UNcomplicating Business for Teachers, Helpers, and Givers

The Teacher’s Guide for Creating a Money-Making Business

October 05, 2021 Sara Torpey Season 1 Episode 44
UNcomplicating Business for Teachers, Helpers, and Givers
The Teacher’s Guide for Creating a Money-Making Business
Show Notes Transcript

From a struggling former-teacher-turned-entrepreneur, to a business coach who makes more than DOUBLE what she did when she was teaching, I want to share the four simple steps to building a business that makes money AND gives you the truly flexible schedule you've always dreamed of that I've used, and that I teach my clients. 
The four steps are: 

--effectively connect with & sign new clients,

-- pricing  & selling without EVER feeling salesy, spammy, or slimy,

-- creating simple, right-for-you business systems and processes that save time,

-- building your business to full-capacity AND own your time once and for all.

This step by step guide is built especially for former-teachers-turned-entrepreneurs, but it will work for ANYONE who wants structure/process and works better when there’s a plan.

Rest assured there will be no fancy-MBA terms here - no SWOT analyses, no formal business plans, no executive summaries - instead, you'll learn about running a successful business AS a teacher.

This episode is all about a simple, straight forward plan - just like a teachers' guide - that you can point to and say ‘this is what I need to do today, this is what I need to do tomorrow’ so you can go make money AND enjoy your time starting NOW.

Webinar link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dpWeLRkTSVaR1UuZhzlKAw

 

So, this week on the Teachers in Business podcast, I want to talk through the Teacher's Guide what I think of as the Teacher's Guide to creating a money making business. It's really important to me to share the process I've gone through to build what I have, and to to help others do that for themselves. It's what I do as a business coach who works with teachers. So this week, we are going to work through sort of the outline of this. And then all month long, this is October 2021, I am going to be giving sort of a built out version of this and a webinar where you can get more details. And so if you're looking for the webinar details, I will make sure to add them in the show notes in the link. But you can also come to all the places you find me and find them. So without further ado, so here's the thing you love to teach, you really do. And as a teacher, like you were a great teacher, I was the same I love to teach, I was a really good teacher, I'm award winning. But at some point I left you left to start a business. And when you get out into the business world, what you find out very quickly, is that there is no Teacher's Guide. Like there is no one book, there is no step by step guide that actually works. There are no administrators, there's no schedule, there's no bells, you not only don't have a great plan, but you have all the freedom in the world to use all the plans. And it is hard when I turned from teacher to entrepreneur, I loved loved, loved, loved loved the freedom that came with doing my own thing. It was like a revelation. But, you know, more months into the beginning of my business that I really even want to say, as a business owner, what I what I eventually saw was that I had no idea how to actually make money. Like it was great. I loved having the freedom. But I spent a lot of time in my own freakin way. I had guesses certainly. But really in the end, I was lost, I wandered in circles, and it was like holy crap, maybe I'm not made out for this, like maybe I can't do this. Maybe I can't build a business, maybe I have to go back to teaching, maybe this wasn't the right thing for me. And it led to all these doubts and all these worries that I had about myself. So if you are a business owner, I'm sure that you are if you're listening to the podcast in G Suite teacher, which you also are, you know what this feeling is. And it is for you that I really want to outline this simple step by step guide to growing a business that actually replaces your teacher income. And then some because the thing about it is teachers really thrive when you have a plan. You know this just as well as I do, you are a planner, you thrive when there's plan when they're structure, when there is scaffolding to what you're doing to scaffold your growth. And where you know what to do, just like you used your Teacher's Guide in your classroom, right? You use your Teacher's Guide as a support. And it's lovely to have the same kind of support in business. So what I want to take you through today is really exactly how I coach people, and why I personally specialize in helping former teachers, because I was a former teacher myself who struggled. I'm going to help shorten your timeline, I'm going to help you make fewer mistakes. I'm going to help you make the money you actually want need faster than if you do it by yourself. Because I've already made all those mistakes for you. Like I've done all the things I've had the long timeline, I've had all these parts to it. And here's the thing, like even if you're not a teacher, and you're listening to this, what you should know is that a step by step blueprint a Teacher's Guide, the joy of it, is that it works for anybody who's good with a plan, right? If you're great at give me a structure, and I will go like how many times as a business owner, have you thought like, Oh my gosh, if someone would just tell me what to do next, it would work. If you are one of those who works better with a plan This is for you. And please know like, I am a teacher at my core. I am not an MBA student or graduate, I have a master's degree in education. So there will be no formal MBA terms as a part of this plan. Like there's no executive summary to go with this. It's just about having a simple and straightforward process that you can point to and go like Okay, today I do this, then I do that. This is what I do tomorrow and then you just iterate over and over and over. So you know by now that I was a teacher. I was a math teacher. I taught Middle School. I co math teachers, I still teach college kids part time. And even without my teacher income right now, I make almost double what I made as a teacher. And it's double income, but it is far less hours like it is not even remotely close to the amount of time I spent day to day on my work as a teacher, you know how long it takes. grading papers, connecting with parents, answering questions, prepping lessons, building out tools, creating curriculum, taking apart curriculum, putting it back together and making quizzes, figuring out assessments, doing all the things, I don't do any of that anymore. And if you would like to make twice as much money, and you'd like to work fewer hours, and actually, you know, because here's the point, so many people stop teaching and start businesses because they want to own their time. If you want to own your time, this is, this is the way to do it. So I'm gonna tell you a little story first, when I first started my coaching business, I started like a lot of teachers do. And the way I did that was by learning all the things, I got all the books, I took the courses, I listened to the podcast, I hung out with all the Facebook groups, I wrote out all the plans and the plans and the plans and four months, I did that. And eventually I looked around and was like, Hmm, I was working late into the evening, I was not sleeping well, because there was so much rattling around in my brain all the time. And I was never sure what to do in what order. And on top of that, like I wasn't making any money at all. And I thought oh crap, like, No, okay, now what do I do? In a certain point, I thought like, Oh, God, I don't know how to get out of my own way here. And as a teacher in a classroom, I had a community, like you had that in a building, right? But as a new entrepreneur, I had not built that community yet. Right? You don't know who the teacher that been there 30 years down the hall that you can actually ask a question who will treat you like a human is yet you don't know where to take that information. So actually, what I did what helped the most out of all the things was I hired a business coach. And what she helped me to do at that point was to get out of the death spiral that honestly is all learning and no income. And yeah, I wasn't ready to pay the money that I paid her yet. Like I didn't have it. But it made all the money that I've made in the two years of my business started with her. Like now I make twice as much. And if I hadn't made that investment, I would not be where I am today. 100%. She helped me to find my footing as a business owner. But she also helped me to see what an amazing asset, my teacher skills were. She helped me to realize that not only were they could they be a part of my business, but they should be. And they have been a huge part of my business. She helped me to see that I wasn't new at this. I wasn't new at anything. I wasn't a novice, there was nothing to start from scratch. But what I was lacking was process. And so what we built together, what she helped me build in what I've built for myself as my business has grown is a simple process. And I've gotten to help more and more people over the years I've been in business, make the move from making all the mistakes, particularly the ones that I have made that I've made them all, in all the planning and the worry in the doubt in the note income to businesses where they not only feel like they have the money they need and they want in the bank, where they actually get to have the time schedule they were trying to get all along. Like there's no more living and dying by the school calendar. There is no more feeling undervalued all the freakin time. My clients get to make the money they're worth. And they spend their time the way they want you. Which is lovely. Like I have a client this week who is taking a couple of days to go visit her daughter abroad. Because her daughter's abroad for this month, or this semester. And she's like gets to use that opportunity. And she's not missing anything. Because she can't. So today I help I teach my clients a very simple four step process for growing a business that actually makes money which is way better than like, here's the thing as a teacher, you know, you just want to help people and you would happily do it for free. But that's not a business. Right? People say to me all the time, I would happily do this for free. Yes, but you actually need money and there's nothing wrong with earning money for what you're great at.

 

Truly, like let that sink in. So the first step I help people do. The first step into creating a money making business is to find clients you love working with. And in order to do that, I help my clients Learn to share what they do really well what they're awesome at their superpowers in a way, in a marketing way that helps compel people to work with them. Like there's a difference between putting out a PDF flyer, and actually marketing yourself and putting yourself out in the world in a way that people connect you engage with emotionally, and we're like, oh, my God, I need her. That's the difference. So that's the first step, then I help them to price and sell effectively, teachers are notorious for under pricing. Because, you know, we don't, you know, teaching doesn't necessarily build us a sense of what our value is out in the business world. And so what happens is, we end up doing a ton of work and not nearly enough money. And so I help clients get that in scale, because finding the right scale for pricing is vital. And I've said this before on the podcast, I will say it again, today, my strategy is really simple for rising price at a number that you feel like is absolutely invite in line with your value, but makes you want to throw up a little to say, because if it doesn't make you slightly ill to ask for it, it's probably not enough. And it really like the other people won't blink, it's you, you're that's in your own way. So I help people apply price effectively. And in that step, step, I help them sell effectively, because you don't have to sell hard, like sales people, teachers say to me all the time, like I'm not good at sales, the hell you aren't. Because I sold algebra to eighth graders who didn't even want it. Teachers are sales people, you are creative sales people, you create sales day in and day out, that is where you get gets to learn. And you create sales for kids that don't even want to buy anything. And so you are a salesperson, it's just learning to do that in a way that doesn't feel slimy, or spammy or gross to you. That is really more about inviting people in to let you help them. And so I teach my clients to invite, that's the second step, pricing and invitation. The third step is systems. So it really is about creating systems and processes that keep things simple, because so often we build out way more systems wise and then we actually need and in that just makes way more work than we need we try to be on all the platforms we we try to use a CRM that we're not ready for, we use a super complicated email tool we do all I mean, Good Lord, I have done all of these things, which is why I noticed them. But it really is about keeping the systems like dead simple and, and cost effective. Because you don't need to spend whatever 1000s of dollars a year on a CRM, so that not only do they not take your income back, but they actually work for you. And they don't cost you a ton of extra time because you want to go spend that doing other things you want to sleep at night, you want to hang out on the couch with your family at night, you want to go on vacation, you want to have lunch with friends, like I'm having lunch with a friend tomorrow, it's gonna be lovely, I have the systems that support that. And then the last step, I teach people, the fourth step in this, this money making plan is to really create a continuous flow of clients until their business is full. And they can decide to move in a new direction or hire like I have three or four clients right now, at the point where their businesses are full, where we're really having to talk about what happens when you're full, how you want to grow from there, because if you want to stay there, that's great. But most of my clients are like, But wait, I could be doing more. And so it's about making the process of getting clients simple, so that you can always get more if you want them. And that you can then make decisions about how to grow your business in new directions and do the things that you're like, I have always wanted to make a course. Okay, one client there right now, she's always wanted to make a course. And now she's in a position where it like actually makes sense for her to do. So. I have a couple of client examples. They're lovely. But I think that, you know, if you hear yourself thinking, I'm really stuck. Or you hear yourself thinking, God, I have so many things to do, and there's never enough time. If you're thinking God, I don't know which of these things to do first or maybe it's just I need another course let me go find another course. This is a sign that you need some backup here. You need someone you're in your corner just like I do. Like we all need support. In a school building. We have colleagues to turn to in a business that you're building yourself. It's different, you know, I was telling the story to someone the other day. And I said, you know, if you could build, if you if I said to you, okay, I'm gonna give you this business, I'm gonna guarantee it makes money. And all you have to do to get it is take this class, some of the stuff, you're going to know some of the stuff you have to learn, you're not going to know everything. You're like, Okay, I have to take this class and pass it great. I'm gonna go take the class, I'm gonna pass. But the class is like self directed, it's really murky. It's all these things. So you kind of have two choices at that point. You can go teach yourself using the internet, right? You can go buy all the books, you can watch other people's videos, you can, you know, like, fight your way through it. Or you can go hire an expert that already has done it has already passed, the class has already got the business making money. Which do you do? Like, do you hire a tutor and an expert? Or do you go like fight your way through it, because I'm telling you the fight your way through, it takes a crap ton longer. And if you're good with it, taking a really long time, that's fine. But basically, at that point, you're leaving money on the table. Because you could have been creating clients, you could have been selling more effectively, you could have been creating simple systems that will work for you forever. And you could have been really building in a way to create a continuous flow of clients. But instead you're like, let me go see if the Internet has any videos on this. So this is what I help people build. And as I said at the start, what I'm going to do in the month of October is I'm going to run this as a webinar with way more details where I'm going to walk through step by step each of the four steps and some extra things to help people really understand this process. I mean, because here's the thing like I have this client right now actually is not as misspeak I have this woman I'm connected with who I wish had become a client. And one of the things that's happened is she's really faltered because she never found a system or a process. She never found you know the right way to talk to her audience. She never figured out who she wanted to serve she never got clear she never created the processes she needed she just made them really hard in this fall she's back teaching and so I'll tell you more of that story in the webinar but it is really like it's breaking my heart a little bit out on the internet because she and I are connected on Facebook and I'm just watching it and I feel terrible but I couldn't all the time she said to me like Sarah I just don't want to spend this money. But now like she put herself three years later in this place where she turned back to being in a place she doesn't want to be and I don't like for me. I want people to be able to leave teaching and fly I want you to be able to leave teaching and be like I've got this look at me go and for all your teacher friends to be like holy hell look at that that's amazing. How did she do that? Because that's really like you want to be the one that was like yeah no Look at me. I own my own time now I feel like that and you know that's really the joy of choosing to do your own thing right is choosing to do your own thing and then being able to be really proud and loud about it you don't want to leave and then kind of feel like you have to skirt underneath everything that didn't work and that's really just you know, it kind of hurts your heart to think about right so all of this is something you can have you can have all these processes you can have the webinar you can have the tools but if you're like okay but I want to learn all that right now for me. What you can do is have a conversation about coaching. Listen, coaching works. I am proof of it my clients are proof of it my clients are killing it out in the business world and it is because they got out of their own way enough to ask for help. It starts with one conversation you come you get clarity you spend an hour together and at the end if you're like nope this isn't for me that's great go do you take the clarity you got from the call. walk off do your thing you will walk away with like what do you do next? But you won't walk away with what do you do next week in and week out?

 

I can only you know like there's only so much time in Yeah, no I get it coaching has a cost. I am the first to admit that I spent money on coaching before I had it. And it was the hardest decision I made but the best the most effective thing I've done in my business to this day and that was years ago at this point. coaching with me get you doing instead of planning endlessly. You don't have to buy any more courses. There won't be any books you won't have any of those things and the other thing is is like not doing not progressing, not making the money you really ought to be making not helping the people you're really meant to be helping. There's a cost to that. There's a cost to you, but also to them. And I really believe that we owe it to the world to get out and offer what we do best. So that we can enable others to grow and thrive. That's what you do as a teacher, it's what you're going to do as a business owner. So please, no, here's the thing. I see you. If this has been a struggle, if this has been hard, if you're really looking for direction, and support and a cheerleader and someone who won't let you get away with shit, I am here, I understand that the only tweening thing between you and the money you want to earn in your business is process. It really is it's just having a plan. And I am here to give you that plan, you are cut out for business ownership. It's not that you're bad at this. It's just the I don't know how to create clients because teaching school, you know, your education program, your master's in education, did not teach you how to do this, and that is okay. But having someone side by side teach you exactly how to do it for you is vital. I have the process you need. And six months from now you can have exactly the business you want. It can be doing exactly the thing you need to be doing. It can all be very different. I would love to talk to you about it. And if you walk away at the end, okay, you do that's okay. But start with how you connect and create new clients. Think about how you're selling and how you're pricing. Think about making your systems as simple as humanly possible. And then think about how you connect all those things together and really make them work for you. I can't wait to help you. I can't wait to do this together. And I will see you next week and other webinars this month. See you soon