I heard this phrase edupreneurship on an on line marketing webinar the other night. I thought, that is ME! I am an educator and an entrepreneur.
I remember the first day of school last year, I looked at my class and decided this is my last year. I am tired. Having qualified for 21 years, I was not happy anymore, and I needed a change.
I had already started a small consulting agency, therefore, I had a foundation in place. What had not been done was to actually market the company. Yes, I did a few things: registered with the state, built a website, purchased business cards, and promoted a little on linkedin.com. However, it was nothing serious, and not receiving significant results either.
Marketing was something new to me. Although I had joined a few MLM's Multi-Level Marketing businesses) over my life-time, all of them had the basic format. You buy their beginner kit, go to their coaching and incredibly you were making enough to stop your full-time job. Well, the truth to this is, no, you don't, at least not at first. I'm sure you do, eventually.
But one thing that I did learn from all of the MLM's was that marketing your product is key. You must live, breathe and eat the product you are selling. Although I am sure I could have made enough to stay home and work only the MLM, I didn't. It is hard working a MLM and work a full time job. At the time, I wasn't sure if working hard was worth having financial independence.
Then I found out about writing a blog. I began to blog about my skills as an educator. THIS was worth working hard enough to have financial independence.
The more I blogged, the more information I found available to me. The MLM training I had not been in vain. I had learned the basics of marketing. (Wow, I had not wasted my money after all!) Writing a blog about your product, skills, and/or ideas was marketing too.
The training in learning to market my educational expertise with my consulting company was just as time consuming as the MLM market trainings. Except the fact that I could train at my own pace and not go somewhere or listen on a phone conference until 9 or 9:30 in the evening.
Here is what I have discovered to help me in my limited time promotion my blog.
1. Listen to podcasts. They are free. Be careful and notice the dates of the podcasts. Some may be outdated as information has changed. I like Jon Buscall with Online Marketing & Communication Podcasts (ITunes).
2. Create a strategy. Choose, what you want to promote. I already had a strategy in place, so I knew where I wanted to go with my organization.
3. Get a mentor. This person will allow you to bounce ideas around to make sure you are not going too far off in the wrong direction.
4. Present at conferences. This is a way to get your name and branding out there.
5. Watch YouTube videos on marketing. There are many, however, remain on target on what you want and not get pulled into the fast cash ones. You will know which websites provide guidance and ones that leave you saying, "Really?"
6. If the thought of writing is scary for you, there are many sites that will do it for you for a little fee, Elance.com and guru.com are two well-known ones.
7. During school breaks attend networking events to share your blog.
Online marketing is one way to begin to ease into a full time job in online marketing and still work in education.
Leave a comment expressing your opinion, like if you do, share if you will.
I remember the first day of school last year, I looked at my class and decided this is my last year. I am tired. Having qualified for 21 years, I was not happy anymore, and I needed a change.
I had already started a small consulting agency, therefore, I had a foundation in place. What had not been done was to actually market the company. Yes, I did a few things: registered with the state, built a website, purchased business cards, and promoted a little on linkedin.com. However, it was nothing serious, and not receiving significant results either.
Marketing was something new to me. Although I had joined a few MLM's Multi-Level Marketing businesses) over my life-time, all of them had the basic format. You buy their beginner kit, go to their coaching and incredibly you were making enough to stop your full-time job. Well, the truth to this is, no, you don't, at least not at first. I'm sure you do, eventually.
But one thing that I did learn from all of the MLM's was that marketing your product is key. You must live, breathe and eat the product you are selling. Although I am sure I could have made enough to stay home and work only the MLM, I didn't. It is hard working a MLM and work a full time job. At the time, I wasn't sure if working hard was worth having financial independence.
Then I found out about writing a blog. I began to blog about my skills as an educator. THIS was worth working hard enough to have financial independence.
The more I blogged, the more information I found available to me. The MLM training I had not been in vain. I had learned the basics of marketing. (Wow, I had not wasted my money after all!) Writing a blog about your product, skills, and/or ideas was marketing too.
The training in learning to market my educational expertise with my consulting company was just as time consuming as the MLM market trainings. Except the fact that I could train at my own pace and not go somewhere or listen on a phone conference until 9 or 9:30 in the evening.
Here is what I have discovered to help me in my limited time promotion my blog.
1. Listen to podcasts. They are free. Be careful and notice the dates of the podcasts. Some may be outdated as information has changed. I like Jon Buscall with Online Marketing & Communication Podcasts (ITunes).
2. Create a strategy. Choose, what you want to promote. I already had a strategy in place, so I knew where I wanted to go with my organization.
3. Get a mentor. This person will allow you to bounce ideas around to make sure you are not going too far off in the wrong direction.
4. Present at conferences. This is a way to get your name and branding out there.
5. Watch YouTube videos on marketing. There are many, however, remain on target on what you want and not get pulled into the fast cash ones. You will know which websites provide guidance and ones that leave you saying, "Really?"
6. If the thought of writing is scary for you, there are many sites that will do it for you for a little fee, Elance.com and guru.com are two well-known ones.
7. During school breaks attend networking events to share your blog.
Online marketing is one way to begin to ease into a full time job in online marketing and still work in education.
Leave a comment expressing your opinion, like if you do, share if you will.
About the Author:
Learn more about Blog. Stop by Dr. Genola Johnson's site where you can find out all about the business of education. Visit Jon Buscall's, visitOnline Marketing & Communications Podcasts
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