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Welcome to So, Here’s the Thing! If you’ve been thinking about becoming a creative educator in our industry through speaking, courses, or coaching, this episode is for you!

In this bite sized episode, we’re exploring my top three tips for stepping into an educator role and how to ensure you’re sharing the knowledge that your audience needs to hear!

This episode is brought to you by The Creative Educator Academy, an online program teaching you how to teach. Learn more about The Creative Educator Academy by heading to thecreativeeducatoracademy.com and signing up for my free masterclass.

3 Tips for Stepping into an Educator Role

1. Self Reflection (1:40)

• Why do you want to be an educator?
• What do you see yourself teaching and how do you see yourself teaching it?

2. Create Content in Your Arena & Share It (4:40)

3. Track Responses to Everything You Put Out There (7:00)

• Develop a hub with spreadsheets
• Follow up with those people

Bonus: Get a business coach, mastermind, course, etc! (9:26)

Watch my Masterclass:
How to Become an Industry Leading Educator While Diversifying Your Income >>

Links
thecreativeeducatoracademy.com

REVIEW THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW!!

Laylee Emadi 0:05
Welcome to so here’s the thing where we share candid conversations that lift the veil on what it takes to find success, even if that means sharing a few unpopular opinions. I’m your host, Laylee Emadi, grab some coffee or cocktail. And let’s get real.

Laylee Emadi 0:22
Hey, friend, I hope you are ready for a quick bite sized episode today, this episode is for you, if you have been thinking about or working toward becoming a creative educator. So whether that means you want to step on stage at your favorite imperson event or virtual event, maybe you want to start taking on one on one mentoring or coaching sessions. Or maybe you have an online course idea that you want to create and put out there for the masses. This episode is for you, we’re going to be breaking down three of my favorite tips and steps for becoming a creative educator. So let’s go ahead and jump right in. If you didn’t already know, I am actually the founder of a course that helps you do just this. And so my entire days and nights and weekends are spent working on helping people step into this role. And I’m really passionate about it. Now there are a lot of tips and pieces of advice that I could give you that you probably hear all the time, like share free content, and then charge, give, give, give and then ask. Those are all great pieces of advice. But I want to start with something that I think is overlooked very commonly. And it’s something that I think will help set you up for success in the long run better than anything else you could be doing right now.

Laylee Emadi 1:40
And that is self reflection. When I say self reflection, I mean big real honesty with yourself self awareness, and really taking the time to ask yourself the hard questions. So let me ask a few questions of you. And let’s get your mind kind of moving in that direction. One, I want to know, why are you wanting to become an educator in the creative space? Like truly think about why? Number two, I want to know what you see yourself teaching and how you see yourself teaching it. So what I mean by that is, what topics are you passionate about? Where do you see yourself as an expert? And in what format? Do you want to deliver that education? Do you want to get on stage? Do you love the idea of speaking to large crowds of people? Do you want to stay home and create online courses and be able to help a lot of people without ever leaving the comfort of your home? Do you love the idea of taking on one on one clients? Because you really want to dive into people’s work with them? I want you to keep thinking about this? What do you see yourself teaching? What format Do you see yourself teaching that in? And of course, the real question here is that first question I asked you, which is why? Why do you want to become an educator? And why do you see yourself teaching the thing that you want to teach? I know this sounds like we’re running in circles. but bear with me here. I want you to be that annoying five year old kid who keeps asking why? Well, why? And why? Every time you answer this question, I want you to break it down further and further until you truly understand and break down your purpose and your intention. And I really want to encourage you here, don’t be afraid to admit the not so pretty, not so fluffy reasons for stepping into this role. Just because you might admit to yourself, I want to step into this role because I want to diversify my income streams, I want to bring in more revenue, I want to make more money. That doesn’t mean you don’t also want to help people. That doesn’t mean you don’t also want to create impact, that doesn’t at all, lessen the heartfelt reasons that you may have for stepping into the role of leader or educator. So I really just wanted to encourage you on that because I do find that until you can really break down your why break down your purpose and break down your intention. It makes it really difficult to answer that second and third question of what do you see yourself teaching and the format that you want to teach it in all of these things together, they really come together in this like crazy spider web that then results in your perfect zone of genius, and in the way that you are perfectly designed to share education with the world. So that is step one for you. Dig deep into that self reflection. Dig deep into that self awareness.

Laylee Emadi 4:37
Alright, let’s talk about step two. We’re going to want to start to create content and ways for people to see and hear what it is that you have to offer in that arena that you’ve chosen to educate in. Now, here’s the trick with this. A lot of people will tell you to create free content to put out blog posts to create a podcast to become a guest on other people’s podcasts. To submit yourself to, you know, apply to speak at other conferences or events, and really get yourself out there. And that’s all beautiful and great advice. But what I’ve found through working with my own students inside the creative educator Academy is that there’s this crazy cycle of, I’m not seen as an expert, so I can’t actually talk about it yet. I’m not, you know, good enough to really put out information or content, claiming to be an expert in this field, because nobody sees me that way yet. So I’m gonna hold on to this content, I might create it, but I’m gonna hold on to it. And that just becomes this crazy cycle of keeping yourself stuck in the dream state of I’m dreaming about becoming an educator. And it keeps you from moving forward into the doing state of I am working toward becoming an educator, or I am establishing myself as an expert, or I’m sharing this education that I’ve worked so hard to create, and that I’ve, you know, done step one, and I’ve really dug into that self reflection of my why, and now I’m ready to get out there. But if I’m not seen as an expert, and I don’t see myself as an expert, I’m just holding myself back. So I want you to break that cycle, my friend, I want you to work past it, I want you to start putting that content out. Whether that means it’s an Instagram caption here and there. It’s an Instagram Live or story. It’s a clubhouse room. It’s a podcast guest appearance, it’s a Facebook, live with a friend inside of their community, whatever it is, I want you to start putting it out there. Don’t just create it and let it sit. Easy enough, right? Just work through all that imposter syndrome. Like it’s nothing, I’m just kidding, I know that it’s really hard. So don’t take this as me not understanding the things that are standing in your way. But take this as an encouragement that it’s time to break the cycle and to move forward, and you can definitely do it.

Laylee Emadi 6:58
Alright, let’s move on to step number three, I want you to track response to all the things that you put out, track it like as closely as humanly possible, I want you to create some kind of hub that houses all of the responses of any content that you’re putting out across any platform. So if it’s on Instagram, I want you to have some kind of spreadsheet that says, you know, on this date, I posted this tip. And these many people commented and this is what they said, these are the messages that I got. And this is what they said, this was the response I got, and this is what happened afterward. I want you to be really specific here. I want you to be really intentional. And I want you to track this, like you are Google like I want you to really get in there, take the time, do the annoying thing. And make sure that you’re tracking every message, question, comment, and especially any critique that might come your way, I want you to put your defenses down. And I want you to really take the time to think through all of these responses and see where it is that you are lacking. Because I can guarantee you that both you and I are going to put content and information out there that is lacking in some way, shape, or form. And it’s on us as the budding up and coming educator to fix that. So we want to make sure that we are really doing a good job of keeping track of every single question, comment, critique, message, any response, right? Anything we put out there, we want to make sure that we know how people are actually taking it in how they’re applying it and how it’s going for them. And key tip here, I want you to follow up with the people who take the time to message you or to ask a question or to share an experience in response to content that you put out there, mark it down in this hub where you’re keeping track of things and set some kind of time for you to reach back out to them and say, you know, hey, I saw that you messaged me on this piece of content that I put out and said that you were going to apply it to your business. Did you do that? How did it go for you? And then track that response to and I know this sounds extra, I can totally acknowledge that. But this is what sets the expert educator apart from the person who just claims to be an educator in their Instagram bio, I want you to be the expert educator in this situation.

Laylee Emadi 9:24
Okay, and of course, I am a teacher at heart. So I’ve got to have a bonus point for you. Step Four. Tip number four for you as you are moving into your educator role is to get a coach. I have one I’ve had one since the day I started my business, albeit it was on and off, but I’ve got one even now. Join a mastermind, sign up for a course do something invest in something that helps you move the needle, because I can guarantee you that one of the biggest pitfalls for an educator who does not invest in their own education is that you become an out of touch, you become burnt out, and you become overwhelmed by the weight that you will end up carrying while working with your students. And I don’t want that for you, I want you to succeed. So I want you to think about it right now. Take the time to find educators that you can follow along with who you want to work with, who you admire, who you love, the way that they deliver their content and their education, and find ways to invest with them. And find ways to really pour back into yourself as an educator in the same way that you poured into your own business, as whatever it is that you are right now, as an expert, photographer or designer, or artist, whatever craft it is that you have perfected, I’m sure that you’ve invested in education to get you there. And I want you to continue to do so as an educator as well. And that’s definitely something that I can say I practice what I preach on. Alright, you guys, I promise this was going to be bite sized. So I’m going to wrap it on up for you with a quick bow. four steps for you. We’ve got three and a bonus one self reflection, ask yourself the hard questions to create content, but don’t stop there actually put it out there. Three track responses as closely as possible. And bonus point number four, get yourself a coach or some kind of education. And if you want more advice on this, I have a free no strings attached. totally totally free gift for me to you masterclass on this same topic over at the show notes or you can go directly to the creative educator academy.com and watch the video masterclass there, I break down a lot more advice on this topic. But I wanted to keep things short and sweet for you guys here. So I hope this was helpful. Let me know if it was and as always, I would so appreciate you leaving a five star rating and review over on Apple podcasts or wherever it is that you listen to podcasts. They really just help us get this content and this information out to the people who need it. Alright you guys I am cheering you on. And I will see you next week.

Laylee Emadi 12:03
For show notes and resources mentioned on today’s episode head to soheresthethingpodcast.com and if you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love to read your review in iTunes. Thanks so much for listening and I’ll catch you in the next episode.