One giant leap...

The first two relaxing days of 2010 don't accurately represent the craziness that will be my life in the coming year. I was offered two English classes at another community college - I accepted! In order to teach both classes, I've had to cut back my hours at the job where I've worked since 2004. Starting Monday, I'll only be working there 30 hours a week until March 5, when I will be leaving my job and taking a giant leap into the unknown! One class is a late start that starts in March and runs for 9 weeks (double the time in class during the week). I could have stayed on at the other job for about 15 hours a week around the classes, but it's time to try new things and make a new path for myself.

I have 8 days to plan my class - syllabus, schedule, readings, essays, etc. I've been working on it and getting some things together, and I've been deciding how tough I want to be! My sister told me she'd be scared to take my class - I don't know if I should be flattered or seriously think about changing my approach! I'm leaning toward the former... There are so many good readings in the book for this class. I would love to teach all of them, but I know it's just not possible to fit them all in.

To fill in the income gap that will now exist between what I was making and what I will now be making (yeah, I didn't make this switch for the money), I will be focusing more on my Mary Kay business. I've started my business plan and have started listing my goals for my business. I want to start a newsletter for my customers, spend more time on customer service, keep my blog updated on a regular basis, and of course, build my business and my team in order to be a Sales Director by the end of summer this year.

Another opportunity I will have once I have left my job is to offer freelance editing services for businesses in the same industry. I won't be able to take on a lot of jobs, but with a good client base, I should have fairly consistent work. It won't be a huge money maker for me, but it will keep me up on my editing skills and will give us a little extra income (or maybe support a small shopping habit!). A blog just for my editing may be on the horizon.

I am so excited for 2010 and all the opportunities I have! This is going to be an interesting year to say the least. Happy New Year!