Ep.88/ How To Beat Burnout as a Teacher: Educational Consultant Rebekah Shoaf
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Teacher turned educational consultant and author Rebekah Shoaf talks with Kim about beating burnout, finding joy and cliff diving! Rebekah discusses transitioning from educator to consultant and how she’s evolved her marketing through her work with Kim on video and thought leadership strategy (and how it’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach!)
About Rebekah:
Rebekah Shoaf is an author, educational consultant, and social entrepreneur. In addition to being the founder and CEO of the Bronx-based bookstore-without-walls® Boogie Down Books and What If Schools, Rebekah’s first book, Educating with Passion and Purpose: Keep the Fire Going without Burning Out, was published in 2023 by Jossey-Bass.
Rebekah has been an educator for more than two decades as a high school English teacher, founding faculty member, teacher leader, university instructor, and instructional and teacher leadership coach with the New York City Department of Education. She currently works with schools, districts, and other organizations across the country to promote transformative, innovative, learner-centered practices that advance educational justice. A Miami native, Rebekah graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and is a culinary school alum, a marathon runner, the owner of a pink Vespa, and everyone’s favorite aunt.
Rebekah offers advice on:
How to overcome burnout as a teacher or other professional
Tactical tips to focus on what you love
How to gain courage by tapping into an earlier version of yourself
How to create your own ‘pleasure pact’
How showing up on video & podcasts has helped Rebekah in her business
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How do you beat burnout as a teacher or other professional? And how do you find the courage to take a leap?
Today I talk to teacher leader turned educational consultant and author Rebekah Shoaf. Rebekah is an author, educational consultant, and social entrepreneur in addition to being the founder and CEO of the Bronx based bookstore Without Walls Boogie Down Books and What If Schools. Rebekah's first book, Educating with Passion and Purpose Keep the Fire Going Without Burning Out was published in 2023. We talk about beating burnout, finding joy and cliff diving!
Rebekah also took my Video Bootcamp course so we also discuss marketing and showing up on video.
In this episode you will learn:
How to overcome burnout as a teacher or other professional
Tactical tips to focus on what you love
How to tap into earlier version of yourself to gain courage
How to create your own ‘pleasure pact’
How showing up on video & podcasts has helped Rebekah in her business
Quotes from our guest:
“The first thing is really grounding in that sense of purpose, being clear about why you are doing this work.”
“So much of my insecurity or my hesitation or my reluctancy is around what people say or will somebody make fun of this? Or what if somebody leaves a nasty comment? But I'm not making content for those people. Those people may show up, but I can't let that dictate how I think about what I'm creating.”
“Showing up on camera is a way that you connect with your community. It really humanizes you. And because it humanizes you, it's okay to be fully human. In other words, you don't have to look perfect.”
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REBEKAH’S LINKS:
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Kim (00:02):
How do you beat burnout as a teacher or other professional? And how do you find the courage to take a leap? Educational consultant and author, Rebekah Shoaf joins us to talk about that and cliff diving, bungee jumping, showing up on video and so much more.
(00:18):
Welcome to the Exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Do you work for yourself and want to supercharge your business while still having fun? Well, this is your go-to podcast part MBA Part Cheer Squad. Every week I'll be joined by top business owners who share the secrets to their success. After I found myself working during childbirth true story, I quit my executive media job to bet on myself fighting the fear and imposter syndrome to eventually earn six awards, an in-demand speaking career and features in Fast Company and Business Insider. Now I'm here to celebrate all you rock stars betting on yourself, and I want to help you win. Tune in every Wednesday to hear from remarkable founders and don't miss our Solo Friday episodes, a treasure trove of video and podcasting mini masterclasses with me. Exit the Grind, enter success on your own terms. Don't forget to subscribe today and grab my free video tips at my website, kimrittberg.com.
(01:19):
I met Rebekah Shoaf last year because I went to high school with her co-author of the book, educating with Passion and Purpose, keep the Fire Going Without Burning Out. And I was just really impressed with Rebekah. She just extremely intelligent, very kind, and very warm and super passionate about helping teachers. And so I was really excited to work with her and she ended up joining my video bootcamp, which is exciting for me because I got to show her and teach her how to amplify her message. And I know how passionate she is about helping those teachers. I mean, she's helped thousands of teachers around the country. And so Rebekah took my video bootcamp course and since then I've worked with her. She came through a mastermind that I do called Thought Leadership through Content, and that helps professionals elevate their voices, not just through video, but really understanding how video podcasts and writing can elevate.
(02:08):
You can amplify your brand in a powerful way, whether you're a consultant or a business owner or a real estate agent, and it really helps you reframe anything out there to build your brand. So Rebekah is awesome. We talk about burnout, tips for teachers, why she left her career as a teacher and teacher leader, and what she's learned about herself, about how to market herself through her work with me, Rebekah Shove joins us. She's an author, educational consultant, and social entrepreneur in addition to being the founder and CEO of the Bronx based bookstore Without Walls Boogie Down Books. And what if schools Rebekah's first book, educating with Passion and Purpose Keep the Fire Going Without Burning Out was published in 2023 by Jossy Base. Rebekah has been an educator for more than two decades as a high school English teacher, founding faculty member, teacher leader, university instructor and instructional and teacher leadership coach with the New York City Department of Education. She currently works with schools, districts and other organizations around the country to promote transformative, innovative learner-centered practices that advance educational justice. A Miami native Rebekah graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, I've heard of it, and is a culinary school alum, a marathon runner, the owner of a pink Vespa and everyone's favorite aunt. Let's bring in. Rebekah, thank you for joining us.
Rebekah (03:21):
Thank you, Kim. I'm so excited to be here.
Kim (03:24):
So I met Rebekah a year ago because she and her co-author Meredith, Meredith went to the same high school as me and we met and I was like, Rebekah and I have to collaborate. She's amazing. I was so just impressed with you and I'm really, really excited. So first I want to dive right into, so you were a teacher and what was that moment where you're like, I'm done. I need to go work for myself?
Rebekah (03:47):
So I was a classroom teacher for 10 years and then I was an instructional and teacher leadership coach for four years working at the central New York City Department of Education. And the role that I had there was grant funded and the grant ran out and I knew that the grant was running out. I knew in the last year of that position that that was going to be the case. So I started looking for other positions and I loved the job that I was in. I wanted to keep doing that job, but I could not find that job elsewhere. There were a couple reasons for that. The first thing is it was a really unique team created under unique circumstances, but unfortunately during those four years, a new credentialing requirement had been added. And so even though I had been doing that job for four years, I didn't actually have this new credential that was needed and I was really at a crossroads professionally, and I had to decide did I want to take a different kind of role that I didn't love as much, that I wasn't as excited about or that wasn't in the same kind of context that I really enjoyed working in, or did I want to do something else?
(04:50):
So I did a lot of research and ultimately decided to resign and strike out on my own and do the work in the way that I wanted to do it and the way that I believed in. But as an independent educational consultant working with schools and districts,
Kim (05:03):
And talk to me about the moment where you almost backed out, like you're about to resign. You got your letter ready and you called your mom. Moms are the best, right?
Rebekah (05:11):
Yes, they are. So I had spent months preparing for this moment. Like I said, I knew that this was going to happen. I did all of this research, I was prepared. I met with so many different people. I had done all of my homework and then came the day when I needed to actually submit my letter of resignation. And suddenly I was terrified. Even though I was prepared in so many different ways, I was really, really scared about leaving the stability that I had from this full-time job. I had a pension, I had paid vacation, I had summers off, I had a guaranteed paycheck and I was about to bet on myself. And there was something about that final moment of submitting my letter of resignation that just felt really, really scary. And so the day before I was supposed to do it, I called my mom to chat and I told her how I was feeling and she reminded me that I had actually already done this not being submit a letter of resignation for a job and strike out on my own, but this meaning jump off a cliff.
(06:14):
And I had literally done it. I had 20 years earlier when I was in college, jumped off a cliff into the ocean. And even though this was the late nineties and people did not have smartphones yet, somebody had snapped a picture of me and I had that photo of me standing at the top of this cliff looking down at the ocean, clearly terrified. I have my face in my hands actually in the picture. But moments later I did it. I jumped. And so my mom reminded me that I had already done this thing, this jumping off the cliff. And so after we hung up, I actually went into my closet and found in a box of photos, this picture of me that she was referring to. And the next day I resigned and struck out on my own, and I framed that photo and I keep it on my desk today to remind me that I jumped off a cliff once and I can do it again.
Kim (07:04):
I love that story. I was actually just thinking the other day. It's funny you bring this up. I think a lot about fear and betting on ourselves and even every year taking the next step is always scary no matter where you are, even if you started your company 15 years ago, there's always a next step. And I was thinking, I traveled by myself for a year after college totally by myself, and I bungee jumped twice to your point of cliff jumping, I bungee jumped twice. And it's like you can be bold in one part of your life, and it doesn't necessarily make you invincible in another part, but it is a great narrative. You could tell yourself, I'm a bold person. I'm not afraid to do things. It's the same with my daughter. She's like, oh, I can't do this thing. I'm like, you didn't think you could skateboard and now you can skateboard or those little moments, but we're the same, creating a new narrative for yourself. But I love the cliff jumping. It's very visceral.
Rebekah (07:55):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, what you just said about travel really resonates with me too, and I love the episode that you have with Ellen Brown where the two of you actually talk about how formative those travel experiences have been for you, and especially ones that feel sort of adventurous or like you're taking risks. I also, the summer after I graduated from college, traveled across Southeast Asia backpacking by myself. And it was an incredibly formative experience for me. And what you're saying resonates with me. The things that we have done in other areas of our lives can provide reminders to us. They are mirrors to us of who we are. That solo backpacker, that cliff jumper, that bungee jumper, those people are still in us. One of my favorite writers, Maggie Smith, talks about the self as a nesting doll. And so all of those versions of you, all those earlier versions of you are still in there and you can think about them, you can uncover them, you can remind yourself of them when you need to summon your courage.
(08:56):
And I would also say as a high school educator for so long, I think there's something in particular about this period of our lives, this late adolescence, early adulthood period of our lives, when those memories can be particularly powerful for us as adults now, because those are the years when we're really becoming who we are in many ways sometimes for some of us. I know for me it's like the time of life where I feel like I was most myself in some ways. And so when I think about myself, my 22-year-old self jumping off that cliff, it's like she's still in there and she did that, and I can do this.
Kim (09:32):
I love that. I'm thinking, I'm like, Ooh, I'm going to tap into 20 somethings Kim, but less alcohol.
Rebekah (09:40):
Yeah, absolutely. And of course so many of us did things when we were that age that we would not do again and for good reason. But I also think that some of that fearlessness that some of us had as younger adults can be reclaimed now.
Kim (09:56):
But I think it's interesting about the idea of, I think of it as utilizing your own narratives, like digging up your own narratives and using them in powerful ways. But I feel like sometimes we use a narrative which is, and I've used this on myself. For me, traveling for a year alone was not scary. So I didn't think I was being brave. I could not wait to do it. So to someone else, it's super, super brave, but to me it wasn't. Whereas for me, starting my own business was legitimately the scariest thing I ever did, giving a keynote, literally the scariest thing I ever did. But I think it's funny because whatever perception is reality, I didn't think it was scary. So I don't think of it as, oh my God, I was so fearless. I'm like, to me that was fun to you. It's a dirt bike ride to you.
(10:39):
It's a marathon. For me, it was solo traveling. So I think it's also about okay, acknowledging that even if we weren't scared to do it, there were hard parts in it. And those hard parts, I didn't have a friend, I had a phone, like a flip phone. It was very early, early two thousands. I had a flip phone with not one person's phone, never in it. I was like, wow, I have no friends in Australia. And it was exciting, but it also was a little bit weird. And then there you go on some trips, some bus rides. Not everyone is nice to me. This is the period of the Iraq world. These British people were really obnoxious to me. I'm like, I'm not George Bush. What are you doing? But it's hard. There are those hard moments. But I think it's also important to say, how do I want to reframe this moment? I love the idea, your idea. I might do it. Taking that photo of me bungee jumping, I was scared to do that. I was scared to bungee jump. So maybe taking the photo of me bungee jumping and putting it in my, that was the opposite of a burn book. My best book.
Rebekah (11:35):
Yeah, your me map.
Kim (11:37):
My me map. I think it's I of it as a brag book. That's what I meant. My brag book. I would put the bungee jumping in the brag book and anyway, but okay. Rebekah, I find it interesting that you now work with teachers and help them really extinguish that burnout and find their passion again. You didn't leave teaching because you were burnt out. You've left teaching because you felt a different calling. How did you identify, okay, this is really a place that I can help people. I can thrive here. This is how I can impact the world.
Rebekah (12:09):
So it's true that when I resigned from a full-time job in education in 2017, it was not because I was feeling burnt out at that particular time, but in the 14 years that I was a public school educator, I did experience burnout numerous times. It is a feeling very familiar to me. And so the idea for this work and for the book that I published in 2023 with my co-author, Meredith Matson, which is called Educating with Passion and Purpose, keep the Fire Going Without Burning Out. The idea for that originally was sparked probably 10 or so years ago when Meredith and I were colleagues at small high school in Manhattan, a public high school where we both became teacher leaders. And so at that point, we had both been teachers for about 10 years and we were veterans at our school because unfortunately, often there is so much turnover in the teaching profession that you can be a veteran when you've been teaching for 10 years.
(13:09):
And we had also experienced a lot of success in our classroom. And so we were offered the opportunity to serve as lead teachers, and this was an amazing job. In this job, we taught for about half of a regular teaching load. Our high school classes. I taught 12th grade, she taught 10th grade, and we spent the rest of our time in a leadership role, which meant that we were mentoring and coaching our colleagues, and we were leading professional development every Wednesday for the entire faculty. And this was a tremendous experience, a lot of growth, a lot of really exciting new ideas and amazing collaborative experience. And for both of us, we felt like we were uncovering something about how to have a sustainable career in education and that it came from these new challenges that we were tackling and the fact that we had the space and time to do them, to really address them and to really experience them and to try new things.
(14:08):
And so we started getting this idea at that point about what we might be able to offer to other educators in our position. So mid-career educators who would experience a lot of success, who did not necessarily want to become assistant principals or principals or administrators who really wanted to stay connected to teaching and learning and classroom instruction and how to keep that fire going without burning out, which was something that we were experiencing. And we got an idea for a book. So that was the 2013 ish school year. And then life continued. We went in different directions. As I said, I went to become an instructional and teacher leadership coach working with teachers and schools all across the city. Meredith continued on her own professional journey. We stayed and colleagues. And then in April of 2020, Meredith texted me, remember that book we said we wanted to write and now we had time to actually do it.
(15:04):
And so we started writing on our own and then meeting weekly on Zoom to read each other's work, give each other feedback, talk about what we might be able to offer educators who were in the place where we were earlier in our careers. And we decided that we wanted to write the book that we wish we had when we were in those really struggling moments and times of our career as classroom teachers. And so we spent a year sort of writing on our own, and then we spent another year getting our writing into book shape. And then we spent the third year actually working with our publisher to publish the book. And so it was a very long process, three years from when we started writing to when we published, but really 10 years from when we first had the idea to when we published.
Kim (15:50):
I love that. It's a common thing though, that even if you have an idea that is really great, it just takes, I don't even want to say the desire you have, the desire it has to be the right time. And especially if you're with a co-author, one person can be on a project that could take two years. It doesn't line up. I think that's such a normal thing. I would love to hear from you about the burnout and your recommendations. I think burnout is something, first of all, broadly, not only for teachers, for everybody, I feel like it's something so top of mind, but especially since Covid, I feel like we are all so aware of, I think people appreciate teachers in general, but I think it became really acutely aware of how hard it is to be a teacher. And I think it really became a thing that everyone's like, this is hard. How do we help our teachers out? And then I'd love to hear your advice. What are your advice for educators who are handling burnout? How do they extinguish the burnout? How do they reclaim that fire that brought them to teaching in the first place?
Rebekah (16:46):
Absolutely. So the first thing is, I think you're absolutely right. Burnout is not just for educators. There's so many professions where folks experience burnout. And also I agree with you since the pandemic, we are hearing so much about it. One of the things that Meredith and I thought about when we were writing the book is how casually the word burnout is used in our culture. And we really wanted to make sure that we were grounding our work in a shared definition of what we meant by burnout. So we actually turned to the Mayo Clinic, which has a clinical definition of burnout, and it's a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity. So Meredith and I boiled that definition down to a sense that you have lost your purpose, your passion, and your power.
(17:36):
And so of course, we want to help teachers and educational leaders who are experiencing burnout, but we also want to be proactive and support educators, particularly those who are earlier in their careers with avoiding burnout in the first place so that they can keep doing the work that they love sustainably without burning out. And so here are a couple of the things that we talk about and that I work with the teachers and leaders that I coach around. So the first thing is really grounding in that sense of purpose, being clear about why you are doing this work. And by the way, this applies to people in all professions. And I would say the reason why you're doing the work that you're doing might not be the reason why you started doing that work. It's incredibly common for us to feel like our sense of purpose has changed the thing that's motivating us, the things that we really love about our work, our sense of why.
(18:28):
But until you have that sense of purpose, until you can articulate your why, it can be really hard to ensure that you're actually living in alignment with it. So that's the first thing, is getting clear with your why, and then doing that sort of auditing process of looking at your personal and your professional life to think about where you are and are not in alignment with that purpose. And then what can you control, influence or eliminate in order to bring your work and your life more in alignment with that purpose. So that is the number one thing. I think that's where the work starts. And I can give you an example of that, Kim, a lot about my entrepreneurial journey and the things that I struggle with. And as you shared at the opening, I have two businesses. I have boogie down books, which is an unconventional children's bookstore.
(19:16):
And then I have What If Schools, which is my educational consultancy business. And there have been points in running two businesses where I have felt like I really don't want to do some of the work. There are some things I really do not want to do. And my motto is, eliminate, automate and delegate. So if there are things I do not want to do, first of all, I decide do they need to be done, period, or can they be eliminated? Is this something that is actually in alignment with my personal purpose or with the reason why my business exists? If not, can it be eliminated or could it be automated? Do I actually have to do this thing that does not feel like it's in alignment with my purpose, but maybe has to get done for some other purpose? Is it possible for it to be automated?
(20:05):
And then finally, can I delegate it? Is there somebody else on my team or could I bring somebody else onto my team who could take over this responsibility because it doesn't align with my purpose, but perhaps it needs to be done. And so this idea of eliminate, automate delegate can be useful for classroom teachers as well if there are aspects of the work. And many teachers will say, I did not become a teacher so that I could do X, Y, Z, but that's what I'm spending most of my time on. So one of the things I like to work with teachers around when it comes to really thinking about how to sustainably continue this work that they love is to think about are the aspects of your work that are not with your purpose able to be eliminated automated or delegated in some way? And that can really help with that first step of bringing your professional and personal life into alignment with your sense of purpose.
Kim (21:00):
Yeah, I think that's such a good point. I think it's really interesting about that concept of eliminate, automate, or delegate is really you're right for everybody running anything because there's always that aspect of a job that you hate or are bad at. And then when you're bad at it and you're spending a lot of time doing it, you don't enjoy the job and you feel worse about yourself. But I am this good thing. I had a job, actually a very good job that I was hired into, and turns out 70% of the job was photo centric. And I'm like, but I'm a video expert. I've literally been doing video for 10, 13 years. It's not that I'm afraid to learn a new thing, but I'm not that good at this. That's not my area. And so it was, that was a mismatch. And so to your point of figuring out how do you get closer to doing what you love through the eliminate, automate, delegate process, it wasn't really a way for me to do in that job, but I did leave because it wasn't a mismatch. It was a mismatch. I'm like, this is never going to be the right thing. And talk to me about finding that joy. I know you're a big part of, I love, first of all, you're a very positive person, but I also think that you invest thought and energy into finding what makes you happy, finding what brings you joy. Talk to me about that for teachers, for people in general.
Rebekah (22:11):
Yeah, that's a really good question. I don't know if I know where that comes from, but I definitely appreciate your feedback that it comes through. I think that learning should be joyful. And I think that that is true for both young people and adults. And I think that sadly, many of us in our experiences in education, including today as both kids and adults don't experience learning in an educational setting as joyful. And it really should be. And there's so much power in that. And there's so many things that I think about when I think about joy and learning, one of them being that the excitement of mastering something that you thought you couldn't do or that is new to you can really bring a sense of joy to learners of all ages. I think that learning should be fun. I think there should be a sense of delight and surprise about it.
(23:08):
And this is really true for me in most aspects of my life as well. And so one thing that I also do is I have something called a pleasure pact, which I call it that because it's an agreement that I make with myself to do something every day just because it feels good, not because it's going to make me more productive or efficient or allow me to cross something off of my to-do list just because in this moment I feel good and sometimes I plan it out ahead of time, and sometimes it's more spontaneous. Sometimes it's as simple as riding around on my Vespa or going for a walk on a beautiful day. And sometimes it's like today eating the most beautiful croissant filled with raspberry cream filling, right? But something that feels good every day. I do this with a lot of intention. And then every night I journal.
(24:02):
I've been a journaler since I was 13 years old, and every night I journal, and every year I pick a different journal prompt to use every night of that year. And my journal prompt for 2023 has been something that brought me joy today, not on a screen. So I know somewhere in the back of my mind that at the end of the day, I'm going to be holding myself accountable to say, what did I do today that brought me joy? And so throughout my day, I'm actually noticing these things. And I can't tell you the neurological science behind this, but I know it's real, that when you start paying attention to something, you start to really embody it and integrate it into who you are. One version of this is for years and years and years, there was a sign in my yoga studio that said, what you pay attention to will thrive. And I think about that all the time, both in the positive sense and in the negative sense. What you pay attention to will thrive. It will grow, it will bloom, it will blossom, or it will fester and it will take over. And so I've made a choice in my life, but particularly in 2023, in reaction to some of the things that I was going through that I was going to pay attention to joy and paying attention to it has brought more of a sense of joy into my life.
Kim (25:21):
I love that thing about attention. I also think that dovetails with the whole idea of automate, delegate, eliminate, because it's like all of us wished we had an extra 10 hours in our week, but the truth is we're never going to get those 10 hours in our week. So how are we going to spend the time that we do have? And I think about that with administrative tasks. I'm like, am I really going to spend X hours sitting populating the newsletter, not writing it? That's fine or not sometimes, but is that the best use of my time? Does that bring me joy? Is that going to be a good way to spend my life here on earth? Yeah, that sort of stuff. I love that.
Rebekah (25:54):
Yeah, I totally agree with you. Life is short. Let's do the things we love whenever possible. And the thing about eliminate, automate delegate is there's probably someone out there who gets a tremendous amount of satisfaction from populating newsletter templates. That is their thing. They love to do that. They love that box checking experience. And so you can actually find folks who will get a lot of joy out of doing things that don't bring you joy sometimes.
Kim (26:27):
Yeah. I try not to be like, so you actually enjoy this. Okay. So Rebekah, talk to me about as you're building your business. So for the listeners, so Rebekah and I worked together, she did my video bootcamp and now she's in a mastermind with me called Thought Leadership Through, and she's an A plus student, I have to say, supporting other people and herself. I'd love to know from our work together, what was your biggest challenge in terms of marketing or social media or content based off what was your biggest challenge and what do you feel like have you grown from that?
Rebekah (26:59):
Well, the thing that is top of mind is the thing that we actually just spoke about very, very recently, which is feeling like I have a hard time setting aside the time to make the content that I know I need to make. And as you just said, there's only a certain number of hours in the day, but also I know that's not really the problem because I find plenty of hours in the day to do the things that bring me joy as I just said. But the things that don't bring me joy, sometimes I procrastinate or I avoid or I make excuses, or I find all kinds of reasons why I can't do them. And so in this conversation that you and I had, it was really helpful for you to hold space for me to really think about what's at the root. One of the things that we talk a lot about in education is the difference between a technical and an adaptive challenge.
(27:53):
So a technical challenge has a technical solution. It could be, in my case, I need to schedule the time on my calendar, or I need to automate this system, for example, or even I need to delegate this responsibility. But an adaptive challenge is one where really in order to make progress, we have to change ourselves. The solution is about adapting as a person. And so talking to you really helped me to think about what is it in me that feels blocked by some of the tasks that I feel like I should do, but that are not getting done? And some of that for me, honestly, has to do with my sort of love hate relationship with social media, just to be honest. Am I allowed to say that here? Is
Kim (28:39):
That okay? It's a safe space. It's a safe space.
Rebekah (28:42):
Okay, great. I understand. And actually, I was just listening to the episode that you put out today, your roundup of marketing tips where you talk about, I really wish that entrepreneurs would shift their sense or their understanding of social media from something that is just maybe fun, sometimes frivolous, sometimes annoying, right? To a vital tool for building your business and building your brand. And I feel very much caught in that space as an entrepreneur between wanting to just share who I am and put myself out there and knowing that I need to be really thoughtful and strategic and purposeful about how I do that. So that's a thing that I guess I'm still sort of working through. And I would say I am a person who has a lot of ideas, and I'm not always the best at executing ideas simply because I don't want to do some of the nitty gritty, nuts and bolts things that have to get done in order to operationalize ideas. And this is why it's been really great to have people in my life who I can delegate to or partner with in a collaborative way where we both get to do the things that we love doing. So that's a struggle that I've had and something that I'm continuing to really think about. We just had that conversation, so I'm still processing.
Kim (30:09):
So I'm going to jump in and give a little more context to what Rebekah was just talking about in our coaching session recently. This week actually, we dug in a little bit about, Hey, where are we struggling? How can I help you break through? And one of the things that Rebekah was honest about was she wasn't making the time. She felt she couldn't find the time, and when we dug deeper, she has the time, but she doesn't want to make the video content in that time, which is fine. It's not about shaming, but it's about how do we then break through that? And so one of the things we talked about was where is the passion and what do you enjoy about the creative process? And she loves writing her newsletter. So we together gave her permission to say, let's invest in that newsletter. Let's keep building that awesome newsletter that you love, and let's take our creative ideas from that newsletter, treat that newsletter as the hero content.
(30:55):
It's the big, big thing that we take other things from, and we can kind of slice it up in creative and interesting ways, and that part can be delegated and outsourced. I go into this a little bit more in a solo episode about getting unblocked, but I wanted to give you a little more context on this because it's really helpful because think it's very important that when we are not doing something, it's very low on our do list. We're not revisiting it. Let's find the block, let's unblock it and figure out do we delegate it? Do we outsource it? Do we deprioritize it? And how do we get through that if we do really believe that it is important? And I know my clients and students are invested in the idea of video and social media marketing. They do see that it has benefits and it's really important in this day and age. And then what about video bootcamp? You took video bootcamp at a weird time for you, but I still feel like you process all the ideas about using creative content to market your business, to market yourself as a personal brand. How do you feel taking Video Bootcamp has helped shift your mindset around that
Rebekah (31:51):
Mindset? There are a few things that I continue to think about from video bootcamp that resonated with me. And so one of them is just the idea that showing up on camera is a way that you connect with your community. It really humanizes you. And because it humanizes you, it's okay to be fully human. In other words, you don't have to look perfect. You don't have to sound perfect. You don't have to be in a perfect space. You are just being you. And of course, there are times when we want to really curate how we are presenting ourselves. We're really being super mindful of our background, for example, and we script things out, but also that people want to connect with you as a person and know that you are human. And that means being fallible, being messy, being real. That really meant a lot to me, and I continue to think about that.
(32:38):
And another thing that I continue to think about and that I mentioned to you is it doesn't have to be all or nothing, right? There are lots of intermediary steps along the way. Two things in particular that have really helped me with putting myself more on camera, again, in this sort of stop start way that I'm currently in, just to be totally transparent, as I was saying, as I kind of struggle with what does this mean and how am I doing it? Is the idea that I can add voiceover to video that I've shot to B roll or to photos that are taken in live mode or photos or video that other people take of me that I don't even realize I can add voiceover to explain what's happening. Everything doesn't have to be me talking direct to camera, which can be sort of intimidating and scary sometimes, where I still do feel like, oh my gosh, my hair, my jewelry, my makeup, right? My background. It's like I can tell a story using voiceover and it still feels really personable and there's still a visual image that folks can look at and feel connected to. And so that was an intermediary step for me that I continued to love and get really excited about making content with when, starting with when I just personally could not show up on camera.
Kim (33:57):
That's one of the things that I like to remind people. I feel like people, when they think about video, they always envision a person talking straight to the camera and introducing themselves. I'm like, there are so many ways to do video. I think it's powerful to show up on video every so often as often as you feel comfortable, but there's really a lot of other ways if the goal of video is to bring people into your lives, there's all these mechanical ways to do it differently. Just to your point, you can voice something over. You can just show pictures of yourself with no voiceover. You can do a demo, you could do a screen share with just your hands doing stuff. I think it's more the larger picture of how do I exist in the world in a more amplified way so more people can meet me and know me while I'm sleeping, while I'm eating my lunch?
(34:39):
That's what the internet does for you. And so I think one of the things that I find is very helpful is the idea of a, whatever you do find fun leading into that. So some people, I have some clients that are lean into more lifestyle content and other people lean into talk to camera stuff, fine wherever you prefer, then put more energy into that. You already like it. And so instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, somebody hates me on camera. I'm like, let's see what else we can do for you. There's lots of other ways. So I think it's important to say, if we all agree that video's not going anywhere and it's the most cost effective way to market your business and the best way to market your business, how do we work around that? And I think that's where the personalized solutions comes in and saying, okay, oh, I am going to be traveling for six weeks.
(35:25):
Well, how do I get the support to support that? Because you can. I do that. I take many weeks off at a time, and I'm like, okay, I just prepare in advance. And the other thing is, the things that don't feel good, don't feel great, let's minimize those or delegate those out and figure out ways to bring the joy back. I think for people who really don't hate creativity, it can be fun, but it has to be the right headset and not the whole narcissistic or self-conscious or just like, oh, it's just frivolous. It's such vital marketing. So if we can bring the joy back into it, it could be super powerful.
Rebekah (36:01):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's so many threads of what you just said that connect to the things we've been talking about for the last half hour, whatever the idea of doing the things that bring you joy of eliminating, automating and delegating the things that don't to the fullest extent possible, remembering why you're doing it in the first place. I think all of that really connects. And another thing I learned in video bootcamp and that we've also talked about in the Thought Leadership group is remember who you're talking to, right? You're not talking to the people who are not interested in what you're talking about, right? Of course, you want to bring people in who don't know about you, but I think so much, at least for me, so much of my insecurity or my hesitation or my reluctancy is around, well, people say or will somebody make fun of this?
(36:53):
Or what if somebody leaves a nasty comment? But I'm not making content for those people. Those people may show up, but I can't let that dictate how I think about what I'm creating. I have to speak to the people who I know are really interested and are really curious and really want to connect with me and really want to be part of the community that I'm growing. And so keeping that in mind again, really speaks to this idea of why are you doing this? Who is the community that you're building? What brings you joy? And trying not to be driven by the opposite of all those things.
Kim (37:29):
And I think one of the biggest things is that we always think of the person who we were picked on by or disagreed with from 15 years ago. That's always the person in our head. And I'm like, I don't know. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people online who might be seeing this, you think that person, Jane from lunch, from seventh grade is probably here? Probably not. I think that's also, it's in our head that our worst enemy or somebody that makes us feel less than is watching our videos. It's like, I don't know if so many people are watching our videos, that's good for your business, but it's usually not that person. I think we make these boogeymen in our head. I think it doesn't really align with reality. And the truth is you are connecting with people who are your ideal clients, teachers, educators. So I think that always helped me personally when I didn't want to be on camera at first, but then I'm like, wait, I am only talking to people who want to learn about video and being better on camera and being more confident on camera or messaging. If you're a sports fanatic or if you're working fashion and blah, blah, and you work at a company, you're probably not my person. So if you don't like what I'm making, it doesn't really matter.
Rebekah (38:31):
Yeah, there's so much content out there. They'll find something else.
Kim (38:35):
Yeah, they'll find something else. Okay. Rebekah, this was so fun. I loved having you on my show. How can people find more about Rebekah, buy your book, support you and work with you?
Rebekah (38:47):
Yeah, absolutely. So folks can learn more about me and contact me through my website, which is Rebekahshoaf.com. Will this be in the show notes, Kim? Because the spelling of my name's a little unconventional. Okay, great. So people can find me at my website, Rebekahshoaf.com and on Instagram at Rebekah.shoaf. And if you want to learn more about the book in particular, you can go to beating teacher burnout.com. There you can find links to purchase the book, which again is called Educating With Passion and Purpose. Keep the Fire Going Without Burning Out, and you could purchase it in both the print and the ebook editions anywhere you purchase books.
Kim (39:26):
Yeah. Rebekah, this was so fun. Thank you for joining me.
Rebekah (39:29):
Thank you, Kim. This is amazing.
Kim (39:32):
And you can connect with Rebekah and learn more about her and by her book at R-E-B-E-K-A-H-S-H-O-A-F.com, Rebekahshoaf.com, and that'll all be linked out in the show notes.
Kim (39:47):
Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to exit the grind and enter success on your own terms. This is the exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Don't forget to grab my free download, how to Grow Your Business with Amazing video at kimrittberg.com and linked out in the show notes. I love to hear your feedback. Make sure to submit to me what you learned from the show and how your crushing it on your own terms. Connect with me on Instagram or LinkedIn at Kim Rittberg, R-I-T-T-B-E-R-G. And this show is edited by Jillian Grover and produced by Henry Street Media. I'm your host and executive producer, Kim Rittberg.