Season 7 Episode #29 From Classroom to CEO: Lessons I Took from Teaching into Entrepreneurship

What does teaching have to do with entrepreneurship? Everything. In this episode, I share how my years as a classroom educator gave me the exact skills I needed to become a CEO and business owner.

📚 From differentiating for students to leading with systems and storytelling, the lessons I learned in education are the same ones I use in boardrooms, client coaching sessions, and now, as an author.

✨ If you’re an educator dreaming of your next chapter—or a leader seeking fresh perspective—this episode is your reminder that the skills you already have are enough to begin.

👉 Explore my mini-courses and one-on-one coaching to start building your vision today.

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Transcript

0:36

Hello, friend. Welcome back to the Cultural Curriculum Chat. Today I wanna share something personal and practical. The lessons I carried from my classroom into becoming A CEO. People often ask me, how did you go from teaching in a classroom to running a global. Cultural competency consulting business, and writing a new novella. The truth is teaching prepared me for entrepreneurship more than any MBA would, and so we're gonna go over it today for this episode. My four lessons of how I became. A classroom teacher and how I interpret it into becoming a five year CEO of my consulting business. So lesson one, you're going to think about differentiating for success. Just like my classroom, every client and project requires a unique approach when you are a classroom teacher. A lot of us have done scaffolding and differentiating to cater and accommodate all of our learners. In our classroom, just like how I approach with my clients, one nonprofit is not well in the same of a second nonprofit that I'm working with, with the same goal of being more culturally competent and inclusive and belonging. And so I have used my expertise in. Accommodating my students with their various needs, getting them where they're at, and also challenging them the same way as when I work with my clients. So I customize a approach for each. Organization, albeit non-profit or for-profit, small business or big business classroom or school district, all of these are not just a one size fits all approach, and that has made me very successful in my work by tailoring it and curating it. Into the needs of my organization. It kind of feels like a concierge, boutique type of a service, and a lot of my clients that have come back know that the organizational skills and the prompts are going to be fully focused on their organization and their values, so that way it's seamless and works in tandem with what they're already doing. Now, lesson number two. Classroom management also equals business leadership, clear boundaries and systems. Now, when people think of boundaries, like, oh, I've got my line drawn in the sand. But what I want you to think about is more of the sense of layers of. Protection. That's more of a gentler approach. Like, okay, this is my layers of protection and priorities. This is what we are going to focus on, and it could bubble out to more things that are not a top priority. When I was a classroom teacher, oh man, the expectations were really big in my classroom setting, going through procedures. How does the system work when you are a teacher? It's all about building systems. Systems of how we transition from one subject to the next. Building a system of how are you going to turn your work in? And don't just think, because when I taught fifth grade that my first graders, when I taught them, didn't know the systems, they didn't know the procedures. It looked. Similar in the way of expectations, but those systems always worked with the child developmentally. And so I took that with business leadership. When I, worked in, with the local Chamber of Commerce I was their director of education, so I was in charge of helping businesses. In the chamber, understand the systems that align with their business, but also how to tweak it in order to make a new system or enhance a system that's already in place to include cultural competency and cultural responsiveness work. And that's something where you have those clear boundaries. The clear expectations and how we practice, oh my goodness, a smooth classroom will be smooth if you continue to practice your work and all the teachers out there. I know you can hear me. We all know when there's a full moon going, if there's a long break. If there is a snow day, I'm calling out our teachers from Minnesota. Y'all know it. You have to redo and practice and rerun through those systems and procedures. That's how things get smoothed out when you are working in a classroom, and same as business leadership. You have to stay consistent in your work, in your priorities, and also in your boundaries. Another thing for our third lesson. Storytelling is a strategy. I love storytelling. If you are new here, I love African folk tales. I would share Anansi spider stories with my students no matter what grade they were in. They just ate it all up. You can also do that storytelling into your lessons. In your business and for me, that comes into this vehicle of my podcast. It comes into the vehicle of my keynote speaking. It comes in the vehicle of my book that I wrote. So my ability to weave stories into my lessons now drives my podcast success. It drives my keynote success and it also drives my book because that's one thing I love. I love. Fictional characters. I love morals of the stories. I love the lessons that they teach. And when I was a classroom teacher, those students are like, oh, Anansi they'd see a mosque covered rock, by Eric j Kimmel, and they would say, oh, I see a mosque covered rock. Anazi must be near right. And they would get into these characters. And even writing my book, the Orange Blossom, having those full rounded characters, the characters that you are rooting for, and the characters, you're like, Ugh, get outta here. Ugh. What a jerk. And those are the types of things that keep you riveting for the next page.'cause you're like, oh, I wonder how this character is gonna react, or I wonder how they are gonna get out of this situation. Or will they, uh, move on to something new? And I always have people clamoring for more. I love a good cliffhanger too in some stuff. So I can't wait for you to enjoy this book. And if, once you get a copy of this book, please write a review on this podcast. Let me know your thoughts and I'll put you on my social media outlets to share your review of this book. And I'll give you a shout out on my future episode. Another thing I also wanted to do with our fourth and final lesson for today is cultural competency never stops. Whether you're working with students or even CEOs, we all need to feel seen, heard, and valued. And when you're thinking about culture, it's not necessarily ethnicity. Or, um, race. That's just one small facet of it. Culture is your way of life. You could have a family that their biggest culture is playing cribbage, the card game. It could be going to every single baseball stadium. It could be a family that loves to cook new recipes every Sunday. It could be a family that loves going to, Festivals or pride parades. That is also a way of life and identity. And so sharing those tidbits, asking your students, you know, more questions than just, what did you do over the weekend? You can ask questions like, oh. What culture did you celebrate over the weekend?, Is there something new that we would like to learn about The culture that you carry that goes, even in the boardroom, you could ask the same thing. Is there something new about your culture that you'd like to share and give your students, like I did in my classroom years ago? The breath and the space to share when they're comfortable. So many times we really wanna get so excited and motivated and like you're gonna share, you're gonna share. But that's something that's sacred with each and every individual. And when they feel psychologically safe, there's lots of research about psychological safety and cultural competency. When they feel psychologically safe, that's when they'll start to open up and share more of themselves with you. So if you are a fellow educator, dreaming of entrepreneurship, or a business leader wanting to harness your voice, I'd love to help explore my mini courses and one-on-one coaching to build your vision and confidence. And if you like more information, go to my website at jebehedmunds.com Remember the skills that you already have are enough to start. So many people look at me and go, wow, how do you do it all? And I look at them honestly. I say, I don't. There are some days I put on my hat. On Mondays it's marketing. Monday it's Marketing Gem, and that's where I do all of my social media and marketing and email marketing, just blocking out days. It helps me not get so overwhelmed. It helps me keep things consistent and running on those automated systems that I already built in place for these five years, and it helps me also continue to be more present with my husband and my children, if you are dreaming it up, definitely look into my resources that I have to kind of help get you motivated and excited. But I always say, you know, once you build those systems in place, sky is the limit. And another thing, I don't want you to underestimate the power of what you learned in one season of your life. Because these are the seeds that you had planted, but you can have your harvest in another season. And that to me is something that's been so valuable because I am already witnessing more full circle moments and in my life and looking back in my work history and experiences in my community, it all. Fell into place and that to me, I am so grateful to God because without these steps, I would not be here with you all today. Thank you so much for listening and tuning in. Share this episode with someone who's got that. Dream in their heart. Maybe that educator that wants to start their side hustle, but just need that extra nudge to say if it's even possible, they're ready. They just need that nudge and I'm so happy to help them get there. Big hugs to you, and I'll see you here same time next week. Bye-bye.