(Editor’s Note: The Laine Business Accelerator recently awarded $5,000 to 11 enterprises seeking to launch or expand their businesses. Below is a profile of one of those businesses.)
SOUTH DAYTON — Children had always been a focus of Heidi Howard’s life — she spent 10 years as a stay-at-home mom raising her own — and while that left some time for her to teach music to youngsters, her main focus was her family.
However, life had other ideas for Howard, and now with her children grown and out of the house, and 10 years into her business, Miss Heidi’s Music Studio, she welcomes students of all ages. And the title of her business is intentionally inclusive — it has grown from teaching just piano to an assortment of instruments.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” she said. “For example, we had bought a building and a liquor store was supposed to go in there. Well, that fell through, and we decided to take advantage of that and put the music business there.”
Located in South Dayton, her business draws students from the surrounding areas of Colden, Eden and Brockton. And, somewhat surprisingly, she says that 75 percent of her business consists of students who are home-schooled.
“And that works out perfectly,” she said. “It allows me to be able to teach those students during the day, and to teach students who go to school after school is done.” Ironically, at the start of her business — and because she was a working mom raising four children, she avoided teaching very young children.
“Now,” she said, “that demographic is the most of my business.”
Howard is particularly aware that rural areas need the arts locally available. “And it’s so gratifying to know that the interest is there.”
To promote the start of her business, Howard sent out 300 flyers and the response was gratifying and quickly had built her business. And she sees her involvement in the Laine Business Accelerator as a key to further expanding Miss Heidi’s Piano Studio.
“I had gone to a Small Business Administration meeting, where I learned about the LBA,”she said. “I was very excited, and I went home and right away put together a video which was required as part of the application.
“I’ve learned so much from my cohort colleagues,” she continued. “I have been doing everything myself, and it was a big deal for me to realize that I couldn’t. I have a Post-It note that reads, ‘You cannot do everything and you don’t know everything’ to keep me focused.”
Howard says the growth her business has experienced has empowered her to hire additional staff and to pay herself—and to continue to prosper. “Over the next five years, I want to develop a bigger space, not only for my business, but to create a local hub for art, music, theatre…etc.”
She added that the connections she’s making with the LBA cohort are important, not only for the knowledge those connections provide, but also for the camaraderie they generate.
“We all have the same types of problems,” she said. “You come to realize that just because you have those problems, you’re not a loser. In fact, those problems just me you’re normal.”
So, as Miss Heidi’s Music Studio continues to grow, she continues to fulfill her life’s work of working with children, now introducing dozens of students to the benefits of music.