Meet the Entrepreneur:
Kristin Yost
Karen Thickstun
MTNA Business Digest, Volume 4, Issue 2
January 2025
Kristin Yost is the founder of Centre for Musical Minds. You may also know her as the author of How I Made $100,000 My First Year as a Piano Teacher and The Mindset of a $100,000 Piano Teacher.
I recently asked Kristin three questions about her journey. Here are answers in her own words.
1—Describe your current business/studio/career.
The Centre for Musical Minds is a music school in Frisco, Texas, where we offer piano, voice and violin lessons to learners of all ages and stages. Watch more here. Currently I own and manage the school as well as teach part-time. I spend approximately 12–15 hours a week on administrative responsibilities. Most of my week is spent on financial planning, setting and resetting goals and faculty training for our new teachers. I also oversee school-wide communication in the form of a monthly newsletter and periodic updates about larger events. I handle the budget, manage payroll, manage personnel and set the vision for the school. What I do not do is the day-to-day account management, appointment setting or follow up with individual families unless I am needed for support. I also don’t do graphic design or website management, as these services and roles have been filled by more qualified people.
2—What are key steps or experiences that helped guide you to where you are now?
Research and some good luck! I originally started as a private teacher in 2006 and made the move from Dallas, Texas, where I had finished my master’s degree at Southern Methodist University. I moved from Dallas to Frisco because the demographic data for the city of Frisco looked great for a piano teacher and I wasn’t quite ready to relocate back to the Midwest. Promising data points included:
- A low median age of the city
- High income earners
- Something like 90% of the population had a bachelor’s degree, which is incredible.
I placed a bet that this type of community would value what I had to offer and be willing to invest in my skillset financially. I started the Centre for Musical Minds in 2008 because I saw a need in the community, I missed having colleagues and I didn’t want to teach from my home. (I really value my personal space.) See more of CMM’s faculty and students. That said, my master’s degree really set me up to be a great teacher. I wouldn’t have been nearly as impactful or successful without the training I had. I live in a community that always wants “the best,” and I feel like I have given that of myself since I started my work here. The combination of Alfred Mouledous as my private teacher, and pedagogy with Sam Holland, Pete Jutras and Matthew Kline, was truly amazing. The gaping hole, however, was that I was not prepared in any way to run a business, so I had to rely on my parents for advice, read books, seek out advice from people I trusted and respected, and rely on my instincts. Growing up on a farm, knowing what the financial risk is like, I felt like while I didn’t have all the answers, I could figure them out with the right help along the way.
3—What advice do you have for others who may hope to follow a similar path?
Opening a music school can be wonderfully fulfilling, but it is not the same as running a home studio on a larger scale.
Our biggest event of the year (highest value proposition), that everyone seems to talk about and love, is our Pop Recital. Watch video here. We also teach and highlight traditional classical repertoire, which is foundational to our philosophy at CMM. In fact, when we perform at Carnegie Hall in June of 2025, it will be a wonderful musical tapestry of musical styles. People used to say that pop styles were all I did, but I didn’t listen to them, because they’re flat out wrong. I think so many people do standard classical repertoire well, so I wanted to make music that was current come to life in a new way at the piano. Plus, it’s a lot of fun! Good music is good music. Good piano playing is good piano playing, whether it’s a Kuhlau Sonatina or a P!nk cover. See more here.
If you are considering or are intrigued by the idea of opening a music school, my best advice is to talk to several music school owners and see if that’s what you want your day-to-day living to look like.
The greatest pitfall I see when teachers open schools is that they want to replicate their private studio, which doesn’t make sense, and people go in without a cash reserve. A private studio is one business model, and a music school is another. Communication and financial literacy are essential. Those two aspects will make or break you. It’s true, you need a good CPA and an attorney when you set up your company! I meet with my CPA monthly and each fall we have a longer meeting where we set up the budget for the following year. I had an attorney set up all our legal documents, and I have a third-party tax firm handle our annual financial obligation to the government.
Automated processes are also a major component of success or stress. From payroll, to training, budgets and events, operate from an offense point of view. Do your best to look into the future and identify what you will need, create a calendar of your graphics and social media, newsletter communications and financial reports.
I am 16 years into running the Centre for Musical Minds and only now feel like I’m ready to transition to full-time management and focus on growth as we move into the new year, and into a new location that I built and purchased (rather than leased). I love teaching and find immense fulfillment with it, so that is going to be difficult to let go of. With the birth of my son in December 2023, my time needs have shifted and my desire to spend time with him as he grows remains at the top of my priority list.
Kristin Yost
finds fulfillment in helping students become better versions of themselves, through music. She divides her time between Frisco, TX and her family farm in South Dakota.
Karen Thickstun, NCTM, formerly taught piano pedagogy at Butler University and directed the Butler Community Arts School. She holds degrees in music, economics and business. Thickstun is MTNA immediate past president.