The Money Minded Teacher

If you follow my social media posts, you've probably witnessed me unloading a few rants about money. After years of serving my local school system, then transitioning to corporate and now as a burgeoning entrepreneur, I want to dispel the narrative that teachers are not concerned about money. I am so over the myth that teachers are selfless servant leaders that do the good work from the heart without concerns about the pay. It's true that no educator entered this field expecting to get rich. However there should not be shame attached to wanting more money. The mortgage company doesn't cut teachers any slack because they are selfless servant leaders. The grocery stores and car dealerships don't give out freebies.

School systems are underfunded by their state governments. There is a limit to how much they can do to increase educator salaries. Until we reach some state of utopia where all noble work is paid a fair wage, teachers might need to take some issues into their own hands by going after alternate ways to get money that honor their talents. Taking on a second income stream is not a new practice for many educators. The modern age has made this even easier because online channels offer multiple paths to easy income streams, without leaving home in most cases.

I want to be explicitly clear. My mission is to help teachers make more money through digital methods. The simplest method is by doing what they already do, but online. See my previous blog posts about how the eLearning industry is growing at a phenomenal rate. But there is more, so so so much more. Edtech training, digital content creation, monetized podcasts, corporate learning and development and  entrepreneurship to name a few options. Teachers make up some of the most educated and overly certified sectors of the workforce. They are multifaceted in a field that has a very narrow path of career advancement. If I can help a few educators realize their badass talents are worth money, then I will have fulfilled my mission.

Stay tuned. There much more to come.

Dr. Akilah Willery