0:00

That I've had with others as I

0:02

have been coaching them and I'm going to share how we

0:06

really get into the nitty gritty of determining when the time is right and what

0:11

exactly is the best course of action as you are starting from the very beginning

0:18

or maybe you have already been dreaming and you've got some really great plans.

0:23

Today's podcast is going to be a really great inspirational and tactical step

0:31

for you to take action and to get yourself out of paralysis analysis and get.

0:37

Music.

0:38

Yourself into momentum. Welcome teacher to the Let Your Light Shine podcast.

0:45

If you're searching for the freedom and permission to design the life you love

0:49

as a teacher, you're in the right place.

0:52

I'm on a mission to help teachers just like you build their own dream school

0:57

or homeschooling business. Music.

0:59

In this present day, the world needs you teacher friend to step out in faith

1:04

and give students an education they love and so deserve.

1:08

In this podcast, I will teach you how to start a fulfilling and profitable homeschooling

1:14

business that lights you up. I'm Mackenzie Oliver, former elementary teacher and instructional coach,

1:20

gone homeschool teacher and business builder.

1:23

I'm here to empower you to step outside the classroom and choose the experiences,

1:29

the curriculum, and all the moments that put a smile on your face and your students.

1:35

Does it seem like a dream? Well, it did to me until God opened the doors and made it reality.

1:41

Together, we are breaking through fears and moving the crowd.

1:43

Music.

1:45

So get out your notebook, sharpen your pencil. It's time to get your teach on.

1:50

Today's podcast episode is very much inspired by the people that I get to work

1:55

very, very closely with, by those who are really vulnerable enough to take the next step and know that, oh my gosh,

2:05

I'm really investing in my future.

2:07

I'm investing in my life. I'm investing in my family's life.

2:12

Truly, this is not just about building a micro school. It's not just about becoming an entrepreneur.

2:21

It's not about leaving your career and just starting a micro school or homeschool

2:26

hybrid or a tutoring business and sailing off into the sunset.

2:29

This is about creating the life that you really desire.

2:33

And I'm serious about that. Let me tell you specifically how serious I am about this.

2:40

I just had a really wonderful coaching session just a couple days ago.

2:45

And the person is investing in their self.

2:48

She was so excited, investing, I'm doing this for me.

2:54

I'm counting on me this year. I'm finally doing it. Now, funny story is,

2:58

I actually had a coaching session with this beautiful person two years ago,

3:03

and she had a clarity coaching session.

3:06

And she still felt, even though after that time that we met together and she

3:12

had some really great ideas, she decided she was going to stay that next year.

3:17

And the year after, and her and I are friends on Facebook. I've been watching

3:21

her, seeing her do wonderful things. She's literally even changed positions in her school.

3:27

She's gotten so many incredible leadership opportunities.

3:31

And here she is. She just invested in the deluxe coaching.

3:36

Deluxe coaching. She invested in the eight sessions that we have together,

3:41

where we are literally hand in hand walking this thing through.

3:47

And she's still going, okay, Mackenzie, am I ready for this?

3:52

Even though she already invested. Mackenzie, am I ready for this? And I said, listen, I need to know your life.

3:59

I want to know, what do you want for yourself?

4:04

Honestly, just give me, let me capture this for you.

4:07

And so we're setting through our coaching session. And she's just spilling out her heart.

4:12

And it wasn't all about teaching. And it wasn't all about becoming an entrepreneur.

4:16

It was some personal aspirations that she has outside of education,

4:22

outside of entrepreneurship. And I said, listen, this is about building your life.

4:29

This isn't just about building a micro school. We're not just going to sit and

4:33

zoom each other and we go, all right, step one, we're going to look at your LLC.

4:38

No, no, we've got to figure out really where are you right now?

4:44

Emotionally, spiritually, physically, mentally, you're married or not married.

4:50

Friends, I have coached people who have went through bankruptcy,

4:53

who have went through divorce, who have went through trials and tribulations.

5:00

I'm telling you, they have went through the ringer, and they are still coming

5:06

up out of the valley, and they are building a mountain.

5:11

So no matter where you have been, please know that I have coached and walked

5:19

people through this on all levels, scales, walks of life.

5:26

Some people who are doing this for their kids, some people who don't have kids,

5:29

some people who are negative in the bank, they have debt, they've got student

5:35

loans, they've, again, filed for bankruptcy.

5:39

That's not, they're not stopping. They're not, that's not stopping them.

5:42

Go listen to some of the most incredible entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurs,

5:46

millionaires, billionaires, and you'll hear their stories of living in their

5:50

car, living on the streets, living paycheck to paycheck,

5:53

begging their landlords for more rent or more time to pay their rent.

5:59

Let me tell you something. The possibilities truly do lie in your mindset,

6:06

not in your current circumstance.

6:09

And so to be honest with you, I know that it does feel very scary.

6:16

And I just encourage you that we are thinking big, yet knowing that we start small.

6:23

Some of the greatest topics that I've had the privilege of discussing with many

6:28

teachers who are leaving the classroom, I'm going to share with you in little

6:31

tidbits of this episode today. The journey from teaching to entrepreneurship really is an adventure.

6:38

And as coach, not only for teachers in the educational realm,

6:43

but also in the business realm, I want to emphasize the importance of passion, creativity,

6:52

and willingness to embrace the the unknown.

6:56

You know, this is something that's happened to me lately. If I get really bogged

7:00

down in the mundane things, like a profit and loss sheet, which by the way,

7:05

don't even ask me how I learned how to do a profit and loss sheet.

7:11

You're talking to someone who was scared to death of finances.

7:15

I felt confused all the time about my finances.

7:18

I literally did not know how to handle And I don't mean I was reckless with

7:24

it, but I really did not know how to handle it. Everything was invisible to me.

7:28

And now I am so empowered by a stinking profit and loss sheet.

7:33

And I'm telling you, it's the most boring thing I could ever do.

7:38

And I spice that little profit and loss sheet up and pinks and blues and yellows.

7:44

I'm like, I've got to get some creativity here. And I'm telling you, that is exactly what happens when you get to become an entrepreneur.

7:51

You really get to embrace your creativity. That's for sure.

7:55

And if you're feeling like you're not, for those of you who are not feeling

7:58

creative or inspired, you really have to make a choice.

8:02

Workplace because all of those mundane things they

8:05

can absolutely kill your spontaneity

8:09

and if that's how you're feeling in your teacher career right now

8:12

we have got to get you into a position to

8:15

create and feel inspired and with that being said we whenever we're starting

8:22

to leave the classroom start a micro school start a business we could not be

8:27

brought into this with a whole whole bunch of mundane, boring task.

8:33

I'm telling you, that will cause people to just run the opposite direction when

8:37

they are in the midst of starting something from scratch.

8:40

If you would have given me a profit and loss statement at the beginning of starting

8:44

a micro school, I would have said, I am out of here. That is gross.

8:49

Or if you would have been like, somebody would have said to me,

8:52

well, the first step is we're going to talk about the parent and safety control.

8:57

Control let's talk about zoning and location I would have been like I'm done

9:02

give me some markers and an anchor chart some sticky notes.

9:08

Some paint or something to go decorate my classroom with. I don't care.

9:14

I'm not even about to listen to that boring old stuff. Okay.

9:20

And this is, this is, I think what scares people is I'm going to get told to

9:27

do a whole bunch of things that just are not in my wheelhouse.

9:31

And I'm going to tell you, I remember setting out by my pool in 2020 with a little dream.

9:38

Like literally a little dream, guys, that's now turned into something so much

9:42

bigger with our school Lighthouse Learning, so much bigger with Teacher Let Your Light Shine.

9:48

And I remember being like, I have no idea how to go start my LLC.

9:54

I don't know what to do. I don't know how to go look at the walls.

9:56

I don't know how to, I don't know. That's not me.

9:59

By the grace of God, here we you are.

10:02

And it doesn't have to be boring. It doesn't have to be hard,

10:05

especially if we can work together because I really want to take all that invisible,

10:12

heavy, gross stuff and say, here's what you do.

10:17

Here's how long it takes. All right. First step, when we're back together again, have these things done.

10:22

You got this. It should only take you one day. You know, I had this really, really great coach.

10:29

And I would say, how am I going to do all of that?

10:32

And I've got to fix this. And I got to do this. And I got to do this.

10:35

And I got to get this sheet done. I got to get my taxes done.

10:38

He said, that'll take you four days. And I thought, four days, that's it?

10:42

That was going to take me like four weeks. Do you know I had everything he told me to do done in a day.

10:47

It's amazing whenever you are literally working with someone and they see the

10:51

possibilities and you can't and they give you a timeline, how much more motivated you can be.

10:58

My friends, taking the leap.

11:02

Truly can become a beacon of inspiration in the world of education.

11:08

My friends, you don't even realize if you have yet to start your micro school

11:14

or this endeavor, they can look so different for no matter who it is.

11:18

We've got friends who are building micro schools in the woods.

11:22

We've got people who are getting schools built for them.

11:26

We have people who are building schools in the the mountains,

11:30

who are trudging through snow with their schools.

11:34

Education has changed. If you think it's going to go back to the way it was

11:38

prior to 2020, you're in the wrong time zone.

11:44

You are in the wrong time zone, and that's okay. It's time to come out of it, though.

11:50

People are looking for alternatives, and let me tell you how I know this even

11:54

more so, is that states are becoming really aware.

12:01

Honestly, teachers, it's us. We're the ones.

12:06

We're the ones who stepped out of the classroom and started designing alternative

12:10

ways to teach and for kids to learn.

12:13

We're the ones who started it that now the government's trying to catch up with us. Honest to God.

12:19

And they're seeing our creativity be so unboxed. Thank you, God,

12:24

for that time when it seemed like everything Everything was so treacherous and awful.

12:29

The great things that have come out of that 2020 time frame.

12:33

That states are saying, let's give educational savings accounts.

12:37

ESA, that's what I'm talking about. Educational savings accounts.

12:41

There are many states that are giving educational savings accounts money to

12:46

families to pursue other forms of education besides public and private.

12:51

That opens up the door to you. So you need to be Googling your state,

12:58

ESA, Educational Savings Account.

13:01

If your state has Educational Savings Account, move, run.

13:07

Even the Yass Prize, even the big organizations that are giving money for micro schools,

13:16

they're saying educational savings accounts are very, very sustainable for us right now.

13:25

Now, Florida, where I'm from, we were not an educational savings account whenever

13:29

I started the micro school, and we were still busting a move.

13:34

So don't think that if you're not, if you live in a state that's not an educational

13:39

savings account state, don't think that it's time for you to go to sleep on this idea.

13:44

No, we've got to keep generating. We've got to keep creating so that the states.

13:48

They can't slow us down. And all that's left for them to do is to keep up.

13:54

So it is truly a privilege to see the life and the hearts of others through

14:00

this incredible landscape.

14:02

You know, guys, people need help. I needed help.

14:06

We all need to make investments, sometimes monetarily, sometimes time with one another.

14:13

When I'm doing the deluxe coaching, coaching, I'm helping people discuss not

14:19

just where they are today, not where they are a year from now.

14:22

People really do need help even seeing the possibilities of what their future can be like.

14:27

Some people will share with me what they want it to look like in the first year.

14:31

Some people will tell me what they want it to look like in five years.

14:34

Me, five years, my five-year plan, I'm like, I can't even dream that big.

14:39

I'm just trying to get through to tomorrow. But thank God I did have have people in my life who are helping me just pouring back into the vision.

14:47

When I'm doing deluxe coaching, we go over the finances. There's no shame. There's no judgment.

14:54

I'm here to help you. We look over where you're at now, where you want to be,

14:58

how much money you do need to make, what you would like to make,

15:03

come up with a marketing plan, timelines.

15:06

We go so deep. we test we tweak we have a lot of time together there's also

15:12

the jumpstart coaching where you still get four sessions and we're doing your

15:17

vision work we do your finances we come with a marketing plan timelines.

15:24

And then there's the clarity coaching. If you're like, I just need to know what I'm supposed to do next.

15:29

I'm stuck. I need to know the possibilities. Where do I even begin? Where do I go next?

15:34

What goals should I be working on? What should I be spending my time on?

15:38

What shouldn't I be spending my time on? I see clarity coaching, jumpstart coaching, deluxe coaching from people who

15:45

have never even started, who are still in the classroom, to people who've been

15:49

in their micro school for a year, two years.

15:52

It's all over. it's it's wherever you need and it's not

15:54

just about your school it's about your life i mean

15:57

i've got moms who are talking to me and we're zooming

16:00

together and we're crunching numbers and we're doing all sorts

16:03

of heavy creative awesome work and they got a baby on their lap i have a mom

16:08

who nurses her baby it's all good this is life my friends and if you have been

16:14

looking for coaching there is going to be more time and space opened up on my

16:20

calendar you can can just go ahead, go to teachers, let your light shine.com slash coaching,

16:25

you just go through you book your session, if the session that you choose is

16:29

too far out, or it's not the right time, just go ahead and book it and you email

16:33

me and I can get you scooted in at a different time. It's not a big problem at all.

16:39

But the greatest goal is to get all of these amazing people,

16:43

these courageous people on the show sharing their vision about how it started.

16:48

And all the people that I've had the privilege of coaching, I want them to get

16:54

on here and just share it with you. And the truth is, listen, I'm running a micro school too.

17:01

And I'm running another business, Teacher Let Your Light Shine.

17:04

I've got children. I've got a husband. I also have passions and hobbies. And I'm running,

17:11

And I am so passionate, though, about other people getting behind the microphone.

17:16

It's just a mere time of, I know you guys are waiting. I know you want to hear from all the people.

17:21

The thousands of people that we have in our Facebook group, not thousands,

17:27

we've got a thousand who have started their school or have received coaching,

17:31

got the business bundle. We've got to get those on the show.

17:34

And all it is, it's just, it's my schedule, it's recording, it's editing,

17:37

but it is on my vision board. And that's how it all starts. is on your vision board. So speaking of your vision

17:43

board, without the vision, it's very difficult to project if you're ready or not.

17:49

If you're just burnt out and looking for another place to go,

17:52

I encourage you to really reflect on the life that you want.

17:56

We've got to capture the invisible and make it visible.

18:01

When I'm coaching, I'm asking questions, I'm recording, I'm looking at your

18:05

heart, I'm identifying your pain points, helping you see the possibilities.

18:10

Like I said, some want to have a baby, some want to get married,

18:14

some need to go buy a house, some need to move.

18:17

They're big topics. That doesn't stop them.

18:20

We just need to be realistic about a timeline and what your priorities should

18:24

be and if you need to outsource and if you need more time and if you need more help.

18:28

You know, vision, vision work during our coaching sessions.

18:33

People really do need help with this. I need help with this and I'm a visionary leader.

18:38

Leader I envisioned this school for many years and I still need help because we question ourselves.

18:44

And and we're afraid to think big and we think if we think big we've got to

18:49

start big and really it's it's starting small it's the vision work that's so

18:55

creative so motivating and then I also,

18:58

think it's so important as you're starting your micro school to look at the

19:03

problems that are are around you. And this is what I do a lot with the people that I coach is we explore the problems

19:10

that they see in the classroom, the problems that they see from students they

19:13

tutor, the problems that they see from parents they work with,

19:16

from the students that they serve. And we don't fixate or ruminate on the problem. We capture the problem and we

19:23

start going through the solutions. But what's hard about this is that you don't give yourself enough credit that

19:32

you can be the the solution. You think that all of this work that you do is so small, yet the small work

19:39

that you do, small as in like, I'm like putting up my little air quote fingers,

19:44

is it actually gives you the biggest dividends.

19:47

This is where your offer comes from. So I know you're probably thinking,

19:52

well, how do I know if I'm ready? Am I really ready? We need to do some vision work.

19:57

Then from there, we need to look at what you can offer. What is your superpower?

20:02

After that, we're going to do a time analysis. Where are you at right now in your life?

20:07

Because this is your life. We are building your life right now.

20:11

We're not just building a school. We're building your life. It's some serious, deep, awesome work. Awesome work.

20:21

We're not just building a school that whenever you pass away,

20:24

it's like, oh, cool, she built a school. No, it's unbelievable. Unbelievable. My mom,

20:30

my dad started this dream school

20:35

on a piece of paper out of their living room, out of their backyard.

20:41

It turned into this and they left us with this legacy.

20:47

They left us with this incredible business that I get an opportunity to pursue

20:54

or to hire and find someone else to run it and direct it,

21:00

or I can work in it and continue the legacy.

21:04

This is about passing on generational blessings. This is longevity, my friends.

21:11

Even if you don't know if you're going to make it the first year like me, I'll just do it.

21:17

I just want to see something different for my kids.

21:20

You know, yes, I've always dreamed about having a school, but I'm not doing that right now.

21:24

I'm just trying to survive the pandemic and teach my kids and have some fun

21:29

and have some other kids over. And let's see where this goes.

21:34

Literally, in December of the very first year of running our micro school,

21:37

I literally asked the mom if she was going to enroll her kids in a private school.

21:40

And the parents were like, why would I do that? You're going to do this again

21:43

next year, aren't you? you. And I was like, I don't know. Do you think I should?

21:46

You like it? And now we have 50 students.

21:50

And you know what's really amazing is I think, okay, my daughters,

21:54

Jalen and Jolie, they're probably not going to grow up and be teachers from

21:58

what I understand from both of them. And so let's say when I pass away and Lighthouse Learning is still here,

22:05

they get the opportunity to inherit the business.

22:10

And if they want to continue their nursing job or art job or flight attendant

22:16

job or doctor job, whatever they choose, and they still want to have Lighthouse

22:20

Learning, they can hire, but that becomes their generational blessing.

22:25

That's what I see. And so if you're seeing this longevity-wise,

22:31

you're ready. You're so ready.

22:34

Because if you're saying, I'm going to do this because I think this is what

22:40

I want my life to be like, I want to be able to pass something down down to

22:45

my family, ready or not, here you come.

22:48

Because there's no other perfect time to start than right now.

22:53

You know, I was just in one of the coaching sessions and she said,

22:57

Mackenzie, I'm so afraid if I do not start, I'm never going to do it.

23:01

But then of course, there's also the part that everybody's concerned about, and that's the money.

23:08

And I said to her, listen, listen, I'm so proud of you.

23:13

Let's do it. Let's get some ideas down with your money and where we can generate

23:20

these ideas and these solutions and we can generate more income.

23:24

And we can get yourself into a situation where you can slide out very easily

23:29

and yet already have some revenue coming in.

23:33

And so your finances, I understand, are a big part of this shift in this change.

23:40

We've got to trust in the process. I told my husband, because I do give you financial sheets.

23:47

When you are in the deluxe coaching, I give you the financial sheets to have

23:51

you do some legwork on that. And it's great.

23:54

And I'm like, listen, you don't have to get this done by tomorrow.

23:57

And this sheet is going to turn into something treasure. It's going to turn into gold.

24:02

It's going to get sloppy. It's going to get dirty. It's going to be messy. It's fine.

24:07

Let's just get some numbers. Let's make the invisible visible.

24:10

And let's keep coming back to this because it's going to give us clarity.

24:13

And it's not going to stop us. Even if the numbers look grim, it's not not going to stop us.

24:17

We're just going to shift and we're going to change our perspective and we're

24:21

going to come up with a new strategy. And I totally, like I said, if you trust in the process and you're vulnerable,

24:29

even if you've gone through bankruptcy, not pregnancy or pregnancy,

24:33

credit cards, debt, student loans, this can be your ticket out.

24:36

And I told my husband, I said, you know, I'm giving everyone the financial sheets,

24:40

but I'm thinking when somebody asked me to crack my numbers,

24:46

I would have been like, yikes. It was probably not going to look good on the sheet. It would have looked really bad my first year.

24:55

Like how much money I had and how much money I needed or wanted.

24:59

I didn't know. I had no idea.

25:03

But man, I wish I would have known that because I would have been so much more

25:08

clear on the decisions that I needed to make.

25:13

And I So while dreaming big, you definitely do want to understand that you can

25:19

start your micro school on a very manageable scale.

25:22

You don't have to have all the details figured out initially, but take a leap.

25:27

Let the process guide you. You're going to learn. You will adapt.

25:31

And of course, you are going to grow. I would have loved to have known all the

25:36

details, like I said, but then again, I'm glad that I didn't.

25:40

So I meet you right where you are, and I say that, ready or not,

25:44

here's the thing. We've got to get your vision.

25:48

We need to know what your superpower is.

25:51

And a lot of times, you don't know it because you're too hard on yourself.

25:56

You need someone else to help you. You need to ask the people around you, what are you really great at?

26:02

They see it, and you don't. Then we need to look at your time, when you're ready to start,

26:07

what this is going to look like? What are your options?

26:11

And of course, your money, because I know that that is the part that husbands

26:15

and wives, they want to know what to do. And I want to honor that for you.

26:20

You can head on over to www.teachersletyourlightshine.com slash coaching.

26:25

Feel free to email me, ask questions if you don't know which package to start off with.

26:30

If you're ready to go, go book your session and And then email me if we need

26:35

to change or adapt the times, because I'm so ready and excited and honored to help you.

26:41

It is a total privilege, and I cannot wait to see you.

26:43

Music.