As a woman business-owner, I'm not afraid to express some of the challenges that I face on the daily keeping my head above water and my business afloat. This was never a "passion project" for me. In fact, I never saw myself owning something like this in my life. I enjoy teaching; more importantly, I enjoy seeing the faces of children when they are introduced to the underwater world that I learned about from high school onward. I love when their hearts are captured by the sheer abundance and color of life under the sea.
My conservation journey did not happen until well into college and beyond, getting internships and jobs teaching about it. When I switched my major from Tropical Marine Biology to Conservation Biology in Australia, it was a turning point in my career, solidifying myself as a Conservation Biologist. As such, I only allowed myself to take job opportunities in conservation education. I had many great experiences, but where I excelled was teaching; I just could not see myself doing it surrounded by four walls for ten months of the year.
There have been many setbacks and issues that have made me want to throw in the towel, call it a day, and walk away from the "business" side of things. Part of my reasoning for even switching to owning something like this was that I just got fed up with the working world and how it treated me. Me, the conservationist, who just wanted to teach high-quality educational experiences, and not be bogged down with the numbers game and the sheer quantity of programs and people, at the expense of the quality of the programming. Now that numbers game is what keeps me going, financially and emotionally. I can't meet the demands of my own overhead and regularly scheduled bills if I'm not pulling in the right number of programs or workshop participants.
It seems like a cruel double-edged sword to love what you do but be forced to do it twice as hard to keep up with everything and everyone else. Some have suggested I get an administrative assistant to allow me to just be the educator. I have reasoned that that would take away from the whole purpose of being a business OWNER. Throughout my career, I have even chosen to apply and interview for jobs specifically sporting a 70-30 ratio of admin to ed, wanting to do administration more. So then should I try to get someone who could volunteer as an educator, taking on the sometimes grueling schedule of being at a school from 7:30am to 2:30pm? This might also require a split schedule, so getting permissions from schools to have TWO volunteers show up throughout the day to present programs.
I've thought about it all. I've thought about just having someone take over the advertising/marketing portion, freeing me up to do the communications, invoicing, and actual teaching. But that requires money. Money that I just don't have because I'm trying to stay afloat and keep my head above water. I've made costly decisions out of desperation for the numbers game, and that has given me a greater perspective on how other people's money is worth more than my own. Just trying to get a hold of other forms of financial security, in the form of crowdfunding, grants, and loans has proven difficult, if not impossible.
Partnerships are great too. It's a way to offset costs and time and recruitment. Except when they fall through, when the partners want to go in a different direction, or they just have too much of their own plates that your programs get tossed into the TBR pile (that's to be read, for those that don't know book nerd lingo). So, I'm not sure where to pivot and where to go from here. I know where my grand vision lies, but I'm not sure how to get there. An eco-center is the perfect goal for conservation education, a one-stop-shop for people to come and explore their own personal connection to local ecosystems. It'll give me the stability for program field trips, scout programs, homeschools, and workshops. It'll give me the LOCATION that I've been searching and scrounging for through partnerships in the first place. But I'm not there yet and I'm not sure how to get there from here.
Corporations can sponsor programs, supplies, workshops, and our eco-center build by following this direct link: www.teachmarinecsi.com/sponsorships
People can support any and all the work I do by contributing to the crowdfunding page here: www.spotfund.com/savemarinecsi
Educators can view a listing of our programs here: www.teachmarinecsi.com/watershed-walkabout-cape-fear (Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender, Duplin, Bladen) or www.teachmarinecsi.com/watershed-walkabout-white-oak (Onslow)
Homeschool parents can register their children for our Pender County Parks Watershed Science in the Parks program here: https://penderpr.recdesk.com/Community/Program?category=7
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