Women Entrepreneur

Washington SBDC – When Jan Jaffe, a graduate of Central Washington University, moved back to Ellensburg with her family in 2015, her immediate plan was to focus on her infant daughter and offer private music lessons in her home. But, when demand started to outstrip capacity, she started dreaming bigger.

Today Jaffe owns Make Music Ellensburg, a music school with more than 300 students of all ages and skill levels who meet in private lessons, group classes, rock band camp, ukelele strum-alongs and a community choir to improve their skills, make music together and have fun.

“Part of my mission at Make Music Ellensburg is to make making music more accessible,” said Jaffe.

Jaffe, who earned both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in music education at Central Washington University, said watching students grow in their musical skills and confidence is truly her happy place. She was a music teacher in public schools for about seven years and loved it, she said, but with a young daughter to care for, she wanted a more flexible schedule. Teaching private lessons seemed like a great option, but running a music school creates so many more opportunities for growth and connection.

“Music schools can create community in ways that private lessons do not,” Jaffe said.

Still, she said, when she first returned to Ellensburg, her ambition was more modest. It wasn’t until she saw demand outpace her capacity that she realized there was an opportunity to scale up and create a business that would benefit the community in myriad ways.

But scaling up her business with employees and a physical location seemed daunting, so Jaffe avoided it for several years.

Along the way she reached out to community resources like the Ellensburg Downtown Association and the Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce for support. During COVID, Jaffe was able to continue offering lessons online, and she had more time to think about what she wanted Make Music Ellensburg to become post-pandemic.

In mid-2021, when pandemic-related restrictions had eased, Jaffe decided to take the leap. In September, she emailed the Washington SBDC for assistance, saying, “Make Music Ellensburg is transforming and I want to make sure it goes smoothly. This home-based business recently hired 6 part-time employees and is now moving to a leased commercial location downtown.”

Jaffe said she knew she couldn’t scale up without hiring employees, but hiring employees was a whole new level of responsibility. As a performing musician herself, she knew her employees would likely be cobbling together multiple gigs to make a living. How could she set up policies that would support her business but also respect …….

To her good fortune, she said, she started meeting with Liz Jamieson, the SBDC advisor serving Kittitas County at that time. That changed everything, she said.

“Liz is a wealth of knowledge,” Jaffe said. “She has had answers for literally every question I have brought to her.”

The Washington SBDC is a network of more than 40 business advisors working in communities across the state to help entrepreneurs and business owners start, grow or buy/sell a business. SBDC advising is provided at no cost to the business owner and all SBDC advising is confidential and tailored to the needs of the business.

“I didn’t even know what questions to ask,” Jaffe said, but together she and Jamieson started working through the basics of where her business was then and where she wanted it to go.

Jaffe and Jamieson discussed everything from enrollment and financial spreadsheets to staffing and additional revenue streams. Figuring it all out was somewhat like putting together a complicated musical score. She wanted to keep student fees affordable, but she also wanted to create policies and offer competitive salaries that would enable her to keep good employees. 

“I’m a creative person and it’s very satisfying to be able to take information and synthesize it and create something new,” Jaffe said. Small business owners don’t always have someone to talk through new ideas with, but Jamieson was a great sounding board who also brought new insights to the discussion.

“Every time I’ve wanted to try something new, I’ve run it by Liz,” she said.

Most recently, Jamieson helped Jaffe think through a move to a new location. Together they looked at the lease’s fine print and talked through how many rooms Jaffe needed, what she could afford and what else could be offered in the new space.

Working with Jamieson provides something of a safety net to ensure she isn’t missing any critical pieces while she continues to look at what else is possible.

When Jaffe first started offering private music lessons in Ellensburg, there was just one music store in town and performance venues were limited. Since then, she said, “The music culture in Ellensburg has boomed,” and Make Music Ellensburg has been part of that boom.

Importantly, Jaffe said, she has been able to grow her business while also maintaining a work-life balance that works for her.

“I’m a mom,” she said. “Owning my own business has given me 100 percent control over my schedule. I can prioritize my kid, and that is huge.”

SBDC services are funded through a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Washington State University, which is the statewide host of the Washington SBDC. About half the funding comes from Congress through the SBA and the other half comes from state and local funding sources including the Washington State Department of Commerce, WSU, other institutions of higher education, economic development agencies and municipal governments.

To learn more about Make Music Ellensburg, go to https://ellensburgmusic.com.

To learn more about the Washington SBDC, go to https://wsbdc.org.