Hey girl! Today let’s chat about why I wanted to leave teaching and how I achieved it. I do plan on having a specific blog post to talk more specifically about how I started blogging at a later date. The purpose of writing this is for anyone who feels stuck in any career they are in. I encourage you not to stay in a career because you feel like you have to. Life is too short to not be happy and live your dreams!
The Beginning of Teaching Life
Now I do want to preface. I am a firm believer of “everything happens for a reason”. Teaching helped me build my confidence professionally, and I was able to help kiddos feel better when they were in terrible situations at home. I always said I don’t have the highest achieving class academically, but my students always knew how to love one another and we had bomb classroom community skills.
When I first started out in teaching, I worked at a school I always thought I wanted to work at. I was so happy to finally have a big girl job, and be a teacher. I had so many great things happened at that first school; made great life long friends, learned how to stand up for myself, and learned quickly how one should and should not act in a professional setting. I thought this was how all schools were.
Change in Schools
This is when I decided maybe a change in schools is what I needed to help me decide if I wanted to leave teaching. Went from working at one of the lowest schools in the district to working at one of the highest schools in the district in one of the best districts in the state. I worked here and it was better. The faculty moral was so much better, people were happy and positive, professional. The student data was great.
Then I realized two years in and after having my second child, I was still not happy. I had a kindergartener at the same school as me who I could not be with at her fun times at school because I had to figure out what to do with my personal classroom. I also had a baby who had 7 ear infections his first year of life which in result had me take off work many times throughout the school year. When working at a high achieving school you can’t help but think you’re weighing your team down because you cannot get your homeroom to the level they are at because you have to be a momma. This was when I decided I wanted to leave teaching and I needed a plan to achieve it.
How I Achieved It
It was a night in the fall. Graham had a fever and I was going to have to take off work to be with him. I could feel my anxiety rising up and told Steven I cannot do this anymore. We had sort of talked about me leaving but were afraid of how much health insurance would cost (the main reason why I stayed in teaching) and how I would make enough income to replace my teaching salary.
Steven and I had always talked about me becoming a realtor. I didn’t think I would ever want to do real estate. My mind let me think you had to be on other peoples schedules and could not do it while be a momma to young kids. I also did not want to jump into something else that would have to devote 120% of my time to because my ultimate goal was Pretty Little Style Blog and to be there for my babies. I wanted to find a flexible job where I could work from home and have a flexible schedule. October 2019 we decided this is what I would do to leave my teaching career.
I started my real estate courses right away. At first it wasn’t hard juggling it all (teaching, blogging, real estate, personal life, etc). I had THE BEST class during all of this. Like Jesus knew I needed that yall. LOL. I also had the most supportive teammates which made it a lot harder to leave. When they would ask me if I was sure about leaving my job I would always respond back “unless the economy crashes I am leaving”. Then COVID happened. Yall this was the time when I had to put ALL faith to the Lord. I knew that if I wanted this to happen I had to work my butt of to make it happen.
I had to finish my real estate courses while home schooling my kindergartener, virtually teach my 3rd graders and make sure Graham didn’t burn my house down. It was hard, real hard but we did it! I passed my real estate test in July and started working with The Ashton Team in August. Dreams can happen if you put a plan into place and HUSTLE. Currently I am working on both businesses full force and am in such a good place mentally. I am able to be a better momma, enjoy being a wife, and help woman feel confident in their own skin through this blog. I am in tears as I am typing this because I am so glad I left the classroom. Don’t let fear keep you from doing something you want!
The Results
As I am writing this, it is a new year and I have a few goals that I plan to achieve! Check out my 2021 goals here. This will be my first full year away from the classroom and I am so excited to see where I will be at this time in 2022. All this to say don’t let health insurance, money or what others will think of you stop you from trying something new. All these years we were afraid health insurance would be so expensive and I had to stay in my career to ensure we had health insurance. Yall its literally a few dollars difference than what we were paying before. Now, I will say we are healthy and only go to the doctor if its an emergency or checkup.
I have also been able to a consistent income through blogging and real estate. This is where you have to have your mind right to be ensure you’re hitting those goals. My little people are depending on me and this is my only extra source of income. So momma has to hustle!
Resources for Blogging
Below you’ll see some blog post I read to help me decide if blogging was worth it!
Alexa Anglin went from being a pediatric NP to blogging full time. She is a momma and wanted to find a job that would allow her to work from home to be there for her babies. She has a cutie pie named Gray and is a great follow! Check out her blog post here.
Danielle Gervino was a 3rd grade teacher who decided it was time to leave the classroom to pursue something else. She is a GREAT follow. So beautiful and professional. Has great IG tips for bloggers and I love her fashion. She also lives in my favorite city. Check out her changing careers blog post here.
Megan Mcqueen is my blogging buddy who helped me set a plan in place while the pandemic started. I literally hired her right before quarantined started. It’s crazy how God has plans set in place and you don’t even know it yet! During quarantine I was able to focus on my blog and do homework she assigned while being at home. Check out her blog coaching services here.
Alright yall if you stuck around this long….you da real MVP! Thanks for your support. We meet again!!
xoxo,
Amanda
