Teachers in Transition

Teachers in Transition – Episode 245: Spotlight on the Virtual Assistant Path for Educators; An interview with Elizabeth Houston

• Vanessa Jackson • Episode 245

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In this episode of Teachers in Transition, host Vanessa Jackson explores the concept of branching out rather than narrowing focus in career transitions. She reflects on how traditional education once encouraged broad exploration, whereas today’s systems push students toward early specialization. Vanessa emphasizes the importance of rediscovering curiosity, exploring new interests, and allowing career transitions to unfold organically.

Joining Vanessa is Elizabeth “Liz” Houston, a former teacher who successfully transitioned into a career as a Virtual Assistant and Website Designer. Liz shares her journey from burnout in the classroom to building her own business, discussing the steps she took to leave teaching, save for her career change, and discover her passion for web design. She provides insights into what Virtual Assistants do, the skills teachers bring to the role, and how aspiring Virtual Assistants can find their first clients.

Liz also discusses her business growth, the balance between Virtual Assistant work and web design, and the possibility of mentoring others into this career path. Whether you’re a teacher considering a transition or someone curious about the Virtual Assistant field, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice.

Tune in to learn how to embrace curiosity, explore new career paths, and break free from burnout!

Plus, don’t miss her invitation to the Midlife Mastery Summit—a free, virtual event for women seeking confidence, balance, and joy.

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The transcript to this podcast is found on the episode’s homepage at Buzzspout

 

 Are you a teacher who is feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout - or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing something different or a new job or perhaps pursuing an entirely different career - but you don't know what else you're qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search, and you just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you are not alone. My name is Vanessa Jackson; and I am a career transition and job search coach, and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal with the overwhelmingly stressful nature of your day-to-day job and to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. You might ask yourself, What tools do I need to find a new career?  Are my skills valuable outside the classroom?  How and where do I even get started?  These are all questions you deserve answers to, and I can help you find them.  I’m Vanessa Jackson. Come and join me for Teachers in Transition.  

***Hi!  And Welcome back to another episode of Teachers in Transition. I am your host, Vanessa Jackson – I’m a career transition and job search coach who specializes in helping educators just like you.  I taught middle school for 25 years, left to go work in the world of contingent staffing for a Fortune 500 company, and now I devote myself to helping other teachers leave teaching.  Today on the podcast we are going to talk about branching out rather than funneling down, and then we’re so lucky to have Elizabeth Houston on the podcast.  Elizabeth is Virtual Assistant and Website designer who created her own business after being a teacher.  She shares with us how she made the transition and what it takes to be a virtual assistant.  Let’s dive in!

I read a lovely series of comments by someone in education who was attempting to explain how social media has rewired the brains of our children. It was good, and it got me thinking. When I was in school, everything was about broadening our interests and our horizons–helping us learn more about the world and discover new things. I mean, even down to using a card catalog and encyclopedias. But it’s not like that anymore. Now, everything is about narrowing focus.

I have found myself horrified at the idea that people expect children to essentially know what they want to be when they grow up by ninth grade–so that everything they do in high school pushes them forward, better positioning them for college. I never pushed that on either of my kids. They–well, my daughter did that on her own–but it wasn’t something I enforced.

I remember in high school, they were already starting that trend in the late ’80s with dual-credit classes. But, you know, while I was in high school, I just wanted to be in high school. And I didn’t ruin my life. I said no to things that didn’t make sense to me–and it didn’t make sense to be hyper-focused at that stage.

We used to use middle school as an opportunity for kids to explore widely. But now, as high schools pile on more and more requirements–so many that kids can’t possibly finish them all in four years–that pressure has been pushed down into middle school, where it may or may not be appropriate. Not every brain is ready to learn everything at the same time. And even if it were, kids in the same grade don’t all have the same birthday. Children aren’t standardized.

As part of the clarity step in leaving the classroom–where you're learning to figure out who you are and what you like–I would love for you to develop curiosity again. If you engage in doomscrolling (many of us do), it might have started as a way to ignore other things. But now, when you interact with something, you get more of it–that algorithm feeds you and directs you in certain directions. You lose that serendipitous curiosity.  

If you're old enough to remember that card catalog, you'll understand, but if those were already gone when you were introduced to a library, it was this large cabinet with so many little drawers on both sides out in the middle of the library.  Every book had three cards – one for title, one for author, and one for subject.  When you went to look up a specific title or author, just by flipping through those cards, you'd discover all these other interesting things you had to check out–things that might not even be tangentially related to your original search. 

Say you wanted books about platypuses (platypii?) . You’d look under "platypus" in the subject card, find all these options, then stumble upon a great book by Robert B. Parker. Next thing you know, you're looking up everything else Robert B. Parker wrote.  Then you find yourself checking out the works of Sue Grafton, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler until you are a mystery junkie like me.   Unlike today's algorithms that narrow your focus, the card catalog worked like a branching tree–it sent you exploring in all these unexpected directions.

And when we had to write reports in school, we had to use actual physical encyclopedia sets. So you might start off looking for one thing and getting distracted by the interesting information next to that was only related by its place in the alphabet. 
 
 In short, we used to branch out knowledge outward instead of funneling it through an algorithm. That need for serendipitous learning now finds itself scratching that itch by going down the rabbit holes when you find something interesting on the doom scroll, but it is still just very targeted and a very narrow stream of knowledge. 

That's what you need in your quest to clarity– first to branch out like a tree and learn all you can. Some of us love many unrelated things: mysteries, the color purple, playing piano, dogs (may there's a purple dog that quilts–who knows?  I would love that). Always chase your curiosity. Later you can start to funnel back to knowing how you want to focus on that next career and exactly what you want to focus on. 
 
 We might go down rabbit holes, and indulge those tangents–they could lead somewhere wonderful. You don't have to be what you've always been just because it's familiar. It's okay to try on different versions of possibility and see what fits.

Andmoving on to our career transition and jobserach segment, I am going to do a spotlight on virtual assistantship this week, and I am fortunate to have Elizabeth Houston with us from EHouston Studio who  does that work.  She goes by Liz, so WELCOME Liz to teachers in transition!

Liz:  Hi Vanessa!  Thank you for having me. 

Vanessa: I really want to start with your personal journey through your own burnout because you were a teacher once upon a time yourself, weren’t you?
 
 Liz: It feels like it has been a while but I taught for 15 years, in Florida, In Korea, and then in Taiwan.  And I really did enjoy teaching most of that time,  But those last couple of years were getting pretty tough.  My job in Taiwan was 2020-2022 which, as we know, was a very difficult time to be a teacher.  

Vanessa:  uh-huh

Liz:  And I was overwhelmed with how much work I was doing very evening, every weekend.  It has just taken over my life and I thought I cannot do this anymore.  So, I found myself burnt out. 

Vanessa: We have all been there.  And so, what was the point where you reached the decision that leaving the classroom was the best choice for you.

Liz: I had actually been fortunate in some ways, living in Taiwan at that time because I was teaching in person almost the whole time.  We didn’t have to do the virtual learning that everyone was doing.  But then, I was seeing everyone staying home, making their sourdough bread just like, having this life that I like – I want that!  I wanna be able to stay home and make my hours and just do my own thing.  And I’m like, Alright – I don’t know what I’m going do yet, but I’m going to do something.  So, I just decided in that job that I’m going to save up all the money I can.  I’m going to go back to the U.S. and I’m going to take as long as it takes to figure out what’s next.  

 

Vanessa: Good Strategy there, to get that – I call that the “war chest”, you know.  

Liz: Yeah, my “cushion”

Vanessa:  Cushion – YES!   So, you went through multiple, kind of, interations as you were reinventing yourself.  Did you want to go through some of those? Tell me how you kind of landed in the Virtual Assistant world-   just walk through how you got there.

Liz: I thought I would really stay more in education.  Just outside the classroom. And my first plans were going to e teaching ESL, Computer Science, Piano, I had different teaching jobs over the years, and though “I’ll just tutor everything.” 

 So. I signed up for some teaching platforms and the students weren’t really rolling in.  I had very few students.  But I also realized I didn’t have the motivation to FIND more students, and realized, oh, I might be more burnt out that I realized - that I don’t WANT more students.  

THEN I also thought – what is the point of these companies if they’re not finding the students FOR me.  Why are they taking such a cut each lesson cost?  So then, I thought I’ll just make my own website, and from there, I was like, well, actually, I like this better.  I don’t ‘have to show up on camewra at a cetian time.  I could just build websites for people and that’s how that came about. 

Vanessa: Do you still do web design work?

Liz:  Yeah, my business is pretty much 50/50 right now – where its web design and Virtual Assistance.  But Virual Assistants can do web design. 

Vanessa: OK 

Liz: I’ts whether or not you specialize in it or if its’ just one of the tasks that you do. 

Vanessa:  Well let me ask  - what does a Virtual Assistant do?

Liz:  there are a lot of things that a virtual assistants can do and I think teachers are actually really well suited for a lot of the jobs.  So there’s administrative work that can be scheduding, project management, email management,  There’s also a lot of tech tasks that can be setting up automations or it can be website maintenance.  Or there can be thins with community engagement, social media management, you can get into podcast editng, video editing – it’s pretty much anything that you can do that helps another business owner make their life easier is something you can offer as a Virtual Assistant.
 
 Vanessa: so what are some qualities that a teachers has that would make them such a good Virtual Assistant.  Because I would imagine that since teachers are so used ot problem solving on their own that that is an important skills.  

Liz:  Exactly!  Problem solving, being a quick learner – also being able to ask clarifying questions, I’ve been told is one of my really good skills fo the things that people don’t think about.  Being organized, doing way too many things at once when you’re dealing when you’re dealing with a lo tof client – think about all the students and everything that’s going on. 
 
But you also choose the things that are suited to your own skills – like I don’t really like showing up on social media so I don’t do outreach and social media things like that. 

Vanessa: Oh ok 

Liz: I don’t really like to do scheduling.  That’s lie, nope, that’s not my thing.  You just find your area that you want to help.

Vanessa: How would someone go about fiding those first clients as a Vritual Assisteant?

Liz:  My first clients actually came from Facebook groups. And there were two different kinds of Facebook groups. Once was specially for Virtual Assistants and people ooking for Virtual Assistants, and then I applied for positions.  I would give a little 5-mintue introduction of myself on video, like this is how I can help you.  I didn’t even have a resume.  I just showed people that this is what I could do. 


 And then the other types of Facebook groups are for the kinds of people that you want to work with.  I like working with coaches and course creators.  So if someone said that they needed help or they were struggling with the tech of their inline course, we would just start a little bit of a side conversation and it might lead to people asking me to help them and turned into a long term relationships right there .

Vanessa:  I like that.  That’s really neat.  It’s very organic

Liz: It is!  Someone found me from an Instagram hashtag once, and I was like, I don’t even – that was like a six-month old Instagram hashtag.  How did you even find me!  I had to ask.   But it just happens. 

Vanessa: Well the internet is forever, so (laughs)

Liz:  It is!  For better or for worse (laughs)

Vanessa: So you have multiple clients.  How long have you been working in this Virtual Assistant job and how have you been building that business?

Liz:  I started back in the Fall of 2022. So some of my clients I’ve had for about 2, 2.5 years at this point.  And I actually haven’t taken on any new Virtual assistant clients in about a year because I’m still working with the same clients and maybe I’m doing more work for them originally once they discover how ELSE I can help them.  But I am more actually growing the Web design side of my business because with those projects you can offer ongoing support, but you do need to have more of a steady stream of people coming in for new web design project. 

Vanessa: I would imagine yes, they come and go, (laughs)

Liz: Yeah, yup, exactly. 

Vanessa: OK. Here’s a wild question – do you see yourself in a position of mentoring another teacher into how ot be a Virtual Assistant or perhaps growing your business to the point where you might have other Vas that YOU help connect with clients. 

Liz: That’s an interesting question.  I have thought of some different future possibilities – maybe having online courses of my own where I’m helping people.  I’m happy to just give advice to people in an informal situation at this point.  

Um, and then I actually do work kind of on another team one day a week where we have some different virtual assistants and things like that coming in.  One of the people on the team is writing a book, “How to become a Virtual Assistant” but there are… I don’t know if *I* necessarily want to be like that – above all position – but it’s a... it’s something that’s possible for sure. 
 
 Vanessa: I love that.  I feel like teachers have SO much leadership potential just hardwired into them. If you didn’t start off with that skill, you learn it very, very quickly, and I feel that that could be a really natural outgrowth, perhaps, moving forward.  Interesting thinks to think there. 

Liz: Yeah, it’s something that has crossed my mind.  Maybe 

Vanessa: OK, so if someone wanted to reach out to you and they had questions on how to launch themselves as a Virtual Assistant, how could they find you? 

Liz:  If you go my website which is ehoustonstudio.com, you can fill out the contact form and send me a message.  “Oh, I heard you on the podcast… “I’d love to see how I can help you make that transition and just tell you more about my story or somethings, maybe some programs you can look at. 

 It wasn’t just about the Virtual Assistant skills, I found that it was learning a bit about business and mindset too.  I think is as important as learning the tech.  Just fill out that contact form and I’ll respond as soon as I see it.
 
 Vanessa: I will make sure and have a link in our show notes to that so people can fund you.  I really appreciate that you took the time to me with me and talk with me so that we can shine a spotlight on these skills. 

 Just Because I love the idea that they are so independent. I think teachers would really love the opportunity to be independent and that would allow them to work the schedule that they need to work to be present in their own lives and for their families and whatnot.  So, I love that you were able to talk to us about that and I look forward to hearing about the growth of your business and potentially some of my other listeners who think this Is a good career path for them.

Liz: Thank you, Vanessa, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much.

Vanessa: Thank you, Liz!

If today’s conversation sparked a little curiosity in you—if you’re wondering what’s possible for your own career transition—I’d love to help you explore that! My discovery sessions are all about uncovering your strengths, your interests, and the unexpected paths that might be waiting for you. No pressure, no cost - just a conversation to see where your curiosity takes you. Head to teachersintransition.com/calendar and grab a time that works for you. Let’s turn that curiosity into clarity!

We’re getting closer and closer to the upcoming, free summit: Midlife Mastery: A Woman’s Guide to Lasting Confidence, Energy, & Joy covering eight major areas of life.  

If you have ever felt like life is pulling you in a dozen different directions know that you’re not alone. Many women reach midlife feeling drained, overwhelmed, and unsure how to create balance without sacrificing what matters most.

I’ll be speaking alongside an incredible lineup of eight expert speakers at a Summit for for women just like you. So - Block some time on your calendar and Register today! The link will be in the show notes!

This summit is 100% virtual, and it’s FREE! No travel, no hassle - just a day of inspiration, learning, and real transformation from the comfort of your home.  I hope to see you there!

That’s the podcast for today! If you liked this podcast, tell a friend, and don’t forget to rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tune in weekly to Teachers in Transition where we discuss Job Search strategies as well as stress management techniques.  And I want to hear from you!  Please reach out and leave me a message at Vanessa@Teachersintransition.com  You can also leave a voicemail or text at 512-640-9099. 

I’ll see you here again next week and remember – YOU are amazing!