Teachers With Money: First In Class

Christa Jones
  • 5.0 (14)
  • Education
  • Updated Weekly

Teachers With Money: First in Class is the podcast for teachers who are done accepting the story that financial struggle is the price of a meaningful career. Real money strategies, real talk, no guilt.

  1. 1d ago

    The Virtual Assistant Side Hustle for Teachers: How to Get Paid for the Skills You Use Every Day — with Nikol Toteva

    Not every side-hustle story starts in a classroom. Nikol Toteva's starts at the front desk of a language school in the south of France. She has spent nine years as a fractional chief of staff and senior virtual assistant, the right hand who runs the life and business behind a founder, for entrepreneurs across Europe and the US. And the skills the job actually runs on (organizing chaos, managing people, keeping a hundred plates spinning) are the exact ones teachers use before 9am. You just call it a Tuesday. This episode makes the case that being a virtual assistant might be the most natural side hustle a teacher never considered, then gets practical about it. Nikol breaks down what a VA and a fractional chief of staff actually do, which teacher skills map straight across, how to find your first clients (and where not to waste your time), what to charge, and how AI is reshaping the whole role. Christa adds a teacher-specific on-ramp along the way. This episode covers: • What a virtual assistant and a "fractional chief of staff" actually do all day: inbox, travel, events, lead gen, funnels, and being someone's calm in the chaos • Why teachers are already qualified: managing 30 humans, triaging constant chaos, parent communication, and field-trip logistics is operations work • The soft skills that matter most (emotional intelligence, reading a room, discretion), and why the tool stuff can be learned with YouTube and AI • Where to actually find clients: the truth about Upwork now (flooded and underpriced), Fiverr versus Upwork, LinkedIn and Indeed, and referrals as the real engine • A teacher's on-ramp: the "TPT Virtual Assistant Finder" Facebook group, and offering a few free projects to build a portfolio before you raise your rates • What to charge: pricing your freelance rate instead of your employee rate, setting aside your own taxes, picking one rate and not negotiating, and using monthly retainers so you can plan • How AI changed the job: Nikol uses it for 80 to 90% of her work, why "data entry" is no longer a viable side hustle, and how the role is becoming "AI manager" • Lead magnets, translated for teachers: the "100 free art activities for indoor recess" example, and how the free thing actually works as a business • Redefining freedom (and permission to start): why "laptop on the beach, $10k a month" is a myth, and why you don't need anyone's blessing to try 🍏 Start this week: Look up what a VA really does, and peek inside the "TPT Virtual Assistant Finder" Facebook group to see the gigs teachers are hiring for right now. You don't have to have it figured out. Just get curious. Connect with Nikol: Nikol Toteva (LinkedIn) Enjoying First in Class? Two quick things help more than you'd think: subscribe or follow the show wherever you listen so you never miss an episode, and leave a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. It's the easiest way to help another teacher find us. 💜 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones LinkedIn → Christa Jones Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

  2. Aug 4

    Get Paid to Write: The Teacher Who Grew a Side Hustle to Match Her Whole Salary — with India Amos

    India Amos is a passionate teacher who turned the skills she used in the classroom every day into a freelance writing business—and grew it on nights and weekends until it matched her entire teacher salary. She started as an Appalachian healthcare reporter, moved through travel and lifestyle writing, and built a content-marketing and copywriting business on the side. Her throughline: the skills you already have are worth real money outside your classroom walls. This one's for the teacher who's ever thought "I could never make money doing that." India makes it concrete — exactly how a teacher with zero freelance experience can send a first pitch this week, and how a single well-placed one can pay $100–$350 (sometimes more!). She also shares the hard turning point that made her build a safety net: after a season of illness and two surgeries, her side income was the ground under her feet—and it opened the door to a fully funded master's. Whether you stay in the classroom or not, her case is simple: build the net before you need it. This episode covers: • Why teachers are secretly excellent marketers—the lesson "hook" is a sales pitch, and you sell to the most reluctant buyers alive all day long • India's path from Appalachian healthcare reporter → travel & lifestyle writing → content marketing and copywriting (and what copywriting actually is) • The exact first steps with ZERO experience—pick a topic you like, prove a little expertise, find publications that take pitches ("[site] + write for us"), and send it • How the money works — a single pitch can pay $100–$350 (she's seen $15 to $500), the publication names the price, and why "you don't propose on the first date" • Travel writing, honestly — comped trips, writing about where you already live (local expert, low competition, zero startup cost), and why most of her stable income is nonprofit writing • From one-off articles to a real business — pivoting into higher-paying copywriting so you're not burning out on endless pitches • Finding clients without cold-pitching your life away — the "inbound life" on LinkedIn, DMs, and referrals (the gold standard) • The procrastination trap — building a website and picking brand colors before you've written a word ("expensive hobby vs. business") • Free ways to build a portfolio — Contently, Substack, or even a Google Doc • The turning point — illness, two surgeries, and why a side income became a safety net (and a launch pad into a funded master's) 🍏 Start this week: Grab India's free ebook, From Classroom to Clients — her step-by-step guide to landing your first $500 as a freelance writer. Then send ONE pitch about a place or hobby you already know. Connect with India: India Amos (LinkedIn) @beyondsummerbreak (Instagram) beyondsummerbreak.com From Classroom to Clients — free ebook 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones LinkedIn → Christa Jones Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

  3. Jul 28

    How to Start a Teachers Pay Teachers Store: The First 3 Steps for Beginners

    A few weeks ago, Christa sent listeners on a "resource hunt"—dig through your files, find the things you've already made from scratch, and drop them in a folder called "TPT Ideas." A lot of teachers did it, stared at a folder fuller than they expected… and then froze. This episode is the sequel to Episode 3, and it's for anyone stuck in the gap between "I'm so inspired" and "I actually did it"... including total beginners who don't have a single idea yet. No overwhelm, no fluff, just the first three concrete moves to actually get your Teachers Pay Teachers store going, the ones nobody really spells out for you. Christa walks through what to make first (and why your first product should be your worst), how to name your store without losing months to it, and how teachers actually find your work once it's listed — plain-English TPT SEO from someone who went from a list of ideas to a top 1% store in her first year on the platform. This episode covers: • The "resource hunt" recap — why you've almost certainly already made things worth selling, and the real gap between feeling inspired and hitting publish • Move 1 — your first product will be your worst, and why that's the plan, not the tragedy (the "practice rep," plus the marble-statue-vs-garden reframe from Episode 3) • How to choose what to make first — pick your easiest, most "boring," most proven resource, even if you're convinced you have nothing original (a simple worksheet, exit-ticket pack, or set of Google Slides) • Move 2 — name your store without losing months to it: just use your name, why "still deciding" is fear in a branding costume, and the name-tag-not-a-tattoo rule • Move 3 — how teachers actually find your work: TPT SEO in plain English, and why your title is the most important real estate in your whole listing • The 3 ways to find the exact keywords buyers are already typing — the TPT search-bar autocomplete, studying the top sellers in your niche, and getting more specific than feels comfortable • Why niching down beats broad terms — "spring multiplication color-by-number for 3rd grade" gets found; "reading activities" gets buried • The honest truth about the next 27 days — branding, file security, descriptions that convert, previews, pricing, and hitting publish — and how TPT Launch Lab hands it to you in order 🍏 Podcast listener deal: TPT Launch Lab — Christa's 30-day, zero-to-open-store course — is just $20 with code PODCAST at checkout (less than your last DoorDash order). The code won't be live forever. New here? Start with Episode 3 — How to Start a Teachers Pay Teachers Store: Breaking Through the Excuses Holding You Back — where Christa dismantles the originality, saturation, and time myths. Start your store: TPT Launch Lab (code PODCAST for $20) → https://christajones.samcart.com/products/tpt-launch-lab   Free TPT Store Optimization Checklist → https://docs.google.com/document/d/19jhk9-1Ac_TWziJ7i74ACI5CgZ_vjIxowPfQnr1234o/edit?usp=sharing Find Christa: @christajeanjones (Instagram) A quick note: Christa's "top 1% store in year one" is her own experience, not a promise of results — every store and timeline looks different. 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones LinkedIn → Christa Jones Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

  4. Jul 14

    Money Blocks & the Subconscious: How Hypnotherapy Rewrites Your Money Story — with Christy the Hypnotist

    Christy Nguyen is a teacher first—the kind who played “school” with her nieces and nephews as a kid and never lost the calling. She’s also a hypnotherapist who helps women clear the subconscious self-sabotage running quietly underneath their confidence, their goals, and their money. After hypnotherapy “found her” at 3am through an Instagram video, she finished a year-long program in four months, left the classroom, sold her house, and moved to Austin to build her practice. And in a full-circle twist, she’s just returned to teaching — this time for kids with dyslexia, helping them believe their brains are a superpower. Christa worked with Christy one-on-one, and it shifted things she’d been stuck on for years — so this conversation is personal. If the word “hypnotherapy” makes you a little skeptical, good; bring the skepticism, because they look at it together. Christy demystifies what hypnotherapy actually is, why your subconscious runs about 95% of your life, where money blocks come from (usually long before you can remember), and what it really looks like to rewrite the story underneath. The throughline: you can build every budget in the world, but if the story running underneath says you’re bad with money, it fights you the whole way. That story was written for you. You get to rewrite it. This episode covers: • What hypnotherapy actually is — “guided meditation with a goal,” and the brainwave states (beta → alpha → theta) that make your mind open to change • Why the subconscious runs about 95% of your life — the iceberg model, and how much of adulthood is still running on programming installed between ages 2 and 7 • Where money blocks come from — plus Christy’s own “money equals heartbreak” story, and the empty piggy bank that quietly rewrote her whole relationship with money • The skeptic’s welcome: why your belief determines whether it works, and why bringing your doubt is completely allowed • What a 1:1 session actually looks like — the induction, revisiting (not reliving) memories, inner-child and reparenting work, and installing new beliefs • Why affirmations mostly fail — and the one thing (a strong emotion) that makes them actually stick • Christa’s own experience: the “fear of being seen” that surfaced when she started creating content, and working through it with Christy • The teacher money stories to unlearn — “I’m bad with money,” “wanting more is greedy,” “this is just a teacher’s lot in life” • An accessible first step for the curious — start with free meditation and affirmation tracks to build the belief that your mind can drop into that state 🍏 Try the first step: Christy offers free meditation and affirmation tracks (including a “7 Days of Flourishing” set) on her Instagram — DM her and she’ll point you to them. Pick one track and listen this week. Connect with Christy: @christythehypnotist (Instagram) christy-nguyen.com A gentle note: this episode is for education and inspiration, not therapy or financial advice. Hypnotherapy can be a powerful tool, but it isn’t a substitute for mental health care — if you’re working through something heavy, please loop in a licensed professional. 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones LinkedIn → Christa Jones Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

  5. Jul 7

    Building Wealth on a Teacher’s Salary: Budgeting, Compound Interest & 403(b) Retirement Fees — with Danny Kofke

    Danny Kofke spent 18 years in the classroom — first grade, kindergarten, and severe-profound special education — and did something the salary supposedly doesn’t allow: he raised a family of four on about $42,000 a year, helped support his wife's (also an educator) dream to stay home for eight years while their kids were young, paid off his debt, built a real emergency fund, and grew a retirement nest egg. Then he turned what he learned into six books and a mission. Today he’s Director of Training & Outreach for the Southern Education Retirement Consortium, helping teachers, bus drivers, and cafeteria staff keep more of their hard-earned money. This conversation is for the teacher whose budget already feels stretched to nothing. Danny keeps it refreshingly simple: know where every dollar is going, automate the saving before life gets in the way, and let time do the heavy lifting. He breaks down compound interest, the debt snowball, the retirement math most teachers never see, and the quiet 403(b) fees that drain savings for years. His throughline: you don’t need a windfall to build a wealthy life — you need a plan, a little consistency, and the reps. This episode covers: • Where to actually start when the budget feels stretched to nothing — write down every dollar for one month, then give each one a job before the month begins • The classroom-management analogy for money: like a room of 24 five-year-olds, money runs wild without direction (call it a “spending plan” if the word “budget” makes you flinch) • Why small and automatic beats waiting until you can “do it right” — starting a 403(b) or 457 at even 3%, and how automation quietly beats lifestyle creep • Compound interest made simple — the Rule of 72, and why the teacher who starts early and stops still out-earns the one who starts late • The debt snowball vs. the debt avalanche — and why paying the smallest balance first keeps you going, because most money problems are behavior and emotion, not math • The retirement math teachers rarely see: how a pension can be worth like having a million dollars in the bank — and how to find (and push to fix) the 403(b) fees draining your savings • Writing six books while teaching — self-publishing, realistic royalties, and how one project opens doors you can’t yet see • The August 2017 day that redefined what money is for — and why the wealthiest thing Danny ever did actually cost him money • The one move for this week — pick one small, automatic thing (or one rep on the project you keep putting off) and start it 🍏 Danny’s book: The Wealthy Teacher: Lessons for Prospering on a School Teacher's Salary Find all six of his personal-finance titles on his Amazon author page. Connect with Danny: Danny Kofke (LinkedIn) How to Survive (and Perhaps Thrive) on a Teacher’s Salary (book) Danny’s books on Amazon (author page) Southern Education Retirement Consortium — sercsolutions.com Resource mentioned: 403bwise.com — Danny and Christa both call it the “GOAT” for checking whether your 403(b) vendor is charging you too much in fees. 403bwise.com — check your 403(b) vendor’s fee rating Note: Danny shares general financial education, not personalized financial advice. For decisions about your own pension, 403(b), or investments, talk with a licensed financial advisor. 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones LinkedIn → Christa Jones Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

  6. Jun 23

    From Teacher to Author, Speaker, and Founder: Building a Calling Beyond the Classroom — with Rochelle Wilson

    Rochelle Wilson was a sixth-grade ELA teacher who saw a problem she couldn’t look away from. When a student she was mentoring through a painful season needed someone in her corner, Rochelle showed up — and one lunch period turned into fifteen girls, then thirty, then sixty, then a full mentoring program. That program became Intelligent and Ambitious Minds — her “I AM” mentoring — and the calling kept growing from there: a published book, a national speaking career, and a company of her own. This conversation is for the teacher holding a dream they keep moving to “next year.” Rochelle walks through her “Prepare Them with Purpose” framework, the real (and unglamorous) sacrifices behind building something while teaching, how an anti-TikTok teacher became a sought-after keynote speaker, and the money fears wrapped up in betting on yourself. Her throughline: take the chance on the thing that scares you — the dream you can’t stop thinking about is usually the one that’s yours to chase. This episode covers: • How a single act of mentorship grew into Intelligent and Ambitious Minds — Rochelle’s “I AM” program — and what it taught her about purpose • “Prepare Them with Purpose”: her framework for living your purpose first so you can actually teach it — because kids always know when you’re faking it • The problem that won’t leave you alone: why the thing that bothers you more than it bothers your colleagues might be the breadcrumb to your calling • “Positive jealousy,” or teacher envy — how to read the ache of wanting what someone else has as a signal, not a flaw • What it actually took to build it: trust, terror, four years of consistency, and real sacrifice (Rochelle is a mom of four who wrote her book on lunch breaks and summers) • Becoming a speaker by saying yes before she felt ready — her very first ask was a keynote — and how social media (and her students) opened the doors • Self-publishing Purpose Over Popularity on Amazon KDP: what she’d do differently, and the second book on the way • The money side of the leap: building income beyond the paycheck, and what she’d say to a teacher who’s scared to start • The one move for this week — write the dream down, put it where you’ll see it, and say it out loud as if it has already happened 🍏 Rochelle’s book: Purpose Over Popularity: Living Beyond Likes and Follows  Connect with Rochelle: @mrs.wilsonsclassroom (Instagram) Mrs. Wilson’s Classroom (YouTube) Rochelle Wilson (LinkedIn) mrswilsonsclassrm.com — newsletter, freebies + the I AM mentoring program Purpose Over Popularity (book) 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones LinkedIn → Christa Jones Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

  7. Jun 19

    Get RICH on Your Terms: A New Definition of Wealth — with Jenn Jamali of First Jenn Money

    Jenn Jamali spent years in tech — at companies like Indeed and Spotify — negotiating other people’s salaries for a living. Then, at eight weeks pregnant, she was laid off. Instead of scrambling, she leaned into a plan she’d already started building: during the pandemic she got obsessed with money, bought her first investment property, and turned all of it into First Jenn Money, where she now coaches women to build real wealth on their own terms.  This is a warm, honest conversation between two friends — and two reformed “I’m just bad with money” spenders — about what rich actually means. Jenn breaks down her full RICH framework, gets practical about the first money system a tired teacher can truly automate, and reframes wealth as options: control over your time at every stage of life. This episode covers: • How Jenn went from “ask my husband about the finances” to real estate investor — and why money is a skill you can learn, not a personality trait you’re stuck with • The story behind the name First Jenn Money, and getting laid off at eight weeks pregnant — and how years of money and mindset work turned a scary moment into the start of her business • Jenn’s RICH framework, piece by piece: Rewrite your money story · Integrate systems for saving and investing · Career and money-making capabilities · Honor your values • Money as three separate skills — making it, managing it, and spending it — and why spending is the one nobody teaches (especially women) • The first system for an exhausted teacher: a six-month emergency fund you automate straight from your paycheck, starting as small as $25, kept in a separate high-yield savings account • Redefining “rich” as options and time freedom — Jenn now runs her business from Bogotá, Colombia • Values-based spending without white-knuckling: the “leave it in the cart for a week” hack, a $100/month laundry service, and the twice-a-year salon splurge • Vision boards that actually work — putting a real picture to the dream, from a Business Insider feature to the life you’re building Connect with Jenn: @firstjennmoney (Instagram) Jenn Jamali (LinkedIn) firstjennmoney.com Newsletter — raw, real money stories + challenges RICH Reset Roadmap Call with Jenn Payday Club Podcast (find it wherever you listen) Jenn Jamali is a money coach; this episode is for educational and informational purposes only and isn’t personalized financial advice. Always consult a qualified financial professional about your specific situation. 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones LinkedIn → Christa Jones Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

  8. Jun 9

    Teacher Boundaries and Knowing When to Say No: Union Work and Online Summits — with Bryson Tarbet of That Music Teacher

    Bryson Tarbet is a former PreK–6 music teacher and the founder of ThatMusicTeacher.com and Tarbet Education Network, where he builds content-specific professional development for music and arts specialists. He's also one of the earliest supporters of Teachers With Money — someone who helped Christa workshop the mission months before this show was live. This is a conversation between two former elementary music teachers who both stepped out of the classroom and never stopped fighting for the people still in it. Bryson coined a phrase for something a lot of teachers feel but can't quite name: the Specialist's Burden — the isolation of being the only one doing your job in the building, with no team and no support built for your content. From there the conversation opens into the bigger setup underneath it: the story that your sacrifice is your value, that asking for more somehow makes you a worse teacher. Bryson and Christa trace that same story across three levels — the classroom, the business, and the bargaining table — and land on the one boundary every teacher can start practicing tomorrow. This episode covers: The Specialist's Burden — why being the only music, art, or PE teacher in your building leaves you isolated and underserved by general PD, and why naming it out loud is the first move toward fixing it"Do it for the kids" as systemic gaslighting — how a phrase that sounds noble puts the whole broken system on teachers' shoulders, and Bryson's reframe that flips it: teacher working conditions are student learning conditionsThe charging guilt that follows you out of the classroom — why "I should just give it away for free" is the same voice that ran you ragged in the room, and how Bryson made peace with charging by anchoring to his values: inclusivity, community empowerment, advocacyInside the summit model — how free access funds paid access funds free initiatives, and why putting it all on the table (no sneaky tactics, "we can still be friends if you don't upgrade") is both the kinder and the more sustainable way to sellPaying speakers fairly — how Bryson moved from affiliate-only to a base-pay-plus-affiliate hybrid so it's not only the big audiences that get paid, and how he coaches first-time speakers to leverage the opportunityThe collective layer — Bryson's years as a union rep and then VP, what he saw on the negotiations team during a contract year that came right up to a strike, and why individual mindset work and collective action are the same conversation, not either/orWhere to start if you've never opened your contract — read it, know it word for word, and remember that a union is only as strong as the people in itThe one walkaway: it's okay to say no — why saying no is the boundary that protects both your health and your career, and how it pushes the system to deal with what it's been quietly offloading onto teachers 🎵 Music teacher friends: Join us for the Summer 2026 Elementary Music Summit!*   Connect with Bryson: ThatMusicTeacher.com — for elementary music teachers Tarbet Education Network — for arts specialists @thatmusicteacher (Instagram) Bryson Tarbet (LinkedIn) *This is an affiliate link — Christa may earn a commission if you register through it, at no additional cost to you. 🎧 Subscribe now for new episodes every Tuesday. Come hang: Instagram → @teacherswithmoney Instagram (Christa) → @christajeanjones LinkedIn → Christa Jones Let's finally start your Teachers Pay Teachers store, together! → TPT Launch Lab This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

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Teachers With Money: First in Class is the podcast for teachers who are done accepting the story that financial struggle is the price of a meaningful career. Real money strategies, real talk, no guilt.

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