It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to be. After having kids, I finally knew, but didn’t have time. Only in midlife did I make the transition to my dream career — but first, I had to find a way to pay for it.
After high school, I started college as a drama major. I dreamed of heading to Hollywood. When the major wasn’t what I had hoped, I decided on English instead. I’d gotten straight As in the subject in high school. It just made sense. That is, until people asked what I planned to do with my liberal arts degree.
There seemed to be very few options. I could go into publishing. But, according to my professor, I’d be dirt poor and living in a hovel in New York City — at least at first. Teaching was another common suggestion, but I had zero interest in it at the time. Besides, it required more schooling. Instead, like many 20-somethings, I floundered as I searched for myself and a career path.
After floundering, I finally figured out what I wanted to do
I shifted from job to job. I worked as a waitress and a chiropractic assistant before I was, unhappily, dropped smack dab into corporate America. I had stints in office management, webinar coordination, and marketing. I would go into the office and wonder if I was contributing to humanity in any way.
When I walked my son into kindergarten, I realized I loved being in an elementary school. I wanted to get my teaching degree, but with young kids and a full-time job, it didn’t feel realistic. Ironically, after years of saying I’d never teach, that’s exactly what I wanted. Instead, I stayed miserable in corporate America.
Heading back to school was expensive
A decade later, I finally found myself working in the school system as an educational technician, or an ed tech — essentially a teaching assistant. Special education quickly became my niche, especially since so few wanted to substitute in that area. That experience made the transition to a special education ed tech natural.
Ed techs made very little money. I would have to go back to school to become a teacher if I wanted to make a living. But I already had large debts from my undergraduate degree in English and my first master’s in television/video production. I was still paying them off in my 40s. I wasn’t willing or able to take on more student loan debt. The district I worked in as an ed tech would pay for three of the 10 classes I was required to take to earn my master’s in education.
But when I did the math, I saw it wouldn’t work. With four kids at home, we could barely keep up as it was. Taking on loans would be an extra burden we couldn’t manage, so I kept plugging away without a clear plan for paying for my second master’s degree.
My side gig helped
I had always loved writing. I wrote short stories and other fiction. Writing non-fiction never interested me. But after starting a blog about parenthood, I built a following. I’d started freelancing in 2014 after learning to pitch. It was a slow start and an even slower build. I sold one essay, which led to another.
When the pandemic hit, my freelance writing income almost matched my full-time ed tech pay. I wrote about parenting, childhood, and lifestyle topics. It was a learning curve to move into reported pieces, but my English degree was finally starting to pay off. What started as a hobby had become a lucrative side gig.
That insight led me to realize I could use my freelance earnings to fund the seven classes my district didn’t cover. With planning and consistency, I put away enough to pay my tuition. I started my master’s in 2019 and finished it in 2021 debt-free. It was an amazing feeling. I have been working as a special education teacher since 2022, and I love it.
Now, I’m hoping to do the same to get my Ph.D. in education. Funny how sometimes, the things you promise you’ll never do become the ones that matter most — and the ones you work the hardest for.
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