Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ruth Teeple. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ruth, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I have been in the education field for about 12 years but my business idea did not come until COVID hit. I had worked at schools as a pre-k and kindergarten teacher and with families providing private tutoring but wasn’t until COVID that I realized parents needed a way to support their kids as schools closed and classrooms became virtual and some parents took over their kids’ education needs and began homeschooling them. I knew exactly how to help, This is when I found out my purpose and my business was created.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My field is early childhood. I had always wanted to be a teacher and teach the little ones. When I became a mom I paused my career but I also discovered a whole new area within the field of education. I became a professional development trainer and this also led me to start my new business. I started enjoying part time jobs instead of having one full time job so I also work with exchange students through Academic Year in America. I work with the community and has been great working with the youth. I also became an adjunct instructor and working with adults has been very rewarding. I love every aspect of education and creating my business based on my passion of early childhood and psychology, has been one of the biggest risks I took. I make learning activities for kids and use my own imagination and my own ways to share with people. Not intended to be a huge business but also my hobby and also that brings me happiness while working from home. Every penny earned, goes to my 4 year old and my unborn baby girl.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three things that helped me through were, to keep at my goals regardless of what people say. Being bilingual has always been a plus, I can reach more people and relate to more as well. One last one would be self confidence. It goes with keeping my eye on the prize and keep on going regardless of what people say. Overall trusting myself and my expertise when no one arounds me understands my field or my goals.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
I love working on my activities but I am switching to everything virtual. I am working on transferring all my products to printables. Even though, I enjoy working on my activities on my own time, cutting everything by hand is time consuming when my products are overall cheap and there is only so much I can raise my prices. I wish I had more time to work on physical products but I also have other projects so doing everything online only seems to be the best alternative.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: facebook.com/teeplelittleshop
