Episode 93: Is It Better to Quit Teaching or Phase Out Slowly as I Build My Virtual Assistant Business?

Full Episode Transcription:

(00:07):
Hey, sister, friend. Welcome back to the Ditch the Classroom podcast. Just wanna remind you coming up in just under one week, we are going to be having our five day series teaching you the five step you need to take to start your virtual assistant business. So here on the podcast, you can tune in each day next week from June 20th to the 24th when I’ll be sharing with you a tip on what you can do to really get started so that you can replace your teaching income and start working from home as a virtual assistant. Also during next week, we’ll be having a flash sale on TTFA. So make sure you tune in on next Monday for more details about that and get ready, cause it’s gonna be awesome.

(01:40):
All right. In today’s episode, I’m covering the topic of how to decide whether you should quit teaching right off the bat and just pursue your virtual assistant business full time right from the get go. Or if you should kind of phase out more slowly as you build your virtual assistant business as a side hustle. I personally quit teaching right off the bat and some of my students have as well, but it’s not for everybody. Other students have been building their virtual assistant business as a side hustle until they get to the point where they’re more comfortable to quit. And sometimes that is the better option. So I’m gonna walk you through three questions to really help you identify which route is the best for you. So let’s just dive right in. Number one is, do you have a bit of a savings saved up? I recommend having at least three months of your total expenses saved up because it might take a month or two to land your first client and to really get your business running. Typically, I say that the first month of starting a virtual assistant business is really about learning about the virtual assistant world, figuring out what services you’re gonna offer, creating your portfolio and all of those things. And then typically the second month is when you really hit the ground running with pursuing clients. And you can typically land your first client in that first month and then it snowballs from there. So I do recommend having a little bit of wiggle room in your budget if you’re wanting to quit teaching completely and just pursue this full time. Make sure you have that savings of at least three months of your total expenses saved up. If you’re wanting to just – if you’re planning to build this more as a side hustle, you don’t necessarily need that savings, but maybe start working towards it so it gives you a little bit more of a cushion when you do decide to take your virtual assistant business full time.

(03:47):
Question number two is, do you have a support system to push you when things get hard? If you quit teaching right off the bat, you definitely cannot give up on your virtual assistant business. So you wanna make sure that you have a good support system to back you up when you’re struggling with things like imposter syndrome or just, you know, feeling that pressure. You wanna make sure you have accountability to keep pursuing this thing even on the days where it’s a little bit more tough and this is important in both aspects, but it’s especially important. If you’re quitting teaching completely, you need to have that support to hold you accountable. If you’re just building your virtual assistant business as a side hustle, while you slowly phase out of teaching, I still recommend having that accountability to keep you on track towards goals, but you don’t need maybe as much support as someone who is really like taking this thing zero to 60 as fast as they can.

(04:54):
Now, number three is ask yourself, how well do you work under pressure? Is it overwhelming to you to have pressure on your shoulders? Or is that what makes you get to work? I know for me personally, if I have all the time in the world to figure this thing out, I probably would’ve taken all the time in the world, but because I had already quit teaching and I knew I needed to replace my income so that I could be home with my daughter and not have to go back to teaching ever, that pressure pushed me to really pursue this as hard as I could. So think about that for yourself. Is that pressure of needing to replace your income going to propel you forward? Or is that going to give you anxiety and maybe hold you back? If the answer is yes, it’s going to give me some anxiety and stress me out, then building it as a side hustle – building your virtual assistant business as a side hustle is probably your best bet so that you can take this one step at a time and not have to push yourself too much.

(06:06):
All right, real quick. Let me recap those questions for you so you can figure out whether it’s better for you to quit teaching and pursue your virtual assistant business full force or if it’s better to phase out of teaching slowly. Question number one, do you have a bit of a saving setup? I recommend at least three months of your total expenses. Number two, do you have a support system to push you when things get hard? And number three, how well do you work under pressure? If your answer to this is “Yes, I’m ready to quit teaching right off the bat and get going”, the Teacher Turned Freelancer Academy is 100% for you. It’s going to give you that accountability and support you need to really grow this thing as fast as you need to. It’s going to give you all the tools, templates, and resources, and trainings to allow you to build this thing very quickly and replace your income very quickly.

(07:02):
Now, if the answer to these questions for you is that it’s better for you to phase out slowly as you build your virtual assistant business, TTFA is still a great program for you because it’s going to – still in the long run – save you that time, energy, and money, and really allow you to work through this program at your pace. So you can work on it only on the weekends or only in a few hours a week as you phase out slowly out of teaching. So either way TTFA is a great option for you. And again, I’m gonna be offering that flash sale next week during our five day series. So make sure you tune in on Monday for more information on that here on the podcast. And I hope this was helpful for y’all. Let me know if you have any questions. Come drop those questions in our free Facebook community, facebook.com/groups/ditchtheclassroom. And I can’t wait to see you there.