Teacher to Entrepreneur

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Thank you for taking the time to hear my story of how I left an extremely stressful situation, and eventually found a pathway to success and financial freedom… it is appreciated.

Like me, I am guessing that you have had enough of the stress, lack of opportunities, poor management, petty politics, very average pay, systems that do not put the education and mental well being of the child first, working evenings and weekends… and a whole myriad of other reasons why teaching – or it may be another career – is not for you anymore.

As a teacher of 28 years, specialising in Mathematics taught to 11-16 year olds, I had wanted to get out for a long time.

But you believe you cannot do anything else, you have a family to care for – I have four children – and how else are you going to pay the bills and the mortgage?

The alternative was to get another job outside of teaching, but could that give me financial freedom, allow me to work from anywhere on the planet, be able to scale up so that I only work a few hours a day, be able to learn the skills as an absolute beginner, whilst also providing a career which revolves around something that I am passionate about?

I had reached a point where I felt on the edge of a nervous breakdown… it was very noticeable that schools were beginning to function more like a business, with money being more of a priority than education in some circumstances.

In one school I worked for, there was very subtle bullying by management towards older staff – resulting in them taking early retirement, having long-term health issues or if they were lucky enough, taking redundancy.

Another issue I observed was how schools dealt with the expense of keeping experienced staff – this was brought home to me when I went for an interview, was told – off the record – by the head of department that I was the best candidate and the job was mine, for him to then be overruled by the headteacher – guess what, they could get two newly qualified teachers for the price of my salary – and who can blame them when the system is underfunded!

For many years I had tried different things to find something that would work:

Hypnotherapy, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), running a bar and restaurant (not recommended whilst still teaching!), building a business selling art online, dabbling in crypto-currency, reading self-improvement books continuously… and contemplated becoming a yoga teacher.

Although none of these in themselves gave me an escape route… either not being able to scale so reaching a ceiling of income very quickly, not being profitable, being stressful or not enjoyable – they did plant the seeds that made me realise I can do other things… the major factor was mindset!

Through training in Hypnotherapy and NLP, I was following Paul McKenna the hypnotherapist 

I read his book ‘How to Change Your Life In 7 Days’ – my mindset was completely different after following this guidance and listening to his hypnosis recordings alongside it.

I would recommend this as a starting point for anyone out there who does want to change their life.

My secret ambition at this point was to open a bar and restaurant – which I now felt able to do, as I had the self-belief needed to put my ideas into action.

To cut a long story short, I did achieve this with my partner, but it ended up not being very profitable and was also extremely stressful.

I was still teaching as our family needed that income, so as you can imagine, this was not sustainable!

What I did realise, is that no matter what you choose, the success of your business is completely dependent on how well you can sell it – this is what all businesses revolve around, so those who say they do not want to get involved in that, or they hate those marketing types of people, are destined to have a mindset that will not enable them to succeed very easily.

At this time, online advertising and Facebook was something that had just started – this was in the early days. 

Through my business ventures, I always puzzled over how these adverts were created, published, and put in front of you as if by magic, and with the rise of Google as a search engine – again, how do businesses get to being at the top of the Google searches?

Plus, it is essential that you have access to the best and latest training and can also access training on any new platforms and software that will serve you best – look at the recent success of Tik Tok – they could be the next big player in the world of online advertising.

I realised that no matter how I escaped from teaching, no matter what my new career, if I wanted to be independent, I would have to master these skills.  This also meant, that any interests, passions, or hobbies that I had, could be turned into a business if marketed in the right way… this was one of those ‘lightbulb’ moments!

If you have made it this far, for those of you who are interested, I will now share a lot more detail about my research, recommendations and how I eventually got out of teaching and established myself in a new profitable, enjoyable career.

To continue with my story – I had got to the point, where I knew I needed to get serious about researching opportunities which would give me financial freedom, allow me to work from anywhere on the planet, be able to scale up so that I only work a few hours a day, be able to learn the skills as an absolute beginner whilst also providing a career which revolves around something that I am passionate about.

I did understand that the future in business was going to be mastering my presence on the internet, so this gave me my starting point.

What I wanted was a business model where I could immerse myself in niches that I had a passion for, maybe sell products and services related to this, and once mastered, could then set up a business to offer my services to small businesses.

Our own limitations are those we set up in our own minds

Of course, once you start looking, that creates another problem – who is credible, what offers good value for money, do I get ongoing support – are they going to rip me off?

I also knew that I needed to get educated in Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and YouTube advertising, plus learn how to build websites, rank businesses at the top of Google (Search Engine Optimisation – SEO), create sales funnels and get an in-depth understanding of industries I was interested in!

I also wanted to be able to set up sites that have articles written about topics of interest where you host products and services related to these and earn a commission – affiliate marketing.

This list in the table below, is just a sample of some of the people I researched – if you look them up, you will see that mostly they are genuine people who may help in your quest to run your own online business.

There were many more, whom I have either forgotten or they are not worth a mention – see further below for the ones that I consider to be essential in helping me to fulfil my dream, to build my business, and get me out of teaching!

I have done the research, so that you do not have to waste your time and money in the way that I did!

Ryan DeissTara Hewson
Russell BrunsonAnthony Morrison
Ken MoskowitzDonte Killion
Jeff and Jessica SamisTara Zirker
Sarah CordinerDestinee Berman
Ted McGrathBen Heath
Tyler NarducciJamie York
Jim and Cindi PadillaJames Bonadies
Helen PritchardNeil Rackham
Dale CarnegieChris Voss
Jordan BelfontRay Edwards
Paul McKennaRobert Kiyosaki
Michael BuontempoChris Morrison
Robin AlexShaun Clark
Jackie SwiftBlake Nubar

Many of them offered training which was hugely expensive – up to $20,000/£15,000 with extra add-on costs if you wanted training on multiple platforms; only had limited narrow expertise – so for example showed great knowledge about one specific type of advertising – some did not convince me, and others could not back up their claims with genuine testimonials – but some of them did meet my list of criteria…

After wasting a lot of time and money, the stand-out people from the list above were:

Jeff and Jessica Samis (founders of multiple 7-figure businesses who give you all the training and support you need on multiple platforms) – they bring together the top international experts from Google, Facebook, SEO, LinkedIn, YouTube etc., and are continuously adding to their repertoire.

What a find this couple were!  If one thing really did change my life, it was the day I clicked on their Facebook advert!

Jeff and Jessica Samis
Jeff and Jessica Samis

The training that they offer gives you everything you need, at a fraction of the cost of many others that I looked at, and in addition you get brilliant support 24/7, and weekly training calls where all your questions will be answered.

You will also be invited to a private Facebook group where you will get access to experts who know everything there is to know about earning an income online.

Many companies will charge you the equivalent for training in just one aspect, such as Facebook marketing.  With these you get training in everything for the same price or less!

Even better, if you would like to have a chat about this, let’s do it! – if you would book in on the link here, I will be delighted to call you and can then give you better advice based on your interests and skills. 

Yes, you will need to invest in your business and work hard – this is not a get-rich-quick scheme but a genuine opportunity to undergo training by the best in the business.  The rewards though, can be great… if you follow the training and put in the effort, you can quickly get multiple returns on your investment.

The training I had, leads you by the hand, step-by-step so it is suitable for people who have no IT skills.  It includes:

Mindset training, platform skills for Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google – both organic and paid for advertising (platform skills are added as the internet grows); plus, you can learn how to build websites, rank businesses at the top of Google (Search Engine Optimisation – SEO), create sales funnels and build an online shop for ecommerce – and all the automation that is needed to do this!

The latest skills training is looking at how to build what is called a gateway brand site for affiliate marketing – probably the easiest and quickest way to get started. If you follow the link here you can find out more about this.

You do not have to do all of these, (but you can if you want to!) … there is help with sorting out your mindset, and guidance for choosing the best path for you, dependent on the business model that you decide on.

Leap for joy

Within three weeks of starting the training, I had real clients who were happy to pay me!… and soon after, exceeded my teaching salary.

You can start your training part-time or dive straight in full-time – whatever suits your circumstances.

What I have now built, is an agency that can offer all the services outlined above… and even better, I can choose to specialise in niches that I am passionate about – so for example, I have clients who are therapists, yoga teachers, beauty, and hair specialists, eco gardening experts, home improvement designers and installers, music producers, permaculture teachers, pop-up ethical food restaurant owners and event planners… and we add to this list all the time.

The latest interest that I have is in property investment – because once you start earning money, you want to find ways of being able to make it work for you – I would recommend for those interested in this, that Aran Curry’s course is a great place to start, plus join lots of groups and forums about property investment – this is what I did and am now able to start investing

Holiday let

I am particularly interested in holiday lets so that I can get all my family together on holiday, but also make sure that we give back to the local community and be careful about the impact we are having in doing this.

It has also opened up the possibility of diversifying to offer my services to businesses related to ‘all things property’.

Then, the bonus of reaching this stage, is that I can now help causes that are close to my heart with free online campaigns to promote their business or charity.

Other essential people, software and platforms that will be useful to you – see below – I only align myself with those that I would highly recommend and use myself:

  • Ken Moskowitz (AdZombies, Elite Advertisers Facebook group and author of Jab Till It Hurts) – creator of adverts that sell – if you are not very creative yourself use these
  • Russell Brunson (Founder of ClickFunnels) – a good system to start with.
Russell Brunson
  • Shaun Clark and Robin Alex (Founders of HighLevel – Integration software to give you all the automation that you need) – move on to this once you are a little more confident.

In addition to researching how to develop my skills, I also set about reading books that would help me on my journey – I am fascinated with the psychology of selling, and this is a skill you can use across all walks of life.

Here is my recent reading list and any of these are a great place to start improving your knowledge – go over to our separate books page for further details about these and others with links to purchase and some free downloads:

  • Paul McKenna – Change Your Life In 7 Days – I would start with this one!
  • Neil Rackham – Spin Selling
  • Dale Carnegie – How to Win Friends and Influence People
  • Chris Voss – Never Split the Difference
  • Jordan Belfont – Way of the Wolf
  • Ray Edwards – How to Write Copy That Sells
  • Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Dad Poor Dad
  • Ken Moskowitz – Jab Till It Hurts
  • Jon Acuff – Soundtracks
  • Napoleon Hill – Think and Grow Rich
  • Maxwell Maltz – Psycho-Cybernetics

What are your interests and passions?

Use those to form ideas about the niche you might like to start with

The interests that I chose, and so niches that I wanted to focus on are:

  • Fitness, Health and Beauty
  • Yoga
  • Hill Walking
  • Nutrition
  • Home Improvements and Interior Design
  • Healthy food outlets
  • Sustainable food production and lifestyle (Permaculture)
  • Renewable energy
  • Mental health improvement
  • Art
  • Campervans
  • Craft Beer
  • Festivals
  • Property Investment

All of these lend themselves to online advertising, and you can also develop a brand that is a lifestyle gateway and make an income from that.  This means that you can write about your passion whilst making money from it!

Next steps… if you are genuinely interested and want to know more, you can drop me an email at admin@grapevinemarketing.co, – this is usually the quickest way to get a response or visit my business website at https://grapevinemarketing.co

Message me on LinkedIn Ann Vasey | LinkedIn,

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ann.vasey.16/

WhatsApp https://bit.ly/3h73Y5r

If you prefer to have a chat and discuss how I can help you, if you book on the link here, I will be delighted to call you

I wish you every success with your journey to find a way out of your current situation – stay focussed on what your reason is for doing this – mine was financial independence, being able to help my family, build a business that was interesting and where I could explore my passions, keep my health and my sanity, and hopefully do some travelling!

Imagine in 12 months what your life could look like and follow that dream

Happy to help you on that journey

Sincerely,

Ann

Ann Vasey

Make sure you:

Act now to get training by the best international marketing experts to get everything you will need to be able to set up a business to give you:

  • financial freedom
  • freedom to work anywhere on the planet
  • freedom to work at a time to suit you
  • freedom to do something you love!

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