The Edupreneurship master mindset

As an entrepreneurs schoolteacher I have a vision of the kind of life that will help me make a difference financially and professionally. I really do not intend to own a school but I would love to have a piece of every school. No teacher wants to be broke, but in the current situation of things wishing will do you no good, because it will not pay your bills, put your kids right schools, make your vacation memorable, buy your dream house, cars, gadgets, get you to attend professional development programs, further your education, help make the life of the needy ones better.

This is a follow up of my last article on making three lists in your career. Teachers are a very conservative career pack. Most times, we see affluence, as too much distraction to our job, yet the truth is that I never came across any millionaire educators who still assume that mentality. The proprietors of most premium private school are amongst some millionaires. They hire teachers and the teachers after twenty years teaching; they wish to be millionaires still doing the same classroom routine every day.

Classroom routine is one thing; creating wealth with your simple classroom routines is another thing. You have to come to realise how many years of your experience as an educator is 20% of your potential financial capability.  However, before we continue, let us straighten out some complacent lifestyle and mindset that is a setback to your financial potency.    

Total focus. 

It is easy to prioritise your choices/decisions once you have ascertained the goal and value of your teaching career.

Retrospect on how you became a schoolteacher and educator in the first place. Was it because it was the easiest career? Is it an obsession to contribute to the learning needs of other people? Is it to boost my economic and professional status?

Focus is the ultimate power, and if you want stellar outcomes from you teaching career, you need to know the results you are interested in achieving. Change your focus from just curricular activities to curricular product management.

If you classroom was a product how will you sell its content to a buyer; or if you were to stream your classroom activities live on YouTube for your audience to pay for your skills, what will it be worth? Only when you take full responsibility of this current scenario, then you can start thinking differently about your everyday teaching and learning practices.

Re-craft your Confidence.

I used to find public speaking a very difficult task to undertake. Moreover, the way I imagined my career would become in a few years, there was no way out, I would find myself in public selling either my brand or myself. I joined a public speaking program on Coursera; then I pleaded with the head teacher to give me 2-3 days in a week to host morning assembly, and after 6 months, I was able to build some level of audacity on stage, reading my audience and changing their mood. In addition, because I was able to gain focus on how I intend building my career, I understood the role of re-crafting my confidence and communication skills to benefit the future I envisaged.

When you focus on a purpose, especially in wealth building, you need confidence to keep you from getting discouraged by yourself or any other person. There will be times when your zeal reads negative values and other people do not believe in your quest. Only your resident confidence will help you stand up to your dreams.  

You must realize the moment you go after your biggest goals, obstacles will show up. They are there to test your character and faith, and to see if you are serious about your goals. The person with the most confidence always wins. When I got clear on the actions needed to start thriving, I felt my motivation and energy elevate. These days, the only security you have is the confidence in yourself and your ability to make things happen.

Change your circle of influence.

Building wealth as an educator becomes easy, when you join the flock of other people already building wealth in same or other fields. There comes a point in your life when you realize those who matters to reaching your goals, those who never did matter but are just there with you and those who always will be relevant at every point of your life.

Once you get clear on who you are and what you want, you must re-evaluate your Circle of Influence. Those and who you associate with is who you become. It is extremely important to have role models. A role model will raise your standards. A role model help you get over your complacency. Finding a role model or mentor will spark your mind because they are playing the game at a higher level than you are. Rebranding your experience is a profitable venture and many people are making a fortune from the everyday classroom teaching and learning activities, which you currently take for granted. Look for role models that are making money repackaging your ideas, follow them, spend time with their work processes online/offline and add your own unique wrapping to your vision.

Someone made it clear about the importance of a role models and circle of influence in wealth building:

If you hang around five confident people, you will be the sixth.

If you hang around five intelligent people, you will be the sixth.

If you hang around five millionaires, you will be the sixth.

If you hang around five idiots, you will be the sixth.

If you hang around five broke people, you will be the sixth.

It’s inevitable.

Design your ideal result.

Now you have gotten a role model and you have been following their processes of success. It is now time to pick out the best aspects of their achievements and add you own flavour or customise it to meet the needs of your desired audience. To get into this realm, you have to create routines, tasks and goals that are geared towards recreating the results you desire.

You might have to change your habits and rituals, replacing them with productive habits and rituals. Know by keeping records, where, when, how and why your impacts are felt the most, then create these "result rituals'' will kick-start your journey into wealth building. Intentional actions are the only thing that will get you out of the obscurity. You might have been working 60 to 70 hours a week, including afterschol lessons, but nothing is going to change when there is no playback evidence of your work or experience. Start writing a book about your classroom, make photo books, video lesson etc. you only need an extra 30 mins routine a day to accomplish these simple tasks of documenting your skills and expertise; and in one year, you would have a product to sell.  

The greatest wisdom of all time is in astutely choosing what not to do with your time. Say "no'' more than you say ''yes''. Design everything around the lifestyle you envisioned for yourself, avoid time wasters and dream killers.

There has never been a better time in the history of our economy for schoolteachers and educators to become entrepreneurs of their career. Whether you are in the midst of struggle or thriving economy, I encourage you to continue challenging yourself as a teacher.

Reality T.V actress Kim Kardashian is making millions of dollars from her Barbie mobile app and yet she didn't jot down any line of computer code in developing the program. As such, I believe schoolteachers can get out educational apps on their teaching and help reach out to learners and other educators in this digital age. When you make a definite decision on what kind of person you will be, on an everyday basis, you start to gain control of your financial destiny. If you continue to choose growth in the moment, and show up better than you were yesterday, you will astound yourself at what you can accomplish. I will encourage all teachers reading this to dream bigger than your school/classroom.