From Classroom to Private Practice: Erica’s Dyslexia Journey

In this episode, Rachel speaks with a Teacher 2 Entreprenuer client, Erica Triggs M.Ed. Erica shares her journey from classroom teacher to private practice dyslexia
interventionist, highlighting the importance of passion, trust, and strategic networking in building a successful educational business.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Editing and Podcasting
00:48 Meet Erica Triggs: A Teacher's Journey
01:23 Transitioning from Classroom to Private Practice
03:26 Building Trust with Students and Families
05:11 The Challenges of Being a Business Owner
07:51 Finding Fulfillment Beyond the Classroom
09:27 The Path to Becoming a Dyslexia Interventionist
11:52 Overcoming Doubts as a Business Owner
13:11 Explaining Dyslexia and Building Connections
15:12 The Impact of Personal Experience on Teaching
16:32 Creating Meaningful Relationships with Students
19:18 Balancing Work and Life as a Business Owner
21:53 The Challenges of Planning and Preparation
22:59 Evolving Services: Dyslexia and Literacy Intervention
24:16 Understanding Kindergarten Readiness
25:02 Finding Students: Innovative Marketing Strategies
27:02 Valuing Your Work: Pricing Strategies
30:09 Surprises in Entrepreneurship
31:34 Building a Business from the Ground Up
33:28 Community and Support in Business
35:29 Advice for Teachers Considering Change
37:18 Lighthouse Learning Studio: Services and Reach
41:57 Future Aspirations: Expanding Impact in Schools
43:41 Reflections on Work-Life Balance

Resources

Erica's Business Website: Lighthouse Learning Studio 
Orton-Gillingham Approach
Rachel's Business Resources

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Teacher to Entrepreneur Podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Siccioni, former classroom teacher turned entrepreneur and mentor to educators building their own unique teacher businesses. This is a space for teachers who are curious about alternatives to the classroom, exploring private practice and other multifaceted work, and for those who want to know what success can look like beyond the classroom. I'm glad you're here. Now let's get into today's conversation. Before we get into today's episode, if you listened last week, you heard me mention that this week I'd be introducing you to one of my former mentees, a teacher who built her own version of this work and whose business looks different from mine in some ways that are really important. Her name is Erica Triggs, and I'm here with her now. She's a certified educator with over 10 years of classroom experience, and she is the founder of Lighthouse Learning Studio in Westchester, New York. Erica specializes in dyslexia intervention using the Wharton Gillingham approach, literacy intervention for students, grades K through two. She works with students in both person and virtually and has built a private practice teaching business that is grounded, specialized, and completely her own. Erica is dyslexic herself. She grew up without the kind of support she now gives to her students every day. And that personal experience isn't just a detail, it's in her bio because it's the foundation of everything she does now. And it makes me think about how a lot of us became the teacher that we either had or that we wished we had. What you're about to hear is a conversation about what it actually looks like to take your expertise and your most personal story and your very specific skill set and build something around that, something that serves your students and your life. So, Erica, I want to start at the beginning. You were a classroom teacher for over 10 years. What did that look like? And what did you enjoy about that?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So I, as you said, I was a classroom teacher for just about 10 years, and I worked in three different schools. So my first school, I was in a public school that was in Connecticut, and I was a first grade teacher for two years, and then I switched to kindergarten. And then after that, I changed jobs and I was working in Manhattan. I was commuted to the city and first it was via train and then it was via car once COVID hit. So I was teaching kindergarten there and I was actually considered a kindergarten expert teacher, which has probably been my favorite title because it really kind of puts a name to what I've been doing in the classroom. But the commute got to be too much. So then I switched to a Catholic school back in Connecticut, and I was teaching kindergarten there. My favorite parts were honestly the times when I could work with students one-on-one, which makes a lot of sense because that's what I ended up doing in my private practice anyway. So one student sticks out to me, particularly from my school in Manhattan, kindergarten student of mine who was learning three different languages and he was really struggling with English. And so I decided with support of the dean at the time, I decided that I wanted to basically tutor him during the day when he was supposed to be learning Mandarin with the rest of the class. I said, Well, he needs to focus on learning his alphabet, so let's do that. And I was able to, you know, bring him up to speed because I was working with him three days a week for 30 minutes, and it was just like the most eye-opening experience and really a rewarding experience.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Wow. So you were able to bring him up to grade level with his peers during that same year, just with 30 minutes a day three times a week. Yep. And so did you have to give up your your prep or your planning period in order to do that? I had a lot of prep time at that school. Good, good. I'm so glad to hear that. In previous episode, I talked about the shift that I felt when I moved into private practice, especially around trust and respect from the families that I work with. What was your experience when you transitioned from the classroom into private practice as far as the level of respect or trust that you felt around families?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

It's interesting that you say that because I feel two different ways about respect and trust with families and with the students. So I would say in my private practice, I feel very respected and I feel like the parents trust me. And it's the students who I'm trying to win over more than the parents. And I think that's mostly because I'm not necessarily with them every single day. So it takes a little bit of, you know, effort to really make and build relationships with the students that I'm working with because they're coming to me after school hours and they're young. So they're trying to figure out why am I working with this person? But I feel like I'm using my, you know, kindergarten teaching skills. I'm finding out what they're interested in, and then I kind of take that and I run with it. So I have a student who's interested in Sonic, the hedgehog, and I have no idea what that is, but I'm learning a little bit from the student. So I went out and I bought Sonic the Hedgehog stickers, and that's been a game changer in my teaching practice. So just finding the little things that the students like, that's been really helpful.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Hmm. Do you think it would be helpful to get some of that in your I'm putting on my coaching hat real quick in your new student questionnaire? Would that help you maybe do that more quickly? Yeah, actually, that would be that would be that would take a guesswork out of it. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. Okay, going back to your classroom teaching experience before you decided to leave, I think by the time we met, you had already transitioned out of the classroom. Our paths crossed, I think, in like late June, early July. I remember we were messaging when I was away at the late with my husband for our anniversary. So that would have put it like mid to late June. Had you just come out of the classroom at that point, or had you been out of the classroom for a little bit by that?

SPEAKER_00 6:07

I had been out for a bit, although less than a year. So I left teaching after I gave birth to my daughter in October of 2024. And I used that time to kind of figure out what I wanted to do because I knew deep down I wasn't com going back to teaching. I definitely needed a break. I was burnt out. So I took time to figure out what I wanted to do. And then I our first interactions were when I was trying to start up a kindergarten readiness program for that summer, for summer, last summer, 2020. Yeah, 2025. And you were giving me some insight and input and feedback on a poster that I had made. I was having those thoughts way before. I would say after my first year of teaching, I was starting to think about other avenues. I was thinking back to when I was in graduate school and I was watching some of the professors who were doubling as professors for the coursework, but also mentors and for the for people who had to do student teaching. So I was like, oh yeah, maybe I'll just teach for a few years and then I'll become that person. So I had those thoughts very early on.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Yeah. Even after becoming the kindergarten expert teacher.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah. I would have loved to have stayed at that school, but the commute was just too much for me. And I had to think of something else to do. So I went, you know, I went back to a different school. And pretty much after every single school, I said to myself, Well, this is this has to be the last school. I can't keep changing schools. And then after I left, I'm like, well, what can I do instead? Because clearly I was unhappy as a classroom teacher.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yeah. Even in spite of being in so many different schools. I had a school too that I loved. And if I had been able to stay there, if it hadn't been for the commute, I don't know. You know, and even I see two sub-schools, they are they're wonderful. And then I talked to some of my former colleagues, and the administration changed and the entire culture of the school changed. So I may have ended up right back in the same spot, but with the commute because of the culture changing. That's something that I think about whenever I think about going back. So a lot of teachers I talked to are concerned about leaving the classroom. And one of their concerns is that they're not going to find something that's as fulfilling. So you mentioned one of the things that was fulfilling for you in the classroom was when you got to work one-on-one with students. And was that a consideration for you when you were looking for other things that you could do? Was finding something that would also be as fulfilling or meaningful?

SPEAKER_00 8:42

I think I was mostly concerned about my skill set and how to apply that to other jobs. I just couldn't imagine myself in any other setting but the classroom, even though it just wasn't, it wasn't working for me. So I was thinking about ed tech jobs and then just, you know, other companies related to education because I knew I wanted to somehow still be connected. I didn't think that I would end up working with students after I left the classroom. I I definitely thought it would be more of like an online company of some sort. So I thought that I would be leaving that behind. But then as I was diving into what ed tech really is, I just decided that's also not for me. So then I started to really think about well, what am I super interested in? And I was considering going back to school to become a speech and language topologist, and then realized I needed a lot of science classes, and I just didn't have it in me to take those.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

I understand.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

And then literacy specialist, but that would be a whole nother master's. And my master's program was quite intense. And again, I don't know if I didn't know if I had the energy to do that. So then I thought, well, I've always thought about becoming some sort of dyslexia spoke person of in some way or form. And I didn't really know what that looked like, but then I was like, wow, what if I just become a dyslexia interventionist using the Orton Gillingham program that I once learned very briefly when I first started teaching? And so I started researching and I came up with a list of programs and then just landed on a program that fit my needs and time frame. And here I am.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

And you were all you were just beginning that when we started our work together, or had you already started, I think maybe you were one or two courses at?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, it might have been a few weeks in. I believe it officially started in June of last year. Um it went from June until like end of September, and then October through the end of May is when I just finished did my entire practicum.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

So you were building a business and doing this program at the same time. Yeah. So and having a, I guess she was what, maybe a eight-month-old?

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Yeah. Yes. So taking the courses, working with you, building the website, building the client agreement, building all those things, working in the T2E 90-day program modules, just kind of envisioning what it would look like. And it was definitely, I mean, thinking back, that was it was a lot of work, but I feel like I was so driven during it. Not that I'm not driven now, but I I was like, let's do this, like full force, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Yeah, you were you were definitely all in. And I love that you it worked out so well when we met because you had already done some of the mindset work already on your own. And you knew that you wanted to be this dyslexic resource and spokesperson, and you are had already figured out what you were passionate about. And that is something I talked about last week was it's kind of listening to your story. It sounds like you went from the what what do I have that could be marketable and make me money to the what am I really passionate about? What lights a fire for me that I want to invest my time and energy into? Yeah, exactly. And that's a hard, that's kind of a hard transition. And you you did that on your own. So kudos to you for for doing that. Thank you. What did you have to tell yourself or stop telling yourself in order to take the leap into putting yourself out there as a business owner?

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah, I mean, I never thought I would be a business owner. I still feel like it's a very foreign concept to me. But working with you has actually helped me a lot to really see like what the business could be. It's not, I feel like it's it's different from other businesses where you're not having to do so much of like the sales y pitch and all of that stuff. It's just so much different because it's someone's someone's education, right? It doesn't exactly feel like I'm in like the marketing world. But also kind of going back to taking the leap, I feel like I had just not listen to anyone else but myself and just do it because people everyone has an opinion. So who was telling that might not work, why don't you do this instead or whatever? So at one point it was just this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm choosing to do.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah, that is that is really hard tuning out other people, especially we know they have good intentions. Yeah. But really honing in on your own, just sort of making that decision of I'm doing this, this is what's happening. And if it doesn't work out, then I'll do these other things. But this is what I'm gonna do. And I had to do that as well. Have you found yourself? And I don't have this on my list of questions, but this is something that has happened to me, having to sort of explain to people what I do. I'm thinking, do you like when people are, oh, you work for yourself. What do you do?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Yeah. I feel like I'm I would say it's 50% of the time when I explain what I say, when I say what I do, people are like, what's that? I also find another layer of that where people don't actually know what dyslexia is. So when I say I'm a dyslexia interventionist, I once had someone say, Well, how do you, how do you intervene? And I said, Well, I use the Orton Gillingham approach and I explain what that is and how it's the gold standard for teaching someone who is dyslexic how to read. But yeah, I do find that some people don't quite understand what what I'm doing. And what I try to get in the practice of saying is, okay, I have a student today, I'm going to teach, not I'm going to tutor, because then it it sounds, you know, it I know the difference. I I do sort of feel like, and I could just be mind reading with this, but I feel like sometimes when, like, let's say a student of mine, you know, the parent is talking to another parent, like, oh yeah, my child has tutoring, they're probably framing it, framing it like that. But also, I guess, like I said, I'm mind reading with that. So I don't necessarily know if they are. But I think what matters most to me is the way that I frame it when I speak to people to tell them.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Yeah. I agree. I do tutor, but that's not the title that I take on for myself as an educator. Okay. So now here's something that I think can stop some people when they read your website is the fact that you are so open about your dyslexia and how you grew up with it and how that informs the support that you give your students now. Can you talk a little bit about that? Because it feels like it changes how you show up for the students that you work with.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

I feel like I can connect more with students because I I understand the mistakes that they're making. And, you know, it kind of gets me when I see them making the mistake because I'm like, that's me. That that was me. That still is me, because I I can I see exactly the mistakes that they're making. Like they might add the letter L to a word, or they might omit a letter when they're staring right at the word. And it's, you know, it can be a little heartbreaking because I I so understand where they're coming from. But growing up without support was really hard. And I feel like I could have, I maybe would have been on a different path and would have for sure had more knowledge coming out of, you know, my education career, my educational career. But to be able to implement the Orton Gillingham approach and see the results is really impactful. And especially after I work with my practicum student, I saw how well this student was doing. And I was just super, super excited for him. And it it really kind of just shapes the way that I'm that I continue to work with my students.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Mm-hmm. That isn't that a wonderful feeling. I love that. Especially when you you get to see firsthand their confidence and their just pride in themselves at what they've accomplished is yeah, that's the goosebump moments that come with teaching. Exactly. So I've spoken previously about how in private practice we get to work with the learners that we choose and how they choose us. And I think that makes a really sort of special relationship knowing that we're choosing each other. We're not, we didn't just get sort of thrown together and making the best of it. What does that feel like in your work with students who could possibly be coming to you after feeling that they've been struggling or or even have just developed some negative feelings as a result of their struggles?

SPEAKER_00 17:19

I definitely see it when they come to me. I see the resistance, I see the apprehension, but it kind of goes back to the question about building trust. And that's where I really I really have to start doing that right off the bat because then they're just questioning, you know, why am I here? So just working on building that relationship is really important. And then they start, I can see that they start to become more comfortable and they start to understand the way that I operate. Um, and I start to understand the way that they operate, and that makes for a better session.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Do they understand dyslexia? Or do you find you have to do some teaching to them as well about your brain and yeah, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

So most of some of my students are likely dyslexic, haven't been diagnosed. So they don't necessarily even know the term. But I do, especially for my older students, I try to explain why they might make that mistake. And I try to make light of it because it's it's hard. I can see it on their faces when they're making a mistake. They have to take time, pause, resay it. And sometimes when they do that, they still make a mistake. So it's just a really frustrating learning disability. And so I really tried to help them out in that way. And like you said, framing it with like, this is this is how your brain works, something like that, not in a negative way, would be helpful for the students.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

You and I have talked about how I'm neurodivergent, my kids are neurodivergent, and it comes with challenges, but we don't have to take those challenges on as character traits. We have natural gifts and we have natural challenges, and this just happens to be one of them. That's always been something that has been mindful to me as an educator because I see kids coming in at the high school levels. Just already decided, well, I'm just not good at that. I'm never going to be good at that. And having already that learned helplessness and giving up that we as educators know is something they have to overcome later. I love that you get to work with them as littles and, you know, fend that off. And like you said, your life could be maybe, you know, have gone a different path if you'd had that kind of intervention early on. I guess it goes back to being that teacher that you wished you'd had. Yes. So building the like business. Tell me about Lighthouse Learning Studio and what does your day-to-day actually look like? Because when I first started trying to build my business, I tried to build it to look basically like a brick and mortar business out of my home. And then I'm like, well, I can literally make this whatever I want it to be. So what do I want it to be?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

I feel like I I'm not lesson planning for hours. I'm not reinventing the wheel. I actually enjoy lesson planning when, you know, when I sit down and do it. I I don't even feel like I I don't feel the pressure to do the lesson planning like I did when I was teaching. I when I was teaching, oh my goodness, I would sit down at the computer and I had these pre-made like lesson plans with like the special schedule. Cause as an elementary school teacher, you have all these different classes to to cover. And I would try to get them done weeks in advance, which of course didn't always work depending on like if there was a snow day or whatever, but I can actually take a breath and I don't have to like I'm not on a strict timeline. I also kind of put myself on a strict timeline when I was teaching. And it was like, okay, well, you got, you know, months done at a time. So now you can relax. But then summer would come, and then you're like, okay, well, now I want to plan for the fall. So I feel like I have a much better work life balance now that I'm my own boss. I can do what I need to do. I can hang out with my daughter, take her to swimming lessons, take her to gymnastics class, and also do my lesson plans when I need to, or have the discovery call with parents at nighttime when when she's sleeping. Like I can do all of these things that I could never do as a teacher. There's there would be it, I would have to choose which one would I prioritize. And now I don't have to do that because I can do both.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Yeah. Well, and you were talking about the lesson planning and the weeks in advance. And I was just feeling anxiety already just from that, because it's like no matter how much you plan, you're always having to like shift those plans anyway. But it's almost like a like an anxiety cycle. Um I plan to relieve the anxiety of not having a plan, but I'm knowing that the plan is probably not going to be able to be executed and I'm gonna have to shift it anyway, but at least there's a plan.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Yeah. I mean, I was the type of teacher who would have, and granted, again, elementary school, there's a lot of moving parts. Not to say that middle school and high school teachers don't do a lot. Of course they do.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah, but no, kudos to all of my elementary teachers because my word.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

I used to print out, it was like my goal to get printed every single copy. So if I had 18 kids, 18 copies of morning work for the entire year. I had morning work planned out, like literally the entire year. So Monday through Thursday, we would do academic morning work papers. Friday is when the kids got a coloring sheet. And I would make sure that I, you know, if it meant getting to the copy machine at like 7:30, that was me. Or staying after school to do it, that was me. And then once I got it done, I'm like, okay. But then there was always something else to plan. I so I don't miss that.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

No, it it is a never-ending cycle. You can catch you basically like catch your breath in the summer, but then by August the anxiety kicks in again and you're like, okay, I got a plan because I don't want to start the school year behind. But you always get behind, no matter what. I don't know if you maybe you didn't get behind. I always ended up getting behind.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

I always ended up having to change something. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

All right, let's see. So you offered a sexy intervention using the Orton Gillingham approach and literacy intervention for younger kiddos. Let's see, how did you land on those specific services and did you start there or did it evolve? I feel like we kind of already covered that. Yeah. Do you always know that that's what you wanted your business to be?

SPEAKER_00 23:21

I definitely thought about doing the dyslexia intervention. I don't think I originally planned for literacy intervention, but once I went through my program, I'm like, oh, well, I can offer literacy intervention because I know all of these things. It doesn't have to be Wharton Gillingham, especially for the younger kids. So that's kind of how I came about that. And then of course I had the kindergarten readiness component, which I got rid of because no one was no one was interested. And that was, I think for me, that was a little bit hard to to decide on because I loved teaching kindergarten. That was my very favorite grade. And so to get rid of that component, you know, was a little sad. But also I understand that that's just not what I'm meant to be doing right now.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think that does sort of happen. And as a kindergarten teacher, you saw the things that were lacking, that were missing when they were coming in. So that's hard too. When you see something, you're like, okay, I know that this is something that would be beneficial because we weren't, you know, this inhibited some learning, having to do these skills. Kids were coming in already behind. Just crazy the way that we've structured our education system, that they're walking in the door at six years old, already behind.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

Yes. It's it's quite scary. And I think that that's the hardest part for parents because if you're not in the education world, and even if you are like, even if you're teaching, you might not know that at the kindergarten level, like your child should be coming in knowing letters, how to write their name, even numbers, all of that. But that's just the way that the system is right now. And I don't, I don't agree with it. But that's as a teacher, I'm like, it was alarming when a child didn't come in knowing those things because that meant that's more on me now.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's true. Okay. So I actually really love this question. How do you find how did you find your first student? Because that is something that I hear a lot from teachers is how do I get how do I get students? Okay, cool. This is a nice idea in theory, but how do I how do where are these students? Where do they actually come from? And you have what we'll talk about, your marketing has been a little bit different. You went about this in a different way than a lot of other teachers. And that was one of the things that I love about what you did. So I'm gonna let you talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Yeah, I was just going to say, I know that I'm I'm the different one in the group because I'm a little bit resistant to using social media since I'm not super comfortable with it. But I did find my first student on Facebook. So I'm part of the Westchester Parents Facebook group, and I only joined because I became a parent and had no intention of ever advertising or just showing up there for my business. But I often see posts from parents asking for literacy support or support for someone who might be dyslexic. And when the opportunity comes up, I comment on it. I'm not pushy about it because that's just not my style. I might even drop my website link and then other parents see it, but then I also get messages from the parent who might have been asking. So, or the parent who was asking. So that's how I got my first student. And in fact, thinking back to my other students, I would say I I think I got four students that way so far, just by commenting or replying to a post with my information.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

That's why we do the website and that's why we do the blogging, because that's like a sweet spot when that starts to happen. I'm so excited that's happening for you, and we're not even a year out yet. Yes. Okay, so let's talk about pricing because you're charging real rates for specialized expert work. How did you get there mentally? And was it hard to own what you believe your work is worth?

SPEAKER_00 27:00

I would say definitely in the beginning, it was hard to set my prices. In fact, I've gone off since. I don't know if you want to add that, but I've I've increased since because I've realized, you know, the hours I'm putting in with preparing and just my educational background. I live in a very wealthy area of the United States. And so just looking at other classes and courses and other things out there, I'm it helped me realize that I'm also that much. Well, maybe worth that much is not a good way of phrasing it, but just my value.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Where I don't remember, maybe you can tell me. Where was your head as far as like an hourly rate for working with a student when we first started working together? I mean, I know what you were putting together for kindergarten readiness was different, but where were you thinking? Because you did have some other people that were doing similar work that you were able to kind of look at.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah, I definitely priced myself way too low for the amount of work that I was putting in. All of my lesson plans are tailored to each child. So, you know, it does take a little bit of brain power to think of, well, what this person needs this, this person needs this, and the resources that I have to pull together. So with that in mind, I'm started to realize that I needed to increase.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Yeah. And not just the brain power, but the knowledge that you're able to bring to it, plus the brain power, you know, the knowledge and the experience, which, you know, I think that counts. I think about that Picasso story about the in the cafe where the woman asks for her portrait and he takes like 10 minutes, 15 minutes to draw her portrait on a napkin and then charges her, you know, $1,000 for it. And she says, What? That only took you 15 minutes. And he said, No, madame, it took you 15 minutes. It take took me a lifetime to be able to do that in 15 minutes. And I think that's something that we kind of forget and we're like, oh, we're just teachers, or that we've got all of this 10, almost 10 years experience in the classroom with how many different learners in two different states and multiple settings, plus your own experience. But that all comes together. And you just raised your price, which I think is awesome. Have has have you had any pushback when you raised your price? No. I didn't either.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Yeah. And what you've taught me is to be very confident in speaking about my prices. And like you said, no pushback because this is what it is. And it's also openly on my website. I believe in that because when I'm looking for services, if your price is not on your website, that to me screams completely overpriced, possibly. But I just like to have all that information up front. And I think it's really helpful for parents.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

I'm the same way. I just assume that if your price isn't there, that you're gonna have to talk me into it. And I don't have the bandwidth for that. I'm not interested in that. But there are two very different schools of thought on transparent on that kind of transparency in your pricing. And I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do it, but I'm with you on the way that I think about it as a consumer. What has been the biggest surprise for you about running your own business? Something that you genuinely did not expect. Or was there anything?

SPEAKER_00 30:09

I thought about that question. My friends are really excited for me. I didn't anticipate that. I feel like because I grew up without support, my friends were running marathons around me as far as what they were doing, you know, after school and just their careers and with college and things like that. And to see my friends genuinely excited about my business was a was a shock to me. So, like whenever I post a blog and I say, look, the blog's out, I get text messages from my friends being like, I'm so proud of you. And I'm I really appreciate when they do that.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

So I love that. I'm glad your experience was the how excited they are for you, you have your own business. And your blogs are awesome. So I'm definitely gonna link them here in the show notes because even being in education for 15 years and having had students with dyslexia, I'm constantly learning from your blogs and even our conversations. So you went through the 90-day jump start. We did go at a slightly different pace for you just because of little baby and having your own program. But I love that I also have my own business, so I can do that. But where were you in your business when you decided to join? And what were you hoping to get from it?

SPEAKER_00 31:26

So I hadn't even started the business. I started the business from the ground up once I was going through your program. And I don't think I thought it was going to turn into what it what it is. Maybe it was more of a confidence issue, but here we are once again. And it was really helpful to have the modules and have meetings with you and really look at the way that you built your business as well. That was kind of my guide, I would say. I would often visit your website to be like, oh yeah, like this is I really like how Rachel worded this, or I really like how she linked this. So it's been really, really helpful to have all of all of your resources.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

I'd like to stay with you past having the business built to at least the beginning stages of your business, because there are some things that kind of happen when you when you first launch. And, you know, kind of like it reminds me of that first year of teaching before you hit your stride in your business and you feel confident going through the whole process beginning to end and ongoing. Like some of our conversations about handling those initial consultations, or even just the development of your terms and conditions. That's something that I love. You're, I think you have written some of the best terms and conditions I've seen anybody write. And I love how you openly share them with everybody else in the community too.

unknown 32:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

So I thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Sure. Speaking of the community, Slack has been really amazing. I know I haven't been so present on it in the last two or three months or so, but I I found that to be a really great resource. I know people have shared things with me. So that's been it's been really great to be part of something because nobody else in my circle is doing this. So it's been it's been nice to kind of connect with other people who are doing the same thing and building a business at the same time that I am.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Yeah, that's part of why I did it too, I think, was because I want that community as well. Right. Yeah. I want to get to I want to have teacher friends because leaving the classroom, you kind of, you know, you lose your teacher friends. Yeah. And we can still have teacher friends in private practice. So, what has shifted for you, not just in the logistics of your business, but in how you see yourself and what you are building? Because it is still kind of evolving and growing.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Yeah. Kind of going back to what you said about leaving the classroom. I'm, I mean, I used to complain a lot about everything that was going on in the classroom, and I I don't do that anymore. So just in like a personal sense, a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders with with that. I don't have the stress. So I've just changed so much in that sense. And yeah, sorry, I'm taking a breath as I say it because it's it's it's been a it's just been a huge, huge difference owning my own practice and working with kids that I I get to choose, like we were talking about before. And it's just been really great being able to do one-on-one work. And I I'm still, you know, I'm still not in, I'm still in my first year of opening up the business. And I'm just kind of craving more and more to be able to work with students one-on-one. And so I'm hoping, you know, maybe I'll get more confident with being able to do social media to attract more students. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Even just with word of mouth, there's like a flash point. I remember I got to a point where my students were asking me, Can I talk about you yet? I I know people that I would want to refer, are you ready to take on more students? And I wasn't ready yet because my kids were too young and no, not yet. And then when I told them that I was ready, they're like, okay, they were ready to like tell more people, and I could was able to leave my part-time job. So that was really sort of fun too. If someone is listening to this and they're still in the classroom, they know something needs to change, but they can't see the path yet. What is something you want them to hear from you?

SPEAKER_00 35:20

I would say to really just take time to think about what you would want to do. And it doesn't have to be a rushed decision because for the longest time I thought, ed tech, that's what I need to be doing. That's what that's the only thing that I'm qualified for. But I think if you really take the time to think about it, you'll be able to figure out what it is that you want to do outside of the classroom.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that's excellent advice. And for a teacher who already has a few students, but isn't sure this can be real and sustainable, what do you know now that you wish you had known earlier?

SPEAKER_00 35:54

I'm still working on this one myself, but kind of just realize that you will eventually get to the place that you want to be. It's not just going to happen overnight. It might not happen in the first year, it might not happen in the second year, but eventually you'll be able to get to the place where you want to be with your business and you just have to be patient.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

But you just had a big like milestone in your business that we're going to talk about later, with having your website being so well indexed now that you got somebody just from a an browser search. And that is that's a really nice place to sit. I've gotten my last three students just from that, and I hadn't didn't have to put an ad or do a post. And that's that feels really good. In your business, you're in really pretty niche. So I would not be surprised if probably before you finish out your first year, you'll be a lot closer to your goal. Like once those first quarter grades come in for the next school year, I think that'll be a spot for you where you're gonna see some pretty significant growth. So I'm glad we'll still be in touch. So tell us about Lighthouse Learning Studio, where you're located, who you serve, and how families can reach you if this if it sounds like that you may have something that their child would benefit from.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

I work with students who are in kindergarten through second grade doing literacy intervention. And then as far as the Orton Gillingham approach, I work with students who are in first grade all the way up through 12th grade. My office is in Harrison, New York, which is located in Westchester County. I have a website which is called lighthouselearningstudio.org and on my website. You can find a Calendly invite if you would like to sign up to talk to me, or you can just simply make a request through the website.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

And I'll make sure all of that is in the note the show notes as well for anybody who's either watching this on YouTube or listening to it on their podcast so that way they can get in touch with you. I didn't realize that you h help students with dyslexia all the way up through grade 12.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Yeah, I mean, technically, even past grade 12, but I'm sure that adults aren't gonna want to invest in that. I mean, I could be wrong. That would be awesome to have an adult. Wow. But it's really just up to them if they feel like they have the time to do it because doing the Orton Gillingham approach, it really works best if you meet, you know, two to three times per week for 50 minutes each time, 50 minutes to even 60 minutes. So it is a bit of a time commitment, especially for an adult, but I think it's worth it.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Yeah. It's funny. I because I work with a lot of retirees now, and they were never on my radar. When I started my business, I really thought I'd be working with homeschools. And when I first got my retirees coming to me, I was nervous and apprehensive, but they have turned into some of my absolute favorite students. And they really surprised me in how much they enjoy having the time to do things that they've always wanted to do. So who knows, you know, struggling with being able to sit down and enjoy reading.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Yeah, I think it's not something that people think about. Like I feel like adults probably just don't realize, oh, I could, if I'm struggling at with reading, I could look it up and find what's out there for me in order to get it.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Yeah, that might have to be an upcoming blog then at some point. Because, you know, like I think too, they have we go back to since most of my audience is teachers, we can go visit this rabbit hole of Carolyn Dweck's growth mindset versus fixed mindset. And, you know, we even have adults that think, well, I'm just not good at this. I'm I'm a slow reader or I'm just not a good reader. And then there's this level of acceptance, and it doesn't have to be that way. I remember when I was worked for an ophthalm ophthalmology practice and did eyeglass prescriptions. I had this older woman whose vision was gradually declining and she was just accepting it that it was just going to gradually decline. And she came in for her yearly exam and she was so sad that she was her vision had declined to the point where she couldn't knit cats for babies in and the hospital anymore. She just couldn't see well enough to do it anymore. And I was able to, I took the time, was able to get her vision back to where she could do it, and she almost cried. She's like, Oh my gosh, I can do this thing again. But it just makes me think about this level of acceptance that, you know, like the learned helplessness isn't just for our kiddos. I mean, I think we have adults that just kind of are like, well, that was never my strength. That was never my forte, I can't do it. And letting them know, like, actually, you could. And there's been all of these awesome advances in brain science and what we know about learning. And that's us, that's teachers. We're the resources for that. So, like, yeah, nope, you can, even as an adult, even as a senior citizen, wait, I can actually help you enjoy reading.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

That could be that actually reminds me of related to being dyslexic myself. I was never able to learn a language, a foreign language. So I was taking Spanish. I think I took it for like six years. Can't, I'm not fluent. I'm not even close to being fluent. I can understand a little bit, but one of my long-term goals now is to actually learn how to speak French. Um, and I know, of course, who to go to when that time comes. I feel like, you know, there is some science behind as to why people who are dyslexic have a much harder time learning a foreign language. But now that I'm not under the pressure of having to learn X, Y, and Z in school, since I'm not in school, I have more of the brain power to be able to learn something different. So that's so exciting.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

I look forward to that. And you can teach me more about dyslexia, and then I can use that to inform my teaching practice French with you. That would be I'm excited about that possibility at some point. Um, let's see. Is there anything that you are working on or excited about right now that you would like to share?

SPEAKER_00 41:43

What I am working on right now is one of my goals is to really work in schools as well. I know that sounds counterproductive because I came out of the classroom, but I would love to become either the district or the school's dyslexia interventionist. That would definitely be something that I would love to do long term or in the future. And right now I'm working with a school district to see if that's even a possibility. We're in the, you know, having like the first conversation tomorrow to see what that even looks like. But the fact that somebody agreed to meet with me, I feel like is a big win because I would love to just do that down the line, in addition to working with students after school. But for me, that would mean a lot because I never had help at all. But even if I did have help, I'm I'm not necessarily confident that the teachers would have had the skills because general education teachers and special education teachers are not taught the Orton Gillingham approach. If they are, it's a very basic introduction to it and it's just not enough. So I think having that in schools should be the way that we kind of move forward. Well, if I could be the one to open that door, that would be amazing.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Oh, that would be so nice. And that would, you know, that deals with the accessibility factor as well that a lot of teachers struggle with when going into private practices, that they want to be able to help a larger population of learners and not just those learners whose families are able to afford them. Yes, exactly. Yep. And that is that would be great. You have the credentials behind your name now. You have your own business. They could certainly, you know, contract with you as a subcontractor to come into the school and provide services that you would not be the only service provider the schools do that with. Well, that's so exciting. Oh, I can't wait to maybe we'll come back in a year and we can talk about how all of that has gone. That would be fun. Yes. All right. Last question. What does a good week look like for you now compared to what a good week in the class look like?

SPEAKER_00 43:40

I was very stressed in the classroom. I was constantly thinking about school, constantly thinking about my work. Work came home with me. Now, work, of course, comes home with me because I have to plan at some point. But it is much more relaxed now and I have much more free time. I can do what I want. I can go to the bathroom when I need. to. I can eat food when I when I want to. It's just, it's a huge, huge difference from being in the classroom to being able to work from home or a little bit in person. It's just, it's way different. It's way better. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Yeah. I remember being in the classroom stressing about the houseworkload and how am I going to get all of this done being in two separate places. And then when I was at home worrying about how I was going to get all the schoolwork done. And it took some took me some a little bit of time to find my balance working from home. But it's nice that okay, I'm going to have like a break between students. I can run up and move the laundry over and have a bite to eat and and then I can sit back down and teach another student and not have like anything looming. I don't feel like I have any like big things looming over me anymore. Is there anything else that you want to share before we wrap up this conversation and I tell people what I plan for next week. No, I don't think so. You're a little bit different than most of the teachers I've worked with. The fact that you still don't have a social media presence. Oh, you know what that that's something that I wanted to actually talk about that I don't think we got to is that you leverage in your business the power of networking. And I thought that was really innovative of you. And I think I talked about that in my one of my episodes about finding students is that you instead of making reels and posts and carousels and spending all this time like a lot of what we see you leaned into your network and not only leaned into it, but you even created your own network or you know it found a way to make a place for yourself in other networks. So can you talk about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 45:44

Yeah definitely that's a good reminder because one of my potential students came from a connection that I had made with an educational consultant and sh this person referred me to this potential student, which I thought was amazing. That was essentially the whole reason why I had reached out and I have done a fair share of cold emailing. So school districts, principals, teachers, special education teachers, you know, coaches and I even I had reached out to neuropsychologists and I had a couple of phone calls and email exchanges with certain people in in the area who I can now add to my list. And I was invited by one of the psychologists in the area to come to a networking event. And I was the only dyslexia interventionist that showed up to the event. It was super nerve-wracking because I'm very much an introvert. I stayed for about 15 minutes. I handed out my business card because the whole purpose of the event was come to the event with your business card and network with people. And that's exactly what I did for a very short time. And people were genuinely interested in what what my business was because they hadn't really heard of anyone who's done that before. So it was helpful to make those connections especially for the future if I ever you know need to refer students. And in fact I have referred some of my students whose parents want them to get tested for dyslexia to to these private practices. So it's a really I feel like a really powerful thing. In fact another thing that sticks out to me is one time I had cold emailed a teacher in the area. I can't remember her specific role but she was like I'll keep you in mind and then she wrote I appreciate the hustle. So I thought that that was it made me laugh.

SPEAKER_02 47:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Yeah I think it's important to do that because how else you know you the teachers are the ones who are working with the students who are struggling. So why not make those connections?

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Mm-hmm. Yeah absolutely yep because we're frontline workers and knowing who we can send people to because we want all of our kids to succeed even if we don't personally have the resources for them. So I love that you have done that. And that was not something that I taught you to do. That was something that you figured out to do and were able to add to you know our body of knowledge. All right sorry about that. The uh recording stopped right before we wrapped up and I didn't realize it because I'm still new to this whole podcasting thing and the software that we were using. But all that you missed was me thanking her for being such a great client to work with and thanking her for being on the podcast. Next week we're going to talk about an epiphany I had while I was celebrating my anniversary with my husband at the lake and I forgot to have my book that I wanted to read. So I am excited to talk to you about that. And I'm going to allow there to be a little bit of mystery in what we're going to talk about next week. Yeah it was definitely an epiphany something that I surprised myself when I realized. Anyway until then I hope you have a great week please share it with a colleague or leave a review. This helps the conversation reach other teachers who may need it. You can learn more about what I do and how to work with me at the privatepracticeteacher dot org. Best wishes always