April Monthly Theme: Show Me the Money!
Lyric Kinard 
This month we're going to talk about money. ALL about money.
"Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.” – PT Barnum
This month we're going to talk about money. Things like: How much to charge for a class, taxes and deductions, and financial goals.
How do you decide how to come up with pricing for your classes?
This was a big topic of conversation at the March 16th Roundtable. There are as may opinions as there are pricing "formulas" around. You want to take into consideration whether or not your classes are live, have a live component, or are entirely on-demand. I price my on-demand courses according to how much time I put in with the students, and how much video content there is. More interaction time = higher price.
Do some market research in your field and look at places like Skillshare and the independent teachers listed at GlobalQuiltConnection.com or other membership sites. Many list prices on their websites.
If you teach for a company like Craftsy, Creativebug, CreativeLive, CreativeSpark.com, etc. - remember that they take a large cut of each registration fee. They might also dictate how much you can charge and can put your class on sale any time.
"Don’t make the mistake of thinking that people will buy something just because it’s cheap." –Tyler Basu, Thinkific
Taxes and Deductions
This is a huge topic and varies state by state and country by country so please contact your local experts instead of relying entirely on anything we say here.
However, we can talk generally about deductions for your US Federal tax return. A few things to make sure you include are: portion of your workspace (% of rent based on square footage), phone plans (estimated monthly usage), utilities (portion of electricity, gas, if you use it to create your classes), website fees, software fees, equipment purchased. Disclaimer: I am not an accountant. Please check with your own accountant to verify qualified deductions in your particular situation.
This month in the Academy, members will be looking at how we set our money goals, how we price our products and classes, and how we handle taxes. We invite you to join us at members.academyforvirtualteaching.com. Membership is free and available to all makers who want to create a business teaching what they love online.