Marching On To A New Term
At Those Who Can we love to hear about teachers’ career changes, especially when they are utilising the skills they have learnt in the classroom and porting them into a new venture.
We caught up with Mairi Curle Primary Teacher to franchisee of Boogie Beat, Music and Movement, to hear about her journey from teaching to running her own business and how this has had a positive influence on her health and family life.
What Franchise Do You Own?
I own Boogie Beat Edinburgh, Mid and East Lothian
What’s Your Background?
I had been working as a Primary School teacher for just over 10 years prior to buying my franchise.
Why Did You Want To Leave Teaching?
I love teaching, I love working with children and bringing fun to learning. However, having a young family made juggling my professional life and personal life very challenging.
I also suffer from Long Covid making returning to my teaching job impossible as I continue to work on my recovery. The constant noise and multitasking required for teaching is mentally and physically exhausting and I needed to take a step back in order to focus on my recovery and my family.
Why Did You Pick A Franchise?
I chose a franchise as it gave my ultimate control of my hours, whilst providing a lot of support in terms of lesson plans, marketing and a business structure that was tried and tested. I did not have the energy or knowledge to set up on my own.
I desperately wanted to work with children and return to the job I love on my own terms and Boogie Beat seemed like the perfect opportunity. I was not on my own, I was joining a new community headed by the Franchisor and full of other franchisees doing the same as me. I found this very appealing and helped me to feel confident in making such a jump.
What Does Your Week Look Like?
I have been running for 18 months and due to my own physical limitations, I have grown my team rapidly. I now have 4 members of my Boogie Beat team, so I work in setting 3 mornings a week, whilst my team also take Boogie Beat to settings and classes every weekday.
I look after my daughter on Monday and Friday as she’s only in nursery 3 days and I have an admin day per week. This helps me to stay on top of all aspects of my business.
I am also able to do all school drop-offs and pick-ups around the timetable I have created for myself. Some of my team also have childcare to work around and we were able to build a timetable that suited their needs.
What Did You Wish You Knew Before Starting A Franchise?
I wish I knew more about how Social Media works, I am not a big user of Social media and so some things took me much longer to learn as I just did not know how to do it. However, I have learnt and continue to develop my skills, there are so many ways to learn out there I just need to take the time to invest in my own skills development.
What Support Did Your Franchise Give You?
The Boogie Beat HQ are so friendly and encouraging, they have really supported my growth and helped me to grow my business. There are so many resources on the Boogie Beat shared drive to help franchisees.
There are marketing templates and ready to use marketing material that you can post or tweak and post, this saves so much time and energy / effort. They are always at the end of the phone to discuss ideas / soundboard and the network of other franchisees is also a great support to share ideas with or ask for advice from.
What Skills Did You Use From Teaching?
So many teaching skills are transferred to my Boogie Beat role, there are the obvious ones relating to working with children, engaging delivery, behaviour management and differentiation skills.
I also attribute my excellent time management skills to teaching and my ability to prioritise tasks and get things done to a deadline to teaching. Building relationships with settings, families and communities is a huge part of teaching that is exactly the same when running your own business.
What Are Your Top 3 Tips For A Teacher Looking For A Franchise?
- Write down what is important to you and make it happen.
- Don’t be scared to jump, if you put into your business the same energy and effort as you do teaching you will be successful.
- Do your research, go and see classes in action.
Anything Extra?
Making the jump from a guaranteed wage in teaching to working for yourself is scary and you do need to have a bit of a financial safety net to help you through the first months of building your business up but teaching has prepared you with so many skills.
If you do it then plan, prepare and review just like you would a lesson plan and you will build up and be successful.
Thank you so much Mairi for taking the time to share your journey with us, this will inspire other teachers to feel confident about taking on a Boogie Beat franchise.
If you would like to learn more about Boogie Beat you can visit our Music Page or Boogie Beat Website
