Episode 6: Entertain Entrepreneurship…Starring Steve Comstock
When it came to creating an episode on entrepreneurship, which means starting your own business, for a retired educator, I knew exactly whom I had to talk to. Steve Comstock was a public educator for over 3 decades. For most of those years, he was a head basketball coach. In retirement, Steve mobilized the diverse and extensive skill set that he cultivated in his years in education to become a successful entrepreneur.
And this last statement teases the problem for this episode and for many retired educators.
Our valuable skill sets, the ones we developed as teachers, go underutilized in retirement.
Now some listeners may have zero interest in becoming an entrepreneur and be inclined to stop listening to this episode. NOT SO FAST! I would’ve absolutely fallen into that category just 9 months ago. And yet here I am, not even a year after holding such a disposition, running my own business. How in the world did this happen?
Steve went through a similar discovery journey. Be open-minded while you listen to this fascinating guy. Be cognizant of your thoughts during the episode, and in its aftermath. A paradigm-shifting eureka moment may be just over the horizon. Maybe you’ll start a business and maybe you won’t, but I’m confident this interview will change your outlook.
Here’s Steve’s website: stevecomstockhomes.com
What you can do About it:
- Make a list of all of the skills that you utilized daily in the classroom.
- Take this list and circle all the ones that you did well.
- Take this list and underline the ones that you enjoyed.
- Make a new list comprised of the skills that you circled and the skills that you underlined.
Once you know what you’re great at and what you enjoy doing you can start searching for, or start creating, opportunities.
Here were my motivations to become the Retired Teacher Coach:
I loved to…
- work with students 1 on 1
- create lessons
- share my passions
- simplify complex ideas
- utilize technology
- produce virtual presentations
I realized that I missed doing these things and becoming the Retired Teacher Coach evolved from crafting this skills inventory. Please give this activity a try and be open about where your list could take you.
