Teacher Shift

Getting Started Before You Make an Exit

April 26, 2023 Krystle Blakefield Episode 56
Teacher Shift
Getting Started Before You Make an Exit
Show Notes Transcript

This week, Ali and JoDee sit down with Krystle Blakefield, a former elementary educator who now works in the online space as a virtual service provider. Together, they’ll discuss what a virtual service provider is, how Krystle was able to get started  while still in the classroom, and the first steps any teacher can take to become a virtual service provider.


Connect with Krystle:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kodexlea/ & https://www.instagram.com/krystle.blakefield/

Website: https://krysandcoservices.com/


Interested in what a virtual service provider can do? Here is the course Krystle recommends: https://sarawiles.co/thestart/

Connect with Ali and JoDee:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachershift
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teachershift
Teacher Shift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/teacher-shift
Ali’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisimon/
JoDee’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodeescissors/

Website
https://www.teachershiftpodcast.com/

Episode Transcriptions
https://www.teachershiftpodcast.com/blog

Ali  0:05  
All teachers are natural innovators, entertainers and problem solvers. They dream of growing old into the profession, teaching their kids kids. But sometimes career goals shift or change, and that makes opportunities outside of the classroom seem intangible questioning who am I, if I'm not a teacher? I'm your host, Alexandra Simon.

JoDee  0:31  
And I'm your co host, JoDee Scissors.

Ali  0:34  
This is The Great Teacher Resignation.

Today, we're joined by Krystle Blakefield. Krystle is a former public school teacher who now uses her 14 years of education experience to manage projects, processes, and team members so your business can thrive. Welcome to the show today, Krystle.

Krystle  1:00  
Hi, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited

Ali  1:02  
Glad to have you on the show today. And I got a chance to take a look at your LinkedIn and at your Instagram a little bit before the episode. And I'm really curious to know, if you can share with us, what is a virtual service provider? Like tell us a little bit about what you do? 

Krystle  1:18  
Yeah, so honestly, a little bit of everything. So it can be anywhere from creating social media content to managing companies social media profiles. Copywriting as a virtual service provider now. So I do some of that for some of my clients. Managing sales teams is something that I do. Updating their email marketing campaigns. Basically, any behind the scenes for a business would fall under the umbrella virtual service provider. 

JoDee  1:48  
Do you do all of that from home?

Krystle  1:50  
I do. 

JoDee  1:51  
What do you like working from home? I know it's not for everyone. So what is it about being in that space that you enjoy?

Krystle  1:58  
I really enjoy having the flexibility in my schedule. Like you know, all teachers, you have to like, beg someone to come in so you can go pee. Just having that flexibility to taking care of myself. I have two little kids, three and a five year old. So being able to work from home if one of them sick, which is often, I can you know, work on my laptop next to them or just call it for the day. There's just there's boundless flexibility in it.

JoDee  2:26  
So you're in this online space, when you are teaching were you digitally savvy? Did you have these skills as you were a teacher? Or did they come? After? How did you get into that online space and choose that field?

Krystle  2:41  
I did not have these skills at all, which is funny because my first school I taught at I was the E-coach. And I just was not very tech savvy. I mean I could work like a smartboard. And I was interested in learning more, but I was not... You know, I kind of learned them as I went. I actually got into the field because during COVID, you know, like everyone, we were home with our kids. My daughter was two and a half at the time and I had a six month old when lockdown happen. And we were home all day. And I was like, alright, they're not learning. I have a master's degree in curriculum and instruction. L et's get learning. And so I wrote a whole preschool curriculum to do at home. And then I was like, huh, this is pretty good. And she tried to sell it. And so I created a Squarespace page, I created an Instagram page for marketing the activities. And then from there, I gained all of these like tech savvy skills. And I found that I actually really enjoyed doing that part. And so that's kind of how I started in the field.

Ali  3:41  
That's awesome. And so I guess you chose the field, because you had first hand experience of what it was like working in it, you knew you connected with it. And it sounds like you were able to take some of your teacher brain skills and put them to use I love how you created that preschool curriculum for your own kids and then was able to share it with other people. Because as a former high school teacher, that was a struggle for me like with my own littles, like that was not my training. Right? Was that that younger level. But you know, one thing I wanted to bring up is that you mentioned having the freedom to set boundaries that work for you and your family in our communication before today. So just wondering, what does that look like in practice?

Krystle  4:24  
So example, my family. We're living right now currently in South Florida, but we travel north every summer. I'm from Maryland. I grew up in Maryland. My family's there. So being able to have that flexibility of like, we're gonna go up for the whole summer. And I don't have to be back for pre planning, or I don't have to close out my classroom, or I don't have to do over summer trainings. You know, that is a huge chunk. And then another portion is just like back to that sickness. Hey, my kids are sick. And you know what, I'm not going to come in at 6am to do sub plans. So I can come back home to sick kids like. And then another big thing is I was commuting. And I loved my previous schools. They were so good. And it was really hard for me to live the field. But I was sitting in the car for an hour and a half to 45 minutes each way. And I was gonna have to start putting my kids in before school care and after school care. And it was just, it was just not a good fit for us anymore.

Ali  5:25  
I grew up in Palm Beach County, I saw that on your, on your LinkedIn. And I was like, Oh, I wonder where she was working. And you really have had a varied career in education. I saw that you started as an elementary school teacher. You were a literacy specialist. And then you moved into other areas within education. And so I wanted to ask you about that. You know, what was the impetus for kind of making the career change. But I think you've explained a little bit that it was the work life balance is what I'm hearing.

Krystle  5:54  
Yeah, that was the biggest thing, like I was the kid that was always like, I'm going to be a teacher, like, there was no backup plan for me. And so when I went to and started, like thinking about oh, my gosh, I really couldn't leave. Like, that was a huge chunk of my identity. And I had, you know, a bachelor's degree, a master's degree. I was ready to like, go into admin. And it was just, just the game change, and I have kids. And it was just like, I can't keep putting other kids before my kids, kind of thing.

JoDee  6:24  
I think what's also unique about your story is that during the pandemic, you learned some new skills in terms of like creating resources, and how to adapt to an online environment. And then using that to your advantage as you transitioned out and working in the online space. And a lot of times when we interview people, they hone in on a skill that they were really, really, really good at while teaching. And then you're kind of saying that it came a little bit later those skills, but there's room to learn new skills. There is space, you know, if you keep your mind open, and you're willing to put in the effort there. You can learn new skills. And you can apply them and maybe, I mean, I'm sure you use a lot of your teacher brain skills all the time right now, but there's room to grow more of them. 

Krystle  7:12  
Absolutely. And like, the best thing about having that teacher brain is that you actually do so many things during the day. You're managing kids. You're making sure that everyone is to schedule. I mean, just so much stuff. You're creating curriculum, which goes to everything. You're already copywriting, because you're writing to parents. You're using a different voice in the building than you are at home. So you would know how to kind of code switch like that. So so many skills are transferable to the online space. 

JoDee  7:41  
When I do homework with my daughter. She will say to me, Mom, you're using a teacher voice, like I guess I do that. And I do code switch when I get into like, Okay, we're gonna do long division. And then I start talking about the steps and she's like, Mom, why are you talking like that? 

Krystle  7:58  
But my daughter is already in kindergarten and same like okay, I blank E. What's the vowel say? She'll say stop Mom, I know.

Ali  8:08  
It's funny, we all have something like that. I have teacher Spanish. I don't know JoDee, if you ever acquired like teacher Spanish, but it's at a much slower, more comprehensive pace than like, my normal Spanish if I was just speaking to a native Spanish speaker. And so people are always like, wow, I can really understand what you're saying if they're not a native speaker. I'm like, because I'm speaking teacher Spanish. But I'm wondering, how were you able to balance getting started part time in the virtual service provider space while still being an educator?

Krystle  8:40  
Yeah, well, like so many teachers, right, we already have side hustles. You're either waiting tables or doing extra babysitting shifts or something like that. So for me, my kids were still really little, and they were go to bed at you know, seven. And I would work sitting in the hallway, because you know, they can't fall asleep without me with my laptop. And I would work from seven to nine, a couple days a week. And at that point, I only had one client. And so it was really easy to kind of balance or I would do a couple of hours on Saturday morning while my husband would take the kids to the park. But I wanted to be sure before I made the jump that this was something that I really, really wanted to do.

JoDee  9:20  
Yeah, because you got your degrees, multiple degrees. You've dedicated all those years. And so you're in this space, and it's new. How do you get clients?

Krystle  9:30  
Oddly enough, a friend I met right before COVID shut down, trains virtual assistants. I met her at the gym, and then we just kind of clicked. And her and her husband have a son who is around the same age as my daughter. And so we were a COVID pod. And she just kind of started saying things like, Hey, you know, stuff that you're doing, you could actually make a lot of money if you did it for somebody else. If you're ever interested, let me know. I ended up taking her course over the summer, one year. And it's a six week course called The Start. And through that she walks you through how to start a business, how to manage clients, how to budget for what you need. And once you graduate that course, she has free matchmaking. So whatever your services are, she connects you with other people. I also was able to just kind of reach out to a couple friends from high school and just be like, Hey, just so you know, I'm gonna start doing this if you know anyone. And I got my first client that way. So you could go on LinkedIn. You can go on Instagram, and just start marketing yourself. It's really, really so easy to get clients, because people need help.

JoDee  10:39  
And so it's okay to reach out beyond your teacher community to advance your career. That's something that I found valuable in my transition was thinking outside the box. And I think my, my gym crew would be really upset if I did not mention them right now. But they are really supportive of the podcast, and you know, encouraging. And I know that all my teacher people are too. But I also have like these other pods of people that are really supportive cheerleaders that care about the trajectory of my career and my life and my happiness.

Krystle  11:15  
Absolutely. And it's being able to put yourself out there and kind of leverage those personal connections. Just, you know, it was really scary, right? Because like, I was the education person. I was the person that everyone came to when they were concerned about their kids or question about what their kids supposed to be learning in school. Like I was that resource for them. And so for me, that'd be like, Hey, I'm thinking about doing something different. By the way, if you know anyone, send them my way kind of thing. It's a big jump, but it was worth it.

Ali  11:45  
So I think one of the things that I hear from people when they find out that I work from home or that I have a remote job, there's just kind of this like, assumption that your kids like, don't have to go to school anymore when you're, when you're working remote. And I think when you work remote, when you work for yourself, when you have your own business, it's still really important as a parent, and as a former educator to like to have work time and to have family kid time. Like setting those boundaries was something that I had to work hard on because it can be a little bit blurry when your office is at home. What would your suggestion be for someone who, you know, is looking to start their own business, to go in to start working remote? Like with setting those boundaries and making sure that you're not blurring those lines. 

Krystle  12:33  
I would say still stick to like a regular schedule. We were still up at six every daw. We all get ready. We do the bus stop. We do school drop off. I come home, I get a workout in. And then I shut my computer off at two. And then I'm there for my daughter to get her off the bus. And just keeping that consistent schedule and letting your clients know like, Hey, if you email me after two, you're not going to hear from me until the next day. That's my family time. Just really sticking to those boundaries. 

JoDee  13:03  
Good for you. So if a teacher wanted to kind of inch their way into a similar space as you What tips would you give them? What would be their next steps? Like they're in the classroom right now. They're deciding what am I gonna do. What would be like the first step for them?

Krystle  13:22  
The first step would be just to do like a Google search, like virtual assistant work to kind of see what that is. That's kind of like the ground level of virtual service provider. You started as an assistant. And it can be anywhere from email management, scheduling meetings, calendars, you know, whatever they feel comfortable with. I would also suggest looking at some virtual assistant trainers. A lot of them have a lot of material online already. Just kind of see if that's something that you would want to be into. And then I would 100% recommend taking a training course.

Ali  13:57  
If someone does want to collaborate with you, what are your top three services?

Krystle  14:02  
Oh, so I love a VIP day, which is a done in a day service. And with that, I offer a couple of different like set packages. One is 20 social media content, copy, and let's like the graphic, the copy and the hashtags. And I will schedule them for the client and they set and forget. They don't even have to worry about it. That's one package. A second package is their email marketing. So I'll do their copy. And then I'll get into their MailChimp or Active Campaign, whatever service that they're using. And that includes eight emails. And then the third is graphic design. So like a rebranding, or if a new company is coming out and they you know, want complementary colors and different fonts and things like that.

JoDee  14:48  
Okay, let's talk about graphic design for a minute. Where does that come from? And how did you get that skill? 

Krystle  14:54  
Oh, man, that totally just fell into it. So when I was doing the Learning Through Play stuff, I started got a Canva account. And I just started playing around in Canva. And there's just so much you can do. I took a couple like YouTube courses on what looks good. It's just you know, as teachers, we have that wanting to continue to learn mindset. And as long as you keep that mindset, when you go into the virtual space, you can do it all. 

JoDee  15:22  
That's really good to hear. And it looks like you have a really nice toolkit of things that your services support. And they all align very well with the three that you just mentioned to us. And I can see a lot of teachers wearing those hats, too, 

Krystle  15:37  
For sure.

Ali  15:38 
So one of the things that I struggled with when I left teaching was, Who am I if I'm not a teacher? And just to kind of close this out for today. I'm wondering if you can share, like what that was like for you to leave teaching? You had something that you were going to, you had a career path, you knew what your next steps were, but did you still struggle with that part of your identity?

Krystle  15:58 
Oh yeah, I still do. So I left teaching in June. So I'm not even at the I'm like at the six month mark. And still, so much of me is like, I'm a teacher at heart. And when I see, you know, a kid struggling with a thing or a hair parent with a concern. Like, I want to put that teacher hat on. But you know, you've gotta take a step back. I think that, if it's really in your heart, you're always going to kind of miss it. But if you're already looking for something else, I think you kind of have your answer that you're one foot out the door.

Ali  16:32 
Yeah, and I think to that, once a teacher, always a teacher. There's so many ways in your life, that you still are an educator. You have your own children that you're raising, and educating. And there's going to be those times in the playground where you're just not gonna be able to help yourself. And you're gonna, I mean, I totally like talking about the teacher voice thing earlier, like that will come out. So it's okay. I mean, it's hard when you leave something that you've done for so long. You're teaching for 14 years. So what I really liked about your journey is that you were able to dabble in what you wanted to go into and feel confident that that was going to be a transition that you felt comfortable with. And not everybody's so fortunate that they have that experience. They're kind of, you know, just, they're taking a leap of faith. But I think that what you suggested to our listeners is really helpful. The different ways that they can consider transitioning maybe to being a virtual assistant. They can do some training, and see if that might be a career path that they're interested in. And maybe that's not a permanent career path, it could just be a temporary one, while you are raising littles or while you are dealing with something else. And then that can grow into something even different, even bigger than that. That's what I've had to learn is that your first job outside of the classroom may not be your forever job outside of the classroom. And I think it's just becoming okay with that. 

Krystle  17:54 
Yeah, I think with teachers, you know, we go into the field knowing like, Okay, I'm gonna be a teacher for the next 30 years. And that's just not really how the world works anymore. People get new careers all the time. Now, like the average of the new careers anywhere between two to five years before people make another switch. So yeah, just having that flexibility mindset.

JoDee  18:14 
You're juggling too, like as teachers, you juggle a lot. And you're juggling your different services. You're juggling part time. You're juggling your family. And it seems like you're doing it with a lot of grace, and we're really happy for you.

Ali  18:28  
Yeah, it was such a pleasure having you on the show today, Krystle. And if our listeners are interested in connecting with you, they can find Krystle on Instagram, at Kodexlea and at Krystle.Blakefield. And you can also find her on her website, Krysandcoservices.com. And we will link these in our credits for our show notes.

If you liked The Great Teacher Resignation, give us a five star rating and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Audible. Today's episode was written and recorded by me Alexandra Simon, and my co host JoDee Scissors. Executive produced by Teacher Brain. Produced and edited by Emily Porter. Original Music: Emoji by Tubebackr. Special thanks to our sponsor, Paper Planes Ed.