Season 1
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Episode 23
Grit & Continuous Learning – Marla Morrison on Building Two Schools
In this episode of the Performing Arts School Entrepreneur Podcast, host David Martin sits down with Marla Morrison, founder of Forte Academy of the Arts in San Diego and Missouri Music Academy. Marla's shares her candid story: when she and her husband Keith moved their family from Missouri to San Diego to launch Forte Academy, they moved into the studio with their three boys and stayed for nearly a year to make it work.
What followed is a masterclass in resilience, resourcefulness, and relentless vision. Marla grew Forte from that handful of students to 427 before COVID hit, eventually scaling into a 10,800-square-foot location with a performing arts auditorium and 20 teachers. Then, she decided to open a new studio in a new state, applying every hard-won lesson from the first school to build something even bigger. In this conversation, she and David cover the scrappy marketing strategies, hiring philosophy, leadership frameworks, and daily mindset that made it all possible.
Marla Morrison
Marla Morrison is the founder of Forte Academy of the Arts in San Diego, California and Missouri Music Academy. A lifelong music educator and homeschooling mom, she now runs both schools while working on a book to help teachers raise their standards and deepen their impact.
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Show Notes
This episode covers:
- She lived in the studio to launch the school. When Marla’s husband lost his job weeks after the move, the family had no backup plan. Marla, Keith, and their three boys lived in the studio for nearly a year, relying on gym memberships for showers, dollar store groceries, and lessons every afternoon.
- She built her first students with free and almost-free marketing. A $5/week farmers market booth with a drawing (where everyone secretly won a free registration) was her starting point. From there she layered in Google and Yelp reviews, Facebook ads, and referral contests as money came in.
- Balancing fundamentals with fun is what keeps students long-term. Marla calls it “meat and potatoes and dessert.” She believes that students need both music theory and the songs they actually want to play, and her school’s average student retention was over four years as a result.
- Be picky about teachers from day one. Credentials matter less than mindset. If a teacher doesn’t believe they still have things to learn, they’re not a fit, regardless of their degree.
- Know what hat you’re wearing. Running a school with family on staff required being deliberate about relationship roles, depending on the context. Former teachers say it’s one of the most transferable things they learned from her.
- Culture is a competitive advantage. Marla paid teachers well, ran high-energy monthly meetings, and celebrated student wins visibly and often. People stayed because they genuinely wanted to be there.
- Starting over in Missouri with bigger goals. After COVID and a move back home, Marla launched Missouri Music Academy. This time she set goals deliberately beyond what she knows she can achieve alone.
- Three pieces of advice for school owners just starting out. Set goals that feel impossible, keep great people close, and hold your standards high from the beginning, even when resources are tight.
