My wife and I teach music lessons in a HCOL area. It’s been our side business but it’s been growing. We are currently charging under market price and as the work load increases we determined prices need to go up to make it worthwhile. Currently $55/hr vs most other highly qualified teachers (masters and/or PhD in music and/or pedagogy/education) in the area charging $85-100+.

When we started teaching 6 years ago we were basically just doing it as a favor for a family who requested music lessons but now it’s our side gig. We have a good relationship with all of our clients/families. They were all personal references as we did not advertise this service. As we added more students we continued charging the same rate.

As we try to turn this into something more legit, my questions are: How do we raise and communicate our rates without losing (many) students and/or damaging relationships? Gradual increases with some heads up to current students? Jump right to our target price?

I appreciate any feedback.