My great friend, Shelly Los over at SouthStartup has been an amazing coach for starting my business. “Every successful business begins with a business plan,” she says. Part of starting your business plan is figuring out your why. I’m looking for FREEDOM!
TIME FREEDOM: My biggest priority is that I want to have more time to be a great mom again. Not the grouchy, exhausted, definitely over-worked teacher-mom that I am now. I want to be able to keep work at work.
FINANCIAL FREEDOM: I’m one broke teacher, y’all! I’m tired of that life. I want a job that pays more.
MENTAL FREEDOM: Shelly definitely states that there is still stress involved but I’m certain that if I follow the business plan and continue to market my services along side of serving clients, my stress level will be far less. Therefore, part of my business plan will include time management in order to set aside a certain amount of hours to provide my own business maintenance to continue bringing in an income=less stress.
COMMUTE FREEDOM: Freedom from a commute is also on my menu, so I wish to work remotely. I have spent a total of six years now commuting at least an hour each way for work. I’m so over it. This also goes with the time freedom.
What is your why? What freedom do you need to make you happy?
So, you’ve gone through step one, discovering your why and step two, identifying your skills. Let’s work on step three, deciding on a niche.
Step Three:
What services do you want to provide or are you going to market a product?
Who do you want to serve? What does your target market look like?
How much time do you want to spend working on your business?
How much time do you want to spend working on a client’s business?
Don’t forget that if you have your own business, you still need to find time for your own marketing, finances, inventory, planning, etc. Take the time to create the business plan before you launch.
Let’s look at my idea:
What services do you want to provide or are you going to market a product? I want to offer virtual assistant/booking services.
Who do you want to serve? What does your target market look like? I want to serve start-up companies. I want to help them with light bookkeeping and social media start-up/initial marketing.
How much time do you want to spend working on your own business? I want to spend about ten hours a week working on my own business.
How much time do you want to spend working on a client’s business? I want to work 25-30 paid hours.
Now, it’s your turn. What skills do you possess? What can you offer to help another business?
Morning, all! I am not a morning person, myself but my little says it’s time to start our day…before the sunrises.
What are you doing for self-care today?
Did you know that self-care comes in many forms?
Dominee over at Blessing Manifesting offers a wonderful website full of what self-care is in different areas.
Social/Emotional needs: I’m a sensitive person who enjoys connecting with others. When I’m lacking in the emotional area, I might grab coffee with a girlfriend or curl up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and a good Hallmark movie.
Physical needs: I suffer from anxiety, so I exercise regularly. Right now, this might be a weekend hike, going for a jog or chasing kiddos on the playground during tag.
Personal needs: Being outdoors is important to me, whether it is a hike, waterfall chasing, kayaking or jogging, I love to be outside.
Spiritual needs: Meditation, gratitude reflection, church, religion, worship music, etc. Whatever your religious beliefs are, hone in on that.
*Professional* needs: This is a priority right now. I decided to start a free movement to network with others looking to transition from teaching to another career and also successful work from home agents. I thought this would be a slow process and I decided to reach out to others. We are quickly growing and my inbox is full!
Are you exhausted from constant positive behavior management while also teaching curriculum?
Do you have administration difficult to deal with?
Are you already over the next staff meeting or professional development session?
How do you feel about evaluations?
When you get home, do you really have time for your family?
I need to be honest, friends. I am one exhausted (and broke!) teacher and single mom.
My significant other mentioned a few weeks back that when I get home, he notices I am short-tempered with my preschooler. He says I need to stop giving all of my love and attention to my students, so that I have patience and love to give to our little.
Y’all, that hit me hard. Stop loving my students? Then how would I ever get anything accomplished in my classroom?? We all know that relationships matter. How am I supposed to create better boundaries at school, so that when I’m home I am still a great mom. I took one look at my baby and knew it was time to make a change.
See, three years ago, I had a complicated pregnancy while working in an urban school. It was the worst year of teaching I have ever experienced. Per doctor recommendation, I left half-way through the school year, feeling like a failure.
I was elated at the birth of my daughter but she became sick with bronchitis and then pneumonia, we ended up in and out of the hospital for the next year. I just knew I couldn’t return to teaching until she stayed better. Shortly after she was better for an extended period of time, my initial teaching license expired without the option of renewal and I found myself a single mom. I moved back across the country to have family support.
I didn’t realize that Praxis’ exams requirements were different for different states. Cough up $700 for the exams you need, they said. Then, pay for the certification fee and background check fee, they said. Go back to the politics, stress, lesson plans, assessments, evaluations, PD, PBIS, intervention tiers, etc. No thank you, I said.
Instead, I opted for what I thought was a low-stress, preschool job making enough to live off and have some to put back, with my little girl in the same building.
False. So many times over, false.
I was swindled, y’all! I quickly discovered what a turnover rate is! Also, for half of what I could be making in public school, I am lesson planning and the lessons have to be on display.
I have to create in-depth displays of learning that show early childhood education standards and descriptions of the assignment. There must be authentic work, pictures and quotes from the children.
I assess, at least 120 times per month.
We are evaluated by administration and must strictly adhere to the displayed schedule set by the “academy”.
I can have up to seventeen four-year old children, a few not potty trained, and several behavioral or cognitive needs.
Communication? What’s that?! We don’t find out if we are getting new students until their parents drop them off. Kid leaving the “academy” is also not communicated.
The paperwork is tedious and is required to be done on the hour and we have an app that we are required to use to communicate with parents several times a day. Those displays of learning I vented about? Yeah, the messages to parents are supposed to be similar to that.
I thought about going back to public school because hey, more money. Until my honey told me to stop giving so much of myself as a teacher. He’s right. My kid is AMAZING, y’all! She is so sweet, loving, and smart. She deserves me in all my glory.
Guys, I’m tired of teaching this way. Note: I’ve taught public and charter, Prek-5th grade.
I’m ready for freedom. Are you?
I have researched hours upon hours on how to begin working remotely. There are so many coaches and paid membership out there. Guys, I am broke. I have a few coaches I intend to work with when I save up. Right now, though, I am looking for a community that is free. I need to find other educators who want to support each other. That is why I’ve decided to start blogging about me experience. Everyone promises a free community but then there are numerous restrictions or they end up needing a fee.
Here is my challenge to you: join me on this journey for free. Let’s support each other. Also, I’m going to invite interested educators to guest-blog about their transition from teaching on here. Membership will always be free. Are you in?
SHIFT: Transition from Teaching 