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July 19, 2024

From Classroom to Coaching: Bootstrapping a Parenting Business (with Marcus Higgs)

💬 Show Notes

Guest Bio

Marcus Higgs is a former high school English teacher turned transformational coach. With a background in teaching across South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia, Marcus brings a wealth of experience in education and personal development. Now based in the Bahamas, Marcus focuses on empowering parents to connect with their preteens during critical developmental stages to foster a strong sense of identity and resilience in the digital age.

Episode Highlights:

1. From Classroom to Coaching:

Marcus shares their journey from being a high school teacher to becoming a transformational coach. Learn how their international teaching experience shaped their approach to personal development and why they decided to focus on working with parents and preteens.

2. The Importance of Parental Support:

Inspired by Mister Rogers' philosophy, Marcus emphasizes the crucial role parents play in their children's development. Discover how empowering parents can transform the lives of preteens, especially during the pivotal stage of identity formation.

3. Bootstrapping the Business:

Marcus discusses the challenges and strategies of bootstrapping their coaching business. From creating content to leveraging virtual assistants and amplifying their message through podcasts, get practical tips on how to grow a business on a budget.

4. Finding Your Tribe:

One of Marcus' biggest successes is finding a community of like-minded entrepreneurs. Learn how surrounding yourself with people who share your values and goals can provide momentum and support in your entrepreneurial journey.

5. Leveraging Technology:

Explore how Marcus utilizes tools like ChatGPT and UpCoach to streamline their workflow, create compelling content, and repurpose it across different channels. Understand the importance of automation and efficiency in maintaining a consistent online presence.

6. Workshops for Parents:

Marcus introduces two upcoming workshops aimed at helping parents navigate the challenges of raising preteens in the digital age. The workshops focus on mapping family virtues and values and nurturing preteens' potential amidst technological distractions.

Key Takeaways:

Empowerment Through Education: Marcus' journey highlights the importance of continuous learning and adapting your skills to new ventures.

Community Support: Building a network of supportive peers can significantly impact your business's success and provide valuable insights and encouragement.

Utilize Technology: Leveraging tools and automation can help streamline your business processes and amplify your message effectively.

Overview

In our latest podcast episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with a former high school English language arts teacher who has a wealth of experience teaching 9th and 12th graders in diverse locations such as South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia. This episode is a treasure trove of insights into transformational coaching, the importance of parent-child communication, and the entrepreneurial journey of bootstrapping a business.

Our guest shared their journey of transitioning from the classroom to becoming a transformational coach, driven by the desire to support their aging parents in the Bahamas while continuing to help children. Inspired by the wisdom of Mister Rogers, who famously said, "If you want to help the kids, support the parents," our guest decided to focus on personal development for parents. This approach leverages the developmental stage of their preteen children to instill empowering stories of identity before the influence of social media takes hold.

One of the key takeaways from this episode is the importance of communication between parents and their children. Our guest emphasizes that the preteen years are a critical time when children are forming their identity and understanding of the world. By teaching parents how to communicate effectively with their children, they can foster a stronger connection and navigate this transformational period with joy and understanding.

In addition to their coaching work, our guest shared valuable insights into their entrepreneurial journey. They highlighted the challenges of creating and amplifying content, and the strategies they used to overcome them. By appearing on podcasts and finding a virtual assistant from the Philippines, they were able to amplify their message and focus on their strengths. This approach not only saved time but also allowed them to connect with a broader audience.

Finding a supportive community, or "tribe," was another crucial aspect of their success. Our guest emphasized the importance of surrounding oneself with like-minded entrepreneurs who share similar values and goals. This sense of community provides encouragement and momentum, which are essential for any entrepreneurial journey.

One of the most impactful pieces of advice from this episode is the value of mentorship. Our guest candidly shared their regret of not utilizing their coach enough. They stressed that having a mentor who has already navigated the path can save a lot of heartache and missteps.

For those looking to dive deeper into the topics discussed, our guest offers two workshops this summer: "Mapping Your Family's Virtues and Values" and "Nurturing Your Preteen's Potential in the Digital Age." These workshops aim to help parents build a strong sense of identity within their families and navigate the challenges of modern technology.

Tune in to this enlightening episode to gain practical tips on transformational coaching, effective communication with preteens, and strategies for bootstrapping your business. Whether you're a parent or an entrepreneur, this episode is packed with valuable insights that you won't want to miss

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http://marcushiggs.com

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Transcript

So I am a former high school English language arts teacher, where I taught 9th grade and 12th grade, and, during that time, I taught in South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia. I also worked with parents, business professionals, and mothers and so on. And I'd have these parent teacher conversations. I decided to come out of the classroom, be with my aging parents in the Bahamas, and I do have a special set of skills, right, bringing out the best in people, or bringing their awareness to the best that's already in them. I wanted to continue helping kids, and Mister Rogers says, if you want to help the kids, support the parents. So, with my transformational coach training, I said, yeah, let me work with parents again, doing personal development, but using the thing that's most relevant to them, their kid, and the developmental stage that they're at. The reason I work with preteens is because if you get them at this stage, right when they're forming their identity and understanding, you can change their whole trajectory and their understanding of the world. The idea is to implant empowering stories of their identity at this stage before social media fractures their attention. And I loved doing this. I want to teach these skills to parents to open up their connection with their kid through communication. There's joy in this developmental stage of the human. It doesn't have to be all the woes and heartbreak and so on, but it's a transformational time, and when we know what that transformation is, we can meet it better. In order to bootstrap my business, at first, I started creating all the content. It was spreading me thin because I had all the ideas and I knew the messaging that I wanted to say, but I had to skill up in creating the content. So two ways in which I bootstrapped, one is knowing if I had the message. I just needed a platform to amplify it on the. So that was going onto podcasts, finding different audiences that would be willing to listen to the message, and that amplified my voice very quickly. And the second is finding a VA from the Philippines who can edit this material for me so that I could focus on just creating it. But then I can have somebody editing and putting it out for me. I can lean into my zone of genius. There are many missteps of boots apple as well, but those were two that I think every frugal entrepreneur should know. How do you amplify your message, and how do you get it consistently out there? My biggest success would be finding my tribe, finding the people who vibe along with me. That is to say, other entrepreneurs who are on the same journey that I am going the same direction as me. When you see the way in which they're doing it, you can take a little bit here and leave a little bit there. Be encouraging to each other along the way. I found it with a particular company and you got to find your people that are in alignment with your values. Also, what I mean by that, it's what's important to you. You're creating your business. That is a reflection of your personality, and you got to find people who you vibe with in that. So that's one of my biggest successes because it gives you momentum. One of my biggest failures is not asking, not using my coach enough. The whole point and idea of having a mentor is that they've gone before you, they've tried it, so you can save a lot of heartache and fumbles along the way. If you talk to people who are where you want to be, the best tips, tricks, tactics and techniques I could use are pod, match and podcasting directories. The first thing, though is also getting your offer right, finding your audience who you want to serve, doing an empathy map of them so that you know exactly how you want to serve them, and then getting your story of your offer in writing your empathy map and getting your offer together. One thing that greatly helped me was anthropic. Claude 3.5 yeah man chat GPT really helps do the heavy lifting and thinking for you, but then you have to finesse it and get it matching right so your message is solid and tight. And then taking that message to the market with again, podcasts and so on, and then fulfilling. One thing that has really helped me in my business is up coach, where I'm now putting my courses and then taking those podcasts and then repurposing them onto, different channels, specifically LinkedIn for me. And when I say automating that, scheduling it through social bees, that is my workflow. I've been creating a buzz, no pun intended. I honestly love doing what I do, and that is helping parents be the best inside their kid to learn how to speak towards that. And I do that by helping parents regulate themselves and see the best in themselves and understand this developmental phase. That said, I have two workshops going on this summer and you'll be able to find them at workshops dot marcishiggs.com. the first one is mapping your family's virtues and values. It all starts with a strong sense of identity, this fulfilling life and the show up framework that I teach. It starts with a strong identity and collective identity as people like us do things like this, which is your family's virtues and values. The second workshop is nurturing your pre teens potential in the digital age. This technology is creating its own challenges. And how do you navigate this world so that you can still help bring forth an awesome identity inside your child while avoiding the pitfalls of the modern society and the digital age?