Connect
To Top
Local Stories

Hidden Gems: Meet Patrick Worley of Music Lessons Las Vegas

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Worley.

Hi Patrick, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I’m a professional musician based out of Las Vegas NV. Specifically, I’m a classical musician, but I worked for about a decade in the Nashville scene supporting rock and country artists, doing studio work, etc. It was a lot of fun and afforded me some great experiences, but it’s feast or famine in that industry – when it’s good it’s good, but when it’s bad it’s bad. For many reasons I thought Vegas would provide more opportunities so I decided to make the move back in 2012 and it’s proved to be very good. I had always maintained a strong base of private students while in Nashville as I both really enjoy teaching and that is one of the most stable things musicians can do to make sustainable income since gigs can be unpredictable.

To build my clientele base I invested time and resources into developing a very powerful website specifically devoted to my teaching. Through this, I ended up getting more students than I can handle (I currently have 100 on a waitlist). So, what I ended up doing with the site was turning it into a directory for other teachers local to Las Vegas, enabling them to advertise their services to students. Las Vegas has some of the best musicians in the world since so many performances in the local shows, play events around town, etc., and many of them teach private students. So through my site Music Lessons Las Vegas (www.lessonslasvegas.com), anyone can find the right teacher for them by looking at profiles, reading student reviews of all these teachers, watching videos, and looking at photos of their accolades – and much more. And with the beauty of video conferencing technology, they can teach anywhere, so even though Vegas and Phoenix are a few hours apart it’s no problem for the Phoenix metro area to take lessons with all the great musicians Vegas has to offer!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing good comes easy, especially true with entrepreneurial endeavors and probably doubly true with music! In my own career as a musician, I have to wear lots of hats and do jobs of all kinds. In addition to teaching, I play weddings and corporate events, do arranging work when it’s there, sell products on my personal site (www.patrickworley.com), and more. It’s quite a bit of work but in my opinion, once the corner is turned and all those income streams are developed it’s great and affords a lot of freedom in my personal life. With regards to my lessons site Music Lessons Las Vegas, I find that a lot of musicians don’t think like business people – which is totally understandable since that’s not an element of their training either in academia or in their practice as working musicians.

So I find that there are things they don’t understand with it at first glance. For example, if a musician teaches through a third party such as a local music school, they’re probably giving at least a third of all of their money to the academy (some places take over half). This in my opinion is far too much – an agent who books performing artists only takes a 10% cut AND they’re actually making calls, sending emails, and trying to book work for their artist. Music Lessons Las Vegas doesn’t take a cut from each student; rather it allows musicians to advertise their services to potential students which allows them not only to make more money but also to have complete control over their own studio.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Music Lessons Las Vegas is the Las Vegas metro area’s premier hub for all the great local musicians that teach private lessons not only to the local area but also around the nation and world via video lessons. This allows students everywhere to study in real-time with musicians of all backgrounds.

Vegas has musicians that boast degrees from schools like Juilliard and the Royal Academy of Music to musicians that have written hit songs and performed with huge pop acts. Vegas pulls in the best musicians from all over the world due to all the entertainment that the city offers, so I’m proud to be able to offer them as teachers to students everywhere.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Music Lessons Las Vegas has actually attained many awards and accolades since its inception in late 2019. It was featured locally in the media, but also nationally on television programs.

I actually kept it free to join through the COVID pandemic to help local musicians and from that, it was recognized at the state level with a personal letter from the Nevada State Treasurer thanking the company for its community efforts during this time.

Pricing:

  • Free for potential students, just visit www.lessonslasvegas.com and start looking for a teacher!
  • For musicians interested in joining, only a $50/year membership gets you started. Build out your profile from there for no more than $59.99/month!

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in Local Stories