Word of the Year

Fear

Two years ago, I decided to jump on the word-of-the-year bandwagon. My first year, I chose fear. I wanted to overcome so much fear in my life. Fear of being single and a single mom. Fear of changing jobs. Fear of moving across the country to be closer to my ailing mom and support system. Fear of financial struggles. Fear of starting over. Fear of vulnerability.

Last year, I hadn’t overcome all of that fear but I wanted to bring more positivity in my life, so I chose courage. I overcame career, financial and relationship struggles by conquering problems in my life. I learned to say no.

The power of “No.”

I said no to extra, unpaid duties at my teaching job and no to continuing at a job I hated.

I said no to lower paying jobs and yes to a job that paid more.

I said no to being miserable and stressed to the max. I said no more taking work home when I wasn’t being compensated anymore.

I started saying no to working over unexpectedly, knowing it was date-night or that we had plans to spend family time together.

I said no to work drama and basically lost all of my “work friends.”

I left another toxic environment.

But you know what happened when I started saying no?

I felt empowered, free, and more in control of MY life.

Slowly, I’m becoming a better version of me. I’m learning to define better boundaries with those around me.

Those “friends” I lost? They weren’t really meant for my tribe anyway. Rachel Hollis says that you are a combination of the five people you spend the most time with and I’m decided that I want my five tribe to be successful, energetic, fun-loving and caring people.

Freedom

This year, I am choosing the word FREEDOM.

I have decided that this is the year that I will start working from home.

I declare that this is going to be the best financial year that I have ever had.

2020 means more time for my kids.

This is the year that I take a vacation without stressing about missing work and pay.

This is the year that I create an emergency fund.

This year, I WILL have a savings account.

Fall of 2020, I want to start looking for my OWN home.

This year, I will gain FREEDOM from all of the things I have allowed to hold me back.

2020 is my year, will it be yours?

What is your word of the year? Let me know in the comments!

Want to join the SHIFT: Transition from Teaching Facebook Group? Click the button below.

SHIFT

SHIFT to: Museum Consultant

Hello, Shifters! I had the privilege to interview Hillary Rose, the mastermind behind Rosie the History Teacher. If you need engaging history lessons for your students, definitely check out her Facebook page, as her work is amazing! Now on to my interview with her.

Mrs. Rose is certainly a very educated woman, as she holds a BS in education, history and biology and a MA in museum studies!

Hillary has work experience in museums, traditional schools and is now a virtual educator. Currently, her main role is a virtual U.S. History teacher with a side gig TeachersPayTeachers store. [Her work is amazing!]

Connection

Hillary’s favorite part about virtual teaching is being able to connect with students from all over her state, while also being able to use a plethora of engaging digital tools to aid in her instruction.

Micromanagement

On the other hand, micromanagement is a huge drawback of virtual teaching. Weekly unannounced pop-ins from supervisors and semi-annual unannounced pop-ins from administration means that a virtual teacher must always be ready for a sudden admin video stream to join the virtual classroom!

Hillary does enjoy teaching but museum education is her true passion.

Broad Impact

The draw towards museum life is not only her love for history but she also enjoys the variety of people with which she engages. Working with different museums also allows Mrs. Rose to work with an assortment of information as well.

The SHIFT

Hillary is continuing to teach full-time while she builds her own business offering Museum Consultations. Museum education and consultation services uses many transferable skills from teaching, such as public speaking, designing resources and building rapport, to name just a few.

Moreover, a great deal of work goes into building your own business. For Hillary, this means branding, networking, designing digital and print materials, engaging with prospective clients, website development, social media management.

Fortunately, there a members of the SHIFT group who are willing to barter services in order to help ease the pain of start-ups for one other. Within the group, Hillary will be able to find help with website design, graphics, social media set-up and management, as well as marketing tips and strategies.

Are you interested in museum consultation? Want to learn more about shifting out of education? Join us on Facebook at SHIFT: Transition from Teaching.

SHIFT to: Financial Consultant

Hello, Shifters! I had the opportunity to interview Shelly Los from SouthStartup. Shelly is a very successful work-from-home-mom and financial consultant. Here is more about her story:

What is your educational background? Business and Accounting

What is your work experience? I have worked in the accounting industry for over 6 years. I held various positions ranging from Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, and disbursements. I currently consult and provide full charge accounting and bookkeeping to a number of clients.

How did you discover your current role? College class I was taking changed my mind regarding my major. I switched from nursing and pursued accounting.

What was the most challenging part of launching your business and how did you overcome that challenge? Holding myself accountable for my own schedule and work freedom. It is so easy to just say I’m going to work later and do what I want in the now. Setting up a schedule and sticking to it has helped me manage my time more efficiently. I have also started using a time clock app to log my hours per client so I can cost account for my time.

What is your favorite part of your job? Being able to watch my son grow up and the ability to control my work environment.

What is your least favorite part of your job? Sometimes clients can be late paying their bills. The instability in income can be a challenge at times.

What advice would you give to someone transitioning from another career into your role? I would advise them to take the time to do extensive research regarding the role they are seeking. Knowledge is power, and the more information they gather before making the shift, the more prepared they will be for any challenges that are thrown their way.

What would you like to see at SHIFT? A network of professionals willing to collaborate with other and share the knowledge and information they have experienced in business and in life.

Escape Plan

How are you going to get out of teaching? What is your plan? Have you thought about a future career? Do you need to find a way to pay bills while you build your own business? Learn more about building your escape plan below.

Step One: Identify Your Why-Why do you want to leave teaching?

Are you tired of the politics? Stressed to the max?

Are you lacking time with your family? Are you tired of being financially stressed?

Do you lack time for self-care? Have you lost your hobbies?

Maybe you’ve lost yourself.

Have you lost the passion for the classroom? Are the many duties of teaching weighing on you?

I want you to write down your why and keep it somewhere that you will see it often.

Step Two: Transferable Teaching Skills

Make a list of transferable teaching skills or review this blog post instead: Identify Skills.

Now, you can do two things with this list. First, update that resume! Second, make a list of all of your FAVORITE skills to perform. Use this list to guide you into your next career which is….

Step Three: Niche Down

What on earth are you going to do next?

Want to work remotely and help business owners? Become a VA! Read more about that here!

Enjoy fitness? Become a health coach, like our former teacher friend, John!

You could also teach online as an ESL teacher or adjunct teacher.

There are many possibilities but what matter is what makes you tick.

Maybe you need to take a course to learn new skills or develop old ones…

Step Four: Learn

Now you’ve decided what role will make you happy. So you might need to return to college, say if you wanted to become a nurse.

Or maybe you just need to find a coach to learn to take those skills and work from home as a virtual assistant, bookkeeper, graphic designer, content writer, etc.

Step Five: Call to Action

Now that you’ve written all of this down, make a pledge to SHIFT into a new role.

Develop yourself.

Maybe you need to find a way to majorly cut expenses while you build your own business.

Perhaps you need to take a less stressful role that may not pay as well as your teacher salary in order to save your mental/emotional health.

My story:

I’m a single mom. I have been side hustling for years in order to make ends meet plus make up for the lack of child support coming in. For a long time, I’ve been set on giving my kids the best.

Then, I go to work and I give my students the best part of me. I have been giving my employer the best part of me.

I come home stressed, exhausted, just done with everything. I snap. My preschooler cries. I feel like the World’s Worst Mom.

So, I started cutting expenses down to the bare minimum. I started taking courses to develop myself professionally. I quit that toxic job and started subbing a dream school.

You know what happened? We live minimally with great meals. My daughter is happy spending more time with mommy. I’m happy and less stressed.

My Word of the Year is FREEDOM!

I’m going to continue to work hard to grown the FB support group: SHIFT.

I’m going to continue to learn social media platforms to grow our following.

I’m going to begin working remotely as a bookkeeper, gaining financial freedom, mental freedom, time freedom, health freedom and more!

What does 2020 hold for you?

Join our FB group:

SHIFT: Transition from Teaching

SHIFT to: Content Creator

Picture courtesy of Lindsey Gintz

Hello, shifters! Today we have a guest blogger with us: Lindsey Gintz. Lindsey is a fourth-grade teacher SHIFTing to Content Creator. We are very happy to have her as a guest writer, sharing her knowledge of the content creation world.

I started teaching because I loved to create. Creating lesson plans, activities, and crafts was my dream. I was/am a teacher author for Teachers Pay Teachers and I began wondering how I could use my skills as an educator and transfer them into another field.

I stumbled upon something called a content creator on Pinterest. I was curious so I clicked on all the bait to find out more about this mysterious position. What was a content creator? I found that really it was a blanketed title that could refer to so many skills, from blog writing to email promotions. A content creator was someone who created content, like blog posts, pictures, graphic designs etc. to help grow a clients business.

I had already created content that could be considered graphic design. I was an avid writer in college and wrote many of my own close reads for my students. I loved taking pictures. This allusive job seemed more and more like something that could be a great fit for me. However, I knew I needed to grow my brand. There was no way someone would hire me with no experience and not much of a portfolio.

So I started with Upwork. Upwork is a website that connects talent to agencies looking for specific work. This allowed me to submit proposals to companies looking for content creation, blog writing, and even resume writing. I knew I needed to build my portfolio before I began marketing myself as an independent content creator and freelance writer.

Upwork gave me the opportunity to work with many individuals and a wide range of skills. I’ve submitted proposals to everything from blog writing to reviewing material for companies. Not only did this expand my portfolio, but it also gave me the opportunity to note where I was my best self. Writing that business blog? Not my best self. Guest writing for a mommy blog? Totally up my ally!

Once I had established myself with some clients I was able to build a stronger portfolio and I began marketing myself to friends and family. Most of them were aware of the promotions I had done on Instagram or other social media sites, but not everyone knew of my skills in resume writing or email marketing. I also began doing guest posts on blogs, to diversify my audience and experience.

Slowly, I was building a name for myself all while still teaching. My hope for 2020- not a resolution but a shift– is to transition from the classroom to content creation full time. This career allows me to set my own hours and to accept jobs when they are convenient for my family. I make my own deadlines and set my own hours, which works great with a busy husband and our toddler.

Do you enjoy creating content and writing? Content creation might be up your ally! Your first few proposals with Upwork are free! Why not try it? You never know that could be waiting for you on the other side of the classroom!

SHIFT to: Health Coach

PPhoto by Whitney Wright on Unsplash

Hello, shifters! I had the privilege of chatting with a former educator turned health coach for JPWellness, all the way from the United Kingdom, John Plunkett!

John was a primary school headteacher who “fell out of love with all the crappy bits of the job.” Doesn’t that sound familiar, friends? So, two years ago, he resigned and started his own business.

“My mindset is that you have one life, live it.”

You see, John wasn’t always a teacher-education was his second career! Prior to teaching, John was a member of the British Armed Forces. After five years of serving as an intelligence officer, John decided to obtain a degree in sports science and continued on to earn a teaching qualification. Thank you for your service, John!

“I became a teacher as I wanted to make a positive difference to young people’s lives.”

John told me that as a primary school teacher, he taught the national curriculum to his class. In John’s country this means “English, maths, science, religious education, history, geography, physical education, art, music, design technology, information technology.”

That’s a great deal of preps!

When I asked John why he chose to leave teaching, he informed me that he once loved teaching. However, when he became a headteacher, John spent less time teaching and more time in an office.

Now, John found himself spending his time analyzing data and making budget cuts. These budget cuts meant making people redundant, which I just learned means to dismiss or fire them. John quickly became stressed and miserable. (No wonder!) So, John took action and shifted out of teaching.

What did John transition to?

Still driven to help people, John decided to put his sports nutrition education to use and build his own business as a health coach. “This includes weight loss, weight gain, nutrition for more energy and sports nutrition.”

Transferable skills:

During our conversation, John brought up transferable teaching skills that help in his new career: “Lots of transferable skills from teaching such as communication, listening, public speaking, empathy, guidance and support, encouraging people and coaching people with their mindset.”

“I think as teachers we can see how we can help others but we are not naturally very good at helping ourselves.”

After resigning, John began driving to cover his expenses while building his own empire. Having a degree in sports science, he was confident in his background knowledge of health and nutrition but John acquired business training for only £41 or roughly $55! That’s a steal! There are very few companies that offer such a small monetary investment in order to shift out of education.

John also stated that while his background helped drive his desire to begin a new role as a health coach, it is certainly not a requirement.

The company offers all of the training needed to be a successful health coach! Shifters, John is now an international distributor looking to take his business into schools in the UK to teach educators about living healthier lifestyle!

So, John’s initial investment was about $55 with free online training events each week plus “regional and national training events take place each month.”

“I’d like to show people a different lifestyle where you do not dread Monday morning but look forward to it instead.”

John can help you SHIFT to a Health Coach role, too!

You don’t have to be an educator to connect with him here:

SHIFT: Transition from Teaching

Step Four: Learn

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links.

Welcome back, Shifters! Let’s review:

Step One: Write down your why

Why are you leaving your current situation? Are you looking to work remotely or stick with brick-and-mortar? Are you shifting completely out of teaching or could you teach online?

Step Two: Identify transferable skills

What skill do you have from teaching that you could use elsewhere? Most importantly, what do you enjoy doing?

Step Three: Niche down

What kind of tasks do you *enjoy* performing? Who do you want to serve? How often do you want to work? How much money do you need to make?

And the moment you’ve been waiting for in this post:

Step Four: Learn

Are you going to return to college? Will you sign up for an online course? Have you considered a coaching session or getting a mentor? Are you willing to complete an internship? Could you barter services to learn a new trait or develop an old one?

Let’s take a look at some programs:

There are quite a few programs out there that will teach you to become a virtual assistant but the most affordable option is Cafe Warrior, which boasts teaching one to live the laptop lifestyle, working remote and on your own schedule.

Have a master’s degree? Another option is the online adjunct course for online teaching and is found here for $99. It offers resume/CV support to help you break into adjunct teaching quickly. Use can use the promo code DAWN for 25% off!

Into graphic design or blogging? This graphic design course says that it will help you create printables that are great for blogging: Graphic Design for Entrepreneurs. From reading the course module descriptions, I feel like this would be a great introduction into graphic design and would be transferable to more than just blogging.

Drop a comment and let me know what you’re doing to SHIFT out! Also, we are giving away a pair of earrings over at our FB group. Join us by December 20th to join in the drawing!

SHIFT: Transition from Teaching

Self-care Saturday: Holiday Care

Photo by Riccardo Bresciani from Pexels

We already know that I’m an advocate for self-care but I haven’t told you why.

See, I suffer from anxiety and it’s something I used to be ashamed about but not anymore. On this journey to SHIFT out of teaching, I have discovered that I am NOT ALONE. Many of you suffer from anxiety and depression due to job stress and this post is for you.

Self-care is important for everyone, not just teachers but today, let’s focus on specific strategies for teachers.

Does this describe you?

  • Papers to grade?
  • Lesson plans to write?
  • Observations to prep for?
  • Field trips to plan?
  • Worried about your kids that come from difficult situations?
  • Stressed about behavior management?
  • Worried about standardized testing?
  • Grades to input?
  • Anxious on the performance of those low-level kids?
  • IEP’s to consult?
  • Professional development coming your way?
  • Team meetings?
  • Staff meetings?
  • Staff Christmas party coming up?
  • Classroom holiday party to plan for?
  • Coping with re-teaching expectations and rules after the holidays?
  • Your own family to manage?

Me, too, friend. That’s enough to make your head spin for days! You are NOT alone.

Today, I challenge you to unplug from it all, at least for a few hours.

Yes, it will all still be there later but this weekend with your family won’t. Enjoy these moments with those you love.

Give yourself some love, too, friend.

What are some ways that you can enjoy this Saturday?

  • Binge-watch Netflix
  • Enjoy some eggnog,
  • …with something extra 😉
  • Go for a walk/run
  • Window shop
  • Have coffee with a friend
  • Get a Groupon for a massage
  • Cook yourself a meal
  • Or dine out with those you love
  • Take a nap
  • Enjoy a bubble bath
  • Go for a ride
  • Enjoy nature and go for a hike

Today, our family is gathering to celebrate my little. We will enjoy some pizza, games, cake and watch my girl open her presents. I’m going to enjoy EVERY moment without a second thought about work.

How will you love yourself today? Let me know!

Teacher looking to transition out of teaching? Successful entrepreneur wanting to barter, mentor, self-promote?

Join our FREE group: SHIFT

SHIFT to: Virtual Assistant

Photo by bruce mars from Pexels

  • Are you organized?
  • Do you love to learn?
  • Do you have a positive attitude?
  • Do you want to help others?
  • Do you have good communication skills?
  • Can you take initiative?

If you answered yes to these questions, you might make a great virtual assistant.

So what is a virtual assistant? A virtual assistant is a remote opportunity that can be done by freelancing or employment opportunities.

There are virtual assistants that perform both front-end and back-end services.

I already know you’re asking, “what does that mean?”

Front-end services may include answering phone calls, responding to emails, managing files…think administrative assistant type tasks you do from home.

Back-end services would be social media management, website development, graphic design, digital marketing, bookkeeping, etc. When you specialize in a back-end service, the gurus say that you can charge more.

I’m apart of several VA job boards, where employees make around $15 an hour. However, if you freelance, you could make around $30 an hour.

There are a number of programs out there but the best option I’ve found thus far is Cafe Warriors.These girls travel the world, working from their laptops. They state that give you the training starting at $140 bucks…After training, they help you with job leads, so that you remain fully booked. VAs finishing their program make around $600 per month per client. That adds up fast! Here is a link to download their brochure: Cafe Warrior.

Enjoyed this blog? Show me some love!

Join our Facebook group: SHIFT!

Step Two: Identify Skills

Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels

What are you looking to do when you transition careers? Are you going to return to college to learn a new career? Are you going to hire a career coach to help you identify marketable skills? Are you going to participate within a group to learn to adapt your skills to a world outside of teaching?

Let’s take a look at transferable teacher skills:

  • Active Listening
  • Adaptable
  • Auditing
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Content Creation
  • Coordination
  • Critical Thinking
  • Flexibility
  • Growth Mindset-Always Learning
  • Instruction
  • Inventory Control
  • Judgement & Decision Making
  • Learning Strategies
  • Management & Personnel Resources
  • Monitoring
  • Project Management
  • Proofreading/Editing
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Service Orientation
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Speaking
  • System Evaluation
  • Time Management
  • Writing

Obviously, we teachers wear many hats and this list is not comprehensive. Sit down and write a list of your VALUE, your skills. You are much more than “just a teacher,” as I am often hearing from others. We have so much value to offer the world!

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