Welcome to Episode 99. For some reason, I feel the Jay-Z Gods shining down on me and that I serendipitously chose episode 99 to talk about problems. But if you roll with me, we're only talking about five problems, and then we're gonna solve for them. And so we'll leave you on a good note.

In this podcast episode:

• Success and Failure

• Pitfalls of Contracting

  1. Pitfall 1: Your Organisation and Systems are 100% on You

  2. Pitfall 2: Inheriting an IEP

  3. Pitfall 3: Difficulty in Keeping Track of Invoices

  4. Pitfall 4: You’re All By Yourself

  5. Pitfall 5: Schools May Not be in an Ideal Location

• Survival Tips

  1. Get to Know the Admin Assitants

  2. Send Gifts

  3. Be Professional Cordial All the Time

Transcript of the Episode:

If you're looking to move out of your day job and start contracting, friend, I want you to take notes. Just a few weeks ago, I put out a podcast that talked about how to successfully start a contracting business. Now, this could be a contracting business, or it could be a side hustle, whatever type of educational business you would like to start. You’ll need those four things. And I got some great feedback from it. That was also very take notes kind of podcast episode. And some people actually even said that they've already started implementing what I talked about.

I hadn't at the time of the recording on the podcast episode decided to open up coaching. But the next week, I really felt pulled to work with the leaders in our field and expand our field through them. And one of my first coaching clients has already started working on her website. I mean, how great is that, to have people in this field that just from listening to a podcast, are starting to take initiative, and do the work, to put themselves out there in a way that's innovative, a little unconventional and really stepping outside of the box. If you're one of those people, then this episode today is for you.

Success and Failure

Contracting is so fun, and I have loved it like loved it loved it loved it loved it. And there are some things that you want to be aware of so that you don't make the same mistakes that I have. Again, this is another podcast episode where the entire definition of success is going to be “has made less mistakes than Kassy”. Because you don't need to make zero mistakes. It's still life, that's part of the journey. But if you can save yourself hours of time, simply by listening to this 20-30 minute podcast episode, then hey, I am here for it. But first I want to share two things.

The concept of a s-sandwich is going to come up. If you would like to know what that really means. Go ahead and Google it. I'm gonna quote Elizabeth Gilbert from her book, Big Magic. I'm not going to even say the letter, just in case you're in the car with kids, or something of that nature. I want to keep this super PG. And the second thing is we really need to take a moment to drive home how erroneous our idea of success is. When you think of success, what do you think of? This idea has been popping up for me everywhere, as I redefine it for myself and really start to look at my own thoughts and processes around it.

What is success? The Webster dictionary definition is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. And oftentimes, we go into new transitions with a very vague aim or purpose. And so the idea of our success keeps eluding us because we haven't fully defined it. Now let's look at the definition of failure. It is the lack of success, which is why I started with the idea of success in the first place. Oftentimes when we think about success, it comes with the implied meaning of forever. Because typically when we embark on something and we aim for an accomplishment, we don't aim for the accomplishment with the intention of later then changing our minds. But we do change our minds. We get into the situation. Things change for us. Things change about this situation. We learn more about it. We grow. We explore new arenas and our desires change.

So let's think about it this way if you started a donut business, or a taco truck and you ran it for 10 years, but then decided to shut it down to spend more time with your family. Was that a failure? No. It brought joy to all of those people who ate your yummy food. If you decide to leave your teaching position, is that a failure? No, not at all. And case in point, I ran an online business teaching yoga to moms for four or five years before allied even existed. Was my yoga business a failure? Absolutely not. Girl I was in like, such good shape. teaching yoga all the time, loved it. My clients loved it. I had great relationships with them. I learned a lot about running a business. And I learned a lot about how to serve you. And ultimately taking that one step of deciding to start my own business of deciding to invest a few $100 and a mentor, deciding to go for it, despite what other people around me thought about. It has led me here to you. And I personally do not think that that's a failure whatsoever. Have I reached my goals that I have set out with? No. But does that mean that allied is a failure? No. Does that mean that our relationship is a failure? No. And if you're going to tell me that you and I don't have a relationship, you can DM me right now, @alliedindependence. Yes we do have a relationship, I will 100% reply back to you.

I know podcasts is one way. But the point being that none of this is a failure. The trouble is that when we hold ourselves back from doing what we want to do, because of the perceived, “lack of success”, that we think might happen, we are really fearing what other people are going to say about us, and what we are going to say about ourselves, not because of what they're going to say. But because we fear that what they might say are things that we already believe about ourselves. I'll say that again, the trouble is when we hold ourselves back from doing what we want to do, because of the perceived lack of success that we think might happen. And it's not even necessarily the lack of success, you already don't have it, and you're pretty good. It's the perception of other people and what they might say, if you go for something, and it doesn't happen, because a lot of times we fear that they'll say something that we also believe, because we're not sure if we can do it. Or we might have other areas of imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is normal, and it's good. But it cannot drive the bus. Because the truth is, none of that is true. It's just fear talking. And if you continue to live your life by making decisions based on fear, that is a recipe for scarcity and stress. In short, failure doesn't exist. I'll say that, again. Failure does not exist. If you're thinking about becoming a contract VI Specialist, or contract itinerant of any sort, the measure of success doesn't have to be a certain amount of money. And it certainly doesn't have to last forever. If you're thinking about moving, making a change, whatever. It doesn't have to last forever in order to be a success. And reaching that goal, or accomplishing that aim or purpose doesn't have to happen right away in order for it to be a success.

So now that you feel more ready, if you're not already contracting, and you want to take on this new role, I highly suggest it, but it comes with its pitfalls. And here's a quote that I wanted to bring up with you from Elizabeth Gilbert, in her book, Big Magic, and it says it's quoting somebody else. What is your favourite flavour of sandwich? What Mason means is that every single pursuit no matter how wonderful and exciting and glamorous, it may initially seem, comes with its own brand of like sandwich, its own lousy side effects. As Manson writes with profound wisdom, everything sucks some of the time, you just have to decide what sort of suckage you are willing to deal with. And that's the same for any new venture.

Pitfalls of Contracting

So as we're coming up into May, and a lot of us have new ideas that we want to pursue, we're wrapping up the school year, and we're thinking about what else could be on the horizon whether it's this or something else. There are always going to be pitfalls. And here are the some of the pitfalls of contracting.

Pitfall 1: Your Organisation and Systems are 100% on You

Number one, your organisation and systems are 100% on you. Back when I had a W2, that sounds like so cushy right now, sometimes the W2 life sound so cushy. Back on I had a W2, somebody told me how to do my job. Somebody told me how their system worked. I didn't have to do billing, I didn't have to do invoices, I had to write lesson plans. No, I didn't even have to write lesson plans. I chose to write lesson plans. But all the paperwork, I sat in, in services, and they told me how to do it. So the most I had to decide was, do I write my data on paper? Or do I take my data digitally? Where do I file away my in service information that was about it.But when you work on your own, nobody tells you any of that. And you have to be super organised about it because you are working with a bunch of different people who not only work in different schools, but might have different cultural backgrounds. Because they live in completely different cities, you might be working with some people who live in the country and some people who live in a metropolitan area and their thought processes are very different. And their districts are not talking to each other. So they may have completely different school calendars that you have to be on top of nobody's telling you how to do your paperwork, they may not even tell you when it's due by, and then probably won't give you access to everybody else's paperwork, or give you access to their email accounts for you to double check how you're doing. You can't log into the system as a contract employee all the time and say, Oh, they use this wording. Nobody tells you that you may not have access to their IEP software. You need a system for paperwork, scheduling, learners intake and invoicing. And all of that is on you. Reminder that we're in the second part here, okay, we're going to come out of it, I promise.

Pitfall 2: Inheriting an IEP

Second drawback is you might inherit an IEP, that does not include indirect services, which means you're working for free. And I don't know about you, but my kids really do not like to eat air. So when it's appropriate, don't forget to add in those indirect services because you are doing them anyway. And that's where the systems come in. Indirect services may not be on your calendar, put them on your calendar. I actually don't know any contract staff that don't talk to any teachers ever. And nor would you want to. That is a horrible educational plan to not talk to any teacher. It's not talking to the parents, you need that connection, especially as a contract staff because talk about on a lonely island all by yourself, you are just out there. They're like, Oh, I see you've got one on arrived over there. Cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo. We're gonna be on my land cuckoo. It's fine. You need to talk to people.

Pitfall 3: Difficulty in Keeping Track of Invoices

Number three, invoicing and data are much harder to keep track of when you have multiple school districts, and then of their information can cross because if you get too processed, you don't want that. So I used to have, like a Google form that I could keep track of all my learners on, and I specifically went in and had to take that apart. And now I do it by school district. It's much easier for me.

Pitfall 4: You Are All by Yourself

Number four, I kind of already mentioned this, but you are on a lonely island all by yourself. When I had to move from my dream job because she, lovely pie in the sky place that I worked. And then I was by myself, the transition out of that social aspect of having any people around who understood any part of what I was doing. Granted, I didn't come from an itinerant position where I was the only one in the district. But even at that, I wonder if you guys have staff meetings, and you have a camaraderie, have an office where people might know you. You don't have that when you're contracting. You work out of your home. But I will say I have not been invited to Christmas party since I started contracting. That's not bad. But the first year I was like, Oh, they're having a Christmas party. Oh, I'm not invited, right? Because they're not my people. Some of them are my people. But the district isn't necessarily my people. Maybe if you're extremely extroverted, you'll get an invite.

Pitfall 5: Schools May Not be in an Ideal Location

The fifth drawback is that a lot of the schools may not be an ideal locations. I have schools that are in warehouse buildings. I've had schools that are very much out in the country off a dirt road. That I'm, even if I were allowed to take the learner off campus, by the time we got to any place, we would have to come back. That takes a little bit extra planning around it. Because my schools thus far have not been in particularly like cute little residential neighbourhoods that you see in, you know, normal school districts like an elementary school or middle school that's within a neighbourhood that doesn't really happen. When you're contracting, at least with school districts. Now it could for you, this is just my experience.

Survival Tips

But what I've learned thus far is that there are a few keys to survive. Yeah, you might have to develop your own systems, you might not necessarily have the best organisational skills, and you have to get better at that. You might have inherited a IEP that doesn't have indirect services, you might have to really keep track of your invoicing and data. You might have to say goodbye to Christmas parties. And you might have schools that aren't in ideal locations. And people may not trust you to take the learners off campus, because again, they don't know you. But there are some ways that you can survive. And a lot of these you probably already know, but this is just going to be a great reminder to do them.

Whenever you are listening to this, your task this week, is just to maybe get a Starbucks card. And you can take the QR code and email that QR code to the admin assistants. And you can set it up on auto draft so that the money comes out automatically. Make sure you have a budget for that, if that's what you want to do, it's a really simple way that I like to just give out gifts. I like to do that for you guys often, too.

Get to Know Admin Assistants

Okay, the first thing here is to get to know the admin assistants. Your university programme told you this. Nothing new, but get to know all of the admin assistants, all the IEP coordinators and all of the teachers that you possibly can, most of my learners get called out by the admin assistant, and they just come to the front office whenever I get there. So I don't always get a chance to see the teachers. But I've never had an admin assistant or an assistant principal, or a lead teacher or whoever I'm working with, not give me an email address of the teachers that I'm working with.

Send Gifts

Second thing is send gifts when possible. Like, you know, you might have to give up the idea of being able to take those leftover cookies from your party and putting them in the teachers lounge. But you can bring other gifts. You can bring maybe those same cookies to the admin assistants, or maybe you can buy them coffee, or maybe you can just ask them what their coffee order is and show up with that one day. Or maybe it's just like a simple thank you card, or note just to show them that they are appreciated.

Be Professional Cordial All the Time

The third idea is just to be professional cordial all the time, always right, you know that. Here's one idea that has helped me so much is to give the admin assistants your personal Google phone number. So I like to give it to them at the beginning of the school year, maybe like the first time I take a learner off campus, and then ask them every time do you need my number? Are we okay? And oftentimes, like at the beginning, they would jot it down on a sticky note or something like that.

And here's why. Admin assistants, the people at the front desk, are in the know of everything. And you've seen how they work. They're like, oh, this person needs that book. This person has this book, this person needs this book. And they can do severe five things all at the same time. Sometimes I'm like, How did you know what I needed? And it's just like, because you stood in that way near the door. And I was like Oh, yeah, things while they're attending to like, some teenager needs Tylenol. And this parent needs to pick up their student and this other kid needs to go for testing. They know everything. So who is going to get asked for your contact information when you're off campus? Them exactly. And they want to be that person. If a teacher admin wants to know where you are, they should be able to easily find you.

So I tried to make it as easy as possible. And I have found that this one thing garner so much trust, it's kind of crazy. Just like I really like to get in with the TAs when I work with students with multiple impairments. When I work with learners who don't have multiple impairments, and they just kind of come to me and I don't have very much contact with the other teachers. I want to get in with the admin assistants. And of course the janitors. I mean everybody in the school.

So there are ways to get over those drop axe. And there are some really good sides of contracting. I will say I love the freedom and flexibility of contracting, I really do. I also enjoy even though I forget to invoice all the time, and I leave so much money on the table. Do not be like me, I really enjoy that we can get paid up to $100 an hour. And it's negotiable to that's really nice, because I know that I can say, Okay, I have this X bill coming up, I need to pick up x amount of learners, if you're working with adults, if you're working with students, it's pretty set for the year. And of course, ethically, we wouldn't do that, you know, but I really like the ability to, to increase my hours and possibly increase my pay. And there are little to no staff meetings. Yeah.

Take a gander about that one for a second. It's very lovely. Now you miss out on a lot of information that's giving out at staff meetings, but a lot of times you didn't need it anyway. Now we all have had these things happen one way or another. And now we all also know that no matter what type of job you have, the things I shared are a lot of best practice. When you move to contracting, you may experience them more. And you may also experience more freedom, more flexibility, more money and overall, less bureaucracy and little to no staff meetings.

You'll have to let me know what you think about this podcast episode by getting up with me in my DMs at Allied independence. I answer all of my DMs personally, which is so fun, I love having conversations with you guys. I hope you're having a fantastic May. This is episode 99. The next episode, Episode 100, will be the last one of the school year and then we are going to take a break. And when we come back we will have a new season out. We're going to go back to having seasons every year. But during our break, we'll be playing some of our favourite episodes. So if you have a favourite episode slid into my DMs and let me know if this helped you at all again, come hang out with me on Instagram, or Facebook, or even LinkedIn for little tidbits of inspiration and information to help give you a boost in your day. I hope you're able to take this information and take one step forward into living your best balanced most impactful life. I will see you next week for episode 100.

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