Episode 51: Online Course Creation with Cindy Weaver of Course Create Magic

I’ve said it on the podcast many times before, and I’ll say it again: you have vital skills that non-teachers don’t have. Utilizing those skills is what sets you apart from others, especially when starting your own business. My guest on today’s episode, Cindy Weaver, found a need for online course creation and used her teacher skills to start her own business.  

Going through many stages in her educational journey, Cindy reflects on how each stage played a role in the creation of her business. Part of her reflection was listening to her voice to help make career decisions. After taking years to grow her online course business, Cindy has learned many things that she shares on the episode, along with how this new business endeavor is just another iteration of teaching. Cindy’s optimistic outlook will help you listen to your own voice to follow your next passion.  

 
 

Meet Cindy Weaver

​​Cindy Weaver is an Online Course Consultant and Graphic Designer. She has been in the Education Industry for over 20 years, teaching in public and private schools as well as developing an independent program combining Art and Literacy. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Education and a Master's Degree in Technology. Through this experience, she has developed skills in course planning, teaching, training, leadership, and communication. Her teaching experience has also resulted in a large repertoire of technology expertise, including website building, multimedia presentations, data entry and analysis, and a number of projects which include graphic designs.

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Read the transcript for this episode:

Lily

Cindy Weaver is an online course consultant and graphic designer. She has been in the education industry for over 20 years teaching in public and private schools and developing an independent program combining art and literacy.

Lily

She is the founder of Course Magic Designs, where she offers one to one course planning workshops, and her new program, of course creation express a self paced program to support entrepreneurs in building courses to grow their businesses.

Lily

Welcome, Cindy, so glad to have you here with us.

Cindy

Hi, Lily. It's great to be here.

Lily

Wonderful. Well, I'd love to have you tell us about your journey as an educator.

Cindy

Okay, well, I've taught for over two decades, so it's kind of long, so I'm not gonna go into all the details. Or we might be here a long time.

Cindy

But it kind of as I was reflecting on it, I see it in about four phases. And the first one, I loved my college education, I just was so ready, and so excited. And then I got my first job at a private school. And I had no planning time, no breaks during the day, I even had to eat with the kids, and they couldn't talk. So I had to keep them quiet during lunch. So I work from about 7am to 10 o'clock every night.

Cindy

And, you know, I went through those two years just so stressed and crying. And so I feel like this phase is I've been tricked. You know, I went through my college degree. And now I got my first job. And this is what it is. Yes, you know, so after about two years, we actually moved to another state. And I got another job. And it was a public school.

Cindy

And people were coming in asking me if they could help and I'm like, Oh, wow. And I get money. And you know, so it was a whole different situation. However, it seemed that because I got more help, I created more work for myself. And so the patterns weren't really shifting of me working from seven to 10pm, and sometimes on the weekends.

Cindy

And so one day, I just, I had my stomach got into a knot. And I had, I guess, an anxiety attack. And my husband took me the next day to the doctor. And I remember on the way there. And I mean, I was only in about my fourth year of teaching, and I was already burned out. So I was just saying, I don't want to go back, I just want to be at home, I just want to stay home with my kids.

Cindy

So anyway, we kind of took care of that. But it was kind of this phase, I'm calling the revolution or a come to Jesus moment, because I really had to look at myself and examine what was going on. Because yes, there are things that are external factors that districts and schools put on us. But I realized that I was also creating a lot of my own suffering.

Cindy

And, you know, one of the things I realized is that I was operating out of what other people thought a good teacher should be, not what I thought a good teacher should be. And so I was responding to a lot of external factors. And so I just had to stop and say, what, what do you think, you know, and how are you going to go on from the inside out. And so that really helped me and I just kind of cut back on a lot of things.

Cindy

And it's like, well, you know, before it was like, I have to do this or you know, I won't look like a good teacher. And now it was like, I don't care what I look like I care what I am. And I care what I am with my students. So that was one thing that happened during that revolution period.

Cindy

The other thing was, I realized I was leaving my own passions outside the door of my classroom. So I loved like, all the all the creative arts. And so I brought them into the classroom. And I used dance to teach patterns in math. And I taught my kids to read through song lyrics. And I just did a lot of more artistic projects, and I was happier. And I think the kids really loved it.

Cindy

And then I learned, you know that I had no boundaries. I had no professional boundaries. So I really started working on that. So all those things together, I realized that it kept me from leaving at that time, and it created a happy place for me. And I had to take responsibility for that. And I feel like that is the piece that just kept me loving teaching at that point.

Lily

Oh, I love that. I mean just I just want to break in for a sec to say like, Yes, I resonate with all of that so much and I think that so many teachers like we take on all of these ideas of things we should do or have to and sometimes we're told to do, right like, I do believe that the school system is broken, you know, I have a really kind of preys upon teachers who feel like we have to do all the things, right.

Lily

And I also agree and you know, wanting to empathize, like, sometimes we do create that suffering for ourselves, you know, of like the expectations we put on ourselves. So that we've internalized or that come from, you know, what people have told us or our own selves, can be so limiting too, so I love through this, and I can't wait to see the next phases of your journey.

Lily

But I love through this, you know, how you're kind of rediscovering yourself through the process too like, Alright, I want to bring in this, I want to bring in this creativity, and it kept you fueled in the classroom, it was a good model for kids too.

Cindy

Well, and you know, even from the beginning, from my phase one, when I felt like I'd been tricked. I knew from the first day I set foot in the classroom that I loved teaching. And I always have, you know, even though you know, there are all those pieces around us that we don't love. I just knew that I loved it at every stage.

Cindy

So anyway, that then eventually, we moved to another state. And I started in a new district. And so this phase is more like teamwork, because in this district in this school, we had common planning times, and I had a fantastic team. And so it was characterized to me as fun and creativity and support. And so we kind of divided and conquered. And so I was working less.

Cindy

So you know, bringing all the other pieces that I just told you about, you know, the boundaries and continuing with those. I just felt like a happy teacher, even though sometimes, you know, there were external factors that I wasn't happy with. But if more was put on my plate, I could just say, Okay, I'll do that. But something else will have to go because I won't do both.

Cindy

And so you know, I would just eliminate something else. And that was all part of the boundaries. So I kept myself pretty happy that way. I loved my team, we worked so great together. And so that was that phase, and I was there for 13 years.

Cindy

And then I went back to get my Master's in technology because I was loving technology and bringing it into the classroom. At the same time, I had a very traumatic event happened in our family, and I went to see a therapist, I started with her. And she was really wonderful. And we did great work together.

Cindy

And after two years, I was still working with her. And then one time I felt a little anxiety and I want to just to see her and I went to her calendar. And I realized that she had no openings. And she was booked out for two months. And I was getting my master's in e-learning. And I went to her website looking for resources, I would have paid anything, you know, just to have her voice not to go Google something else.

Cindy

But she had nothing. So the next time I saw her, I said, Would you ever consider like putting any kind of course or videos or anything on your website? I said, because I'm getting my masters. And it just seems like it'd be so easy, you know? And she said, I would love to, she said I agree with you. But it just overwhelms me. She said, I don't know how to do any of that. I don't know how to plan a lesson. I don't know how to do the technology.

Cindy

And I was like, but that seems so easy. I mean, it was a combination of all the teaching pieces and what I was doing in my masters. And so it was right at that point that I just saw that there was this gap that healers and life coaches didn't have that they needed for their clients. But I didn't do anything about it at that point.

Cindy

And then COVID came, and there we were. And I was at home for two years online. And I realized that I loved it. I just absolutely loved it. I loved waking up and just going down the hall to my office in the morning. And I have a very long commute. I live in a mountain town I have to commute down to the city. And so I had no commute.

Cindy

And so there was one thing that I could tell was starting to inch me out the door. Then I went back. And that year that I went back after COVID I had the best year ever I had the best class, it was just so delightful. But I just felt I just felt like being pregnant. Like something was shifting. Like there was something deep inside of me that just wanted geographic freedom that wanted to work from anywhere in the world.

Cindy

And so it wasn't really so much that I was trying to get out of teaching, but I was trying to go to something else that was trying to take birth in me at that time. So the next year, it just so happened that there was a math interventionist position and it was four days a week and I had seniority so I didn't need to move but one of our team members was going to need to move and then all sudden I was like, well I'm gonna do that.

Cindy

Like I don't know if I can make the money work, but I'm gonna do that and it worked out fine and I loved it. But the thing is, I had every Wednesday off. And when I got up on Thursday, I didn't want to go back to school. I just wanted to work from home. And so you know, you just have to pay attention to the cues and the things you're feeling around you and inside you.

Cindy

And so what I did is, I did want to just jump. So in this is kind of like three years out from when I left. And so I started studying with this coach, this online coach from Hawaii, and I did a year program with her on the online course creating business. But I did it while I was still working. And I did it in the summers. And I did it here and there.

Cindy

And I started getting my space ready, and my head ready. And so I started purging my classroom and just cleaning it as if every year that I was there was going to be my last. And I never people would always ask me, When are you going to? Or how long are you going to teach? And whatever I'm like, I don't know, I said, I one of these days, I'm just going to be gone.

Cindy

And so last year, I went and I was in this math interventionist position. And in April, maybe end of March, I woke up and I was just like, I'm done. And I just knew that I was done. And probably from from that point until May, I cried. Because, you know, teaching was my life. It was my identity. It was my love. And like the thought of not setting up a classroom in the fall, and just leaving my team and there were just so many reasons.

Cindy

And when I walked out of the, from my school, and last day, I cried. And when school started this year I cry. And you know, it's just you don't always, you know, leave when things are bad. Yeah, sometimes you leave because it's time to leave the end.

Lily

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that's so beautiful. And like, such a good reminder to everybody. And I definitely resonate with your story too that sometimes you do just know. And it's not ever 100% Like, I'm happy to make this transition, at least in my experience. It's like, you know that it's time and I love that you kind of honored that voice.

Lily

Because I think oftentimes we hear that voice being like, I think it's time I think it's time, but we kind of shove it down, you know. So I think that that is really amazing and something to celebrate also. And also the fact that I feel the same way. Like I love teaching, in some ways, even though I haven't been in classroom for 15 years. And I'm very happy with the business I build and all the things I do.

Lily

You know, I'll go to my kids school, and they'll be like, Oh, gee, do you want to come back to teaching all the time every year in hiring season? And I'm like, No, do I, you know, I always have the time, like, do I? Maybe I do.

Cindy

Yeah. And I think too, though, there are a lot of pieces that were getting harder. And were really taking more of my energy. And I wanted my energy back. So that was another thing. I wanted geographic freedom. And I wanted my energy back.

Cindy

And I was talking to my daughter. And I said I'm so like, I'm so sad about leaving and like, she's a teacher too. And she said, Mom, I think you right now you have rose colored glasses on. Because if you actually went back, you know, you would realize all the realities of why you left too.

Lily

Yes. Well, I love how you also broke down your story into the four chapters, too. I kind of want to go back and do that with myself. I think it's a nice practice of like, I was listening to a podcast with Jane Fonda who was reflecting back on her life and how important it was to tell the story of her life.

Lily

Like in her own mind, you know, of like, really thinking about what's happened and putting this frame on it at these different chapters, I think can be really helpful. And see the season that we're in right now.

Cindy

Right. Yeah.

Lily

So can you tell us a little bit about the business that you have been building?

Cindy

Okay, so I actually started three years before I left teaching, but just in little pieces, you know, and then when I had every Wednesday off I had that day, I'm really glad I did it that way. Because I feel like I knew everything about course creating except marketing. And that's one of the biggest pieces of a business.

Cindy

Yes, you know, it was really great to have your paycheck at the end of the month. And you could you could be working on your business and not have pressure that you had to get have, you know, a paycheck. So anyway, I'm really glad. And I would just advise anyone to do it that way.

Cindy

So I started that. And then I started with one to one clients, where I just work with them. It's called a course planning workshop, and we work on creating their course. And the thing that has surprised me is that you know, all the pieces of teaching that come so natural to us. They don't to a lot of people.

Lily

Right. I know, I agree. It's so shocking.

Cindy

So I have a client right now and she's a Chinese medicine practitioner and she wants to create a course actually to give herself more freedom. And she sent me an email and she said, I'm so glad I'm I'm working with a teacher, she said because I just realized that nobody ever taught me how to teach.

Cindy

And then I realized that, you know, think how many lesson plans we've made. It just comes natural and you don't even know that you're doing that. So I think that was a big plus.

Cindy

Anyway, I work with one to one clients, I also run a six week cohort with the same process, I've developed a five step methodology to go from clarity, my very first piece is clarity. And the reason that I did that I didn't do that initially. But every time people came to me, they didn't know what they wanted to do.

Cindy

So, you know, I thought, well, we need to get clear first, and we need to dive in. And then they can do it because they can't make a course if they don't know where they're going.

Cindy

So anyway, sure, it starts with clarity. And I use the same five step method with my six week cohort, except that we meet together, they do some homework, we meet together. And we do that for six weeks. I created a clarity course called the Pearl, just because I kept running into so many people who wanted to do the new thing, but didn't know what.

Cindy

So it's a mini course, it's actually on my website, and it's called the Pearl. And it's taking a deep dive into getting clarity. And so I put that out as a course. And I've worked with about five clients on that. And now it's on my website.

Cindy

And I just created a new program, which is work at your own pace, six module course teaching people how to create a course. And it also has a resource library called the course cafe, that gives them more resources to help them with building their course.

Cindy

And they get coaching call with me before they even start. So I can jumpstart with them and help them know where they're going. And then we have a Facebook group for unlimited feedback. So those are the things that I'm doing with the course creation business right now.

Lily

Wonderful, that's great. And I have had the same experience, you know, going from a classroom teacher, or working with people who had never been teachers before at various companies and things like that, you know, and being like, oh, it makes me clearer on what I have learned as a teacher.

Lily

I think that being around other teachers, my parents were teachers, I was around all my friends or teachers. So I really was around teachers all the time. And I don't think I fully realized the breadth of skills that we develop in the classroom. So it's interesting being in different contexts and be like, I couldn't do Chinese medicine, right? Like, it makes sense. Like, you know why these things maybe aren't as natural for other people.

Cindy

It's true, because when I first started, and I was taking this program with this course business coach in Hawaii, and there were half of us, it was a group coaching program. Half of the people came as marketers and half came as teachers. And I remember one of the marketers saying, like, I have no idea how to teach I feel like an impostor. And I just remember thinking, what, that's the easy part. It's marketing that's hard. I still felt that way.

Lily

Absolutely. I know, marketing was a whole new beast for me, you know, my business too. Do you have any tips for people on what what has worked for you to kind of learn that world?

Cindy

Well, I have a marketing coach right now also, and I'm in a group marketing program. And honestly, without that, I don't even know if I would be able to stay. Because it's big, you know, the marketing piece online is big.

Cindy

I think the biggest thing for me is when I first started this, I thought it was just going to happen, like overnight, kind of, and, you know, then like on social media, you'd see people like, work with me and make your 10k months and I was like, What am I doing wrong?

Cindy

And so what I realized when I got into this coaching program, that a business is something you grow over time, which is another reason for not just quitting. I mean, if you quit teaching, and go into a and get a job somewhere where you're assured a paycheck right away, that's a different thing.

Cindy

But one of the things I knew is that I wasn't going to go to another nine to five, if I was leaving teaching, if I was leaving teaching, I was going to work for myself, and I was going to call the shots. So I just had to, you know, settle in and realize that it's a process, it's a growing process, and to let it grow, and just to take the step every day, you know, take the step every day.

Lily

I totally agree too with the building a business, it does take time and finding your audience and getting clear on what you're offering. And connecting with people. All of that takes time.

Lily

And when I first you know I left the classroom, but I did contract work with other companies. When I first left the classroom, and for years, while I was building Educator Forever, I was just on had another podcast interview where I was talking about, like the pieces of the pie kind of shifted, you know, where it was, like I was doing work that I knew I would get paid for, for other people.

Lily

And that was probably 90% of what I was doing. And I was working on my business 10% And over time, the paid work for other people shifted, you know, until eventually it went away to just be my business. But that took years, you know.

Lily

And so I think that whether you're a classroom teacher Like you were building this business on the side, or you know, if you are, if you're like, I want to leave the classroom right now, you know, there's no shame. And it actually can be really amazing to like, get some contract work or a part time job or something that provides that stability financially, while you're committing to growing this other part.

Cindy

Absolutely. I love that. And like, sometimes I'll just go on Upwork. And I'll just, you know, pick up small jobs and, and that kind of thing. And I also during COVID, I did something that I just wanted to do, I had wanted to do for a long time, I have been a freelance artist, a portrait artist, and so I have some artwork.

Cindy

And I'm a big journaler, and so I wanted to create my own journals with my own artwork, and I just wanted to do it for me. And I created five of them. And then I put them on Amazon, and then they started selling. And I mean, then they had like a lull because I didn't realize that, like when you create something to sell, you actually have to market it.

Cindy

Yeah, so you know, now, every now and then I'll bring them kind of out of the closet, or whatever, and just, you know, put them on social media, and then people will buy them. But anyway, that was my first introduction to passive income. And I was like, I created those ones. And now you know, they keep selling. So anyway, I need to kind of maybe revisit those and just be a little more active with those too.

Lily

Yeah, I love on all of your marketing skills that you're learning for your course you can use over there too.

Cindy

Exactly.

Lily

Wonderful. Well I'd love to hear a little bit about personally, what you've learned about yourself through this whole journey of starting your own business.

Cindy

Well, what I loved and I wasn't sure of is that I love teaching. And that this course creation business is actually just another iteration of teaching. I love all the planning, and the organizing and the creativity, the projects and the curriculum development.

Cindy

So I realized that, you know, when I was eight years old, I asked my mom, if I could gather all the neighborhood kids, and teach them. So you know, I just was like, I just have realized that I love teaching and I love, I have to be creating to be happy. And this does help me to be able to do that.

Cindy

The other thing I learned is that I can do terrifying things. Because doing this is terrifying. It's not that I stay in a state of fear. But I have so many things that I've never done that before. Okay, just go do it. You know? So yeah, it's just a good thing too. Because if you don't want to face that, then don't do it. You can't do it, you know, you can't step out of teaching or anywhere else if you're not willing to face the terrifying thing.

Cindy

And I think I've understood my energy patterns a little bit more, because like when you teach, I mean, you have to go to the bathroom on schedule. But like when I'm home, like I had to get up at 530 to get to my job. And now I've realized that my natural waking time is between 630 and seven.

Cindy

And then my energy is that I work for four hours, and then I have to take almost two hours off. Yeah. And then it comes back again, late afternoon to evening. And so I just know that so I kind of plan around my energy patterns where when you teach, you know, you just can't do that not only do you get your plan taken from you, like every minute of the day.

Lily

Yeah, I mean, that's a gift to definitely to be able to pay attention and kind of lean into those times. And I think going back to the like doing things that are terrifying. Absolutely. I mean, I found the same thing, starting a business.

Lily

It's so different from teaching, which I when I first started teaching, I felt terrified because it was new. Yeah. And I remember when I was student teaching, like my very first times being in front of a class felt terrifying. Yes. But then I think because it's so it becomes so scheduled, right? Like where it's like, alright, a new class this year, done it before, let me pull out my things for the first week. It's not terrifying anymore. Right.

Lily

And in some ways, that's great. And in some ways, that's not great. You know, and I thought, you know, when it became less terrifying, I wasn't learning as much. And so I do think the flipside of like, things that are terrifying are really where the growth happens. And so being willing to go through the uncomfortable, terrifying wellness, which happened to all of us, like really do cause all this growth personally and professionally.

Cindy

Right. In fact, that's why I journal so much. After I process, the thing that I'm saying that I can't do, so that I can get to do it, you know? Absolutely. I think the last thing that I have really learned is that the importance of surrender, because a lot of times I'll just find myself pushing and trying to push through and push through.

Cindy

And then I'll just stop and like, for a day, I won't do any business thing and I'll just refocus, and somehow without me things start happening. And so I think letting go and surrendering are a big part of any new endeavor. I was gonna say business, but I really think it's any anything new that you do.

Lily

I agree, I was actually the call I was on before this was talking about the same thing where I was like, I feel like my default has always been like, hustle, like, do the thing. Because I'm like, being a teacher to start a business just like I'm doing the thing.

Lily

And I think that for me, also, I found in those moments of surrender of being able to just like, wait for the thing to happen have that integration of your mind, or what you've learned, or whatever everybody else is doing, you know, that that's really important too. And that it's not just like, push through. And that's not how I cognitively want to live. I've been in this mode, or just like push through, too. So I appreciate that so much.

Cindy

Yeah, it reminds me of I have this friend who is a therapist, and she said, when she works with somebody, the first thing she does is tell them to go home and clean their closets. And I totally understand what that does for you, you know. And so what I've tried to do is like, you know, do that, like with my emails and just like not get backed up, but just take a day and kind of go through things and, you know, stay organized?

Lily

Yes, absolutely. So what advice would you give for educators who are maybe thinking about kind of like you were, you know, a couple years ago, maybe I want to do something else, maybe I want to explore options beyond the classroom?

Cindy

Well, you know, one of the things I would like to say is be sure that leaving is what you want to do. Because if you remember my I don't know, phase, I think two it was revolution come to Jesus moment is that I almost left the classroom at that point, I was I was totally burned out.

Cindy

And what I really needed is not to leave, but to change. And so number one, be sure that you know you need to leave, or that you want to leave or that you're feeling something like kind of calling you to leave.

Cindy

And don't jump ship to get away from your challenges, because it's likely that you'll have, you're just trading challenges. Especially like if you're going to like a new job, I think just going to get a job and looking for jobs and doing interviews, you know, you might end up more unhappy. So I just think that's a careful thing, you know, to be careful with.

Cindy

I think I had to do a lot of reflection. And with that, it was like kind of getting to know yourself again, because you've had this identity as a teacher. And so now it's like if I'm going to make a next step, what really do I want to make it into and who am I.

Cindy

So just noticing what lights you up and noticing where your passions are. And look in that direction now, so that the next step can be something that truly inspires you. And like I said, if you are leaving, start purging your classroom and acting, give yourself the message that you are leaving, start setting up an office space at home, even if it's a tiny little corner, and just get yourself ready, you know, in that way.

Lily

Wonderful. Yeah, I love that idea. Create space for that new chapter to start unfolding whatever that looks like for you.

Cindy

Yeah.

Lily

All right, thanks so much, Cindy. It was so nice talking with you.

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