Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Staump.
Tim, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Orange County & moved up to Silicon Valley (before it was the “famous” Silicon Valley) at an early age. My parents divorced when I was about 8 years old, which made me extremely independent.
We moved down to San Diego when I was in 5th grade to be closer to my maternal grandparents. Growing up hearing stories of my grandpa serving in World War II & being a Tarawa survivor ignited the drive in me to work hard.
My grandparents played a huge part in supporting me to get to where I am today. While they weren’t able to support me financially, their unconditional love helped me achieve my goals.
I started my business out of my grandma’s living room. One weekend, while my family was out of town, my friends & I converted her living room into a music studio & started teaching & recording local musicians.
I already had a background in music, joining band at Lakeview Elementary as soon as I moved to San Diego. I grew up taking lessons at Alan’s Music in La Mesa – eventually being hired as a teacher in 2000.
A few years prior to starting the music school, I created a Web2 startup called Staump.com, which provided a central hub of information promoting local artists – connecting them to fans & new listeners.
During this time, I played and recorded with many bands throughout Southern California and studied from drummers Mark Schulman (P!nk) and ZORO (Lenny Kravitz).
In 2008, I moved my studio from my grandma’s house into a commercial facility in Santee, shifting my focus away from my website over the next few years. I continued my drum education with master drum teacher Bruce Becker, American music industry executive Daniel Glass, and Rich Redmond (Jason Aldean)
I took all of my knowledge having spent years as a music teacher, professional musician, as well as recording & promoting local musicians, & put it into my business.
I recognized the need for modern music education in the area & wanted to fill that gap with something unique.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would say the biggest recent challenge has been overcoming the Covid shutdowns. We had opened a new location just 3 months prior to being shut down. Prior to the shutdowns, we reached our highest enrollment – with a trajectory to grow even further. However, Covid lockdowns made this much harder.
Thankfully, due to our ability to adapt quickly and a strong customer base we were able to survive the sudden changes. We had already offered online lessons as an option, and We immediately switched to online lessons overnight for all students. We still provided value for students & gave them something to look forward to each week during a difficult time.
The largest obstacle I faced when starting my business was simply the difficulty of being a 1st generation business. Rather than entering an established business or franchise, I had to create everything from scratch – like building a highway as you’re driving down it.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are proud to be named Santee Business of the Year for 2021. We are the largest and oldest music school in Santee, beginning our 15th year in business with a location in Santee and a new second location in El Cajon.
We specialize in group and private lessons. We have rock classes tailored to every age group and are the only music school offering the KidzRock (ages 4-7) & JrRockerz (ages 8-12) programs in East County. These programs use a unique curriculum that enables students to play in a band on day one without any prior experience. In addition to our rock classes, we offer small-sized group classes for guitar, piano, ukulele, and voice. We also offer private lessons for guitar, piano, bass, ukulele, voice, flute, and drums. We are proud to create a fun & safe environment for our students while helping them strengthen their artistic identity & express themselves through music.
The biggest thing that sets us apart is our team. Our staff consists of many former students, having grown up in the local community. We have always been a family-oriented business, growing from my grandma’s house to our commercial facility. We maintain that down-to-earth feeling to create a warm, welcoming environment for our families.
Pricing:
- Group Classes (piano, guitar, ukulele, voice) – $150 a month
- Rock Classes – $150 a month
- Private Lessons – $180 a month (30-minute)
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staumpmusicschool/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StaumpMusicSchool/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/spmusicschool
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/staumpmusicschool
Image Credits
BassJocky Photography
