How to Know if You Are Ready to Teach Your Craft
Does this sound familiar?
You’ve spent years with a subject that you love. You’ve had success, experiences, good or bad and now you’re thinking about teaching others.
But there’s something holding you back - you’re not sure whether or not you have the skills or experience to teach others and suddenly you find your head spinning in circles with no clear answer.
Here’s my opinion: If it’s on your mind, you have real-life experience with what you want to teach and you’re being called to share your passion, knowledge, and ideas with others, then do it!!
Maybe your thinking: “But, Nicki I’m not a teacher. I’ve never taught anything in my life before!”
Guess what? You’re not alone! Years ago back in my corporate life, I was never a trainer or taught others. It wasn’t until I became a make-up artist that I had a few people coming and asking me to teach them how to do their make-up artist that I realized it was something I could do. Not because I was a natural-born teacher but I had more knowledge than those who were asking for help and I had the confidence to show them.
That’s where it all started
In order to teach you have to be willing to fail, not every day is going to go as planned and not every lesson you teach will be the best lesson but if you can pick yourself up, learn to fail forward and get better with each step then you may find like me, you were born to teach. Teaching is so gratifying, watching as your students evolve and get better at their craft is an amazing feeling.
If you’re feeling excited by the thought of the above then read on…
Some important questions to ask yourself if you think you should be teaching:
Are you confident in your ability to break down your process and explain it in bite-sized portions for others to understand?
Can you problem-solve and teach in a different style if someone is not quite grasping what you are teaching?
Can you let things roll and adjust as you go?
Can you take someone through a process from start to finish?
You don’t have to have the answers to these all now and for the most part when you teach what you love the above starts to flow naturally! However, it doesn’t mean everything will fall into place perfectly so thinking ahead and planning is crucial.
Lastly, if you’ve made it this far and you’re still nodding your head as you read along then it’s time to think about the final piece of this puzzle.
Where are you going to teach your craft?
Think about what options best suit your lifestyle and the pro’s and con’s of each. I teach my art classes online and I love them! I get to meet students from all over the world, many of whom I wouldn’t have met otherwise. However, I’ve taught in person as well. Taking the time to try different methods of delivery is an important part of your learning curve into the art of teaching.
In my most recent podcast episode, I go into this a bit deeper and give you some of my personal experiences and thoughts on all of the above! I’d love for you to check it out and hopefully, I can help shed some light on any thoughts or questions you may be thinking.
Remember: If you’re being called to teach, and share your knowledge, experience, and feel like you have value to give, then just do it! The why is the most important part of being ready to teach, the how will work itself out as you begin to plan your first class.
FInally, I want to share that I have created what I think is my best online class to date! I am so excited for you to check it out. It’s called Watercolors Made Simple! Go from beginner to artist as we paint botanicals, stems, flowers and more!! I’m really excited about this class and all the fun projects you’ll be working on! Take a look, peek around, check out this class and some of the others I’ve created and start to imagine where teaching could take you!
As always, you can learn more at: www.lifeidesign.com.
