This week we’re chatting to freelance proofreader, Melanie Cotton. Melanie taught French and Spanish during a 25-year career in the same secondary school before retraining as a proofreader and leaving to focus on her business, Argentum Proofreading, four years ago. 

She helps self-publishing authors, independent publishers and businesses of all shapes and sizes share their words with complete confidence. She has clients across the globe but is based in Cheshire.

We talk about:

• Melanie’s teaching experience and how she left
• Training to be a proofreader, gaining accreditation, and starting to build her business
• Getting clients and referral networking
• Investing in a professional website
• Establishing a consistent income
• Getting clients from LinkedIn
• What you can earn as a proofreader and pricing your work
• Running a business and wearing all the hats
• Melanie’s advice for those looking to leave teaching and set up their own business

Have a look at Melanie’s website for her proofreading business: 

www.argentumproofreading.co.uk or say hello to her on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-cotton 

I’d also recommend a look at her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@routesoutofteaching4635 where she interviews ex teachers about how they left teaching and what they’re doing now.

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This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are joined by Caroline Bowmer, who left a 15 year career in science teaching in 2019 to start her own business, Alchemy Education, an online education company. 

Caroline and her team use a transformative programme of tutoring, exam technique and mindset coaching to help students to reach their potential and get their best possible GCSE and A Level exam results.

We talk about:

• Caroline’s teaching experience and how much she loved being a teacher
• How grief can make you reconsider your career path
• The need for flexible working when you have a young family
• How teaching isn’t a very family friendly career
• Building a tutoring business as a side project
• Growing her business to replace and exceed her teaching salary
• Managing a team of tutors
• The importance of mindset and a strong support network
• Recognising your transferable skills
• Leaving teaching and building a life that is more balanced and rewarding

You can find Caroline’s website here: https://alchemy-education.com/

Say hello to Caroline on LinkedIn

Follow Alchem Education on Instagram

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Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

Sign up for our newsletter.

This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, I talk to Victoria Doxat. Victoria is a thought leadership consultant and ghostwriter who left a 17 year teaching career this year to focus entirely on her business. She works with corporates and multinationals and specialises in planning, writing and editing whitepapers, expert articles and bylined articles for senior executives. 

We discuss:

• Victoria’s experience teaching GCSE and A Level philosophy
• Getting involved with a union
• Challenges and rewards of teaching and union work
• Transitioning into freelance writing
• Building a successful freelance business
• Victoria’s current work and client base
• Advice for teachers considering a career change

Take a look at Victoria’s website: www.victoriadoxat.com

Say hi to her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-doxat/ 

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Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I catch up with Jenny Sharp. Jenny is a career coach who left a career as a computing teacher shortly after the pandemic to retrain as a life and business coach. 

She now enjoys a multi-faceted, blended career featuring coaching, counselling and mentoring, maths tutoring, and computing teacher education. 

In her coaching business she specialises in working with women who want help with their career confidence, motivation and direction. Her clients range from teachers to product owners and managing directors across the UK and beyond from her base in North Yorkshire.

We chat about:

• Jenny’s teaching journey
• Her decision to leave
• Working for STEM Learning
• Retraining as a coach
• The difference between coaching and mentoring
• Choosing the right coaching course
• Challenges and strategies for building a coaching business
• Advice for teachers considering a career change

Jenny’s website is: www.jennysharp.co.uk 

Say hello to her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennysharpcoaching/

Follow her on TikTok: @jennysharpcareercoaching 

Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sharp-coaching/ 

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Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

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This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kicking off a brand new series is an interview with James Ball. 

James spent twenty years as a history teacher, head of history and head of humanities in schools in the West Midlands. 

He has been writing textbooks since 2008 and a change in circumstances recently precipitated him leaving the classroom to begin writing full-time. 

He now lives in Copenhagen with his partner and daughter and authors textbooks, popular history books, educational blogs and articles. He also creates teaching resources for a range of charities.

In this interview we talk through:

• James’ teaching journey and early career
• The challenges of teaching and financial strain
• His transition to writing textbooks
• Balancing teaching with family life
• Leaving teaching and embracing freelancing

Visit James’ website (www.ballpointcopy.co.uk). Say hello to him on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/ballpointcopy). You can also have a look at his textbooks on  medicine and Henry VIII  and the American West and America, 1920-73 , read his article about dual coding and another about the impact of the history curriculum review. You can also listen to him on this podcast for Oxford University Press. 

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Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I catch up with Jo Millet. 

Jo is an ex head of department and former history and politics teacher from London. She joined teaching through Teach First, then spent 8 years in both state and independent schools. 

Jo lives in Bristol and now runs her own marketing agency, Lean Content. She’s the host of two podcasts and is setting up another business in 2024. She's also written a few books on marketing and does stand up comedy in her spare time. 

Jo and I talk about:

• The importance of self belief without ego
• How it’s easier to start than you realise
• Struggling with being the little fish
• Getting fired from her first job out of teaching
• Starting again from the bottom
• Not giving up
• Being glad she was a teacher but also really glad she left

You can find Jo on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-millett/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jo_millett/). Or you can visit her website (https://leancontent.co.uk/) and listen to her podcast Niche Upon a Star on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/164BdOCvIXOBxVztUR9pXs) or Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/niche-upon-a-star/id1724724440).

—----------------

Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I’m chatting to an ex colleague of mine, Helen Hill. 

Helen is the founder of UnlikelyGenius™️ and co-founder of Be The Future. She is an all-around creative, providing writing, design & illustration, and learning tech. She left teaching after being diagnosed with MS and feeling pushed out as a result of a toxic environment. 

She now wants to shake up our outdated education system from the outside and support our overstretched teachers to teach about tough topics like climate change, world events, and mental health.

Helen and I talk about many things, including: 

• toxic work environments
• being pushed out of jobs
• neurodiversity and invisible disabilities
• and getting into learning design as an ex teacher. 

You can find Helen on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenhill/)  and Instagram (@unlikelygenius & @bethfuture.earth. Check out her websites for Unlikely Genius (https://www.unlikelygenius.com/)  and Be the Future (https://www.bethefuture.earth/). And, I highly recommend her book, Falling off the Ladder. 

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Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I catch up with Kerry Quinn. Kerry is a social media strategist and content creator who left a 14-year teaching career to start her own business, The Teacher Marketer. 

Listen in to find out how Kerry said goodbye to teacher stress and burn out in search of a better work-life balance. 

Say hi to Kerry on Instagram @the_teacher_marketer, join her Facebook group Teachers in Business, or download her free 90 day content planner.

========

Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I talk to Inés Ivorra Harrison. Inés is a content writer for education and EdTech.

She left a 11 year career in teaching ESL and FLE in January 2024. She now works mainly with educational and EdTech companies across the globe from the comfort of her home near Barcelona.

Listen up to find out how Inés made the transition from teaching to content writing. We discuss:

-   How she deliberated over her decision to leave teaching

-   Taking a course in UX writing 

-   The different types of writing you can do as a freelancer

-   Becoming an EdTech content writer

-   Difficulties in finding full time employed roles outside teaching

-   Identifying transferrable skills that teachers have

-   The benefits and challenges associated with running your own business

Visit Inés’s website: https://www.inesivorra.com/

Connect with her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/inés-ivorra

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Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble Follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s series two of the Bye Teaching Podcast and today I talk with ex primary teacher Molly Scanlan. 

Molly left teaching in 2020 and now creates sustainable websites for social enterprises and other non-evil businesses. She’s also a co-founder of a social enterprise herself, a writer and a parent. 

Listen in for Molly’s take on our broken education system, teacher overwhelm and frustration, and the toll it can take on your mental health. 

We also talk about some of the strong transferable skills teachers have and how their work ethic can set them up to be really successful business owners.

Visit Molly’s website: https://www.mollygetsitdone.com/

Sign up for her newsletter: https://www.mollygetsitdone.com/signup/

Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scanlanmolly/

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Don’t forget to hit ‘subscribe’ in your podcast player and recommend the podcast to other teachers you know. 

Follow us on Instagram: @byeteachinguk

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

This podcast was produced and edited by Simon Elvin - say hello to him over on LinkedIn

Music by Escape from the Giant Bubble follow them on Instagram @escape_from_the_giant_bubble

Got a question you’d like answering on the podcast? Email me and let me know at [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.