Birth of an Entrepreneur

When I knew I had to leave teaching, I had no idea what to do. I am the main income earner for our family, so I needed to ensure I could replace my salary to keep a roof over our heads and keep the bills paid. Panic set in. I couldn’t stay I teaching, but I couldn’t leave.

I was trapped.

Then I found a group on Facebook called ‘Life After Teaching – Exit the Classroom and Thrive’. It was full of people in exactly my position from all over the world. People in my position in that group were invited to watch the ‘Pit Pony’ video created by the page admins. That video made me realise something important.

You don’t need to replace your salary in one go. Instead, you need to work out what you *need* to earn in order to get by and figure out ways to earn that. It doesn’t have to be straight from one job to another.

The key is multiple income streams.

But, how to you come up with multiple income streams, when all you know how to do is teach?

Well, as I said in my ‘Why Am I Hear?’ post, I have set up my tutoring business. I had done the odd bit of tutoring before, but this was the first time I’d decided to go all-in and register with HMRC. And, I figured that would do in the meantime until I developed experience and a reputation as a proofreader and editor.

However, like falling dominos, this idea led to another. And another. I could expand my tutoring business and add TEFL/TESOL tutoring during the day. I could sell study planners, and revision videos for exam prep. And, if I’m going to help people with their studying, maybe I could help them in other ways – maybe life coaching or counselling. And then, of course, I’ve always wanted to be a writer; after all, doesn’t every English graduate feel they have a novel in them? I could learn all about the self-publishing world. Maybe I could build up a business where I help people self-publish. And let’s not forget my editing and proofreading…

Suddenly, I had too many ideas! How on earth would I keep on top of it all?

A guest on a podcast I was listening to recently advised to pick one thing and stick with it until you see it working. If you do too many things, you spread yourself too thin and nothing moves forward. Euan Spencer summed it up brilliantly on Threads – “Don’t go 10 miles in 10 directions – Go 100 miles in one”.

So, my strategy at the moment is to keep my day-job work to an absolute minimum – I will take on no extra work, and therefore no extra stress – and I will focus on building my tutoring business. Once I start tutoring again (mid-September) I will be working an extra 6-8 hours a week, so I need to be sensible about what I can realistically do on top of that.

I can spend any extra time building my online store of revision materials and videos so that they are ready to sell on my website by around February (at the latest) in preparation for the next exam diet.

Things like TEFL/TESOL courses, life coaching, writing…. These can all come in time.

But for now, I need to do my 100 miles in this direction.