We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alyssa Guthrie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alyssa below.
Hi Alyssa , thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I first came up with the idea while studying business at my trade school, The Author Conservatory. One of our assignments early on in our training is to start a pop-up business to learn business, marketing and entrepreneurship skills in preparation for our careers as authors. And I had the hardest time coming up with a business venture! I needed something that fit within my skillset, but also gave me time to pursue my writing in a serious way. I was discouraged, and didn’t know what to do.
So I got on a virtual meeting with my coaches, Brett Harris, and his father, Gregg Harris, both of whom are successful entrepreneurs themselves. I had to make a list of the different skills I had as well as my strengths, and we were brainstorming for what seemed like the hundredth time trying to figure out a business that would work for me.
I’ve always loved teaching and working with kids, and as a homeschool graduate, knew the kinds of struggles that arise from parents trying to teach every subject and make it engaging for their kids. I had taken a class from another homeschool mom during my freshman and sophomore years of high school that had opened me up to the joys and wonder of science, so I threw the idea of teaching science on my brainstorming list, and brought it to the call, not thinking anything would come of it.
However, Mr. Gregg Harris looked at that idea and asked if I had considered teaching conceptual science, with a focus on labs.
I hadn’t. I was very skeptical, not knowing if I’d really be able to get enough kids to merit teaching a class. I was sure that teaching history or essay writing would be a better fit.
But teaching kids trumped any of my other ideas, so I moved on to setting my pricing with the help of my coaches, crafting key points of my business that set it apart, and even ran a survey among homeschool parents, asking what classes they’d prefer to send their kids to. The answers came in, with conceptual science winning by a landslide.
Between that survey and running every stage of my business plan and launch by my coaches, I started to be convinced that this was a worthwhile business idea. I started to find homeschool parents who were really looking for solutions to help their kids get excited about science. And I started to get excited about how I could serve those parents and kids, and to be able to show kids just how cool science can be.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m an Arizona gal who was homeschooled all the way through high school, and recently graduated from The Author Conservatory, a 3-year college alternative for gifted writers where we study writing and business in order to craft sustainable writing careers. As part of my studies there, I launched Arizona Science Clubs, a weekly science class for late-elementary and middle school aged homeschool kids. I focus on hands-on learning and experiments, as well as maintain a high energy learning environment so that kids can explore science in a way that gets them excited and opens up their sense of wonder to the world they live in.
In the last three years, I have taught over sixty students in chemistry, biology, and earth science.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
A couple of years ago, I had hit a slump in my business, like majorly. My students from the previous semester had moved on to other extra curricular activities, and my successful summer camps had only managed to secure one student for the Fall semester.
I was ready to throw in the towel, but my business coaches encouraged me to just keep going, as well as put together a 90-day marketing plan. The assignment scared me to death. Reaching out to strangers felt salesy. And knowing I might have to close my classes for lack of students, made this assignment even more challenging.
But it was required for school, and so I did it. And it was tough! So many times in those three months I wanted to give up, but I continued to get encouragement from my family members, coaches, and classmates, and kept it up, culminating the 90 days with a booth at the local homeschool convention. I talked to as many people as I could, and by the end of that weekend, had build an email list of almost 30 people. Not a ton, but enough to get me new leads and potentially fill my classes.
As I continued to market and reach out to other moms in the homeschool community, my efforts finally started to bear fruit. That semester I had the biggest classes I had ever had, and doubled my income from the year before! I was reminded of the Lord’s promise that if we don’t give up, things will bear fruit in the timing that they need to.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
My business is now my main source of income. It has allowed me to pursue my writing in a serious way, and funded my ability to go to writer’s conferences and network with industry professionals, something I never would have been able to do before.
Starting this pop-up business as a school assignment has, through effort and encouragement from family and friends, grown into a business where I’m teaching only a few times per week, and making as much as $150 per teaching hour! I’m being contacted by homeschool groups asking me to come teach for them, and last year, I doubled my income again, all while being able to focus on my writing, serve in my family and church community, and enjoy other hobbies.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://azscienceclubs.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/azscienceclubs
- Other: You can join my email list at the link below:https://azscienceclubs.com/newsletter
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Rob K Photography