I print out a calendar of the month. Then, if a student is owed a missed lesson, which is only reschedulable if they were sick or if for some reason they needed to cancel and gave me at least a 24 hour notice, it is the parents job to look over the calendar and call me and ask for an open time. It has taken so much stress and worry off me. It allows me to keep to my teaching hours without having to make up lessons on my days off. A number of years ago, I settled on the philosophy that my charges would be what I feel my time and expertise is worth, no matter what the local going rate happens to be.
Word of mouth is the best advertisement.
I do this because of the constant struggle to keep music an important part of the public school curriculum and to do my small part to help kids have a good musical experience. I find that my being available for the public school music teachers opens a door for referrals to my private teaching business and for other accompanying jobs for which I do charge a fee. When I began teaching piano three years ago, I was willing to accept anybody as my student. However, now that I have established myself as a teacher and have been gotten several referrals, I find my time is very limited. This has allowed me to be more selective.