From Educator to Entrepreneur: What I Have Learned 1 Year Later
In August of 2022, I made one of the scariest decisions of my life. After spending nearly 20 years in education and the past 12 years in international schools as a teacher and principal, I was going to leave the school and start my own business.
This was a sudden decision due to some very challenging family circumstances and one that we were not exactly prepared for. However, having an entrepreneurial mindset and a no-quit attitude has propelled my solo business from $0 per month to over $10,000 per month. Here is what I have learned one year later.
Your experience matters
It is so easy to write yourself off as you are “only a teacher, librarian, administrator, or whatever else.” You have gained skills and knowledge in your industry, which for many of us is education. This means that you are probably quite good at writing, organizing, communicating, collaborating, creating, problem-solving, dealing with conflict, speaking, and untold other skills.
People will pay you for what you can do for them. Think hard about your own skills and talents. Leverage those and your experiences with them as you begin to look for contract or freelance work or when looking for another job.
You may not feel it in a school, sadly, but teachers have a lot of respect outside of education. People will assume that you can move mountains, probably because you already have. Lean on those experiences, focus down to your core talents and look for working opportunities that need those skills.
Hobbies can earn you a living
A family member mentioned to me 6 years ago that I should make videos of my family’s travels. We have been to over 40 countries and each of our three kids were born on a different continent. I thought this was a great idea for recording our family adventures and started to learn how to use Final Cut Pro. I learned everything from YouTube and got pretty good at video editing. Now, I have clients contracting with me because I can write learning objectives, curriculum, lesson, activities, and shoot and edit video. My hobby has made me into a one stop shop!
Even before I began editing videos, I was supporting a school to launch a 100% virtual school. This was around 2010, so there were not many online schools out there. I began recording lessons and made them into a digital text book which was the #1 math textbook on iBooks for a few months when it was first released. I never would have guessed that making something for the fun or challenge of it would lead to work in my future!
Whether you are a someone who started out painting miniature figures and now paints cars or someone who loves to write fan fiction and becomes an author, develop your hobbies, get good at them, and you might be surprised in the size of the market for those skills.
Your portfolio is 10x more important than your resume
Your resume is great, don’t get me wrong. But as it was mentioned above, people want to hire you for what you can do for them. Most folks do not hire a freelancer or entrepreneur because you worked for this person or that company. They want to know what you can actually do.
As you have discovered more about your talents, hobbies, and did some research on the demand for that type of work, look for work samples that show off what you can do. Don’t have any work samples? Not a problem, make some! Having a good portfolio essential, knock it out of the park!
You don’t have to go alone
My “technical” title is solopreneur, or solo entrepreneur. It means that I own my own business, but I am my only employee. While finding contracts and work is 100% up to me and the work that I complete is also 100% mine, I do not feel alone. Why? Two major reasons.
First, some studies show that nearly as much as 30% of US citizens engaged in some kind of freelance work in 2022. That’s incredible! Freelancers are everywhere and entrepreneurship is certainly a part of the American spirit. But, it’s also a part of who people are and I have seen entrepreneurs all over the world. There are groups that you can connect with and learn from, even on places like Facebook.
Second, Upwork is an amazing platform for finding work. The cost to send “proposals” for work is minimal and it’s a great place to see what kind of work is out there and what it pays. You will probably have to take some low paying contracts when starting out, my first contract ended up being only $2 per hour! Now, some contracts pay me over $250 per hour, it’s incredible!
Leverage Upwork as a never-ending resource for freelance work that’s available. Just make sure you build a strong profile and portfolio and customize each proposal for each possible contract.
You should definitely start right now
There is no time like the present. If I could have started all over again, I would have begun this work while I was still employed. Then I could have built up a client list, a great profile and portfolio on Upwork, and been making money before I quit my job.
Instead, I had to learn everything the hard way. I learned fast and put tons of hours into researching how to get more contracts, and it has paid off!
Today, I am working less hours per week, cook breakfast and dinner every day for my family, and we have tons of time together. My stress is very low and my health is so much better. And, I am now earning about 2x as much as my last job as a school administrator.
It has been a long and scary road, that’s for sure. But, it has been incredibly rewarding for me and my family. Give it a try now while you are employed and see if you can grow your business to become more lucrative than your current job. You can do it!