From Classroom Teacher to Online Business Owner
I recently sat down with Allison Williams, Founder of Tutor Tots Online, to talk about her journey from teacher to entrepreneur. In addition to running a successful online business, Allison is a graduate of the Grow Your Education Business Accelerator and now helps me to run the program.
It’s always an inspiration to hear Allison share all that she has learned about how to become an entrepreneur while running her education business. Through this interview, I hope you can share in that inspiration and discover why entrepreneurship may be the best career change for teachers who want more flexibility!
Allison’s Journey from Teacher to Entrepreneur
Allison always knew she wanted to be a teacher. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education, she worked as a teacher in public, private, and charter schools. She loved teaching but started feeling like she could grow beyond the school building.
“When COVID hit and I got a chance to experience working from home, I fell in love with it,” said Allison. “I realized that I still had an impact, even behind the computer screen. When they were sending us back in, I just made the decision that I wasn't going to return. It's been great ever since.”
For six months before Allison decided to leave the classroom, she taught her niece online. Her niece was going to go into kindergarten, so Allison held virtual sessions to help her get prepared. Allison’s sister-in-law started inviting other kids to join the classes and soon Allison found herself teaching a small group of students online. It was her first taste of teacher entrepreneurship and jump started her journey from teacher to entrepreneur.
“Parents started telling more parents and it became a whole thing,” shared Allison. “So I was doing it for six months before I left my job. That's really what gave me the extra confidence to leave the classroom.”
Discovering How to Start a Tutoring Business As A Teacher
When Allison left the classroom she officially launched Tutor Tots Online, where she teaches live virtual classes for students in preschool through first grade.
On her journey from teacher to entrepreneur, she has immersed herself in learning about all things related to online businesses, from social media marketing (definitely check out the @tutortotsonline Instagram account) to designing her website.
“Owning a business has helped me realize that I'm good at a lot of things. As teachers, we kind of get stuck on being good teachers. We know how to do this,” said Allison. “But I realized there are other avenues that our skills can transfer to. As a teacher, we're good at a lot of things. Putting those skills to work has been very beneficial.”
When Allison joined the very first round of Educator Forever’s Grow Your Education Business Accelerator last summer, she was ready to build on the awesome foundation she had created for her business. The accelerator is a small-group, application-only program by design, allowing us to build an intimate community of students ready to propel their teacher entrepreneur ideas forward.
“Joining the accelerator really made me take my business seriously. When you make an investment into something then you show up and you really put forth what you are learning. It really helped hold me accountable,” Allison reflected. “Being a part of a group of other educators, it was really good to surround myself with like-minded people. My favorite part of the accelerator was learning how to make the behind-the-scenes things of running a business a little bit easier, like automation.”
After going through the first round of the accelerator, Allison has joined me to serve as a business mentor for current students, sharing her journey from teacher to entrepreneur.
Between the two of us, we bring expertise in running businesses targeted at teachers, parents, kids, and education organizations. Running the education business accelerator together allows students to get extra support from two loving teacher entrepreneurs. Plus, it’s so fun to work together!
“I just always love to help,” said Allison. “ I really enjoyed just having information to share and being able to share what I'm learning makes me happy.”
Start Your Own Journey from Teacher to Entrepreneur
Want to apply to join our next round of the Grow Your Education Business Accelerator? Whether you already have a side hustle for teachers that you want to take full time or you’re just starting to develop your business plan, we’d love to have you join us to build and scale a flexible and impactful education business.
Looking to learn more about Allison and Tutor Tots Online? Head to the Tutor Tots Online website or Instagram page.
Check out Allison and my entire conversation here: