Does selling your editing or coaching services make you feel gross, salesy, or like a fraud?

You're not alone, and there's a reason behind that discomfort, but it has nothing to do with selling itself.

In this episode, Paulina explains why so many academics struggle to charge for their knowledge, and how to reframe selling as service so you can finally build a sustainable freelance business without the guilt.

After leading 8 cohorts of Becoming an Academic Editor or coach (BAE) and helping over 100 academics launch their own editing and coaching businesses, Paulina has heard this fear come up again and again.

Here's what she's learned: the discomfort isn't about the act of selling. It's about the gap between everything academia trained you to believe and what it actually takes to run a profitable freelance business.

In this episode, you'll hear:

✒️ Why universities and publishers have conditioned academics to give their labor away for free (and how this shapes your relationship with money)

✒️ The real source of that "icky" feeling when you have to quote a price

✒️ How to reframe selling as information transfer, not manipulation

✒️ Why charging fair rates is what makes you a better editor or coach for your clients

✒️ The identity shift required to go from underpaid professor to paid expert

✒️ How your years of expertise translate into intellectual property worth charging for

If you've ever hesitated to send a quote, undercharged for your work, or felt guilty asking a client to pay you, this episode will completely change how you think about selling.

📌 Want to end burnout and become an academic editor or coach? Go to AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

Subscribe to the podcast for weekly episodes on leaving academia and building a freelance editing or coaching business.

2:15 - Why Academia Pays Less Than You Deserve

4:30 - The Truth About Publishers and Free Labor

6:45 - How To Reframe Selling Services

9:00 - Your Knowledge is Valuable IP

11:15 - The Ethical Imperative to Charge

13:30 - Actionable Steps to Embrace Your Value

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

You spent years building your credentials—the PhD, the publications, the speaking engagements, the teaching experience.

So when you launched your freelance editing or coaching business, it felt natural to lead with all of your experience on your website.

Here's the problem: those credentials are exactly what's repelling the clients you want.

In this episode, I break down why leading with your CV is the #1 mistake academics make when transitioning into editing or coaching—and what to do instead.

Using the analogy of a doctor's office visit, I'll show you exactly how your homepage copy should function so potential clients feel seen, safe, and understood the moment they land on your site.

You'll hear:

🩺 Why centering yourself on your homepage is hurting your client conversions

🩺 The "doctor's office" framework for writing copy that builds trust fast

🩺 3 real homepage examples (academic editor, academic coach, dissertation coach) showing the shift from credentials-first to client-first marketing

🩺 How to name your client's internal experience—not just their practical problem

🩺 The reframe that will change how you write every piece of marketing copy from here on out

If you've been wondering why your homepage isn't converting, or why people keep visiting your site but never reaching out, this episode will show you exactly what's missing.

👉 Subscribe for weekly episodes on building a freelance editing or coaching business after academia.

Want to end burnout and become an academic editor or coach? Go to AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

2:15 - Why Doctors Listen First

4:30 - Academia vs. Client Needs

6:45 - How to Hook Your Ideal Client

9:00 - Example 1 Academic Editor

11:15 - Example 2 Academic Coach

13:30 - Example 3 Dissertation Coach

15:45 - The Crucial Homepage Shift

18:00 - What Truly Differentiates You

20:15 - Build Trust, Not Just Impress

22:30 - Your Next Steps

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

You stayed. You pushed through. You asked for help—and got gaslit instead.

If that just hit a little too close to home, this episode is for you.

Julia Gray's post-academic path included a government job before she began building her business as an editor and a communications and culture specialist.

In this conversation, Julia gets honest about what it feels like to reinvent yourself after academia.

We talk about the identity shift that happens when you leave behind the job title of "professor," what it looks like to build a business when you're completely terrified, and why she wishes she'd stopped waiting for academia to get better—sooner.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

💡 What "knowledge mobilization" is and how it became the foundation of Julia's business

💡 The postdoc experience that ended badly—right before the pandemic hit

💡 How quiet quitting in a faculty job became the push she needed to find the exit

💡 The identity crisis of going from "professor" to "government employee" to "business owner"

💡 Why being terrified doesn't mean stop—it means equip yourself

💡 How Julia is using public writing, Instagram, and free workshops to build her audience and business

Whether you're mid-escape or just starting to wonder if there's a way out, Julia's story is a reminder that the path doesn't have to be linear—it just has to move forward.

🎧 Watch, subscribe, and share with the academics in your life who need to hear this.

Resources Mentioned:

Website: https://www.thejuliagray.ca

Instagram: @_gray_julia

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-gray-phd/

Get Julia's newsletter: https://julia-gray.kit.com/f0f9eb26db

Timestamps:

2:15 - Creative Projects and Knowledge Mobilization

4:30 - Navigating a Challenging Postdoc Experience

7:00 - The Pandemic's Impact and Career Collapse

9:15 - Transitioning to Government Work

11:30 - The Identity Shift: Professor to Public Servant

14:00 - Building Your Own Business From Scratch

17:00 - Monetizing Your Expertise: A New Challenge

19:30 - Developing Culture Building Skills

22:00 - The Power of Experimentation in Business

25:00 - Mastering Instagram for Business Growth

28:00 - Finding Your Platform: Podcasts and Blogs

30:30 - Upcoming Workshops and Public Writing

33:00 - Embracing Fear and Seeking Support

35:30 - Don't Wait: Leave Unhappiness Behind

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

You've been sitting on a course idea for months. Maybe years. You know it could help people—but you haven't launched it yet because it doesn't feel ready.

Here's the thing: building your course first and selling it later isn't just inefficient. It might be the reason you never launch it at all.

In this episode of Leaving Academia: Becoming a Freelance Editor, Paulina shares the behind-the-scenes story of a course that completely flopped—and what she learned that made her BAE program a success.

She breaks down why academics are especially prone to the "build first, sell later" trap, and gives you a concrete, step-by-step plan for testing your idea, pre-selling your course, and knowing when to move forward (and when to go back to the drawing board).

In this episode, you'll learn:

🏊‍♀️ Why the expertise trap and the perfectionism trap are killing your course before it launches

🏊‍♀️ The story of Paulina's book proposal course that sold just two copies—and what went wrong

🏊‍♀️ How to test your course idea on LinkedIn before you build a single module

🏊‍♀️ The exact CTAs to use at different stages of pre-selling

🏊‍♀️ What a "good" conversion rate actually looks like (it's lower than you think, and that's okay)

🏊‍♀️ How to use voice of customer research to sharpen your messaging

If you've been thinking about building a course, coaching program, or workshop but feel stuck in planning mode, this episode will help you move forward.

🔔 Subscribe here or on YouTube so you don't miss weekly episodes on building a freelance life after academia.

Want to end burnout and become an academic editor or coach? Go to AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

1:35 - Why Academics Tend to Build First, Sell Later

3:10 - Avoid the Expertise and Perfectionism Traps

5:45 - Why My First Course Flopped

9:30 - The Real Cost of Selling Online Courses

12:15 - Test Your Course Idea: Messaging and Market

15:50 - How to Pre-Sell Your Online Course

19:20 - What Success Really Looks Like: Conversion Rates

23:00 - Pivot or Persevere: Null Results Are Okay

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

You posted on LinkedIn. Got 2 likes. Felt like a failure. But what if that post was actually working, and you just couldn't see it?

In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on a real LinkedIn post I shared about hitting my first $10,000 month as an academic editor—and walking you through the analytics in detail.

With only 746 impressions and 535 people reached, the vanity metrics looked terrible. But the data that actually matter? They told a completely different story.

In this episode, I explain:

👍 Why likes, comments, and impressions are mostly useless for building a freelance editing or coaching business

👍 Which metrics you should actually be paying attention to

👍 How I structured a LinkedIn post that brought real leads into my business

👍 Why your email list is the single most important piece of marketing infrastructure you can build

👍 How to use a lead magnet and welcome sequence to turn casual scrollers into warm, ready-to-hire clients

If you've ever felt like social media is a waste of time, or you're exhausted chasing likes and comments that never seem to lead anywhere, this episode is for you.

Get the Homepage Blueprint that helped me earn my first $10k month: AcadiaEditing.com/blueprint

Want to end burnout and become an academic editor or coach? Go to AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

2:15 - Defining "What Works" in Social Media

4:30 - The Post That Flopped (Or Did It?)

7:00 - Digging Into LinkedIn Analytics

9:30 - Why Saves and Follows Matter Most

12:00 - The Real Impact of Your Call to Action

15:00 - The Power of the Email List

18:00 - Why Direct DMs Often Fail

21:00 - The Lurkers Who Convert

24:00 - Crafting a Compelling Social Media Hook

27:00 - Storytelling for Client Connection

30:00 - Revealing Your Solution

33:00 - Key Takeaways for Business Growth

36:00 - Building Your Client Nurturing System

39:00 - Experimenting for Maximum Impact

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

You think marketing will be gross. But what if it doesn't have to look the way you imagine?

If the word "marketing" makes you cringe—if it conjures images of pushy salespeople, empty promises, and Instagram influencers claiming you can make $250K from a $47 mini course—I get it. Completely.

But here's what I want you to consider: the resistance most academics feel toward marketing isn't really about values. It's about fear. And once you see marketing for what it actually is (hint: it's just letting people know you exist), it might stop feeling so gross—and start feeling like something you actually enjoy doing (and you're really good at).

In this episode, I'm breaking down:

💡 Why academics are conditioned to distrust marketing—and why that's not entirely wrong

💡 The sneaky second layer of resistance that's really just self-doubt in disguise

💡 What marketing is when you strip away all the noise

💡 How you've already been doing it your whole academic career

💡 How to make marketing feel like connection instead of a transaction

💡 Your first concrete homework assignment to land your first private clients

Whether you're terrified to put yourself out there or just convinced that marketing requires you to become someone you're not, this episode is for you.

📌 Resources Mentioned:

Episode 72: Niching Down https://youtu.be/EWbD4y9j378

Episode 77: How to Land Your First Coaching Client https://youtu.be/yK_mRRAFmTo

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss a new episode, and if this resonated with you, share it with a colleague who's thinking about leaving academia.

🖥️ Save Your Seat for my 3-Day Live Training, April 8-10, 2026. Go to AcadiaEditing.com/live

1:35 - Facing Your Marketing Fears

3:10 - Values vs. Self-Doubt Resistance

5:05 - The Truth About Marketing

7:40 - How Academics Already Market

10:15 - Your Marketing Control Center

12:00 - Overcoming Rejection Fears

14:30 - Warm Outreach: Your First Step

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

Think you want to leave academia and go freelance? You should watch this.

Most academics who dream of leaving their job focus on the exciting stuff—landing clients, working from home, finally having freedom. But there's a whole other conversation that almost nobody is having: the financial one.

What happens to your retirement accounts? Can you actually afford health insurance? When do you really need an LLC?

In this episode, I sit down with Inga Timmerman, a finance professor and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) who works exclusively with academics.

She's seen it all—the people who quit too soon, the people who drain their savings in six months, and the people who get the transition right because they planned ahead.

Here's what we cover:

🪙 The savings benchmark you should hit before you quit

🪙 Why mixing personal and business finances is a bigger mistake than you think

🪙 What to do with your TIAA account (and whether to roll it into an IRA)

🪙 Honest talk about health insurance in 2026—including options most people overlook

🪙 Why you probably don't need an LLC yet (and when you do)

🪙 What to do—and not do—with your investments when the market is in chaos

Whether you're building a side hustle in academic editing or coaching, or you're deep in your exit planning, this episode will help you think through the money side of your transition clearly and without the panic.

🔔 Subscribe so you don't miss new episodes every week.

🐦‍🔥 When you want to take the leap, find out more about launching an academic editing or coaching business: https://AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

Resources Mentioned:

Inga's podcast: Academics and Their Money, https://attainablewealthfp.com/welcome-to-academics-and-their-money/

Work with Inga: https://attainablewealthfp.com

2:05 - Academia to Entrepreneurship, Inga's Journey

4:31 - Why Top-Tier Research Felt Hollow

6:58 - Impact Over Ivory Tower

9:12 - Launching a Business as a Hobby

11:35 - Mastering Academic Niches For Clients

13:58 - Academic Financial Fears Addressed

16:21 - Planning Your Exit

18:44 - Budgeting For Business Independence

21:07 - Smart Spending, Avoid Shiny Objects

23:30 - Navigating Taxes As A Business Owner

25:53 - When To Leave Academia Full-Time

28:16 - Health Insurance Hurdles & Solutions

30:40 - Retirement Accounts After Academia

33:03 - Protecting Yourself, Insurance Needs

35:26 - Business Structure, When To Start

37:49 - Market Volatility

39:55 - Get Expert Help, Find Your Advisor

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

He had no coaching packages. No clients. No idea how to run a sales call. And then, in week 5 of his BAE cohort, he signed his first client to a 6-month coaching contract. 🥳

In this episode, I'm walking you through one BAE student's journey—from "I have no idea what I'm doing" to landing a real, paying coaching client faster than he ever thought possible.

I'm calling him Michael to protect his privacy, but his story is real, and it's one that I know you'll find instructive.

Here's what you'll hear in this episode:

🎧 How Michael went from joining BAE to having a website, a LinkedIn profile, and a niche—all within the first month of his cohort

🎧 Why a referral from a former colleague turned into his first real client inquiry (and how he almost let fear talk him out of it)

🎧 What a discovery call looks like, and how it's different from a sales call

🎧 Why I pushed Michael to raise his prices—and why he was glad I did

🎧 How to handle the nerve-wracking gap between your client saying "I need to think about it" and "I'm in"

🎧 The mindset shift that separates academics who stay stuck from those who actually launch

I also share what's been happening in the current cohort with other BAE students—including someone who landed TWO dissertation editing clients in a single day, and two MORE just a few weeks later. 🤯

The big lesson running through all of this: you are never going to feel ready. The fear doesn't go away. But you CAN (and should!) do it scared—and that's exactly what growth looks like.

🎙️ Subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss future episodes on life beyond academia, freelance editing and academic coaching, and building a business that brings you joy.

Want to end burnout and become an academic editor or coach? Go to AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

2:30 - Define Your Niche & Build Your Website

5:15 - How To Land Your First Coaching Client

8:00 - Master Discovery Calls For Clients

11:45 - Price Your Packages With Confidence

15:00 - How To Nail Your Sales Call

19:30 - Key Takeaways For Business Growth

23:00 - Join BAE Core Or Accelerator

30:00 - Why You Have To Do It Scared

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

You love teaching. You love the research. So why does it feel like academia is suffocating you?

In this episode, I sit down with Kelly Merritt—education PhD, former K–12 teacher in Switzerland, and founder of Define Your Lines—to talk about what it really looks like to build a freelance business from the ground up—while navigating toxic workplaces, health crises, expat life, and the slow, complicated grief of letting go of an academic identity.

Kelly's story doesn't follow the typical "I burned out and quit" script. She's been layering her exit for years—thoughtfully, strategically, and honestly. And what she shares in this conversation is some of the most nuanced, honest advice you'll hear about what it takes to make this work.

In this episode, we cover:

✏️ Why leaving academia isn't always enough—and what you actually need to heal and build something sustainable

✏️ The difference between strategy and experimentation in business—and why you need both

✏️ How to balance client-facing work with the behind-the-scenes infrastructure work

✏️ How Kelly navigated a full brand refinement six months after launching her first website (and why it was worth it)

✏️ How Kelly serves three different audiences (teachers, students, and writers) with one business—and the thread that connects them

Whether you're deep in the details of business-building, still deciding if you can make the leap, or just needing to hear that someone else has been in the messy middle—this episode is for you.

Resources Mentioned:

Define Your Lines: https://defineyourlines.com

Kelly Merritt on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn: @defineyourlines / https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellymmerritt/

Kelly's free self-assessment for writers: Five Pillars of Sustainability and Joy in a Writing Practice: https://defineyourlines.com/writers/five-pillars/

The Academic Entrepreneurs Studio (Paulina's mastermind for academic business owners): https://acadiaediting.com/studio

🎙️ Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if this one resonated, share it with a colleague who's been quietly dreaming about a different kind of life.

Want to end burnout and become an academic editor or coach? Go to AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

2:14 - Kelly's Academic Background

5:09 - Journey from Academia to Business

10:01 - Navigating Academia's Oddities

15:30 - The Decision to Move Abroad

20:15 - Toxic Academic Environments

25:18 - Building a Sustainable Business

30:16 - The Brand Refinement Process

35:11 - Balancing Strategy & Experimentation

40:24 - Defining Your Lines Explained

45:25 - Serving Diverse Audiences

50:07 - The Value of Community

55:00 - The Long Road to Success

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

You did everything right. So why does academia feel so wrong?

In this episode, I'm sharing data I've been collecting for over a year: raw, unfiltered responses from academics all over the world who answered one simple question—What's going on in your life that brought you here?

What I found wasn't two-word answers. It was grief. It was burnout so deep it had started destroying people's bodies. It was the specific, quiet devastation of realizing that tenure—the thing you sacrificed everything for—isn't the finish line you were promised.

The data are clear: this isn't an individual failure. It's a systemic one.

In this episode, I walk you through the 5 most common themes in the responses I've collected from academics who are leaving or thinking about leaving higher ed.

I also share what I believe is possible on the other side: a career that uses every skill you've developed in academia, in a context where you're respected, fairly paid, and in control.

If you've been wondering whether you're alone in feeling this way—you're not. I've got the receipts.

🎙️ Resources Mentioned:

Episode 61 on academic identity, with Tory Wobber and Jen Polk: https://youtu.be/JqdqPkEFdfs

📌 Subscribe to the channel so you never miss an episode

If this topic resonated with you, share it with an academic friend who needs to hear it.

🐦‍🔥 Want to end burnout and become an academic editor or coach? Go to AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

4:10 - Devastating Realities Unfiltered Stories

7:45 - Burnout Is Not a Phase

10:55 - Feeling Undervalued and Underpaid

16:40 - The Pain of Institutional Betrayal

21:20 - Reclaiming Your Life and Time

24:15 - Finding Hope Beyond Academia

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