Just a Teacher (#RANT) | 124
Today’s podcast episode is a little different than our normal Saturday strategy session. I wanted to share something that has been weighing on me a little. I want to put to rest the idea that as a teacher business owner or Teachers Pay Teachers seller, you don’t have the skills to start a business.
I want us to let go of that mindset that, “I am just a teacher”.
The Battle of Teaching Identity
If you’re anything like me, then you’re probably thought about being a teacher for a long time. Maybe even since you’ve been a kid.
When I was a child, I used to stand at my easel and teach math lessons to a room full of stuffed animals. When I was in elementary school and middle school, I’d ask to pass out papers and spend my recesses inside tutoring other kids. And in high school, I actually did a co-op in a grade 3 classroom where I spent 90% of my time making photocopies for the teacher.
Basically, I dreamed of being a teacher for a long time, so I put a lot of identity into being a teacher. However, being a teacher is not solely who I am. I am a mom, wife, daughter, business owner, runner, and so much more.
I understand where that mentality comes from though. Being a teacher weighs on us. We think about the kid who doesn’t bring lunch to school or the student whose dad just passed away. And we battle against a society who tells us we are “just a teacher” in a really negative way.
How that Identity Affects Business
However, that identity as a teacher can sometimes have a negative effect on those who choose to start their own business or become a Teachers Pay Teachers seller. They think, “I am just a teacher. What do I know about marketing? What do I know about business?”
The truth is that the skills we use inside the classroom are also valuable outside the classroom (despite what society may have told us).
Every day you “sell” a lesson to kids who would rather be doing a million other things! You get them excited and hyped up about fractions and then geography and then an art lesson. You need that exact same skill to sell your offers.
You know how to organize a schedule and create a curriculum map. You can fine-tune the path towards mastery and sometimes even a state exam. You need these same skills when creating a content plan to sell your offers or organize your time in your business.
You’ve learned how to tweak and change a lesson, sometimes even in the middle of it, when you notice things aren’t working. You change how you teach something or the way you present the information when students don’t understand. You can do the same thing when a launch is going sideways.
My point is that you are not “just a teacher”. You are a teacher AND so much more. You are equipped already with the skills you need to be successful inside the classroom and inside your business as a freelancer, consultant, or whatever else you set your mind to.
Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @heyitsjenzaia and tune in next Saturday for more business tips and strategies!
xo, Jenzaia
Don’t Forget To SUBSCRIBE
&
REVIEW the podcast!
Thanks for listening to this week’s Saturday Strategy Session! If you found this podcast helpful for your teacherpreneur journey, then head over to iTunes, so you can subscribe and leave a review. Each and every review means the world to me and helps me continue to create valuable content while also reaching more fellow ambitious teacher business owners just like you!
Episode Transcript:
Hey there - I'm Jenzaia and this is Market Scale Grow - a podcast created for ambitious teacherpreneurs looking to have a bigger impact on the world, achieve freedom, flexibility, and ultimately make more money. With weekly strategy sessions and inspiring stories from fellow teachers just like you, my goal here is to help you create a customized marketing strategy so you can grow your teacher business beyond your wildest dreams.
This is a Saturday strategy session…sort of. Instead of a strategy session, I have a bit of a rant for you. I don't do these very often, but there's something that's on my heart that I wanted to chat about today, and that is the statement of ‘I'm just a teacher’.
So where did this all start? A couple weeks ago, I had an appointment with a therapist for the first time. My previous therapist was switching life adventures, if you will, and had transferred my care to a new therapist. In that very first call, she said, tell me about yourself. And I kind of just sat there for a second. I didn't know what to say. The only thing I could think of is, I'm a teacher.
I absolutely am a teacher, but this year I'm in the classroom one day a week. I am a stay-at-home mom three days a week while my husband is at work for his 12 hour shift. So I'm doing the whole solo parenting thing. I also run a six figure business full-time, and I teach one day a week. I am a sister, I'm a daughter. I am a mom. I think I said that already, but I am a mom. Like that is a huge, huge part of my identity and apparently being a teacher is also a huge part of my identity. So I totally understand the whole concept of ‘I'm just a teacher.’
We as teachers identify so strongly with the profession as who we are, and I think a lot of us have been doing this kind of teaching piece since we were kids. I used to line my dolls and my stuffed animals up around our little easel - we had one of those Little Tikes very nineties iconic easels - and I would line my dolls up in a semicircle and I would teach lessons to the point of like, my dad came downstairs one day and very casually was like, “hey Jenzaia, what are you doing?”
I was like, SHUSH! We're in the middle of a math lesson!
I couldn't have been more than three or four at that time. So I've been teaching my whole life. Once I was in grade 4, 5, 6, I became a helper in the kindergarten class and I was helping to get them ready for lunch. But I think I also helped run centers occasionally too. And in high school I got more than one co-op credit for working at the elementary school and volunteering in their classroom one period every single day. And then when I was in university, I volunteered in elementary classrooms every single year around the school board. And then I went to teachers college and became a teacher in Taiwan. And I've taught in Canada.
So I've been teaching my entire life.
I'm a teacher to my core, but I'm not just a teacher. And I know many of you listening to this don't necessarily use ‘I'm just a teacher’ in the way that I'm talking right now. You use it when you're talking about your business, and I will get there in a second. But first, I would love for you to recognize all of the things you are as well as a teacher. Being a teacher is just one piece of your identity. You're also likely a friend and maybe you're a runner or maybe you're a gymnast, or maybe you're a swimmer, or maybe you're a video gamer.
Maybe you're also a YouTuber or a mom. Maybe you're a dad. Maybe you're a brother or a sister. Maybe you are a daughter, a son. You have all of these other parts of your identity and yes, being a teacher is something that we feel to our core, and I think that there's a lot of characteristics about being a teacher that really, really mean that it needs to be to your core. You’re caring for these little humans, whether they're little humans who are in kindergarten or they're little humans who are in grade 12 and they're actually much bigger humans.
We are protecting them and nurturing them and helping them grow to be good citizens, good people to be caring and kind, and they weigh on us when there's that kid who doesn't bring a lunch and doesn't bring a lunch, and doesn't bring a lunch and has dirty clothes, and you're worried about what's happening at home.
Or the kid who comes into class and says, this is what happened to my dad last night. And you know how devastating that is for this little grade two, who's never gonna see their dad again. We carry these stories with us. I'm tearing up thinking of that student right now.
We carry these stories and these feelings and these emotions and these lives with us. And so I think for many of us, being a good teacher is just who we are to the core. And so when someone asks, who are you? The first thing that comes to mind is I'm a teacher. Because again, to our core, that's what we are. But you are so much more, and I want you to recognize that.
Now, let's slightly switch gears and talk about being just a teacher in the business sense. When I hear people say, I'm just a teacher, they don't mean it in the same way that when I say I am a teacher. They're saying it in almost the exact opposite way. When I say I'm a teacher, like to my core, that is who I am. I'm proud of that. And I don't wanna let that go. Even though I'm only teaching one day a week, I'm still a teacher all the time. I'm proud of that.
When I hear people in their businesses saying, I'm just a teacher, they're shameful about it. There's no pride, there's no excitement. There's no positivity at all. It's a negative quality that they are using. Even though I just ranted on for a five plus minute about how amazing and great the qualities of being a teacher are and why so many of us associate so deeply with being a teacher.
So when we're in our business and say “just a teacher”, it means that I don't have any business experience. I don't have any marketing experience. I don't know how to do this business thing because I'm just a teacher…like I'm just a damsel in distress. I need your help.
But being a teacher is so much more than what we're giving ourselves credit for. There is so much time management that goes into running a classroom. There's so much organization that goes into running a classroom and depending on the grade in the class that you're teaching, you are selling those lessons every single day. You are getting those students on board. You're figuring out exactly how to speak to them. That is marketing!
You are marketing your lessons to your students every single day. And if it doesn't land, if your kids don't pick up the message, then you are tweaking that messaging. You're tweaking the delivery. You're changing how you're approaching it so that the kids do get it. That is marketing! You are marketing your lessons to your students every single day. And just so naturally you are selling the topics to them.
You are trying to get them excited and bought into whatever it is that you are teaching because you're a good teacher. And you want them to learn and you want them to be excited. And if you take all of those skills that take to run a successful classroom, the time management, the organization, those marketing skills of selling the lessons to the kids, or that they are bought in and they are excited and engaged and you take them to your business, maybe you'll realize that you can do this.
You, without even trying, pick up on the market research. And then you change your messaging, you change your delivery, you reflect on how the lesson went, and you make those changes. And that's exactly what you need to do in business. You need to reflect on what's working and figure out how to tweak what isn't working in the same way you would tweak your classroom, the lessons, the management, the organization, whatever it is that isn't working in your classroom, you tweak and change it. That's exactly what you're doing in your business.
There are so many skills. There are so many qualities that make you a good teacher that also make you a really good business owner, and you really need to lean into those. I'm telling this to myself, but I'm also telling this to you. We are not just teachers. We are so much more. And I want you to take the time to recognize in and out of your business how capable, how amazing, and how many different qualities and skills that you bring to the table, and that you are not just a teacher.
So no more of this shameful, I'm just a teacher. Say it loud, say it proud. But then, like I said, also recognize the rest of you.
Thank you for listening to this rant! I hope that you felt something. Like I said, I teared up a little bit, so this was quite a different episode for me. But it's been on my heart and I really wanted to share it. So thank you so much for being here and listening, and I hope that you have a wonderful day!
Thank you for listening to this episode of Market Scale Grow. I'm so thankful that you've taken some time out of your busy schedule to make me part of your journey. If you love this podcast, don't forget to share it with your friends. And then head to your favorite podcast app to subscribe so that you won't miss next week's episode or any of the upcoming ones. And if you loved it, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcast so that other people can find this podcast and we can impact teachers and teacher business owners around the world!