How to Set Up Your Teacher Profile

Getting Started

From the login screen for new users, enter your email address and click the green "Continue" button.

On the next page, enter your full name, create your password, confirm your time zone, and check the "I'm not a robot" box. In order to teach at Lessonface, we need your full legal name (first and last) for administrative purposes. After filling out your information, click "Create new account".

You will then be taken to your Dashboard, the main page for managing of your Lessonface account.

Once you're an active teacher, you will access the Dashboard to view your lesson schedule, read and send messages, edit your availability, view payments, adjust prices and payment details, edit your teacher profile, and more.

Use the checklist and links in the left column to fill out your teacher profile, define your pricing and teaching expertise, establish availability, and arrange your payout.

If you want to adjust your teacher profile or other details later, use the green left-hand menu bar to navigate to Profile/Personal Info, Earnings, and Calendar.

These are the parts you must complete before submitting your profile for review by Lessonface staff:

• Profile
  • Personal Info:
    • This is where you edit the text and photos of your teacher profile.
    • The About, Teaching Style, and Profile Picture sections must be completed for your profile to be considered.
    • Remember to click the green "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page whenever you complete a field.
    • You can also access Personal Info at lessonface.com/personal
  • Profile Picture:
    • This field can be found in "Personal Info" and is a requirement for all Lessonface teachers.
    • Please follow our profile photo guidelines carefully.
  • View Profile:
    • Preview your profile as students will see it and make sure that the photos, text, and formatting appear as you want it to.
    • Please have a look at your profile before you submit it for review.
    • You can also view your profile at lessonface.com/profile
• Earnings
  • Payments: Set up your payout, and, once you begin teaching lessons on the site, view past and upcoming payments. You can also access this section at lessonface.com/payments.
  • Rates and Expertise:
    • Set the subjects/instruments you want to teach and your rates.
    • You may edit your rates at any time in the future. However, you may not add your subjects and instruments once your profile has been approved, since we check for subject-specific qualifications during the profile review process.
    • You can access Rates and Expertise at lessonface.com/rates.
• Calendar
  • Availability: Establish your available teaching hours. You can also access Availability at lessonface.com/availability.
  • Calendar: Preview your availability, sync your external Google calendar, and set time off. You can also access your calendar at lessonface.com/calendar.

Personal Info

In the Personal Info section, you'll provide the text, photo, and other media that will appear in your teacher profile. This is where you present yourself to Lessonface and prospective students. Plan to include specific information on your education, professional experience, and teaching experience, plus a good sense of your personality and teaching style. Your profile will be carefully reviewed by Lessonface staff to ensure you meet our teacher qualifications. Once you've been approved as a Featured Teacher on our site, prospective students will use the information your profile to determine whether you're a good fit for their learning needs.

Our guidelines are based on what we've found resonates with students, and helps us to verify your identity and credentials and insure quality lessons for all incoming students. Please follow our guidelines carefully.

Navigate to the Personal Info section by clicking "Profile" in the left hand menu bar, then "Personal Info". Alternatively, go directly to lessonface.com/personal.

Tip: Any time you make changes to a field, click the green "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page before continuing to the next field.

Basic Info

• Required: Fill out your full name, address, and phone number.
• Optional: Add languages spoken and areas of focus
• You must click the green "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page for any changes to your profile to be saved. We recommend doing so after completing each section, in case of interruptions.

Profile Pictures

• Required: Upload a profile photo.
  • This is the image that will appear at the top right of your teacher profile and will represent you in search results.
  • Please use a clear, professional photo of yourself (and only yourself) in a professional setting. If other people appear in the photo, they must be in the background and it must be very clear which one is you.
  • Music teachers, please include your primary instrument.
  • The photo must be in jpg, jpeg, or png format, and a minimum of 280x280 pixels.
  • The photo should suit the landscape format of this field. Photos with a width-to-height ratio of approximately 3:2 are ideal.
  • To set your profile picture, either drag and drop or click Choose File, select the photo you'd like to use, and then hit Upload. Use the crop tool for extra adjustments.
  • Remember to click the green "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page.
• Optional:
  • Avatar: this is a smaller photo that will be shown next to your name in messages and lessons.
  • Catalog image: if you want, you may choose a different image to represent you in the catalog pages. This is the photo that students will see in the list of teachers in your subject areas.

Profile Details

This is where you introduce yourself to your students in writing. Let your personality shine through, and be as specific as possible when describing your education, professional experience, and teaching experience. The "About" and "Teaching Style" sections are required; the others are optional. For this entire section, please follow these guidelines:

• Write in complete sentences in narrative, paragraph form. Show off your personality in your writing, and keep bullet lists to a minimum.
• Profiles must be written in English, since most of our students are native English-speakers. It's fine to include a translation of your profile text in another language. However, if you're not comfortable teaching lessons in English, state so clearly in your profile.
• Do not include direct contact information in your profile. This includes external links, phone numbers, email address, and social media handles. Attached documents or YouTube videos that contain this information are likewise not permitted. The only off-site links we allow are in profiles of experienced teachers, to sites that have clear links back to Lessonface. It's important that students who find you through Lessonface stay on Lessonface, so please plan on teaching and communicating with students through our site.

About (Required)

Introduce yourself to prospective students in well-written, narrative form (1-3 paragraphs is a good length). We do not recommend starting at the beginning of your career; rather, start with a statement about who you are today and describe your strengths as an instructor. Be sure to mention any important career achievements or affiliations. That will help potential students understand why you would be the ideal teacher for them.

Please include a minimum of 3 specific pieces of information on topics such as:

• Education and training: include university name/s, degree title, dates, relevant awards/honors, etc.
• Professional experience: include information on specific productions, performances, recordings, shows, festivals or other projects you've taken part of, adding details like venue names, locations, dates, your role, etc.
• Teaching experience: include information school name/s, location, dates, subject/s taught, etc.
• Or other supporting details that solidify your credentials and experience in order to meet our teacher qualifications.
• Details from a resume or CV are helpful, but the information must written in paragraph form in the text of your profile rather than attached as a document.

One of the main reasons that teacher profiles are rejected is due to lack of specific details. Here are some examples of information that is too general (and falls short of our requirements) versus specific and detailed (and does meet our requirements):

Too general, does not meet requirements:

• I received my bachelor's and master's degrees from a prestigious conservatory and studied with world-renowned teachers.
• I am an active performer and regularly play with my band in gigs and festivals across the country.
• I have extensive teaching experience at various institutions and have worked with students of all ages and skill levels for many years.
• I have won numerous awards and competitions throughout my career and have been invited to major festivals.
• I specialize in classical repertoire but am comfortable teaching multiple styles and approaches to suit each student's needs.

Specific and detailed, meets requirements:

• I earned my Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the Eastman School of Music in 2018, where I was awarded the Dean's Prize for Outstanding Achievement. I completed my Master of Music at The Juilliard School in 2020, studying with renowned violinist Dieter Kepper.
• I am the lead guitarist for the alternative rock band "Midnight Canvas," which has released three albums on Indie Records (2019-2024) and toured extensively across the US and Canada. Our single "Electric Dreams" reached #12 on the Billboard Alternative Rock chart in 2022. I studied guitar performance at Berklee College of Music (2015-2019) and have been teaching electric and acoustic guitar at Rock School Boston since 2020, specializing in rock, metal, and blues techniques for intermediate to advanced students.
• I am a film composer whose work has been featured in over 25 independent films and documentaries, including the award-winning documentary "Desert Winds" (2023 Sundance Film Festival). I earned my Master of Music in Composition from USC Thornton School of Music in 2019, studying under Professor Ellie Rourk. I teach film scoring and music composition at the Los Angeles Film Academy (2021-present) and have mentored over 50 students through the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop program since 2020.
• I am a professional watercolor artist whose paintings have been exhibited at the Denver Art Museum (2022) and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center (2021, 2023). I earned my BFA in Studio Art from Colorado State University in 2017 and have been teaching watercolor workshops at the Rocky Mountain School of Art since 2019. My work has been published in American Watercolor Magazine (2022) and I was awarded the Colorado Watercolor Society's Merit Award in 2021.
• I am a singer-songwriter based in Nashville whose debut album "Heartland Stories" was released on Blue Mountain Records in 2021 and reached #8 on the Americana charts. I have performed at the Newport Folk Festival (2022, 2023), South by Southwest (2021, 2022), and opened for Braeden Cary on his 2023 tour. I studied songwriting at Belmont University (2016-2020) and have been teaching guitar, songwriting, and vocal performance at the Nashville School of Music since 2021, working with aspiring singer-songwriters of all levels.

Teaching Style (Required)

Tell students what to expect from lessons with you in a few paragraphs. Describe your approach and methodology. Include other relevant info such as your strengths and special skills as a teacher and specific goals you can help students with.

Teaching Method and Recommended Student Texts (Optional)

If you have standard texts that you use with your students, you may describe them here. Please do not include external links, and do not share copyrighted documents.

Credentials and Affiliations (Optional)

If you'd like to expand upon your education, professional experience, and teaching experience, please do. It's fine to include a resume-style bullet list in this section, as long as the rest of your profile is written in complete sentences and paragraph form.

Tip: Once you've completed a field, click the green "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page before you continue to the next field.

For more suggestions, visit Your Instructor Profile Part 2 Pro Tips. We also recommend checking out the profiles of successful teachers in your subject area(s), so you can see what resonates with students.

Additional Media

• Additional Media is optional and adds strength and color to your profile.
• You may add up to:
  • four additional photos and
  • two YouTube videos.
  • Videos are a great way to showcase your abilities; we strongly recommend adding at least one.
• We highly encourage—and, for language and academic tutoring teachers, require—that teachers upload a short teaching video. This would show you teaching a concept and give students a feel for what your instruction is like. This can be from an actual class you have taught, or a mock lesson that you do for the purpose of your Lessonface profile.

To upload additional photos, simply drag and drop in the box "Drop images to upload" and click "Upload", or opt for "Browse". Make sure the photos meet the size and format requirements specified. There is no cropping tool for additional media, so double check that the photos appear how you want them to in your profile. If they don't, you'll need to adjust them in your own photo editing software and re-upload them.

To add a video to your profile, copy-paste a YouTube link in the "YouTube Video" field. Make sure it is in the format shown, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXXXXXXX. If you like, you may add a second video, in the same format, to the field "Video URL" below.

• Note: Lessonface only supports the sharing of individual YouTube videos. If you paste a link to your YouTube channel or a video on another site, the video will not play.
• Check your YouTube settings to be sure you have enabled off-site playback. Also make sure your video is set to Public or Unlisted, not Private. Otherwise, the video will not play.

Credentials for Lessonface

The Credentials for Lessonface field is for documents like transcripts and certification documentation of your qualifications intended for Lessonface onboarding staff. Documents uploaded here may contain your direct contact information, website, phone number, etc, as documents in this field are not displayed publicly on our site. We encourage you to upload your credentials and resume here.

Ages Taught

Finally, select the ages you prefer to teach. The options are: under age 13, ages 13-18, and 18+.

Teachers who want to be shown in the "Teaches Kids" filter of our catalog page must pass a background check. Here's how to request one:

• Background checks are processed by Yardstik and can be purchased at lessonface.com/ApplyForBackgroundCheck
• Up to 48 hours after payment is confirmed, you will receive an email from our background check provider with the next steps.
• The whole process usually takes 3-4 days.
• When the process is completed, you will have the "Background Checked" badge added to your profile, and your profile will be displayed when students check the "Teaches Kids" box on the teacher catalog pages.

Only teachers with a United States Social Security Number can apply for a background check. Because the process varies in each country, Lessonface isn't able to provide background checks for teachers that don't have a US SSN. Parents are free to choose teachers without background checks to teach their kids, but those teachers are not listed in the filter "Teaches Kids", and they do not have the background check badge displayed on their profile.

"Ages Taught" is the final field of the Personal Info section. Remember to hit the Save Changes button when you're done!

Preview Your Profile

Once you've completed all the sections of the Personal Info, preview your profile to check that things appear as they should. Preview your profile by clicking "Profile" in the left hand menu bar, and then "View Profile". Alternatively, go directly to lessonface.com/profile.

This is the time to check your spelling and grammar, writing style and clarity, text formatting, photo cropping, and video functionality. Remember that students will decide based on your profile whether or not they want to take lessons with you. Now is your chance to make a strong impression.

Tip: If clicking "View Profile" takes you to the Lessonface home page, it's because your Personal Info section is not yet complete. You'll need to complete the essential sections (Profile Pictures, About, and Teaching Style) in order to preview your profile.

Rates and Expertise

This is where you set your lesson pricing and the subjects and/or instruments you will teach on the platform. You may update your rates and lesson durations at any time in the future. However, you may not add subjects and instruments once your profile has been approved, since we check for subject-specific qualifications during the review process.

To access the Rates and Expertise section, click "Earnings" in the left hand menu bar, then "Rates and Expertise". Alternatively, go directly to lessonface.com/rates.

• Start by adding your areas of expertise. We check teachers' qualifications carefully, and encourage you to list only areas where you have both expertise and teaching experience.
• Next, set your base pricing. This is the price that the student will pay, and includes Lessonface's fee. Save your base pricing once you have entered it.
• Once you have your base rates set, you can adjust to set different prices for different subjects or instruments, if you choose.
• You can always update your prices in the future, though any lessons that have already been booked will be honored at the price at which they were purchased.
• Once your profile has been approved, you may not add subjects or instruments without going through the profile review process again. Please list all categories you plan to teach before you submit your profile.

Once you have set your rates, you may set up discounts and promotions. To do so, click "Earnings" in the left hand menu bar and then "Discounts". Alternatively, go directly to lessonface.com/discounts. Discounts and promotions can be limited-time offers and can be restricted to new students only, or even to specific students that you name. For the sake of getting your profile ready quickly, you may want to set your base rates and come back later to set up promotions.

Calendar and Availability

Add availability to your calendar so that students can book times with you. Edit your availability via the "Calendar" link in the left hand menu bar and clicking "Availability", or by going directly to lessonface.com/availabilty.

Set up an availability block with a start date and end date to establish your teaching schedule for a specific date range. You can set up multiple availability blocks to accommodate seasonal schedule changes. Within each block, enter the days and times that you are available to teach. You may clone availability blocks that will repeat in the future and delete availability blocks that no longer apply. There is no "Save" button here, as the site automatically saves your changes for you.

View your availability and booked lessons in your Calendar. Access your calendar using the link in the left hand menu bar or by going directly to lessonface.com/calendar. A weekly view is the default, but you can view your calendar in a daily, monthly, or schedule format if you prefer.

Time Off

Inevitably there will be times ― tours, vacations, appointments, performances, family visits, etc. ― when you are not available to teach according to your usual schedule. In such cases, rather than adjusting your entire availability blocks, you can simply add time off to your calendar.

• Click the green "plus" sign above your calendar and select the "+ Time Off" button.
• Name your time off block (optional) and select the start day and time and the end day and time.
• Check the box for "All Day Event" to block off a single day.
• Remember to click the green "Save" button when you're done.

Your Time Off appears as a gray zone in your calendar. Click the gray zone to edit or delete Time Off.

Important: Creating a Time Off block will prevent future lessons from being scheduled for that time range. If there are lessons scheduled for that time range before you blocked it off, you will need to unschedule or reschedule those lessons manually. You can change lessons by clicking "Lessons" in the left hand menu bar and finding the individual lessons on your schedule. It's a good idea to send students a brief message any time you make changes to their schedule.

Note that you can also use the green "plus" sign to invite a student to a lesson (choose the blue "+ Lesson" button) and add or change availability blocks (choose the "+ Availability" button.)

Calendar Sync

In addition to viewing your lessons and group classes in Lessonface's calendar, and you may synchronize your external Google calendar if you'd like to use that to help manage your availability on Lessonface.

If you'd like to add your Lessonface lessons to your external calendar, choose the top option under Calendar sync, "View Lessonface Events in Another Calendar". Please note:

• You cannot reschedule your Lessonface lessons from your external calendar. Any changes to lesson times must be made from your Lessonface schedule.
• Schedule changes made on Lessonface can take 2-24 hours to adjust on the external calendar, so always rely on your Lessonface dashboard for the most up-to-date information.
• We have designed our calendar and availability sections to be as user-friendly and funtional as possible. Ultimately, though, teachers are responsible for keeping up with their availability and lesson schedule and any changes that are made to it, whether by themselves or by their students.

To manage your availability based on your Google calendar, choose the lower option, "Block Availability with Google Calendar". Once you go through the quick process to confirm the sync, any appointments marked on your external calendar will be shown on Lessonface labeled "Time Off" and be unable to be booked for lessons. If you have events in your personal calendar that you do not want removed from your Lessonface availability (ie, your cousin's birthday), you can adjust and remove those blocks by clicking on them and choosing the trash can. One way this might work well for busy teachers with a varying schedule (which you track in a Google calendar) would be to open up a regular set of available times on Lessonface and then sync your Google calendar to make sure your non-Lessonface commitments are blocked from your Lessonface availability. You can remove the calendar sync easily using the same navigation and then choosing "Disable Calendar Sync."

We see both students and teachers get frustrated when a lesson is booked for a time you're not actually available. Whichever method(s) you choose for managing your availability and time off, please be sure to keep your calendar up to date.

Payments

How would you like to be paid? You'll set up your payout method in the Payments section. After you start teaching lessons, this is also the page where you can view upcoming and payments.

Navigate to the Payments section by clicking "Earnings" in the left hand menu bar, then "Payments". Alternatively, go directly to lessonface.com/payments. Then click the green "Receive payments" text at the top of the page.

Select your method of payment (direct deposit via Stripe, mailed check, or PayPal). These are our only options for receiving payments at this time.

If you prefer to not enter payment details at this time, you may select the option "None". You'll need to return to this page later, once you've taught your first paid lesson, in order to receive payment.

If you would like to be paid via direct deposit (US teachers only), using Stripe, choose that option and a dialog will appear to take you through the steps securely. There is no additional fee incurred by Lessonface for direct deposit payments and, therefore, there is no extra fee incurred by the teachers. In other words, it's free to be paid by direct deposit.

If you would like to be paid by check (US teachers only), enter your mailing address and hit Submit. There is an extra fee of $1/check to be paid by check.

If you would like to receive payment via PayPal, enter the email address associated with your PayPal account and hit Submit. Any fees that Paypal charges for the transfer are paid by the teacher.

Submit Your Profile

Once you have completed the Personal Info section, set your rates and expertise, established availability, and set up your payments, please give your profile one final check. Click "Profile" in the left hand menu bar, and then "View Profile".

Use the following checklist to ensure your profile is ready for submission:

• When previewing my teacher profile, all images and text from the Personal Info section appear correctly and meet the following requirements:
  • I have included my full name (first and last).
  • My profile photo appears correctly in the upper right hand corner and portrays myself (and only myself) in a professional setting.
  • Any (optional) YouTube videos that I have added play correctly.
  • Any (optional) additional photos that I've added appear correctly, and have been appropriately cropped if needed.
  • My profile is written in English.
  • If I'm not comfortable teaching lessons in English, I have stated so clearly in the text of my profile.
  • The About and Teaching Style sections are well-written in complete sentences and paragraph form.
  • My profile text contains at least 3 specific pieces of information about my education/training (include university name/s, degree title, dates, relevant awards/honors), professional experience (productions, performances, recordings, festivals or other projects you've taken part of, including specifics like venue names, locations, dates, your role, etc.), teaching experience (school name/s, location, dates, subject/s taught, etc.), and/or other supporting details that solidify your credentials and experience.
  • My profile text contains no external links or personal contact information.
  • The (optional) YouTube videos I have shared contain no external links or personal contact information.
  • Any documents that I have shared publicly in my profile contain no external links or personal contact information.
  • Any documents that I have shared publicly contain no copyrighted material.
• I have set my Rates and Expertise and included all subjects and instruments I plan on teaching at Lessonface.
• I have established my Availability and double-checked that I am indeed available at the times that I've listed.
• I have set up my Payout.

Does your Lessonface account and profile meet all of the above requirements? Terrific! Please submit your profile to be reviewed. You can do this by going to your dashboard and clicking the green "Submit" button under your completed profile checklist.

That's it! Once you've submitted your profile, we will be in touch within ten business days regarding the next steps. If you have questions in the meantime, do not hesitate to get in touch. Thank you for submitting your teacher profile! We're looking forward to having you on board at Lessonface.