← The CEO Teacher Podcast
The CEO Teacher Podcast
How to Build a Community and Support Teachers with a Podcast
00:29:22
Starting a Podcast For Educators Can Be The Next Stop On Your Bingo Card Join us this week, while Eva Mireles, Reading Specialist and Instructional Coach helps teachers cut through the literacy noise to figure out what their students need most right...
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- [00:11]
Casey Morris
Welcome to the CEO Teacher where educators turn what they already know and love into a successful and sustainable online business with actionable strategies, simple business tips and mindset shifts. It's a weekly lesson plan for teacher business owners. Whether you're teaching full time in the classroom or rocking the small business from home life. I'm your host Casey Morris, a former former Georgia English teacher, Momata four turned seven figure online teacher, business owner and founder of the CEO Teacher Movement. Three teaching degrees got me a few extra bucks each year, but what I will show you will help you make that every single month. If you have a heart for education and a passion to use your experience to help more teachers and families, you belong here. I don't know about you, but was the CEO Teacher Coaching Directory on your 2024 bingo card? Because it was sure on ours. We have been teasing this monumental occasion for a long while now and it has been a hope and a dream of ours for so long and the time has finally come. Introducing the CEO Teacher Directory, your one stop coaching shop for coaches, teachers and teacher business owners to connect. 90% of coaching clients are word of mouth referrals and the same goes for quality coaches and mentors. I was tired of thinking how could teachers be able to help people from all over the world, teachers, students, parents and districts. So we found a solution to the problem. We have trained and certified the top teacher coaches from all over the world and our Coaching Directory is filled with the best teacher coaches to up level not only your teacher business but any and everything you can think of related to the classroom or related to education in general. And the best part is these are educators and they understand the unique and often overwhelming demand on your daylight hours. Being a new teacher, business owner or a classroom teacher that's looking for help or a school district that needs a specialist in any area of education. We have the one Stop shop for you. The CEO Teacher Coaching Directory is your lesson plan shortcut. You can now hire a teacher business coach. No matter what path or journey you may be on, no matter how unique you think your circumstances might be, we have it all here for you. Head on over to Casey morris.com askacoach and connect with local to you teacher coaches or search by subject area and niche. It's friendly support with a teacher twist. Find a trusted teacher coach whether you are part of the CEO Teacher membership or not. Any teacher, any parent, any school district in the world can use this. This is your playground.
- [02:58]
Eva Morales
Again.
- [02:58]
Casey Morris
Head on over to Casey morris.com askacoach to find your coach or mentor today that's K A Y S E M O r r I s.com askacoachers welcome back to the show. I absolute privilege today of talking to Eva Morales. I have been chatting with her inside of the DMs for so many years now. I feel like we kind of know each other, but today we're going to be talking all about podcasting and how she has branched into this world and what it's done for her business. I think this is such an important topic that you're listening to a show, but we've never actually done a show on podcasting and talked about the importance of having a podcast and what it could potentially do for your business. So, Eva, hello. Welcome to the show.
- [03:46]
Eva Morales
Hi, Casey. Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here.
- [03:49]
Casey Morris
How long have we known each other?
- [03:51]
Eva Morales
Um, I want to say it was back in 2020. That's when I started exploring the edupreneur world. And I kind of find you through the book, the Edupreneur side Hustle. You had like, a little blurb in that book, and so then that kind of, you know, breadcrumbs to, you know, your. Your business and your podcast and all those things. So kind of. And I think I want to say I slid it to your DMs pretty quickly. I'm like, I found you through your book.
- [04:14]
Casey Morris
Man, I didn't even realize that. Yeah, that was. That was a while back. So probably around 2020, I think, is when all that happened. Well, I'm so happy that you're here. Will you tell everyone a little bit about you, kind of what you've been through in the world of education and life?
- [04:26]
Eva Morales
Yeah. So I am a reading specialist and instructional coach currently serving on a K5 campus. And I've been doing that for about eight, nine years. I'm not great with math, but I've been in education for about 19 years. I've taught second, third, and fifth grade. And I realized about eight or nine years in that I really liked teaching reading. Like, that was my passion. That's what I was doing all my own professional development around, like, reading all the blogs, reading all the books. And so then I decided, like, oh, you know, what about being a reading specialist? And so that's how I dove into that field. And then I quickly learned that I really liked also helping adults, helping teachers refine their craft in becoming a better reading teacher, and just seeing the impact that that had on students. And so. So that's how I got here.
- [05:14]
Casey Morris
Okay, so Tell us a little bit about your journey when it comes to turning this into an online business. And I think this is so important because you're a reading specialist, which is really unique because a lot of teachers that start online businesses are specifically in the classroom, and they're helping with a very specific niche. But what you do is you help teachers and you help students as well, but you're not necessarily like a typical classroom teacher. So where did your idea of starting an online business even start?
- [05:44]
Eva Morales
So it started during COVID because I attended a coaching webinar series thing, and it was online, and I was watching and listening and watching and listening, and I was like, hey, these people do what I do. I could do that. Right? And I had always been that teacher that, like you said, not that was selling resources, but I was definitely using TPT resources and I was reading teacher blogs, but it never had never occurred to me that I could do that. And so during this time during COVID I was like, oh, I could totally do that. I could maybe dive into this world and do this myself, because I liked helping teachers. And of course, during COVID we didn't have access to teachers the way that we did when we're on campus. And so that was, you know, that was a way that I could not just help the teachers on my campus, but help other. Other teachers as well.
- [06:30]
Casey Morris
And so what did you first sell, though? Like, I'm just trying to think, like, what. What did you first say? I'm going to put this together and sell this.
- [06:38]
Eva Morales
So I jumped right into creating a course, because one of the things that I noticed was that when teachers come in, they don't know where to start, especially upper elementary literacy teachers. And so I started by creating a course right away. And then the resources I created went with that course. And then after that, I just created things that I thought would help teachers teach reading as well as then help students with, like, reading response and things like that that would help students know how to respond to reading. So I started with a course, which was kind of crazy, now that I look back on it, but that's where I started.
- [07:14]
Casey Morris
Yeah, that's a hard. That's a hard thing to, like, break through when you first get started to sell an online course. I know that Amy Porterfield teaches digital Course Academy, and that's amazing. But I remember when I first started listening to her, and I was just selling my lesson plans online, and I was like, this is way above my knowledge level. Like, I have no idea what she's talking about. And so that's kind of why we do those stepping stones of maybe we should do this first. But. But what I love about it is that you're a go getter. And so you said, I'm going to sell an online course. Did you have an audience though? Like, were people like already listening to you? Like, how did you.
- [07:48]
Eva Morales
I don't.
- [07:48]
Casey Morris
Like, how did you sell it?
- [07:49]
Eva Morales
Honestly, not yet. So usually what I did was I did try to do the behind the scenes, but then I was also required so much focus that I was just really in. And so I definitely did not follow what your traditional coaches or, you know, experts would say to do. But honestly, if I had waited to do it perfectly, I wouldn't have done it at all. So there's definitely things I could have learned. And really there's the way that people have found me most is through branching out and reaching out to people and saying, hey, you know, could I possibly be on your online conference? Or whatever? And that's how people have found me is through those online conferences that I've done and then of course through my podcast. But, you know, it wasn't successful right away. My course and the people who have taken it though, have been, have benefited from it. And really that's why we do this. We do this to help people. And so that's what I've gotten out of, out of it. But what I have started with it, I don't know. I don't know that I would change it because I learned so much. It required me to script out my content, it required me to learn screen recording and recording to learn so many things early on. And those were things we're having, we were having to do anyway because it was Covid and it was hybrid teaching. So it wasn't like I wasn't doing those things anyway. Why not do those things to help other teachers outside my campus and then also to help myself create an income.
- [09:10]
Casey Morris
Such a unique perspective. I'm loving this conversation because I feel like as we interview more teachers, sometimes the conversations not the same, but you know, the road to finding themselves in the online space, it's pretty similar. And it starts with the teacher in the classroom that's struggling to make ends meet. And then they start selling their lesson plans and. But what I love about this. Oh, and then they start an Instagram or a Facebook and then they try to gain traction and 10 years later they're an overnight success. And so what I love about this is that you didn't necessarily have an audience. You didn't take the Easy route. And you said, but I'm going to learn all the hard things first. But I also love that you did something that people forget is so important, and you did that like boots on the ground, grassroots effort to get people to find you through online conferences. People call them online summits. They're so hot right now. Like, so many people are doing online summits where educators come, and even districts are participating in these online summits. And so what's great about what you do is I could see an educators conference specifically for reading interventions or specialists that could help you. Like, your whole ideal audience is literally right there in your hands. And although you probably participate in those things, is it for free, like, when you do those conferences, or do you get paid for that?
- [10:27]
Eva Morales
Most of them are, but they're, you know, they're there to grow your email list and then to help. And then, honestly, I've taken those conference recordings and I repackaged those and put those onto my platform to be little mini courses or mini workshops as well. So it just kind of is a. It's a cycle on all of its own. But again, like, the reward is always the. The, you know, the feedback. Oh, this really helped me. Oh, lots of, you know, great tips. And that's really what you do it for.
- [10:56]
Casey Morris
Yeah. And you said. My favorite thing that you've said so far is that we do this to serve people. Like, we're doing this out of service. And I think sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the money and needing the finances to be able to make ends meet, that we forget that. And I believe that the only people that find true success are the people that always go back to remembering that this is what this is all about. And so if someone's listening to this and they're thinking, like, I don't know if it's worth my time to put together an hour presentation for a free conference, you would say it's absolutely worth your time.
- [11:29]
Eva Morales
Definitely worth your time. And honestly, part of what I get out of this is the. It's the one space. Right. As educators, we all know that we are talked at and told and should. Right. You should do this and should do that. And so this space, this business is all mine. I get to decide what is. What gets. Gets to happen. And it's like my way of being creative. I don't paint, I don't craft. I couldn't knit or crochet to save my life. Right. But I can talk about reading all day long. I can explain it to someone. And that's where my creativity shines is in doing the things that I do in my business.
- [12:09]
Casey Morris
Your God given gift to be able to teach others. And so that's so important to recognize that I love, I love too that you compared that to, to like, this is my hobby as well. Like, it's not just what I do and get paid for. This is also my passion in life. Okay, so at what point in your journey from 2020 to where we are today did you say, you know what? I'm going to do a podcast.
- [12:32]
Eva Morales
Listening to a lot of podcasts, right? So I would listen. I started listening to podcasts for fitness and wellness and for a while and then I started listening to business podcasts. And then I was like, you know what? I could, I could totally do this. I could start a podcast. I love to talk, I love to talk about reading. And at the time there wasn't a lot out there for upper elementary teachers. I was blogging because of course I went through your membership and so I knew that blogging was important, but I felt like not everybody was going to sit there and read a blog. And so I decided to start a podcast. But I did participate in like a little boot camp to get me started because I. This girl needs a lot of accountability to actually make things happen. And so I was able to do that and launch it. And I have, you know, it's been, it's evolved and how it goes about sometimes, you know, some years it's, it's weekly and sometimes it's biweekly. And really it's, it's in response to what the teachers that I serve, right. Because I pull them and I ask them what they want. How often do you want an episode? And my audience really prefers to biweekly because they're action takers. And so they say I need time to actually do what you're recommending that I do because even though my episodes are short, they're jam packed with a lot of information and takeaways and action steps that they can use right away.
- [13:50]
Casey Morris
That'S so important to recognize to your audience and what they need. And I could see that from like, it would be impossible for a teacher to listen to your show if it's that jam packed full of to dos be able to accomplish them to go on to the next thing. And if you're creating a foundation of stepping stones for people, that's so important and it's not as overwhelming and as daunting when you think about writing, producing, creating a bi weekly show as opposed to a Weekly show.
- [14:21]
Eva Morales
And I've tried both because of course the experts say you need to stay on top of mind, you need to do it weekly. And I tried that and really my, my listening, my listenership goes up when I stick to the bi weekly.
- [14:33]
Casey Morris
Such good advice. Okay, so you started a show. Tell us about your show though. So I know that words about reading, but tell us what the name of it is and when it started so our listeners of course can go listen to it. But that way we can kind of get. Because for my show back in the day it was the Go Getters podcast and we just celebrated our six year anniversary and I had forgotten, I forgot that that's what it was called. And I remember I, at first I was just speaking to everyone. It was the, it was everyone that wanted to start an online business. And then I realized that, oh, it was just teachers that were listening to it and it didn't turn into the CEO teacher until maybe a year or two after. And I'm just curious, like, is your, what is your name of your show? Has it evolved? Because you mentioned it has and like what did it look like in the beginning days versus what it looks like today?
- [15:22]
Eva Morales
So it's called the Reading Teachers Playbook and it's for third through fifth grade teachers that teach reading. And it started with honestly, just me kind of putting stuff on, on, on a Google Doc and reading it. There wasn't really a format per se. Like I was just kind of reading, writing how I talk. But I did script it out because I found out really quickly I'm not an outline person. I can't just have bullet points. I need, I need the script. And it's evolved to now I have what's called the what, the why and the how and so where I, you know, try to create like a collective understanding of what in the world we're going to talk about. Why are we talking about this, why does it matter? And then how can you carry it out? And so it's a little bit more sequential for teachers, a little bit more organized. And the feedback has been like, okay, I know what the takeaways are, I know what you're talking about, I know why you're talking about it. And now I know how I need to do implement whatever it is that you're talking about. So it's become, it's evolved into being clearer, more concise and more organized and it helps me also to create it. Right now I have a format that.
- [16:26]
Casey Morris
I follow and that I think that just takes time and figuring out who you are taking a lot of action and then recognizing what the teachers need as they're listening to it. I did the exact same thing when I started. I would write out the entire script, and I was mostly storytelling in the beginning. And what's crazy is, is that when I go back to storytelling, our listenership goes up significantly. And I forget that because I actually prefer to teach. And so thinking about the format of something is so important. But I was probably 18 months in before I was like, okay, I know I want to share a quote at the beginning of the show. Okay, I know I want to share some data because it's a marketing podcast. And we kind of went back and forth between that version, and I quit sharing stories for about a year. And our listenership started to go down, and the team was like, casey, I want you to start, like, just. Just talking about life. Like, let's do some shows about life. And that brought our listenership back to where it is, back into the good for what we consider, you know, we check it out on a scorecard every single week. And what we consider good. So are you looking at the data when it comes to your show? You mentioned polling your audience. How do you use that to guide you?
- [17:45]
Eva Morales
So usually at the end of each season, I'll send out a Google form, either via email. It's usually both. It's via email, and then it's also through dms, because a lot of my listeners have become friends via DMs, and so sending it out that way, that's usually been the best way to get that information. And then sometimes it's just asking them, because even though maybe I've planned out my content, sometimes, sometimes I don't want to talk about that. So I'll ask, what is it that you. I don't. Right. And so that's. Sometimes I'm like, okay, what are you struggling with right now? Because again, going back to the service, the whole point of starting the podcast was to. Was to be of service and to help. And one of my values is to make an impact. And so sometimes it's just good to ask those questions. And so sometimes it's just the DMs, the Google form, an email, and then staying in touch with them, because then they know that I care about them. And it's not just trying to get information for a podcast that could possibly lead to sales. They know that I'm really wanting to support them.
- [18:48]
Casey Morris
Yes. Another way that we've done this, too, similarly to sending out, like, a Google Doc or I Mean, like a Google form is we will pull them on Instagram because a lot of my listeners watch my stories. And so I'll say, what do you want to hear about on the show? And then they'll post something they want to hear about, and then we screenshot it, and we take that into consideration. But the most relatable thing you've said is that, you know, I got it planned out, but sometimes I just don't want to talk. I can't tell you. Like, sometimes we'll be on team meeting, and I'm like, y'all, please don't make me record a show on how to make money online as a teacher. They're like, yeah, but it's worth the keywords. I was like, no, I can't do it. I cannot even say those words again. Like, it's making me, like, my eyes roll for myself. So I feel like anyone listening to it feels exactly the same way. So when you're talking about your plan, though, how far in advance are you planning out this podcast?
- [19:40]
Eva Morales
So usually it's a season at a time. When I do my seasons with fall, I'll do, like, a spring season. And then this past summer was the first time I did a summer, because usually I take the summers off and I did a book study. So I'll plan it out about three to four months out, and then I try to batch, you know, batch write my scripts and then batch record. But again, sometimes it's like, I'm not really feeling that topic. Let me. Let me make sure that people are still wanting to hear about this particular. This particular topic. But I'm planning it out in advance because sometimes the inspiration hits, and when it hits, you need to take advantage and type it all out. And sometimes I can have a whole plan. And then sometimes it's like, you know what? We're going to record on this instead, because I'm seeing or hearing that this is a topic that teachers are struggling with or needing support with.
- [20:31]
Casey Morris
I think specifically for teachers, our listeners. What you said about having seasons is so important, and I. I recognize a lot of our students that have podcasts for teachers. They do plan it out in seasons. And thinking about it from that sense makes so much sense, because teachers are in those seasons of life from fall and then spring, especially in the States. And then I love that you said. Did you say in the summer you do a book study sometimes?
- [20:56]
Eva Morales
Yes. So this past summer, I did a book study on the podcast. I had done a book study previously in my Facebook group, but this was the first summer that I did it in the podcast, and I think it was definitely. It was well received. I also did the Instagram lives to kind of do a recap. And to be honest, I used my Instagram lives and they became podcast episodes because it was summer.
- [21:19]
Casey Morris
So smart, smarter, not harder.
- [21:23]
Eva Morales
It was summer.
- [21:24]
Casey Morris
The name of the game.
- [21:24]
Eva Morales
Yeah. And so I recorded. Sometimes I would have the. My garage band open and recording while I was doing my Instagram.
- [21:33]
Casey Morris
I need to do that for Facebook tv, for teacher tv. They're already doing the work.
- [21:37]
Eva Morales
Yes. So that became a podcast episode. And you know, and the teachers that wanted to read the book but maybe weren't committed to sitting there every week and showing up, they would take the tidbits and my. My findings, my takeaways. Right. And they would use that to help them, to spur them on to actually read the book and get the book.
- [21:56]
Casey Morris
Well, if you don't mind me asking, what was the book for the summer?
- [21:59]
Eva Morales
It was big words for young students, young kids. I don't have it here, but yeah, it was big words. It was all about. Because of course, the science of reading is the topic right now for reading teachers and it was all about how to. It scoped out, gave them a scope and sequence for how to teach the different multisymbolic words for different grade levels. And honestly, it's one of the few books that I've seen that actually, actually like gave helpful takeaways. So I was. It was really a great read for the summer.
- [22:30]
Casey Morris
So good. And it preps them and proms them for when your season starts back in the fall, as school starts back. Okay, now I want to talk like the tech nerdy side about how you're utilizing this as a catalyst to drive sales and things like that for your course or whatever else. You mentioned that you're repackaging some of your conference sessions to sell. So how do you use your podcast to be able to sell those things?
- [23:00]
Eva Morales
So definitely it becomes. I put like a little blurb either at the middle or the end, played with different places of where I'm going to talk about it. Sometimes it's my opt in that I'm pitching in my podcast. Sometimes it's a course and I decide that in advance when I'm deciding what content I'm going to put out, I'm deciding what I'm going to market within the podcast. And then sometimes I'm talking about the conferences I'm going to be in. So it just depends and I'm just tying it. Sometimes it's My TPT resources that I also have on my website. But sometimes it's those resources that tie into an episode. And so it just depends on what the episode's about and how it connects to the different things that I have to offer.
- [23:41]
Casey Morris
And this is why planning is so important. So if you're thinking about a season, let's say fall, and you have some specific seasonal resources that you want to sell or a program launch, what's your course about, if you don't mind me asking?
- [23:54]
Eva Morales
It's teaching reading 101. And it's really about the basics of teaching reading in the upper elementary classroom. So I'm talking about your mini lesson, your reading block, how to organize it. And I even give a plan for, like, what to teach, what to focus on in each, like, quarter of your school year. So you're not trying to launch everything all at once.
- [24:16]
Casey Morris
And that can be something that you sell primarily probably at the beginning of the school year, but also in January if someone really needs some help and reads needs to like to reset and recharge. But also Australian teachers begin their school year in January. And I think that that's very important for people to see, like January and correct me all seasons if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure your school year is from January to December because their seasons are different and that's how they take summer break, is in the winter, our winter in the. In the States. So I think that their seasons are from January to December. So that could be really helpful as you're planning out your content and you're selling a reading program that helps people, like, reset their whole, like, how they do things. Is that, okay, I can sell this in the beginning of fall and then I also can sell it again in January. But what people fail to realize is that, and I'm just making an assumption here, is that as you're beginning to launch these things, people need to be prepped and primed and have awareness for it. You don't just show up on a show and are like, hey, this is who I am. Buy my thing. Because it doesn't really work that way. And so you did this reading, you did this thing in the summer where you did the book study. And the book study, hand in hand, goes with your program that you sell. And as you're doing that book study and getting ready to go into the fall season, I hope, and I bet you are like putting little breadcrumbs in about your program.
- [25:40]
Eva Morales
Yes, yes. So definitely talking about that. And I forgot to mention, also pitching My consulting services with school. So it just depends what, what it is that the focus is. But, yes, to having that on ramp to help people get ready and be aware and build that awareness before you're actually trying to hard sell it. Yes, it's definitely important.
- [26:00]
Casey Morris
Yeah. Before I launched my first program in 2018, the podcast started seven weeks before I sold the program. And I knew that that was the end goal was at the end of that seven weeks was to sell on the show, my program, One of the ways to get people registered and all of those things. And so it was like our Runway to launch. And I had no idea the impact that it would have being able to have that Runway like that. So I'm so grateful that you shared that because I think it's just so important for people to see, like, this is a. This is a plan. There are. There. We are playing chess here when it comes to online marketing, trying to get people to listen. Yes, a podcast is really great for awareness and to bring people into your brand and to teach them. And you're serving them every week. But you have commercial slots. And before your show gets to be big, or even if it is big, you're allowed to be your own commercials, which is why previously we haven't allowed other people to be our commercials, because we're like, we're our own commercial. And some people get frustrated. And I've gotten a review that said the first five minutes are just commercials. Yes. But for the most part, they are. They're an intro and then a commercial. But a lot of shows are like that. And I think that that's just kind of, you know, you're getting all this free content, but also we're going to share what we got going on too, to get people on your email list for free before you ever ask them to buy your thing too.
- [27:16]
Eva Morales
And of course, that's, you know, listening to your podcast and other podcasts, that's how you learn to do those things. So definitely, if you're wanting to start your own podcast, then definitely be listening to other podcasts as well, because that's where you get those tidbits and learn how to do it yourself. Also, in addition to, of course, learning it within a course or whatever.
- [27:35]
Casey Morris
So if you were going to give someone just some advice that was thinking about starting a show as a teacher, working full time, trying to manage it all, what would it be?
- [27:44]
Eva Morales
The first thing, pick a topic that you can talk about endlessly. Right? Anything that gets you fired up that you have a soapbox about, because those are the things that are going to. That's what's going to keep you wanting to keep talking about the topic. That would be the first thing. And then the next thing is if you're a busy teacher who makes promises to themselves that sometimes you don't keep, is get that accountability piece, get someone to help hold you accountable, and then find a guide. Find someone that can help you get started. If you don't know, if you're not a bootstrappy kind of person that can just, you know, figure it out as you go, then definitely get that guide to help you know what you want to talk about. Of course. Defining what your content pillars are and what it is you want to talk about long term and what kind of podcast you want to have. Do you want to have an interview podcast where you bring people on, or do you want to have a solo or do you want to do both? So thinking about all of those things, but the first thing is find something you're passionate about to talk about.
- [28:43]
Casey Morris
Because years in, it gets hard. Yes. Because you feel like you've talked about all the things. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. It was so good to see you in real life, almost virtually. And I appreciate it. And tell everyone where they can hear, where they can find you.
- [28:59]
Eva Morales
So my favorite place to hang out is on Instagram there. I'm Isseva Mirelas and also my podcast and teachers Provoke.
- [29:06]
Casey Morris
Thank you so much. And it would be a beautiful.