We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hannah Anders a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Hannah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I have been a singer, songwriter, and recording artist since I was 15 years old. Music has always been my life’s passion and who I am to my core. I went on to study voice at the collegiate level, and after graduating with a my degree, went on to open my first vocal studio in Nashville where I could combine my skills as a singer and as an instructor. From there, I went on to open a second location in Los Angeles, where I had the privilege of working with many of the major studios, reality shows, and performing artists in the area. When I decided to relocate back to Nashville in 2017, much of my business had begun to move to an online format. More and more singers wanted to study with me who didn’t live close by, and people’s comfort level with learning in an online capacity was increasing. Of course, it wasn’t long after that that everything went dark and we locked down for Covid. If you weren’t comfortable running your life, business, and extracurricular online before, now was the time the whole world got indoctrinated and began to communicate and function via zoom, google meet up, etc. I realized during this time that I wanted to expand my outreach and give anyone who wanted to, the ability to access good, online singing instruction at an affordable price and from the comfort of their home. Online singing courses existed of course, but I felt there were some holes in the marketplace. For starters, a lot of the information and instruction was jumbled, out of order, and difficult to follow, and I found that many courses lacked in direct support and community.

So I sat down with my now business partner, and we started to brainstorm what this course could be, how it could be different, and what we could provide singers that would give them the edge and extra support they needed. From this, The Vocal Academy was formed. We spent a year developing, filming, creating curriculum, researching what singers were looking for, what PEOPLE were looking for who wanted to sing even if just for the outlet, joy, and self expression of it. We decided to create a private online community for every member of the course. A place where they could share their questions, performances, ideas, and insecurities with direct feedback and support from not only their peers, but from me.
We built and rebuilt the website, taking into account user feedback and experiences. Working to make the site clearer, easier, etc. We added more courses based on user requests, we gave more content based on user requests…the entire process has been about giving as much value as we can, and then giving some more. Focusing completely on the success of everyone who signs up, and ensuring they have what they need, when they need it.

What has been so amazing during this process is to witness the INCREDIBLE growth of the people who have gone through the course and how much their voices have changed, and even more incredibly, how much their self confidence and belief in themselves has changed.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My parents will tell you that I literally sung before I spoke. It’s who I am. I’ve spent my life learning, singing, performing, studying, and teaching.

I now run an extremely successful vocal studio that has had locations in both Nashville, and Los Angeles. I operate an online Master Class for people who want to learn how to sing from anywhere in the world, and tour with my incredible band, performing, writing, and creating.

I think that I’m most proud of the fact that people come into my vocal studio or join my online masterclass, and leave feeling like they can do hard things. They walk out the door or log off of the class feeling supported, empowered, and capable. I know in my own journey as a singer how critically important the teachers who lifted me up have been, and what that has done for my own success. Getting to pay that forward and reach out a hand out to the next class of singers has been a true honor. I also know that they’re getting the right information to succeed and sing properly and for as long as they choose.

The Vocal Academy is my online Masterclass and most recent endeavor, and to watch people go through the courses and come out the other side proud of themselves, comfortable singing in front of others, and feeling the unbridled joy that comes with true self expression- there’s nothing better than that. There are a lot of online singing courses out there, but none that I have personally seen that offer the amount of direct support, feedback, and organized step by step training as ours. You’re going to not only get the fun performance tips and tricks, but the actual substance about HOW to sing, WHAT to do to make the sounds you want, and how to apply that in your day to day life.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The Vocal Academy has been a journey of pivoting, lol. I think all businesses have a laundry list of pivots in order to find their way and stand on solid ground. The truth is, you don’t know what you don’t know. My business parter loves to say that, and he’s so right.

We started out with a MILLION ideas about how the site should look, what we should offer, who our clients might be, how we should talk to them. And you quickly realize that you can plan and plot all day long but at the end of the day, your clients are going to be the one’s to tell you what they need, what’s not working, and how you can better serve them. And it’s amazing!

Small example, I think The Vocal Academy website has been redone about 6 times. No joke. Talk about a pivot. It’s an immense amount of work that my incredible business partner does each time we do this. And our reasons are always for, better user experience, better tracking of how people can navigate the site, easier access to the courses, MORE courses, easier access to the resources they need, etc.

If you are just getting started in your business, be prepared that the product you are about to launch is not nearly at its final iteration. Make peace with the pivots, they’re a massive part of the process.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I always operated under the belief system that everything I put out into the world had to be as close to perfect as humanly possible, otherwise, it wasn’t ready. While there are some great qualities that come from that belief system, there is a lot of “paralysis by analysis” that comes from that belief system. The lessons I had learned through my life about aiming for “perfection” were starting to hurt me, and in order to release The Vocal Academy content and give this product to the world, I HAD to unlearn and disengage from that need to be perfect. It was extremely tough for me because it brings up all of my own insecurities, but in that, it was an incredible journey of growth to say to myself, “hey, this is great. The content is there, the substance is there. Get it out. Adjust as needed, keep going”.

If I could empower any business owner out there to do anything, it’s to let go of the need to do everything perfectly, and just get going.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thevocalacademy.co
• Instagram: thevocalacademycourse
• Facebook: The Vocal Academy
• Youtube: The Vocal Academy