I wish I could tell you that I come home from teaching every afternoon, pour myself a cup of coffee, open my laptop, and spend two perfectly productive hours working on my online business.
I don’t. 😊
Some days I’m tired.
Some days there are errands to run, dinner to make, things to do around the house, or schoolwork that followed me home.
And some days?
The couch is calling my name. 😂
That’s real life.
But here’s something I’ve learned since I started building additional income while working full time:
I don’t have to have a perfect routine to make progress.
I just have to keep doing something.
I Didn’t Want Another Job
For years, when I thought about earning more money, the answer always seemed to be the same:
Work more hours.
And I’ve done that.
I’ve taught summer school. I’ve worked concessions. I’ve written curriculum. I’ve taken on extra work whenever I needed additional income.
I’m certainly not afraid of working.
But at this stage of my life, I didn’t want to clock out of one job and clock into another one.
I didn’t need another job. I needed another option.
That’s what eventually led me to start learning about different ways to create income from home.
And yes, I started learning all of this in my 50s.
While teaching full time.
So What Do I Actually Do After School?
This is the part I think gets lost when people hear someone say they’re “building an online business.”
It sounds like we’re doing something mysterious behind our laptops. 😂
I’m not.
The things I work on are usually pretty ordinary.
I might create a Pinterest pin.
I might write a little bit of a blog post.
I might create a short video or edit some B-roll I filmed earlier.
I might write an email.
I might learn something new about affiliate marketing.
I might work on one of my digital products.
Or I might check something off my list that takes 15 minutes.
I don’t do all of those things every day.
That’s important.
I usually just ask myself:
What’s one thing I can move forward today?
And then I do that.
Some Days I Have More Time Than Others
There are days when I come home with energy and get quite a bit accomplished.
There are other days when 20 minutes is about all I’ve got.
I’m learning to be okay with both.
Because one thing I’ve discovered is that consistency doesn’t have to mean doing the exact same amount every day.
For me, consistency means I keep coming back.
One Pinterest pin doesn’t feel like much.
One email doesn’t feel like much.
One short video doesn’t feel like much.
Twenty minutes of learning doesn’t feel like much.
But when you keep doing those small things over and over again, eventually you look back and realize you’ve built something that didn’t exist before.
That’s exactly what’s happened to me.
I’m Still a Teacher First
I think this is important to say, too.
I’m not trying to escape my teaching career (but I do want to retire earlier than I had planned).
I love being a teacher.
I can spend my day in the classroom doing work that matters to me and still come home and build something that matters to my future.
Those two things don’t compete with each other.
In fact, learning how to create additional income has changed the way I think about my career.
My paycheck doesn’t have to be my only plan for my future.
I can love teaching and want more financial freedom.
I can be grateful for the career I have and create more choices for what comes next.
I’m Building This for the Life I Want Later
That’s really my reason for doing any of this.
I’m not trying to become an internet millionaire.
I want choices.
I want to retire when I’m ready.
I want to travel.
I want more time with my family.
I want to enjoy this next chapter of my life without worrying quite so much about whether we’ve saved enough.
And yes, I have a little dream of creating enough income that maybe my husband gets to retire earlier too. ❤️
That’s worth spending a little time after school building toward.
You Don’t Need a Perfect Routine
If you’re reading this while working full time and thinking,
There is absolutely no way I could add one more thing to my life…
I understand.
That’s exactly why I don’t think you should start by trying to add another job to your life.
Start smaller.
Maybe it’s 20 minutes.
Maybe you learn one thing.
Maybe you create one thing.
Maybe today all you do is figure out what you’d like to learn.
Then tomorrow, do the next thing.
There will be productive days.
There will be tired days.
There will probably be days when the couch wins. 😂
But you don’t have to do everything every day to build something meaningful over time.
Not every day is perfect.
But I try to do something every day.
And little by little, I’m building more choices for my future.
One ordinary after-school afternoon at a time. ❤️
Cheering you on,
Jodi
P.S. If you’re curious about what I’ve been learning and how I’m building additional income while teaching full time, you can start with my free training here. ❤️