Stop Trading Time for Money

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Stop Trading Time for Money" – The CEO Teacher Podcast

Episode Details:

• Title: Stop Trading Time for Money
• Release Date: April 9, 2025
• Host: Kayse Morris (@kaysemorris)
• Podcast: The CEO Teacher Podcast

---

1. Introduction and Personal Reflections

In the opening moments of the episode, Kayse Morris reflects nostalgically on the inception of The CEO Teacher Podcast in 2018. She shares her initial passion for having authentic, heartfelt conversations that went beyond mere marketing strategies. Kayse expresses a sense of burnout from the repetitive nature of marketing discussions, yearning instead for genuine, human connections.

Kayse Morris [00:01]: "I was getting a little burnout on all things marketing because sometimes I feel like it's just the same old same instead of just being human and being authentic."

2. Anecdote from Hobby Lobby: A Catalyst for Change

Kayse recounts a recent experience at Hobby Lobby, where a delightful conversation with a cashier about fairy gardens serves as a pivotal moment. This interaction highlights the theme of trading time for money, as Kayse observes the cashier's role and contemplates alternative paths that honor one's passions without being confined to hourly wages.

Kayse Morris [00:50]: "She could have been working part time. ... she was trading her time for her money at this point."

3. The Burden of Traditional Employment

Drawing from her own past experiences in a 9-to-5 job, Kayse discusses the stress and rigidity of salaried positions. She contrasts this with the newfound appreciation for time she now enjoys, emphasizing how traditional employment often leaves little room for personal fulfillment and spontaneous family activities.

Kayse Morris [01:45]: "When I used to work a 9 to 5 job... I was checking my bank account every day just to make sure that all the things had gone through the budget."

4. Embracing the Value of Time Over Money

Kayse introduces a powerful quote by Jim Rohn to underscore the episode's central theme: time holds greater value than money. She elaborates on her personal journey towards seeking abundance, creativity, and spiritual fulfillment by reimagining how she monetizes her teaching expertise.

Kayse Morris [03:47]: "Jim Rohn once said, time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time."

5. Introducing Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Central to the episode is the concept of Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), which Kayse champions as a sustainable alternative to trading time for money. She explains MRR as predictable, ongoing income generated through subscriptions, memberships, or continuous offerings, allowing educators to stabilize their earnings without the constant pressure of one-time sales.

Kayse Morris [07:10]: "Monthly recurring revenue, or MRR is the predictable income that you earn every single month."

6. Steps to Build MRR: A Three-Step Plan

Kayse outlines a practical three-step plan for teachers to establish their own MRR streams:

1. Audit Existing Resources

   • Action: Catalog existing teaching materials, such as lesson plans, blog posts, and video trainings.
   • Objective: Identify interconnected themes to form the foundation of a membership offering.

   Kayse Morris [09:30]: "Step one: go ahead and audit what you've already created."

2. Package the Transformation, Not Just Content

   • Action: Focus on the transformative experience members will gain, rather than merely bundling resources.
   • Objective: Convey the promise of growth and improvement to potential subscribers.

   Kayse Morris [09:55]: "Your membership is not just a bundle of lessons, it's a promise for a better tomorrow."

3. Start Small and Scale Gradually

   • Action: Launch with simple initiatives like offering beta pricing and leveraging an existing email list.
   • Objective: Allow the membership to grow organically without overwhelming the creator.

   Kayse Morris [10:20]: "You don't have to have a big launch. All you need to do is think about an email list, offer beta pricing, keep it simple."

7. Four Membership Subscription Ideas for Educators

Kayse provides four tailored membership ideas catering to different segments within the teaching community:

1. Monthly Play and Learn Club

   • Target Audience: Pre-K to second-grade teachers.
   • Offering: Ready-to-use thematic centers, morning tubs, and printables delivered monthly.

2. Teach Smarter Toolkit

   • Target Audience: Middle school or high school teachers.
   • Offering: Rigorous, engaging lessons across subjects like ELA, science, or history, alleviating planning burdens.

3. Nurture Learning Collective

   • Target Audience: Homeschool parents.
   • Offering: Simple, open-and-go activities with a gentle learning twist.

4. Educator Impact Lab

   • Target Audience: Non-traditional education roles such as admins, SLPs, coaches, and specialists.
   • Offering: Fresh tools to enhance implementation, collaboration, and impact without reinventing the wheel.

Kayse Morris [11:50]: "If you're a primary teacher, you could do something like the monthly Play and Learn club... For secondary teachers, you could do something like the Teach Smarter Toolkit."

8. Addressing Common Concerns: Sustainability of Memberships

Kayse anticipates and addresses potential worries educators might have about the ongoing nature of memberships. She reassures listeners that memberships are designed to be sustainable and scalable, allowing creators to build a continually growing income stream without the need for constant product launches.

Kayse Morris [11:15]: "If you want monthly recurring revenue, you want something that you can see further down the line, you're never, ever stuck doing something forever."

9. Emphasizing the Sacredness of Time

Reiterating the episode's core message, Kayse underscores the sanctity of time. She shares personal moments of enjoying her free time, such as decorating her porch, to illustrate the benefits of not being tethered to hourly work. This serves as a motivational reminder for educators to prioritize their time and pursue endeavors that grant them more freedom and fulfillment.

Kayse Morris [11:50]: "Your teaching salary doesn't define your value, but your time. That is sacred."

10. Invitation to Join the CEO Teachers Lounge

Concluding the episode, Kayse extends an invitation to educators seeking support and community. She promotes the CEO Teachers Lounge, a space designed for educators to build their online businesses collaboratively, share experiences, and access valuable resources without facing the journey alone.

Kayse Morris [13:17]: "It's a safe place to talk about all the things you're stressed out about or just to get some advice on how to get through each and every day in a better, more positive way."

Key Takeaways

• Value of Time: Prioritizing time over money leads to greater personal fulfillment and creativity.
• Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): Establishing MRR through memberships or subscriptions provides predictable income and reduces financial stress.
• Leverage Existing Resources: Utilize already created teaching materials to build sustainable income streams.
• Start Small: Begin with simple steps to create and grow a membership program without being overwhelmed.
• Community Support: Joining supportive communities like the CEO Teachers Lounge can enhance the entrepreneurial journey and provide necessary encouragement.

Notable Quotes

• Jim Rohn on Time:

  "Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." – [03:47]

• Transformative Promise:

  "Your membership is not just a bundle of lessons, it's a promise for a better tomorrow." – [09:55]

• Sacredness of Time:

  "Your teaching salary doesn't define your value, but your time. That is sacred." – [11:50]

---

Conclusion:

In "Stop Trading Time for Money," Kayse Morris offers a compelling narrative that challenges traditional employment paradigms, especially within the teaching profession. By advocating for Monthly Recurring Revenue models, she provides educators with actionable strategies to achieve financial stability and personal freedom. The episode serves as both inspiration and a practical guide for teachers aspiring to transform their professional lives without sacrificing the most valuable currency: their time.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, CEO teachers.

[B]

Welcome back to the show. Thanks for joining us. Every single Wednesday. I was just thinking back to 2018, whenever we started this, and it feels like forever ago, but also it feels like yesterday. And one of my favorite things about when I first got started was just the ability to sit down and just talk about life. Just kind of storytell and talk about life where it wasn't just marketing and all those kinds of things. Because to be honest, I'm getting a little burnout on all things marketing because sometimes I feel like it's just the same old same instead of just being human and being authent. But today's show is all about stop trading your time for money. And I was in Hobby Lobby today and I was shopping for some things out for my front porch, and I was thinking about the cashier that was ringing me up. She was so delightful. We were talking about fairy gardens. I had purchased fairy gardens for my kids for Easter. And, you know, instead of getting gifts that they're just going to throw away or they're going to eat, I was like, I want to kind of do an activity with the kids. So I got them all these little fairy gardens and we're going to make them together. And she was asking me about it, and like, we had the best conversation. And I was like, she's so delightful. And I was thinking about, she probably gets paid to ring things up. And I thought, man, you know, she definitely is trading her time for her money at this point. And like, her soul was so delightful. I just, I wanted to reach out and be like, hey, let's figure out what you're good at, and let's figure out a way that we can turn that into something even more remarkable. Because our time is our biggest currency in life. It's. It's the best part of life that we have the time with our family, the time with our friends. And she could have been working part time. This could have just been, you know, I'm not sure what it was, but I was just thinking too, when I used to work a 9 to 5 job and I used to know exactly how much money I was getting in my bank account once a month, and I would have all the bills paid accordingly. And I was looking at my budget every single month, and I was checking my bank account every day just to make sure that all the things had gone through the budget. And I think that's what the lady reminded me of the most, is like, I had this moment where I'm ringing up all these little things and thinking about making a fairy garden with my kids and the gift that you guys have given me, the gift of time, where I get to think about those kinds of things, about what I want to do on the weekends with my kids. And I just want to say thank you. It feels like yesterday, but then again it doesn't. But today I want to share with you how you can also stop trading time for money. And if this sounds like something you want in on, stick around you don't want to miss. Have you ever sat in your car.

[A]

After school, keys in the ignition, engine running, just sitting there, too tired to move?

[B]

Yeah, me too.

[A]

Back then it was back roads, Diet Coke, and embarrassingly enough, a cigarette in hand.

[B]

I was trying to hold it all.

[A]

Together, wondering why I felt like falling apart. They don't tell you that teaching can feel like that, that you can love your students and still feel completely lost in the process. Well, I decided to write about it. This is the version of teaching that we just don't talk about. It's called the not so Fabulous Life of a Teacher. And if you've ever felt like you're barely making it to 3pm, if you've ever questioned whether this is the life you were actually meant to live, then this story is for you. It's free, it's honest, and it just might be the reminder that you didn't know you needed. You can go to Casey morris.com book or click the link in the show notes to download it. Now it's K-A-S-E M-O-R R I S.com book and let this be your permission slip to want more.

[B]

Jim Rohn once said, time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. And over the last couple of weeks, I have been trying to find myself again. And I go through this like spiritual awakening a couple times a year. But I just really am looking for a way where I can get quiet and I can find myself and I can find God and I can find happiness and I can find no sense of lack in my life, just straight abundance. And I think that the key to that is to get quiet. So I've been a little quiet on social media just trying to figure it out. And what I've realized is that having this extra time has allowed me to be even more creative, but also come up with some new innovative ways to share with you guys how you could also stop trading your time for money. I want us to have a heart to heart about something so many teachers don't even realize they're doing until they're just completely burnt out. I mentioned it before. You're just trading your time for money and you're calling it success. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think that there's something beautiful in people that love what they do, whether that is working at Hobby Lobby or being an accountant or being a teacher or bagging groceries. If you genuinely love what you do and money is not a factor in your life, then I'm not talking to you. I think that the people I'm talking to have a specific yearning and a need for something different. It doesn't even have to be something more, just something a little bit different where they aren't checking their bank account all the time and they are able to relax. But to be honest, you know, being an entrepreneur in a sense of selling your lesson plans or creating an online business, it comes with its own sense of anxiety and worry. Over time, that gets better and you develop the skill of handling it and dealing with it. But it does have some downfalls as well. But if you're looking at your bank account every single month and you're counting down the lines and making sure that the budget is right and making sure that everything is accounted for and finally finding out ways to be able to put Easter gifts in there, you know, as I was walking today in Hobby Lobby, I was like, I'm not. I wasn't thinking about how much does each individual item cost? And adding it up on my phone. I was just like, oh, my kids would enjoy that. And that, to me, has been such a gift. So instead of looking at your budget line for line, what if there's another way? What if your teaching magic could actually work for you even when you're not working? I'm not even lying right now. I'm having the most insane deja vu of my life. Like, multiple events in my life today are flashing. Okay, anyways, anyways. I am a firm believer. God likes to send signs. And I feel like I've been here before. So this is. This is a cool thing. So let's chat about what I mean. I am a. I am a firm believer. And I will die on this hill of monthly recurring revenue. It's different from selling your lesson plans on one website, what it is and why it matters. And I want you to know how teachers like you can build it using things that you've already created, maybe to sell on other websites. So monthly recurring revenue. We've kind of touched on it the last couple of weeks, but it's that knowing that things are going to be in your bank account without having to stress out about it. Similar to your teacher paycheck, but hopefully a whole lot bigger and more reliable. So monthly recurring revenue, or MRR is the predictable income that you earn every single month. It's usually from things like subscriptions, memberships, ongoing offers, and guess what? You can easily calculate your monthly recurring revenue like this. The number of paying members times the average monthly payment that equals your monthly recurring revenue. Now, I was an English teacher, so math, you know, it's not my thing. But all you need is how many members you want and then how much you would like for them to pay. Multiply those two things together and you'll get your monthly recurring revenue. So if you have 25 teachers paying you, let's say $29 a month, your monthly recurring revenue, that's money in your bank account that's dropped and deposited every single month is $725. That's 6. $725 without launching something new or uploading a product every single month. It's the opposite of one off sales. It's income that gives you a lot more breathing room and a whole heck of a lot less burnout. If you've ever wondered what let's say a teacher membership or a subscription could actually look like beyond the buzzwords or pressure to do more, let's break it down really quick. The truth is a successful membership or subscription, it doesn't have to be something massive or compl. Complicated or overwhelming. It just needs to be built around what you already know and most importantly, what you already love. Because I know you're probably tired of doing something that doesn't bring you joy. Your real world experience as a teacher, AKA your teaching magic and the resources you've already created, there's more than enough to go ahead and get started. Today I want to share four membership subscription ideas that could help you build monthly recurring revenue without starting from scratch. So if you're a primary teacher, you could do something like the monthly Play and Learn club. This could be a membership for pre K to second grade teachers who want ready to use thematic centers, morning tubs and printables delivered monthly. For secondary teachers, you could do something like the Teach Smarter Toolkit. This is like a monthly resource hub for middle school or high school teachers who want rigorous, engaging lessons without the planning and overwhelm. So this could be ELA specific science or history with even more support. Let's say you're a homeschool teacher. You could do something like the Nurture Learning Collective. This is a membership for homeschool parents looking for simple, open and go activities with a gentle learning twist. For non traditional roles like admin, SLPs, coaches, specialists, you could do the Educator Impact Lab. This is a monthly membership for education professionals who support other teachers, whether that's through coaching, training or intervention, and want fresh tools to improve implementation, collaboration and impact without reinventing the wheel. So we love a good three step plan. Here's the 1, 2, 3 to stop trading your time for money today, first go ahead and audit what you've already created. So grab your notebook, list out your top performing resources, maybe your blog posts or your video trainings. Which ones of them have a connected theme like a learning style, a grade level, a teaching area? This is your membership starting point. Step 2 Package the transformation, not the Content this is where I see so many people going wrong. I've done some quick sales page overviews recently and the number one problem I see when people are trying to sell something is that they only talk about the problem, they don't talk about the solution. Your membership is not just a bundle of lessons, it's a promise for a better tomorrow for a whole heck of a lot of teachers. So what transformation do your members walk away with every single month? That's what they're really buying. It's the transformation of who they get to become. Number three is start small. But I'm begging you, start now. You don't have to have a big launch. All you need to do is think about an email list, offer beta pricing, keep it simple. Let your membership grow with you. Your teaching salary doesn't define your value, but your time. That is sacred. So I mentioned before that I got to go to Hobby Lobby today on a Tuesday and hang out and get gifts for my kids for Easter like little fairy gardens. And I got two blue rocking chairs from my front porch and that's what I get to do during my free time on a Tuesday around 10 o'clock. So think about what you could be doing on a Tuesday at 10. And if that sounds like something that interests you, it may not be Hobby Lobby. It might be the beach or books a million. I want you to think about that. But before I go, I want to leave you with this. I hear this all the time. But Kasey, a membership seems like a lot. It's forever, right? What if I can't keep up with it? The truth is, is that yes, memberships are ongoing. But that's a good thing. If you want monthly recurring revenue, you want something that you can see further down the line, you're never, ever stuck doing something forever. You get to build something that grows with you. Well, thanks so much for listening. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter. If you celebrate that holiday. And as always, remember your best is yet to come. And we'll see you right here next week.

[A]

Do you ever feel like you're just.

[B]

Trying to stay afloat with everything you.

[A]

Have to do as a teacher? Making copies, trying to get bathroom breaks even when it's on your lunch break? Probably not even taking time off because the thought of writing lesson plans is just too daunting to leave for the subject.

[B]

Look, I've been there.

[A]

I felt that. And I believe every teacher listening right now is nodding along and says, you know what? I totally am in that season of life. But I want to help you out. So we have a gold mine of an uplifting and supporting community. And I want you to know you.

[B]

Belong here where you can come and.

[A]

It'S a safe place to talk about all the things you're stressed out about or just to get some advice on how to get through each and every day in a better, more positive way. I want to officially invite you into the room where it all happens.

[B]

Introducing the CEO Teachers Lounge.

[A]

It's a community for educators building their online businesses with their limited free time.

[B]

Even if you haven't got started yet.

[A]

Or if you're doing this for a while and we don't want you to do it alone. It's led by myself and our integrator, Ali Elliott, where we're going to explore how to live a purposeful, balanced life and also attain our wildest dreams without being burning out. The online teacher business world is so much bigger than we could have ever imagined, and it's time that you tapped in to the best community around. You can gain valuable insights and actionable strategies to elevate your teacher career and build a thriving business. Come join us. Go to Casey morris.compatreon to sign up right now. That's K A Y S E M O r r I s.com page t.

[B]

R e O N and we'll see.

[A]

You inside of our community.