Goodbye Classroom, Hello Studio!
Hello friends, family, and acquaintances new and old! I recently resigned from my teaching job. I loved my job. I loved teaching elementary art, but I had some other passions and emotions getting in the way. In the video above, I explain why and how I left my awesome teaching job.
It still feels like my summer break. Reality hasn't set in quite yet. I'm transitioning from full-time art teacher to full-time artist entrepreneur. The safety net of the 9-5 and steady paychecks is ending. My last paycheck has been delivered to my bank.
Do I know exactly what I'm doing? No. I have vague ideas, lofty goals, and some plans. I'm diving in and figuring it out as I go. Some people recommend not leaving your day job until your side job can pay your bills. I do not have a side hustle of income that exceeds my teaching income. Most of my money came from teaching. I might have made $400 last year as an artist.
Teaching consumed me. My energy went into the students and my classroom. My dream of being an artist was always present and burning in my soul, but it was challenging to split my time as a teacher and a successful artist. I put most of my effort into being the best teacher I could be while making my own art came in inconsistent bursts. I could never even it out enough to be successful at both.
Now I'm transitioning all my energy from teaching to artist entrepreneur. It's going to take me a while to figure it all out. It could be 3 months, 6 months, a year, or years before I begin to feel somewhat successful. Here are a few things I have in place to make this transition smoother...
Get my FINANCES in order
6+ months of savings. People say you should always have six months of savings for any situation. I thought that was crazy! Who does that? But here I am, one of those people. If I did nothing and earned no money, I could survive comfortably for 6-8 months. Saving up a good chunk of money alleviates a lot of stress at the beginning of a job transition. It also helps to keep your expenses low.
Lower cost of living. I've never been an extravagant spender. Having a solid teaching job for eight years has afforded me the privilege of meeting big financial life goals and lowering my expenses. I moved across the country to a city I enjoy but was also relatively cheap to live in when I first moved. I was able to buy a house, (with a mortgage). I have a used-but-new-to-me working car that is now paid off. I still have some student loans to pay off, but my basics are covered.
Help with expenses. I'm not in this alone. My partner of ten years also contributes to the household expenses. We earned about equal amounts while I was teaching and we would each pay half the bills. If I didn't exist, he could afford to pay all household bills if necessary, but it would be a squeeze, so I won't let him do that. I know not everyone has someone stable with them, but I'm lucky I do. This could be a similar safety net to having a roommate to pay half the bills or being able to live with family.
Health insurance That's always a big question when leaving a job in the U.S. "What about health insurance??" I have my school's health insurance for the next couple of months. After that, I'm using Cobra, which is a way to keep my same school plan going since my out-of-pocket maximum has been reached for the year. The premium is expensive, but it'll only be for four extra months. Then I will get a new plan in the healthcare marketplace starting January 2025.
Figure out WHAT and WHERE I will create If I'm going to be an artist, I need a place to make art. My backyard art studio has everything I need and more. It's the whole reason I fell in love with my house. I've been building up my art space for years from a spare bedroom to a small community studio, and now my home studio. I have a working kiln and a pottery wheel to make it a fully functioning pottery studio.
A part-time job - No Shame! I will make more money... eventually. But for now, I had to also secure a part-time job. My sister hired me to help with her online business. I wanted something that didn't take me away too much from my creativity as teaching did. If I didn't have the luxury of working remotely with family, I would probably get a restaurant or barista job to be around people. It's nice to know I have a little income coming in while I build up my own art business.
A Fallback Plan If everything fails, I could go back to teaching. No bridges were burned and I'm not against the possibility. I have good contacts within the school and I have some good references. My teaching license expires in 5 years and by then I'll figure out how to renew it for another 10 years. Who knows, I may be back in the classroom, but I'm not depending on it right now.
Alisha is an artist and art teacher based in New Mexico. She has a BFA in animation and art education. She taught art in the K-12 setting for eight years. Now she creates pottery and art in her cozy backyard studio with her fluffy cat Flower, and little dog Ellie.
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