Seasons of Growth in your Teacher Business with Beth Hall | 54
This week’s inspiring teacherpreneur journey is with Beth Hall from Coach Hall Writes. I loved chatting with her about the different seasons of growth in her business. It’s so inspiring to hear about how she has made the journey her own!
Learn how she decided to make videos on YouTube and eventually on TikTok to teach AP language in one minute or less!
About Our Guest
After earning her MFA in Creative Writing in 2014, Beth Hall began her career as a high school English teacher, quickly finding a passion for teaching nonfiction and helping students hone their writing skills.
In 2019, she began a YouTube channel called Coach Hall Writes as a medium to allow her to supplement her students’ instruction outside the classroom. Beth’s videos quickly gained notoriety among AP Language and Composition teachers and students because of the videos’ conciseness and clarity. In 2020, the Coach Hall Writes YouTube Channel was listed as one of the top resources AP Lang teachers felt was most helpful in preparing their students for the AP Language and Composition exam. In the two and a half years since starting her YouTube channel, Beth has helped hundreds of AP Lang teachers and thousands of AP Lang students learn to craft stronger rhetorical analysis essays as they prepare for the AP Lang exam.
Connect with Beth
IG: @coachhallwrites
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[00:00:00] Jenzaia: welcome to market scale. Grow today. I'm talking with Beth hall. How are you doing Beth?
[00:00:05] Beth: I'm great. How are you?
[00:00:06] Jenzaia: I am so good. I'm so excited to chat with you. Can you start by telling everyone where you're from and if you're still teaching what you're teaching?
[00:00:16] Beth: Absolutely. So I am currently teaching I'm actually in my eighth year and I'm a high school English teacher in Arkansas. And my specialty is a class called AP language and composition. It's an advanced class that is all about non-fiction and teaching students how to write. And there's an exam every year in may. And if students do well on that, they can actually earn college credit. So lots of pressure, sometimes.
[00:00:40] Jenzaia: Nice. And have you been doing this the whole time? Like AP the AP course.
[00:00:46] Beth: I have been doing it about, oh goodness. Maybe like five years now. I did pre AP before that. And then I moved up to AP and now I do both. So I teach like 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, the advanced [00:01:00] classes, but of those, the AP lang class is my specialty. That's the one I liked that I still.
[00:01:05] Jenzaia: Oh, awesome. It's so glad, like good to hear when people are, where they're supposed to be like that they're enjoying what they're teaching and that they're like in their specialty and
in their zone of genius in the class.
So as a teacher, preneur, how did you get started on this?
[00:01:21] Beth: So I actually use YouTube as my main platform though. I am branching out and I started on YouTube and February of 2019, and I have a channel called coach hall writes and I got the name because I coach soccer all the way up until last year. This is my first year not coaching high school soccer, but my students still call me coach hall and I love writing.
So that's where the name came from. But basically I was at kind of a unique point in my career because. I was in my fifth year teaching at the time. And honestly, I had accomplished everything that I had set out as a goal when I was a first year teacher. And I knew I didn't want to [00:02:00] move up in to like administration or anything, but I felt really stuck in terms of salary where I was.
So I wanted something that could be kind of like a side hustle. And also professionally I felt kind of stuck because I was teaching like the same passages and stuff each year, I felt really comfortable with it, which is a good thing. But on the other hand, I felt like I hadn't really learned anything in awhile.
So I wanted to try something new that I could do on the side. And I knew nothing about video editing. So that was kind of like a good project where I could potentially eventually make money, but also teach myself some new skills.
[00:02:37] Jenzaia: That's so cool. I love that you decided to go somewhere where you knew nothing about
[00:02:42] Beth: Yeah. It's definitely been an adventure.
[00:02:44] Jenzaia: Yeah. Super challenging. How has your teacherpreneur journey changed and shifted since you started?
[00:02:52] Beth: Initially, I was just creating YouTube videos primarily based on what my own students needed. And then after a few [00:03:00] months leading into that exam, that first year that I had a chance. More students started to find my channel and I started to grow there sort of organically, but I realized that at the same time I needed to branch out.
So I started focusing more on connecting with teachers and I technically had a TPT store at the time, but I literally had like three products in it. Like I didn't do anything with it. So I decided that I wanted to start focusing on. Teacher content that went with the videos and kind of branching out that way.
And then over time, I've kind of added different social media platforms. Like most recently I'm more active on Instagram or at least I'm trying to be, and then ticktok, ticktok took off for me last year, a little bit because my students actually gave me the tip. They said, you know, Students don't go to Instagram when they need help, they go to Tik TOK. And there were a lot of kids looking for help for like last year's exam. And some of them knew about my channel. Some did it. So my own students were actually telling other kids online, like, [00:04:00] Hey, my teacher does these videos. You should check them out. And they were like, coach hall. If you would just make a tape.
Then we wouldn't have to keep promoting you. And I told them like, no, I'm not going to make a Tik TOK because I thought it was all like dancing. And I like, definitely don't want to be about that life. So I told them no. And then they were like, no, really like it's tutorial videos. And I was like, I can't teach AP Lang in 15 seconds.
And they're like, well, you have a whole minute. It's fine. So. Yeah, but like they were actually really right about it, which is so funny that I got like really awesome business advice for my students. So I started doing TikTok where like tip videos or where I would respond to people's questions and just do like a video reply. And students were actually really receptive to that. So I haven't been as active. This fall because kids don't really have any questions yet, but that's another way that I've grown my teacher business.
It's not necessarily a monetized way, but if I can send them from TikTokto YouTube, that helps.
[00:04:57] Jenzaia: That is such a good example. They [00:05:00] always say like, don't go where you want to be, go where your people are. And that is like the perfect example because my feeling would have been the same. Like I'm not on Tik TOK. I don't want to go there, but you very clearly have shown exactly the power of going where your audience is.
[00:05:17] Beth: Yeah, it's definitely been really helpful. And on the teacher side of things for my niece, for whatever reason, at least in the beginning, when I was first starting. Teachers, we're mostly on Facebook. Now more of them are finding you on Instagram, but if I want to connect with teachers, one of the best ways to do it is through Facebook groups.
And I'm actually not the owner of these particular groups, but they're really big groups for my niche. And within the community guidelines, I can post links to my videos. So what I started doing is I started watching the group. I would like spend maybe 15 minutes a day, just kind of seeing what the pain points were, what people were asking questions about.
In the beginning. Once I finally got the courage to, I made a video based on something that [00:06:00] people were talking about. And then I posted the video in the group and that was like a spiral effect. like, I slowly started to gain traction. People started to associate my name with my channel, and then over time I would post here's another video.
Now I post a lot more frequently, but in the beginning I wanted to make sure it was like, High-quality content or at least at the time, what was high quality? My editing aesthetic has changed so much over two years, but yeah, like those teachers were on Facebook, which was really interesting to me too, because I know a lot of other niches, a lot of teachers are on instagram and not Facebook.
[00:06:34] Jenzaia: Yeah. I was just thinking that actually, that a lot of people gravitate to Instagram to find teachers, but it's really cool that you found them on Facebook. So it sounds like you have to like separate branches of your business, almost like the, the, supporting teachers and then the supporting students.
Is that a fair description?
[00:06:53] Beth: Yes. And while that is very accurate, sometimes that makes it a little tricky because the teachers on the one [00:07:00] hand are kind of my long-term. Subscribers, I guess like, they're the ones who are using my resources and videos year after year, but then the students, they need me for a year, but sometimes there's more urgency from them because especially when the exams coming, like they're full of questions and they want help too.
So some of the videos, actually, most of the video. Are these tutorial videos that I do. So they could be used by both like the teacher and the student, depending on the video. But I've also kind of branched out more recently and started doing like teacher tip videos specifically. So they're labeled teacher tip and the kids are like, okay, that's not for me. Yeah, that way I can hopefully grow more of an audience that way. So I'm trying to serve two different needs, but in the beginning it was basically just tutorial videos that were student friendly, but like teachers said that they would watch them to learn from it too.
[00:07:52] Jenzaia: It sounds a little bit like the, the wedding. Where you're like super focused on getting the vendors and the, all of the pieces together, but then as [00:08:00] soon as your wedding's over, you're like, those are my thank you cards and I'm done by, right? Like it's, it's very similar with, with the students at least.
But then if you can grow the teachers that are continually needing year after year support it's a little bit more stable. I feel.
[00:08:14] Beth: Yes. And I figured that out after the first exam. Because I had a set goal of subscribers that I wanted to achieve by the exam. And I got there and then like within a week, my subscriber count dropped and I was like, oh, well, they're done. They don't need me anymore. So that was when I was like, okay, I need to realize that I have two different customers that I'm serving and that's perfectly okay.
And there is overlap, but yes, I do have to be very clear in terms of thinking about like long-term goals, who I'm serving and how I'm serving.
[00:08:43] Jenzaia: Yeah, very interesting. And I think that like labeling those videos, teacher tip was super smart of you because then the teacher will gravitate right there and know instantly that you are there to serve them as well. Because if your videos are kind of like a hybrid between teachers or students [00:09:00] can use them, you might lose some teachers in that where they're like, oh, this is for the students or whatever.
Right. So focusing on that will help you. I feel like grow that audience, the more stable long-term audience.
[00:09:12] Beth: Yes. Now that I've done a few of them, I almost wished I had made a second channel just for teachers, but I'm kind of glad that it's all on one platform now because it is working out well. But I was kind of experimenting with it in the beginning and I didn't want to do a whole separate channel just for teachers if it wasn't going to last.
But now that I feel more comfortable with reaching out to teachers, I have more ideas. And sometimes those are like a nice break from like the student-friendly videos.
[00:09:42] Jenzaia: Oh, that's an interesting point. Cool. So what are some of the big milestones or challenges that you faced as you've been growing your business.
[00:09:50] Beth: I think in the beginning, just growing was difficult because on YouTube. at least when I was trying to monetize, but I think it's the same right now you needed [00:10:00] 1000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours to monetize, which doesn't sound like a whole lot until. You realize that growth is pretty slow on YouTube at times, for some people it's not, some people will take off right away, but that was one of the first challenges that I faced is just trying to get the subscriber count up.
And the watch hours, they usually happen at least in my experience around the same time. So that was helpful that I was having people watch the appropriate amount of time and they were subscribing, but it did take a while. And then once I achieved that goal, then it became more about. Focusing on the quality and reaching out in other ways.
And I'm really introverted. So just doing like Instagram stories was a big deal for me because I really don't like to do that kind of thing. Same with TikTok. Like I was really worried that people would be super judgemental, but actually it's been the opposite. People are really receptive to the help, which has been really nice.
[00:10:56] Jenzaia: I've heard that so many times about the tick top community, that it's [00:11:00] very the opposite of judgmental and like very supportive, very community, very like a positive, positive place to be, which social media doesn't have that rep. So it's nice to hear that you've also experienced that.
[00:11:15] Beth: Yeah, definitely. I think part of it is the type of content I do. Like if I were to do a video of me dancing, I am sure somebody would say something rude, but I'm doing video that is very targeted. The kids that are watching the video, they genuinely want that advice. And they like that. I respond to comments and I'm not saying I've never gotten a rude comment here or there, but it's not anything that makes me want to like leave the platform or anything.
[00:11:42] Jenzaia: That makes sense. Going back. I had a question because I know nothing about YouTube. So when you say monetize, is that from YouTube ads themselves or is there another way that.
[00:11:55] Beth: So the initial way of monetizing on YouTube for most people is basically [00:12:00] Google ads. So the ads that you see before, during, or after a video. That earns, this the person, a little bit of money now it's really not much, but you can also monetize in different ways after like, sometimes people will do like sponsored videos and things like that.
I haven't really approached that relevant yet. I'm not there yet, but yeah, the ad revenue helps it is slow money, but it is something.
[00:12:26] Jenzaia: So can you do sponsorships before you've hit those milestones or you can't at all?
[00:12:32] Beth: I think you can, there are certain requirements
And you have to basically say that it's a paid promotion or a sponsorship. Like there's a lot of little things that you have to read about before you upload the video. Within the past couple of years, they've made the policies a little bit more strict because of children. Like if you have content that's geared to like 13 and under, you're not supposed to have ads or you have fewer ads. So there's lots of little things to consider. But for the teacher niche, if [00:13:00] your students are like mine high school age, or if you're talking to other teachers, that's not usually a factor, but I know that there are definitely different policies that have rolled out in the past couple of years regarding those things.
[00:13:12] Jenzaia: I feel like I don't know if I would be comforted. Doing it right in those first videos, I'm sure there's some people that are like, yeah, I'm just going to dive right in. I'm going to go full force. But I feel like, I would want to tip toe because of all of those regulations.
[00:13:27] Beth: Yeah, I think so. But also the first few videos.
No matter who you grow to be on YouTube. the first few videos are really awful. Even if you take the content creators that you probably know and love now who maybe have been on the platform for years, if you scroll back in their feed and go to their very first videos, they are not the same quality either, but that's really reassuring for people who are trying to grow on YouTube is you don't need, like all the fancy equipment in the beginning, you can use your phone or your laptop.
You don't need fancy lights and a fancy camera. But yeah, the [00:14:00] first few videos after you've been doing it awhile, or cringe-worthy like, I went back and listened to one of my old videos. That was one of my first ones, because it became really popular at the beginning of the school year because of what the content was.
And I was like, why are people watching this video? Like my other videos are so much better, but honestly, like they didn't care that, you know, the editing was different or there were like longer pauses in between things they didn't care about.
[00:14:24] Jenzaia: And that's interesting because filter Franco is a giant name on YouTube and he sometimes will pull in clips from long before or like his intro song that he used to use and just to make fun of himself. And it is it's really cringe-worthy and you're just like, oh, I mean, it was 10 years ago, but oh, you should've known this was bad, but like, anytime you start anything, it's always the same thing.
And so yeah, scrolling back through those giant names, you're like, okay, they're human too. And they started somewhere.
[00:14:53] Beth: Yes.
[00:14:53] Jenzaia: how do you go about marketing your business either to the students or the teachers, but let's go with the teachers because I [00:15:00] feel like what you said about kids and marketing.
That can be a little bit like muddy waters almost, even though they are, you are marketing to older kids, but still.
[00:15:08] Beth: Yeah, it definitely can be a little bit confusing. So I've focused most of my efforts on teachers in that regard. So using YouTube specifically, I have. Put some products in the description box and people sometimes check there to join the email list or to purchase a product. So that's one way, and then something else I've tried is I don't do this very often, but sometimes I'll feature a product in a video not to sell it.
But if I have a product that I would use that's relevant. Like for instance, I have this digital flip book and it's on TPT and it's just a couple of dollars. Well, I use that in a video to demonstrate a certain skill. And I just said in the video, Hey teachers, if you'd like a copy of this, check out the description below, and that has led to some sales as well.
And usually once you can get people to your TPT store, [00:16:00] if they realize that you have the content they need, they'll hopefully buy more things. So that was my goal initially is trying to drive YouTube to TPT. I don't really go the other way. Like, I don't necessarily try to drive people from TPT to YouTube cause.
If they're on TPT, they probably know I have a YouTube channel. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I should be going both ways, but I try to send people to my TPT store from YouTube. And as far as like other marketing right now, I'm really working on growing my email list. So with those teacher tip videos, I started doing those with the goal of a course in mind, like down the road, I'm trying to build the email list.
So I've been doing videos with like free templates and other things, trying to get people to. No about other things that I do besides just YouTube videos. And it's been working pretty well, still slow growth, but it feels natural.
Like it feels like they're really genuinely there because they like my resources, which is really helpful.
[00:16:56] Jenzaia: I have, I can't even tell you how many times you've been watching a YouTube [00:17:00] video and they've been using something and I will sign up for the email list, like instantly, because I know, oh, that's what you're using. I want that exact same template to do what you're doing right now. Like, yes, please sign me up.
I'm such a good strategy. And YouTube is a search engine.
it's number two behind Google, right?
[00:17:17] Beth: As far as I know. Yeah. So it's definitely very much up there. I think it is number two behind Google. And it's a video search engine too, which is really helpful because you can still use some of the SEO practices, search engine optimization that you would use for other things. So for instance, when I first started, I didn't really know anything about SEO, but I would title my videos, what I would search for. So a lot of like how to do this, because that's one of the reasons why I started my channel initially. When I decided on my niche of doing tutorial videos, it was because there weren't really any other videos out there. So I looked for something like how to write a rhetorical analysis essay, which is something in my niche.
And there were some videos, but they were [00:18:00] like, honestly like seven years old at the time. And this was back in 2019. So I was like, well, this is kind of outdated. And there's a lot of other topics that are not covered here. So when I started making videos, I started. Titling the videos, something that I think people would search for.
And that seems to have really helped. Just thinking about it that way, because honestly, there are certain times when students want the video or teachers want the video because they need that visual, even if you're just kind of talking them through some slides, they still want that video element as opposed to maybe like a blog post or something.
So, yeah, there's definitely a very high searchability factor with video.
[00:18:37] Jenzaia: That's such a good tip of like thinking what you would search for, because so often we're serving. People who are basically us, just a couple steps behind us. Right. And so if you think about like, okay, two years ago, five years ago, what would I have been needing? And then putting that in that's yeah. Such a good tip.
And I've never really thought of it [00:19:00] that way. Sometimes I get like so complicated with my titles because I like want to do all the SEO things, but I don't know if I would search some of these things. So I'm going to use that. Tip myself.
[00:19:12] Beth: Well, I'm glad it helps. Yeah. Honestly, I kind of took that approach initially. So for my niche, I did what is rhetorical analysis or how to write a rhetorical analysis essay. So. Are those questions help. And then what you can do on YouTube that helps you grow, or at least hopefully it does is say you have other videos that are related.
You can reference it in your video. There's something called eye cards, which are those little white rectangles that pop up in the corner of the screen sometimes. So those you can put in manually. And you can link to other videos. So if you have related content that helps. And then there's also something called an end screen, which is like the, usually the last 20 seconds where you can click, subscribe or see these other videos.
So there's lots of ways to link your content. So that's one of the things I had to [00:20:00] figure out on my own, because initially I was making videos about all kinds of topics. It was all related to AP Lang, but it was like different things that were actually related. And I finally had to realize like, okay, you need to pick a topic.
And have multiple related videos that have a sequence. So you can make playlists and refer to other videos that are recent because otherwise it's really scattered and people might not be as inclined to subscribe. So that was something that really helped me was not just thinking about what are people searching for, but also what are they needing after this one? Video?
[00:20:34] Jenzaia: Almost like mini series.
[00:20:35] Beth: Yes.
[00:20:37] Jenzaia: I like that. That's such a good strategy. Cool. Are you using social media to market at all? Are you still doing the Facebook groups that you said before?
[00:20:46] Beth: I'm definitely still active. Yeah. I'm definitely still active in the Facebook groups, but I use it as a way to, I guess, share my free resources. I do have a Facebook page, but I don't have my own facebook group yet. I just [00:21:00] feel like Facebook groups. I don't know. I'm really intimidated because I want to be active in.
But I feel like right now it'll feel like one more thing. So I am trying to do Instagram stories. That was my goal. Starting last month is to be a regular person on Instagram stories, talking about what I'm doing in my classroom and things like that. And that has actually really helped more than. Because people don't really care what I look like if my hair is up in like a messy bun, thank God for filters.
But like, I have done a few things where I've been like, Hey, here's what my students are doing. And I'll show. My computer screen or something, and people will send
comments like, oh, is that on TVT? Or, you know, can you tell me more about that? And that's been a way to help other people as I've gotten ideas for not only paid resources that people want but like freebies that people want just because it's something I'm doing that other people hadn't thought of.
And to me, it's like normal, but to them, it's like a new idea. So that has been really helpful. It's just showing up and [00:22:00] just talking about. What we're doing. Cause at first I thought people wouldn't care, but I realized that I go to Instagram stories to find out what other people are doing in their lives.
So therefore I need to start showing up there as well.
[00:22:13] Jenzaia: That's a good point. Yeah. I'm super nosy. I love when people are like, this is all the things I'm doing today, so, yeah, awesome. Well, I have my rapid-fire question. for you. So what book would you recommend that I read? I have a credit on audible, so this is very important.
[00:22:31] Beth: I have like four credits on audible. I need to use them. So probably I should be asking you for recommendations, but I just downloaded a book called launch and I'm not very far into it, but so far so good, but I've been trying to read more nonfiction business-type books and I've been liking it so far.
And I like audible. Even though I'm an English teacher. I feel terrible saying this, but I don't like to sit down and read anymore. I just don't feel like I have time. So I do the audiobooks and the car on the way to work. [00:23:00]
[00:23:00] Jenzaia: I even listened to a lot of podcasts. And then something popped up with like. two free credits than audible. And So I was like, okay, I'll take the free credits. and I was like, why have I not been doing this? This is great. So Yeah. I've kind of switched over to listening to more books more often. question number two is what is your favorite tool or software that you use in your business?
[00:23:22] Beth: Oh, that's a good question. So my new favorite is this program called.
Descript and it's like video editing software. And I just got done with a trial of it, and I switched over to the paid version because it made editing a lot easier. Cause I used to use I movie, which was convenient because I have an iPhone and a Mac book.
So they work together. But this program transcribes your video once you upload it and you can edit a lot more precisely as you can literally highlight a phrase that you want to get rid of. And you highlight it and delete it. And it's gone from the video and you can like move [00:24:00] different parts closer together to make your words closer together.
And that has been awesome because it saved me a lot of time so far. So that one's probably my favorite. And then if I had to choose a second favorite probably canvas, I feel like everyone says Canva, but Canva is so versatile.
[00:24:15] Jenzaia: I do get Canva a lot when I ask my question I like Canva too. I was very hesitant enough upgrading and now I don't think I could live without it. And I just found out they do screen-sharing they have a news feed, not screenshots, but like, like.
[00:24:29] Beth: Okay.
[00:24:30] Jenzaia: So I was like, Oh, so I can get rid of my loom subscription and just have Canva one more thing.
Yeah. So, anyway. the last question is, what piece of advice would you give somebody who's just starting out on their journey as a teacher printer.
[00:24:41] Beth: Lou another good question. Okay. So I'm going to answer this one for YouTube specifically. If you're just starting out on YouTube, you need to be really clear about it. What your niche is and who you serve, because that will influence the type of videos you make. For instance, I do tutorial videos. I don't do blogs, but blogs [00:25:00] are awesome.
It's just not my preferred content, so that clarity will help. And then also just making sure that. You give yourself grace because I know we've kind of mentioned this in a few different ways previously when we were talking, but I look back on some of my old content and it's like, I want to cringe, but I needed to make that content to get where I am now.
So like, there's going to be bumps in the road. It's going to be overwhelming at times, but it's worth it in the end. So just stick with it.
[00:25:28] Jenzaia: Yes, that's so true. And you're right. Like we cringe when we look back, but if we hadn't done that, then we wouldn't be where we are. So that's such a good way to put it. Thank you so much. If people want to come and find you, where should they go?
[00:25:43] Beth: So, if you want to find me on YouTube it's coach hall rights. And I also am coach hall rates on Instagram and on my Facebook page.
[00:25:52] Jenzaia: AndTikTok,
[00:25:53] Beth: And TikTok Coach Hall Writes on all, all platforms.
[00:25:57] Jenzaia: get easy. I will make sure all of those are linked in the notes below. Thank you again for coming on and, doing this interview.
[00:26:03] Beth: Well, thank you.