Inspirational Teacher Interviews – At Those Who Can, we love hearing about teachers’ lived experiences, from the classroom to their new ventures.

We are always learning and adapting and these new blogs aim to inspire and give direction.

We caught up with former teacher Laura Cross from Inventors and Makers a STEM-focused provider of hands-on workshops and clubs for schools and nurseries that build vital STEM and associated skills to help children become problem solvers of the future.

What’s Your Background In Teaching?

I originally trained as a lawyer and worked in a corporate firm in London before realising my calling lay in education and leaving to retrain as a primary teacher. After teaching in London primary schools for a few years I made a family move to California where I worked as Head of Curriculum at an education technology startup for three years. 

After moving back to the UK with my young family I briefly returned to classroom teaching before leaving to set up my own business, Inventors & Makers.

Why Did You Decide To Embark On A New Career?

Teaching didn’t give me the flexibility I needed as a mum to young children and I also didn’t feel like I was respected and trusted in the school environment I was working in.

What Is Your Business USP?

We are the only UK STEM franchise run exclusively by teachers and for teachers. As a premium education-focused brand, we consider the skills that teachers bring to be absolutely crucial in educating children. 

We also pride ourselves on making engineering accessible for children and for teachers too. We don’t use complicated equipment or ideas but instead reach children where they are and challenge them to engineer in fun and practical ways.

What Barriers Did You Face?

I faced plenty of barriers in growing Inventors & Makers, such as getting bookings when you’re not an established company, needing to create content that worked within the constraints of a visiting workshop model, and of course Covid! 

I think that one problem you always have when running your own business is people recognising the worth of what you do. Even today when I have an established and profitable business I sometimes feel friends and family see what I do as a hobby rather than a job like they might have because I’m able to be flexible and turn up to school trips and work from home.

How Do Teaching Skills Help?

We use our skills in terms of lesson delivery of course but some of the most important skills in delivering pre-planned sessions are adaptability and classroom management skills that you can only develop through time in the classroom. It’s almost always commented on by teachers that they can tell we’re teachers by the way we speak to and control the class. 

Sometimes we arrive at a school or nursery to find there’s less time than we expected, or the class has had water play and are soaking wet (!), or there are 10 more children than we were expecting. As ex-teachers, we know this kind of thing is unavoidable and we’re able to quickly think on our feet and adapt to whatever is thrown at us. 

Outside of the actual delivery aspect of the role, there are also important skills we use to run the business that we developed as teachers, such as people skills, organisation and efficiency.

What New Skills Have You Developed?

I’ve personally developed lots of skills in marketing since setting up my franchise. In fact I’ve won a marketing award for my work in growing our audience at Inventors & Makers. I find the psychology of marketing really interesting and think this would have been an area I’d have been good at if I’d not gone into teaching.

I’ve also developed great graphics skills and even now make all the signs and posters for my daughter’s school PTA and flyers and signs for several of my friends’ businesses for free. Franchisees with us are now well set up with marketing and graphics packages all done for them.

I’ve also developed skills in new technologies that help with running a business like email automation and CRM platforms. This has taken time to get good at and again I think this adds to our franchisee package as all of this is already done for them.

What Do You Relish About Your New Role?

I get excited thinking about going back to work on a Sunday evening, rather than feeling dread. It’s exciting taking new bookings or having a school rebook you a year in advance. I love seeing our revenue grow year on year and knowing that’s our hard work paying off.

I also love meeting lots of different children and the satisfaction of seeing a group of children who didn’t know what engineering was when you arrived and are talking about wanting to be an engineer when you leave.

What Are Your Three Top Pieces Of Advice For Someone Wanting To Do Something Similar?

Expect to make lots of mistakes, but know you’ll learn from each of them.

Learn as much as you can about as many different things as you can.

If you’re working on your own get a coach or mentor as having someone else to share ideas with is invaluable.

You can follow Laura on Inventors and Makers LinkedIn: Inventors and Makers

Visit the Inventors and Makers website: Inventors and Makers

Learn more about the Inventors and Makers franchise: STEM Franchises

Thank you, Laura, for contributing to our Teacher Interviews, if you would like to write for us, we are always looking for stories to inspire teachers: Write for Those Who Can