Is the fear of losing your health insurance keeping you trapped in academia? This worry keeps a lot of chronically ill academics stuck in jobs that are making them sicker—and the premise is worth questioning.

In this episode, Paulina talks with D. Scott, PhD, JD, a former academic who developed a chronic illness during a postdoc at the University of Edinburgh and slowly realized the tenure track wasn't survivable for their body.

Instead of forcing themselves into another job for the benefits, D. chose their health, moved back to the US, and built a freelance academic editing business that's now in its sixth year and booked through December.

D. gets honest about the stuff nobody explains:

⚕️ how to research which states give you real support,

⚕️ why freelancing gave them more flexibility than any "stable" job ever did,

⚕️ how they pace work around an unpredictable body, and

⚕️ why raising your editing rates matters most when you physically can't work more hours.

In this conversation, we also cover:

👉 Why the fear of losing health insurance is more workable than the worst-case stories suggest

👉 How to schedule and book clients when your energy isn't guaranteed

👉 How to stop assuming clients think about money and deadlines the way you do

👉 The chronic-illness and disability editor communities that make this work less lonely

If you've been telling yourself you're stuck because of your health, you absolutely have to listen to this episode.

▶️ Hit subscribe so you don't miss the next conversation.

To work with D., get in touch here: dscottedits.com

For more on building a freelance editing or coaching career after academia, visit AcadiaEditing.com/map

Resources Mentioned:

📌 Northwest Editors Guild — monthly "Editors with Chronic Illnesses, Disabilities and Neurodivergence" Zoom call (open to non-members; sign up through the Guild's website calendar): https://www.edsguild.org/meetings-events/

📌 LGBTQ Editors Association — Slack community with a dedicated chronic illness, disability, and neurodivergence channel: https://lgbtqeditors.org/

📌 Resources to research marketplace options and health insurance brokers:

https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/state-indicator/state-health-insurance-marketplace-types/

https://www.healthcare.gov/find-local-help/

Timestamps:

00:00 Why chronic illness and freelancing comes up so often

04:30 D.'s path: the PhD, Edinburgh postdoc, and getting sick

09:00 Letting go of the tenure track

13:30 Researching states, Medicaid, and choosing New Mexico

18:00 Landing as the pandemic hit, and why editing was the plan

22:30 The health insurance reality: Medicaid, marketplace, and brokers

27:00 Choosing health over career and a new relationship to work

31:30 Scheduling around an unpredictable body

36:00 Money mindset: boundaries and raising your rates

41:00 Finding your people: chronic-illness editor communities

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You've been doing everything right—teaching, advising, serving on committees, even organizing a union—and still hitting a wall.

Annie Brubaker did all of that for 20 years, watched her salary get frozen for 12 of them, went on a 29-day strike, and finally decided she was done waiting for an institution to value her.

Then she landed 7 editing clients in her first 12 weeks as a professional editor.

In this episode of the Leaving Academia podcast, Annie talks about what actually moves the needle when you're starting a freelance editing or coaching business from scratch—including the mindset shift that helped a self-described perfectionist get her website out the door before it was "ready," and why networking felt way more natural than she expected.

What we cover:

🌟 How Annie went from non-tenure-track faculty to 7 paying clients inside a single 12-week BAE cohort

🌟 The minimum-viable-product mindset that helped her stop overthinking and start landing clients

🌟 Her specific outreach strategies: informational interviews, cold emails, local nonprofit connections, and more

🌟 Why she chose to name her business after herself—and what that decision meant to her sense of ownership and identity

🌟 How LinkedIn stopped feeling like self-promotion and started feeling like finally getting to say what she thinks

🌟 Why Annie credits the BAE community with getting her clients years faster than going it alone

Connect with Annie:

Annie Brubaker Writing Consulting — abwritingconsulting.com

LinkedIn:   / anniebrubaker  

Resources Mentioned:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Becoming an Academic Editor or Coach (BAE) program: AcadiaEditing.com/BecomeAnEditor

The Academic Entrepreneurs Studio: AcadiaEditing.com/studio

3:15 - Why Academic Faculty Should Unionize

7:20 - How To Overcome Institutional Burnout

11:45 - Building A Successful Editing Business

15:10 - How To Find Your First Clients

18:55 - Mastering The Art Of Self Promotion

22:30 - Future Goals And Final Thoughts

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

You're worried AI is going to kill academic editing and coaching. Here's what's actually happening—and why it might be the best news you've heard all year.

If you've asked yourself, "Should I even bother starting an editing or coaching business when AI is taking over?"—this episode is your answer.

Paulina Cossette has been watching the industry closely, and the picture is more nuanced (and more hopeful) than the doom-and-gloom narrative suggests.

In this episode, she walks you through exactly what's changing, who's using AI to edit, and why human editors and coaches are more in demand in the AI era—not less.

In this episode, you'll hear:

👉 Which AI isn't going to steal your clients (and who exactly is using it for editing)

👉 Why AI is genuinely bad at the technical parts of academic editing (yes, including citations)

👉 The AI backlash that's growing steadily—and what it means for your business

👉 What a good editor or coach actually sells (hint: it's not grammar checks)

👉 Real 2026 results from BAE members: 7 clients in 12 weeks, matched stipend income, first $10K month

👉 How to position yourself so the right clients say, "That one. I want her."

Whether you're considering academic editing as an exit from academia, already freelancing and wondering how to level up, or building a coaching business alongside your editing work—this episode will give you clarity and direction.

Resources Mentioned:

🎯 Erin Servais's AI for Editors program: aiforeditors.com

🎯 Episode 58 of Leaving Academia (interview with Erin Servais)

🎯 Free roadmap for academics who want to build a business: acadiaediting.com/map

🎯 The free Homepage Blueprint for landing private clients: acadiaediting.com/blueprint

🎯 The Academic Entrepreneurs Studio: acadiaediting.com/studio

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You spent months preparing to launch your editing or coaching business, and you still haven't started.

Or maybe you launched, got crickets, and shelved the whole idea.

Here's the truth: it's not your idea, your niche, or your credentials holding you back. It's a single question your PhD brain has been trained to ask on repeat–and it's functioning as a verdict before the trial has even started.

In this episode, Paulina breaks down the mindset trap that keeps brilliant academics stuck in endless preparation, early abandonment, and "planning from the floor."

She unpacks why the same critical thinking that made you a rigorous scholar becomes the thing that sabotages your business. She also shows you how to use the research skills you already have–data collection, hypothesis testing, pivoting–to build something that works.

You'll hear:

🟢 The 4-word question that's keeping you frozen (and why it feels like "due diligence" when it's really self-sabotage)

🟢 The 3 ways academic conditioning shows up in failed launches: endless preparation, early abandonment, and planning from the floor

🟢 Why one or two LinkedIn posts and a sales page will never sell your workshop (and what to do instead)

🟢 How to treat your business like a research project–not a performance review

🟢 A college-application framework for setting dream, safe, and backup numbers for any offer

🟢 The shift from "what if this doesn't work?" to "how can I make this work?"–and why it changes everything

If you've been telling yourself you'll start your editing or coaching business when you feel "ready," this episode is for you.

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

📚 Resources Mentioned:

BAE (Becoming an Academic Editor or Coach) – for academics who are building a business. Next cohort begins September 2026. Get on the waitlist at AcadiaEditing.com/map

The Academic Entrepreneurs Studio – 6-month mastermind for academics who've launched and want to grow. Get more info at AcadiaEditing.com/studio

1:30 - The Academic Mindset Trap

3:45 - Why Academics Fear Failure

6:10 - Endless Prep, Early Abandonment

8:30 - Planning From The Floor Explained

10:45 - Shift From Fear to Action

13:00 - Marketing Workshops The Right Way

15:15 - Build Trust Not Just Sales

17:30 - Your Business A Research Project

19:45 - Embrace Pivoting For Growth

21:55 - Set Ambitious Business Goals

23:10 - The Power of "How Can I Make This Work"

25:25 - Next Steps To Grow Your Business

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⏱️ Stop doing this academic work for free.

Every Tuesday, you wake up, drink your coffee, read a dissertation chapter, meet with a struggling grad student, teach a seminar, peer review an article, and edit a colleague's grant proposal—and you call it "being a professor."

But each of those tasks has a name in the freelance world. And a price. And a market full of people who would pay you handsomely to do it.

In this episode, Paulina walks you through a normal day in academic life and points at every single thing you already do—then tells you exactly what it's called outside the ivory tower and who would pay you for it.

Developmental editing. Copy editing. Academic coaching. Book coaching. Workshop facilitation. Online course creation. Expert review. Grant editing.

These are real businesses run by real former academics earning real money (think $60–$400/hour), and you already have the skills to do every single one.

If you've ever stared at your CV and wondered how to translate "dissertation advisor" into something the non-academic world understands, this episode is your roadmap.

You don't have to give up the work you love—you just have to leave behind the institution that's sucking you dry.

By the end of this episode, you'll be able to look at your own week and see it for what it really is: a portfolio of marketable services worth thousands of dollars to the right clients.

What you'll learn:

⏱️ How a 7:30am dissertation chapter review is actually $60–$100/hour of developmental and copy editing

⏱️ Why your 9am coaching conversation with a struggling grad student is a $100–$200/hour service

⏱️ How your afternoon class prep translates into paid workshops, online courses, and group programs

⏱️ Why your FREE peer review for journals is worth $100–$300/hour outside academia

⏱️ The one skill you have that AI can't replicate (and why it's becoming more valuable, not less)

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

Ep 52: How to Turn Your Skills into a Paid Workshop: https://youtu.be/bM2gyXsQccs?si=CXQTM3w3us56K__r

👉 Subscribe for weekly episodes on leaving academia, building a freelance editing or coaching business, and reclaiming your time, energy, and income.

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

01:30 — Why higher ed needs you to feel stuck

02:30 — The spoiler: your daily work is actually 6+ jobs

05:30 — What developmental editing actually is ($60–$100/hr)

07:00 — Copy editing and line editing explained

11:00 — Academic coaching defined ($100–$400/hr)

16:00 — Book coaching and writing coaching ($1K to tens of thousands)

20:00 — Creating paid workshops and group programs

25:00 — Facilitation, retreats, and institutional contracts

29:30 — Expert review and publishing coaching ($100–$300/hr)

33:00 — Grant editing as a business ($100–$250/hr)

36:30 — Why AI won't replace human editors and coaches

40:00 — The real question: which skills light you up?

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

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

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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

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