The Music Teacher Who Quit the Classroom to Inspire Students Worldwide

Shelli Varela: When we can identify that snapshot in time that changed our lives, we can leverage it to change the lives of others.

 

Stu McLaren: There is a big trend brewing that’s revolutionizing the way business is being done. Big companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are jumping on this too but so are thousands of others in all kinds of markets like photography and calligraphy, fitness, finance, meal planning, lesson planning, dog training, and so many more, and they’re doing it by shifting to a recurring revenue model. Hi. My name is Stu McLaren and for more than a decade I’ve been helping tens of thousands of entrepreneurs generate recurring revenue through membership sites. Join our host, Shelli Varela, as she takes you behind-the-scenes to see how these companies are building a thriving tribe that spends with them every single month. Now, let’s get to today’s episode. 

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Shelli Varela: Jessica Peresta, welcome to the It’s a TRIBE Thing Podcast. Buddy, how are you? 

 

Jessica Peresta: I’m good. How are you doing?

 

Shelli Varela: I’m amazing. And I’m especially excited to talk to you because while I love what everybody’s doing in the world with respect to their membership sites, I have a personal draw to your membership and the value that you add and the story behind the gift you’re actually giving. So, if you would be so kind, would you please share with our listeners who you are, who you serve, and the story of how you got to be who you are right now?

 

Jessica Peresta: Yes, I would love to. My name is Jessica Peresta like you already said, and I serve elementary music teachers who are in their classrooms each and every day serving their students and teaching music. And my story starts all the way back in first grade. Before that, I had been introduced to music, of course, but my first-grade teacher had a piano in her classroom, and just one day play Jolly Old St. Nicholas on the piano and my dad had gotten this old beat-up piano from a church that was giving it away and just kind of sat in our home. So, I went home that day and tinkered around a little bit and then finally figured out the melody to that song. And just something about just that one teacher taking the time to just play a song did not know that she would inspire a student in a classroom to go home and pretty much follow music the rest of her life. And so, that’s where my story started was all the way back in first grade with a simple piano song.

 

Shelli Varela: Let me ask you this just before you continue. I’m a lover of story and my definition of story is story is a snapshot in time, your perspective in that snapshot, but most importantly, what you make it mean. And if you remember a detail that is specific as that, you remember the exact song, what did that time in your life mean to you? Like what was it about that piano, that teacher, that song that have all of the details in your whole life you’re brought back to that specific one? What did you make that mean?

 

Jessica Peresta: Yeah. So, without going into a lot of detail, I grew up in kind of a tumultuous home and just a lot of discord in my family and I was kind of a shy kid. I kind of was withdrawn and just was, I don’t know, didn’t really talk to a lot of other kids. And so, just music became my escape and music became my happy place where I could go for myself to play music and it was just for me. And so, that experience I remember it because it just made me happy. It made me go home and figure out how to play the song. And then I played other songs and just kind of like a snowball effect. And yeah, it’s amazing how I still remember that exact moment, that exact memory of learning that song because it really did change me and helped me and mold me into the person I am today. 

 

Shelli Varela: Incredible. So, what happened after that?

 

Jessica Peresta: Okay. So, past first grade, I went all the way through school playing piano and then in band played clarinet and orchestra through college and started out my college career as a piano performance major. I just completely thought I was going to travel the world and be a concert pianist and could definitely gone that route but my heart changed. And my junior year of college, I switched my degree to music education. I had been working with inner-city kids and the city I lived in at the time just volunteering to play with them and they had different events in our community. And my heart just I always loved working with kids in one way or another. I was a camp counselor, a babysitter, taught private lessons. And so, I knew I wanted to work with kids and knew how music changed my life. So, I wanted to help change even the life of one child. And I had really a heart like I said for inner-city kids or kids who come from a rough background because I know that music can really change lives.

 

So, with that said, I got my first teaching degree in the middle of the school year at an inner-city Title 1 school. The school had no music for seven years. There were no resources, no instruments. I didn’t have a mentor teacher. Actually, I did. She taught third grade but didn’t know anything about music and it was rough, to say the least. But… 

 

Shelli Varela: For people listening, sorry to jump in, but what is a Title 1 school for those of us who may not know?

 

Jessica Peresta: It’s a low-income school where you get funding from the government. It’s just very low income, low-income families, and a lot of the kids come from homes where sometimes not a lot of food to eat. Yeah, it’s just low income.

 

Shelli Varela: So, it’s funny how in life we oftentimes get what we ask for so here you had been working with inner-city kids and you wanted to continue doing that. You wanted to bring your love of music and that thing that happened to you that day with the piano and the jolly old St. Nick song, you wanted to bring that moment to other people to perhaps, you know, free people and allow them escape and confidence through going down the path of music. And here you are, boom, in your first day of teaching in a school that is a low-income school and hasn’t had music for seven years. Incredible.

 

Jessica Peresta: Yeah. It was overwhelming but amazing experience because, yeah, that is exactly what I had prayed for and asked for and said I had wanted to do. And so, the only teaching position that opens up, and it was, yeah, amazing, but very hard to being a new teacher in there and not knowing what I was doing and what to do with these kids.

 

Shelli Varela: So, where did you start? I can’t even imagine what that would be like. You have this incredible passion and a gift, and you have the background to be able to teach these kids but there’s no program in place. The kids that would be in that school because they’ve been without music for so long probably the whole concept would be foreign to them. So, how did you indoctrinate yourself into that culture and then create it so that you could bring it to the classes?

 

Jessica Peresta: Yeah. So, I started searching through I had a bunch of old cabinets in my classroom and found some really, really old textbooks. And so, I said, “You know what, this is all I have,” and if you follow a teacher that was there before you that usually leave resources for you, I didn’t have that. So, I started searching through the old textbooks, brought them home, laid them out on my floor, and started creating my own curriculum, and just kind of pulled from different books. And I said, “You know what, even though this book is outdated. It doesn’t mean the song is. It’s still relevant. I can still teach it,” and started pulling from there. And then after I created my own curriculum map said, “I’m going to teach these objectives with these songs,” and started making a list of the songs I could use. And then, yeah, slowly started just building my resources up over time. It took a lot of time, took a lot of patience, but just come to what I already had in the classroom. And then since the kids didn’t have music for seven years, I just kept it simple. 

 

And I didn’t want my fifth graders to be bored or teach them on a kindergarten level but I had to start with just honestly singing. And I always say every kid has a voice and every kid has a body. So, when the teachers I work with say things like, “Well, I don’t have any instruments,” that’s fine. You can still do so much music with singing and movement. And so, that’s what I started with. It’s just very simple and then from there, just every year I could add a little bit more with each grade level and we built upon that. 

 

Shelli Varela: What was the first time you saw somebody gets switched on in the same way you’d hope to way back when you said, “You know, I want to work more with inner-city kids. I want to bring music to them. And I want somebody to have the experience that I had in grade one?” 

 

Jessica Peresta: Oh man, it happened so many times. Honestly, just the smiles and the lightbulb moments going off. And then I had kids come to me and say things like I played piano for them in my classroom, but there’s not a lot of time when you’re teaching in a 45-minute class period, but the kids would say things like, “I started piano lessons,” or a kid that went on to middle school, “I’m in choir now because I was in your honor choir.” Things like that and it honestly brought tears to my eyes because I thought it was not for me helping and inspire these kids and showing them the path to music, they maybe would never have continued pursuing music if they didn’t have that teacher inspiring them to continue. So, there were so many moments like that were just, I’m in choir or I’m in a private lesson or I decided to take band because of your music class.

 

Shelli Varela: Yeah. Well, I just want to like focus on this for a second because in all membership sites and yours, this is definitely prevalent. There’s the feature and the benefit. There’s that what you do and we’re going to talk about your membership site in a second. So, that what you do is music. That’s the feature but the benefit or the ripple effect is what does that create for other people as a result of having experienced that which you do? And so, I can only imagine being able to learn a new song, especially like for the first time or first couple times, when you have this new sense of confidence in yourself. And that spark of, “Man, this is something I’m passionate about or curious about, or care to learn more about,” because so often especially in schools that have bigger challenges than others, it would be hard to replicate that spark, that passion, and to be able to do that for others. And also, too, you said something that really kind of tweaked me. You talked about everybody has a voice and everybody has a body. 

 

And I think so often in life as we journey towards adulthood, and we have 10,000 moments of times that we wanted to speak up and didn’t or we spoke up and nobody listened or whatever that looks like. So, I just think it’s so powerful that you’re building in these kids from the time they’re younger that ability, that practice of using their voice of voicing up. Because while it seems like it’s not related, it’s so related in just the practice of speaking up, using your voice, being heard, understanding and knowing what it feels like to be heard, to be listened to, to have people pay attention to you as you’re the center of attention or in a spotlight. So, I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that what you’re doing really is so profound.

 

Jessica Peresta: And I say all the time too that music completely relates to other subjects. Teachers all the time are asking, I got asked this all the time at my school I worked at, I would help them integrate music into math or into reading or into science because it completely does. I mean, to think about I still remember my 50 state song I learned back in school and it sticks with you. Music really sticks with kids and really helps them to retain what they’re learning. And so, yeah, I think it’s so powerful. Music is so powerful and music teachers matter so much. So, I just feel so honored that I get to help so many music teachers.

 

Shelli Varela: I would agree. And I think any company who has ever paid a copious amount of money for a jingle would echo that because when you have a company’s jingle in your head and their phone number is embedded in there or to your point, I mean, I’ve studied for promotional exams and the like, and oftentimes I would make an acronym that I would turn into like a melody or something so that I could remember it.

 

Jessica Peresta: Yes. Oh, completely.

 

[ANNOUNCEMENT]

 

Stu McLaren: So many people in all kinds of niche markets are leveraging their existing knowledge and influence and they’re transforming it into passive monthly income. This isn’t luck. This is a repeatable formula for producing a growing subscription income and if thousands of others can do it, you can too. To find out what type of membership site would be right for your business, visit GetTRIBEGuide.com. Go to GetTRIBEGuide.com and download it today. You’re awesome! 

 

[INTERVIEW] 

 

Shelli Varela: I just wanted to ask you this. I’m a believer that oftentimes, the adversity is the gift. And so, you walked into this classroom with no previous teacher who had taught the subject so no resources, none of that but I was so impacted by how much that original story meant to you and how it ignited the rest of your journey. Do you think there’s a piece of that not having the resources and while that was challenging in the moment, there was a piece of that, that allowed you to completely just create a path and traveled and follow your own heart?

 

Jessica Peresta: Oh, completely. I, in a way now, I’m so grateful that I did not follow another teacher, that I got to come into this classroom and make it completely my own and build it from scratch because it wasn’t someone saying, “Hey, this is what I’ve done with my students,” and then the kids comparing me to I don’t know, “Ms. Smith.” I was able to just turn this classroom into my own and to create my own way which, yeah, I think was so awesome. Honestly, such a great thing to be able to do because a lot of teachers aren’t able to do that especially when you’re like an art teacher.

 

Shelli Varela: Well, it also gives you the latitude to co-create it with the kids and see what’s working and tweak it or change it because there is no template or path. You get to create that based on what you’re observing lights them up and what maybe could be slumped over. So, I wanted to segue with that into how you got into being somebody who’s using your skills and your knowledge into a membership site.

 

Jessica Peresta: Yeah. So, this story takes a lot of twists and turns, but I’ll keep it short. So, I was at that school for seven years, and I then found out my school would be closing. They were closing a lot of schools in that district and consolidating them. And I would have been moved to a different school but I found out my husband had just gotten hired at a different job in a new state. And so, I didn’t want to quit. I started in the middle of the school year, ironically, but I didn’t want to quit in the middle of the school year at a new school. I also found out we were pregnant, let’s be honest, with my second son, and I just decided I’m just going to take a break, and we’re going to move and get settled and then I’m going to transfer my teaching certificate and start teaching again. And we moved to the new state, had our second son, found out he had a lot of severe food allergies, that I started seeing signs on our oldest son. He has autism. Didn’t get him diagnosed yet, but I could just tell, I didn’t feel comfortable putting either them in daycare. 

 

So, I took a little bit of a break for a while. I knew I had my retirement and I had built up to fall back on if we needed it. And in the process of living in our new state and everything, I met a friend, who, and she now doesn’t even live here anymore. It was like a year’s timespan. She’s in a totally different niche but she’s an entrepreneur. And I just started talking to her and I said, “You know what, I miss being in the classroom but my heart is always now, not always, but it is to help other music teachers who are like me, who either don’t have any resources or feel overwhelmed or feel like they don’t know where to go to ask for help. They don’t have a mentor or…” And I just started naming all these different things then she goes, “Why don’t you teach online?” And I looked at her like she had just spoken in a foreign language to me and I go, “What are you talking about?” I know, I go, “What do you mean?” And so, she’s like, “Yeah, why don’t you teach online?” And I said, “Well, how do I do that?” 

 

And so, anyways, a bunch of trial and error and mistakes along the way, I started my website and just started blogging and then I, from there, turned into a podcast and then just launched a membership site in summer of 2019 and it’s awesome being able to serve so many teachers through the online space, you know, then I would be able to – I mentored teachers with one-on-one in real life, but being able to serve so many online and help them form a sense of community with each other that they’ve been so desperately seeking is amazing. So, yeah, twists and turns. And so, now instead of being in the classroom, I’m helping serve teachers who are therefore being more effective in their classrooms, which is awesome. It’s just an awesome thing.

 

Shelli Varela: So, along the theme of not all gifts come wrapped in a bow, the challenges that you face going into a school like we said that had been without a music program for so many years armored you with the tools to be able to figure it out to be able to create something that didn’t exist prior. What has been the most rewarding part for you working with not only the ripple effect of the kids but the teachers that you get to know help out so that they can get their time back, get their weekends back and do a better job? 

 

Jessica Peresta: Oh my gosh, it’s so rewarding. First of all, going into this thinking, “Is what I’m providing going to be helpful?” and then just even just getting even one email, “You have no idea, this week was so hard for me. I didn’t have any time to lesson plan so I used your lesson plans that you provided and, oh my gosh, I feel like I was able to focus more on my students or it freed up more time in my life to have time in my personal life at home.” And that was my goal all along. It’s just, yeah, the ripple effect and knowing that the same lessons I created in my own classroom are now being used in other music teachers’ classrooms, and they’re coming back to me with feedback about some of the activities I provided or the movement activities or songs and saying, “My students loved this. Thank you so much for sharing it,” and I just want to like drive down there and watch and just be like, “Let me see.” So, yeah, it is just awesome. It’s an awesome feeling to just, yeah, to see that ripple effect.

 

Shelli Varela: What was the biggest doubt you had prior to starting a membership that turned out not to be true?

 

Jessica Peresta: Oh man, kind of what I mentioned was the imposter syndrome thing. I really struggled with that for a while because just the comparing myself to so many others, like, “Oh, but this person knows more about this, or they’ve taken all these extra trainings I haven’t or they’re still currently in the classroom, and I’m not so why would anybody listen to me?” And oh, my gosh, just getting that doubt out of my mind and knowing I’m creating this because I do know what I’m talking about. And I feel honored to serve these teachers, and so it ended up not being true. So, what’s funny is I haven’t heard that one time. Not one teacher has come into my membership site and said, “I can’t listen to you because you’re not currently teaching.”

 

Shelli Varela: Yeah. Can you please send me your criteria? 

 

Jessica Peresta: Yeah, exactly. 

 

Shelli Varela: Because what you’re doing is creating transformation and allowing them to get their time back and be more present and when they’re more present, what is the benefit to their students going forward? I hear this a lot, actually, Jessica, and I said to somebody recently who was echoing the same thing, they thought, “Well, maybe I should get a degree in that so that I could teach it.”  But what you actually have is a Ph.D. in results. You’ve had your feet on the streets and figured it out and tried it, tested it and tweaked it. And you now know all of the stumbling blocks that somebody’s going to encounter and you can get them around them so they don’t have to go through the same path you did to get to the similar destination.

 

Jessica Peresta: Oh, so true. And I have thought so many times, “I’m going to just go back and get a teaching job and do this.” But then I think, “No, because I’m able to show up and serve.” If I can answer the email in the middle of the day and I’m able to like pour my whole self into this right now, and really serve these teachers were not that I couldn’t if I taught full time as well. But I just feel like this is what I was called to do right now. I feel like our passions and our callings can change, and yeah, that’s where I’m at right now in life. 

 

Shelli Varela: I love it. I love it. Last question, what is the biggest difference that having a membership site has created in your life and how you get to be a mom?

 

Jessica Peresta: Oh, gosh, it’s just awesome because I think it’s funny because when I was going through TRIBE, it was in the summer and I was launching my membership site in the summer because it’s for teachers. And so, I would wake up before school. I mean, let’s take that back. They weren’t in school. It’s not what I meant to say. I would wake up before my boys because they were home for summer and I had all the work in the building this membership site out while will also go into training to teach me how to run a membership site. But like now that all the hard stuff is set up and everything, it’s changed my life because now, ironically, it’s freed up more time for me to be with my kids. On my time when I want to, I can volunteer in their classrooms. I’m home with my autistic son. I have had so many meetings to go do for him instead of having to say, “Hey, I need a substitute, I need to ask for this day so I can do this or this.” It’s just freed me up to be able to do that. And I honestly think it’s awesome that they are asking questions about what I do and to see me living the dream online and they are asking questions. And so, just the flexibility in life and to be able to just open up to be a mom the way I want to be a mom, and have my own schedule and flexibility is really helpful.

 

Shelli Varela: Awesome. Last question. If somebody were considering making their passion into a membership site, but are having some of those similar doubts that you discussed earlier, what advice would you give them?

 

Jessica Peresta: Honestly, I would say confidence, not just in yourself, but in what you are offering to the world. Because I truly believe that even if there’s someone in your space or your niche which there will be that’s wanting to do what you’re already is doing what you want to do, trust that you have a different perspective and there’s only one you and that you go in with confidence knowing that you’re there to serve and people will come to you because they can connect with your story. And I think it’s so important. The momentum will come so don’t just focus on it’s not growing as much as you want it too right away. It will grow if you just keep showing up and serving consistently and have confidence in that.

 

Shelli Varela: Such a great piece of advice. And also, it proves that there is a need for what you have. 

 

Jessica Peresta: Yes. Excellent. 

 

Shelli Varela: Jessica, thank you so much for your time. This story touches me deeply. I’m a big fan of music and maintaining music in the lives of not just children, but all of us. So, it’s healing, it’s uplifting, and it’s inspiring. So, thank you for what you do. If people are looking for you online, where is the best place they can find you?

 

Jessica Peresta: Everything’s housed on my website at TheDomesticMusician.com and there you’ll find links to everything I mentioned today, blog, podcast, and the Harmony Membership site.

 

Shelli Varela: Incredible. Thank you so much, buddy. Appreciate you.

 

Jessica Peresta: Yes. Thank you so much. 

 

[CLOSING]

 

Stu McLaren: I hope you love that story. It’s amazing, right? That’s what It’s a TRIBE Thing is all about. So many people in all kinds of niche markets are leveraging their existing knowledge and influence and they’re transforming it into passive monthly income. Listen, this isn’t luck. There’s a repeatable formula for producing a growing subscription income and each week we’re going behind the scenes to show you exactly how they did it. Get the latest stories and actionable ideas from each episode at www.ItsaTRIBEThing.com and if you know one other person who could benefit from this, tell them to subscribe. Tell them to go to ItsaTRIBEThing.com.

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