Earn $100k as an Independent Teacher? Yes!

By Karen Thickstun, NCTM | American Music Teacher, April/May 2010
Fri, 08 Aug 2025 15:47:25 -0800

At a conference last summer, I was intrigued by the title of Kristin Yost’s session, “How I Made $100,000 My First Year as a Piano Teacher.” Yes, you read that correctly. Kristin did indeed earn $100,000 (gross income) as an independent teacher after finish-ing her master’s degree at Southern Methodist University a few years ago. And there was no magic formula or lottery winnings involved. In listening to Kristin’s story, what I noticed was how smart, savvy and strategic she was at utilizing some very basic business principles.