We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angela Tezeno a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Angela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

So the idea for my business originated from my 62 year old self. I heard her loud and clear when she boldly told me, “Lady, we need a plan!” I’ll get to that in a bit.

You see, I’m a teacher. I’ve known I’d be a teacher since 3rd grade; it’s sort of the family business. I started teaching in 1998; 7 years into teaching I had a revelation that I wouldn’t be a career teacher (meaning that I would not be a teacher from inception all the way through to retirement). During that time, I discovered more layers of Angela and began to explore and navigate areas of the core of who I am that couldn’t be contained in a classroom. That same year 2007 I began writing my first book and launched my business in 2008. I stayed out of the classroom for a total of 7 years before I returned temporarily as what I call an EE (Employee and Entrepreneur).

From the beginning of teaching until now I’ve exited and returned to education 4 times (well 3 actually; the 4th time I resigned technically doesn’t count). Which brings me to the message I heard from my 62 year old me!

You see, I’m totally dedicated to education and entrepreneurship; that’s perhaps why I’ve been an entrepreneur for 15 years and I’m currently teaching now. However when I left education the first time, I did two things that would change the trajectory of my financial journey:

#1 I took out $15,000 from my teacher retirement plan
#2 I moved from Louisiana to Georgia.

Why would this be significant to my business idea? Glad you asked! You see, most teachers don’t pay into social security and the money you add to the state teacher retirement system from each pay check is the money you collect at retirement. You see the conundrum yet? Because I took out money from my retirement and I moved to another state, I would essentially have VERY LITTLE money for retirement. Said another way, because I took out money from my retirement, exited education for a number of years, and started teaching in a new state, there’s no path for retirement…there’s just NOT ENOUGH money there. As a matter of fact, rap your head around this scenario…

Because of my teaching journey, financially, I would have to work 12 more years to earn $1800 per month for retirement. DO YOU SEE WHY my 62 year old self had a lot to say? Which leads me to the very question, “How did you come up with the idea?

It occurred to me that there are many teachers out there who are just like me who who love teaching but need more options for making more money. Simply put, A Teacher Salary Hardly Pays Enough Money for the Lifestyle They Deserve nor does a teacher salary give teachers options to build wealth in their current life; a teacher would need to work 30 years to receive a decent consistent income (it won’t be their entire salary) AND die to give their families any semblance of legacy wealth. That’s why I created Teacher Tycoon™ an education empowerment brand that helps teachers launch a (what I call) built-in knowledge business to build wealth through business so they never again have to worry about money.

There you have it, I created Teacher Tycoon™ for my 62 year old self and for every teacher out there needs to write their own check to afford their life whether they leave teaching or stay.

Angela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

About Me

I’m Angela and becoming more of who I truly am every day. I’m a wife and mom of three ( 24, 20, 18). I’m an educator with two master degrees, currently in my 18th year as a teacher. I expanded my life’s work in education by launching an education empowerment brand that helps women build their dream life. I lead teachers to build wealth through business so they can afford their dream life. When I’m not coaching, writing, speaking, or hosting my show, my favorite times are hanging out with the family, playing pac-man, and eating any food that involves cheese. Right now I’m gearing up for my upcoming “Leave Teaching or Stay?” LIVE Forum to help teachers who need more options for money get clarity and a plan.

I launched Teacher Tycoon™ to help teachers launch (what I call) a built-in knowledge business Enroll in the “Leave Teaching or Stay?”

Teachers who love teaching but need more options for making more money have 3 options to start writing their own check

1. Enroll in the FREE LIVE Forum, “Should I Leave Teaching or Stay”
2. Schedule a FREE Chat to talk over current situation and the next best steps
3. Register for the Teacher Tycoon Academy to Launch Your Wealth Builder in Just 4 Steps

I’m most proud of being able to connect with teachers on a very authentic level cause I am a teacher and entrepreneur. I’m committed to helping teachers everywhere build wealth whether they choose to leave teaching or stay.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Once of the most important lessons I had to unlearn is the definition of giving. Unlearning the definition of giving was so very important especially for my transition from being a teachers who became an entrepreneur. It’s in a teacher’s nature to give…..give love, give of their talents,, give resources without any expectations of anything in return. This is the opposite of how business works. My conundrum was that I’m inherently a BIG giver whether I’m walking in the role of a teacher or the role of an entrepreneur, however I had to unlearn being a big giver under the pretense of education and commit to re-defining giving as an entrepreneur. In this way my approach to giving had to become an opportunity give love, give of my talents, give resources with the expectation of an exchange for profit. Ultimately I had to unlearn giving in a way that allowed me to give….give BIG and know it’s ok to receive.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Being (what I call) an EE—Employee and Entrepreneur is challenging….really really challenging. I remember a time when I felt total fear…fear of success.

I was so comfortable with being a teacher, it’s like 2nd nature to me and being entrepreneur felt natural as well. Although I worked exhaustively trying to find best marketing strategy when I lack exposure or bank rolling my business with my own money when you have limited cash flow, the most need for reliance was a battle that I had within myself. My fear of success created conflicted feelings when my business was requiring more of me because the more my business would succeed, I felt like I was abandoning the very fiber of their being—being a teacher.

I finally realized that I would self-sabotage my time (making myself think that just because I was busy I was effective). This pattern was so counterproductive, but instead of throwing in the towel, I ultimately I had to give myself permission to succeed…knowing that I wasn’t abandoning teaching…I was really just becoming the best version of the teacher in me…just on a different platform.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.teachertycoon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theangelatezeno
• Youtube: https://www.YouTube.com/@theangelatezeno
• Other: Email: [email protected]