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In September of 2019 while working with my branding and business coach, Jasmine Chanelle, we had a section on limiting beliefs. I laughed at it-- here I had financially invested in a course and had somebody kicking me information that I felt could have been found on Google.
Get it, got it. A limiting belief is something internally woven deep in our brain, which negatively impacts our mindset, limiting our capability of meeting success in life (or business).
I am an English person, so I love definitions. Specifically, Google defines belief as “an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists” and “trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something.”
Those are all pretty words. Limiting beliefs place limits on all those things-- it limits the trust, faith, or confidence that we have in ourselves. Limiting that belief in return makes the challenge of fulfilling dreams bigger than we have (you know, whatever else is on the other side of being locked away in our schools for over 40 hours a week).
Guess what one of my limiting beliefs was. My exact words, I kid you not, was “I am a teacher so I cannot make a livable earning.”
To think that deep down, I feel like that since I chose this profession, I will never see financial freedom simply due to following my passion and love I have for teaching is crushing. But true-- a year ago, I was ready to live with it!
Here I was in a course that revolved around building my brand and business and I truly believed I couldn't make too much money because I was a teacher.
Could I make my 45K salary, sure.
Sell a t-shirt here or there online, yes!
Build a website for $500-$750 for some extra money in the bank a few times a year, definitely.
Work a second job as an adjunct professor, pulling 5:30PM-8:30PM classes twice a week, you got it!
None of these things lead to really cashing in-- it was supplemental income at best. Or Christmas money to make sure my spoiled children got all the crap that is now in donation bins in the garage.
It took almost a year after I completed that course to make money online and truly shake the internal belief that higher financial goals were attainable. In June and July of 2020, post-pandemic (or during the pandemic, I guess), was put in touch with the head of the educational research department at Texas A&M university.
My daughter's kindergarten teacher, who I am great friends with and is one of my website clients, told me they were in need of experienced teachers to write content for their education program. Due to COVID, they were remaining online in the fall, and needed to build a huge database of online modules and courses for their education students to complete work from.
We were compensated $1,000 per course and I maxed out completing 10 of these.
In less than two months, I made $10,000 online from writing course material on educational topics for a huge university-- like Texas A&M is huge compared to anything here in little ‘ol South Carolina.
In August, I had the confidence to list my own content on my site. It wasn't full blown 15 page, APA formatted, scholarly content. I would not make $1,000 per sale. But, I knew my slides were semi-cute and techy and that I knew how to set up an automated process to sell them. So I figured, what the Hell?
You may not realize it, but this is 100% the most important information I provide to my clients.
There is something deep down that may be blocking your vision, dreams, and ultimately your success. We get in our own way so much more than we’ll ever know.
A second limiting belief I had came from a childhood memory-- psychology claims that many of our limiting beliefs actually are influenced and ingrained in us during our upbringing.
Again-- I thought that was crap too.
My step-father is a senior staff analyst and engineer for the government. He got out of the Marine Corps and with no degree (he’s one of those people who is borderline genius and has an insanely high IQ) he lucked into working his was up in the ranks.
When I was in high school he would always tell me I had to go to college. I said fine, if I do, I am going to be a teacher simply because “I am good at English and want to help people.”
Seems so simple looking back.
We would have full blown insane debates, yelling, screaming, me rolling my eyes and refusing. He wanted me to major in something related to STEM, engineering, or technology. Specifically he said, “you’ll never make shit as a teacher. Don’t come to be bitching and crying when you’re broke your whole life. And don’t ask me for a dime.”
Sounds so harsh. He babies the life out of me and my children and of course has given me a billion things (money, gifts, first car) since then.
He didn’t mean it literally; he wanted to get his point across through my teenage brain, I guess.
Teachers = broke.
Engineer = financial security.
He tells me now how proud he is, blah blah, but I now know I carried that belief around with me since I was 17 until this year.
All this time later and I am realizing this limiting belief and how the seed was planted.
And truly, that limiting belief had stunted all of my business ventures until this year.
Think about yours. Can you pinpoint your limiting beliefs?
Yes, we all have them.
It could be anything:
I don’t have a masters degree so I can’t sell my content when there’s people more experienced than I
I’m a new teacher so nobody would buy my materials
I don’t have enough time to handle one more thing, I’ll do the course but never actually have the time
I have a degree in education. All I can do is teach.
I don’t have a following, so I can’t sell my stuff
If you're ready to start your Teacherpreneur journey, be on the lookout for my next blog post that will dive into limiting beliefs-- sometimes the only thing standing in the way is ourselves.
If you know you are ready to invest in yourself, you can enroll in my self paced course, From Educator to Entrepreneur or join my Teacherpreneur Membership that will take you from siting on an idea to implementing steps that will lead your teacher business to finally come to life.
Now I will tell you something you may not want to hear. You know that life you are dreaming of? You will not live that you're dreaming of if you don't make any changes.
Envision that life. Make that change. Live that life.
Hugs, love, and lots of kisses.
Cheers,
Ty Tiger | Kinda Sorta Teacher