If you’ve decided to leave teaching and you’re all in, consider yourself tested out! Skip to Chapter Three. You’ll still want to complete the exercise in Chapter Two. That’s the foundation. 

If you’re not sure how you feel about teaching and need some time to reflect, start at Chapter One. 

Maybe you want to leave but need some motivation. You want to hear about other people who made a successful classroom exit into a new career. Read Chapter 10 first. 

Perhaps you want to answer the question, if I’m not a teacher what else can I do? Sneak peek Chapter Six. You won’t be ready to complete the exercises as you’ll need to read the previous chapters, but you’ll love seeing how skilled and ready you are. There are so many options for you! 

Chapters Four through Nine do build upon one another, but reading ahead is not a crime. Come on, you wish your students would read ahead! There is nothing wrong with gathering more information. 

What does matter is that you invest in yourself, trust that you are a professional, and allow yourself the understanding that you do have the skills needed to thrive in a corporate role. 

The exercises are guided, but you’re not turning this in for credit. You’re engaging with the content so you can change your life and not just get a new job, but build a career where you feel fulfilled, empowered, and able to support the life you want.

I wrote a Glossary of business terms. You’ll find it in the back of the book. It is meant to help you understand what I’m writing about in Chapters Three through Nine. Bookmark this Glossary and refer to it often. You’ll also notice that there are blank entries at the end of the Glossary. Those are for you. Add the words you don’t know, Google them, and fill in the definitions. 

Business acumen is important and relatively easy to understand. Just like new material for students, giving it some time and looking at it often will make all the difference. It will be helpful to go back and reference previous chapters as you read.