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Breaking free from teaching, a stable career, can be a daunting prospect, but for Kintara Phillips, it was a leap of faith that led to the creation of her business, Emergence Education. A tutoring business with a unique point of difference, a business that empowers gifted minds. This unique point of difference has propelled Kintara forward, breaking free from teaching to create a very successful business. In this blog post, we’ll delve into Kintara’s inspiring journey, her motivations for leaving teaching, and the challenges she encountered along the way. We’ll also explore the transferable skills she brought from the classroom to her new venture, the resources that have fuelled her success and her long-term goals beyond teaching to grow Emergence Education into an education empire.

The Leap to Breaking Free from Teaching

Kintara Phillips spent 21 years as a Secondary English teacher, with a unique journey that eventually led her to specialise in teaching Literature and enrichment English classes. Her true passion ignited when she discovered the world of gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) young people. 2e students are considered exceptional both because of their giftedness and disability or neurodiverse makeup, meaning, they are a highly diverse group of learners. This newfound passion drove Kintara to pursue a Masters of Gifted Education. As with many teachers, Kintara reached a turning point, “In my 21st year of teaching, I hit a breaking point,” Kintara recalls. “I was in a stressful workplace, and my family begged me to leave.” This plea from her family, particularly her husband, was a clear indicator of the toll teaching had taken on her well-being, “my husband never asked anything of me career-wise, so when he asked for this, I knew things were worse than I even knew.” Kintara knew that it was time to start looking for other options outside the classroom. “I had jokingly said to a student teacher’s university supervisor one day, ‘Maybe I could do your job…..’” Two weeks later she packed up her classroom. It just so happens the supervisor of her student teacher emailed her simultaneously to ask if she was serious as the University needed some more casual employees, “As they say the rest is history!”

Emergence Education was born

Kintara’s transition was swift, with the opportunity at university presenting itself very unexpectedly. Her desire to become a psychologist and a niche demand for her teaching skills propelled her into the world of entrepreneurship. After leaving the classroom families of children she taught started to reach out to Kintara for help, to see if she could tutor their children. The children had returned to home-schooling as they couldn’t get the support they needed in the classroom. This is how Emergence Education came to fruition. Emergence Education grew very quickly and Kintara needed some more support with her business so she brought her teacher bestie on board as her business partner. Helping her bestie in breaking free from teaching as well. They are both currently working with a business consultant to plan Emergence Education’s growth for the future.

Challenges Faced in breaking free from teaching

Kintara’s journey out of teaching was not without its challenges. Kintara was lucky that she was in a financial position where she could take 6 months off work completely and focus on her business and she explained she understands this isn’t the norm for many people to have this level of privilege. One of the most significant obstacles she encountered was Imposter Syndrome. She struggled with feeling that what she had to offer in her new career might not be enough. She describes her time since leaving the classroom as MAGIC! Kintara, like most teachers, spent the last 21 years working herself to the bone, doing more and more, constantly striving, and never feeling like she was even close. Not really knowing what it was that she was actually striving for. The MAGIC she describes, only happened because she took that leap from the classroom, “In the last two years, taking the scary leap out of the classroom and into the abyss has just made space for the magic to happen.” The transition of breaking free from the classroom has revealed unexpected results for Kintara, “I often say part of the struggle now, is that I am scared to openly want things again, just in case wanting breaks the magic spell of currently having.” Overcoming Imposter Syndrome is something many entrepreneurs feel, it’s something that takes time and self-reflection to overcome. Kintara’s belief in herself and her mission to help gifted students ultimately prevailed.

From Classroom to Entrepreneurship

Despite leaving the classroom, Kintara didn’t leave teaching behind entirely. Her new roles in higher education and Emergence Education still involve teaching, albeit in different spaces and with different age groups. Her experience as a teacher has been a valuable asset, especially in work-related areas to partnerships and engagement. “I always try to remind others of the challenges teachers are facing and try to create opportunities to give something back to the schools and teachers who partner with us by hosting our pre-service teachers.” Her unique perspective also helps her understand the challenges teachers face, such as the importance of respecting school holidays and needing downtime during these breaks. “I also seem to be the reminder of when school holidays are and that trying to contact schools and teachers during this time is both rude and unfair.”

Gaining New Skills and Knowledge

Kintara’s commitment to her career transition led her to pursue additional qualifications. She embarked on her journey to become a psychologist, enhancing her ability to serve gifted and 2e learners. “After finding my niche with gifted learners, I decided that I would have more influence in this space if I were also a psychologist. So, I have started to retrain in the field.” In addition to her psychology studies, Kintara acquired the skill of website development using WordPress, a valuable asset for her business. She also enlisted the help of a business coach to guide her in growing Emergence Education. A business coach can offer a business the boost it needs to take it to the next level. They can often see areas that you are blind to and find easy ways to help generate revenue. We highly recommend several companies to learn how to build websites or if you want to hire a professional to build a website for you. Our Blog “Building a Thriving Teacherpreneur Business,” gives ideas and strategies of how you can create your own business.

Starting Emergence Education

Emergence Education began as traditional tutoring for gifted and 2e young people. However, Kintara quickly realised that these students needed more than academic support; they required assistance with executive function, organisation, and self-advocacy. The business expanded to encompass Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) and Student Support Group (SSG) meetings, and its growth has been remarkable. Finding a point of difference and targeting a niche is the perfect way to get your business to stand out from the crowd and Kintara has done exactly that with Emergence Education. “What started as more traditional tutoring of exclusively gifted and 2e young people, quickly became a recognition that they generally didn’t need academic support, but rather support with executive function, organisation, and self-advocacy,” Kintara explained that the teaching side and working with the students was similar to what she had already been doing as a teacher however, running a business brought its own set of challenges. Kintara and her business partner, her teacher bestie, are dedicated to Emergence Education’s growth and described how important having a business coach has been to their business. Working with their coach they have been able to develop their business plan so that future growth can be possible. A business coach or career consultant can help you develop a clear plan and strategy for your business. It’s a great way to get your business to the next level and improve processes and outcomes. We have a number of recommendations for coaches so please reach out to the Exit Stage Teach team if you need help with this.

Favourite Resources for Career Transition

While Kintara didn’t engage with career transition-specific resources, she found inspiration in podcasts hosted by women who pursued their dreams and took risks. These podcasts, such as “Emsolation” with Em Rusciano and “Sisters in Stoke” with Meghann McPherson Birks, resonated with her. On the side of professional learning, she recommends “Our Gifted Kids” Podcast and “Talking Teaching” as well as the “Mojo Expresso Pod.”

Staying Motivated and Resilient

Kintara describes her transition as relatively smooth due to her swift move into new roles and admitting she really didn’t realise just how bad it was teaching until she left. She fell into a new passion so quickly she didn’t really feel a massive transition out of teaching. Kintara explained healing from the trauma of her previous workplace was essential for her personal growth. Helping her young clients recover from their own school-related challenges also aided in her own recovery. Overcoming trauma is vital, especially when stepping into a new career, sometimes we just need to give ourselves the space we need to heal. The Exit Stage Teach team highly recommend engaging a counsellor or coach if you have experienced severe trauma from your teaching career. This will ensure you can move on without taking it into your next job. Kintara found solitude in her students having a similar recovery story from the past trauma in an education setting and found they could heal together, “It took a lot to be open to new people again, to trust the people I worked with and to actually believe the kind things people were saying about my work. The kids I was working with privately, were also in recovery mode from school stuff, so I think in working to help them rebuild, I was also able to rebuild myself too.”

Unexpected Benefits of Breaking Free from Teaching

Kintara describes one of the biggest benefits of leaving teaching to start her own business was the benefit of flexibility, it emerged as a significant benefit of leaving teaching. Kintara can now enjoy precious moments with her children, such as school runs and sharing stories on the drive home. “I never used to get to take my kids to or from school. Their grandparents got the stories, excitement and joy of pick up. They are teenagers now, but all the good Goss is shared on the drive home and I am so grateful that I get to share that time with them.”

Kintara’s work in higher education has given her a sense of achievement and she is so grateful. People genuinely share with her when she’s doing a great job and they pass her details on to others looking for her skillset. This has not only produced a sense of achievement for Kintara, but it has also made her feel genuinely appreciated and acknowledged in both her work in higher education and at Emergence Education. Something many teachers don’t receive, the recognition for their immense hard work. No workplace is perfect, they all have ups and downs but Kintara has found a space with many more ups than downs and this has balanced the opposite of her teaching experience in a school setting. “Higher education isn’t perfect, no workplace is, but I do feel more valued and appreciated now than I ever have.”

Advice for Breaking Free From Teaching

We just love Kintara’s advice to teachers who are thinking about leaving teaching for other careers, “Smell the fear and do it anyway. I appreciate that for many, financial commitments mean this isn’t possible for everyone. If you have something you are passionate about and you want to make it happen, do what you can, when you can, that will bring you closer to your goals. Teachers are amazing, we know so much more than we think and we have skills that are so transferable, but we work in a system that seems to make us fight to be seen and both collaborate and compete with each other.” Her encouragement to take it one step at a time is a great way to find your exit from teaching. A plan will help you get started. You might need to find ways to reduce your workload without actually leaving teaching completely, but this can be part of your plan. A clear achievable goal and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel will help to propel you forward. If you want to start your own business we recommend taking baby steps, that way you can grow your business alongside your teaching journey until you’re ready to make the full exit.

Maintaining Work-Life Balance

For someone diagnosed with ADHD, balancing work and life can be a challenge but Kintara has learnt some fantastic strategies to help her move forward. “Balance has never been my strong point. I was diagnosed with ADHD not long after leaving the classroom, so this struggle with balance now makes more sense. I have created some hacks that do help me use this time more effectively.” Kintara has developed several strategies, such as utilising her commute for studying by listening to her textbooks which she has in audio form. She often schedules meetings during her drive as she drives around 700km a week. Kintara also uses a great strategy with two laptops to separate her personal and Emergence Education work as well as one for her university work. This helps with not being distracted with one job when she should be doing another. Like many of us teachers, Kintara admits she loves a visual aide when it comes to being organised and utilises a massive desk calendar to help her time manage. “My other hack is that I have a massive desk calendar that sits under my keyboard, it takes some extra time adding from the Outlook calendar across, but having things in sight is really important to how I work. I also have all emails and digital calendars synched with my phone.”

Long-Term Career Goals Beyond Teaching

We asked Kintara her long-term goals and she explained her vision of becoming a qualified psychologist and expanding Emergence Education to include Emergence Psychology. Her focus will be on IQ, ADHD, and Autism assessments and developing school and teacher-friendly reports. Another way to further diversify and niche her business, Emergence Education. Her long-term goal is to create a space where gifted and 2e children, teens, and their families feel seen, supported and accepted. “We are currently working to grow Emergence Education, and working with a coach to help plan out what the growth will look like. Long term we hope it provides us both with opportunities to do a job we love, but only the bits of it we love, while hiring other rock star educators to do the bits they love too. We want to create a space with gifted and 2e children, teens and their families come and feel seen, supported and accepted exactly as they are. We want to work to support teachers better understand the complex needs of gifted and 2e young people and create better school experiences for them.”

Overcoming Obstacles and Setbacks

Kintara’s transition out of teaching has been relatively smooth and she really hasn’t experienced any obstacles or setbacks. She described how she has a constant feeling of needing to pinch herself to make sure it’s not a dream she’s living. While Kintara’s transition to breaking free from teaching has been relatively smooth, the competitive nature of psychology studies presents a potential hurdle. If she doesn’t secure a place in her desired program, she will need to reconsider her next move. “Each university has around 35 places for close to 1000 applicants, so if I don’t manage to get a place next year, ideally where I am currently working, but honestly anywhere, that will definitely be a hurdle that will force me to reconsider my next move.

Replacing Teacher Income

We are so grateful to Kintara for sharing her financial situation with us so that our Exit Stage Teach community can see it’s an achievable goal to leave teaching, build a business and earn the same or more that you were receiving as a teacher. Kintara was happy to share she has successfully replaced her teacher income, reporting a taxable income of $125,000 in the last financial year. Achieving this wage in such a short space of time is a huge achievement and Kintara should be commended, especially, while studying psychology as well. We have no doubt this is just the beginning of Kintara’s earning journey, she will be earning well beyond this with her future business growth plans and we wish her every success with Emergence Education.

Breaking Free from Teaching Impact

When we asked Kintara how leaving teaching has impacted her overall happiness and well-being she was proud to share that her friends and family have noticed a positive change in her overall happiness. She enjoys a better work-life balance, more restful sleep, and a sense of fulfilment in her new roles. “Everyone who knows me well comments on how happy I am. I am crazy busy, but I love it. I say to others, what I have now, is everything I never even knew I needed to be happy. I worry less, I sleep better (unless I have some crazy creative idea brewing), I manage my own schedule generally, I can see a friend for a long lunch and just make up the hours after dinner. Once Emergence grows, I will also be able to support colleagues who want to leave too, if they want to work with us. I have had the honour to work with so many amazing educators in my 21 years, and I would love to have many of them on board to support these wonderful young people we work with.” What Kintara has built with Emergence Education and her vision to help support other teachers to move out of the classroom and into a space they love is uplifting and inspiring.”

Closing Thoughts and How to Connect

Kintara’s journey from teaching to business owner of Emergence Education, is a testament to the transformative power of following one’s passion. Her story highlights the value of transferable teaching skills, continuous learning, and resilience in the face of challenges. She has used her unique skillset and passion to help gifted learners and propel her business forward by focusing on a niche market. We sincerely thank her for the wisdom she has shared about her story of breaking free from teaching with our Exit Stage Teach community and we wish her all the best with Emergence Education. We are sure this won’t be the last we hear of Kintara and her journey with Emergence Education and hopefully, we will see some of our fabulous community members working with Kintara in the future.

To learn more about Kintara and Emergence Education, visit her website at Emergence Education or follow Emergence Education on Facebook or Instagram.

If you’re a teacher passionate about supporting gifted and 2e learners, consider reaching out, Kintara is hoping to expand her business and looking to hire more amazing teachers in the future.

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