The Scholarpreneur Podcast

Claartje Van Sijl is doing what many people think is impossible -- getting paid as a self-employed PhD. She does this by using Socratic questioning to help her clients -- mostly early and mid career academics -- answer questions of  purpose, direction, balance and confidence in life and career. One such technique is rational emotive therapy. Based on the Stoic philosophy of Seneca, this is a mindset technique that many psychologists use but have no clue about its origins. Basically, if you see something as being either good or bad, an emotional reaction will follow. If you change your thoughts you will change your emotional reaction. We get into all sorts of practical discussions here. How do you transition from academia to a career? How can philosophy be used in the real world? How do you convince clients that your academic knowledge is useful enough to them to pay for it? What are books and resources to help you get started? Resources mentioned in this episode Claartje's blog post "How to Be a Self-Employed Philosopher... And Actually Get Paid Claartje's homepage Lou Marinoff's Plato, Not Prozac! Applying Eternal Wisdom to Everyday Problems   The post SPP 029 | The Philosopher Coach Claartje Van Sijl appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

Shelley is first and foremost a scientist. She has a PhD and studied exercise science and cell biology; a path that was sparked by the desire to learn how the body responded to exercise at every level. But before that she was an artist. Shelley believed for years that artists couldn't do anything but starve. She liked to indulge in 2D and 3D software but it was only a hobby. It never occurred to her that she could be able to combine her two passions to help others explain complicated concepts until recently. Somewhere between her postdocs Shelley picked up Adobe Illustrator and liked it and started creating simple graphics and infographics to explain science. These branched out into custom animations and explainer videos. When she was completely tired up academia and having to chase any job that came up, she decided to start her own media production company. Sciconic was born. Today Shelley creates all sorts of visual media - whether for universities or corporations – and does all the concept art, storyboarding, animation, and narration herself. Her favorite video is one that explains the reptilian brain. She also recently wrote an epic blog post. It's called How To Know If You Should Leave Academia … Before Wasting Years In Postdocs. The post comes with an incredible flow chart that can help you determine whether or not you should exit the academic scene. Spoiler alert: I took her test and found out I should leave (but Shelley admits that she also failed it). Resources and sites mentioned in this podcast Sciconic Shelley's article “How To Know If You Should Leave Academia” A flow chart that will tell you if you should stay in academia The post SPP 028 | Shelley Sandiford on Leaving a Postdoc and Telling the Stories of Science with Animation and Videos appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

  For years, my YouTube audience asked me to tackle a very complex classic work in Philosophy - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. I gave a lot of thought to how I might best help my viewers and subscribers -- and the wider general public - make their way through this very rich and rewarding, but dauntingly difficult text. In the end, I decided to attempt something that has never before been done - a video series that would provide expert commentary, going through Hegel's text paragraph by paragraph. Greg Sadler is our first guest to return to the podcast. The adjunct philosophy professor-turned-Internet sensation was with us all the way back in Episode 4, talking about how to conquer Youtube as an academic. Greg is doing something even more interesting now. He is stepping into the world of crowd funding and trying to earn an income based on patronage. He is using Patreon, a unique funding platform for creators of all kinds. But these donations are for specific project -- Greg has created dozens of videos for "Half Hour Hegel," an enormously ambitions project to go through Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit, paragraph by paragraph. He'll be doing this until 2018. We get into all sorts of things in this episode, such as the origins of Half Hour Hegel, how scholars can use crowdfunding themselves, and pointers for others who want to crowdfund alt-academic work. Greg's Pointers for Others Who Want to Crowdfund Alt-Academic Work: Decide what kind of project you want to work on, start thinking out what format you want to work in – continuity is important Blogging is a bit tough, unless you’ve already got a reach/following – but YouTube is still wide open – if you can discuss your topic/text/thinker in ways going beyond typical academic audience Start laying groundwork for social media presence – Facebook page, Google+ (will connect with YouTube), Twitter, perhaps even LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest Start thinking about how to get other people to publicize your work in social media platforms – you want them working for you Start looking at Crowdfunding sites. I do recommend Patreon, but there’s no reason to just look at them, depending on what your project is. Making a lot of money can’t be your prime motivation – support will come if your project is a valuable one for the public, and if you are indeed a good fit for the project. Don’t get discouraged when there isn’t a huge initial response – this takes time to build Sites and resources mentioned in this episode Greg's Patreon Page: Half Hour Hegel Greg's Website: www.reasonio.com An article on Greg in Open Culture Greg Sadler’s Youtube Page   The post SPP 027 | How to Be a Crowdfunded Scholar, with Greg Sadler appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

Dr. Carol Moore has had quite a journey over her career. She spent five years teaching at a high school, taught at a community college, and earned a doctorate in marine biology. Then she jumped to administration and things really got interesting. In 1992, she became provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Mercy College (NY). In 1998, she became president of Lyndon State College, a position she held for 13 years. She is now interim president for Burlington College in Vermont. She is doing all sorts of things to innovate higher education -- from auditing course curricula to make sure degrees will really land students a job to partnering with online education groups such as Oplerno. In this episode you will learn How to make a horizontal career move from professor to department chair to provost to president How to build a professional network to pursue the kind of job that you really want The coming "communiversity" revolution The post SPP 026 | Carol Moore’s Journey from Marine Biology Professor to University President appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

Ryan Craig has a humble vision. He wants to disrupt higher education by promoting online degree programs that unbundle course offerings to offer a true bottom line return for the majority of students in terms of graduation, employment, and wages. He leads the investment firm University Ventures, the only such firm focused on higher education. In our conversation Ryan details the changes that American higher education will undergo, including the transformation from packaged courses and degrees to truly unbundled course offerings, along with those that it will not. Ryan also talks about what academics can be doing themselves to prepare for the massive transformations coming. And we should be ready -- he thinks the next five years will bring changes that sound like science fiction today. Resources mentioned in this episode University Ventures Ryan's Book "College Disrupted" The post SPP 025 | How to Transform College By Unbundling Classes From Degree Programs, with Ryan Craig from University Ventures appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

Margy Thomas Horton finished a PhD in English Literature at Baylor in 2012. Even though she was named one of Baylor's 2011 Outstanding Professor of the Year and published peer-reviewed articles in major journals, she faced a bleak academic hiring market. Five weeks after her dissertation defense, in the middle of the academic job hunting season, her son was born. With her hands full and no sleep she couldn't apply for jobs. Taking care of her child was beyond a full time job. Every day the prospects for a tenure-track job drifted further away. Then one day she had an epiphany. Why not take the part of academia she most loved – working one-on-one with writers and help them grow – and form a business out of it? She loved working as a graduate writing consultant at Baylor, where she helped the university launch its own graduate writing consultation services. Margy poured over self-help books to convert this idea into reality. She took a step back and asked herself what really mattered to her, what she considered worth working for, and which direction she wanted to take her life. She came up with the name of the business, ScholarShape, right in the middle of changing her son's diaper. Scholarshape offers editorial support, coaching, and consultation to academics across disciplines. Her customized support helps clients complete high-stakes writing projects such as theses, dissertations, and grant proposals. She managed to create a consulting business doing what she loves, and earning far more than she would doing the same thing in a university. Resources Mentioned in this podcast Scholarshape Squarespace (website creation) Canva (free design software) Smart Passive Income An Insider's Guide to Building a Successful Consulting Practice The post SPP 024 | How Margy Thomas Horton Built a Thriving Consulting Business With Nothing But $97 appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

Jennifer Polk operates “From PhD to Life,” a website and coaching service for graduate students, PhDs, and academics. She blogs for University Affairs and writes, tweets, and speaks publicly about graduate education and career outcomes for advanced degree holders. In this episode we talk all about how to take your academic skills and transfer them, whether to a school, business, think tank, or charity. Jen explains why the best place to start is to figure out which part of academia you like most and build a career up from there. As a coach, she works one-on-one and in groups to help clients clarify and prioritize their goals, focus their efforts, and plan and carry out action steps. Her approach combines scientifically-tested positive psychology applications and powerful coaching tools. During graduate school--- she earned her PhD in history from the University of Toronto in 2012--- she researched and wrote about what motivated humanitarianism and voluntary service by individuals and organizations. Sites and resources mentioned in this episode From PhD to Life Tweetdeck Jen on Twitter - @fromPhDtoLife   The post SPP 023 | Jennifer Polk Explains How Ph.D.s Can Transfer Their Skills Outside a University appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

Erin Lovell Ebanks is a communications instructor in Florida. At 23, Erin taught her first college course while in grad school, and never looked back. Along the way she made a startling discovery – it is possible to teach part time and earn a full time salary. Even more implausibly, Erin discovered it is actually […] The post SPP 022 | Working Part-Time but Earning a Full-Time Salary by Teaching Online, with Erin Lovell Ebanks appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

  This is a short “inbetween-isode,” where I will talk abou how to turn your academic knowledge into a profitable consulting business without any startup costs. In just 10 minutes, I will explain how you can begin a whole new career for yourself by doing the following three steps. Recognize the skills you have developed […] The post SPP 021 | How to Turn Your Academic Knowledge Into a Profitable Consulting Business Without Any Startup Costs appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

  Shannon Hernandez is a professor at Brooklyn College and author who worked for 15 years in public education. She helps academics, authors, and business professionals with their writing, messaging, and branding. She also writes and podcasts about reform in America’s secondary education system for such outlets as the Huffington Post and her own podcast […] The post SPP 020 | Being a Professor, Writing Consultant, and Paid Public Speaker, with Shannon Hernandez from The Writing Whisperer appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

    Rachna Jain is a PhD in clinical psychology and a professional speaker. he runs the site Profit Popularity, in which she helps clients grow their fan base using a combination of content marketing, traffic generation, and SEO. She has had a wide and varied career in the corporate world. As a graduate student, Racha […] The post SPP 019 | How a Clinical Psychologist Uses Her Knowledge of Human Behavior To Train Clients in Marketing appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

In this episode of the Scholarpreneur podcast, the microphone gets turned around. Alex Wood was kind enough to have me on his podcast, Variety Seekers. In the episode we talked about ebook publishing, how I started doing this while still a Ph.D. student, and an overview of my newest book The Most Productive People in […] The post SPP 018 | How I Turned eBook Publishing into a Full-Time Job appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

Sarita Jackson is President and CEO of the Global Research Institute of International Trade, which she founded in 2013. GRIIT is a think-tank/consulting firm whose purpose is to analyze the opportunities and costs of free trade agreements and simplify the rules within these agreements so that businesses can take advantage of global market opportunities to […] The post SPP 017 | Leaving Tenure to Set up an International Trade Think Tank, with Sarita Jackson appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

Most graduate students have such a small stipend that they are forced to work during their studies to supplement their income. They hope that Starbucks will round out their budgets. But what if you could take that time and start your own business, potentially earning way more than minimum wage? Furthermore, what if this business […] The post SPP 016 | How a Grad Student Started an Online Business in His Spare Time and Future-Proof His Academic Career, with Thai Nguyen from The Utopian Life appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

In this episode I explain the opportunities available to scholars these days. I want to break these down and describe what they mean. Two episodes I discussed Alt Ac: it is described as “an umbrella term to refer to full-time non-teaching and non-research positions within higher education.” You could be administrator, public historian, digital humanities. […] The post SPP 015 | Types of Non-Traditional Academic Jobs and What to Expect from Each (Part 3) appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

In this podcast episode I explain the opportunities available to scholars these days. We’re going to take a look at post-ac careers. So what is post-ac? It is completely leaving academia altogether, wiping your hands clean of the entire process. If alt-ac is the good daughter of academe, post-ac is the family’s black sheep–ready to […] The post SPP 014 | Types of Non-Traditional Academic Jobs and What to Expect from Each (Part 2) appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.

In this episode I explain the opportunities available to scholars these days. I want to break these terms down and describe what they mean. The first is alternative academic, or alt-ac. This term was first used in 2010 in a Twitter conversation Bethany Nowviskie and Jason Rhody. The purpose was a pointed pushed against the […] The post SPP 013 | Types of Non-Traditional Academic Jobs and What to Expect from Each (Part 1) appeared first on The Scholarpreneur.