Establish a New Career Path By Teaching Online

Dan Scott shares how he started his online teaching career and how Skillshare fits into his role as both a parent and an entrepreneur.  

Tell us a bit about your profession. How did you get your start? What are you currently working on?

I’m currently a digital media designer or a software trainer, depending who asks (I only tell my mum I’m an entrepreneur). I’ve dabbled with lots of side businesses... [and] 2 years ago I experimented with some online training courses on Skillshare. The online training has proved really successful and now I spend most of my time creating online content and I love change of direction.

What role does Skillshare play with regard to your career?

I love teaching. I really do. But it’s super exhausting. It’s hard to teach 10 new people each day with my sit down classroom courses and give them 100% every time. With Skillshare, I can put everything into my preparation, everything into my delivery. I can even go back and tweak things to get it perfect for the student. Then once it’s done, that one course can teach many people, and every time it’s watched, it’s the same high quality. That’s what I love.

What is your favorite part of being an entrepreneur? What advice would you give to someone interested in dipping their toes in web design?

For me I love the idea that your time can be translated into more than just an hourly wage. And once you’ve created something, it has the potential to carry on working for you.

“Once you’ve created something, it has the potential to carry on working for you.”

What is a typical day like for you?

I wake up to my 4 year old (Oisín) jumping on me “Daddy, the sun’s up!”. My lovely wife is normally already up with our new 7 week old baby (Oliver). Then it’s getting Oisín to school and off to one of the cafes in my neighbourhood for an hour of email. Then it’s either back to my home office or to my own office in the village/town. There I’m either writing course outlines & creating course material or recording my course. At the end of the work day it’s the morning but in reverse, except there is a story before bed. Oh - yeah, then I work all night! But I do that because I love it.  

Curious how teaching can fit into your life? Learn more here!