Are you ready to be a “teacherpreneur”: teacher by day and business owner by evening, night, weekend any other time you can squeeze in?!
Well, you’ll be in good company as 2016 is apparently seeing the largest boom of entrepreneurs in history! In fact according to Fortune Magazine, millennials have started twice as many businesses as boomers! So now is a great time to think about starting, especially as it’s almost summer break for most of us teachers and you might be able to invest some more time into it.
Well, you’ll be in good company as 2016 is apparently seeing the largest boom of entrepreneurs in history! In fact according to Fortune Magazine, millennials have started twice as many businesses as boomers! So now is a great time to think about starting, especially as it’s almost summer break for most of us teachers and you might be able to invest some more time into it.
When I began my teaching career 10 years ago, I hadn’t planned on becoming an entrepreneur but I have always enjoyed creating learning resources. I took that passion and ran with it, and here I am 3 years later teaching full time 5 days a week as well as running my own business!
So, if you’re a teacher and you’re considering starting up your own business, here are 3 things you can ask yourself right now to help you start thinking in the right way:
So, if you’re a teacher and you’re considering starting up your own business, here are 3 things you can ask yourself right now to help you start thinking in the right way:
1) What can you offer? Any business revolves around serving others. What are your skills / strengths? What can you offer others to make others' lives easier / better? Dig through your resources / lesson plans or any strategies you’ve used that have been successful and explore from there. My thing has always been design – I just love making things aesthetically pleasing, engaging, fun and modern / relatable so that is what I aim to bring to the table with my resources. I also love drawing illustrations and clipart and I sell these too so other teacherpreneurs can use them for their projects as well!
2) How much time can you consistently dedicate to this project? – OK, so if you have a full time job and a family, your time may seem "limited" at first glance, but if you’re serious about this then I'm sure there is time somewhere you can utilise - even if it means going to bed half an hour later or getting up half an hour earlier. Any amount of time is enough to make a start. Remember, this is not a race. There is no finish line. The journey is the destination. Just take it day by day and build one brick at a time. I started by looking at what I already had created in my own classroom that worked, and I began making content from there.
3) Can you come up with original ideas? - Chris Ducker once said "an original is always worth more than a copy" and “being different is better than being better”. I love those quotes! There's nothing wrong with being inspired by others, but you should aim to be different. I am always striving to be unique and come up with new ideas – for example, my website does not look anything like the other teacher blogs I read, the illustrations I use on my resources are all my own designs and now I have some unique videos to showcase my resources too! Be the one that people want to cyber stalk as they know you have such great ideas – that’s how you make a name for yourself!
Work on providing high value and doing it with class and originality. It will really set you apart in your field and strengthen your entrepreneurial skills.
Work on providing high value and doing it with class and originality. It will really set you apart in your field and strengthen your entrepreneurial skills.
Still not sure teacherpreneurialism (I'm totally making up words now) is for you? Read my previous blog post on why selling my teaching resources has made me a better teacher and see if any of these points resonate with you.
I know starting a business can sound like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. Break steps down into smaller chunks and with time and hard work, you can can build up your own business to be proud of!
If you would like more one to one support during the first few months of starting up your business, I am happy to offer you free mentoring! I am the top UK teacher author on TeachersPayTeachers, I have 3 years experience in successfully selling teaching resources online, and I was the first UK seller to reach a milestone - so you will be in good hands! All you need to do is make a free seller’s account on TeachersPayTeachers using my referral link, and I’d be happy to help and guide you along the road to success.
I know starting a business can sound like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. Break steps down into smaller chunks and with time and hard work, you can can build up your own business to be proud of!
If you would like more one to one support during the first few months of starting up your business, I am happy to offer you free mentoring! I am the top UK teacher author on TeachersPayTeachers, I have 3 years experience in successfully selling teaching resources online, and I was the first UK seller to reach a milestone - so you will be in good hands! All you need to do is make a free seller’s account on TeachersPayTeachers using my referral link, and I’d be happy to help and guide you along the road to success.
