Episode 109: From Teacher for 11 Years to Online Business Manager with Melanie Battistelli

Full Episode Transcription:

Arianna (00:00):
You guys. I am so excited about today’s episode of the Ditch the Classroom podcast, because we are going to have our first guest since back in February when I had my son. I’m super excited to introduce to you today, Melanie Battistelli. She was a teacher for 11 years. She’s now an online business manager, helping other teachers and course creators launch their programs. So, so excited to share her story with y’all. I do wanna make a little note before we jump in, please excuse my voice. I don’t know what happened. It just disappeared this weekend for a little bit, and it’s still working on coming back. So if I sound a little wonky, that’s why. But I wanted to get you guys this episode. So let’s go ahead and dive on.

Arianna (02:00):
Welcome Melanie. I’m so excited to have you here on the show.

Melanie Battistelli (02:05):
Thanks. I’m really excited to be here too.

Arianna (02:08):
Awesome. So can you just kind of start us out with telling us a little about yourself and walk us through your teaching journey? Like how long you taught, what grades, and all of that?

Melanie Battistelli (02:20):
Sure. Of course I taught in the classroom for 11 years in my own room. I was a long-term sub for a year before that before I got a full-time teaching position. I teach high school – well, taught high school – I taught at one point all four grades. So 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. I do have some experience actually teaching middle school too, but decided like that wasn’t for me. It’s a special person to teach middle school, I feel like.

Arianna (02:51):
I agree.

Melanie Battistelli (02:52):
Yeah. I primarily taught US history and both at the academic and AP or advanced placement level. I taught AP human geography for 10 years. I piloted that in the county that I taught in. I’m dual certified in English. I taught that for three years as well, including journalism, which was a rough year. A lot of work for just one year. I was full-time for 10 years and then as I started my virtual assistant business, which transitioned into online business management, I was part-time the last year that I was in the classroom. I also sponsored student council for eight of the 11 years that I was a teacher. So lots of planning events.

Arianna (03:39):
Yeah, you’re a busy teacher. It’s funny. It’s so interesting. Like you said, I couldn’t go to middle school. I could not have gone to high school. I was a kindergarten teacher. And so like, I applaud you for all that you do with those crazy high schoolers

Melanie Battistelli (03:56):
They are a lot of work and a lot of fun… Most of the time.

Arianna (04:01):
So can you kind of share with us what really pushed you to want to leave teaching?

Melanie Battistelli (04:09):
Sure. So I had my first daughter who just turned four this last weekend in 2018.

Arianna (04:19):
What day was her birthday?

Melanie Battistelli (04:21):
Her birthday was June 26th.

Arianna (04:23):
So was my daughter’s! She just turned three.

Melanie Battistelli (04:25):
Oh, no way! That’s so silly. Just a year apart. Is she your oldest or?

Arianna (04:29):
Yes!

Melanie Battistelli (04:29):
Okay. Nice! When I first had her, I don’t know. I felt like teaching was still manageable with one and I mean, it was tricky because like I mentioned, I was teaching the year she was born. I was teaching two different AP classes. So it’s a lot of grading US history, especially at the AP level has a lot of like writing and essays. So it was manageable with one child, but then COVID hit as we all are aware. And when we went totally virtual, it obviously became more challenging. I mean, elementary school teachers, primary teachers I’m sure had a ton of issues, you know, getting their kids to just follow the directions to where they were supposed to be. And at the high school level, we were like, you know, talking to nobody like kids would just log on and there would just be a bunch of icons and there were no children there, like you would ask for an answer and just nobody would respond to you for like hours. And I mean, I was in a really good district as well, like kids, I really can’t complain behavior-wise, academic-wise. It’s really great. But I think that COVID changed the game permanently for a lot of teachers just afterwards, the expectation of being constantly available 24/7, because you kind of had to be when you were virtual the line between, I guess, work and home-life got extremely blurred. And then I became pregnant with my second daughter shortly after the pandemic started. Like, you know, when everyone was like, oh, this’ll be like three weeks a month and then it’ll be fine. Turns out, no. But as I, you know, was further along with her and it kind of became apparent that the 2020/2021 school year was going to be, it was entirely virtual where I lived. We were online the whole time.

Arianna (06:32):
Wow.

Melanie Battistelli (06:34):
Yeah. Until March of 2021, when they invited some students back to the classroom. But that’s when I had my second daughter. So I was completely remote the entire school year of 2020/2021. And it just, it wasn’t the same. And at that point in time, I had already – we’ll talk about this I’m sure – But I had already started my virtual assistant business and it was going pretty well. So I realized that I would be able to either leave or drop down to part-time – which my district and my principal’s amazing – And he basically – he has three kids himself and his wife stayed home for a long time. So he basically makes it work in any way that he can. So he was able to accommodate the part-time request, which I did this entire last year, but I found that part-time teaching was basically as much work as full- teaching. You’re just physically there for less, but I mean, the grading and planning and everything was still just almost as much. But with, you know, 60% less pay. So I realized, yeah, that I could make the same if not more money working from home and less hours. So that is my at least five year plan until my littlest who just turned one is probably in at least first grade. And then we will, we’ll see where life is.

Arianna (08:02):
Awesome. Well, thank you so, so much for just kind of sharing where you’re at, cuz I know a lot of my listeners, they would love to get to the point where they can take this full time. So it’s really cool to see, you know, your journey and when you started getting that nudge and how long it’s actually taken you to be able to do this. So thank you for that.

Melanie Battistelli (08:23):
Absolutely.

Arianna (08:23):
So what would you say in that time, what was the biggest thing that you kind of had to overcome?

Melanie Battistelli (08:32):
So for me, I am a very careful planner, I guess you could say. And I know a lot of people who I’ve just met, you know, virtually met online over the last two years since becoming a virtual assistant, some people just are like, “Yeah, I can do this.” And they just quit right away almost. Or like as soon as they make almost enough, they quit their job, their nine-to-five or their teaching job and hop right into the virtual assistant world. So for me, I feel like the biggest thing for me to overcome was myself in thinking that you have to make a certain amount of money or you have to like hit a financial milestone to be able to leave I’m right outside of Washington, DC in Northern Virginia. So it’s also easy for people that are living in expensive areas like outside of New York city or like anywhere in the DMV or I’m sure places in California, like my school district pays pretty well. And you see, I feel like you see a lot of people who maybe were former teachers who are now turned virtual assistants like, “Oh, well I doubled my teaching income.” But I mean, it’s just important to keep in mind that teaching income is unfortunately like very vast, right? Like some people start at $30,000 and like the starting salary in my school district for example is $55,000, which is where some people get, you know, after years of teaching. So it’s easy, I guess, to listen to people saying like, “Oh, well I doubled my teaching salary. So I was able to leave.” but also like keep in mind that if you’re in a pretty expensive area that paid well, like that might not happen right away. And that’s okay. So I feel like that was the hardest thing for me to overcome is just ignoring people who are like, “Yes, I’ve more than doubled my teaching salary and making so much more money than teaching.” Just like keeping it all in perspective, I guess, for yourself.

Arianna (10:42):
Yeah, definitely. I think sometimes you see where other people are at and you’re like, “Oh, I need to get there by tomorrow.” And you gotta understand it’s a process. And like you said, it’s very different for everyone. It’s different per school district. It’s different per state and, some people, it might take them a little less time, but that might be because they don’t have kids or they just have a little bit more time to dedicate it. So it’s like you said, it’s really important to keep it into perspective that this is not an overnight thing.

Melanie Battistelli (11:15):
Yeah. It’s definitely not. Or, I mean, if you’re more of a risk taker than I am, like, it could be. Like, I could have not done part-time this year and I probably would’ve made more money honestly than if I was just doing my online business management full-time because teaching still took up anywhere from 15 to 25 hours, depending on the week. Like that’s a lot of time that’s one or two more clients, you know what I mean? So you just have to do what’s comfortable I guess for you.

Arianna (11:46):
Yeah, definitely. So you started as a virtual assistant and now you’re transitioning or you have transitioned into being an online business manager. Can you share what resources have really helped you in your Ditch the Classroom journey?

Melanie Battistelli (12:02):
Sure. Yes. So I started as a virtual assistant in November of 2020, and then about six months later, I was, uh, doing work for a client who she’s a, she’s a TPT seller. She also has a course primarily geared towards K-thru-Five teachers. And she noticed – she’s like, “You’re basically doing the work of a project manager. So I feel like that would be a good fit for you.” Like let’s hire somebody else to do social media and customer support, which is what I had been doing. I’d been doing her Instagram and you know, stuff that like a general virtual assistant does with a side, I guess, of social media management. So I sort of became her project manager in May of 2021. And then from then on thought about like how I could hone my skills, I guess, a little bit more to become better at managing things, like course launches, learning a little bit more about key performance indicators, stuff that like project managers and eventually online business managers tend to look at. So I don’t – I’m trying to remember how I honestly found the OBM Institute. I looked at a couple different places that have – I looked into one place, program, I guess, that has launched management certification. I looked at another online business manager school and then I ultimately decided on the International OBM Institute. Just because I guess their process seemed the most, I don’t wanna say “serious”, but the most comprehensive, I guess. Yeah. And they also had a directory afterwards that you could theoretically find clients in the future where people would like apply to be looking for an online business manager and they could kind of look through the directory, which you would be included in for going through their program. So that, that was appealing to me. So that was, I started that in November of 2021, maybe it was October and then finished up the certification about six months ago in January.

Arianna (14:23):
Very cool. Can you – so some of my listeners will know what an OBM is, but could you kind of explain it for those that don’t really understand what an OBM does?

Melanie Battistelli (14:33):
Yeah, of course. That’s probably a good point of clarification. So online business managers, they can do a lot of different things. You might be sort of a general online business manager, meaning that you are in the day-to-day of a person’s business. So you’re managing their team. You’re hiring people. Like, for example, I mentioned that later on, we hired somebody for customer support. We hired somebody for email marketing. So I am that person for one of my major clients, the one who I was originally a project manager for. So you can do like retainer work and that’s – it’s kind of where you’re basically a business manager managing the day-to-day of the business, but you’re of course doing it remotely, hence the online part. So yeah, so the hiring, putting out job applications, making sure that any projects that are underway, like get done. I manage launches for her. So if she has a course coming out or any sort of like a TPT sale, those sort of things fall under me. As an online business manager, you can also be a launch manager where you would just come on for a smaller set of time, usually three to four months. And you would plan out every aspect in detail of a course launch or a product launch. So you would make a plan for the emails, the social media, if there’s webinars or trainings, you would either hook up all that technology yourself or hire perhaps a tech, virtual assistant to come on and, and do that for you. But online business managers, they can do that. I know some that have gone through the Institute with me that do things like just ClickUp builds or just Dubsado setups. And that’s literally all they do. That’s definitely not my thing, but one of my friends specializes in that and she’s like booked out three months. Yeah. All she does is Dubsado setups takes her two days. She charges like 3 or $4,000 and works like five days a month. Like that’s the dream, but –

Arianna (16:53):
That’s awesome.

Melanie Battistelli (16:54):
Yeah, she’s been doing it for a long time. So OBMs can do all sorts of, I guess, different things depending on what you wanna specialize in. It’s not just necessarily one thing.

Arianna (17:06):
Yeah. Perfect. Thank you for explaining that a little bit more.

Melanie Battistelli (17:08):
Sure.

Arianna (17:09):
So this has been super awesome. Just kind of hearing your story of where you were and how you’ve gotten to where you are today. Just really like trusting in yourself, but also like having a game plan going from full-time to part-time and now you’re done at the end of this school year, right?

Melanie Battistelli (17:26):
Yeah. My last day was June 17th. Yeah. I did graduation saved all my stuff on the Google Drive. I opened it up on Saturday. Like not even on purpose. I opened up Google Drive to look at something for a client and noticed that like my little icon was all grayed-out. So they, they took everything away like on the last day. So yeah, I am officially done.

Arianna (17:51):
That’s awesome. Congratulations!

Melanie Battistelli (17:54):
Thank you.

Arianna (17:55):
I just wanna ask you a question that I ask every person who comes on this show and it’s, if someone wanted to start their ditch the classroom journey, but they just felt too overwhelmed, what would you tell them?

Melanie Battistelli (18:08):
I would tell them that it is totally possible. It takes – I mean, it’s not easy. I feel like I’ve been working two jobs for the last two years. And as we all know, teaching often requires or not requires, but you often do work at home. Like it’s very rare that you’re able to work to contract hours five days a week. That’s I mean, if you are amazing, good for you, but it’s a tricky thing to do. So I would say if you wanna start, but you just feel too overwhelmed, just start somewhere and do a little bit each day or each week. Take a look at your schedule and actually really look at where maybe there’s some gaps in your schedule that you could fit in an hour or two a week to work on your online business. I mean, when I started this, we were a hundred percent virtual. I had three preps, two of them were AP and we were redesigning everything from paper. Like we’d taught the last, you know, nine, ten years to be able to be taught over Google Classroom and through Google Meets. So while I had a two year old while I was seven months pregnant, so it’s totally possible. You just have to be determined and know that like we talked about earlier, it’s not gonna happen overnight. You need to find a little bit of time in your schedule, whether that means getting up an extra hour early two days a week, or staying up an extra hour at night, two days a week, or asking your spouse, if you have one, to take the kids for two hours on a Sunday and just get out of the house and then actually like do the work, is I guess the key there. Don’t just, you know, stay up an hour late and watch Netflix. Although, I mean, it’s very tempting, but you really gotta dedicate the time that you set aside. And I mean, I really think everybody can probably find an extra five hours in their week with a little bit of determination.

Arianna (20:31):
Yeah. I 100% agree. And this episode is actually coming out just after a three day series I did on starting your virtual assistant business with five hours a week, 10 hours a week, and then 15 hours a week. So I kind of give you a game plan for doing that. So if you’re to this, then I definitely highly recommend going and checking those out. I don’t remember off the top of my head, what numbers they are, but go check those out because that will definitely help you.

Melanie Battistelli (20:57):
Perfect.

Arianna (20:59):
So do you have any resources that you think would be helpful for someone who wants to ditch the classroom?

Melanie Battistelli (21:06):
Yeah, so it depends – what you are hoping to, I guess, ditch the classroom for. If you are wanting to ditch the classroom to become a virtual assistant or an online business manager, I leave lots of productivity tips over on my Instagram. I’m also in the process of coming up with a couple other new freebies that hopefully, by the time this episode is released, will actually be out. Like a KPI tracking spreadsheet for your own business metrics. But right now, if you are hoping to ditch the classroom in hopes of becoming a full time TPT seller, which is possible because I support three of them who have ditched the classroom on their own, through making money on Teachers Pay Teachers. I have a SOP, which means a Standard Operating Procedures, cheat sheet, which basically allows you to kind of put certain things in your business on autopilot and just kind of go through the motions and not have to think about like, “oh shoot, what do I do next? What do I do after that?” It’s all written out for you. And you can find that at I’m assuming it’ll probably also maybe be in the show notes, but at https://bit.ly/tptsopfreebie.

Arianna (22:32):
Yeah. I will definitely have that in the show notes for those of y’all listening. Well, thank you so much, Melanie, for coming on the show, where can people come and connect with you and just be your best friend?

Melanie Battistelli (22:44):
I would love to make more online friends. I feel like that was also a challenge that is going to be that I’ll see this next year in leaving the classroom, not having my awesome department. I’ll definitely miss seeing real people in person every day. So I’d love to make more friends. I mostly hang out on Instagram @duxburydigital. I do have a Facebook, but I’m much more active on Instagram. So that is the best place to find me.

Arianna (23:13):
Perfect. And like I said again, I’ll have that in the show notes, so y’all can go and connect with Melanie and thank you for coming on the show. All right, y’all I love you so much. Thank you for tuning in, make sure you go and leave a review if you’re loving these episodes so we can get more amazing guests, just like Melanie, and we will see you next time.