In 2021, I resigned from teaching mid-year and leapt "full-time" into my teacher business. The situation wasn't in the way I expected - I had planned on coming back from maternity leave that school year.

Have you ever thought about what it would look like if you were to leave teaching to work on your business full-time? This episode will hopefully have you thinking some scenarios and what if's whenever (if ever) you wish to take that step.

In this episode, you will learn:

• My story of why I resigned mid-year
• Tips on giving yourself a pulse check
• How to decide your next steps for the upcoming school year

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• TPT Store: The Southern Teach
• Website: thesouthernteachdesigns.com
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• Facebook: The Southern Teach Design and Branding

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Kirsten 0:01

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

But in the end, I this is something I've always said, Everything happens for a reason, there's been so many positive benefits from going into TPT full time. And being a work from home mom is what I like to say, not only was I able to, you know, get my mental health back in check, but I also in the TPT space, and even the the VA and service provider space, I've been able to collaborate a lot more than I would have ever imagined. With a lot of other great TPT sellers and business owners, my income grew even more with out. You know, working that much more each week, I tried to kind of balance it out, I was almost able to match what I would have made in the classroom in a full year anyway, with the TPT store, and the services that I provide, and some affiliate marketing and all of that stuff. So I'm pretty proud of how much I was able to grow my business. So that was something that was a benefit. And also just being able to have the opportunity to join a mastermind, it has definitely been a fun journey with you all.

Maybe you're also listening to this and for whatever reason you are thinking for the next school year that you'd like to take off, and maybe try out TPT full time, try your teacher business full time, leave the classroom, or maybe find some other type of job outside of education or outside of the classroom. I wanted to give you a little pulse check. It's a mental wellness checklist, based off of how you know you feel about how the year went and what you want your next steps to be. So here's five things I want you to consider, though.

Number one thing is your current feelings you have about your job. Don't think of the noise online or what everybody's saying in the news. Don't think about all the TIC TOCs or the reels or anything like that. I want you to really assess what your current feelings that you have about your job. as objectively as is it working out for you. Do you are you feeling very stressed out? Are you feeling very anxious about how you know going back for the next school year? Think about your current feelings.

The second thing I want you to think about is your current feelings about being a TPT seller while teaching full or part time is what you're doing sustainable and doable. Or are you in the grass is greener mentality? can you realistically continue what you're doing as a full or part time teacher and as a TPT seller? Maybe you're you've gotten your groove in with being in TPT and working in the evening. means after school or in the mornings or on the weekends, and you're actually doing pretty well. And being able to manage that, and also being a teacher in the classroom. So think about how you're feeling if you're feeling overwhelmed, or if you're feeling like, okay, it's fine, not too bad, where you're feeling like I really could do more, I want to do more. But I'm not able to because there's so many responsibilities that I have for my full time job in the classroom.

The third thing I want you to think about is your finances. How much do you depend financially on your teaching income and benefits? This can be a scary one. Because I know with me, I that was one of the main reasons why I didn't want to leave a classroom so soon. I liked my benefits. I liked having consistent income. And, you know, the icing on the cake is the extra money you make on TPT. But with also my 403 B plan, my retirement plan, like did I want to cash that out? Would we be able to go without cashing it out? And what could we rely on, if we're all on the same plan in the classroom. So think about how much you depend maybe you're fully built, your family relies fully on your income and your benefits. Or maybe you have a partner spouse that has their own work benefits. And you can easily switch over to that, and your family can switch over to that. So think about where your finances are in relation to your household income.

The fourth thing I want you to think about is job security. Is it easy to get another job, if something were to happen inside or outside of teaching. As of this episode, recording, it is pretty easy to find another teaching job. So if you feel like it's the school environment that you're working at, or maybe you want to switch grade levels, which somewhere closer, even that's close by, that seems to be a pretty easy step to take. You can always switch schools switch grade levels, and it shouldn't be a problem in most areas. Or just in general, like if you want to go outside of teaching, is it easy to get another job into another field that you're considering? So considering that?

And then the fifth thing to consider is if you'd like to leave? Do you have a plan? Is there a certain threshold you want or need to make in order to stay afloat financially, and what happens if you need or want to go back, so have some type of plan with three kids, it would probably be more expensive to have them all at daycare, full time while I'm working in the classroom full time. The daycare that we're currently at is with all three kids, it would have cost more than our actual mortgage. So it's actually cost efficient for me to stay at home with them. That's something that you want to make sure you have before you are considering any type of leaving the classroom to work on TPT Is there a certain threshold you'd like to make before you'd like to leave and work full time? What might happen? What what are some circumstances that would prompt you to come back maybe a family emergency situation where, you know, there's that something happened, and there's some bills that have to be paid. And so you gotta go back. Or maybe it's your kids are going back to school. There's so many different scenarios. But just the main thing is if you would like to leave the classroom, have some type of plan. Maybe you try it out in a year. And if you're not making a certain amount, you could go back. That could be another situation where that might help.

But that is my experience as far as leaving the classroom. It was not at all what I anticipated. But it turned out to be so much more positive than I would have imagined. And I'm I am glad that I'm able to as a family. I'm glad that we're able as a family to continue that. Just the season that I'm in. It worked out kind of in the way I wanted in just in a different way that I thought it would happen. Like I wasn't thinking I would I was thinking I could do a couple more years I wanted to go up to 10 years teaching Before I left, but I made it to eight and a half was almost there. But yeah, that was something that I, you know, everything happens for a reason and I'm so glad it did. So definitely give yourself a pulse check for this, if you haven't already. Hopefully the pulse check list will kind of guide you on what your next steps are for the next year.

If you feel comfortable, feel free to email me or DM me at the southern teach dot designs of what your plans are for next year are you going to continue working full time and working on your TPT store? Are you going to take the leap and do six months or a year without in without being in the classroom, I'd love to hear what you're doing for this following year. Whatever you decide, I do want you to enjoy your summer. And rest, relax, do something that you enjoy. Don't focus on the school year, don't focus on even if you're a full time TPT seller do something relaxing, I hope you're able to spend some time with your family and loved ones. So with that being said, I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. I will talk to you all again soon.

Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.