5 Things That Teaching Taught Me About Business

All of my life, I have been OBSESSED with words!

From writing my first story in fourth grade that featured a Magic School Bus-style trip through the esophagus, to proudly wearing the English major label in college, to the girl who studied literature in grad school, I truly can’t remember a time where I wasn’t so intrigued by reading or writing. 

So it should come as no surprise that when I decided it was time to leave my decade-long career of teaching English and communications to college students, that I would find myself in another role that was also consumed by words.

Like many entrepreneurs, I had no intention of ever starting a business, but I saw so many other people doing it and thought that I SURELY could figure it out!

After being in business for nearly four years now, I continue to reflect back on my teaching career, and I can’t help but notice so many similarities. There are truly SO many things that my education career taught me about business, and it’s crazy to see how they continue to overflow into What Sara Said to this day.

In this blog post, I’m sharing 5 of the most prominent things that teaching taught me about business, and even if you’ve never been in the teaching or education field, I can almost guarantee that you’ll agree!

5 Things That My Education Career Taught Me About Business

1) You have to repeat yourself.

As a copywriter, this is something I have to remind my clients (and myself) of a LOT. When marketing your products and services, it’s easy to repeat yourself over and over to the point where it can become extremely boring for you to write, read, and say to your audience. 

But did you know that research has shown that the average person needs to hear something 7 TIMES before they take action?! 🤯

If you’re becoming bored with your message, that’s a prettyyyy good sign that your audience is just now catching on and internalizing what you’re saying, so KEEP GOING!

Similar to teaching, it’s no secret that in the classroom you have to repeat yourself a lot. Students, regardless of their age, 😅 tend to have a hard time hearing what you’re saying, so this equipped me well for the business world!

2) Adaptability is key.

As much as I wish I could say that everything goes according to plan in the teaching world, that’s just not how it works. Even if you spend hours on the perfect lesson plan, there will undoubtedly be a wrench thrown in where you’re forced to adapt. I’ve had MANY lessons I thought looked compelling on paper fall flat in the classroom.

And I learned really quickly that the same is true in business! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve created a plan in my mind for how I want something to go, and then I’m completely caught off guard when it doesn’t go my way.

Being adaptable and willing to adjust your plans is SO key and can be one of the major things that saves you from a whole lot of heartache when running a business.

3) Patience is a virtue.

If you were to ask anyone what skills a teacher MUST have, I can almost bet that patience will be among the top 5 that they list. And I would have to agree! Again, regardless of the age you’re teaching, patience is a quality that will get you far in teaching.

No student is the same, and they all need various things, so as a teacher, it’s vital that you learn how to be patient and that you can adjust your teaching style to support various learning styles in the classroom.

In business, patience is also key, but for another reason. When you’re first starting out as an entrepreneur, most of us want to experience success fast. We see other people out there making money and doing the things that we want to do, and it’s easy to think that we should be on the same level. 

But growth in business takes time. It takes being willing to put in the work, day in and day out, even when it feels like there are no results to show for it.

One of the biggest lessons I had to learn in business is that it’s not about the success that you experience in one given day. It’s the small wins that add up over time that eventually get you to a certain point. 

And the cool (yet somewhat frustrating) part is that in both teaching and business, the growth is never over. When you reach one level, there’s another… and another… and another. And to get to each one, patience is required every step of the way. 

4) Communication and leadership skills are a necessity.

Although this might sound obvious, the reason I list it here is because communication and leadership skills are often skills that are overlooked in various industries, including both the education field and the business world.

With teaching, it’s so tempting to get caught up in different classroom management strategies and teaching techniques, when really, your communication and leadership skills are the thing that can outshine everything else.

Similarly in business, most of us are intrigued by the different marketing strategies to try or the different platforms to show up on, but again, your ability to communicate and lead your audience, regardless of the strategy or platform you choose, can often be the game-changer.

Both teaching AND business require guiding, inspiring, and influencing people to achieve XYZ, which is why I make it a point to seek out learning opportunities for communication and leadership skills any chance I get!

5) You have to think on your feet.

Lastly, one of the greatest things that teaching taught me about business is that you have to be able to think on your feet. In both, you truly never know what’s going to come your way.

In the classroom, you never know when a student is going to disrupt class discussion, and in business, you never know when a client is going to be unhappy with your services. 

Both are examples of when you have to be able to think on your feet, so you can resolve the problem and reach an effective solution.

Learning how to do this will serve you well in business!

I’m curious: Did you pivot from a different career and find yourself in the entrepreneur world? If so, I’d love to hear what your previous role taught you about business. Connect with me here and let me know!

I’m a firm believer that there are lessons we learn through every season of life, and when we really pay attention, those lessons can lead to major breakthroughs in our next phase. 💛 I’m always cheering you on!