I'm thinking of offering private art lessons, any advice?

As with any other business, be sure you follow the local laws and regulations regarding to business license, taxes, and home based restrictions. Four people in the Sierra ski resorts this past week were arrested for charging for skiing lessons without having a proper license.

As someone who would be interested in TAKING such classes (someone pretty good in art who needs some fundamentals she didn’t get in school). I would like to know more about materials selection (what is cold-pressed vs hot-pressed paper, what brushes for what technique, homework assignments that would MAKE me review different techniques, color theory-hard to learn from a book, etc.)

I think it is a great idea, but curiously, I don’t think I would look on the internet first. I would probably ask around at the various art supply places in my neighborhood and use that information to start my search. It could ultimately direct me to a cool website, but I just don’t think I would start there.

I would also probably like to start using YOUR supplies until I knew what I liked and could buy the supplies that you helped me determine were good for my style, etc. I would also probably prefer private lessons to group work.

Just my 2 cents . . .

You’re probably too short-noticed to make this work for this winter break because that’s like this week, and there may not be enough time to reach potential customers in that timespan, but I would put up flyers in coffee shops near you, and perhaps send something to some of the less traditional churches about getting in touch with your creative side over the holidays.

Because you’re on a short promotional timeline, you need to focus on who you think your likely customer would be, and who would have time over the holidays to take an art class. “Anyone who’s interested in art” is too broad. But you could package drawing lessons as a Christmas gift for the hard-to-buy for, creative types on your list. You do have a problem in that most adults are either time constrained or cash constrained over the holidays, and most students are either working or are cash constrained. Perhaps promoting destressing by taking a creative break. @Kayak8 suggestion about art supply stores as a contact point is a good one.

Use word of mouth, Facebook contacts, etc.

I have friends who take a drawing and painting class offered by an individual, and they really like it, but they go on a weekly basis over time, at the woman’s home. She has a studio set up.

@Haleth The remark I left that was removed by the moderator wasn’t meant to be offensive, just a silly reference to a recent post you had made. I hope you didn’t think it was a random inappropriate remark.

@FutureMemory I actually didn’t get to it before it was removed. So I have no idea what you said.

Otherwise, thanks for the suggestions! I do like the idea of putting up fliers or going to art stores. @Kayak8 That’s a nice suggestion about using my supplies, but I’m really attached to my supplies, so I’d probably just buy duplicates for student use. I have a spare room where I may be able to set up a studio, so maybe the supplies could just live there.

@PandoraBoxx That’s a good point you made about the holidays. I don’t think I expressed what I was thinking at all clearly in my question. In my mind, I had the intention to start setting up the business over winter break, because I believe that part will take the most time. I’m planning to use winter break to gather information, set up a studio, create a curriculum, decide on pricing, register as a business, make promotional materials and start finding students, and would maybe offer one or two preliminary lessons. I like your idea about this being a gift for the hard to shop for. Thanks!

I think it’s a great idea.