Your time, energy and knowledge are due some form of compensation. You are doing yourself a dis-service to allow the owner of your school to take advantage of you in this manner. * * * You have invested a substantial amount of time, energy and money to acquire your skills. A return on that investment is due you when you provide instruction. * * * Also, when you are teaching at the school, there is an 'Opportunity Cost' that you are giving away. Were you not instructing a class, you could be painting your childs nursery, increasing the value of your home (an asset). The time in the studio prevents that from occuring.
Now, this being said ... here are some other random thoughts:
* I
know there are rewards to teaching; it is wonderful when a student
Gets It , but this does not absolve you from seeking appropriate compensation.
* Appropriate compensation could easily be free private lessons, gift certificates to resturants,
something to show the owner appreciates your efforts.
* Seems to me that if there is truly no compensation going your way, there would be some ethical questions concerning the owner of the school. I do hope he is stepping up to the plate in some manner.
Assuming that you see the light, after reading this post, you must come to terms with the
value of the services you provide on behalf of your schools owner. Here are some suggestions.
* Free private / semi-private advanced lessons on Sunday morning, so you can learn new material.
* An annual trip for you and your wife to a resort (Orlando, Vegas) These can be purchased pretty cheap.
* A flat fee per lesson trained -- for comparison, I think music instructors fetch between 12 - 18 dollars an hour.
* Some Public Recognition - Listing you as the Schools 'Most Valuable Trainer / Student' in the local advertisements.
Once you and the owner agree on what your services are worth, you'll just need to convince your wife that you didn't underprice yourself ..... because .... I'm sure you will have
