Harmony Hall for All - image 1 - student project

Harmony Hall for All is a place for musical creation, education, discussion, and performance. This is to be accomplished not only with offering of lessons and classes, which I have already begun to do, but also to create an environment for people of all ages to be able to come together and connect through the playing and singing of music together. This is something that, especially for adults, is a rarity, with instrumental ensemble opportunities being available only at the community band level or at professional levels. There seems to be so many more options that we could offer. The objectives of such a business would be to raise the value of continued education and involvement in music throughout life, to introduce others to instruments and types of music that are new to them, to learn more about various cultures and historical eras using music as a vehicle. I want to share my passion with musical people who do not have a creative outlet and who need a personal connection through music. Beyond the initial offering of lessons and classes, I plan to develop Harmony Hall further with the initiation of connection with local schools and city arts and music programs to collaborate to teach classes.

I am driven by the idea that music connects people, and that so many adults would benefit from chamber music in their lives.

At the moment, I work with a school and a daycare at which I offer lessons and classes, and I also offer lessons out of my home, as well as host a baroque music collective there on a monthly basis. All but the collective is reciprocated with payment for my time and expertise. I am working on putting together a plan for working with people in retirement and assisted living communities for things such as group lessons and ensemble performance time. At the moment, my business is just me, but I could imagine needing other kinds of instrumentalists in the future.
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In order to have steady income, I'm contacting schools, community centers, as well as communities for the elderly to offer my services. I had planned on raising fees every year or two. Also, in order to go from freelancer to entrepreneur, I'm considering creating various levels of packaged information I can sell online, so that could be a stream of passive income for me.

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At this point, I am really working on building my tribe and clientele. Getting money might be nice to contribute toward paid advertising, musical instruments, or an ideal work and play space, but I really want to have more clients to make a more stable living for myself, and to build up momentum and interest in all the things that I do, so that the tribe grows. This, in turn, will offer positive cash flow and profitability. I could imagine, many years from now, the business being stable enough to carry on without me (either due to sale of the business or passing it on to a newer generation of musicians and educators).

Really, the best kind of investors that I could hope for in this situation would be someone who has benefitted from my services in a profound way, so much that they couldn't imagine life without them. Because of this, I feel like I need to focus on tribe-building first, then work on funding once that is well-established.

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The first employees I would need would be of two different kinds. The first are other musicians who specialize in instruments and styles I lack. The second are those who would help in design, marketing, and PR. I would find them through connections I already have, and I would also do some investigating among people in my tribe. They woud join me because they would see the importance of what I do, as well as how they fill the holes in the fabric of the project or service offered. Hiring the best fit would happen by listening to their music, reviewing their output, but also understanding their personal philosophy and how it matches or complements mine. Reviews need to be a regular part of life, not so much occurring like performance evaulations of the cube farms of the past, but rather making sure that every week, there's some kind of feedback, both positive and critical, to help foster good growth. From the beginning, I wish to establish that we need to talk about successes as well as to have the hard conversations in order to improve, and that it's NOT a harsh judgment or condemnation of an entire person or her character. Willingness to explore new avenues is as important as understanding the benefit of following a clear road map.

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At the moment, I have a handful of partners who are helpful with networking as well as fine-tuning ideas. Ultimately, I'd like to have some working partners who could help with those things as well as to offer services I cannot.

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Monica Steger

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