From Music Shop to Music Academy: How Mississauga Fine Arts Academy Grew 75% with a Personalized, Hands-on Approach
Key Takeaway: Mississauga Fine Arts Academy’s growth has been incremental, intentional, and relationship-driven. With WellnessLiving by their side, they’ve built a sustainable business—without sacrificing their values.
A Journey of Resilience and Reinvention
From war-torn Transnistria to the concert halls of Moscow to a thriving music academy in Canada, Vadim Koltsov’s journey is a testament to resilience, creativity, and purpose. In 2015, he took over a small music shop and began shifting its focus from selling books to nurturing musical talent.
Over the next decade, with operational leadership from Michelle Peters, the school became Mississauga Fine Arts Academy, now serving 700+ students. A key part of their growth? WellnessLiving—a platform that supported their high-touch, relationship-first model while automating the rest. This blend of technology and empathy that has helped them grow 75% in recent years—and with a second location on the horizon, the future looks even brighter.
Customer Overview
Mississauga Fine Arts Academy is a diverse, community-based music school in Mississauga, Ontario. They offer:
-
Private and group lessons for children and adults
-
Instruction across multiple instruments and levels
-
A multilingual staff, reflecting their diverse community
-
A mission to make music accessible and joyful for all
The Challenge
When Vadim purchased the business in 2015, it operated primarily as a music bookstore with lessons on the side. The school was using FileMaker Pro—software built for library inventory, not client management. Payments were collected manually at the front desk, often missed, and difficult to track. Student records were stored in paper files, unorganized and prone to loss. Most financial and procedural knowledge lived only in the minds of a few individuals—a recipe for stress.
As the team shifted the business toward a lesson-focused model, it became clear that the school needed systems that could grow with them.
The Solution: A High-Touch Model, Supported by Smart Tech
At Mississauga Fine Arts Academy, relationships are everything. Building lasting connections with students and families is a core value of their business, and when they adopted WellnessLiving as a software solution, their goal was to support this personalized model, not replace it. The platform handles routine tasks like billing and scheduling, so the team can focus on delivering exceptional service. Here’s their secret:
-
Client Profiles:
Client profiles are at the center of their approach. The team uses WellnessLiving’s profile notes to track personalized details like allergies, favorite colors, and even cake flavors—small touches that make students feel seen and valued. Client Icons, like Birthday reminders, ensure front-desk staff can see (and celebrate) key student details at a glance. -
Recurring Memberships:
The team replaced manual billing with auto-renewing memberships. No more chasing payments means more time to focus on the client experience. -
Restricted Access:
Mississauga has a stellar front desk team that manages 100% of the school’s administrative tasks. While it’s common for WellnessLiving business owners to encourage clients and staff to manage their schedules and accounts from the web or mobile app, at Mississauga, neither clients nor instructors use WellnessLiving directly. Michelle and Vadim prefer full control, that way they can ensure a consistent experience centered around positive human interaction. -
Product Sales:
Music books and accessories are sold using WellnessLiving’s store + barcode scanner, maintaining a seamless hybrid product-service model that makes it easy for students to purchase the supplies they need on-site. -
Lead Management:
Using a web form, targeted phone scripts, and structured note-taking, staff ensure that prospective clients feel supported from the first conversation through enrollment.
The Results
-
📈 Student Growth: From 400 to over 700 students—a 75% increase
-
🕓 Operational Efficiency: Recurring payments and simplified workflows freed up time for growth
-
🏗️ Scalability: With space at capacity, they are considering opening a second location
“We went from chasing down payments every month to ‘set it and forget it.’ I’d never go back. We have time now to focus on what really matters—supporting our students and growing the school.”
— Michelle Peters, Assistant Director
Grow Steady, Grow Strong
In an era where speed and adaptability are often prized above all, Michelle’s approach offers a welcome reminder: businesses grow best when they evolve in a way that fits their team and their culture. Although she is the first to acknowledge that they have yet to take full advantage ofWellnessLiving’s capabilities, WellnessLiving is their operational backbone. A big part of Michelle’s software learning journey –– the customer support team:
“If you ever feel stuck, just ask. That’s how I learned everything… It feels like WellnessLiving’s support team is genuinely invested in helping us succeed. I feel heard—and that makes a big difference when you’re managing a busy school.”
— Michelle Peters, Assistant Director
The learning happens in both directions. As a WellnessLiving Champion, Michelle has shared her carefully thought-out processes with WellnessLiving’s product team, providing insights that support our own steady expansion of functionality in areas like the marketing suite, client profiles, digital forms, and student progress-tracking.
Mississauga FAA’s approach—relationship-first, incremental, and intentional—is proof that the path to business success is individual. With WellnessLiving as a partner, they’ve built a thriving, sustainable model that stays true to its values and fulfills its mission to spread the joy of music-making.
Ready to Scale with WellnessLiving?
Mississauga Fine Arts Academy’s journey shows how relationship-driven service and the right technology can fuel sustainable growth. With WellnessLiving, they streamlined operations, enhanced the student experience, and scaled their business—without losing their personal touch.
👉 Curious how WellnessLiving can help your music school or studio grow? Book your free demo today!
