Episode 85 - Morgan Saied 6th-Grade Teacher Passion For Drawing Turned Into A Booming Side Hustle

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the.

Capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to.

Be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacy Lauren.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren. So I love these kinds of interviews because I have never met our next guest and my sister, who is actually an amazing teacher and has a side hustle that she's been working on, has been talking about my next guest for a while now and just telling me how she does the thing with everything she does. And she's also a teacher and also has a side hustle. And I'm really excited to get a chance to talk to her because I know we have so many people listening that really do want to do the thing in terms of business and start a business, but they haven't been able to really connect the dots to be able to get it started. And a lot of times you don't need to burn the boats and quit your job and do the actual business. You could just do it alongside with what you're already doing, especially if you love what you're doing. So anyway, I'm really excited to talk to her and hear more about her story. So I am welcoming Morgan to the show.

Hey, Morgan. Hi, Stacy, how are you?

I am doing great. How are you?

Fantastic. Good.

I love it when I get to hear all about someone and I haven't met them yet. Now I get to talk to you.

Yes, me too. I mean, you sound like your sister, so it's kind of surreal to hear hear you and you're not Nicole.

Oh, it's even probably funnier because I.

Made you turn the video off so now it's talking to you. Yeah.

Well, why don't we start off and have you tell everyone about you and your background.

Well, I grew up in Austin, Texas. I was a veterinary technician. That was the first thing that I loved doing. Of course, I didn't make enough money, so I and I really enjoyed teaching more than anything else. So I got my degree in education. I have two kids. I have a three year old who kind of rules the whole house and a seven year old boy who wishes he ruled the whole house. And my 10 year wedding anniversary is actually tomorrow, so moving on up, I guess.

Yeah. What is the tenure?

That's like a special one, huh? It's steel or diamonds. So we're not doing anything.

So you were a vet tech. So that, that's pretty much working alongside the veterinarian and helping with whatever they need to have help with.

Yes. Yeah. The veterinary technicians, they don't get paid a whole lot, but they do a considerable amount of the work. So we do all the gross stuff, all the exciting stuff. My favorite kind of part being a veterinary technician was the surgery part. So I assisted the veterinarian in surgery as far as getting them set up for surgery, cleaning and prepping the area, monitoring all their vital signs, and waking them up after it's all done.

To me, you started doing the thing even with that job, because that's not something everyone can do, is to feel confident enough, you know, to be in a role. So I'm just kind of curious, is that like, how was that for you?

It was fantastic. And my whole life I just kind of follow my gut and just do stuff.

I just was going to college and decide, hey, I think I want to try veterinary technician to see if I want to go to school to be a veterinarian. I picked the first one I could see in the. On the Internet. I literally googled veterinarian near me. The first one that popped up, I walked in and I said, hey, do you have any kind of jobs open? And they just sort of honestly hired me on the spot. So I just feel like everything I do is just kind of meant to be. If you follow your instincts.

The first time they had you assist on surgery, how did you, how did you get yourself to do that?

I was a little nervous, of course. I mean, I started out as a receptionist. I didn't even know what sleep prevention was, to be honest. Whenever I started, I did not know the basics. So once I got the grips of that one day, we were really busy. So they're like, hey, go into a room and we'll just kind of walk you through it. So I did that and before I knew it, I was assisting and in surgery. So some veterinarians are easier to work for than others. Some are very strict and kind of shadow over you. And then over time, I mean, they just kind of let you get it all started. They start to trust you. So I did that for a while and got to the point where that was most of my job was every morning I would assist in most of the surgeries, and we did some really cool ones. There were anything from orthopedics to mass removals to sometimes the dogs get chronic dry eye where their eyes don't tear like they're supposed to. So it's kind of cool. They take a salivary gland and they move it up towards the eye so their eye can tear normally. So that I got to see a lot of really interesting stuff that I didn't know existed at the time.

It just seems like you're really confident just to be able to do that. Even did that. Was that something you mentioned that's kind of been your way all along? Like, was that something that you built up younger than that job?

Did it start early? I don't want to say I was born with confidence because honestly, usually I'm terrified of things and I just do it anyways until it's not scary anymore. I think everything you do should scare you a little bit. Right. That kind of makes. It keeps you on your toes and makes you grow. So I definitely was not confident. I just. My gut said, hey, let's try this. And I just. I liked it.

Yeah. So before that, when you were younger, what was something you were terrified of and you did it anyway and it wasn't scary anymore.

Hmm.

I know. I failed swimming lessons a couple of times.

And I swam anyway, so I can't think of anything in particular. It's funny, I failed swimming lessons a few times and then I was actually. I went to state and swimming in high school. Wow. Yeah.

That's so cool.

Yeah.

I'm wondering because a lot of times when you build up the skill, like you said, not being born with it. Right. But you build up the skill of being terrified of something and then just realizing it's going to be scary, you know, in the beginning, and it won't be scary eventually. It's something you gradually built over time. So just that's why it's interesting to know, like, where to start.

I mean, I'm really hard on myself. I am my biggest critic. If you try something and it doesn't work out, at least you tried. Gets a bigger. It's scarier to not try anything.

Then you became a teacher. And what kind of teacher? What grade are you teaching right now?

I'm currently teaching sixth grade, so I've taught sixth, seventh, and a little bit of eighth. Middle school was the strangest time in my whole life. Very impulsive, a different self. So I picked my middle schoolers because they're strange. And it sure is interesting. Every single day.

And that's definitely doing the thing. Because middle school is one of the hardest kind of age ranges where they're just getting into puberty and managing the emotions and all the stuff.

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's definitely the most awkward time in their lives. I think the most. I mean, lots of the kids are either getting younger siblings, kind of surprise siblings, or their parents are going through something, or they're just going through something. That's why I like sixth grade the most, because they were fifth graders last year, and then now you can tell the sixth graders from everybody else. They're the only ones running to get to class. And so I feel like I'm the most impactful with my sixth grade babies.

And then is that something that you had to work towards to be able to feel comfortable just kind of going into that classroom? Like when school started, maybe the first time when you first had a group of sixth graders, how did you kind of open yourself up to that knowing.

Oh, yeah, the hardest grades? I definitely feel like I had to learn patience.

I thought I was a patient person, and I definitely was not. Not on the scale that you need to be to be a sixth grade teacher. My first year, I was actually a seventh grade teacher, and they were entirely too much for me. So I did back it up a little bit. I remember my very first day, they hired me on a Friday and we started school on a Monday. So I didn't even know how to log into my email. I really didn't know a whole lot. So I welcome all these seventh graders into my classroom. The bell rings, close the door. And I remember as I was closing the door, saying, they're just going to let me teach these kids.

This feels very suspicious. How do they know I'm going to do it? And really, middle schoolers, they sense weakness. They smell it. So you just kind of have to learn how to manage your time and kind of foresee the issues that might arise based on their impulsiveness.

Yeah, no, I love that you said that, because I can't even imagine being.

Left in a room with a bunch of sixth graders. Oh, yeah. I was like, hold up. I just remember all their bright eyes staring at me like, teach us, teach us things. And I was, ooh, okay, I know how to do this. Let's see. And it was great. I have so, so much fun. I teach science. So of course, my class is the coolest class. Right. Because I get to do all the fun stuff in there. So I don't want to say it's been A breeze. I've definitely had my challenges, but it's really fulfilling.

And then what about with being in front of a classroom and public speaking? Is that something you've always been comfortable with or did you have to work up towards that?

Oh, man, 100%. No. I was never a good public speaker. I Even in high school, I tried to get out of my speech class because whenever I would talk, I would get. I'm very fair complected, so my chest, I would get red and my ears would get hot. And it just became very evident to the audience that I was very nervous. So I definitely was not a good public speaker. So I tried to get out of speech in high school. Sure enough, my senior year, I'm taking speech class, which is usually a ninth grade thing. They're like, you cannot graduate unless you take speech. I'm like, okay, fine. So I took it. I begged and pleaded with my speech teacher, please, I'll stay after school. I'll tell you the speech. I'll do such a good job after school. And she's like, no, this is what this is about. You have to do this. So fast forward to college. I also tried to get out of public speaking.

And it did not work. I took an online course thinking that I could just stand in front of a friend or a fake group of people and record it and send it in. But no, it was actually kind of crazy. They made you go pick at least 10 strangers to deliver a speech to. It was just even more of a nightmare. So, no, I definitely was not a public speaker for sure.

Okay, I have to ask you about that. What was that? You have to go up to 10 strangers to deliver a speech to.

How did you. Well, it was a struggle because, I mean, I don't really have a large group of friends. I definitely am not one per. I'm not a person that really asks for help. I usually just try to handle it on my own. So to openly ask someone, hey, can I do this horrible speech in front of you? And then record. It was hard. So that was definitely more. I wish I would have just taken the class, to be honest.

Yeah.

So I asked my chemistry professor, I said, hey, I really have to record this today. I hate asking this. There any way I can do this last five minutes of class? And he was like, I get. He wasn't very nice. He was. I guess I would never do this, but I guess I'll do this. I was like, thank you. I was shaking. I was so nervous and I did it, and it was very uncomfortable. For everyone.

Oh, my gosh. Do you still have that?

Do you have the recording?

Oh, you know what? It was the first time I ever uploaded anything to YouTube, so I'm going to go find it some. I'm sure it's somewhere on the Internet. I'll have to. I'll have to figure out my old, old email or whatever and go try to find it.

Yeah, I love seeing the first of things, especially when, you know, like, how awkward you are and then you get to see it after you have so much more experience now.

Oh, yeah, it was a nightmare for sure.

It's so cool.

So with the. So that's what you did. You ended up. That was your. The way that you were able to talk in front of 10 strangers was you asking your chemistry teacher to speak at the last five minutes of class and then him recording it?

Yes. And then afterwards he critiqued my entire speech. And so it was pretty embarrassing. Yeah.

What'd you do it on?

Global warming.

So then after that, how did you. I mean, because, well, you did the vet tech for a while and so did you. Like, you didn't do any more public speaking until you decided to be a teacher.

Right, Right. But I did have to talk way more than I ever thought to strangers. And I've always been able to naturally talk to people. I. Very well. So just the fact that I'm. I don't know, it was almost something about the rehearsed part of it that made me uncomfortable. And that is something that I did have to learn as being a teacher, you know, saying the same thing seven times a day over and over again to Savage middle schoolers. So luckily, for some reason, they think I'm cool. I really don't know why. I have no idea. But they're definitely. They're more fun to talk to than 10 random strangers in a chemistry class. For sure. I feel like between. So you're trying to connect the two. So between the horrible nightmarish speech to teaching public speaking wasn't really at the top of my list of being scary. Really. And I think it's from being a vet tech. I constantly had to talk to people about. Pull information out of them so someone would bring in a dog. And they're like, I don't know why they're throwing up. And I'm like, okay, so you kind of have to get to the bottom of the mystery and figure out if ate something or if they fed it something or if it's sick or where they got the vaccines from, if it's even vaccinated. And so pulling information out of people definitely helped me be more comfortable with speaking, for sure.

And so if I asked you to go and with me to an event and There were like 100 people there, and I was like, oh, please talk to them about being a vet tech, Morgan, what would you say?

Um, gosh, you got me at helping people, though. So I really like to help. I would definitely be nervous they're there to learn about something that I like talking about, so I don't feel like I'd be too terribly uncomfortable, but I definitely go for it. I'd say, sure, Stacey, anything you want. When, Where.

Yeah, I actually really think you said that because so I've. I've been terrified of public speaking pretty much my whole life. And then I'm recently now, since I'm doing the podcast, I'm trying to open myself up more to that. I joined Toastmasters, and I just recently decided I'm going to do. Do the Thing public speaking challenge in February. And I think part of it, the reason why I think it's important for people, and that's why I'm staying on this topic for a minute, because I think a lot like this was my story is I was like, I don't want to speak in front of people. I'm just not. I'm not good enough, whatever it is, whatever story I had in my head. And then all of a sudden it clicked. I watched someone do a presentation that I don't know if you've ever seen someone speak. And it ripples your soul, you know, where, like, you.

Yeah.

Feel different afterwards. And it was just the way I felt from it. And then I had that click where I'm like, I want to do that to someone when I talk. I want them to be able to feel something from the things that I say. And then the other thing that really came to mind is like, you never know when you're going to need the skill, be able to speak. And wouldn't you rather have the choice if you get asked to do something and then kind of what you just said really clicks where it's okay, if I get a chance to help people, then why wouldn't I want to do it? So whether. I mean, situations I've thought of, let's say your kid has autism and you need to be an advocate in an IEP room with, like, all these different people, That's a way that you would need public speaking, you know, or someone close to you has cancer and you.

Have to speak to the board of.

Some hospital to advocate for them. It's not always work related or a vet tech, whatever it is. But anyway, yeah, I'm glad that we.

Yeah, for sure. That together.

Because I think you talking about. Are you identifying the why you would do it, which is you helping people. I think that's the whole point of.

It is just being able to get.

Out of your head and think who is the speech for? Okay, I'll do it for them type thing.

Yes. Yeah. I feel like I definitely have to be behind whatever I'm speaking. If I'm speaking just to speak. It does make me just kind of uncomfortable. I don't really like to talk about things that I don't want to say don't matter. But I mean in the scheme of things are just kind of ridiculous. Whenever they promoted me, I was teaching. It was my second year and they promoted me to science department chair. And that was terrifying because now all of a sudden I'm department chair and these other teachers can essentially teach around me and I'm supposed to speak in front of them. So my instructional coach is, hey, you want to say this at the professional development and have them do this little activity? And the activity felt unnecessary to me. It felt like something we had done before. And sure enough, I flopped right on my face. I was so embarrassed. I just started rambling. It was really uncomfortable. And it's just because I felt I didn't really need to say what I was saying. And it also felt it was just for show. And so that part definitely made me uncomfortable. The just for show part made me uncomfortable. Yeah.

But it sounds like what you learned from that is that you really doing things aligned with your values.

Yes. Yeah, 100%. Yeah.

Then the other side of it is by you when you thought you failed in that moment of speaking in front of that group. The saying that I'm using now in one of the challenges is, but did you die?

You know, like so. Oh, yeah, yeah. I did not die.

Did you also?

I may have given some looks, I might die now, but I didn't actually die.

Okay, we're moving on to the coloring books.

Is that.

And let's talk about your side hustle. So tell me all about that.

Well, my coloring books are the work that doesn't work. So let's say how did it all start? It was March of 2020 and my students had just. They've kind of been. I didn't even realize it at the time, but encouraging me to draw.

I'm not sure why they were encouraging me to draw, but they're just so wonderful. They just really believe in you more than you believe in you. So they're encouraging me to draw these science related coloring pages and they're like, all right, after spring break, can you. Can our first day when we get back, can we color and talk about our break and all that kind of stuff? I was like, sure, 100% if asked to a science, let's do it. So I started coloring a coloring page on energy and everything. Energy, like energy transformations and things that I was making very intricate, trying to sneak in a lot of information. So that was lots to fine on it. So I spent not all spring break doing it, but I just. That's when it all started to flow. So I bought a big notebook and I just kept drawing and drawing and drawing and drawing and I was just really enjoying it. And then we never came back from spring break because then Covid erupted over spring break and my district just eventually decided not to go back until the following October. So I started kind of googling, like, what can I do with this? I have a teachers pay teacher store. So I thought maybe I'll just put it on there. It looks. I'm getting a lot of great feedback on it. And then I had so much that I started looking, you know what, maybe I'll do a coloring book. And then I just kind of fumbled and stepped and glided into making what I now have is 19 coloring books that I sell on Amazon.

Oh my gosh.

That's insane. I know. It really is crazy. I said I would quit my job when I made 3/4 of my salary. And I am making 3/4 of my salary, sometimes double my salary certain months. And I'm. I just haven't quit teaching yet because it makes me sad to think of quitting.

Well, yeah, because like, and I kind of mentioned this in the intro, but you don't always need to quit the job. A lot of people just like to do the side thing. Even though it's more money even get to. You can't always do both. I think sometimes that's a misconception that you have to stop the main thing in order to have a side thing.

I'm a big advocate of following your gut and doing what brings you joy. And if it brings you joy and makes you sad quitting it, then why are you quitting something you like to do?

So tell me about the 19 coloring books. So how did you even you. So you started just drawing, drawing, drawing. And then you looked online, you were.

Thinking about teachers, paid teachers. Paid teachers.

That's what it's called, right?

Yeah.

And then that's when you found Amazon. And now you ended up creating. I think you probably created one book first, right? And then you created the other ones after.

Well, in my journal, I had enough images to create two books. I did a volume one and volume two. I did not know about digital art, so I'm talking going to the craft store and buying those pins. And then if it. If you mess up, you just start over. So I did that and then I. My husband is actually. He's really pushed me along in this process. He's into technology and he's that mentality, there's always a better way kind of person. So he's like, no, you gotta do it digitally. This is how you have to do it. I'm just like, leave me alone. I just want to draw. And then he got me an iPad and sat in front of me and was, this is expensive. Use it. And I panicked so much. I'm like, this iPad is huge. It's the size. He bought it the size of a sheet of paper. He bought a little cover that goes over it that makes it feel kind of. You're writing in pencil. Because I like the feel of drawing on paper. So he's like, this is close. You're going to get. Let's do it. And so I just kind of started doing digital art, which was a struggle. But now I look back at those first two books and they were not good.

They were not good at all. I'm sorry, but thank you for everyone who supported me. They were not good. I will give you a digital download of the good one.

So it took a lot of spending time. How do I do this? How do I do that? I'm not a big YouTube instructions kind of person, so I just kind of figured it out on my own. But now it's really easy. I don't know why I ever drew with pencil and paper.

So you basically started drawing just with pencil and paper. Then your husband got you the iPad, you then switched the digital art, and then you're still kind of like figuring out how do I do it? But then what was like, the next step? How did you get it from digital art to then having the volume one and the volume two coloring book?

Well, so I started out the volume one and volume two on pencil and paper or, you know, the ink pens. And then of course, I went back and redid them once I figured out how to do digital art. And I just kept. I don't know, there's just some creativity. It Just seems so easy. So I just kept drawing every chance I could get. I looked at my phone and found out I'd been spending hours on like Candy Crush and all these games. And you can look at your phone and it tells you how much time you're spending on these apps. So I'm like, that's four hours a week. What am I even doing? That's not productive. So I deleted all the apps and I'm this what you're going to do, girl. If you want to do something, this is your outlet. This is what you're going to do. So I just kept drawing, kept having ideas. I wanted to do them for more units. My students were like, hey, doing on this and doing on that. And so just it kept building from student requests, things that I thought of and other people online asking for different topics. So then I had requests for a physical science book and a life science book. Now I'm to the point where people are asking for elementary books. So I've just launched my kinder first and second for Texas and then my kinder first and second for NGSS because they have different standards. And now I'm working on my third, fourth and fifth grade books. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

So I'm totally, I'm with you on the part of you drawing and then creating the images for the book. But then how did you get to the neck? Because a lot of people would then be stuck there, right? And I like that you evaluated the things that you're on and you're the technology or the stuff you're consuming. And then you were like, okay, I'd rather channel this into something productive. And then how did you connect the dot from like, okay, now I'm selling it on Amazon to then selling it, like putting it on Amazon and then selling what is. What was that like for you?

Googling. Endless Googling in the middle of the night. Cause I had a, an almost. I had like a six month old when, when I started this and a five year old at the time figuring out how do I get my images here. I found this app. It was like an Adobe app where you basically scan the images. So I did that. Then of course my, there's got to.

Be a better way.

And my husband, right, he's like, no, you need to convert these to these files. So then I figured out how to make PNG files and put them online and then PDF them. Then that was a nightmare. Figuring out how to actually upload because I self publish on Amazon through kdp, which is what KDP I don't know. Kindle publishing, basically. So you look online and you figure out what format and how many pages. And then it really was easy after that. Once you figure out how to set up your page size and PDF, it was really easy to get it on there.

And so you got it on and then what did you do next? Did it automatically sell or did you have to figure out how to actually get it to sell?

So Amazon is really great. If people buy your books within a certain period of time, they start to push them to the top of the list. So they have their own algorithms. Then they can even label you as a. I think it's a new bestseller title, I believe. And that's if you get a certain amount of sales within a certain amount of hours of publishing it. So right after I, I got the email that had gone through publishing because they do have, you know, people or robots or whoever looking through it to see if goes through the guidelines and if the name doesn't match anybody else's name and things like that. So once I got the email, I got so excited. I was like, okay, I have to do something with this, right? So I posted on Facebook, just, hey, like, what do you think? Which was incredibly terrifying for me because they could say, this is the worst, you're the worst.

But instead everyone was like, oh my gosh, you can draw what is happening? How are you doing this? This is amazing. Don't post these images online. People are going to steal this. So I got lots of crazy information. Other people were like, how do I buy this? So then I realized you have to put the link on there. So I put the link on there and people just were buying it. I mean, just friends and family and people were sharing it. Now I know how important a like or a share or even promoting a friend is so important because even one share would not only give me sales, but give me a boost of morale and motivation, right? So after all that wonderful feedback, I was just blown away. So I found a middle school group that I've been on and I posted it there just to kind of see what people thought. And that blew up and I couldn't. I couldn't believe it. I sold hundreds of copies. Amazon isn't super friendly with keeping up with showing you the data, but I do have. It's not an app, but it's a website I go to and it tells me once the product has shipped. So I had to wait two or three days before I could actually see if that was converting to sales. But it was. I Mean, I couldn't, I couldn't even believe it. I didn't even believe it till they're about three months behind, so they have a 90 day lag before they put the money in your account. So I really didn't even believe I sold books, books until the money was in my bank account. So it's pretty cool because you post it, they do the shipping, they do, they take the taxes out and everything. So pretty much just shows up in your bank account. So it's pretty neat.

Let's kind of start over for a minute. So when you got into starting it, you were, you just were. It was basically Covid was happening. So you're kind of stuck more home, right? So you're drawing and then what was the. I'm trying to figure out your. Did you have a deep why on why you wanted to do this? Were you taking the next steps? Did you want the extra money? Was there just something that you loved or was there something particular that got you to like, want to move forward?

Well, my husband works, he's a storage. He inspects storage tanks. So he's an API. So at this particular time he was in a small little town for three months and then all of a sudden Covid hit. Here I am at home with a little baby who needs enrichment and a five year old who also needs lots of things to learn and do. I'm also teaching from a phone. My beautiful 6th grade babies that did their work and worked so hard and were so fun were avoiding me. They weren't doing their online work. It was very frustrating. So I felt like I was mothering another 50 kids because of the way they broke it up. I didn't have all my students, but I just kind of felt incredibly lonely. I didn't have any. I didn't realize how much of teaching was kind of satisfying, this need to be creative. I didn't really realize that it was doing that for me until it was gone. And it was just this automated online program that, that taught the kids. So I think that's why I had so much energy to draw. So that was really my why. At first I didn't really think that it would be what it is right now. So now my why has slightly changed. Of course it's still my creativity. When I'm feeling any emotion, really excited, anxious, nervous, I draw. And so, I mean now it's just kind of changed into more of wow. When I do good. I not only get to. I don't really get to see the excitement on the teacher's Faces or the kids faces. But I know based on sales, hopefully that that's coming through. So really, I guess now it's. I get the money from it. I feel like I'm doing the thing. So I feel internally successful and motivated based on that. And I get to chip away at debt and pay off things, which is definitely an extra bonus.

And then what about your mindset throughout it? I mean, you've had to overcome so much where you're asking yourself, okay, what can I do with this? What do I need? When you're constantly upscaling, you're learning. Like, you had to really be in a learning mindset. Was there anything that you used to get yourself through as you hit through the different obstacles along the way?

Oh, yeah. I mean, if we're talking a graph here, it would be a roller coaster ride for sure. I mean, I went from zero expectations to such high expectations and disbelief to, you know what? I don't think this is going to work out. Maybe this will always just be a hobby to where I'm at now, where I do think could be a career. I mean, now I walk by the area in Costco and they should have my books. Like, now I have this confidence I've never really had before. I walk by empty business buildings. I should be in there selling my stuff and doing science experiments. And definitely my husband has pushed me through. So I can't tell you how many times I've just held up my journal or now my iPad and said, what do you think? Do you like it? Do you not like it? Like, what do you like about it? So he's had to be like, okay, let me see. I don't know science very well, but I know that looks weird or this looks strange or you should move this around, which is frustrating for feedback. That's kind of eh. But he's definitely pushed me through to be better and to not settle for just okay work.

So he's almost been your accountability partner in a way.

Oh, yeah. We met when we were, I want to say 18. We have been best friends ever since. I mean, so he's definitely my. My person that I want to be proud of me. And so he definitely. And we're savage towards each other also, so brutal honesty. He doesn't sugarcoat things, which is exact. I don't want to try to guess. Okay, Are they just saying this to be nice so he will tell me, no, that looks weird. I don't understand that. Don't you have one kind of like that already? And so I have to Back it up and say, actually, no, these are different. Or, but you're right, this does look weird. Let me go back to the drawing board kind of thing. So, yeah, he definitely motivates me in more ways than one.

Did you have anything else set up for accountability or was it just something between him and you kind of working together in that way, or did you have something for yourself set up?

Nothing formal. I am very competitive and of course there's no one really necessarily to compete with for this. I make my own to do list. I have six journals that I've just filled up with ideas and future ideas and people I need to contact or things I need to Google. Or I'll just get an idea in the car and I'll pull it out of my purse and say, hey, let me draw this page real quick and sketch it out. Because I have this idea. So I put sometimes unrealistic expectations on myself. And so I have to say, did you fail or was this unrealistic? Sometimes I'll ask him and sometimes I'll just ask myself. So I definitely push myself. I like to push out content. I like to see if people like it or not. I like to give books away and just to kind of bring joy, I suppose. So I definitely am self motivated to accomplish things. It's really just me in a journal and a piece of paper and I say, okay, I'm gonna do this book. This is what it's gonna have in it. And then I just go from there. So right now I have about 40 ideas lined up. And it's a little overwhelming at times, so I have to tell myself, it's okay, you don't have to do all this now or else you'll make mistakes. So how about, luckily I'm a teacher, so I'm like, okay, I have October break now, so I have a week off. Then I know I have spring break and Christmas break, which I do enjoy my family during those times. So I say, okay, just do a little bit of this or work for 30 minutes every day. And so I am really competitive in seeing how much I can get done.

And then how about goals? How do you set goals for yourself with this?

I'm more of a live in the moment kind of person. I love what I'm doing. I love checking off things off my list. Boom, done. You did that thing. I don't really think, other than replacing my salary, that's really been. My first goal is having passive income. But my husband, he's the big. He's no, we will be millionaires one day he has that kind of thinking, which blows my mind, that he just knows in his heart, like, we're working day to day, but long term goal millionaires 100%. So he keeps me going as far as that goes. But I guess my goal is really just to make sure it's always fun and something I like doing. I would hate to ruin something that fun by pushing myself too, too fast.

And when you set out the goal to replace your salary, did you have anything else in mind underneath that, where you were like, okay, this is what I would have to do to replace my salary?

That would really make sense if I did.

But I just refer to my journal and I say, hey, I'm gonna. There's just. So. I love science. I love sharing science. I just really enjoy drawing science stuff. If that sounds nerdy, I guess I'm nerdy. So I just know all the topics. I really struggled with learning. I struggled with dyslexia, I struggled with add. And so I just feel it's a way that everyone can learn. And so I think that just kind of makes me want to draw all the topics for everybody.

I actually. The guy that built the platform this podcast is based on, it's been really fascinating to me because he has. He had dyslexia and he used to ride with his mom in the car to school and would listen to npr. And he realized that he could actually learn a lot easier by listening to NPR than he could by reading. And that's how he became so passionate about podcasting so much. So years later, he ended up building this platform. And I really love that story because he's the one that helped me start this podcast. And I'm like, wow, if it wasn't for his dyslexia, how he was able to reframe, he didn't make it seem this. Because you could make dyslexia mean two things. One is that you're not able to learn, right? Or how can I learn differently? And so I think that's kind of what you did, where you're learning how you're learning how you learn. And now you know how other people need to learn in a different way too.

Yeah, that's interesting. I haven't really actually made. I just feel I am the chaos coordinator, right? Like, I just feel like I just kind of go and do things. I don't really stop to look back and say, why, what? When? So to track it back to that, I used to. I don't know, I learned pretty quickly. I'm definitely. I Learned by doing. And even in college, I would write down the note and it wouldn't really make sense. It's just words, right? Which I don't really feel like I struggle now as much as I did when I was little with dyslexia. When I get flustered, I do flip stuff around. I don't really need the middle of the word, you know, to make sense of it. But I definitely go home or to my apartment and look up pictures and draw pictures. So I do convert concepts to picture form. So now that you're saying that, it does mean a lot to me. So a picture is worth a thousand words, right? So looking at a picture was way more helpful than remembering words on a page. For sure. Yeah.

And I talk a lot about life assets, where things that happen to you or struggles you've had to go through, you then have built up a life asset to be able to get through it. So it's a skill now. And so it's like being able to get through dyslexia and figure out another way to learn has now made it so that everyone can get these really cool coloring books. And then whatever else you're going to.

Do, it's like, it's cool.

I think it's amazing.

I mean, you were talking about work ethic. And When I was 10, my mom got remarried and we moved out to property. And that's really meeting my stepdad, really. I mean, my mom, of course, built me up. You can do anything. You're so strong, you're awesome. All the good things that parents are supposed to do. But my stepdad, he's the one that you're gonna work today and you're gonna like it. So I grew up, we developed a vegetable farm. And I mean, I was 10 on excavators, driving heavy machinery and right on the outside of Lakeway, which is, I mean, just a town full of, I suppose, just these gigantic houses and people that don't know how to. Well, sorry, not that they don't know how to mow their lawn, just people who don't mow their lawn after school, go dig holes with excavators and throw trees into chippers and all that kind of stuff. So that was. We worked as a family and we weren't really inside very much. You go inside to sleep, but we even ate under trees on a picnic table. So I feel like that's definitely where the work ethic part kind of hit home.

And so one more question on with the coloring book company. So were you when you were building the business. Were you surrounding yourself with people that were doing something similar as you? I know you learned a lot, but was there any kind of group that you connected to, where you felt like you belonged that were. They were, like, all doing the same thing?

I think I probably did that unknowingly. I have every one of my friends right now. I feel like they do something. One friend has a shirt business, and so she does sublimation, which I think is cool. And she does all kinds of sublimation stuff. I mean, your sister, I ran into her, and she just blows my mind with all the stuff she does. And she was constantly asking me questions about my life, and I just. She's just so curious that I forget to ask her about her. But she has so much awesome stuff going on that I can learn from. So I do feel that is more interesting to me is people actually going out there and us learning from each other for sure. On how to grow your business and how to look at life in a little bit different of a way. Yeah. So I think, unknowingly, I have started to surround myself with people who either have their own business or are starting one up. Yeah.

And what do you think's been the hardest thing for you as you've been building the business?

Oh, gosh. The hardest thing, I think, is there's so many ups and downs, really. I mean, I think it's kind of guilt, honestly. Am I. Because I'm kind of burning the candle at both ends. Right. With my kids. I have two little kids. And one of the main reasons for my why is I want to be able to go to the Halloween party or pick them up because they're throwing up at. At school without me stressing about my. I want to be able to live a little bit slower. You want to go to the park? I'm not stressing about being at the park for two hours. That's my why. So I'm working harder now so I can have time later. And sometimes I have a little bit of guilt about that, like, what if this doesn't succeed? And I worked through their young years. That's definitely my biggest speed bump for right now.

And what's been, like, your biggest kind of mantra? Do you have a mantra that you say to yourself or some kind of mindset trick that helps you get through those difficult times?

Yeah. I feel like everything happens for a reason. Everything that's happened in my life, it's always led to the next greatest thing. So that everything happens for a reason. I always say that. And it Always gives me a sense of calm.

Okay, the time is here. What is your number one piece of advice for the listeners on Doing the Thing?

I would just say my number one piece of advice is to follow your gut. If it feels right and brings you joy, then do it.

And where can people buy your coloring books?

People can buy my coloring books on Amazon. You can just go to the Amazon search area, type in Morgan Saeed or Spunky Science. It'll pop up. Or you can find digital downloads on Teachers Pay Teachers under my Spunky Science store.

Perfect. I'll put it in the show notes as well in case you guys are driving.

Yeah, don't get on Amazon, please. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for coming on. This was so much fun. I'm really, I really love that we were able to kind of like track through all these different things and, and see the different patterns through your life and how you've been able to do the thing.

Yes, me too. Thank you so much for making me break it down. I really enjoyed it. I'll definitely look at my business from a different perspective for sure. So cool.

Thanks for listening to the do the Thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. But even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the thing. Do you have a burning question on Doing the Thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at do the Thing.

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