Turn Your Side Hustle Pro

Speaker 1: [Music] hi I'm Melanie bar welcome to the she builted experience with Melanie you're here because you want to experience the life and business that you crave join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it a career and business that they love we dive into the topic of how they built it and talk about everything from Having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech innovation magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let's dive in Lisa column is the founder and CEO of a multi-million dollar curriculum company top score writing while teaching at a title one school Lisa developed an Innovative step-by-step program proven to dramatically increase writing scores Nationwide on standardized assessments thank you for joining us Lisa you are the founder of a multi-million dollar curriculum company top score writing did you always want to be a teacher and tell us about the pivotal moment when you decided to make the Le and launch your

Speaker 2: business so my mom tells me that literally from the time I was 5 years old I was in my bedroom teaching even to when I got to the high school level I was studying for my tests by teaching on the board so I still had the Whiteboard and that was my way of studying so there was no doubt in anyone's mind I was going to be a teacher so 21 years old graduate college get my first teaching job super excited I didn't know which grade level I technically wanted to teach thought maybe I'd be a good kindergarten teacher got thrown into a fourth grade classroom and was told I was in charge of writing so I thought okay I got this I'll just study it myself and then figure out a fun way to teach the kids but right away in the first month of my first year teaching I realized there's not a lot of resources for teaching writing the reading teacher had a whole curriculum set and the science teacher and math and social studies but was nothing for writing and I happened to be at one of the lowest performing schools in my area and I thought I'm just going to go back to basics I taught them I always say the pieces or the parts of an essay did lots of repetition and practice just like anything if you had a football game you'd go out and practice every day and ended up doing really well getting 95% of my students to pass which before me coming in it was about 38% that they had passed so it was a a huge jump and then for two years after that got 100% the students to pass so I was doing really well didn't think anything of it went on to become like a writing coach and then a specialist and about eight nine years in I got a job opportunity to work from home teaching and I was on my third baby so I thought all right I'll take that and it was that moment that everyone started calling and emailing and saying where'd you go you've been giving us all these ideas and tips and strategies for eight years and now you're gone and I'd

Speaker 1: say I took another job and they say can you just write it down and we'll like buy it from you and I'll never forget I laughed like out loud laughed and thought there's no way I'm not a business person but through their convincing I sat down wrote the lessons and that's literally after Googling how do you start a business how top score writing was born and when you started to see all of the success in your business people were asking you why I follow you on Instagram and so I've seen because you were so successful with the program no one expected a teacher to go off on their own and be successful especially school districts feel like you should stay in the district and help the district and everything for the district so the fact that I left didn't make a lot of people happy and the fact that I was now charging I was sharing tips and resources for free for years but then I created a curriculum and so it became where everyone was like well who is she and and why does she get to do that and so I had old teacher friends who were erasing my name I had District people that were taking my PowerPoints my lessons literally Whiting out the bottom where it said created by Lisa colum and putting the district's name and I thought here I am trying to not just help 10 schools to help schools Across the Nation and it took a while to prove myself as this curriculum writer and business owner but it wasn't until I kind of went outside of the bubble that I was in that my county and people that I knew and realized I could do it without them when it started to expand to other counties and other states and they were so thankful and grateful and I was like okay I can do this and you were so successful with your results with the kids yeah and that was the thing I don't have anything to prove it works the data is there I was still teaching fulltime for the first four years so to me I was like okay you guys want it all I can sell it I was selling it for nothing but then it just slowly started to spread which took me for surprise so I was like maybe this is for real for real going to be a business this is going faster than I ever imagined so that's when I ended up quitting my full-time job during the day and doing this full-time and it just

Speaker 2: shows you were on the right track yes I follow you on social media and I love how transparent you are I saw one post that said the day I stopped caring what other people think tell us about that moment and how has it changed your life

Speaker 1: yeah this is probably the hardest thing for anyone to do because we all think about what everyone else is going to think right doesn't matter what your hair looks like what clothes you're wearing how your kids are acting it's always what everyone else is going to think I know even sometimes as a mom like kids are like in front of people I'm like do not even do that there are people watching I have twins so I understand yes I was so scared to show myself on social media because I was like I'm GNA see people and they're going to be like

Speaker 2: what what is this what's that silly dance you're doing or who do you think you are like telling people running a business I never until maybe four or five years ago mentioned that I was a CEO because I I just imagin a CEO running this billion dooll company some man sitting in this big office with 500 employees so I didn't think I you know deserve the name CEO or author even though i' had written 25 curriculum books I was like well I didn't write a book book like a novel I thought no I am a CEO I am an author and I can do whatever I want on social media and I don't care and it took me a few posts to just realize you know what there are other people in the world I don't have to worry about the people I keep thinking about or what other people may think there's enough people in the world some will like you and some won't and that's just life but it changed everything honestly when I release the fact that I I'm not going to care what people think and if they don't like it they can keep scrolling when people get all in the comments I'm like why do you have nothing else to do with your life like just scroll up right I love how you stepped into your power and if you're you people are going to want to follow you cuz I came across your page and I thought wow I really res with a lot of the things that you're saying it's hard for anybody it's harder for a mom and a woman because you kind of feel like I'm a mom can I do a dance on Tik Tok or can I do a real that shows me out with my friends the reality of is we're human it's just as important for my kids to see me as Mom in the house in the kitchen as mom out with her friends and Mom out on date night with Dad and and Mom doing all the things she loves that's just as important for them to see and we're moms and business owners but we still want to have fun fun that's it and as my kids have got older my oldest is almost 17 and I always think I'm so glad I've finally stepped into who I really am because I didn't do that in the beginning years you know I wasn't truly owning up to being an entrepreneur I used to tell people oh yeah I like help teachers that's all I ever said meanwhile I'd written like 25 books and was selling to schools everywhere but I was like I just help teachers with writing but I when I finally stopped caring and accepting who I was and what my business was I'm so glad I did that because now he's seen that and he'll probably married in the next 10 years and be able to know that his wife may want to do the same things I did or maybe a stay at home mom or maybe work parttime and it doesn't matter you can still be a good mom and a good wife it's important to to step into who you are and own that because your kids are watching and that's more important than

Speaker 1: anything and you are a mother of four what advice can you give women who are managing a busy lifestyle while also growing a business yeah the first thing

Speaker 2: I can say is I promise there's a way to do it all I know when you sit back and think about it it seems overwhelming and

Speaker 1: not doable and I I stop myself when I when I start to think about it too much because if I look at my list of things to do in the kids schedule my brain tells me this is too much I start getting overwhelmed I have two I can only imagine with four yes so I stopped doing that I like my paper and pencil list I like my paper and pencil calendar and I'm B on prioritizing and delegating those are my top two tips I make my list if there's 50 things on my list I'll prioritize the top things that have to be done the next day or that day I'll delegate as much as I can and delegating could be to someone on my team or could be as simple as the grocery app that does the grocery shopping right to me that's delegating that's two hours of my life I probably spend going there so I try to see what I can delegate and then I schedule out everything and I don't schedule out the month I just take it week by week a little too overwhelming I just map it out and you know what there are sometimes where I'm like we're not going to make it to this game and it's a divide and conquer with my husband and I and and it's just the way it is and sometimes they go you didn't come to my game I'll go to yours next and I'll drop your brother at the next one or whatever it is so it's finding what works for you whatever simple system and it's not letting it overwhelm you because there's so much you can do as a mom in a business owner and I don't want anyone to not take advantage of those things they could do just because they think I don't it's too much I believe there's more time in the day than we think and I take advantage of everything if I'm sitting in the car for 30 minutes while they're warming up for basketball I'm answering an email if I schedule out my day to where I know 9 to 10 is a team meeting and 10 to 12 I'm working on a project and 12 to1 whatever if I schedule it out I stay on track if I don't schedule it out someone texts me and I start texting back and then I get a Tik Tok sent to me and then I'm on Tik Tok but if I have this schedule to stay on top of things and time blocking if you give yourself an hour you know you can get it done sometimes faster yes where if you didn't give yourself that hour it might take two and it's also so empowering sometimes to say no to things because we want to do so many things with our kids and our friends and sometimes just saying no I really want to do this but I'm going to take stay home and take care of myself my oldest and most 17 my youngest is six I've been a mom for almost 17 years probably first 10 years I wasn't really good about taking care of myself I wasn't worried about if I was going to hang out with the girls or go on a date night or or get a cute dress little things that we like to do and then it hit me all of a sudden at some point later around the time I was starting my business and I'd had my fourth kid and I thought no like I owe this to myself whether it be going out with friends or having a day at the beach whatever that may be and again going back to like the mom thing I think it's important to to make that a part of us so they see that as well yeah and I love that you take time to honor yourself yeah it's it's important and I always say that I feel like when you become a mom you lose yourself which isn't a bad thing but you do because you become a mom but I truly believe when you find yourself again because you will it's a new you and there's nothing wrong with that you're not going to be that same person you're diff you've been through this crazy mom survival mode everything thrown at you it's so important and empowering and then you get to live this this new thing I'm still the same person in a sense but now I've got this mom part of me so it changes things in a good way you are

Speaker 2: also the owner of a nonprofit Coastal Middle and High School a component of your mission is to help all children succeed tell us about your school and do you have a favorite success

Speaker 1: story yeah so it's funny because I tell people yeah I bought a school and they're like that sounds like that movie I Bought a Zoo just like random so this the school this is the way I describe it causes me the most time stress and money but it's like my fifth child it literally has a part of my heart it's definitely my calling for sure I found out about the school in my early 20s and I I knew it was a school for kids that were struggling in school and my brother ended up going there in high school and my brother hated school dropped out my mom found this school and he went every day and then begged for summer school and never fake sick never said I want my stomach hurts he just went every day and I remember being like what is this place so I drove there met the owner it was a guy and his wife that started it all the kids got their feet kicked up half them in her pajamas I'm like and I'm from public school and I'm like what is this but I remember sitting back and watching and they were all in probably the best discussion it was some history topic I'd ever seen in a school and I thought wow this is so different it's so awesome and I talked to him for years I I kept going and going and going and I said when you don't want this anymore call me well it took like 12 years because forever I'm like I'm GNA get that school one day and he ended up calling he had graduated all the students so when I bought the school it was Ground Zero there was nothing just just the building and I thought I'm going to start this from scratch the way I want it and I'm going to make it a nonprofit because I want to be able to get funding for the students that can't afford it and I want to accept All State scholarships which is a process meaning any kid that has low income can come for basically free any type of learning disability ADHD uh anything like that can come for free started with one kid I was going to do it part-time that's always my thing and then it starts growing and it ends up being full-time and seven kids 11 and now we have 50 so I cap it at 50 because um my belief is that every kid comes with a story so their story maybe mom is a drug addict or dad is in jail or they don't have electricity or they struggle for food whatever that story is when they come in let's say they put their head down I don't want to forget their story and yell at them I don't want the teacher like Put Your Head Up da we need to remember that story right you can put your head down 15 minutes it's okay or we know that things are hard right now if you want to go sit in the office for a little bit you can so I tap it at 50 because I want everyone myself and all my teachers and stuff to remember those stories so it's a very unique place it's very family small you take breaks every 40 minutes and it's just it's my you know there's a lot goes on there that's stressful but it it's the happiest part of my day when I can go there I see them all and they're happy you asked about a success story and probably my favorite one I'll never forget is a student whose mom was on drugs and his aunt had taken custody of him came to me this one I only had about seven kids and was always on a drug or had a drug and I just kept trying to pull him in and pull him in and he would skip a lot then he just started coming and we got formed a great relationship and um his aunt I think I charg her 50 bucks a month or something she had no money and we weren't getting scholarships at the time and he came graduated and went to mechanic school and now is working full-time at a place in Orlando as a full-time mechanic and killing it and totally Chang his life no drugs involved I still talk to him and his aunt and it's just amazing because she's always like you saved him that's the whole point there's so many kids that just need something different and that's what my school does it's so great

Speaker 2: that you're giving them that Human Experience and the space to be who they are yeah and I I sat on the board of a nonprofit and it was for um underserved teen girls to graduate high school and get accepted to college and I remember the girls would come in they didn't want to be there they'd sit in the back with their arms folded and after a while in the program it was amazing to see their confidence come out for them to have a sense of community and it's so wonderful that you're doing that for kids and I remember when my twins were little it's interesting that kids have to find the place where they feel like themselves when I put them in preschool at 3 and they couldn't really talk and every time I dropped them off at this preschool they cried and every time I picked them up they cried and I thought I don't know what I'm going to do I found a new preschool I pulled in the driveway and they clapped and then as when I picked them up they clapped and they were happy and it was just so amazing because they couldn't speak but they knew where they felt safe and where they felt was right for them so it's so great you're doing

Speaker 1: that yeah thank you yeah and it's not that one place is better or worse than the other it's just kids need something different it's just like anything else

Speaker 2: in the world I think you also own a farm I remember seeing you on Instagram sitting among the animals one of the common themes Lately from busy women on

Speaker 1: my show has been to take time for you how do you make to take time for

Speaker 2: yourself during the day yeah so I grew up on like a little mini Farm similar to what I built and animals have been always my thing I had a horse growing up goats emu cats dogs Ducks all the the things and I led that we had our house and our kids and I thought one day I'm building a mini farm and my husband just looked at me like I'm I mean I swear he thinks I'm I'm nuts because I'm buying a school and starting a farm he's definitely on a fun ride yeah and so everyone said you're crazy you have four kids in two businesses you have no time why would you start a farm and I told my husband I said I refuse to be 70 or 80 years old sitting on my front P porch wondering what it would have been like if I started that farm and what it would have been like to have goats and chickens with the kids I'm not doing that and so I started with my pig who was this big which I he only about a foot and now is 10 and something pounds and then did the goats and so my idea with that was I'm a person likes to be productive I'm not good with sitting around a lot I love being around the animals so that's how I find me Time my mornings my evenings of course my family would help but I'm very much like nope I got it I love going out there it's my slow time you know I give them their food their water I talk to them pet them it's it's just my thing at night I'm like got to go see the animals guys see you later I try to make a point to make sure I'm taking care of me I think the shift for me what happened after 10 years of losing myself caught in momhood and just doing the the daily routine you get up get the kids to school you go to work all day you come home you're trying to get bedtimes bath you go to bed you do it all over again and the weekends were my time just like try to stay sane and get laundry done and so the shift for me really came where I started to think as my kids got older I always say that kids when they grow up they do what they see not what they were told so it's what they saw their whole life that they end up doing again as adults and I I that was a shift for me reminding myself I don't know what it was I can't remember exactly but something I saw or read and I thought here I am this hermit crab in momhood not being the real Lisa not getting my cute dress on sometimes or not going to get my nails done or not having a date night and they're watching this and luckily they were so little them but I thought I can't I I need them to see the full Lisa because I have three boys and I need them to know that that's okay for their wives to do and I have my girl and I want her to know that she should be able to do everything so that was the shift for me when it just hit me that I need to make sure I'm taking care of myself so they see that and this is such

Speaker 1: an inspiring conversation and so great that you had the courage to do that I think it's good that I had both sides of it because I I understand being lost in it it's a lot especially in the beginning those first two man it's like woo what am I doing I know with twins I I mean it really oh I cannot yes I did not leave I went from being out and gaining clients and being all over LA to literally sitting in a nursery really wondering who I was but it's interesting as they get older you think you know I'm still that person and I need to

Speaker 2: reconnect I love how you say you become

Speaker 1: a new version yeah my husband would say you weren't you weren't like this when I first met you not that I'm loud but I was very quiet very I'm just gonna be a teacher forever and I I was fine with that then there's nothing wrong with that so for me to be starting a business and buying a school and having four like he's like who are you that's just me finding the new me and seeing that there's so much more to it so anytime I'm asked to talk about it I just love it because I want to inspire their moms and I I I understand I've been there and you know I'm still there as a mom and just I it's it's a constant struggle and we're always juggling things but I just think that we can still live out our our full potential and everything that we've dreamed of whether it's starting the farm or buying a school whatever how crazy it sounds at least try it go for it and see what happens magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business

Speaker 2: that brings us joy what is one way that

Speaker 1: you make sure to find and live your joy each day I think the biggest thing is remember why you started it so if you're running a business that can get hard I always remind myself why I'm doing this top score writing I'm doing it because I was a teacher and there were no resources for me and it was a lot of work and so I want to make it easier for teachers take that off their plates give them the resources but I also want to give students a simple way to write because I saw these kids that were below grade level that never were going to pass and and years P or didn't and I gave them just a simple way so for teachers and students my mission is to give them those resources and tools to become successful and then even with my school as much as sometimes I'm like oh one more parent comes in here or one more student this the biggest thing is just remember why you started it remember that overall mission or your passion behind it and that will remind you and bring that Joy back because it's going to be it's always ups and downs

Speaker 2: right forever everything such good advice you have built two incredible businesses and you are such an inspiration thank you for joining us today oh thank you can you please tell

Speaker 1: us how and where we can find you yes so my most active place is Instagram my handle is Lisa colum CEO and I also have a website which is lisac column.com thank you for joining us

Speaker 2: today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our Sheil it website or at Sheed on social thank you to my editor Rich draino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave

Speaker 1: [Music]