Starting our Freelance ID Business: 5 Key Takeaways
A few years ago, my wife (Chantel) and I (William) talked about running a business together. Instructional Design and eLearning was a natural choice: we had corporate and not-for-profit teaching experiences, we had transferable skill sets from related fields, and instructional design experience. Most importantly, we loved helping people learn and grow. But, since the timing wasn’t right, we set the business idea aside.
Then, 2020 hit like a Category 6 hurricane. COVID-19. Massive unemployment. Worldwide lockdowns. I lost my job. My industry, which was heavily dependent on tourism, was gutted. We had a wonderful newborn son and a mortgage. Since we had some savings and my wife had a great job, we had what so many others did not: the luxury of choice. We were incredibly grateful. After prayerfully considering all options, we knew it was time to start the business.
A few months later, we had successfully launched a freelance Instructional Design, Online Learning...
Diary of a New IDOL: Episode Five--Two Months on the Job
What does your typical day look like?
This is the number one question I get from people wanting to transition to instructional design. This month we are here to answer that question.
Kristi
Each instructional designer’s day most likely looks different. However, having an idea of what an instructional designer encounters most often can help shed light on what to expect.
Kristi
My company works under a “self-directed” policy. All employees are trusted with their positions and to get their work done. Therefore, my schedule is pretty much up to me. As long as I get in 40 hours a week, my boss is very flexible with how and when I get that time done. With that said, I do have team meetings to attend, SME discovery meetings, and one-on-ones with my boss. The discovery meetings with SMEs, while they do depend on the schedule of the SMEs, are scheduled by me so I can decide when I would like to hold those. Other than meetings like this, I schedule my...
Networking During Webinars
- Be prepared to focus!
- Make the first move!
- Reach out and connect!
Networking can sound like a nightmare, especially for us introverts. Fortunately, this is one area where 2020 has actually helped us out. With in-person events getting canceled, you can attend conferences, meetings, and professional events from the comfort of your home.
I’ve been attending several webinars a week, and one unexpected benefit was all the connections I’ve made! The first dozen webinars I attended I simply watched, like I was watching a movie, and did not network in a meaningful way. Don’t be like me!
Read on to find out how you can use webinars to build your network.
BEFORE A WEBINAR
- Curate your online presence: Google your name and make sure nothing shocking comes up. If your portfolio is published, make sure the link is working. You’ll be sending connection requests, so polish up your LinkedIn....
The Multiple Personalities of an ID
Those of us in-the-know understand if we posed this question to 100 different people within the Learning and Development industry, we would probably get 100 different answers. Yet, they would all be correct to some degree. This is due to the multiple personalities of an ID. Rather, the many roles we fulfill from project to project.
The crux for all of those answers would be “Instructional design is the design, development, and delivery of learning experiences. It constructs those experiences in such a way that learners acquire either knowledge or skills,” according to getsynapse.com. “Instructional designers follow various academic theories and...
Work-Life Balance: Teacher versus ID
Teachers are teaching during their eight hours at the “office.” So where do they fit in the time to plan lessons (A.K.A. design instruction), grade students’ work, make phone calls to parents, and all of the other things for which they are responsible? They do it in the evenings by staying late at the school, taking their work home to do after dinner, or both. They show up early in the morning to prepare the day’s lessons so class can run smoothly.
Personally, I used to arrive...
Before You Say YES: Choosing The Best IDOL Role
For many of us we want to transition into an instructional design and online learning (IDOL) role because we are passionate about the field. An IDOL role could mean a better overall career including better compensation and work life balance. Once the steady interview requests come in you will start to get excited and possibly overwhelmed. During this process there will be ups and downs and probably a few rejections that can be discouraging. Sometimes when we get in a down period during the interview process we can get anxious which could lead to us making a hasty decision. Obviously the ultimate goal is to land that IDOL role and join the...
Building Your Brand: Part 2
Maybe you did or didn’t read Building Your Brand: Part 1 in July. Here is a quick recap:
- Branding is about the value you give to clients.
- Branding is about the problems you are skilled at solving.
- You want to focus your brand around something.
- You need to be a life-long learner to keep up with changing technologies.
If you are in the brand-building or revamping your brand, I suggest the book Digital You by William Arruda. The book is a great guide to help your brand building process.
Using LinkedIn in Building Your Brand
LinkedIn is a repeatable way professionals connect across various industries around the world. Your LinkedIn profile provides a first impression, especially when you can’t be there in person to meet. Whether you are on the job hunt or not, you can leverage LinkedIn to build relationships to make business connections.
Keywords
Did you know the words you use in your profiles make a difference? You want to use the right keywords...
Maximize Failure
Why do people always say you should bounce back from failure?
Get back up on the horse.
Get back on track.
Get back in the game.
But I disagree. After defeat, we need to sit in our failure and soak in the growth and learning that can come from it. Otherwise the same failures will repeat. Your failure should reap a reward that helps you grow stronger and better.
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”
- Robert F. Kennedy
However, it is important to remember that failure is not final. While we may experience frustrating failure at regular intervals, failure does not mean the end of the road. In fact, it usually means you are at the beginning of something new.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
- Winston Churchill
Failure is, in fact, good for us and our personal and professional growth. It means you are pushing yourself to...
Making Your Own ID Opportunities: An Educator's Journey Into ID
In an unfortunate era where Arts programs in schools are losing funding and shutting down rapidly, creating opportunities and advocating became my most valuable skill set as a public school teacher. One of the best pieces of advice ever given to me as an Arts teacher was, “You have to create a program that is too visible and concrete for them to silently take away.” This meant creating community outreach...
ESL to Instructional Design: It’s Closer Than You Think
We Have the Technology Skills
Setting up assignments and grading papers online felt like more of a chore than anything else back when I was teaching. ...
