I do the same with my in studio students but the thing with that is you are limited to accepting only so many students. Your teaching time is pretty much limited to around 3pm to 8pm. You could go later but I don't plus during the week I don't think many people would be interested in coming at 10pm. Either way I stop at 8pm.
Doing these online lessons it allows me, along with the student, to do lessons whenever we feel like it. This then gives me the daytime hours to work on lessons for my online students. Aside from that it doesn't matter if the student lives down the street or in Japan. They both can take lessons from me!
Now I don't necessarily believe that in person lessons are any better or worse then the online lessons. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.
The first advantage of the online lessons is the student can do the lessons whenever they want to. They don't have to show up at a specific time every single week. If your an active person and do alot of different activities it can be rough to find a specific time to come each week. Again you have from the time you get out of work or school to sometime later in the evening. Then you have to see if the teacher has a time that works for you. If you have a completely open schedule then this is probably not a big deal but again if you are active with other things this can be a nightmare trying to make it work. Also lets face it, when spring and summer comes around you want to be outside doing things!
In these cases it doesn't matter! You can do your other activities or go out and enjoy the nice weather during the day and early evening, come home, grab something to eat and then do your lessons. It doesn't matter if you you do them at 8pm, 8am or 3am. It's complete flexibility!
The advantage of taking in studio lessons is you can ask questions and get an immediate answer. This is sort of a disadvantage of the online lessons but on the same count their are advantages to this. First let me start by saying that while you can't ask questions in real time you would get all your questions answered usually by the next day. In a way this is good because you can really think about your questions and concentrate on asking good ones instead of silly questions you could answer yourself with a little thought. This makes you think a little more about what you are doing. Another advantage here is while I feel I'm pretty good at explaining everything thoroughly, with the online lessons I have time to really think about my answers. I can really think about the questions and figure out the best most direct way of explaining the concepts of whatever questions they had. Again while I strive to give my best every single time in my private in studio lessons you are guaranteed to get my absolute best possible answers to your questions with the online lessons. Why because I've had plenty of time to think about it.
Another advantage is you can review the lessons as many times as you want. If you forget something I said then just rewind the video, reread the section or listen to the mp3 again. If you don't understand something then just send me a message or video. There is no waiting until the next lesson to get your questions answered!
Still another advantage is you can go at your own pace. You get your full course curriculum so if you master something you can move onto the next lesson immediately instead of waiting a week to receive it in your weekly lessons. If you had a bad week or you learn at a slower pace you can take your time with it. No pressure of having to show up for lessons unprepared and having to give excuses to the teacher. Now having said that I will contact the student and ask what is going on if I don't have any feedback. The point being is that you can go at your own pace whether it be speeding through it because you are absorbing it like a sponge or take your time to really understand the stuff. I'm sure we have all experienced not understanding something but when the teacher asks if you understand you end up saying yes even though you don't. This is not a good thing but sometimes your embarrassed to say no and you just want to move along. (Note here to students. DON'T DO THIS! This is what we are here for. Any good teacher will be willing to explain things over 100 times for you if need be. No questions is a silly one!)
So the advantages of private in studio lessons is you can get your questions answered immediately and you interact with the teacher there in front of you. If you have a pretty open schedule or can work out a solid specific time each week to be at lessons then in studio lessons are a way to go.
If you have a crazy schedule, can't set aside a specific time every week or you just feel like studying in the comfort of your own home then the online lessons are the way to go. Also some people just feel more comfortable and learn better in this format.
So again they both have their own advantages and disadvantages. It's all a matter of what works best for you!
All of this is great but the question is still not answered. If you WERE looking for online lessons what of the two formats I described in the first post would interest you more?