We were lucky to catch up with Stephanie VanAlstine recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I have often found myself doing the “runaround” in my mind. By that I mean the classic question “what would my life look like if I had a traditional 9 to 5 job, or at least a job where someone else was in charge?” and I spend some time going in circles picturing what that life might look like, and how it could potentially be ideal.

The last time I had that thought was when the next month was coming up for my students to enroll in their lessons, and I had 4 students all in the same month say they decided they needed to take a break. Suddenly, my income dropped by about 20%. I felt like I didn’t have control of my life or my income. In those moments, it’s so easy to think “what if this were someone else’s problem?” – as in, what if I worked for a university? And those were students who dropped out? That wouldn’t be my problem, THEY would have to find students to fill my roster again! Wow, how idyllic. But what I’m skipping in that picture, is the income part. Then that university is taking a HEFTY portion of my income. When I am in control (the thing I thought I didn’t have), I actually get to decide what my income is. I also, in actuality, get to decide how many students I have. That month may have felt out of control, but it helped me to realize I had to grab the reins and be a mindful, active business owner. It helped me to shape my marketing strategies, my social media, and my networking capabilities. All things which are really hard for an artistic person to wrap their brain around. We often feel as though if our hearts lead the way everything else will follow, and its taken me some time and true bumps in the road to learn that even if your business is in the arts, it is still BUSINESS, and having a business mind is in fact truly wonderful and liberating.

I can now say with full and absolute confidence I am completely happier as a business owner. Knowing I keep all the money I make, and that I have full control over things like my own raises, vacations, schedule, and work/life balance is completely invaluable to me. At this point, it would take an incredible offer for me to give that up and work for someone else. The empowerment and strength I find as my own boss and as a business owner is a core part of my identity. It is absolutely not always easy (man, taxes just plain suck), but the difficult times are what build my character more and more.

Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Well hello! My name is Stephanie VanAlstine, and I am the owner/founder of VanAlstine Voice. VanAlstine Voice is a professional voice studio offering one-on-one voice lessons to singers of all levels, but primarily to those pursuing a professional career with their singing voices. I work with singers across many genres, from musical theatre performers, to singer/songwriters, to heavy metal artists. I collaborate with these incredible people to find their most ideal, sustainable, and powerful voice that will last them a lifetime and cause them no harm no matter what they may want to do with their voice. My aim is always to assist artists in finding their most authentic voice that feels grounded in the truth of their identity, without bringing any bias of what a “good” or “correct” voice might sound like. My studio is a place of full acceptance of all people, and my passion is helping those people feel the most connected to their singing voice as a place of expression and freedom.

I found my way to this work down a winding road, I followed a few different career paths before this one hit me like a bullseye right between the eyes. I was in Los Angeles back in 2015 working as a Behavioral Aide, knowing I wanted to work with people, but feeling sure where I was wasn’t the right place. I also continued to feel the pull back to the performing arts, where my heart has been since I was a child. I took a huge leap and applied to only one graduate school for Vocal Performance, my absolute top pick, NYU. I got in. It was absolutely life changing, and gave me the training and education of the voice that is the foundation of which I work from today. I gained my Master’s in Vocal Performance (focused in Musical Theatre) as well as an Advanced Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy (fancy way of saying teaching voice), and never looked back. After I graduated in 2018 I established my voice studio, and I have been teaching and performing ever since.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

My absolute most effective strategy for growing clientele is referrals. It sounds so straightforward, but it is the bread and butter of my business. Without referrals I wouldn’t have 85% of the students I currently have. I started a referral bonus a few years ago, where I would send $50 cash to ANYONE who sent me a student that signed up for a program (not $50 off a program, just straight up send them $50, this was crucial), and it helped keep students who stopped working with me continuing to send me new students, because they’d still get that bonus! I have recording studios who refer students for bonus’s, other teachers such as guitar and piano teachers, etc. It’s been a game changer.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I started my business thinking I needed to absolutely stay in my lane, which meant sticking to working with musical theatre performers ONLY. Because that’s what I knew best, that’s what I do personally, and that’s what I learned to teach. But over time I had more and more students showing up for lessons outside of that realm, and at first I felt very uncomfortable working with them. I felt fraudulent, and like I wasn’t qualified to be teaching them. But what I had to tell myself was that all I had to do was be honest about my skills, give them my best, and allow them to decide if I was the right teacher for them. The best example I have of this is my first heavy metal student. He came to me telling me he did mainly scream singing, but was hoping to work on his true singing voice and overall vocal health. I was incredibly straightforward with him, and told him scream singing was absolutely outside my realm of expertise, but I definitely had knowledge on vocal health and would love to help him build a regimen to work with his singing voice. We’ve now been working together for over two years, and his skills have grown to an incredible degree, and his band has seen huge success. Because of him, I now work with a number of heavy metal students, and allowed myself to pivot into a teacher who works with all sorts of artists. This has been such an incredible blessing for my life, my own art, and my career.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vanalstinevoice.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/vanalstinevoice
• Facebook: facebook.com/vanalstinevoice
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-vanalstine/