22. The mindset you need to be a self-employed English teacher in Japan

Hello, I'm Patrick Sherriff for freetalktefl.substack.com.And today I'm going to talk about a word that I don't like to use because I think it's a bit silly or it's a bit of a buzzword.Um, but I can't think of a better one.And that is mindset.The mindset, having the right mindset to be a self-employed English teacher or actually to be a self-employed anything.It does require a certain mindset.I don't like that word because as I say, it's just too, too buzzy.You see so many podcasts and video things of video channels, people talking about their mindset.um but i have to admit there isn't really a better word that describes it i suppose there's the japanese kachikan kachikan actually my japanese is terrible but i think that means values or way of thinkingYou need the right kind of kachikan, mindset, to make a go of being a teacher.Partly you have to be a selfish, not selfish, but maybe, selfish is the wrong word, but certainly self-reliant person.And also, you know, I've been writing, if you've been following on the blog, sort of an origin story and how we came to Japan and how we ended up moving to start our- to move the business outside of the house and to become quote-unquote a proper school, English language school, here in Japan in Abiko on the outskirts of Tokyo.Yeah, so I've been talking about that and it just got me thinking, well, what's the key takeaway, the key thing that you should get from all of these words that I type and speak?Well I don't know, but maybe it's this something to do with the mindset and that is, well put it this way, I remember I worked at one of my jobs was a Nottingham Evening Post, I was a sub-editor for a couple of years back in the 90s.Anyway, I remember there was a chap who worked with me, he was a very nice bloke,But one of his favorite things to say was, he'd say, well, I did my best and that's all that matters.And when you're an employee, that's probably true because you can't get into trouble if you did your best.At least that's your thinking.Well, I did my best.It's not my fault if things didn't go well.I did my best and you can go home.Have your pint of mild and go back to sleep and start again.That's the employee mindset.Well, I did my best.Unfortunately, best isn't necessarily good enough.And when you're self-employed, it really doesn't matter whether you do your best or do just an average job.You have to get the job done.I'm not saying that I'm some superhero or anything like that.Not at all.It's just that sometimes that requires you to solve the problem and you do whatever it takes to solve the problem.which usually means more hours, more effort, or yeah, certainly hard work.What am I talking about?Well, I think if you read the last post that I wrote on Wednesday, I was talking about how we first moved out of the home and started renting a place and then we ran into problems.We were causing too much noise andIt looked like the world was collapsing around us, our business world.No spoiler, well I guess it is a spoiler, we managed to get out of that problem and things started to look up enormously and I'll write about that and I'll talk about that next week.But just to say, while I was writing these thoughts about teaching English, that made me think about, you know, what is it that makes you successful?Well, a lot of it's luck.Having a good husband or wife, that certainly does help.But the other part is mindset and, you know, don't think, I did my best, think,I solved it.I solved the problem, whatever the problem is.Oh, we're not getting enough students.Okay, let me think how to do that.Okay, I've solved it.Or, oh, I don't know how to teach this problem and people want this solution.Okay, let me find a way of teaching this.I've solved the problem.And that's the mindset you have to get in.And if you've got that mindset already, then you'll be great as a self-employed person.Sometimes that can be frustrating if you're working for a big company.As an employee, you can think of solutions to the problem, but it may be against company policy, so you can't do it.If you find yourself bashing your head against the hierarchy of your company, you might, not necessarily, but you might do better being self-employed and running your own show.The other thing is that as a self-employed person,You don't have a career trajectory.I think I talked about that last time.There isn't an obvious promotion ladder, greasy pole to climb up.Yeah, I did talk about this.No, that sounds familiar.But instead of that, you have unlimited potential, unlimited upside to do anything.The only thing that limits you is your own abilities and your own, here comes the word, mindset.So, yeah, I hate to sound very new agey and new, you know, I don't know, it sounds a bit pretentious talking about mindset.I don't know why I think it is pretentious because it's not.You've got to have the right attitude.But that takes the place of, we'll put it this way, if you're working in a company, a lot of your efforts are all about office politics, saying yes to the boss or being nice to the team so that you'll get noticed, so you'll get a promotion, so you'll make enough money to pay the rent, you know.And so you put a lot of your energy, if you want to be successful in a company, into being nice to other people, which, okay, that's great if that's your skill and you enjoy doing that.But if you find that less than satisfying, you might be better off having a go yourself.There are times when you will fail.Then the difficult thing is you have to pick yourself up, or get your significant other to pick you up.and keep going.But, as I say, the rewards are much higher.Potentially the pitfalls are higher, I guess.But, you know, there comes a point where it's not tenable to be working for other people all the time.And, I don't know, it feels a bit more like I'm an adult, finally.I'm making decisions for myself.and reaping the rewards and suffering the pitfalls if necessary.But there are fewer and fewer of those pitfalls and more and more of the rewards.OK, that's all I wanted to say.OK, if you like these rambling Friday afternoon thoughts, please subscribe.If you want something a bit more meaty,Every Wednesday I write down a newsletter for use for teachers of English as a foreign language, particularly in Japan, and especially self-employed folk.And every Monday I post lessons, lesson plans that you can use in your own lessons.That's it.Have a good week.Have a nice weekend.recharge your batteries and I'll see you again next week.Thank you very much. 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