Episode 223: Prepare Your Finances So You Can Quit Teaching

Full Episode Transcription:

[00:00:00] Hey y’all. Welcome back to the Ditch the Classroom podcast. Before we jump into today’s topic, I wanted to take a moment to read a really sweet review of the show. The review says, “I just found this podcast this week, and I’ve listened to at least 30 episodes In each episode, I learned something new and helpful. Thank you so much for all of the valuable information you share. I’m so excited to get started.” Y’all. If you didn’t already know, these reviews not only light me up and make my heart so incredibly happy, but it is also the number one way that the podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, all of the ones you’re listening on, it’s how they know that this podcast is worth pushing out to more people to help more mamas and teachers just like you, who are trying to figure out what they can do outside of teaching or just to be able to provide for their family while working from home. So if you’ve listened to one episode, two episodes, three episodes, and you haven’t left a review yet, It would make my heart so incredibly happy, and I have a free gift for you in exchange for supporting the show. So when you go to Apple Podcasts, type in Ditch the Classroom, click on it. You scroll down to the write a review section at the bottom, click the five stars, write a sentence or two about how this podcast has helped you. If you go and do that, and you take a screenshot before you hit submit. Then you can email that to me at podcast@ditchtheclassroom.com, and I will give you a free gift of my Ditch the Classroom Toolkit. This is the foundational steps to becoming a virtual assistant so you can replace your teaching income while working from home, and I’m going to give you that toolkit for free if you leave that review. Now, I did say, take a screenshot before you hit submit because if you hit submit first, it does take a few days for Apple to like actually show your review. So try to remember to do that before you hit that submit button. That’s just my gift to you as a thank you for helping me spread the message of this show and reach even more amazing mamas and teachers just like y’all.

[00:02:24] Alright, for today’s episode, I’ll ask you a question. Are you worried that you are not gonna have enough money to cover your expenses so you can quit teaching? I know that this is a worry that bogs down a lot of you, and so I want to share three tips with you to help you prepare your finances so that you can quit teaching and not have to stress about your money. So let’s just go ahead and jump on it. Number one. First tip to help you prepare your finances so you can quit teaching is to list out all of your expenses that occur each month. So write down on a piece of paper all of the different expenses you do, whether it’s a recurring like monthly payment you make, or just a bill, or even just like, you know, getting your daily coffee. Write all of that out. Okay, this may take some time. You may wanna like take a look at your bank statements and kind of go through this and write out, you know, what is important. What’s just something that makes your heart happy? What’s something you’re maybe doing that you don’t even really need to do? Like maybe you’re paying for Netflix and you haven’t watched Netflix in like eight months. You probably don’t need that subscription anymore.

[00:03:38] So that brings me into step number two, which is to delete anything that is not helping you. Okay, so. Like I said, delete that Netflix subscription. Maybe you start drinking coffee from home three days a week, but you get it from Starbucks the other two days, so you’re saving a little money there. See what’s possible to remove so that you can start to really budget for taking that step outta the classroom. You think a lot of times, We hear the word budget and we feel really restricted. Like, “oh, I’m not gonna be able to spend any of this money that’s in my bank account, like it’s really gonna hinder me.” I used to feel the same way, and honestly, my mindset around a budget has totally shifted because now I just see it as a guide to really see where my money is going, and then I can understand, you know, I really want to focus on this. How can I use my money to help me get there? So I think just like some people have something against planners, some people think that a planner is going to put them in a straight jacket and they think a budget is going to do the same thing, and that’s not what it’s for. It’s just showing you where you’re putting your resources so that you can really get a clear visual for. Where your money is going, or for the planner instance where your time is going and you can rearrange that if you need to. But if you don’t know what’s going on, there’s nothing you can really do about it. Okay? So we have to have that understanding first so that we can rearrange things to be able to do what we wanna do. So delete any expenses that aren’t helping you.

[00:05:21] And then tip number three is you can use that extra income that you’re no longer spending on the Netflix subscription on maybe going to the gym that you haven’t been to in a while because you’re working out in your basement. You can use that extra income to start building that cushion for you. So when you quit teaching, I do recommend having, you know, some money bill up because it does take some time to, you know, get into a new career. If you’re going into virtual assistant and you’re waiting till you quit teaching to start it, it does take a little bit of time to land that first client. Caveat here. That’s why I do recommend starting your virtual assistant business while you’re still teaching, so you can get a few clients before you even leave. But if you’re just quitting teaching first and going straight into starting your business, then I do recommend having that cushion built up.

[00:06:16] That way, you’re not so stressed about your expenses. So let me recap those three tips for you. Number one is to list out all of your expenses that occur each month and create a budget for each category. The second tip is to delete anything that is not helping you or does not light you up. And then the third is to use that extra income. You’re no longer spending to start building a cushion for you when you do quit teaching. Again, virtual assistants can help with building that cushion because you can start it as a side hustle and get it to the point where you feel comfortable enough, like maybe you haven’t fully replaced your teaching income, but at least you’re to a point where you know you can cover the basics and you can get out of teaching and continue to build a virtual assistant business to double, triple your teaching income and more.

[00:07:09] Okay, so this is totally possible for you. I know that you can do it. If you’re interested in becoming a virtual assistant, doing it as a side hustle, doing it as your full-time career, I encourage you to come and check out our free workshop where I’m gonna teach you The Five Ps to Becoming a Successful and Profitable Virtual Assistant, so you can get registered for that. Again, it’s free. You can get registered for that over at ariannavernier.com/free-workshop. That’s A R I A N N A V E R N I E R .com/free-workshop. Or you can find the link for that in the show notes. All right, y’all. Let me know if you have any questions about this. I would love to support you and we will see you in the next episode.