How to Manage Tough Decisions in your Teacher Business (Without Feeling Too Stressed)

Kirsten 0:00

If you're an online business owner, you probably know that being a teacher printer isn't always dandelions and puppies and roses. Sometimes you have to make some serious and hard decisions. These decisions can range from something very small, like changing your logo colors to something huge like cutting ties with another seller to collaborate with. This episode is going to talk about how to manage tough decisions in your teacher business without feeling too stressed.

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact inside and outside of the classrooms. I am Kiersten a full time classroom teacher and part time business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small to in each week, as I give you my best advice on classroom teaching, and starting and growing a teacher business. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

All right, welcome back to another episode, I am very excited to share with you this very important topic today of managing tough decisions in your teacher business. Because I know that sometimes it's really hard to make a decision, it could be a good or bad decision. But sometimes people get stuck on what to do. And that inhibits their progress. It inhibits their growth as an entrepreneur. So I'm going to give you some tips on managing tough decisions. And I'll also be real with you and share with you some tough decisions I had to make recently, in my own business and personal life really. But I hope you really enjoy this episode, I hope that you know that you're not alone of you know, sometimes it's really hard to make a decision and just put your foot forward and just do the dang thing. But know that it is definitely possible and manageable.

Something I want you to know if you can have anything from this episode that I want you to remember, I want you to know this. Trust your gut More times than not, your gut feeling is usually right. Think about if you're a teacher, that you tell your students to go with their gut, if they are stuck on a question and they're down to two answer choices. You always want to just go with your gut because usually that gut is right. Most of the time, we don't trust ourselves, which could lead to us being indecisive. And it makes it even harder to make a decision we freeze up. But here's something to think about with every decision you make. You're not going to know if it's a good or bad decision until later. But at the very moment you make that decision. It is always a good decision you made that decision. Time will tell if it's a good or a bad decision. But the fact that you've made that decision is right at the time for you. So let's talk about three tips on how to manage tough decisions.

The first tip is to write it out. Make a list of pros and cons. And when you see one side that looks a little longer than the other. That kind of tells you which decision that you're going to go with it makes it a little bit easier. Don't harp on if I don't know if this is going to be right even though there are some good points here on this side. If you see that list is a little longer than the other that kind of leads you into which you should choose.

The second tip I have for you is to ask other people for their input. Try finding a trusted friend or family member, you could go into your Facebook group community, maybe you're with like minded TPT sellers that you trust, or colleagues, try to see if you can get different perspectives. And this could be something that will be helpful because you're getting perspectives aside from yourself. Now, it's important to know that you're not just going off of the word of everybody, ultimately, you are making your best decision. But having a perspective from other people, especially those in your niche, or those that understand your business or understand TPT in general, can be really helpful in order to make your decision the best decision for you at the time.

The third tip I have for you is to think long term. Think about how it will affect you and your business down the road. Will this decision create more stress or less stress will result in more followers more profits? MIT, it may be it might grow your business, maybe it might hurt your business. Think about the core brand values in your business in order to decide if it's going to affect you in the long run. Maybe if it's something that you want to pivot to, and maybe speak more of. So thinking more about going a little bit more political or ruffling a little bit more feathers, as long as it's aligned with your core brand values that you want to attract for your ideal teacher customer, then go for it. Think about how it could affect your business. Maybe this perspective that you're offering is something different that others may not be offering. And it could be a really great thing for your business, maybe not. But you never know until you actually make that decision.

All right, well, I'm going to be sharing with you some tough decisions I recently had to make in my own business.

One of those is really related to my teaching career. But I had decided, after I gave birth, initially, I was going to come back to work full time in January, knowing that I didn't have enough maternity leave, I was not qualified for FMLA because I was new to the district that I was teaching in. But I was sick as a dog, it was two weeks postpartum. And I was thinking about how I would not be my best self as a mother, as a wife, as a teacher, it was just not going to work for me doing all of that. So soon after my son was born. So I made the tough decision to stay home with my son for the remainder of the year. I shouldn't say that. It's tough, because obviously, you know, I will, that I want it to do it, I want to stay home with my son. That's why I chose to do it. But it was tough, because I felt so bad initially saying to my colleagues, and to my students and parents that I was going to come back in January, and saying that I was going to not come back afterward, people were obviously very understanding. But for me, I was just kind of I felt like I let people down. So for me, it was a very tough decision. And I know now that it was the best decision for us, my family myself. And now on the flip side, I get to work more on my business and I can have more time to create more resources. And of course, the main thing is I get to spend more time with my baby, and have him here with me at home before having to send them off to daycare, and go to school. And then he gets he's a teenager and he's off to college. So I don't want to think about all of that. But I get to spend a little extra time with him than I originally planned on. And that's always great. So it ended up being a great decision in the long run.

I had was back in the summer: 2021

hat I have started to add for: 2022

My creative action tip for you is, I want you to think about a tough decision you might have in your business, pick one of these three tips to manage that tough decision. So either write it out, ask other people for input or think long term. But ultimately, the big thing is to trust your gut. If you're an elementary teacher in grades three through five, I did mention that free Facebook group community that you can join, and it's called creative ideas and upper elementary. And this is just a fun community of upper elementary teachers and third, fourth and fifth grade who are looking for support ideas and advice on fun and engaging ideas in the classroom. So if you fit the bill for that, and you want to join that group, that new group, I want you to go to the link that I have in the show notes to see more about that. And if you're a TPT seller, and you heard VIP day for product listings, sign me up, then you can go to the southern teach.com forward slash VIP to learn more about how the process works. But I'm really excited to be starting the VIP services for product listings. All right. Well, thank you again for another day with me on the creative teacher podcast. I'll see you again soon.

Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.