I get this question a lot, and honestly…this is a mindset question. When I hear “will I be able to teach full-time and consult?” I'm like, "I don't know. Will you? Do you think you can?” Because in reality, that's on you to determine. That's not on me. 

Now, I started my consulting business when I was working full-time as a principal, so I’m always gonna say yes, you can do it, because I did it. But I can’t give you permission. You have to give that to yourself.

I started my consulting business four years ago, October of 2017. I was a principal. In 2018, I went back to school full time. I was a doctoral student for three years and went to Harvard Graduate School of Education. I wrote a dissertation while I was building my business. I just went full-time in May of 2021. So I've had my business for almost five years. Three of those five years, I was either a principal or in school full-time. Building your business while you're working a 9-5 is totally possible. 

One of the biggest determining factors for how well your business does is your ability to manage both parts of working a 9-5 and building your business, but also the sense of urgency you create for yourself. 

When we are in fight or flight mode, you figure ‘ish out. When something has to be done, you figure that ‘ish out. Part of you growing your business while you are still working a 9-5 is finding your own sense of urgency. Doing that can be really hard, especially for those of us who find comfort in our 9-5’s, but comfort doesn’t beget growth. You have to see building your business as a non-negotiable or you’ll stagnate. 

When I was starting out, I had two things that created my sense of urgency.

#1 - A School Board Decision

I'm not going to go through the whole story, but essentially a school board decision was getting ready to turn my school into a different school. And I didn't feel like we were part of the school board decision. I feel like a decision was done to us and not with us, that I morally could no longer stay. I just could not, because I felt like staying would be co-signing that decision that was made without us.

It hurt my heart to make the decision, to leave a job that I loved so much. If you know my story, you know that I was the assistant principal and was promoted to the principal. I'd been at the school for six years. I loved that place. Loved the community, loved the people. They were my family, and I felt like I couldn't stay. I didn't know what I was going to do next. So I was like, "Well let me start my consulting business as a way to figure it out." That was my sense of urgency to start my business. 

I started my business in October of 2017, during my last year as a principal. I knew that come June of the next year, I was going to be leaving my job. I started my consulting business the previous October to say, "All right, I want to start gaining some traction. That way, come June, I either have enough money up to save until I figure out what my next move is. Or if I want to go full time in my business until I figure out the next bump, that's what I'm going to do."

#2 - Grad School

I was blessed to get into my doctoral program at Harvard and then I was like “Well I’ve got to build my savings, because I'm moving." At the time I had been accepted, I was still working as a principal and could not afford to move 13 hours away. I had zero savings. I had $15,000 of credit card debt. 

I could not be a full-time student with no job living the same way I am now. So I put the pedal to the medal on my business. I got into my program in March, and by June (of the same year!) I had paid off all of my credit card debt and established 3 months of savings because of my consulting business.

#3 - I Ain’t Safe Unless I’m Working For Myself

In the last year of my residency, I worked with a partner organization for 10 months to do my strategic project and apply research around my dissertation. It was the most toxic and racist environment that I have worked in. Look, I've had some bad work experiences. I done had some toxic, racist environments where I did not feel I belonged as a black woman. This one took the cake. 

Sable Mensah, one of the alums of Get LaunchED Consulting™️ put it so beautifully. She said “the safest place for me to be as a black woman is in my own business.”

When she said that, I said, "Yes," because that's exactly how I viewed my business. It was my freedom strategy. My safety strategy. I made it my goal to make enough money in my business that by the time I graduated, it wouldn’t make sense for me to take a 9-5 job because I’d be making more in my business than I ever could at a 9-5. 

I had 10 months until my dissertation to figure out how exactly I would save myself. In April 2021 I defended my dissertation. At that time, I had my highest revenue month of $33,000. That’s why I’m saying that the question you need to ask yourself isn’t “will I be able to work full time while consulting?” it’s “what is my sense of urgency to make my business grow?” 

I share this, not to flex, but to remind you that it’s possible. Starting and growing your business is possible. Having four, five and six-figure years, quarters and months is possible. It's up to you, though. You need to determine what makes you so uncomfortable that you’ll carve out time and tell everybody you know to leave you alone so you can get your business together. Because you owe that to yourself. You owe it to yourself to start your freedom journey.

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