|
Credibility__Exposure__Adult_Ed_Teaching
| Credibility + Exposure = Adult Ed Teaching
How can you gain credibility and exposure for you and your
business, reach a motivated audience, develop a far-flung
network, hone your presentation skills -- and get paid to do it?
Many executives and entrepreneurs have found an answer: they
teach classes in adult education programs. Adult education is
big business. In the new century, "change" is a hot topic and
learning is no longer confined to traditional degree programs.
As people want to grow their careers and enrich their lives,
specialized programs have emerged to reach this market. Some
teaching venues require at least a master's degree. Others allow
you to share your unique skills, from designing brochures to
tarot reading. Temple University's continuing education program
has offered a half-day class taught by a cleaning lady. The
subject? Speed cleaning. If a target market exists for your
business or if you have knowledge that people can use on the
job, chances are a target market exists for you in the world of
adult education. By entering this world, you can demonstrate
your skills to a receptive audience, meet some terrific people,
learn more than you expected and even have some fun.
Teaching requires more than a good speaking voice and a
knowledge-filled brain. Every minute you are in the classroom,
you are marketing yourself to your students. You must keep
students involved for up to eight hours. Since the average adult
attention span is about fifteen minutes, you have to design
exercises, activities and questions. You have to deal with the
unexpected. Students will arrive late, ask off-the-wall
questions and challenge your expertise. Occasionally, students
will be rude, insulting or even abusive.
Most people who teach find themselves exhausted after even a
short class, yet also exhilarated. Teaching can be a high when
everything goes well. The secret of successful part-time
teaching is to identify your purpose in teaching and fine-tune
your skills to your target market. You want to reach students
who are also potential customers. If a school features astrology
and visualization, your course on finding the lowest mortgage
rate won't fit, unless you suggest people consult the stars to
meet their financial goals.
People who have added teaching to their promotional toolkit
report finding success and fun along the way. One public
relations consultant gets forty percent of her clients from
adult education classes. Another builds skills to help develop
his core business. The opportunities are available to almost
anyone, anywhere.
About the author:
Cathy Goodwin, MBA, PhD, http://www.movinglady.com/ebooks.html
Free Career Freedom Ezine mailto:subscribe@movinglady.com To
order Cathy's book on adult ed teaching:
http://www.dreamjobstogo.com/titles/djtg0052.html?10645
|
|
| |
| |
