[00:00:08] Kris: Welcome to a very special episode where Idea Week is teaming up with Rooted and Reaching for a series highlighting inspiring entrepreneurs, creators, and innovators who are making impact in their own unique way. [00:00:21] Kris: My name is Kris Priemer, and today I'm joined by a dear friend, Rebecca Rogers. [00:00:26] Kris: a former classroom teacher turned content creator. [00:00:29] Kris: And while she's no longer teaching in a traditional classroom, she continues to educate and inspire millions through creative learning, curiosity, and storytelling. [00:00:40] Kris: I am here with my dear friend, Rebecca Rogers, who is back in South Bend after 12 months. [00:00:47] Kris: She was here for the last Idea Week 2025. [00:00:50] Kris: We are now in Idea Week 2026, and we were so excited to have her back. [00:00:54] Kris: Welcome. [00:00:55] Kris: Welcome back to Momentum, too. [00:00:57] Rebecca: I saw, like, this place, Bare Bones Foundation. [00:01:00] Rebecca: Yes. [00:01:00] Rebecca: Like, when I was here last year, you were so excited because they were about to put the glass ceiling in in the lobby. [00:01:06] Rebecca: Oh. [00:01:06] Rebecca: That's when I saw it. [00:01:08] Kris: Oh, man. [00:01:09] Kris: This is so different than that. [00:01:10] Kris: I know. [00:01:11] Kris: I know. [00:01:11] Rebecca: So, like, even when I got here today and this morning and I was like, I know I'm already late, but. [00:01:15] Rebecca: But I have to, like, glance around at this masterpiece because I haven't gotten to see it all yet. [00:01:20] Rebecca: And after, I will be running around here like a toddler. [00:01:22] Rebecca: Yeah, we'll give you an official tour. [00:01:23] Rebecca: I'm very excited. [00:01:24] Kris: Oh, and you're going to hang out here the rest of the—well, hang out if you want to do some work here. [00:01:26] Kris: Oh, of course. [00:01:27] Rebecca: Of course. [00:01:28] Rebecca: Absolutely. [00:01:28] Rebecca: I'm going to go back and get my laptop because I'm a tornado person. [00:01:31] Rebecca: And I was like, I'm already late. [00:01:33] Rebecca: I don't have time to grab anything. [00:01:34] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:01:35] Rebecca: I have my caffeine. [00:01:36] Rebecca: And that's what I need. [00:01:37] Rebecca: That's all that matters this morning. [00:01:38] Kris: That's all that matters. [00:01:39] Kris: That's all that matters. [00:01:40] Kris: I had a Celsius so far. [00:01:41] Kris: I don't typically have Celsius. [00:01:43] Kris: What kind? [00:01:45] Kris: The guava. [00:01:46] Rebecca: I do like the guava. [00:01:47] Rebecca: Have you had the raspberry peach? [00:01:50] Kris: maybe like i so i i don't try to drink as much caffeine anymore okay and so i was off them no i was all i got off of them when i was like it was making me jittery okay yeah it was like two or three of them and then i ordered how many how much caffeine how much bad stuff was in it and so then i went off then went to diet coke then went off diet coke and then now uh it's been i was like i need something this week to just keep me going because of all the awesome stuff that we've already experienced this week um and [00:02:14] Kris: And we have more events today, which is great. [00:02:16] Kris: You're doing a panel with Jacqueline and then some other friends of ours. [00:02:20] Kris: And then we have a dinner and we have happy hour. [00:02:22] Kris: I'm so excited. [00:02:22] Kris: So I'm like, okay, I need a little jolt of... [00:02:24] Kris: Yes. [00:02:24] Kris: Just a little, just a little. [00:02:26] Rebecca: That's why I do chai, though, because if I do coffee, I get very jittery. [00:02:30] Rebecca: And then even if I have it at... [00:02:32] Rebecca: 11 a.m. [00:02:33] Rebecca: I can't sleep. [00:02:34] Rebecca: It's like 1 a.m. and I'm amped up and I'm like, what are we doing? [00:02:38] Rebecca: What's the plan? [00:02:39] Rebecca: I'm sitting there in bed like, I'm staring at a wall and I'm so bored. [00:02:42] Rebecca: I need to do something. [00:02:44] Rebecca: Which is why I go with my chai. [00:02:45] Kris: Chai latte? [00:02:47] Rebecca: Do you want to try this? [00:02:50] Rebecca: Okay, you need this. [00:02:51] Rebecca: This specifically. [00:02:52] Rebecca: This is the lavender cold foam chai. [00:02:57] Kris: And just to be clear, you know we have [00:03:02] Kris: I might say it wrong. [00:03:03] Kris: A rosé chai latte on draft. [00:03:06] Rebecca: Wait, chai latte? [00:03:07] Kris: I'm pretty sure it's chai latte on draft here upstairs. [00:03:09] Kris: You lied to me yesterday. [00:03:10] Kris: What did I say? [00:03:11] Rebecca: You said it was coffee. [00:03:12] Kris: We have cold brew, too, on tap. [00:03:14] Rebecca: I'm sweating right now. [00:03:17] Rebecca: Hold on a second. [00:03:18] Rebecca: I waited so long in that line today. [00:03:21] Rebecca: I was like, this is why I'm going to give Kris crap, because he only has coffee. [00:03:25] Rebecca: You have chai? [00:03:27] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:03:29] Kris: I'm sorry. [00:03:30] Kris: I'm sorry. [00:03:30] Kris: I'm sorry. [00:03:31] Kris: It's on tap too. [00:03:32] Kris: Like, I don't know if you, I don't know. [00:03:33] Rebecca: Oh, I will be getting extra. [00:03:36] Rebecca: I will be doubting this now. [00:03:37] Kris: Perfect. [00:03:38] Rebecca: A rosé chai. [00:03:39] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:03:40] Rebecca: I'm just going to have to move here. [00:03:41] Kris: Seasonal. [00:03:42] Kris: You know, we went from a dirty chai to a rosé chai. [00:03:47] Rebecca: My brain is broken right now. [00:03:52] Rebecca: My brain is broken. [00:03:53] Rebecca: Have you ever seen me speechless before? [00:03:55] Kris: Actually, I don't think that has ever happened. [00:03:58] Rebecca: In my life. [00:03:59] Rebecca: It has never happened in my life. [00:04:01] Rebecca: This is the first time. [00:04:04] Kris: Breaking news. [00:04:04] Kris: This is breaking news. [00:04:06] Kris: I have left her speechless. [00:04:08] Rebecca: I, you don't understand how chai is so important to me. [00:04:11] Rebecca: It just really is. [00:04:13] Rebecca: Okay. [00:04:13] Rebecca: We'll be trying this. [00:04:13] Rebecca: Okay. [00:04:14] Rebecca: Okay. [00:04:14] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:04:14] Kris: So, so, um, so I'll, I'm circling back. [00:04:18] Kris: Like, this is awesome. [00:04:20] Kris: I'm so glad you're here. [00:04:21] Kris: You texted me maybe, you know, a month and a half ago saying, Hey, heard about ID week again, got an email. [00:04:27] Kris: Can I come back? [00:04:28] Kris: And we were just like, yes, that'd be amazing. [00:04:31] Kris: And now you're here. [00:04:32] Rebecca: Yes. [00:04:32] Rebecca: Can I also tell, like, it felt like I was just here, which is crazy. [00:04:36] Rebecca: Like, because it's been a year for me. [00:04:38] Rebecca: And so literally when I started getting the Idea Week emails, I was like, I feel like I was just there. [00:04:45] Rebecca: That was so much fun. [00:04:46] Rebecca: I loved it. [00:04:47] Rebecca: It meant so much to me on so many levels. [00:04:49] Rebecca: And I told, I spoke a lot about it at our dinner last night about how not only just the idea of Idea Week, like the... [00:04:55] Rebecca: Community, the support of nature, the inspiration, the building up like that hits all my little teacher needs in my brain of like, I love being there. [00:05:05] Rebecca: It's just so fulfilling for me. [00:05:09] Rebecca: But then even seeing you with your project with Momentum, like on a personal level was so important for me, like with my journey of restarting and growing. [00:05:19] Rebecca: building back up and figuring out what the next path is that I was like, oh my God, I want to go again. [00:05:23] Rebecca: I think I talked to him like a few months ago and then I looked at our text and it was like from a year ago and I was like, ah, I suck. [00:05:30] Kris: And then how quickly, I responded within like 12 hours. [00:05:33] Kris: I didn't know if I'd have to wait another 12 months for the next response. [00:05:37] Rebecca: Perhaps, perhaps. [00:05:39] Rebecca: And I always say like, in like my grief, I become a tornado person and I just kind of like recluse and bunker in and I'm like, people will be there when I resurface at some point. [00:05:49] Rebecca: This is my time to cocoon and become a butterfly. [00:05:53] Kris: Sometimes I do. [00:05:56] Kris: So I see like your Instagram post. [00:05:58] Kris: And so in my mind, I'm like, oh, I'm going to give it a like to see if she ever will see it. [00:06:04] Rebecca: Oh, you think I will do that? [00:06:08] Kris: Noted. [00:06:08] Kris: Noted. [00:06:09] Kris: I'm now getting sweaty. [00:06:10] Kris: I'm like, oh, sometimes I'll do that to people so that like, you know, if I sent them an email or a phone call or a text. [00:06:16] Rebecca: See, that would, yes. [00:06:18] Kris: But then I'll give them the like to say like, oh, like, remember that you have an outstanding request. [00:06:24] Rebecca: I have 500,000 Instagram followers. [00:06:26] Rebecca: I don't see. [00:06:28] Kris: I thought I was special. [00:06:30] Kris: You are special. [00:06:32] Rebecca: I follow at least 5,000 people. [00:06:35] Rebecca: So even when I go to like my followings, like notifications, because I do that to like, am I missing somebody? [00:06:43] Rebecca: I love you. [00:06:44] Kris: I love you so much. [00:06:46] Kris: This is, yeah, we're just poking fun. [00:06:49] Rebecca: Oh, yes. [00:06:50] Rebecca: I feel bad. [00:06:52] Rebecca: It's fun, but then I also subconsciously, I'm like, I've been the worst friend in the last year. [00:06:55] Rebecca: No, no, no. [00:06:56] Kris: But you show, here's the thing, though. [00:06:58] Kris: You showed up. [00:06:59] Kris: Oh, always. [00:07:00] Kris: Yeah. [00:07:00] Kris: And so if there was something that, and this is interesting. [00:07:04] Kris: So we have, I would say now a couple mutual friends. [00:07:08] Kris: And with that group, I feel like it's, [00:07:12] Kris: we show up for each other, even though we're not seeing each other every day, we're not talking every day. [00:07:17] Kris: Oh, of course. [00:07:17] Kris: It's like, if there's a thing that, like, if you need me for something, like, hey, I'm doing this event somewhere, can you come help, you know, I don't know, set it up or be the... Come build everything for me. [00:07:28] Rebecca: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:07:28] Kris: Cool. [00:07:29] Kris: It doesn't work for my calendar, and I'll be there. [00:07:31] Kris: So I think that that's... [00:07:33] Kris: It's super unique that... [00:07:36] Kris: Do you have a lot of other friend groups that you do that with? [00:07:40] Rebecca: I think that's very much of like... That's my favorite part of this industry. [00:07:45] Rebecca: The social media industry. [00:07:46] Rebecca: Because I think that... [00:07:50] Rebecca: There's only so many different types of people that find success in this industry. [00:07:54] Rebecca: And so, so many of the people that you meet who find success are, like, very similar to you. [00:07:59] Rebecca: Because, again, like, there's only so many types of people that will succeed, thrive, love it, so on and so forth. [00:08:06] Kris: Yeah. [00:08:06] Rebecca: And so when you find those other people who are willing to go, like, out of their way for their people and for their circle, like, it just creates this... [00:08:14] Rebecca: amazing community of people who only get to see each other a couple times a year right sometimes once a year but like they're gonna be there that once a year and if they call you or need something like you what do you need you tell me what you need i'll show up like when my friend nathan was like hey i need it didn't even give me very many details just i need a crazy animal person and someone reliable [00:08:33] Kris: And by the way, you were going to Spain in like three days or four days. [00:08:38] Kris: I don't even know. [00:08:40] Rebecca: It's in like four or five days. [00:08:41] Kris: Yeah. [00:08:42] Kris: Yeah. [00:08:43] Kris: Yes. [00:08:43] Kris: So you talked to me a little about this, but I know you're going down that path. [00:08:48] Kris: So explain what that haul was. [00:08:50] Rebecca: So one of my best friends in the social media world, Nathan the Cat Lady. [00:08:55] Rebecca: It's so funny because we are so close. [00:08:57] Rebecca: We've been close for years. [00:08:58] Rebecca: And just ironically, just so happens his brothers live like 20 minutes from me. [00:09:03] Rebecca: So he's in California and I'm in North Carolina. [00:09:05] Rebecca: Opposite ends of the country. [00:09:06] Rebecca: Just so happens. [00:09:08] Rebecca: I like to tell him he's a bad uncle because he doesn't visit his nephews enough. [00:09:10] Rebecca: But I really just want him to visit me is actually what it is. [00:09:14] Rebecca: But he reached out to me a couple months ago and was just like, hey, a little last minute. [00:09:19] Rebecca: I need a crazy animal person and someone reliable to do something with dogs. [00:09:23] Rebecca: Oh, reliable. [00:09:24] Kris: Oh, reliable. [00:09:26] Kris: I show up. [00:09:27] Kris: I show up. [00:09:27] Rebecca: If I say I'm going to be somewhere, I'm going to be there. [00:09:30] Rebecca: I agree. [00:09:30] Rebecca: Don't look at. [00:09:32] Rebecca: Just side note. [00:09:32] Rebecca: How many unread text messages you think I have right now on my phone? [00:09:35] Kris: Oh, OK. OK. [00:09:36] Kris: This is. [00:09:37] Kris: Oh, man. [00:09:43] Kris: So let's go, let's go like 150. [00:09:45] Rebecca: You got to go up. [00:09:46] Kris: Okay. [00:09:47] Kris: I was going to go, I was going to say like a thousand, but I thought that would be insane. [00:09:51] Rebecca: It's close. [00:09:55] Kris: Okay. [00:09:55] Kris: Okay. [00:09:56] Kris: So this is interesting. [00:09:57] Kris: How do you, do you know all the people that the text messages are from? [00:10:02] Rebecca: Most, most of them. [00:10:03] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:10:03] Rebecca: Cause like a good bit are going to be like, this is your one time passcode. [00:10:08] Rebecca: Okay. [00:10:10] Kris: Okay, so you're saying, hey, I have all these text messages, but like 95% are... [00:10:16] Rebecca: I would say maybe like 10%. [00:10:19] Rebecca: Yeah, I agree. [00:10:20] Rebecca: I know. [00:10:21] Rebecca: Or group messages. [00:10:22] Rebecca: Sometimes they get so overwhelming. [00:10:23] Kris: Oh, you got to mute those. [00:10:25] Rebecca: I'm like, that's a lot of things to say. [00:10:29] Kris: Sometimes, and I think when you get to that level of unreads, you don't feel guilty as much because sometimes I will feel like I'll go through and see the unreads and I'll be like, oh, but if I read it, then I don't have a response to the question. [00:10:44] Kris: Then it disappears into oblivion. [00:10:47] Kris: Yeah, it just goes away. [00:10:48] Kris: But it's not trying to be rude to people. [00:10:49] Kris: It's just like... [00:10:51] Rebecca: I will get to this when I have the mental capacity. [00:10:53] Kris: Yeah. [00:10:53] Rebecca: But I don't actually ever have the mental capacity. [00:10:57] Rebecca: Because I'm a tornado person. [00:11:00] Rebecca: It's like, oh, I want to give this the attention it deserves. [00:11:03] Rebecca: It's good intentions. [00:11:04] Kris: So I feel very honored that you responded to my text message. [00:11:08] Rebecca: Like, I was like... 12 months, but you know... [00:11:10] Rebecca: I want to be there. [00:11:11] Rebecca: I want to be back. [00:11:12] Rebecca: I want to be back in idea. [00:11:13] Rebecca: When you told it, I was like... [00:11:14] Rebecca: I'll never forget that moment that I looked at the date and I was like, that's embarrassing. [00:11:20] Rebecca: For me. [00:11:22] Rebecca: But, okay, so Nathan was like, I need someone that's reliable. [00:11:24] Rebecca: I need someone who's going to show up. [00:11:26] Kris: Yep. [00:11:26] Rebecca: And I said, oh my God, absolutely. [00:11:28] Rebecca: Like, whatever you need. [00:11:28] Rebecca: He's like, I need two weeks of your time. [00:11:30] Rebecca: And I'm like, that's a big deal. [00:11:32] Rebecca: That's a big ask. [00:11:33] Rebecca: That's a big ask. [00:11:34] Rebecca: And in general, but like anyone who knows me, I don't like to leave my house. [00:11:38] Rebecca: I love to sit on my couch with my cats. [00:11:41] Rebecca: And it takes like a lot for me to want to get out of my house. [00:11:43] Kris: And that's like being a former teacher. [00:11:45] Kris: That's like a whole spring break or two spring breaks of time, right? [00:11:48] Kris: It's like saying- [00:11:49] Kris: That's a long time. [00:11:50] Rebecca: And let me tell you, I get anxious if I'm gone for more than a week because one of my cats is a Velcro cat and he just wants to be on me at all times. [00:12:00] Kris: I thought that was a species of cat. [00:12:04] Rebecca: Yeah, it now is. [00:12:05] Rebecca: I've had to get one of those mommy wraps that you wrap around your body so I can get housework done. [00:12:11] Rebecca: Because if I don't, if he's not on me and I'm trying to get anything done around the house, he'll just sit there and yell at me until I sit down. [00:12:20] Rebecca: I've bullied by my cats is really what it is. [00:12:22] Rebecca: So two weeks, long time. [00:12:25] Rebecca: And I didn't really know anything else. [00:12:26] Rebecca: He was like, yeah, we're going to go rescue some dogs. [00:12:28] Rebecca: And I was like, cool. [00:12:30] Rebecca: Sounds good. [00:12:31] Rebecca: I didn't even know until like a couple of weeks later, like the severity of what we're getting into, because I even thought about it. [00:12:38] Rebecca: I was like, this is odd because we have our own issues with strays and full shelters and things like that. [00:12:46] Rebecca: So we're taking dogs from one place and just like bringing them here. [00:12:50] Rebecca: Like, I don't know. [00:12:51] Rebecca: I said, I know there's more to it because it's Nathan. [00:12:53] Rebecca: There's got to be more to it. [00:12:55] Rebecca: I'm just confused, but I'm sure I'll get relevant information at some point. [00:13:00] Rebecca: And then when we had our first meeting about the trip, he told me that Spanish greyhounds specifically are statistically the most abused dog in the world. [00:13:09] Kris: Oh, wow. [00:13:09] Rebecca: In the entire world, which is crazy because I've seen like horrible things here. [00:13:13] Rebecca: And I'm like, okay, what is... [00:13:15] Kris: What does that look like? [00:13:16] Rebecca: And so he told me a lot about how it's kind of like an old gen culture tradition kind of thing of, you know, these dogs are used for, you know, here we breed. [00:13:27] Rebecca: Obviously, you're not supposed to, but like horrible people breed dogs for fighting and things like that. [00:13:32] Rebecca: There, they're bred more for like hair hunting and racing. [00:13:36] Rebecca: But when they don't perform well, it's seen as like, well, they also use them for like sports betting and things like that. [00:13:43] Rebecca: When they don't perform well, it's seen as dishonorable on the household kind of thing. [00:13:48] Rebecca: And so to get that honor back, they must punish the weak. [00:13:53] Kris: Wow. [00:13:54] Rebecca: And the more brutal they are, the more honor is supposed to be bestowed back onto the household, which is horrendous. [00:14:02] Kris: Yeah. [00:14:02] Rebecca: Horrendous. [00:14:03] Rebecca: So it's like this idea of... [00:14:06] Rebecca: Obviously, there's a bunch of fosters who've already agreed to take the dogs or bring them back. [00:14:11] Rebecca: But even the idea of stray here is still going to be better than being there. [00:14:16] Kris: So you're bringing them rescuing? [00:14:19] Kris: Yes. [00:14:19] Rebecca: So every boots-on-the-ground person that goes is able to assign five dogs to their passport. [00:14:25] Rebecca: Which is why having someone like reliable is important because if someone bails last minute, that's like five dogs that we prepped that now can't be saved. [00:14:34] Rebecca: And like that's frustrating. [00:14:36] Kris: Have you traveled with pets before? [00:14:38] Rebecca: No. [00:14:40] Kris: I feel like that's a whole thing, not only like domestically, but trying to go overseas. [00:14:46] Kris: So you're going to have a lot of new experiences. [00:14:48] Rebecca: I am because I like I had to switch vets because just taking my cats in the car for more than five minutes is like I want to die right now. [00:14:55] Rebecca: Like she's trained me. [00:14:57] Rebecca: I genuinely am like, are you actually hurt or are you just messing with me? [00:15:01] Rebecca: I can't tell. [00:15:02] Rebecca: Like if I had to pull over and check on my cat, like just to make sure that she was just gaslighting me. [00:15:10] Kris: But she does. [00:15:13] Rebecca: She does it all the time. [00:15:14] Rebecca: Whether it be about the car or I didn't get fed today. [00:15:19] Rebecca: Yes, you did. [00:15:20] Rebecca: It's not an automatic feeder. [00:15:21] Rebecca: I know you did. [00:15:23] Rebecca: But that's why we also can't take checked luggage. [00:15:27] Rebecca: So we're going to be abroad for two weeks. [00:15:30] Rebecca: No checked luggage. [00:15:32] Rebecca: I got the little vacuum seal bag. [00:15:33] Rebecca: I'm ready to go. [00:15:36] Rebecca: And just carry on in a backpack. [00:15:37] Kris: Have you been to Spain before? [00:15:39] Rebecca: I've been to Cadiz, but that's it. [00:15:42] Rebecca: So I am excited. [00:15:43] Rebecca: I'm definitely excited. [00:15:44] Rebecca: Do you speak Spanish? [00:15:45] Kris: No, no. [00:15:46] Kris: I speak French. [00:15:50] Rebecca: I still don't speak that great. [00:15:52] Rebecca: I can read it. [00:15:53] Rebecca: I can probably talk to an elementary school kid for sure. [00:15:56] Kris: Fair, fair, fair. [00:15:59] Kris: As you switched from teaching to creating content, is there anything you missed? [00:16:09] Kris: I know you still teach through your videos. [00:16:12] Kris: Is there anything you miss about being in the classroom? [00:16:15] Kris: And how do you stay like connected to like what's the current challenges, let's say, of classroom teaching and like how like because you're not there today. [00:16:25] Kris: Oh, yeah. [00:16:25] Kris: I was like in it. [00:16:27] Kris: I was in the trenches. [00:16:29] Kris: I would call like I don't know how you what words you define yourself with, but I would say you're entrepreneurial. [00:16:35] Kris: Would you agree? [00:16:36] Kris: Yeah, absolutely. [00:16:37] Kris: you know, solving a pain point that you often are experiencing is, that's the best thing. [00:16:42] Kris: And so, oh, I was having trouble with, I don't want to say having trouble, but like the content. [00:16:47] Kris: And so now I do that. [00:16:49] Kris: But you've gotten further away from that problem. [00:16:51] Kris: So how do you, yeah, like how do you stay connected to like what's happening and what's going on and like how to morph? [00:16:56] Rebecca: I think that's the thing that like, this makes me think of, [00:17:02] Rebecca: Kind of a story, like an interaction that I had with some people when I was first leaving the classroom. [00:17:06] Rebecca: Because I think the answer that surprises a lot of people is that you have to accept that you can't. [00:17:13] Rebecca: And I think that's a really important thing to accept. [00:17:16] Rebecca: Because I was at a conference years ago when I was first leaving the classroom. [00:17:22] Rebecca: And it was definitely not my favorite kind of atmosphere. [00:17:26] Rebecca: It was not like Idea Week. [00:17:27] Rebecca: It was very much like... [00:17:30] Rebecca: It reminded me of Grifter TikTok. [00:17:33] Kris: It just did. [00:17:34] Rebecca: It was like... [00:17:39] Rebecca: A bunch of like kids that remind me of frat bros running around. [00:17:44] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:17:44] Rebecca: It was like that kind of. [00:17:45] Rebecca: It was not like professional or inspiring or supportive. [00:17:50] Rebecca: It was just, it felt like grifting is really what it felt like. [00:17:54] Rebecca: And I was like ready to leave. [00:17:56] Rebecca: So I just remember sitting outside by myself, like contemplating my escape of the building. [00:18:01] Rebecca: And some guys came and asked if they could sit down, which was crazy because there were 15 open tables and I was [00:18:09] Kris: I was like the only one. [00:18:10] Rebecca: And I was like, I'm just sitting by myself. [00:18:13] Rebecca: And they were like, oh, is anyone sitting here? [00:18:15] Rebecca: I thought they wanted the chairs. [00:18:16] Rebecca: I was like, yeah, no. [00:18:19] Kris: I already checked with a similar experience from yesterday. [00:18:22] Kris: So did you chat with Sarah at all? [00:18:26] Rebecca: Not as much as I wanted to. [00:18:28] Rebecca: She was so kind. [00:18:29] Kris: So for the listeners, Sarah Larson Levy, founder of Y7 Studio, is in town for ID Week as well. [00:18:35] Kris: And we were together last night. [00:18:37] Kris: And she told her story. [00:18:39] Kris: But at dinner, we were sitting by the river. [00:18:42] Kris: And she's like, oh, I want to take a picture. [00:18:44] Kris: And she was like, I was standing over there. [00:18:46] Kris: And I was like, oh, I thought she wanted to take a picture of me. [00:18:48] Kris: Like with the background. [00:18:50] Kris: She did not want me in it. [00:18:52] Kris: She just wanted the picture of the river. [00:18:55] Rebecca: I saw that happen and I was like, ah. [00:18:57] Kris: Yeah, so that experience of thinking that people wanted something and then it was like, oh. [00:19:04] Rebecca: It's like, oh, oh, never mind. [00:19:05] Kris: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:19:06] Kris: Oh, okay, I have another one. [00:19:08] Kris: Go, go, go, go. [00:19:09] Kris: What I want to hear. [00:19:09] Kris: No, no, no, go ahead. [00:19:10] Rebecca: I'm the same way. [00:19:11] Rebecca: You say whatever you want. [00:19:12] Rebecca: It's your podcast. [00:19:13] Kris: Yeah, yeah. [00:19:13] Kris: I don't know if you met Nick last night. [00:19:16] Kris: He was kind of sitting kitty corner to you. [00:19:18] Kris: Yes, yes, yes, yes. [00:19:19] Kris: So kind. [00:19:19] Kris: So we got old fashions, you know, cocktails. [00:19:23] Kris: And so I had mine in my hand and he had his and he was holding his plate of food. [00:19:27] Kris: And he reaches out with his cocktail. [00:19:31] Kris: And he didn't say anything because I think there were a couple of people sitting around. [00:19:34] Kris: And so I thought he wanted me to take it. [00:19:38] Kris: And so I reached out my hand, like flat-palmed, to grab his cocktail. [00:19:42] Kris: He wanted to cheers. [00:19:44] Kris: He wanted to cheers. [00:19:48] Kris: I was so embarrassed. [00:19:51] Kris: These were all friends, but I was like, I was so... [00:19:53] Kris: I'm even probably getting red now. [00:19:54] Kris: Like, embarrassed. [00:19:55] Kris: Like, oh, like, it reminded me of... [00:19:58] Rebecca: When I didn't know how to use the purse holder. [00:20:00] Kris: Well, we got that, too. [00:20:02] Kris: The meme of, like, where the lady holds up her plate and the other lady holds up her plate to toast plates. [00:20:06] Kris: And it was really, like... [00:20:08] Kris: Oh, she wanted to share it? [00:20:09] Kris: Like it wasn't about toasting plates? [00:20:11] Kris: Like, oh, let me just hold this cocktail? [00:20:14] Kris: So, yeah. [00:20:16] Kris: The sitting there and thinking they wanted the chairs, I can, that feeling. [00:20:20] Kris: Anyway, I interrupted your story. [00:20:21] Rebecca: You're fine. [00:20:22] Rebecca: Well, I just, they were like, is anyone sitting here? [00:20:25] Rebecca: And I was like, oh, no, go ahead. [00:20:26] Rebecca: And they just sat down and I was like, that's not what I wanted. [00:20:31] Kris: But I think there's also sometimes the opposite. [00:20:33] Kris: No, no, you're okay, you're okay. [00:20:36] Kris: Um, sometimes it's like, is anyone sitting here? [00:20:39] Kris: And you, you, you thought they were maybe going to sit down and then people are like, oh, okay, thank you. [00:20:44] Kris: And they take the chair away. [00:20:46] Kris: I've had that happen before too. [00:20:47] Rebecca: I feel like that would be like a thing if I knew them. [00:20:51] Rebecca: I've never met them before. [00:20:52] Rebecca: Oh, okay. [00:20:53] Rebecca: I didn't know who these people were. [00:20:54] Rebecca: So I just assumed and then they just sat down and I was like, why, why, why? [00:20:59] Rebecca: sitting here, but okay. [00:21:00] Kris: Okay, frat boy conference. [00:21:02] Kris: People stole the chairs. [00:21:03] Kris: Oh, no, sorry. [00:21:04] Rebecca: People sat down. [00:21:05] Rebecca: And they were just, like, making small talk. [00:21:07] Rebecca: And I was like, I don't know about me sitting in, like, the very back corner table by myself. [00:21:13] Rebecca: Makes you think I want to do small talk right now. [00:21:15] Rebecca: Because I usually love small talk. [00:21:17] Rebecca: I was just not having a good time at this conference. [00:21:21] Rebecca: I'm like, I could sit and talk to anyone about anything for hours. [00:21:25] Rebecca: Very clearly, like, back to everyone, like... [00:21:28] Rebecca: I just very clearly wanted to be by myself. [00:21:31] Rebecca: I was not enjoying this conference. [00:21:33] Rebecca: And we were doing small talk and they were asking me what I was doing and what kind of content that I made. [00:21:38] Rebecca: And I told them and I let them know I was just in the process of leaving the classroom. [00:21:42] Rebecca: And they were like, you know what you should do is you should totally make videos about the best ways for teachers to teach. [00:21:50] Rebecca: And I was like, oh, that's actually... [00:21:52] Rebecca: I understand the thought process, but that's a very taboo thing in education. [00:21:56] Rebecca: Because the idea is that... [00:21:59] Rebecca: when you're not in the classroom anymore, like, you physically do not know what it's like teaching in this atmosphere. [00:22:07] Rebecca: And, like, the education climate changes so much every year with each new year of kids and whether it be legislation or policy or just the generation of students. [00:22:21] Rebecca: Like, it's so different every year. [00:22:23] Rebecca: If you're not in it, you're never going to get it. [00:22:27] Kris: Yeah, because what year did you leave the classroom? [00:22:32] Rebecca: 2021. [00:22:32] Rebecca: Okay. [00:22:33] Kris: Yeah. [00:22:34] Kris: And then what year did you start in the classroom? [00:22:37] Rebecca: 2018, 2017, 2018. [00:22:38] Rebecca: Okay. [00:22:39] Kris: Because I even think with those years, probably the relationship of students with social media and phones. [00:22:45] Kris: Very different. [00:22:46] Kris: So different. [00:22:47] Kris: Even now, like even more so now. [00:22:49] Rebecca: Yes. [00:22:50] Rebecca: Like it genuinely changes so much every day. [00:22:53] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:22:53] Rebecca: Every year. [00:22:54] Rebecca: I mean, really every day, but it changes it so much every year, like drastically. [00:22:59] Rebecca: And so it's like a very taboo idea of like people who are not in the classroom shouldn't be telling teachers what is or isn't best. [00:23:07] Rebecca: Like it doesn't make sense because they're not in it. [00:23:09] Rebecca: They don't know what the classroom climate is. [00:23:11] Rebecca: They don't know what kids are doing. [00:23:13] Rebecca: They don't know what the trends are right now. [00:23:15] Rebecca: Right, right. [00:23:16] Rebecca: That's something that I've always tried very hard to stay true to because I know that when I was teaching and someone who had not been in the classroom for 10 years was like, this is the best way. [00:23:26] Rebecca: I'm like, I know I'm a newbie and I don't know what's best, but I know you don't know what's best. [00:23:32] Rebecca: I know I'm going to ask someone who's still doing it now over someone who hasn't been doing it in years. [00:23:40] Rebecca: And so I will never... [00:23:44] Rebecca: I will never pretend like I do, and I will never pretend like, oh yeah, I was just there. [00:23:50] Rebecca: Even if I was just there a year ago, I still wouldn't do that because it just is so different every year. [00:23:58] Rebecca: So I think like... [00:24:00] Rebecca: I think, and I don't know, because I've only worked in education. [00:24:04] Rebecca: I'm assuming that could be true for a lot of different occupations. [00:24:08] Rebecca: And I think it's very important, like, when you step away, if you do something more, even though, like, for me, my heart will always be in education. [00:24:14] Rebecca: I will always value educators and listen to educators and care about educators. [00:24:20] Rebecca: I think having that respect of, like... [00:24:23] Rebecca: I understand that I'm not going to understand what it is that's happening in this sphere. [00:24:28] Rebecca: And like I can do what I can to honor it and try to talk about pain points that I hear about. [00:24:33] Rebecca: But I can't be like, oh, yes, this is what teachers are dealing with right now. [00:24:37] Rebecca: And I think that's just the respectful answer. [00:24:39] Kris: Yeah. [00:24:40] Kris: Yeah. [00:24:40] Kris: Yeah. [00:24:40] Kris: Yeah. [00:24:41] Kris: And that's important to me. [00:24:42] Kris: Yeah. [00:24:42] Kris: You know, it made me think of like I know like my experience as an entrepreneur and the early days of. [00:24:52] Kris: the different struggles, whether it be like feeling isolated struggles by yourself or just the risk of going from, let's say, a paycheck to non-paycheck. [00:25:02] Kris: Did you wait until you had, let's say, consistent revenue from your outside of school before you made the switch or did you were like, [00:25:12] Kris: cold turkey. [00:25:13] Kris: And how did, so maybe talk about that a little bit. [00:25:16] Kris: Also, how did that make you, how did you make that feel or how did you cope with it? [00:25:20] Kris: Depending on, because I think that's, again, I know my experience, but I like hearing the resonate, the resonating. [00:25:27] Kris: This is going to kill you. [00:25:28] Kris: Uh-oh. [00:25:29] Kris: Oh, no. [00:25:30] Rebecca: So I didn't even know you could make money on social media for a really long time. [00:25:35] Rebecca: I don't know. [00:25:38] Rebecca: Like I was literally just like working two jobs and I wasn't getting paid for one. [00:25:44] Rebecca: And it was like literally like two, I wouldn't even say two 40-hour work weeks because let's be honest, teaching was like a 100-hour work week on its own. [00:25:55] Rebecca: So it's so funny because I don't know what was in the water, but the county that I worked for had numerous very large, they called them at the time TikTok teachers. [00:26:06] Rebecca: And another one was actually at my school. [00:26:08] Rebecca: And we're still very close to this day. [00:26:10] Rebecca: Love Brenda. [00:26:11] Rebecca: Love her very much. [00:26:13] Rebecca: But there was, you know, Brenda at my school. [00:26:15] Rebecca: And there was a gym teacher at the feeder middle school. [00:26:18] Rebecca: And there was an elementary school teacher. [00:26:19] Rebecca: I think it was Mrs. [00:26:20] Rebecca: Page, like, across the county. [00:26:22] Rebecca: And I think there were a couple more. [00:26:23] Rebecca: But, like, us four, at least, were the ones that were, like, in the millions. [00:26:27] Rebecca: Right? [00:26:27] Rebecca: Yep. [00:26:28] Kris: And we'll clarify because you just millions of followers. [00:26:32] Rebecca: Yes. [00:26:33] Rebecca: Yes. [00:26:33] Rebecca: Yes. [00:26:34] Rebecca: Yes. [00:26:35] Rebecca: Oh, I wish I wish it was dollars. [00:26:37] Kris: Yeah, I know. [00:26:38] Kris: This is like starting. [00:26:39] Kris: I was like, oh, you first you didn't know you could make revenue. [00:26:42] Kris: And I didn't want people to think. [00:26:43] Kris: Oh, yeah. [00:26:43] Kris: No, no. [00:26:44] Kris: We're not that fancy. [00:26:45] Rebecca: We're not that fancy. [00:26:46] Kris: I didn't know revenue, but we were all making millions the first year. [00:26:49] Rebecca: Oh, God, I wish. [00:26:50] Kris: Yeah. [00:26:51] Rebecca: That would be amazing. [00:26:52] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:26:54] Rebecca: Then all my problems would be solved. [00:26:56] Rebecca: But so it was really interesting even between like Brenda and I having different rules given to us because we were even at the same school. [00:27:07] Rebecca: Right. [00:27:07] Rebecca: And like she taught Spanish. [00:27:08] Rebecca: I taught social studies. [00:27:10] Rebecca: We shared the same students. [00:27:11] Rebecca: And it was just very interesting seeing like Brenda, for example, a parent, like she did a silly video about like there was a trend. [00:27:19] Rebecca: I don't remember exactly what it was, but something of like being that teacher, like paranoid that kids are. [00:27:23] Rebecca: cheating kind of thing and a parent just assumed you're talking about my child and Brenda was like are you adding your kid as like a cheater in my class like I don't I didn't have anyone in mind but if you want to let me know your kid cheats in my class like you can let me know that did the early and I don't ask a question you have an answer like did were your students part of your audience oh yeah at the beginning or was it like did you try to like [00:27:49] Rebecca: For them. [00:27:49] Rebecca: Because it was just supposed to be, like, an inside joke during lockdowns of, like, how can I connect with them? [00:27:55] Rebecca: I didn't think anyone else was going to care. [00:27:57] Rebecca: And here we are now. [00:28:00] Rebecca: Like, I didn't... [00:28:01] Rebecca: I had literally zero expectations. [00:28:04] Rebecca: I was just trying to make them, like, turn their cameras in and online learning. [00:28:07] Rebecca: That's all I wanted. [00:28:08] Rebecca: And it did. [00:28:09] Rebecca: It worked. [00:28:11] Rebecca: But so, like... [00:28:12] Rebecca: Brenda being accused of making this video about a kid and our principal was, oh, don't worry, I got your back. [00:28:19] Rebecca: You're not doing anything wrong. [00:28:21] Rebecca: As long as it's not during school hours, you're good to record whatever you want. [00:28:24] Rebecca: Nothing is the problem. [00:28:26] Rebecca: And then for me, it was like different. [00:28:30] Rebecca: From the principal, the principal was like, you can't record on campus. [00:28:33] Rebecca: And I was like... [00:28:35] Rebecca: Why? [00:28:35] Rebecca: And then the county followed up and was like, no, no, you can record whatever you want, but you can't monetize. [00:28:41] Rebecca: And I was like, I'm not monetizing anything. [00:28:45] Rebecca: Like, I didn't even know you could do that. [00:28:47] Kris: You're like, oh, tell me more about this monetization. [00:28:49] Kris: Yeah. [00:28:50] Rebecca: They were like, well, we see on YouTube, like there are ads on your videos. [00:28:55] Rebecca: We know how this works. [00:28:56] Rebecca: And I was like, I don't think you do because I'm not getting any of this money. [00:29:01] Rebecca: Like, I don't know what you're talking about. [00:29:04] Rebecca: Like, I would love if I was. [00:29:06] Rebecca: But I'm not. [00:29:08] Rebecca: But it was like so weird. [00:29:09] Rebecca: And they were like, no, no, no, we know. [00:29:10] Rebecca: I'm like, you very clearly don't. [00:29:13] Rebecca: I'm not going to sit here and argue like this with you. [00:29:15] Rebecca: Like if this is what's important to you. [00:29:17] Rebecca: And it was so weird. [00:29:18] Rebecca: And I asked them straight up. [00:29:20] Rebecca: I still have this recorded on my laptop. [00:29:22] Rebecca: But like I asked them straight up. [00:29:24] Rebecca: I said, this week we've had parents protesting because the bus driver shortage is so severe that elementary school kids aren't being dropped off until 6 p.m. [00:29:36] Rebecca: As of this morning, I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head, but I know it was thousands. [00:29:43] Rebecca: There are thousands of just teacher vacancies in this county. [00:29:49] Rebecca: Now, granted, we have one of the largest counties. [00:29:51] Rebecca: We have 17 high schools. [00:29:53] Rebecca: I'm sure you can imagine everything in between. [00:29:56] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:29:57] Rebecca: Thousands of just teacher vacancies. [00:29:59] Rebecca: I looked this morning. [00:30:01] Rebecca: Why is this like your concern? [00:30:04] Rebecca: Why is this like if I'm doing a good job, you say there's no parent complaints from anyone in our county. [00:30:11] Rebecca: And it was like a. [00:30:13] Rebecca: well, what if some mom in Nebraska doesn't know that you're not talking about your current students? [00:30:18] Rebecca: I said, who cares? [00:30:19] Rebecca: Why is this your concern? [00:30:22] Rebecca: Your principal asked us to tell you that you can't monetize. [00:30:25] Rebecca: And I said, okay. [00:30:28] Rebecca: I guess I'm just going to go do something else. [00:30:30] Rebecca: And so I was like, they were like, no, we're not saying you have to leave. [00:30:33] Rebecca: And I was like, oh, I understand. [00:30:35] Rebecca: Don't you worry. [00:30:36] Rebecca: I'm aware. [00:30:37] Rebecca: Thank you. [00:30:37] Rebecca: I said, what are the, is it 30 days or two weeks notice? [00:30:41] Rebecca: And they were like, oh, it's 30 days. [00:30:42] Rebecca: I said, okay, today's day one. [00:30:44] Rebecca: And they're like, well, we're not telling you. [00:30:46] Rebecca: I said, no, no, no. [00:30:47] Rebecca: I'm good. [00:30:48] Rebecca: This is day one. [00:30:49] Rebecca: It's fine. [00:30:50] Rebecca: And I had no plan. [00:30:52] Rebecca: And I genuinely assumed, I said, I'm probably just going to find some kind of ed tech company and try to use the experience that I have. [00:30:59] Rebecca: Because even before social media, I was doing these animated content videos for the kids during lockdowns. [00:31:05] Rebecca: I'm not great at tech savvy, but I can teach myself. [00:31:08] Rebecca: Excuse me. [00:31:10] Rebecca: So I just assumed I was going to go for an ed tech position or something. [00:31:14] Rebecca: And I kid you not, the week after... [00:31:17] Rebecca: I got an email from YouTube that was like, congratulations, you have now reached a milestone where you can monetize. [00:31:25] Rebecca: And I said, oh, I don't know what that means. [00:31:28] Rebecca: And they had this thing at the time called the shorts bonus. [00:31:30] Rebecca: Because YouTube shorts were not... [00:31:33] Rebecca: monetizable with ads yet okay so they just did like shorts bonus and i got my first shorts bonus and it was like double my teacher salary for the month and i was like oh i can do this i don't need to go anywhere what am i doing so so like yeah so so the um so like i would say say the your if you had like a uh [00:31:58] Kris: let's say that pain in your stomach of not knowing what's going to happen next. [00:32:02] Kris: It was very short lived because by happenstance, like if it was a week, you know, I was like, oh, the uncertainty of, you know, I'm sure you did some savings, you know, before. [00:32:12] Kris: But still, it's like when you don't know where your next paycheck comes from, it makes you nervous when you're first starting out. [00:32:20] Kris: I would say right now, I never... [00:32:22] Kris: Now, even if I don't know, I'm like, it's going to work out. [00:32:26] Rebecca: Yes. [00:32:26] Kris: Because I will work hard enough to make it work. [00:32:29] Kris: And I've learned innately that that helps create the thing. [00:32:32] Kris: But the first time, it's like, oh. [00:32:35] Rebecca: I had a little bit of a safety net in my mind. [00:32:38] Kris: And I guess you could have done like a substitute teacher. [00:32:40] Kris: There's a lot of things with your skill sets. [00:32:42] Kris: If worse comes to worse, like I need to pay my mortgage, there are options. [00:32:47] Rebecca: Sorry. [00:32:48] Kris: You also said that there are a thousand vacant, you know, teaching jobs. [00:32:53] Kris: Well, so not back then. [00:32:55] Rebecca: Well, so there were a lot of people don't know. [00:32:59] Rebecca: So you when you apply, like you work for the county. [00:33:02] Rebecca: So no matter what, if I if I put in my notice, like that's for the whole county. [00:33:07] Rebecca: And if I don't leave on good terms, I'm not coming back to this county. [00:33:11] Rebecca: I had a couple safety nets in my brain. [00:33:13] Rebecca: First of all, at the time, I was married. [00:33:16] Rebecca: I guess that one's fine. [00:33:17] Rebecca: It's fine. [00:33:19] Kris: We can dig in there. [00:33:22] Rebecca: Have you not seen my saga on why I got divorced? [00:33:25] Rebecca: It's all out there. [00:33:27] Kris: Oh, I saw it. [00:33:28] Kris: It's like three hours of one of your four hours. [00:33:30] Kris: Oh, I know. [00:33:30] Rebecca: People wanted the details. [00:33:31] Rebecca: I was like, okay, if you want the details, that's fine. [00:33:34] Rebecca: Yeah, yeah. [00:33:35] Rebecca: I did see that. [00:33:36] Rebecca: It's like very therapeutic and cathartic. [00:33:38] Rebecca: That's good. [00:33:39] Rebecca: I'm glad for you. [00:33:40] Rebecca: Yeah. [00:33:41] Rebecca: I'm like looking back and I'm like, oh, wow, that was abuse. [00:33:45] Rebecca: That's so interesting. [00:33:46] Rebecca: I'm so glad I'm not crazy. [00:33:48] Rebecca: But so like I was married. [00:33:50] Rebecca: I had that privilege. [00:33:52] Rebecca: I had my parents living 20 minutes down the road. [00:33:55] Rebecca: Again, very privileged in that aspect. [00:33:57] Rebecca: I also I didn't know that you could monetize like social media, but I did know that like you could do brand deals online. [00:34:04] Rebecca: Which I had done like one before. [00:34:06] Rebecca: Actually, I think I had done two. [00:34:08] Rebecca: I think I did one for Sam's Club and one for Cry Cut. [00:34:12] Rebecca: And I was like, okay, if I can manage to get one of those a month, those also were larger than my teacher's salary. [00:34:18] Rebecca: So if I can get one a month until I can find something, I can justify this in my brain. [00:34:25] Kris: Did you have any, like, either, whether it be, and this is, I think, a super interesting question. [00:34:33] Rebecca: Yeah, you're good. [00:34:34] Kris: You know, either growing up, you know, let's say before you went to college, like, so in high school or even, like, late college. [00:34:42] Kris: Is it middle school? [00:34:43] Kris: I don't know. [00:34:43] Kris: What's that? [00:34:44] Kris: I taught high school. [00:34:45] Kris: Yeah, but whatever something eighth grade is called. [00:34:48] Kris: Oh, yeah, middle school. [00:34:48] Kris: Yeah. [00:34:50] Kris: Did you have like odd jobs that you felt entrepreneurial in? [00:34:55] Kris: Like I'm thinking, you know, how sometimes people grow up like mow lawns or do car washes, you know, or was this really that first step into entrepreneurship? [00:35:05] Kris: like an entrepreneurial mindset of, oh, I can do these brand deals, I can reach out, I can, you know, try to negotiate this. [00:35:11] Kris: Because I think what's, you know, I did a lot of entrepreneurial things. [00:35:17] Kris: I didn't know that's what it was growing up. [00:35:19] Kris: And I didn't, when I went to college, like, I still didn't know that word, entrepreneurship. [00:35:25] Kris: And so it wasn't until after that, that I kind of like, oh, the things I like doing, that's what it is. [00:35:30] Kris: But you seem to have, like, [00:35:32] Kris: had innately gotten those skills, maybe, or to be able to... Yeah, you chalk it up to, I'd be a really good teacher. [00:35:37] Kris: Yeah, yeah, because I was like, oh, like... Because I think, even though you didn't know monetization, very quickly understanding, like, brand deals feels like you would have had some of that. [00:35:50] Rebecca: I think, so I, growing up, I did do, I did like a lot of pet sitting. [00:35:53] Rebecca: I did a lot of babysitting. [00:35:55] Rebecca: But I've always been like that group leader of the project type of vibe. [00:36:00] Rebecca: Yeah, yeah. [00:36:01] Rebecca: And I always identified it as like, I want to be a teacher. [00:36:04] Rebecca: I'm very good at handling things. [00:36:06] Rebecca: I'm very good at setting things up. [00:36:07] Rebecca: I can make a plan. [00:36:09] Rebecca: I'm good in crisis. [00:36:10] Rebecca: I can, I can do what needs to be done. [00:36:13] Rebecca: I'm like the countable, reliable, like you might not hear from me for 12 months, but [00:36:18] Rebecca: I might disappear off the face of the earth, but if I had a deadline, I'm gonna show up out of thin air. [00:36:24] Rebecca: You're gonna be like, oh, you're alive. [00:36:25] Rebecca: I am, and here's everything I said I was gonna bring you. [00:36:28] Rebecca: Like, I... And I... [00:36:32] Rebecca: I remember sitting in my fifth grade classroom thinking, like, I want to be a teacher. [00:36:37] Rebecca: And all of these skills that go into this entrepreneurial mindset that we were just talking about, I kind of chalked up to, oh, I was always meant to be an educator. [00:36:46] Rebecca: And I genuinely thought that I would be a teacher for 30 years. [00:36:50] Rebecca: And I would have loved to be a teacher for 30 years. [00:36:53] Rebecca: I planned that since fifth grade. [00:36:55] Kris: Yeah. [00:36:56] Rebecca: I got my teaching license. [00:36:59] Rebecca: I have a degree. [00:37:00] Rebecca: I even just got an email a couple weeks ago that was like, hey, your educator's license is about to expire. [00:37:05] Rebecca: And I'm like, I thought it already did. [00:37:07] Rebecca: They weren't sad as a milestone. [00:37:10] Kris: It was like, oh, I didn't even know it existed. [00:37:12] Rebecca: Yeah, I thought I thought it was done already. [00:37:14] Rebecca: But OK, that's fine. [00:37:17] Rebecca: And so I think that I saw all of this. [00:37:20] Rebecca: I've always considered it, like, a part of that, oh, I was meant to be a teacher. [00:37:24] Rebecca: Or I was meant to be, like, mom friend, you know? [00:37:27] Rebecca: And it wasn't even until the last few years that I realized, oh, I am an entrepreneur. [00:37:34] Rebecca: Like, I would have never even thought to use that word to describe me. [00:37:39] Rebecca: But I also didn't know that you could make money off of social media. [00:37:41] Kris: Yeah, right, right, right, right, right. [00:37:44] Kris: The, um... [00:37:46] Kris: One of the things that actually I've never thought about this way. [00:37:48] Kris: So I was a math major. [00:37:51] Kris: Oh my gosh. [00:37:51] Kris: So fancy. [00:37:52] Kris: So what people assume is, oh, you're going to be a teacher. [00:37:55] Kris: Because what are you going to do with a math degree, right? [00:37:57] Rebecca: I think there's accounting. [00:37:58] Kris: Or actuarial science. [00:37:59] Kris: That's so fancy. [00:38:04] Kris: But as the way you described it, I'm like, oh, I like solving problems. [00:38:10] Kris: Like that's the transition from math to entrepreneurship is I like to solve people's problems. [00:38:16] Kris: I like to solve complicated problems. [00:38:18] Kris: And so I appreciate you sharing that because it made me think of even that differently of – [00:38:23] Kris: I enjoyed math, but why did I enjoy it? [00:38:26] Rebecca: It's like when you're having an argument with your partner and you're like, I know this is what I'm actually upset about. [00:38:32] Rebecca: What's the underlying issue? [00:38:33] Rebecca: What's the actual core trauma that it's nagging on? [00:38:37] Rebecca: But it's like that in a positive way of, okay, I like... [00:38:41] Rebecca: I like, give me a task. [00:38:44] Rebecca: I like figuring things out. [00:38:45] Rebecca: I like finding the logistics. [00:38:46] Rebecca: I like finding the most successful way forward. [00:38:48] Rebecca: I like looking at the data. [00:38:50] Rebecca: What does that mean? [00:38:52] Rebecca: Like what is like underlying teaching? [00:38:53] Rebecca: Yes. [00:38:54] Rebecca: But like even more, more than that. [00:38:56] Kris: So now, you know, with as you see, now you got me on data. [00:39:01] Rebecca: Oh, the math person. [00:39:03] Rebecca: Dang it. [00:39:03] Kris: No, like, you know, as, so I, with some consulting stuff, I've done like a decent amount of marketing. [00:39:11] Kris: I would say in my quote unquote past life. [00:39:14] Kris: Less of it, or just not as frequent now. [00:39:16] Kris: And do you try to use like the data, like you must have lots of data through your social media platforms, or you maybe have an aggregator that helps do that. [00:39:27] Kris: Do you try to use that to figure out [00:39:30] Kris: maybe where to pivot or what to do next. [00:39:33] Kris: Is there an active assessment of the data or is it? [00:39:38] Kris: It's a little bit of both. [00:39:39] Kris: Yeah. [00:39:41] Rebecca: It's a little bit of both. [00:39:43] Rebecca: There are some things that I look at the data and I'm in it to help drive like what next, what do I focus on, do I, so like for example, I have, everything that I post I try to be very strategic about. [00:39:56] Rebecca: So like of course the last year or so has been a little different because it's just been a long journey. [00:40:03] Rebecca: But in general, I typically try to post around four pieces of content a day scheduled out. [00:40:10] Rebecca: Four to five, and they all have different purposes. [00:40:13] Kris: Yes. [00:40:13] Rebecca: And some are there for the data and for the numbers and the analytics and the views, and some have completely different purposes. [00:40:19] Rebecca: So, for example, every day I will try to – I've looked over the last few years of any piece of content, of short content, that gets over half a million views, goes into a folder. [00:40:31] Rebecca: of reposts and i will reap after six months i will repost a repost once a day so that no matter what there's a successful piece of content every single day a guaranteed of i know it's going to be good because it was before yeah and then i have a podcast clip and the whole goal of that is to just get people to go to the longer version yep whether the clip does well or not yep [00:40:53] Rebecca: As long as I can get one or two for each clip, that's the whole goal. [00:40:57] Rebecca: Sometimes the clips do great and the episodes will skyrocket. [00:41:00] Rebecca: And sometimes they won't, but that's their only goal. [00:41:02] Rebecca: And then there's the lifestyle or the skits, which, again, are just there for... Obviously, there's the inner why and my own mission and things like that. [00:41:11] Rebecca: But that's there for the main audience. [00:41:13] Rebecca: That's the views. [00:41:13] Rebecca: That's what... [00:41:15] Rebecca: is my bread and butter. [00:41:16] Rebecca: And then I will try to do some kind of like question of the day as like a, I know those are not going to do the best, but the whole goal is to, that's like the personality piece where people might say, oh, I like her. [00:41:28] Rebecca: Let's get her on this panel. [00:41:30] Rebecca: Or let's get her on this brand. [00:41:32] Rebecca: This is something that matters to her. [00:41:34] Rebecca: And so like everything has a purpose. [00:41:36] Rebecca: Some matter numbers wise, but not everything does. [00:41:39] Kris: Yeah. [00:41:40] Kris: Okay. [00:41:41] Kris: So when you think about, um, [00:41:44] Kris: Let's say, okay, let's assume, let's make an assumption that we'll see you here in 2027 Idea Week. [00:41:51] Rebecca: Oh, of course. [00:41:51] Rebecca: What do you mean? [00:41:52] Rebecca: Whether Kris likes it or not. [00:41:55] Rebecca: I'm going to be here. [00:41:58] Kris: Are there things, and if you're kind of like planning things in the background, you know, feel free to not share, but... [00:42:03] Rebecca: Oh, I'm an open book. [00:42:04] Kris: I don't have to care. [00:42:05] Kris: Are there certain things you're like, oh, I haven't done X, Y, Z yet, and I'm trying to build to that? [00:42:11] Kris: Or different things that you're trying to explore as you continue to build your personal brand, the content? [00:42:20] Kris: Myself as an entrepreneur, I'm always like, I'm enjoying the moment. [00:42:24] Kris: know with things but i'm also my mind can't stop thinking about maybe a new project or a new opportunity and so do you have those like kind of like ruminate in the back of like oh like this is i've got this these things now kind of indicated as you kind of mentioned these how i do my clips these are i do these videos and so it kind of frees up a little more of your time creative mind [00:42:44] Rebecca: Yes, I have a couple projects that I've, I have one specifically that I've always had in the back of my mind. [00:42:51] Rebecca: And I don't want to get poached, so I'm not going to give too many details, but I really want to work on, like, children's chapter books. [00:42:58] Rebecca: It's something that I've had in my brain for a very long time. [00:43:02] Rebecca: And a very specific niche that I will not disclose yet. [00:43:06] Rebecca: Uh-oh. [00:43:06] Rebecca: I'm kidding, I'm kidding. [00:43:08] Rebecca: This is an exclusive. [00:43:11] Rebecca: I've definitely been thinking about this for years. [00:43:14] Rebecca: And then ever since I decided to leave my marriage, it's been a little bit like routines a little bit disrupted, just a tiny bit. [00:43:23] Rebecca: And so I obviously that has been on the back burner for a bit. [00:43:27] Rebecca: And then so for the last few months and what I think will be for the next year, I really want to focus on getting back to my normal schedule and back to my normal routine. [00:43:37] Rebecca: But also I feel like this whole experience has really opened the door to... [00:43:42] Rebecca: memoir type things of, you know, I've been very open about the divorce on my channels. [00:43:50] Rebecca: I think it's been so incredibly important for a lot of different reasons. [00:43:54] Rebecca: But the number one why for me is when I first decided to leave my ex-husband and I was actually out of town. [00:44:02] Rebecca: I was at my aunt's house when things started to implode a little bit. [00:44:07] Rebecca: And then one of my cousins was a little younger than me. [00:44:12] Rebecca: I think she's around 25. [00:44:14] Rebecca: And she ended up calling me a couple weeks later and said that listening to me [00:44:21] Rebecca: discuss made her realize that she was in a bad situation. [00:44:26] Rebecca: And that she should probably get herself out. [00:44:29] Rebecca: And that was so important to me. [00:44:31] Rebecca: I'm gonna get emotional. [00:44:34] Rebecca: It was so important to me because I love her. [00:44:38] Kris: I love her. [00:44:39] Rebecca: And I was so sad that she was experiencing these things by herself. [00:44:43] Kris: Yeah. [00:44:43] Rebecca: And what, and like I was too, but like I'm thinking about her. [00:44:46] Rebecca: Right. [00:44:47] Kris: Right. [00:44:47] Kris: Right. [00:44:47] Rebecca: And so like, you always think I can handle it, but my baby, no. [00:44:52] Rebecca: And as I started sharing more about the divorce online, getting those kinds of messages of like, I've never experienced something like this, but I was able to like show my daughter that, [00:45:04] Rebecca: examples of things to look out for or I noticed that my sister was in something or I noticed that I was in something and so I kind of realized that the idea of talking about domestic violence can be really taboo with a lot of people I mean even just in my life I have very unfortunately lost friends who are like well I get that what happened to you wasn't good but I don't agree with you talking about it or I don't agree with it being so public and it's like [00:45:34] Rebecca: So you're more upset that I'm talking about it than the fact that it happened? [00:45:38] Rebecca: Yes. [00:45:39] Rebecca: Like that's what – oh, okay. [00:45:41] Rebecca: That's good to know. [00:45:42] Kris: Right, right. [00:45:43] Rebecca: And I realized that because so many people have that mindset because so many people don't talk about it. [00:45:50] Rebecca: It's not normalized. [00:45:51] Kris: Yeah. [00:45:52] Rebecca: And I have always been someone that like – I don't – [00:45:56] Rebecca: I'm a tornado. [00:45:59] Rebecca: What is embarrassment? [00:46:00] Rebecca: I don't know. [00:46:01] Rebecca: I run around with a CGI watermelon on my head. [00:46:04] Rebecca: Do you think I get self-conscious like that? [00:46:07] Rebecca: I have my own insecurities, of course. [00:46:09] Rebecca: I'm a human being. [00:46:10] Rebecca: Right, right, right. [00:46:11] Kris: But watermelon on the head is not one of them. [00:46:13] Rebecca: Embarrassment? [00:46:14] Rebecca: What is that word? [00:46:15] Rebecca: I don't know. [00:46:15] Kris: And I wonder... [00:46:18] Kris: if that comes from partly being a teacher in front of people all the time. [00:46:21] Rebecca: I think so, because let me tell you, I had to act like a fool to get those kids to care about social studies. [00:46:28] Kris: Yeah, yeah. [00:46:29] Rebecca: And so I don't mind being that vulnerable, open person to start those conversations and to start normalizing it. [00:46:39] Rebecca: And I've talked a lot about the divorce process, but there's so many years of like... [00:46:47] Rebecca: situations and scenarios that those are real warning signs. [00:46:52] Rebecca: I look back now and I'm like, the signs were there. [00:46:54] Kris: It's fine. [00:46:56] Rebecca: And so even though I one day will be 100% be working on the children's chapter books, I would really love now, I've been focusing a lot on getting a lot of my memories down on paper and trying to form it into how can I possibly... [00:47:14] Rebecca: share my story. [00:47:15] Rebecca: Again, very important to me that it doesn't just come off as, like, passive-aggressive or petty or whatever, but, like, truly... Whoa, whoa, whoa, what? [00:47:22] Rebecca: Oh, it's an empty cup. [00:47:23] Rebecca: It's empty now. [00:47:24] Rebecca: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:47:25] Rebecca: We're going to move this over here. [00:47:27] Rebecca: I talk with my hands in case anyone didn't know that. [00:47:30] Rebecca: I know that's crazy. [00:47:33] Rebecca: But if I... [00:47:35] Rebecca: can get it on paper in a way that, like, of course, there are going to be people who just assume that it's petty or just assume that it's trying to stick it to them one last time. [00:47:44] Rebecca: But at the end of the day, like, these are very real situations. [00:47:47] Rebecca: And helping others, yeah. [00:47:48] Rebecca: That a lot of people, mostly women, but not all, like, not only women. [00:47:54] Rebecca: My brother was in a really bad situation. [00:47:56] Rebecca: Like, it's such a real thing for so many people. [00:48:00] Rebecca: And I think that this... [00:48:04] Rebecca: Too many people have used the lack of transparency people have for their private lives as, like, it's normal to protect the abusers. [00:48:14] Rebecca: And it's like, for why? [00:48:16] Rebecca: Why? [00:48:18] Rebecca: Like, this experience has been so incredibly cathartic for me. [00:48:20] Rebecca: And not everyone is as comfortable as being as vulnerable as, like, I don't mind. [00:48:24] Rebecca: I've always prided myself on being an open book. [00:48:26] Rebecca: People can ask me whatever they want. [00:48:28] Kris: Yeah. [00:48:29] Rebecca: and I'm here for it. [00:48:31] Rebecca: That's always been important to me. [00:48:33] Rebecca: So if I can start those conversations. [00:48:35] Kris: That's really cool. [00:48:36] Rebecca: Thank you, thank you. [00:48:38] Kris: Rebecca, I'm so glad you're in South Bend. [00:48:41] Kris: I'm so glad you're at Idea Week. [00:48:42] Kris: I'm so glad you joined me today. [00:48:44] Kris: Oh, yeah. [00:48:45] Kris: I'm trying to think if there's anything we should leave our dear viewers and listeners with. [00:48:51] Kris: A, entrepreneurship is awesome. [00:48:53] Kris: Please do it. [00:48:54] Kris: If you want to start, I don't know, creating content, creating a software company, [00:48:58] Kris: Definitely take the risk. [00:48:59] Kris: 100%. [00:49:00] Kris: It's worth it. [00:49:00] Kris: Yeah. [00:49:01] Rebecca: If that's your passion, like... [00:49:03] Rebecca: Why not? [00:49:04] Kris: Go for it. [00:49:05] Kris: And I think this week specifically, you know, we're trying to uplift the entrepreneurs and get them motivated. [00:49:11] Kris: But in reality, it's every week and every day because it's a grind. [00:49:15] Kris: This is just like the beginning of that. [00:49:17] Rebecca: Yes. [00:49:17] Kris: And I know like we're at Momentum trying to figure out and working on like what is that programs that can help us do that consistently. [00:49:25] Kris: And so, I don't know. [00:49:28] Kris: I can't wait to see these new projects we're working on. [00:49:30] Kris: I do, too. [00:49:31] Kris: I can't wait to have you back in 364 days. [00:49:34] Kris: Of course, yes. [00:49:35] Rebecca: I will text you before then. [00:49:36] Kris: Yeah. [00:49:38] Kris: But thank you so much. [00:49:39] Kris: Of course. [00:49:40] Kris: This has been a pleasure. [00:49:40] Kris: This is something new for our listeners. [00:49:42] Kris: So this is awesome. [00:49:44] Rebecca: I hope it wasn't too serious. [00:49:45] Rebecca: I feel like this was great.