Lesson Lineup

Guide for independent music teachers

How to stop chasing late lesson payments.

A late payment often starts with a late invoice, and your end of it is the part you can speed up: March's invoices out in the first days of April, a balance you can quote the moment a parent asks, and the reminder emails written before anyone is late.

Invoice what was taught, while it is fresh

It's April 9 and March's invoices still haven't gone out. When you finally sit down to do them, you're trying to remember whether the Chens missed the week of the snow day. By the time the invoice reaches them, the parent has spent that money on something else. If you take attendance as you teach, the ledger already knows what was taught, so create each invoice from what it says is owed. Don't work from the schedule. It still shows the lesson that got canceled, and parents check an invoice against their own memory of the month. One wrong line and the whole payment waits while you straighten it out.

In Lesson Lineup, marking attendance puts each lesson's charge on the family's account as you go. On April 1 you create every family's invoice at once, each built from what that family's account says, and email them with the PDF attached.

Know the number before they ask

A parent at pickup asks what they owe. If you have to say you'll check and get back to them, the payment slips another week. In Lesson Lineup every charge, discount, payment and refund is an entry in the family's ledger. Two brothers in the same family share one balance, and the figure on screen is added up from those entries each time you open it, so you can give the parent the number right there at the door.

Families keep paying you the way they do now, whether that's a check handed over at the lesson or a bank transfer, and you record each payment as it arrives. No money passes through Lesson Lineup, so none is taken off the top. Check "Send an email receipt" when you record a payment, and the family gets a receipt. Switch on invoice reminders, and each unpaid invoice you emailed gets one reminder email, on its invoice date or as many days after it as you choose, up to 90, with the amount still owed. Everything goes out by email, never by text.

Have the late-payment words ready

The last piece is the email itself. It sits in your drafts for a week because the first sentence is hard to write, especially to a family you like. Write the versions now, while nobody owes you anything: a friendly nudge, a firmer reminder and a final notice. If you switch on the overdue reminder, it can stand in for the nudge. When an account does go late, you paste and send. Keep each one specific: the amount, the date, one way to pay, and no apology for asking.

Questions

Does Lesson Lineup automatically charge families for lessons?

No. Parents pay you however they pay you now, a check at the lesson or a bank transfer, and you type the payment in when it arrives. Nobody is asked for a card or a bank login, and the ledger does the math.

How do I know who owes me at any moment?

Each charge, discount, payment and refund is an entry in the family's ledger, and the balance is added up from those entries whenever you look. Siblings share one balance.

Can Lesson Lineup email invoices or payment reminders to families?

Yes. You can email a family their invoice with the PDF attached, from the invoice's Email menu or when you create it. Switch on invoice reminders and Lesson Lineup also emails the family once about each unpaid invoice you emailed them, on its invoice date or as many days after it as you choose, up to 90, with the amount still owed; that reminder has no attachment. It can also email a receipt when you record a payment. Nothing is ever sent by text.

The kit for the awkward email