Ok, so you’ve been doing this business thing or freelancing for a while and you’re ready for more. But what are the actual things to focus on that will help you level up?
Listen to this episode to find out why:
- email marketing
- copywriting
- a webiste
- a product mix
- sales skills
should be your priorities now!
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Now, it’s time to go get richer, teacher!
Podcast transcription
Hey, lovely teachers, and welcome to another episode of Get Richer Teacher. I’ve got an interesting lesson and a reflection to share with you before we start today’s episode. As you can probably hear, my voice is a little bit husky – it’s not the way it normally is; I’ve got a bit of a sore throat. And don’t get me wrong: I don’t feel bad recording this episode, but I had this thought that maybe I shouldn’t be recording it because I should be in my full, 100% form before I start recording. But then I thought: if I show up like that – with me stumbling upon my own words and sounding a little bit husky, and sounding a little bit more human – then maybe that will also show you and give you permission to be yourself, to be a little bit weaker sometimes. I know that I definitely struggle with that, I sometimes think that I have to be absolutely perfect because you expect me to be. You expect me to be my normal, positive, energetic self, and again, I am… I am most of the time, but there are days when I’m not and I just wanted to say that it’s absolutely okay. It’s absolutely fine. I still decide to show up because I think it’s important. I find it an important part of my business to stay consistent – not to stay consistent for whatever it takes, absolutely not; I’m not sick, so I don’t need to lay in bed – but sometimes it’s about allowing yourself to show up in that human form.
So, that’s what I’m doing today and the thing that I wanted to talk to you about is the five things that will take your business to the next level. So, if you are ready to level up, then this episode is for you.
As you may have heard in the few previous episodes, I was talking mainly to teachers only just starting or freelancing and wanting to grow their businesses, and this episode is mainly directed at people who are ready to scale. Maybe you’ve been doing this whole business thing for a few months, maybe even for more than a year, maybe you’ve even launched things already. So, this is going to give you some clarity and some direction in terms of what other things you should focus on.
I’m not even going to mention mindset because you know my opinion on it: mindset work and inner work are absolutely never ending. You will always be faced with challenges that have to do with the way you think, the way you approach things, and the way you approach failure, basically. Never forget about that; that’s like the bonus, the thing number 0 on your list that will never ever disappear from there because the more we grow, the more different challenges we face. And I literally experience that everyday; for example, my current challenge is something very much related to what I talked about in the beginning. It’s about giving myself permission to be a bit more vulnerable, to be a little bit weaker, to take off my armour, to be just a human, just a person who isn’t always positive or energetic – I’ve got bad days too, and it’s okay because being a human is not only one or the other, or getting rid of the bad emotions because they are kind of in the way. It’s about embracing everything and the more we embrace everything, the easier it gets and the less resistance we feel. So, if you sometimes feel like you don’t want to post on social media, you don’t wanna show up, you don’t wanna do anything, or even if you wanna cancel your lessons because you just don’t feel like teaching that day: do it. Do it, totally do it. I think I’ve said that to my masterminders that I had a Delta tutor who every time when I asked him for feedback and every time I submitted any sort of work, he always said: “Plough on. Just plough on, Ola. Just plough on.” And I found it so interesting because I feel like I’ve been doing it all my life. I’ve been plowing on, nevermind sickness, nevermind feeling bad, nevermind feeling sad or angry. I was just plowing on because I thought that that’s what people were expecting from me. It’s kind of a coping mechanism that has a lot to do with the way I grew up and things like that, but I think I’m ready to shed that part of my personality where I put too much pressure on myself. And actually that’s something I wanna talk about more in the upcoming episodes. So bear with me, and I will definitely tell you more about putting pressure on yourself because maybe you will resonate as well.
But, today, a little bit more about business, business stuff and the meat that a lot of people wonder about and want to focus on in order for their businesses to scale.
[1] The first thing that I wanted to mention that will definitely help you take your business to the next level is your email marketing; it’s your newsletters and the way you communicate with people via email and via that way. We’ve recently had another outage of Facebook, Instagram, and even WhatsApp, which felt a bit scary because I’ve heard of stories of people losing access to their Instagram profiles. I’ve heard people were panicking a bit because they thought they would lose all the following – and I think that actually happened. So, again, I’ve said it many times: you have to be prepared for those things. Even if your business is still in its early stages, even if you think that you’re a baby in business, please start thinking about a newsletter and your email marketing. Email marketing sounds like such a big thing and something that you might be a little bit overwhelmed by, but it’s not an excuse. It’s not an excuse not to do anything about it, because the future-you will thank you for it and also it’s just such a fantastic, effective way of helping your business grow. Email marketing is a fantastic way of building a community and more trust; and people will start seeing you as a professional, and expert in your field or in your niche – because the field is the same for everybody, isn’t it? If you don’t know much about newsletters and email marketing, start googling, start doing your own research, start brainstorming ideas of what you could write about in your newsletters. Remember, that it’s not only about educating, that it’s not only about providing value in that very, very literal sense. It’s also about you connecting with people in a different way because it’s just a bit more likely that people will pay more attention to an email that got sent to their inbox. So, it’s a fantastic way of you staying in touch and being kind of at the top of their mind when they need you. So, that’s number one.
[2] Connected with that is another thing that will totally help you “up level” in your business: it’s copywriting, it’s learning the rules, the ropes of copywriting. I know that if you’ve even heard about copywriting, you may think that it’s something that only professionals do – and to some extent it is true. There are professional people who do copywriting, who help entrepreneurs with copywriting, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot learn the basics of it. And it will be so beneficial to your business because basically copywriting is the way you speak, is the way you speak in a written form as well as in a spoken form. If you know the rules of language of benefits, if you know the rules of language that convinces people of your point of view, then you just become more effective at marketing. So, definitely, start digging deeper into copywriting and I actually have someone that you may be interested in, my new greatest business body who is a copywriting expert for educators and teachers: her name is Lauren and she’s on Instagram under the handle: copythat.copy. Please, give her a follow because she shares tons of tips on how to do copywriting, on how to become more effective in your copywriting on your website, as well as in your emails and in your social media posts. So, definitely give her a follow.
[3] Another thing – again very much related – is the thing that is worth considering at a certain stage of business is a website. I always say that there is literally no point thinking about the website at the very beginning because it usually slows people down. People think that a website is a marketing tool. It can become a marketing tool but you need to have people to be able to go onto that website where you can promote your stuff. So if you’re already at least a tiny bit established, then you might start thinking about a website. A website for a teacher doesn’t have to be complicated, absolutely not. However, it can help you look more professional, it can help you put all your offers, your freebies, your newsletter sign up page in one cohesive place – with your branding, with your logo or your name. It doesn’t have to look super, super fancy and remember, you don’t have to pay lots of money for it. A lot of people go for those free services, such as Wix or Squarespace, or some other services where you can build your own website. However, if that’s not for you, you can definitely invest a little bit in someone who will create your website. Lots of systems where you build digital courses have website builders on offer, so they kind of come as a part of the package. That used to be the case for me as I used to use Kartra as my website builder. At the moment most of my website is a WordPress website. And that’s also something that I wanted to mention: if you have an idea for a website, if you have a desire, and are ready to have your own website for your teaching business, then reach out. Because me and my husband – who is becoming my partner in crime – we are thinking of introducing… or not thinking, it’s very much underway: introducing a new service, which will be websites for teachers, which are gonna be affordable, fun, sleek, lovely-looking, and will help you definitely level up in your business. So, if that’s something that you are interested in, then definitely reach out to me and ask me for our packages. Not everything is ready, but I would like to gather if there is some interest in it. So, definitely ask me anything about it and I can let you know when that will be ready or we can have a chat about your website needs. That’s the thing number three.
[4] Thing number four will be something a little bit less related to websites and your marketing: it will be having a product mix. I know that a lot of people – and it’s very, very common in teachers – offer one-to-ones, and that’s absolutely normal and to be expected. You might also start thinking about how to diversify your streams of income so you can start thinking about how you can start making money from different sources. Because it doesn’t have to be only one-to-ones, it can be groups, it can also be products, it can be memberships, it can be all sorts of things. Also remember that it doesn’t have to be all of those things. The most important thing that you can think about is being creative around what your expertise is or what your niche is, and what your ideal clients want and need, and what you could create that will be helpful. How could you diversify your own income by creating more offers? This will also allow you to feel a bit less under pressure when it comes to money because there will always be one offer – at least one or two – that will be bringing you money regularly. There is a lot of, lot of, lot of talk nowadays about passive income – which isn’t really passive because you still have to do things about it in order to promote your passive offers – but still, it’s a great way of having that extra support, the financial cushion, can help you and your business grow. So, I’m gonna repeat myself: think about how you can diversify the streams of income in your business. What kind of new office could you create, beside one-to-ones or even groups, that will bring you a bit more money? And then it’s gonna be also more fun. Remember, that it doesn’t have to be tons of offers. I personally like the diversity in my business. I currently offer at least five different things: my one-to-one coaching, my membership, The Richer Teachers – which you can obviously join because it’s quite affordable, so, if you’ve been thinking about working with me, you’re more than welcome to join. The next thing is my business baby, The Rocket, the course that covers all aspects of business – one of the things actually in The Rocket, which is a big, big, big passion topic of mine, is the product ecosystem. So, in The Rocket we learn how to build an ecosystem of different offers that work together well in your teaching business. And the next offer that I’ve got is my mastermind for the most advanced teachers in business that I help strategise and put all the ideas that they usually have learned in The Rocket into action – because most of my masterminders are ex-Rocketeers. It’s that premium kind of service where we meet weekly and kind of strategise, and put all the ideas that they learned into action. I also offer digital products, so, there is an e-book, there are a few mini courses on my website. All of those things add up to my own product ecosystem. Just wanted to mention, so that you have an idea of what it could look like – it obviously can look differently for you.
[5] And the final thing that I wanted to mention today is your sales skills. A lot of teachers are actually super scared of selling, and I talk about selling a lot in this podcast as well as on my social media, because it’s such a thing that people for some reason number 1: are afraid of, number 2: have negative associations with, and number 3: they think it’s something that some people are born with as a skill. It’s such nonsense. Sales is a skill. It’s something that you can totally learn and you can totally get better at, especially if you practice it. The more you launch, the more you talk about your offers, the more you start thinking about what different aspects of sales there are, the better you become. Then it stops being a chore, it just becomes a way of you growing your business. There are things that you need to know that include the psychology of a buyer, the way to use copywriting to sell and convert, the understanding of funnels… There are a few things that you may have not even heard of, but that definitely will help you “up level” your business, if you are thinking of running it seriously. Because a lot of teachers that I meet are in a stage where they’re like: “Oh, but what I’ve got is enough”. And I think it’s okay, that’s absolutely fine that you think that what you’ve got is enough. Especially if the income you’re making is satisfying. But if not, then I’m giving you on a plate, literally, the things to look into and think about to perhaps make some more progress.
So, these are the things I think are definitely worth digging into. If you’re interested in learning more about them, then obviously follow me on Instagram at ola_coaches_teachers – that’s where I share most of my knowledge as well as in this podcast. And obviously, if you’re interested in working with me, I would be super, super happy to help you scale your business. The next opportunity to scale will be joining The Rocket at the beginning of 2023, or joining my mastermind in January 2023 as well. So, if you’re interested in any of these, please let me know. I would love to talk to you about this, we can schedule a little chat. So, this is it, my dear teacher. Thank you so much for being here today. And remember: give yourself permission to do things the way you want them to be. The fact that I’m giving you certain advice, certain ideas or guidance, doesn’t mean that you have to follow everything literally and follow everything step by step. You can take inspiration from what I say and still do things the way you see fit. Thank you so much for being here, and I’ll see you in the next episode next week. Bye!
It’s not your fault that you don’t know how to make good money as a teacher or how to market your teaching. Nobody’s ever taught you but I’m on a mission to change that. Teachers make the world a better place and they can be excellent at business – they just need direction. That’s what I’m giving you here and on my YouTube channel under the same name. Make sure that you also follow me on Instagram at ola_coaches_teachers, and check out my website: www.olakowalska.com to see if any of my paid offers, including my one-to-one coaching, my business foundation course, The Rocket, or my membership for teachers in business could be the right fit for you. I’ll see you soon in the next episode.