in LA county and there was even for my high school years when we were driving to LA doing all the auditions, I actually became the chauffeur for other childhood actors when mom couldn’t take them to an audition, they would hire me to take them into an audition and help them with their lines, help them rehearse and then drive them home. 

So that was all through my high school years and then I just have never looked back. I’ve done bands over the years, I’ve been in all girl bands, rock bands, blues bands. I went to Berkley College of Music in Boston and absolutely fell in love with that, graduated in 3 years with a songwriting major and a performance major. Then spent 10 years in Nashville, did that and the unfortunate 9-11 hit and I wanted to be around family so we came to San Diego to be around my family and my dream was always to open up a studio. I was part of one in Nashville and fell in love with her studio so my aspirations grew to own my own studio 1 day so I made it happen in 2009 on a wing and a prayer. From there the rest is history I’ve just been hitting the ground running with that. 

Marty Fort: Well, you’ve done amazing and as I alluded to earlier, Camille, you know every year at the Music Academy Success® conference, we have a National School of the Year contest the best way I can describe it’s kind of like a business battle of the bands. People go up and they present, and they share their story and you are the winner of our most recent national school of the year award, I’m coming out to see you and visit your schools and spend the day with you and your staff and your family in February, looking forward to that and we’re going to work on the business and invite the mayor out and have food and a great day of consulting and all that and give you 1,000 dollars. Let’s kind of talk about that experience, Camille, what was competing in the contest like? What’s it like winning the award? What’s the National School of the Year Contest is all about and what does it mean to you?

Camille Hastings: Oh, my gosh it was so exciting, it was great to be nominated for it, and then when you put the presentation together and talk about all the things you did of course this was all during covid year so it was a whole different ball game of how my business was being operated and manned, and just being saved. I had just opened up my San Marcos location in February, had a ribbon cutting on the 22nd and of course March 19th came around and we all shut down. So, I had 65 clients that I had to immediately put on zoom at the new location and in putting my national school presentation together, wow I couldn’t believe all the things that we had done. In fact, I had a team of us all working and they go oh don’t forget we did this, and don’t forget we did this and I was like oh my gosh I forgot we did that. So, it was really awe inspiring to me how much of a team effort, it was definitely not just me. I have office staff, I have teachers that helped, I have a studio manager, I have a recording studio manager, and we all just kept reminding ourselves of everything we did to save the business. I think that was even more humbling is that so many people pulled together to save the business. We weren’t about to let it fail; we were doing anything we could to save it. I think that was part of the whole process of putting the presentation together was finding out you’re not alone and the ideas come from everywhere so that was great.

Marty Fort: Yeah, and ideas do, and you’re also I want to give you some credit, and it’s true your staff does definitely help you out. We’re going to talk about the family business because you have some family help in the business which is a hard thing to pull off. Most of the times family businesses are dysfunctional but yours is very functional and in a great way. 

But you’re also Camille a very creative type, you’re a very creative spirit and that’s just kind of your nature so I think it’s just the power tandem of your natural creativity, since I work with you and I know you, plus your staff. What factors do you think led to you be voted the winner I’ve never really talked to you about that I’m curious. You did a rocking 50 minute conversation, there was a lot of stiff competition from all over North America. Looking back, Camille, what factors do you think helped you take the title?

Camille Hastings: You know when I was watching the other presentations, I think I had 2 go before me and 3 go after. 1st of all I was shocked I was the only female. I was the only female nominated it was a sea of male owners and I was pretty shocked about that because I know that in our MASS®’ group there’s a lot of females that I’m always reaching out to and stuff like that so that was pretty shocking. Even then when they were doing their presentations, they talked a lot about their past and what they did together, they talked about the history of their school and where they came from and I started panicking going oh my gosh I didn’t even talk about where I came from, I’m only talking about what I’m doing and what I plan to do. So, at 1st I thought it would hinder me but then I just feel like I really just gave everybody a check list and I wanted everybody to feel like hey this is what I’m doing that has worked and here’s your check list see if you can go and do these things and make your business better. So, I think I really empowered all the other studio managers or owners by giving them something to take home and actually do and there were some things I even said where I was like hey do this in your hotel room tonight to improve your business. So, I think that’s what kind of set me over the edge is that I had we talk about ponds, we advertise in different ponds but there’s so many other ways that we advertise and get our name out there. So, I think that’s what set me apart a little bit. 

Marty Fort: So, Camille, for our next conference we’re going to Graceland and I’m very excited for that. It’s going to be awesome because it’s at the Guest House at the Graceland estate. The hotel is on the site, the pool, the restaurants, the ball room, the theater, everything’s there and we’re really stoked about that and we’ve already got about 75 percent sold out, so it’s going to definitely sell out, and you know we always do really good events. Andy Core is our key note speaker this year and he’s going to be talking about relieving stress and mental health, and just be more productive in our business and in our lives. But our events are very special, we are definitely the industry leader as far as putting on live events, we’ve done Dallas, we’ve done Cleveland, we’ve done Charlotte, we’ve done all kinds of stuff. But some people listening to this have never been, don’t know what it’s about. So, Camille for somebody that’s never been to a MASS® conference what’s it like? What happens at a MASS® event?

Camille Hastings: Well, I’ve been to a couple of them. I’ve done the virtual one, and I’ve done the in person in Nashville. The virtual is great but at the end of the zoom call, you go bye and when you’re in person at the end of the meeting you go hey let’s go grab a drink, hey I want to meet you, I want to talk to you you get to pick who you get to go to dinner with and the conference doesn’t end when the zoom turns off. So, if you’re going to go, do not zoom, go in person it’s so much better and whatever your level of fear with everything going on -  it’s covered, you’re taken care of, the place is clean, you are treated like a VIP at these conferences so don’t let that stop you. Be in person because everybody in that room owns a studio and someone in that room, in fact several in the room, have the exact same size, 2 locations 700 trying to get to 1,000 find that person, have dinner with them, buy them a drink, share ideas, it’s the way to go. It’s awesome. You’ve got to go in person for a 24 7 conference for 3 days, it’s worth it to be there and it’s worth every penny.

Marty Fort: It’s a lot of fun and I think the power is - I go to different conferences, Camille, and most of them are mixed so you’ll have different industries put together and you can imagine most entrepreneurs aren’t very excited to talk to music school owners. I even had 1 person at a major conference and I tried to hand her my card and she handed it back to me. I was like okay, she was not interested in networking music, had nothing to do with us, and see ya. The vice versa is when you’re that the MASS®’ conference - it’s like the Keurig cup. It’s instant coffee, instant connection. Every single person in that room, because we only allow our members to come, is not only a music school owner but they’re a MASS® member so you’re getting the duality of they all understand you, they understand what you do, they have the same issues, same challenges, same goals. But they’re also of the same mindset because they’re Music Academy Success® members and we’re all positive, focused on our growth, and we’re going to talk about that in a second when we talk about 2020. 

You lead 2 schools with a lot of moving parts and a lot of staff, we talked about the importance of your staff earlier. To help those that are listening today to improve their schools, what tips do you have for others that want to do the same and they want to get better at moving all the different parts that require us to lead an organization such as Leading Note?

Camille Hastings: Well, you definitely have to have people to reach out to. I’ve got a lawyer that I call in an instant. I’ve got an hr rep that I call in an instant. All my teachers are employees in California. I started off as contractors, so I’ve had the contractor route, I switched them to employees because there was a law that came through. I am actually thrilled that I have employees now, the quality that I can control now is so much better. There was a transition year, I had about 2 years where I had some employees who used to be contractors so they still had the contractor mindset but now everybody has an employee mindset and it’s really helped me and my business that way, so that’s great. 

As far as my staff goes, I’ve a total of 33 people between the 2 locations and even, I’m hiring 2 new teachers currently and I just hired another front desk staff. I actually had one of my students that’s been with me since I opened so 14 years, she’s turning 16 she now comes in and helps us stuff envelopes, and do Musical Ladder prints outs and stuff like that so I find help where I can find it.

Marty Fort: Well, you do a great job at it, I want to transition now to talk a little bit about you. You have a really cool family, your son’s a college athlete, your husband’s a musician, your daughter works in the school with you. That’s interesting to me, Camille, because most of the time that doesn’t go so well. Families are by and large better in their own lanes, family businesses have problems. But you’re able to pull that off so I’m curious for people listening to the podcast what advice do you have for people to work with their family members?

Camille Hastings: My daughter and I get along great. She’s the studio manager. She’s now training all the front desk staff. She came to me through covid because she lost her job in LA. In fact, currently she still has an apartment in LA and travels back and forth on the weekends. But you know we just let people know, listen we kind of get a little short with each other but it’s never done out of hate or frustration. It’s just how we communicate sometimes and we turn around and smile and laugh the next minute. So, there is that family dynamic where you tend to get a little bit more emotional with your family member but we absolutely make sure it’s never done in front of a client or anything like that and we never take work home. We’ll get home and she’ll have to download sometimes. I’m like, hey, I’m on the sofa, I’m done. So, we have to kind of make sure we check out. 

My husband, he’s a musician, he’s been in bands, toured all over the world, even played with James Brown band and things like that. He keeps his foot in the door to teach just enough people so he can make his motorcycle payment. Am I making my payment? I’m like yes honey you’re making your payment. He’s a great salesman so he’s always helping us with new apps, websites, in fact he brought me several websites that we use so he’s a great aspect there. Then my next son just graduated with a real estate degree so now I’ve got him just keeping his ear to the ground about a 3rd location, if you see anything in this area that I could buy because I really want to own my next building not just rent or lease. So, I’ve already got him searching for me. I’m not ready yet but just keep your ear to the ground, keep learning about it. Yes, my youngest is a junior in college but a freshmen college football player and just had a start as a quarterback at UC Davis and they are undefeated so that’s exciting and yes if you could see me on this podcast, I have my streak of blue hair and my blue football nails to support the team.

Marty Fort: Right on. It’s very cool. What’s interesting about the real estate thing, Camille, you’re going to get 3 locations, you’re going to have 1,500 maybe 2,000 students. Sky is the limit for you, and I really believe that. What’s interesting, as you’ve seen is more MASS® members than ever are buying their own commercial buildings. The SBA, the small business administration has a great 504 program. I own my 3 buildings at the 2 504’s and I did 1 conventional and so yeah that’s going to be fantastic. 

Let’s talk about kind of another elephant in the room for all of us in this industry; and unfortunately, it’s not over yet. But I’d like to go back in time with you - March 2020 what happened, you talked a little bit about this about your clients or whatever but go a little bit deeper talk about March 2020 for Leading Note in Covid, especially California, what happened?

Camille Hastings: Well, I started hearing things through the grapevine and I believe it was a MASS® call that you guys talked about zoom and this was maybe a Wednesday going - hey guys something’s happening, we better start looking at zoom. So, on Thursday and Friday I ran around the studio I put zoom on all the iPads here. I made a video that I sent to all my teachers going hey guys everybody please download zoom I think we might have to go online for 2 weeks. Then by Saturday we were open but we had some people freaking out and not coming in that day and so I started making phone calls and I spent literally the next 2 weeks calling each and every client saying cause they want to quit or take a break for 2 weeks and I was like no you need this in your house, you need music, you need to not focus on the tv, you need to not dwell on what’s happening outside, you need to bring a little joy into your life and have your child play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano or have yourself play a minuet to destress and decompose. Because that’s what music does, it saves us. 

So literally I lost 150 clients over the time. I had just gotten 450 clients when covid hit, we went down to 290 at my worst which was in July, and of course I was back to being open by May. In May I opened my doors to those that wanted to come in but we went 99 percent on zoom in March. May I opened up, we only had maybe 15 percent come in. By August of 2020 my numbers were coming back up again and by November I matched my covid numbers. So, within 9 months I was back to where pre covid numbers and then by January, I surpassed them and I’ve done nothing but go up since. Just because I’ve done whatever it took, I’ve called the client- what will it take for you to keep your business and keep music in your household? What will it take for me to keep that joy? Unfortunately, I had 3 tragedies that hit home with students, and because of that I am not closing, I’m not doing this you guys need music, it’s therapeutic, it’s healthy, and it’s happy, and that’s what I fought for.

Marty Fort: You did a fantastic job, Camille, and it’s real feast or famine out there right now. The Small Business Administration has classified our industry as officially hard hit, a lot of schools closed, a lot of people that are, not all but some of the people, that are joining Music Academy Success® now that were not with me last year, their businesses are down 50 to 75 percent. What I’d love to hear you elaborate on is in our world of Music Academy Success®, our members are crushing it and you’re seeing daily on the Facebook page the success stories. We have a tradition in Music Academy Success® and people can see it on our Facebook if someone hits a goal, they hit 300 students or they hit 600 students, whatever the goal is they’ll get gold balloons and they’ll take a picture and you’ve done that that kind of thing. So, tell them as somebody on the inside how have your fellow MASS® member fared during covid and now delta, what are you seeing, Camille?

Camille Hastings: You know just ideas, try this, try this, we did this, we share ads, we go hey this ad I’m going to show it to you worked really well for me. We share verbiage, use this word instead of this word, it’s really working for me. Then just to reach out and just say hey I just hit 75 students - that’s a huge accomplishment. I remember that hitting 75 students - it was a big day because for me 75 students finally paid my rent. So, the small accomplishments and then of course I see the people posting, hey I hit 1,000 or they hit 1,400 and I’m like oh I can’t wait for me to post that. So, you’ve got the ones you’re encouraging to bring along, you’ve got the ones you’re looking for to follow and we’re all sharing ideas. There are days where like oh my gosh I haven’t been on Facebook in 2 days, what have I missed? So it’s really important that I go on and see the group and see what’s happening. We have people that are like I’m in a bad mood today this is happening, this is happening, this is happening because we have those days trust me. I cried during covid there were heavy sobbing days it was not all joyful so even those people posting I need a pick me up, the amount of text and responses, and I’m sure there is even personal messages behind the scenes that go out. It’s unbelievable. So, the support you have in the group is just amazing. 

Marty Fort: Support is important and mental health is important, and marketing is important, there’s so many moving parts and 1 of the things that’s always interested me Camille is - I as a guitarist took lessons for easily 15 years with different teachers, college, getting my masters, master classes, all that kind of stuff. I would imagine you are the same. How many years of lessons approximately did you have, and then at Berkley you had 3 years? You had easily over 10 years of lessons yourself, right?

Camille Hastings: Even more than that. I started at 8 doing piano and Marty, you touched on this earlier as far as having a job and someone returning your business card because you own a music studio. There’s a lot of people that say well, you’re going for a career for music, what are you going to do with that? I actually have on my website a list of over 500 jobs that you can make a living at doing music and that’s just as important that you can make a living doing music and not just as a studio owner but as a teacher. Again, we share ideas on how to teach. I’ve had a staff meeting yesterday and my topic was listening  - let’s all share what do you do with a super hard student that, 1 that cries in the corner or doesn’t want to play, cause the kids are even coming in emotional, and sometimes you’re a counselor. So, we had even a staff meeting on that. There’s a lot you can do in the music industry and just keep it joyful and happy, and keep it because this is something that will be part of your life, and Marty, I’m sure you know this even with your daughter Katy, you’re teaching her music that she will have till she’s 99 years old. I say this all the time, every retirement home has a grand piano - none of them have a soccer team. So, we are giving things to people that they will have for a lifetime and I think that’s the joy of it. That this is something they’ll have the entire life so that’s what makes it joyful and happy and fun to be around.  I’m not a history.

Marty Fort: I completely agree, so it’s the whole thing of, you’ve just very eloquently said, the power of music mentorship and everybody on this podcast I would assume is a music teacher, musician, or interested in music and they understand that too they get the power of being a piano teacher, being a voice teacher, the power of going to Berkley College of Music, the power of being a professor whatever. But I think the thing that’s definitely misunderstood, and I know why it’s misunderstood, is the concept of business mentorship. Business mentorship, Camille, has been evolving for a long time. Whether it’s Napoleon Hill a long time ago, to Dan Kennedy’s work now, and there’s a lot of bad actors, frankly in the business mentorship space who are not great at running coaching programs, don’t deliver great product, don’t deliver results, there’s just a lot of hype and that’s a problem for our industry. But there are also a lot of great business mentors. I’ve always been very specific to give credit to mine, Sam Beckford was a big mentor to me, Dan Kennedy of course big mentor to me, Bill Glazer. So, there is a validity to all the good business mentors out there. 

In your mind, how would you describe to someone, if you were sitting down with them for coffee, how would you describe to them what good business mentorship is for you? What does that mean, what do people get from it and how does it compare to being a music teacher and being a business teacher?

Camille Hastings: I’m one of those people that hated business books. I wanted to read, I love fiction books; I love my historical fiction books and I wanted to read those. When I got into MASS® and started hearing all these business ideas, I was blown away by what I wasn’t doing that could make my life not only better but easier. I now travel every weekend to my son’s football games and I don’t worry about my business because of now the books I really enjoy reading. I’ve read the Dan Kennedy books because of you, I’ve read your books, even other MASS®’ members have written books and now I really really enjoy them and it’s always fun to highlight something and tell my staff about it and they’re like oh my gosh you’ve been reading again and I’m like I’ve got this idea from MASS®, Marty says. I got this idea from Dan’s book and even my front desk office staff, we now are reading through one of Dan Kennedy’s books together and every Monday night we have dinner and go through 1 of the chapters and we talk about it together. So, having a business mentor is fun now, it’s something that - what idea am I going to glean from this? It’s something that I wish I had done in 2009. There are always things you wish you had done years ago; I wish I had listened to myself; I wish I had done this. But now I am doing it and I try not to say I wish I had - I make sure I do it. But having someone like you that I can call on the phone and just say wow this happened and especially with covid. I lost 12 teachers during covid, I basically lost a teacher a month. That means I had to call the client, find a new teacher, sell the new teacher, get them to stay, tell the child here’s your new teacher. I mean I had to do that so many times. Yet it didn’t affect my numbers, my numbers went up and I was only able to do that because of MASS® and these mentors that told me Hey always be interviewing and now I am I’m always interviewing, and I have the time to because of my mentors that told me Hey why don’t you use this website it will save you doing this and I do and I’m like wow now I freed up that time. I know, Marty, I’ve told you this story and I’ve asked you. I’m feeling kind of bored right now, I’m feeling restless, because I’ve got systems in place that are working so well and that was because of all the ideas that have come from mentors. So, it’s really made a huge difference to find someone you click with and that you listen to and take their advice. 

Marty Fort: What’s cool about everything you said is it’s very apparent in the tone of your voice and your zeal that you are having fun with the business mentor programs. That’s what I love about what you said, Camille, is you were able to take it from drudgery of here’s another business book and there’s a lot of bad business books out there. But as you said when you click with the right coach, it’s like clicking with the right piano teacher, it’s like clicking with the right voice teacher and people take off like a rocket. If they go to Music Academy Success® dot com, they see the testimonials that are on there, they see all the 5 star reviews they have, they see all the 5 star Facebook reviews we have those are people that click with us and took off like a rocket because they were able to embrace this mentorship and have fun at the same time. 

Why do you think some musicians try to go it alone? I mean, I can’t go it alone I have mentors and I think you would agree you got through last year and you were successful because of your family support, your staff report, and your mentor support, but a lot of people they’re kind of stubborn frankly they just think no I can do this or they feel the guilt of they should be able to do it themselves. But that’s the message of the podcast today. I have not done anything by myself. You did not get here by yourself, you came from a position of gratitude of the people that helped support you whether it’s your attorney, your family, or whoever. So, Camille why is it, why do you think some musicians resist getting help with their business and their schools?

Camille Hastings: I think that we forget that as musicians we all love being in bands, we are not solo artists. I think Kenny G is the only one who was a solo artist otherwise we all have bands around us, we all have people that got to get the rhythm going around us and I think we forget that. Also, we always say we’re starving musicians and they say I can’t afford it; I can’t afford it. You can’t afford not to and I say that so whole heartedly that in 1 month that little amount that you spend on the membership you will get 10 things that you should be doing that will make that money back 10 fold. So, I think as musicians we sit there and go oh, I can’t afford it, it’s out of my budget. You need to make it in your budget and it’s such a minimal cost you’re going to get it back. But we also need to know that it’s great to be your 1 man show in your own room teaching lessons, collecting your own paycheck, being paid but then when you’ve got someone else doing that, and then somebody else doing that and then when that student who was taking from me piano and wants to switch to guitar I don’t lose that student anymore. I send them to you Marty and you’re working for me and now you’re teaching guitar lesson and I am still making money off that student, and I have room for another piano student. So, to have that group of teachers as your employees or as your contractors why lose the student when they switch instruments why not keep them? Just with a new teacher that works for you?

Marty Fort: Well, listen Camille I love doing this interview you’re always great to talk to. I can’t wait to come see you and your family and your staff and your amazing business in San Diego and spend a day with you guys and do some consulting. It’s going to be awesome. What does the future hold?  You kind of talked about the building, your locations, anything else you want to talk about? What are you excited about for the future for Leading Note Studios?

Camille Hastings: Well, my 1st location in Encinitas I am actively talking with my landlord and we’re looking at building 4 rooms next door so that will give me a total of 16 rooms here and we have a new system of teaching that brings in more students also, we teach toddlers so we start at 1 year old so that brings in more students. San Marcos, I want to get it up to 500 just like in Encinitas is and of course I have that vision of a 3rd location and my staff throws up in their mouth when I say that right now, but I think with all the systems we’re putting into place and the way we’re training people now and how I’m always hiring people. I think it’s doable sooner than later. That 1st location came around in 2009, the 2nd one in 2020, so that was almost an 11-year gap and I want to get that 3rd location in closer to 3 to 4 years so I think that’s what’s going to be next for Leading Note. We didn’t talk about this, Marty, but I’m happy with my name as a musician. You guys know that the leading tone, the 7th note of the scale is always something that drives you home and that’s where I got leading note from that putting music in your life will just lead you home, music always leads you home. That’s what I want to do, I want to bring people joy and laughter in their home for a lifetime. So that’s what Leading Note Studios is all about. 

Marty Fort: You do an excellent job at it; you do an excellent job with your presentation. I think that’s one of the primary reasons they voted for you for School of the Year is your just natural joy for what you do, and you came through the fire of covid with flying colors and your location’s going to be amazing and I’m looking forward to the journey with you and your team. If anybody would like to give MASS® a try it’s very simple, go to Music Academy Success®  dot com slash apply or as you know, Camille, if they’ve got some questions, we are the only coaching program that I am aware of that has 2 full time office staffers Alexis and Marissa are in our office Monday through Friday 9 am to 5 pm Eastern and they welcome your call, your text, your email. 803 917 1434 or just email them at office at Music Academy Success®  dot com. 

But as you know Camille, they’re very easy to get ahold of, very personal. Also both of them graduated from being managers at my school to now being involved in the coaching business which being the largest in the world is a very big business now. But I just encourage anybody listening to this that wants to be like Camille and wants to grow their business, and wants to get that love and passion and fire back for their business and still spend time with their family and not have to teach till late at night and just take it to the next level, reach out to us. You can go ahead if you’re ready to get started now Music Academy Success®  dot com slash apply or contact our office and we’d love to hear about your school, learn about your situation and tell you how we can help and help you to get to the next level. Camille Hastings, I will see you in San Diego my friend. 

Camille Hastings: Yes, you will, and you’ll see me in Memphis. I’ll be in Memphis of the next conference and you’ll see my staff at the staff in Carolina in November. So, you’re not going to be missing out on seeing me that’s for sure.

Marty Fort: Well, I can’t wait and like I said it’s just been awesome to see you grow and I’m glad that covid is going down, I’m glad things are improving and I’m just ready to get back to focusing on music so Camille Hastings thank you so much for being with us today.

Camille Hastings: Thank you so much Marty.

Marty Fort: All right, everybody, here’s to your Music Academy Success® .