There are lots of reasons why someone switches jobs and changes career paths. For some it’s financial reasons, for others it’s the challenge of a new opportunity, and in the case of my guest on today’s episode, making the biggest impact on students and teachers. Sara Marye, a successful business owner, shares how first sharing her resources on Teachers Pay Teachers transformed into being CEO of The Stellar Teacher Company.

Just like many of you, Sara started out as a classroom teacher who wanted to do more, so she eventually began making small steps toward her new passion and interest. What started out as a side hustle selling teacher resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, she eventually used her experience, support of others, and a huge learning curve to create her dream job. She discusses advice for those wanting to create their own business and the importance of pivoting and adapting your business based on the needs of your consumers.

For all links and resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.educatorforever.com/episode47

Watch our free on-demand workshop to learn more about flexible work opportunities beyond the classroom: https://www.educatorforever.com/workshop

Take our free quiz to discover your next career step: https://www.educatorforever.com/quiz

Follow us on Instagram @educatorforever.

Lily

Sara Marye has over a decade of experience working as a classroom teacher and school administrator. She is now CEO of the Stellar Teacher Company, and a literacy specialist passionate about helping elementary teachers around the world grow their students into lifelong readers.

Lily

Sara's mission is to make teachers life a little easier, providing them with endless encouragement, effective strategies and engaging no fluff resources. Sara is also the host of the Stellar Teacher Podcast where she loves to share her favorite literacy tips each week.

Lily

Hey, Sara, welcome. So glad to have you here.

Sara

Hi, Lily. I'm so excited to be on your show today. Thank you so much for having me.

Lily

Of course, well, I would love to hear about your journey as an educator, if you can take us back in time and give us the journey that you've gone on.

Sara

Absolutely. So I it's weird to think about some like, oh, my gosh, I've been in education for like multiple decades now, which I don't feel like I'm old enough to have that long of a career. But I do.

Sara

So I started teaching right after college. And I come from a long line of educators. I feel like education is like one of those things that's genetic. And when I first started teaching, I moved from Minnesota to Louisiana. And I didn't know I had this just like really big desire to have an impact in education.

Sara

So I actually started my teaching career as part of Teach for America, where they placed teachers in districts that have, you know, teacher shortages, or just like, have a need for more teachers. And so that's how I ended up in Louisiana. And I was one of those teachers who, you know, it's like, when I first thought about being a teacher, I was like, I'm going to be, you know, a kindergarten teacher in some suburb school in Minnesota for like my entire career. And that is like the farthest thing from like, what actually happened.

Sara

But I started as a second grade teacher. A few years later, I taught first grade, a few years later, I had the opportunity to leave the classroom and work as an instructional coach. I did that for a few years. Missed teaching so I went back into the classroom. And then after, I think it was about seven or eight years, I had the opportunity to work as an assistant principal.

Sara

But anytime in my career that I made either a grade level change, or like stepped out into another position, it's because I always had this goal or dream to like, extend my impact. Like I always just wanted to have a bigger impact. So whether that was I wanted a different perspective on like, grade level to make me more, you know, efficient at my teaching, I wanted to be able to help coach teachers, so I was, you know, helping more students or working in administration.

Sara

I've always just loved helping, and like, I think that's a lot of reasons why people go into education, but like, impact is a huge part of why I became a teacher and why I've made certain career moves within education.

Lily

I love that and resonate with so many parts, it was hard not to interrupt you throughout. Absolutely, I also thought that I was gonna be a kindergarten teacher forever. You know, I remember going into my first classroom and like, alright, this is where I'm gonna end up quickly being like, what was I thinking?

Sara

Bound by home for life. And I was like, I don't I don't actually think I was in the same classroom or same grade level for more than two and a half years when I look back on my career.

Lily

Totally, totally. So I think it's like, so interesting to think how things change and evolve through the experiences and also just totally resonate with the impact part. Yeah, I think as teachers also it's like, It is sad to me to think about all these amazing things going on in all these classrooms all over the never get to be share.

Lily

You know, and I, after I left the classroom, I worked with Teaching Channel and Edutopia making videos of teachers, and just got to see, like, so many amazing things being done. And having that chance to go into classrooms all over, you know, virtually, was such a gift of just seeing like, oh, my gosh, I could learn so much, and they can share so much. And we all can share so much. So it's just seeing beyond.

Sara

One of the things that I love about having been in education for at least two decades is that, you know, when I started teaching, there was no Pinterest. There were no teacher podcasts. There were no, there was maybe like one or two teacher blogs, but they were very, like new.

Sara

And it is kind of like what you're saying like, one of the great things now is that there are so many opportunities for teachers to share what is happening in their classrooms, but I'm just like, wow, it would have been so nice to have those things when I was when I was first starting.

Lily

Absolutely, absolutely. So you talked a little bit about your journey trying different things in the classroom, being an instructional coach, going back in. How did you decide to start working beyond the classroom?

Sara

It was one of those things where I was like, I kind of thought that I always was going to be a classroom teacher, you know, and like stay in like one position grade level for a long time. But also part of me, I was like, I want to be like an educational consultant or a professor, and I don't even think I really knew what they did. But again, it's just like there's a part of my core that's like, I want to make an impact.

Sara

And so I had this idea of like starting my own professional development business. And I wanted to do PD for teachers. And you know, this was when I was still in the classroom, and I was like, how am I going to build? Like, how am I going to do that? Right? Like, nobody knows me. Nobody knows who I am, like, why is anybody going to trust me?

Sara

So I was like, okay, at some point, I want my job to be giving professional development to teachers, then I need to start presenting, and sort of building some experience and reputation for supporting teachers through a professional development capacity.

Sara

So I started presenting at like local conferences, and state conferences. And you know, I've tried to do like one or two conferences a semester and just sharing things that I was doing in my classroom. But the thing that I realized is that the presenters still have to pay to go to a lot of those conferences.

Sara

So even though I was presenting, I was still having to pay a $65 registration fee. And if it was out of state, then I would have to pay for a hotel and gas and all of that. And so I was like, Okay, I want to keep doing this. But I personally can't afford to do this, which is how I started creating resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. Because I was like, if I can make enough money on Teachers Pay Teachers, then it can fund my conference habit.

Sara

But then, of course, as I started creating resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, I realized that those resources could have an impact. And I sort of then paused this idea of wanting to do professional development. And I was like, let me spend more time working on developing resources.

Sara

So I was still in the classroom, when I first started my Teachers Pay Teacher's store, and it was creating resources that I used, or that my team was using. And I realized that those resources could have an impact on so many more teachers and students.

Lily

Yes, so interesting. And so through that, did you kind of know what you were doing at the beginning?

Sara

I remember, like Googling, like, how do you make a PowerPoint? You know, it's like, how do you and I remember, it's like, the I cringe when I look back at my first resources, but yeah, I had no idea.

Sara

So it's just like, I remember there was one summer, and I was like, I'm going to try to make 20 products before I open my TPT store. So I just I watched YouTube videos, I read blogs, I, you know, was just trying to figure out how do I do this. And because I've always created for my own class, but it was like I would create in a Word document, create stuff by hand and just like photocopy it.

Sara

So I would take ideas that I had created, and try to fancy them up a little bit, you know, make a cover preview and all of that. But all of the things I first created are no longer things that I sell because I learned that there are better, more efficient, but I don't know, I've just learned a lot through the resource creation process.

Lily

I mean, I think that's so good for everybody to hear, though. Because I think anything, whether it's Teachers Pay Teachers, or doing consulting, or writing or whatever it is you might be doing the first time you do it is probably not going to be great. Yeah. And that's part of the process.

Sara

I was gonna say, I've learned that like, the first time I do anything is simply for the sake of doing it and getting the experience rather than trying to like create something that's a value because there's such a learning curve anytime you're starting something new.

Lily

Yes, absolutely. And so talk to us a little bit about kind of the in between, like you were classroom teaching and doing Teachers Pay Teachers. How long did that last? And how did you make the decision to transition out of the classroom?

Sara

So all of the timing is so interesting. So I was in the classroom, started my TPT store. And then at some point, I think it was just about a year, I transitioned into an assistant principal role, which was never anything that was on my radar. This was never like my career vision.

Sara

But my principal sort of coached me into this position, you know, I was like, I see a lot of potential in you, you know, and again, I was like, Okay, this would give me more impact. So I was like, this is an opportunity I'm going to pursue. So I was an assistant principal for awhile. And when I was doing that, I wasn't necessarily spending a ton of time trying to like, grow my TPT store, because I was very busy as an assistant principal.

Sara

And after about three years of working in school leadership, I loved my school, I loved my principal, I loved my school community, but my principal, you know, sort of approached me and he said, I'm going to retire soon. And when I retire, I think you would be the perfect person to take over the school and be the leader. And I was, you know, first of all, I was honored, I was like, that's just a great compliment coming from him.

Sara

But it sort of gave me this moment of pause. And I really had to think about, like, is that something that I want for my own future? And, you know, it's like, I could do it, I would probably be good at it. I had the experience for it. You know, I love my school, my school community, but I had some sort of, like, reservation for whatever reason. And so it wasn't this immediate, like, yes, let me move forward with it.

Sara

And as I sort of thought about that, though, you know, I was like, Okay, I if I'm going to do this, I need to be ready to like go all in with it. And I just, I don't know, there's just something that just didn't sit right. But I'm also very much like a people pleaser, and so I didn't want to say no, I didn't want to let him down. But you know, in sort of the the thinking through this, my husband who's always been such great cheerleader and supporter.

Sara

He's like you have this small little business that you've been doing on nights and weekends for the past couple years. You know, he's like, you love doing that. You know, he's like, what if you did that full time? You know, think of if you're making x amount of dollars now, and you start to do that full time and have more time and energy, like, think of what that could become.

Sara

And that really resonated with me, because, you know, again, going back to this impact, I was like, if I stay is in the school, and work and leadership, I'm limited to impacting 700 students and however many number teachers, but if I do my own thing, then I have unlimited potential as far as the number of teachers that I can impact. And so that really was sort of like the, the decision factor for me is just like, Okay, I have much more possibility and opportunity, but it was scary.

Sara

So basically, you know, I was like, okay, like I if I'm not going to, and then that sort of made me realize, like, once I realized I was like, I don't want to be a principal. But I was like, if I don't want to be a principal, then there's no point in me continuing on this assistant principal journey. So I basically made the decision, like, I'm going to stop, and I'm going to go 100%, all in to my own business.

Sara

Lily

Yay, that's awesome. Well, congratulations. It's like those moments that can be so challenging. And, you know, I talk to teachers all the time, who are just so boxed in, right? Like, we could be principals. Maybe we could be an instructional coach in our district. Yeah, maybe we could possibly do curriculum for our district.

Lily

But there are so much more. And so I think just seeing and hearing about and hearing you share, you know, your story of just so many more possibilities, and so many different ways that we can reach so many more people, and also do it in a way that feels more aligned to what we want to do. So I appreciate you know, just that moment, I know, like it's never easy. And I've experienced, we can talk ourselves out of it.

Sara

I was gonna say the thing that sort of, you know, my husband reminded me of is I was like, there's always a need for teachers. Right. So like, if I did this, and it didn't work, or I didn't like it, I could always go back to teaching. And so it's just like, an of course, maybe that is a that would have been like a humbling thing.

Sara

But I think for any teacher in your audience who's considering something else, there is always going to be a need for teachers, like teachers have an amazing skill, and it's going to always be something that is necessary. So it's like, trust yourself, take a risk, try something new. And if it doesn't work out, you can always go back.

Lily

Absolutely, absolutely. So tell us about the Stellar Teacher Company now.

Sara

Yeah, so it is. I mean, sometimes I'm like, How did I get here? My business has gone through very many, like different iterations. And one of the things I feel like I talk a lot about, but my husband, but he's, like I said, been a very big cheerleader and supporter.

Sara

But one of the things he told me early on, you know, he's like your business, when you retire from it, you know, when I'm like 60, or whatever he's like, is not going to look anything like it currently does now. And that used to make me really nervous, because I'm like, Oh, my gosh, like, I don't know if I can, like adjust or adopt or you know, pivot. But that stuff all happens naturally. But even when I look back over the last, you know, I think my business has technically been around for eight years, it has changed completely.

Sara

So when I first started, I just had a TPT store. And it was me, myself, I did everything. And now my business is the Stellar Teacher Company, we have our TPT store. But then the big thing that we have is we have a membership site for third through fifth grade reading teachers, where we offer resources as well as professional development and you know, training and a community and support. And that is something that has been such a really fun addition to my business. I've had that for about three years now. And I've learned a ton through that.

Sara

We also have our podcasts. So I'm the host of the Stellar Teacher Podcast, where every Monday we release a new episode, I talk, I love talking about reading, I geek over, you know, anything related to literacy. So we have that we also have our just like our blog, our website shop.

Sara

And then I also have a team of teachers that helped me behind the scenes, you know, what I do now is I could not do it all on my own. And so I have a team of five people who a lot of them started off in the classroom, some of them work for me full time now. But they help with curriculum, they help with social media, I've got somebody that edits my podcast for me, you know, they help with customer service.

Sara

And so that's really neat too to see where it's like, you know, this is one of the things where I don't think I realized when I started my business, like I did this with the hope of impacting classroom teachers.

Sara

But I'm also starting to see that as my business grows, I also have the opportunity to impact people's careers and their livelihood and by giving teachers who are in the classroom but want an opportunity to do something else and I get to have them come do amazing things within my company that continues to help teachers and our audience. So that's sort of a part of the impact that I didn't realize that I would eventually get to have which I absolutely love.

Lily

Yes, I love that too. I mean everybody on our Educator Forever team is all are all former teachers too and just creating that pathway and a non toxic environment.

Sara

Yes. Well, I just it's like I love that I get to hire teachers to do something that they're really good at. Like I have my social media manager is like, brilliant with like Facebook and Instagram captions, and she loves it. And she's so good at it. And that's not something that I'm like, necessarily talented in.

Sara

But I'm like, I'm so glad that like, this is a passion of yours a talent of yours and that I get to pay you for it and you get to have fun doing it. But it's connected to education. I don't know, it's like going back to what you were saying how there's so many opportunities. It's like, I sometimes think teachers aren't aware of how many opportunities exist to be involved in education, but not having to be directly in the classroom. Like there are so many possibilities out there.

Lily

Absolutely. And I think some of it, too, is just uncovering and valuing our expertise. Yeah, of like, probably your social media person, like maybe didn't know they were great at social media. Absolutely. Yeah. That was like, Oh, I can use my education expertise, or whatever it is. So it's like allowing that exploration to and seeing there are so many ways that education experience is needed and can be valued too

Lily

So I'm curious, too, I love hearing you talk about just the evolution of your business. And that resonated with me, too, of like, things are always changing. And so kind of how did things evolve? You know, how did you decide to start the membership? Or what made you pivot in those moments?

Sara

Yeah, so I, the membership started, because, you know, for the longest time, my business was just my TPT store. And I started to realize that, you know, and I am so forever grateful for Teachers Pay Teachers, because I would not have a business without it.

Sara

But after a while, I was like, wait a minute, like, my business is 100% dependent upon this third party platform. And it started to feel just a little like, I want to make sure that my business can continue on. And I feel like I need to have an additional, like revenue stream coming in somewhere.

Sara

And so for a while, I thought about starting a course. And I sort of went down that trail for a while, but it just wasn't clicking. And I was like, I just I'm not sure. You know, I feel like I am a resource creator kind of at heart. That's what I love doing. I have so many ideas. I mean, even now, I don't necessarily, I'm not the primary person who's creating resources for my business. But I still have so many ideas.

Sara

And so I started to hear about memberships. You know, like, I feel like there's so many memberships now, but like, I don't know, five years ago, four years ago, I feel like I had no idea that this was a thing that I could possibly create. But I had a friend that had a membership. And she was like, You should start a membership. And I was like, I don't even know what I would do. She's like, why don't you take some of the resources that you already have existed, like, put them in a membership and just like, see what happens.

Sara

Sara

But, you know, the membership really came out of a place of wanting to have an additional revenue stream. But once I started the membership, and I realized that I had these teachers who were coming to me for resources, and then they were asking questions about how do I use these resources? And you know, do you have this additional resource? I was like, there's so much more of an opportunity with this membership to make a big impact on my audience.

Sara

And so I started to add in, you know, professional development to my membership, and do trainings and add in little mini series, start, like our Facebook community. And then the questions that our members were asking, I was like, Okay, we don't have this resource yet, but they're asking for it. So then let's throw this product line in there. So our membership has also completely evolved in the last three to five years, which is cool, just to see you know, where it is at.

Sara

And ultimately, now, you know, our membership started with kind of a hodgepodge of some random resources that I had in my TPT store that my audience seemed to love. And now it really is a very, you know, systematic approach, it almost is a full curriculum for third through fifth grade teachers, where a teacher and many of our teachers in our membership don't actually have a curriculum and you know, there's have to sort of fend for themselves.

Sara

But we've been able to, you know, me and my team of teachers, we've been able to create whole group lessons, small group lessons, Word Study lessons, you know, enough to get them through the entire year. And that feels really cool. Where it's like, okay, I didn't have this when I started. And it was a very small idea, and it is fully over time evolved. But yeah, I've that's sort of one of those things where I was just like, I never envisioned having that. But now that I have it, I can't imagine my business without it.

Lily

I love that. Absolutely. I mean, I think we have a membership also our Educator Forever Network. And through it the same things like I've learned so much from the members have just like, oh, they need more support and accountability for applying for jobs. Like we have co working sessions now.

Lily

You know, and just really like it is iterative and goes both ways of like, we can support you and then also just having that direct line to people and building a community. It can be so beautiful, like just being co creating these things.

Sara

Absolutely. And I think that's like one of those things where it's like, I remember I don't know if you were like this when you got started, but like when I started, maybe not as much when I started creating resources, but like when I started my podcast, I was like, what if I run out of ideas, you know, or it's like with the membership. I'm like, what if I run out of ideas for my members.

Sara

But the thing that I realized is like, the bigger my audience gets, and the more engaged I am with them and the more feedback I get, the more ideas I have for new content, which gives my audience more questions to add, you know, it's just like, it's this sorta, like, really, I don't know, great cycle where it's like, I now I'm kind of like, I have like, probably 10 years worth of resources to create, I feel like I'm never gonna run out of ideas.

Sara

But it is because my audience is just constantly like asking questions and telling me what it is that they need, which just makes our job as you know, resource and content creators so much easier.

Lily

Absolutely. And being responsive to that. And I think sometimes, like, as teachers, we feel like we have to have everything planned out, right? Like, I remember when I first started my business, and you know, being like, alright, in two months from now, I'm going to be writing this blog, or like, like, that was like, alright, that's not really the best way to be doing things. Because you're not actually like listening to the actual people that are in your community.

Lily

And as you're describing, you know, really listening and responding and doing this whole back and forth, which I think can feel kind of uncomfortable too teachers or being like, alright, I planned out my next three months, like, here I go.

Sara

Yeah, I remember when I started, both with my podcast and my membership, like, originally, when I started thinking about these ideas, I was, like, I'm gonna have six months worth of content already done before I even start this. And first of all, that was like, nowhere near the preparatory level that I actually had.

Sara

But I'm grateful for that. Because I realized, you know, it's just like, I think starting is you learn so much by doing you know, and it's like, what I thought that I needed, or the direction I thought I was gonna go was completely different. Because the teachers in the audience are telling me they need something else, you know, or trends change, or whatever it is.

Sara

And so I think it's hard and it's uncomfortable, but like being okay with not necessarily knowing where this is going to take you. But knowing that you can figure it out as you're building something, whether it's a TPT store, a coaching business, professional development podcast, it's like, you don't have to have it all figured out when you get started. Nobody has it all figured out when they get started.

Lily

Nobody and like nobody better than teachers to figure it out. You know, like, we can figure out if they learn anything, do all the things we need to do in the moment as they come up. So along those same lines, I'm wondering, reflecting personally and professionally about starting your own business and moving outside of the classroom, what you've learned.

Sara

Yeah, I mean, golly, is so much I feel like sometimes I joke that like, owning a business is also a lot like going through therapy.

Lily

Oh, yeah. Like, it's personal development.

Sara

I have learned so much about like, you know, I'm a perfectionist, and that holds me back in a lot of areas. I'm also like, a highly anxious person. And like, that holds me back in a lot of areas. I'm controlling, you know, it's just like, I'm realizing all of these things. And I'm like, okay, and having a business now gives me an opportunity to work on these things.

Sara

So I think, you know, personally, I feel like I've had to, you know, learn to take risks, I've had to learn, to not know how things are going to turn out, you know, I've always very much been, I like having a plan. I like being a forward thinker, I like knowing that if I take these three steps, this is the exact outcome that I'm going to get. And I think only in a business, you just never know, you know.

Sara

And I think one of the biggest things that I've learned is that it's okay to make a decision, or to take an action, to start something new, to hire someone, to create a new resource, to launch a new product, and have no idea if it's going to be a success or not. But it's like the act of doing is what is worth celebrating.

Sara

So, you know, learn to like not to, like not be afraid to take risks. I've learned a lot about how I have to really, you know, get comfortable being uncomfortable. Because there's so many things. It's like, I remember when I launched my podcast, I hated the sound of my voice. And I was like, how am I going to have a podcast if I can't, like, you know, if I like, I don't think I've got a good podcasting voice. It's just like, No, if I want to do this, I have to just like be okay, like doing something that makes me uncomfortable.

Sara

Or like, the first time I did a webinar, I was like, terrified that nobody was going to show up to it, you know, but I'm like, if I want to have a business that, you know, relies on webinars for launching, like, I'm gonna have to get over that fear. So I think like getting over the fear.

Sara

I think one of the big things that I've learned professionally is that if I want my business to grow, I have to be okay investing both time and money back into my business. And that was a really sort of, like, long and hard lesson, especially because, you know, I mean, teachers don't make a lot of money. And when I had my TPT store, you know, when I started making more money than I was in the classroom, I wanted to kind of just hold on to all of it.

Sara

And I didn't want to spend anything I was afraid to hire, I was afraid to spend money on Facebook ads. You know, I was afraid to spend any money because I wanted to, I don't know, I think I was worried that if I spend it, it's not going to, you know, it's going to run out with very much from a scarcity mindset.

Sara

But I also realized that if I want to grow my business, I need to develop skills that I don't have, you know, I had to learn how to, you know, start a membership. I had to learn how to do professional development, I had to learn how to hire correctly. And so I've learned that one of the best things I can do for my business is be open to investing time and money.

Sara

So paying for things like coaching, courses, masterminds, and those things have been so valuable. And I'm starting to see that the more I invest in my business, the more I get out of it, but that was definitely not sort of how I started.

Lily

Absolutely, yeah. So I absolutely agree, and also found it similarly uncomfortable. Because I guess teachers, like we don't necessarily pay on our own for like, high level professional development, you know, like, it's not part of the whole deal. Yep. And so I also got to a point where I was like, Okay, if I want to know how to do this, I have to learn from somebody who's done this before.

Lily

And so really figuring out, like, how to seek out the people who have built memberships, you know, done Facebook ads, like whatever it might be, and learning from those people is so valuable. And I think also like, is rooted into just the value of teachers, right? Like, people know how to do it, they can teach you, they can guide you, they can mentor you. And I think as teachers, like we cognitively know this, but I also was like, but I have to spend how much money?

Sara

Yep, it's like, yes, you do, you know, and it's like, it's worth it. But yeah, it can be uncomfortable. And I think like, ultimately, like for me, and I don't know if that you were like this, but you know, it's taken me a while to like, get to the point where like, Okay, I trust the decisions that I'm making in my business.

Sara

Like if I make this investment in a course, or investment in coaching, or Facebook ads, you know, I know where I'm headed, I know what I need out of this, like I can trust myself to spend in my business in order to grow it to reach that next level to, you know, be able to hire more teachers or have more people in our membership, like I can trust myself to like, make good decisions in my business.

Lily

Absolutely. Yes, that's great. So thinking about it, folks who might be out there, you know, considering leaving the classroom, or even staying in the classroom and trying something else beyond what advice would you give them?

Sara

I would say, you know, it's like, that's one of those things, where if teachers are thinking about it, like, I always think like, if you have this recurring thought, you know, even if it's like, I just dream of something different, like something outside of the classroom, you know, like, start taking actions on that.

Sara

You know, this, the whole common phrase, like, start before you feel ready, but like, for me, I, you know, I was like, I want to do professional development, like, I kind of do professional development now. But I don't have like a consulting business, or I'm not doing PD all of the time. But having that idea and sort of like taking some action, got me on the path and got the wheels turning, to get me to where I am now.

Sara

And so, you know, start looking for opportunities that align with either your interest or your skills. So definitely start before you feel ready. And I think start before you feel like you're an expert, because the only way for you to get to a point where you are an expert is to just get those reps in like you have to get practice.

Sara

But I think the other thing, I think the the biggest thing that I sort of have realized is that, you know, don't wait for your circumstances, or your product or your idea, or whatever it is to be perfect before you get started with it.

Sara

Because like I said, you learn so much just by starting and so whether, you know, a teacher is thinking, Okay, well, it's like, I don't have enough time right now, or my resume doesn't look as good, or I want my website to be better, you know, just start like somebody is going to benefit from your current experience where it is right now. And once you start like, you're going to start to realize the things that you actually need to improve upon.

Sara

And I feel like most of the times the things that we think are important or significant, aren't actually the things that are important once we get started with the process.

Sara

But I love reminding teachers that it's like this is a cool time to be involved in education, because there are so many opportunities that exists. You know, podcast management, blog post writing, like being an executive assistant, creating resources, doing PD, SEO research, you know, social media, it's like there's so many opportunities for teachers online tutoring in person tutoring, you know, it's just like, there's possibilities are endless.

Sara

So if you want something else, don't let anybody else like prevent you from pursuing something outside of the classroom. And I also think, just because you leave the classroom like, that does not mean that you are stuck, like you're still a teacher, and I think your educator forever. It's like, I still consider myself an educator, even though I'm not in the classroom. And so realizing that like your value is still exists, even if you're not face to face with kids every single day.

Lily

Absolutely. And there are so many ways to reimagine what it means to be an educator and like, take all that you've learned in all your expertise in all these different ways. And I love that reminder too to just try it.

Lily

You know, it doesn't have to be perfect. You learn by doing it. Like none of us knew how to do these things the first time we did them. So it's really about action that's where the magic is. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Sara. Can you tell folks where they can connect with you?

Sara

Yeah, so I am on Instagram at @thestellarteachercompany. We love connecting with teachers, educators, both in and out of the classroom, so don't hesitate to reach out to us. Also, I have my weekly podcast, the Stellar Teacher Podcast. So if you even if, like I said, if you're I don't know if your audience is mostly in the classroom or out of the classroom, but did you love hearing about literacy, tune in that's what we talked about.

Sara

And then of course, my website is stellarteacher.com and we are growing we are a growing company. And so we often have new, you know, job positions open and available. So if you've got teachers in your audience are looking for something else. Definitely follow along because you might find an opportunity that will work for you.

Lily

Wonderful. Well thank you so much.

Sara

Thanks for having me Lily.