Thinking Outside the Box Stall: A Better Way to Get Paid for Riding Lessons

Earning money by giving riding lessons is a central part of the operation of many horse businesses. Riding lessons can be an excellent stream of income for stables for several reasons. Giving riding lessons introduces new riders to the facility, offers opportunities for boarding, horse sales, and tack sales. Riding Lessons offer an opportunity to begin a long term relationship with your student with a large economic value to you over a term of years if pursued correctly.

Pricing and Payment Agreements
Whether your business includes teaching lessons to children and adult amateurs, taking groups on trail rides, or training the highest level competitive riders, you need a payment agreement with your students. All students that come to you for instruction pay you for your services no matter the age group, type of riding, or skill level. Your first goal is to come up with a price list for your services. Once you have done this, and your students and clients are aware of your services and prices, you must set up a system in which they pay for these services.

Personal Checks for Payment, or Automatic Debits?
Many trainers ask that students give them a personal check each time they come to a lesson. But frequent lessoners may agree to a weekly or a monthly payment system, which is more convenient and cost-effective for both trainer and student.  EBCS can set your lesson clients up on automatic debits to a checking, savings or credit card account. You and your student can determine a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly date that works best for both parties.  We provide you with an easy-to-complete form for recording your student's bank account or credit card information.  The form can then be faxed or securely e-mailed to EBCS, and we take it from there!  Your student will be automatically billed on a recurring basis for lessons.  This can be set up on an open-ended, ongoing basis, or it can be time-limited, for example to 3 months, 6 months, or any fixed time period that you, as the trainer, determine.  This keeps everything professional, organized, and easy for both parties. The trainer is protected from loss of revenue due to missed lessons or no-shows, and the student no longer has to worry about remembering to bring or mail a check.  In addition, when payments are automatically debited, your student has an added incentive to show up for lessons, and not cancel at the last minute or simply not show up. Yet another benefit of EBCS services: funds debited are electronically deposited in your bank account.  No more carrying around crumpled, undeposited lesson checks for days at a time, and no more trips to the bank.

Services Designed with Horse Professionals in Mind
EBCS billing solutions for equine businesses were developed with the unique needs of horse professionals in mind.  It is our goal to make it easier for you to focus on your core business -- your horses and clients or students -- instead of spending hours each week or month reconciling your invoices and receipts.  We can help you with all your billing needs for boarding, training, and lessons, or we can help take over the recurring billing tasks for your combination board/training packages.  Click on the link below, or call us for more detailed information, at 410-252-9206 or 800-766-1918 if you are outside the Baltimore area.  We would love to talk to you about solutions for stabilizing your recurring revenue stream and improving cash flow in your equine business.