By Amy Nielsen

Graduate level accreditation can be tricky. The course of study becomes much more focused, leading you to smaller niche schools.

Unfortunately, schools in some niches are hard to come by, so when I found out that my career changing vocational school had an accredited follow-on master’s degree program at an online school that fit in my budget and my schedule, I was ecstatic - until my state yanked the accreditation midway through my principle year.

I have a bachelors that I earned in the dark ages in a career that has absolutely no bearing on my current path. To that end, I set about rectifying the lack of paper trail I have supporting my current career choice. I found an excellent vocational school that wrapped up all of my side steps into one neat career leap to the left.

The initial program I chose is geared toward people who are moving from one career to another. The field I chose is health care related but not part of the health care conglomerate. My focus sits squarely on the line between traditional health care and supportive wellness care.

While my career choice is certainly not one that requires a higher degree, because of the nature of the field, I feel it behooves me to have an accredited degree as our government grapples with what health care will look like in the future.

When I was looking for schools to bridge to my new career, I specifically looked for ones that had either articulation agreements with major universities or ones that were hosted by larger institutions. The program I chose had an agreement with a university I knew well, and was looking forward to continuing on to.

That is until my state decided that the program I was enrolled in and half way through no longer met the state’s requirements for accreditation. This means I could finish my studies, but, I wouldn’t be able to complete the other part of the course - the follow-on master’s program. My state now no longer accepted degrees from solely online learning institutions, unless they had a physical presence in our state or students completed a low residency portion of the program at the institution requesting accreditation.

What the heck is a low residency program? Basically you take all of your classes online, except for a few weekends that you must physically be on campus to meet with professors face to face for in-person classes. Great idea, except that I live in New York and the school I was intending to apply to as my follow on school is in Maryland. Better than California, I suppose. I have a shot at driving to Maryland, this could never work if the school were in California.

Now, I happen to have a lot of friends that I would very much love to see over the next year who happen to live in Maryland not too far from the school with the master’s program I want to complete. Going to Maryland for a few weekends to complete school and hang with dear friends is not an onerous task. It’s the principle of the thing that is killing me.

There was only one problem. This particular master’s school didn’t have a low residency program.

Until Friday. The deadline for applications to the master’s program is Tuesday. It’s Sunday and it’s Fourth of July weekend.

Yes, you read that right. They have so many students who were planning to take this online follow on master’s that the school cobbled together a low residency program to meet the requirements of New York state so that all of us who were planning to do the online one could complete our education in the time we planned.

When I got the email that this program had been created specifically for us, I jumped on the phone to verify that it was in fact happening and that we only had three days to apply. The admissions counselor I spoke to assured me that it was in fact happening. However it was such a new program she couldn’t tell me the dates or subjects for the campus-based sections of the program.

Whateves, they are in Maryland – I can do that.

So, now I am madly applying to graduate school. On July fourth weekend. I am trying to craft an appropriate and compelling essay, and figure out how to get my transcripts from my ancient bachelor’s and my certificates to them in the time allotted, and celebrating with cookouts and fireworks. So far the essay is going great and I filled out the application in three seconds flat thanks to autofill on forms. The cookout is going gang busters and my hot dogs are almost ready.

I needed to have three sets of transcripts sent to arrive by the close of business next Friday. So far I was able to order my undergraduate transcripts and send it wholly online and it has been received. Thanks Outlook for the confirmation email. The other two transcripts might be harder. At my culinary school, the office team is on vacation until Wednesday, and the articulation school has to mail an original to the requesting institution. It is going to be tight to get everything in for the deadline.

So away I go! From not having a follow-on option and scrambling to sort out how I was going to reach my final goal of earning a master’s degree in integrative nutrition, community health education to applying to grad school in three days flat. On a holiday weekend.

Now I just have to figure out how to pay for this. I currently have no school loans. Time to join the ranks of the permanently indebted.

By Jenna Moede

I remember the overwhelming excitement of reaching my last final exam or handing in that final research paper. A feeling of relief always washed over me because I had completed, successfully, another semester.

Then I would take a look around my home and force myself to figure out what to do with all the papers, notes, books and information I’d accumulated throughout the semester.

After several semesters, I learned what I needed to keep, what to throw out and, fingers crossed, what to sell.

I plan to use the same strategy when my classes start back up over the summer.

First, I tackled what to keep. My hyper organization kicked into play a lot on this one. I don’t like to keep anything that won’t benefit me in the future or that I just won’t use.

I have more trouble keeping school material than I do with giving it away.

That said, make sure you keep anything specifically geared toward your major and minor. This includes notes, research projects and papers, including electronic copies.

You never know when you may want to reference them or when you might need to revisit a topic you thought you wouldn’t need again.

Also, keep any books that relate directly to your major or minor. I can’t tell you how many times I went back to refresh my mind on theories, formulas and concepts that I supposedly had already mastered.

Remember that every class for your major or minor builds off previous classes so professors won’t spend time re-teaching what was already covered. They expect that you know and remember it.

Having those books easily accessible will really help you handle processing and computations you’ve already studied.

I also always kept an ear out during each class because professors often note what material students should keep. If you happen to catch that type of information, make sure you keep that specific paper, reading or presentation outline. Who knows when it will come in clutch.

Finally, keep any citation manuals you have to buy. Typically, your major will use one citation type. For example, my business major used exclusively AP. I dread citations, and I will do almost anything to avoid them, but having the manual saved me quite often.

Now, my favorite topic, what to toss. Let me say it again, I love saying “see you” to clutter I won’t use again.

Make sure, however, that before you throw anything away or delete any files that your professors have posted final grades. You may need to send another copy of a paper or project, and you want to make sure you still have that available if necessary.

After final grades post, feel free to throw out anything you know for certain you won’t use again. Usually this includes papers, tests and notes you used for general education classes, including electronic files.

I did this for all my general classes such as film, environmental science and music appreciation. I knew that I had completely finished those classes, and I didn’t plan on taking similar classes. For generals like math and English where I needed to take several courses to fulfill the general requirements, I waited until I finished the last one before I threw anything away.

I took a lot of pleasure in creatively getting rid of a couple of book reviews on books I hadn’t exactly enjoyed too much. Let’s just say that my apartment had confetti sprinkled around it!  

I also toss all of the scratch paper I used over the semester. Even when the scratch paper related directly to my major, the chances that I would revisit calculations that I never even turned in seemed slim at best so I never kept them.

Okay on to the best part! What to sell. Everyone likes making a little cash, so sell the textbooks you used after each semester right away. Don’t wait and let them build up because professors often switch books which means they might not hold their value.

You can sell these in various places so I recommend shopping around to find who will give you the best price. While on campus, I found that selling them to underclassman worked out better than selling them to the bookstore. They liked getting a deal cheaper than the bookstore, and I liked receiving an offer better than the bookstore. We both won.

Another trick I found was to trade books with classmates. Once you know what books you’ll need, you might have enough luck to know someone who needs the books you have and has the books you need.

This happened a lot with my friends while I took my general classes. It saved us both a little money.

Finally, sell what you’ve learned! People will pay for knowledgeable and relatable tutors. Take your knowledge and share it with other people while making enough to put a little extra money aside (or towards rent!)

In general, make sure you organize your copious materials after classes end so that you can make the most of what you’ve learned and start with a clean slate the next semester.

By Salute to Spouses Staff

PCS, family vacations, summer fun, packing, unpacking – June, July and August are busy months. Make sure you plan time to attend a job fair if you hope to return to work this fall.

The U.S. Chamber Foundation hosts job fairs around the nation every month that are open only to military personnel and their spouses. The companies that attend know you will move soon. But they also know military spouses are trained, professional and top notch employees – and they will be happy to have you for as long as you can stay.

So, as you drive between duty stations, or even just to your next vacation destination, make a plan to visit one of these upcoming job fairs. You’ll be glad you did.

Be sure to click on the link and pre-register. Most job fairs fill up and do not accept attendees at the door.

June 2

San Diego

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/san-diego-hiring-expo-san-diego-padres

June 9

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/buffalo-hiring-fair-0

June 23

Los Angeles

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/los-angeles-hiring-fair-2

June 27

Seattle

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/seattle-hiring-expo-seattle-mariners-0

July 13

Herndon, VA

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/american-legion-department-virginia-hiring-fair

For a full list of hiring fairs through the end of 2017, please visit:

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/events/hiringfairs

By Amy Nielsen

While I was in school I was introduced to the concept of the side hustle. Now, I am of an age where that term is somewhat shady so it took me a while to reframe the idea into one I could embrace. The word job scares the heck out of me but a side hustle as I discovered, is something right up my alley. Pun intended.

One of the guest lecturers at my school was Nick Loper from SideHustleNation.com. The idea of a side hustle is to use your passions and your strengths, in the in-between time you are spending doing your other work of life, to build a business that supports your fun; and possibly, eventually, if you want – you could parlay it into something full time.

My biggest stumbling block in this whole journey has been my inability to coalesce a cohesive business concept. I like to do a whole lot of different things. I like to teach about the intersection of your cells, your energy, and your environment. I like to teach cooking, meditation, movement, red tent journeying, and so much more. I like to preform given a loose script to follow. I like public interaction. I must travel, even if it is just between areas of the same city every day.

What I do have is a theme that is developing. I am working very hard to make sure I don’t get ahead of myself and jump into sophomoric mistakes of a newly graduated student and fledgling business owner. I am very well aware that I am in that phase of business building where the shiny object that might pay the bills could out weight the common sense of negative cash flow. Every decision I make needs to go back to that theme. As I dig deeper into my post graduate studies and complete the other certificates I am working on, the theme will become more focused.

Yesterday I participated in my second local community market day and flea market. I live in a rural county that seems to at the same time both shun and hold dear our rankings near the bottom of the state lists in just about everything. It is a stunningly beautiful part of the country, rich in natural and anthropologic history. The people are a mix of deep mountain hearts and newly arrived city shine. Sometimes they mix well off the bat, sometimes the nuts are harder to crack. This market day is a true, grassroots, hometown kind of event. I adore it.

My first foray at a booth last month was a success in that I made it to the event, set up, and ran the whole day. I even got a couple of people to stop and talk to me. I may have only gotten two conversations and one email that first day, but I counted it as a huge success because of the amount I actually made it.

I went home, regrouped, made plans and researched a better mouse trap.

To focus myself I decided to use the theme of joyful movement, a topic I want to develop a class around. I changed up my booth structure, added some trinkets to purchase that were on my theme of the day and decided to add some movement oriented toys for kids to play with as they passed by. Enter the hula hoop.

I made my table a mix of parts and pieces of all of the things I like to teach and put out flyers for the class I have already scheduled to start soon. Prominent was the email sign-up sheet. I prefilled the top two slots with my past emails and names of favorite book characters. To my surprise, someone actually knew one of the names and got a chuckle out of it.

Yesterday the weather was not the greatest, but not a complete wash out. The rain sprinkled a bit and I only had to cover the tables once. Once we got set up, I started hoopin’.

I have developed a reputation as being a “walking smile with the white hat” as I am generally friendly and free with joy and always wear my white hat when out. I know the organizer of the event well and she is also not a laid back wall flower. Together we laugh up a storm, calling from booth to booth, working to keep the banter fun and the event light.

My hula hooping became the second hot topic of the day behind the adorable, adoptable puppies running around. People watched me hoop a simple round pattern, nothing showy or fancy, just hula hooping and laughing, pretty much non-stop all day long. How long is she going to hoop for? I used to be able to hoop. Look at the little kid learning to hoop! Is she still hooping? She’s going to be tired tomorrow. Oh the boy can hoop too!

So what did I accomplish by hula hooping all day long - other than one hell of a core workout? Everyone was talking about me. I brought a smile to a whole lot of lips. They will remember the gal in the white hat, hula hoopin’ all day. More people stopped to talk to me. I only collected three new email addresses, but I handed out many more class flyers and personal brochures. I counted twelve conversations that lasted longer than three minutes. Overall, I had many more meaningful interactions with the public.

Success. I collected three new emails. Success. I had more conversations. Success. I worked on more and new language to promote myself and my brand, for lack of a better more elegant term. So the day was positive, even if the only items I sold were the Ugg clogs and one party dress from the batch of yard sale stuff I had brought for good measure. What I collected in data about my community was worth the twenty five dollar booth fee.

Next month I hustle on with another booth - new topic, new mouse trap.

By Jenna Moede

For everyone that has opted to take a break this summer, relax and take it easy on this summer vacation but also engage your brain in fun ways.

I’ve heard it said that we have to work the brain like any other muscle in order to keep it strong, but that feels so impossible when I’d rather enjoy the sunshine or some thoughtless entertainment over the summer.

I never took advantage of breaks during my undergrad years, but I remember how they felt while in high school, and I struggled with motivation.

I’ve had a break now between my undergraduate degree and my graduate degree. I will pick back up with school in the fall of this year, and I’ll work on a certificate this summer. Yikes!

I’ve wracked my brain trying to figure out how to set my mind in the direction of focused learning, and since these strategies have helped me even when I didn’t want to do anything but not think, I plan to whip them back out!  

First I plan to read at least a little bit every day. It seems like a million genres exist so I will pick different types of material like novels, nonfiction, personal development, magazines and the news so that I never feel bored with the topics.

Luckily, I have always loved books so I don’t have to retrain myself to do this one, but I hope that making a habit of reading more regularly will help me find time to read long sections of textbooks when classes start.

With any luck, I might even enjoy the textbook reading when school starts in the fall!

Next, learning new activities or developing old ones helped me overcome losing too many facts over summer vacations in high school so I hope it will work again!  

I like to practice old skills, like playing piano, and work on new ones that have interested me in the past.

This year, I made the most awesome discovery that our local library has not only a free online library, but also free language software for pretty much any language I could ever want to learn. I had to try it out so I have started learning a foreign language.

I practice daily on the new language, and I also use it to brush up on the Spanish that I learned throughout high school and college. I love learning a skill that could come in handy someday and having fun at the same time.

I have such a good time practicing that it doesn’t even bother me when my husband pops his head in the door of my office looking concerned because of my awkward sound repetition.

Moving on, who doesn’t love a good board game or card game? I enjoy gathering my friends or family and hosting game nights. Not only have I met new people this way, but I use different parts of my brain without even noticing.

We play games that range from Jenga to Pinochle. If we feel particularly daring we’ll try to play an entire game of Monopoly without anyone flicking a hotel or two off the board during a heated discussion about the rent on Boardwalk.

I also play two player games with my husband like Mancala. Every once in a while I turn to jigsaw puzzles or word and number puzzles that I can do on my own.

I try to find whatever interests me in the moment and go for it.

Lastly, sometimes I feel super motivated over small breaks, and in those cases, I revisit notes from previous semesters.

I plan to do this moving forward even more than I have in the past because I know I need a steady foundation to build on in grad school, and I don’t want to risk chipping at that foundation by forgetting important facts.

I don’t think I’ve ever really spent enough time reviewing in the past, and I swear if I ever remember science information I’ll have to mark it on the calendar and request a cake. I have figured out that the topics that interest me the least, like science, fall out of my brain space the fastest.

Since not every topic in my undergrad studies thrilled me, and I can expect that to happen again with my graduate degree, I know I’ll really have to focus on the classes that bore me when I re-read notes.

I hope to apply myself more than I ever have before and come out having more applicable knowledge than I have before.

I will desperately try not to fall into a mindless summer. I worry that if I let myself stop thinking, it will take too much time to whip my brain back into shape.

These activities will give plenty of brain activity and entertainment so that I can not only enjoy the summer, but also retain old facts and learn new information.

More than 2,000 museums across the nation want to make this summer a little less stressful for you. And, the cost is free.

The Blue Star Museums program is again offering free admission to more than 2,000 museums in all 50 states for military members and their families. The program runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Check the website https://www.arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums and click on the map for a user-friendly list of blue star museums in each state.

To get your free tickets, simply show up to the museum and present Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), or a DD Form 1173-1 ID.

The military ID holder plus five family members will be admitted for free. Family members include children, spouses, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.

Also, the military member does not have to be present for the family to participate. The family can still gain entrance with a dependent family member ID card.

The program was created several years ago to show support for active duty military families who have faced multiple deployments and to give those families a chance to be together and explore these museums. The program recognizes that many of these families would otherwise not have the means, or the time together, to do so.

For all the details, go to: https://www.arts.gov/national/blue-star-museums/frequently-asked-questions

By Amy Nielsen

I have been waiting for my dream job to post so I can apply for it. I heard about the position from someone who works in the same office a few weeks ago. Over the last weeks, the funding has been frozen as the fiscal year changed over.

I have been checking the postings every few days. Today the new openings went up finally. When I saw it, I nearly hyperventilated.

I have been working hard to put myself in the right places to find out what kinds of opportunities are going to be coming available over the next few months. I spent the late winter months learning everything I could about the agencies and organizations in our community who do similar work to what I want to do. I have been going to all sundry events that have anything to do with health and wellness. I have been trying to meet as many of the movers and shakers as I could.

 I am not in a rush to find a job. I have a lot of slices on my plate with family, teaching, and volunteer commitments. Rather, I am really interested in finding the right job. The research time I put in over the winter is beginning to pay off as I meet more people and am able to put faces to names.

I started this journey with the intention of opening my own business. I have determined over the last year that I am just too fundamentally lazy for that to work. Working by myself is like playing ping pong alone.  Coworkers fire me up and keep me motivated. I like to work as part of a team with independence to do my piece.

I have the luxury right now to not have to be employed immediately upon graduating from school. Being an adult student with a family, I have other sources of support. I’m not trying to pay the rent with this new career. I can take the time to work my way carefully into the community.

Finding the right fit will take time. I live in a rural area with limited opportunities. Those that do come up are fiercely fought for and hard earned when awarded. Ours is a small community in the corner of the state.  The big universities are far enough away that those students are not interested in applying for positions here unless they come from here to begin with.

Agencies and organizations don’t have a lot of turnover at the levels I am applying for. Those employees that do move on usually do so to other positions within the local area. It’s a small circle of passionate people who have been paying a lot of dues for a lot of years here. A hard circle to break into and hold one’s own. Some days it feels a bit like feeding my toes to the piranha.

So I applied. I sent in my resume and cover letter. Just to be sure I sent it correctly, as I am not the most savvy at filling in these online forms, I sent a note to the two women I have been most in contact with about this specific organization. Both are employees who have been encouraging me to keep my eyes open for just this opportunity. I know that as employees they cannot specifically direct my application, but I am hoping they can at least watch out for it.

The job posting reads like it was written for me. My credentials line up perfectly with the requested certifications. I am already very familiar with the materials I would be presenting on a daily basis. I enjoy teaching the kinds of students the program attracts. Even my extracurricular talents work in favor to make my presentations that much more valuable for the organization.

My biggest fear in this whole process is whether I filled out the online application correctly so the autobot that reads the algorithm doesn’t kick my resume out for being incorrectly categorized. I am sure that I have missed job opportunities because I haven’t filled out the online application correctly. There is often times no way to know if what I clicked is clear because the applicable answer to the question isn’t there.

For example, I hold a bachelors degree technical theater. When the form asks for higher education level, I click bachelors of arts. When it asks for the subject of my degree, there is no option for theater. I have to click arts/undefined. But this is not the same thing at all and doesn’t convey the same kind of training I have had. Rarely can I list my post graduate certificates in culinary arts, holistic nutrition, and herbalism as there are never spaces for them. Yet they are very relevant training to what I will be teaching in the jobs I am applying for.

Unless I can get myself in front of a human being and have a conversation about my wild and crazy ride, the autobot is not going put my resume in the hire pile. I just don’t fit in little boxes like that. That is part of the reason these kinds of organizations want to hire someone like me. If they can find us. If we can get in the door in the first place.

Now I wait and hope that the boxes were clicked properly and that I am in fact in the right place at the right time. I have seized my day. I have grabbed the tiger by the tail. I have applied for my dream job. I even wished on the candles on my birthday cake for this job. So now it has to happen. Right?

By Jenna Moede

Okay, let’s talk summer. If your social media looks anything like mine, you have seen college graduation photo after college graduation photo the past few weeks. This can only mean one thing, spring semester has finally ended.

Great! Except for everyone that hasn’t graduated yet. I remember this time of year always causing me a little confusion during my undergraduate studies.

I wanted to finish my degree quickly, but I also really, really, really needed a break.

I never took mine, and instead, I finished my degree on the fast track. It took me just a little over three years to finish my bachelors and my minor, and I didn’t take any breaks. Not one.

I worked every single summer, I took over full class loads every semester, and I kept pushing myself.

So of course I finished my degree pretty fast, but I also came dangerously close to burning myself out several times.

My point - you may need a break sometime during your college career, and I want to mention a few major pros and cons to taking one.

First, you may already be thinking about how much taking a summer vacation will slow down your ideal college timeline, and it might. Time really kept pushing me during my undergraduate studies.

You could also worry that taking a break will slow down the good momentum you have built up during the last semester. If it feels like the wrong time to take a break, you probably should keep moving on until you feel like you need one.

Just because you might work through this summer doesn’t mean that you can’t take the next summer off or take an extra week off somewhere else in your studies, but if you feel like stopping will cause your good roll to end, then you should work through this one, this time.

Lastly, I worried a lot that if I took the summer off, I would lose everything I learned in the previous semester. Repetition helps me remember information, and by always taking classes, I usually didn’t have time to forget the facts, theories and ideas that I had studied.  

During high school summer vacation, I swear science just fell out of my head, and I desperately didn’t want to repeat that happening during college.

If all of these drawbacks worry you, then you might need to press through the summer, but if only one concerns you, you might find that the benefits outweigh the cons.

So let’s examine those benefits.

First, a break will help you relax and rejuvenate. Classes demand a lot of our time, energy and positivity and it always seems so easy to put pressure on ourselves. Because of that, taking time off can help us let go of what has already happened in our educational career and move on with a brighter outlook.

It can also help jumpstart motivation. I think I’ve had senioritis at the end of every college semester, and a small break in the summer could have cured it. Going into a semester without motivation and excitement does not benefit any student.

Lastly, taking a small break gives you time to adjust your goals, reorganize your schedule and reprioritize your life. It can help shed light on some issues you’ve had with college in the past and can help you make positive changes that will affect you in the future.

If you can’t tell, I’m in favor of taking breaks over the summer, and I wish that I had during my studies.

Also remember that colleges typically schedule summer vacation into their school schedule.

Traditional 4-year campuses design their programs to take 4 years to complete with 2 semesters taken each year. Many students do take advantage of summer vacation and don’t view it as taking time off.

If you want to take a break over the summer, consider it a scheduled break and hit the ground running in the fall. 

If you feel that you have a good rhythm and don’t need a vacation, then keep chugging along and consider it next year, but if you fear you’re headed toward burning out, it can help you remember why you started and motivate you to keep pushing through each and every class.

Want to determine your hours? Your own work load? Be your own boss?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released a list of occupations that in 2016, had a large number of self-employed workers. They are:

• Animal trainers
• Door-to-door sales, street vendors
• Farmers and agriculture
• Artists
• Fishermen and hunters
• Hairdressers and cosmetologists
• Massage therapists
• Musicians and singers
• Photographers
• Dressmakers and tailors
• Writers and authors

Among these jobs, farm and agriculture rated the highest income at an annual average of $66,000. Animal trainers were at the bottom of the list with a mere $22,000 annually. Each of the other jobs fell between the two.

 What may appeal to many job seekers is that for these careers, on the job training is often more essential than professional schooling. Those that do require certification, such as hairdressers and massage therapists can finish school in a matter of months, rather than years.

The downside, you are responsible for everything – paying taxes, finding insurance, advertising your business and dealing with difficult customers.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has a webpage to introduce people to the world of self-employment and business ownership. Find it here:

https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/how-start-business/business-types/self-employed-independent-contractors

To learn more about salary and hiring outlook for specific industries, visit https://www.bls.gov/oes/

By Amy Nielsen

I did it! I graduated! I am now a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach!

It was a bit surreal watching my graduation ceremony online on my laptop in my pj’s on the couch with the nightly news in the background and my kids shrieking in the tub. I suppose I could have made more of an occasion of it. Had a glass of wine, perhaps. But it was broadcast late after a long day. In fact, I almost missed it. I did get a selfie with my name on the screen though.

So, now what?

Last time I did this I had a gig lined up through my department chair. It was part of the perk of working with a faculty active in the business we were studying. They helped us network into our first post-graduation positions. Mine was a little summer stock theater in a tourist laden, seaside town in Massachusetts. I had the summer to figure out where I needed to be and what the next step to get there was.

Online school is very different. We have been practicing our mad skills for the last year on each other and honestly anyone who would sit still long enough. We have all of the tools to run out of the box programs; flyers, notes, handouts and all. I even have a fee schedule mapped out. I know how to present myself as a coach.

What I don’t have this time around is the personal introductions that carry the weight of another person’s sense of you. I have to figure out how to present myself, introduce myself. Cold call to a certain extent.

So, again, now what?

My dilemma is that I really don’t want to do one-on-one coaching. It’s the one thing I really learned about myself while I was working my way through this program. I like to teach. The curriculum didn’t really get into so much about how to present oneself as an educator.

I had fallen into the trap of believing that all teachers need to hold advanced degrees in order to be taken seriously. That if I were to be working with the public, I needed a Master’s degree of some sort. I have since come to the conclusion that my fear of success is speaking. That if I just get another degree, then I’ll be ready and credentialed enough to teach.

I am not going to get another degree. I don’t need one. What I need is a way to present my current certifications and credentials clearly and concisely in a way that makes sense. My degrees and certifications are in such wide ranging fields, I need a way to tie them all together.

So,now what?

I began reading every flyer posted in our library, community center, super market and fitness center to see who is offering what kinds of classes. What are they charging? Where are they hosting their classes? What kinds of classes are being held at what locations?

I spoke to the desk staff at the businesses, often times with flyer in had saying, “I’d like to offer my class in your location using this same kind of structure of days, times and fees. How do I go about setting that up with your organization?” The range of answers has been eye opening.

I asked what kinds of teachers and educators use the spaces that are available in our community. I was sure to ask what kinds of classes people have been asking for that are not currently being offered.

In my travels both around town and around the internet, I have been collecting flyers and trifolds that I like or not, so I have some examples to work with as I design my own informational materials. Some of the most interesting pieces of text on them are the short biographies the educators write.

You know, the blurb about the presenter, or blogger, or lecturer, at the bottom back cover of the trifold flyer. That little paragraph in the about me tab.  The best ones are part curriculum vitae, part life story, and part personal philosophy. I really feel like a good one gives me a sense of not only the person’s identity as they see themselves, but also of their voice. I have come to believe that a well written introductory biography is essential.

So, now what?

Since writing a short introductory biography is part of the assignments for the meditation certification I am almost finished with anyway, this seemed like a good place to start my search to condense and solidify what I do and who I am.

As I work my way through the few classes and workshops I have on the calendar already, I will also be honing this little, about me paragraph. I have so much that I like to teach, it is hard not to become overwhelming to a reader.

So, now, this is what.

Now, I take every opportunity to teach something to someone that falls in line with what I love. I will have flop days, I will have days where no one shows up. Every teaching opportunity will bring another chance to work out the right words to describe how I can touch your life and gift you with a new view of yourself.  I am not the sum of my certificates plus my degrees. I am an educator with lots of interesting ideas to bat around together.