Guest: Kim Limon,  Learning and Development Design Specialist

In this episode, I'm chatting with Kim Limon with 10 years experience in Education and English writing.  She was wanting more with flexibility. When she found IDOL courses Academy she knew it was the clear bridge to help her cross over into corporate. 

Hear how much time she put in and how she went through IDOL courses Academy while working a full time job. After 2 months she built a portfolio, revamped her resume and LinkedIn account with recruiters contacting her. She has great tips for navigating the next steps! 

Listen to this episode below:

Subscribe to Become an IDOL Podcast: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast

Let me tell you a little bit about Kim:

Kim Limon is a 10-year educator/ instructor with a varied education background instructing learners from pre-K to middle school 10th, grade, GED, all subjects as well as English language learners, and learners with disabilities. She lives in sunny California and was in search of a role with flexibility to better be there for her parents as they age. When she started IDOL courses Academy during a 2-month process, she was contacted by many recruiters! Kim is now the Learning and Development Designer for Live Nation. She shares her journey to get there explaining further that it was hard, but she has always put the pressure on to accomplish what she was after in her career. 

Connect with Kim:  LinkedIn

Enjoy the Episode Transcript below: 

Robin Sargent I have here with me today, Kim Limon and she is one of our Idol courses, Academy Alumni. And she's one of our very recent idols success stories. And So Kim, will you do a better job of introducing yourself? Give us a little bit about your background and how you got interested in instructional design?

Kim Limon  Yeah, well, sure as heck try. I am what I consider a 10 year educator slash instructor, meaning I've been in the teaching space or instructing space for 10 years, and I've run the gamut of instructing learners from pre K to middle school 10th, grade, GED, all subjects as well as English language learners, and learners with disabilities.

Robin Sargent So you are a teacher with many, many subjects that you are qualified for.

Kim Limon  Yeah, jack of all trades, master of maybe one which is instructing

Robin Sargent  Anybody could just hand you a facilitator guide. That's it, that's all you need.

Kim Limon You just have to figure it out.

Robin Sargent And you're just really good at teaching. Okay, so you're like, Alright, I am a master instructor. But were you what was it? What was the thing that was like, Okay, I'm done now.

Kim Limon  A couple of things, as I'm sure most teachers would mention, I did end up getting my credential a couple of years out from graduating with my bachelor's, because initially, I wanted to see what I could do how far I could go with my bachelor's, which is in English subject matter, and with an emphasis on rhetoric and composition. So I figured I might land somewhere editing things or writing things. But ultimately, because of the economy at that time coming off of the recession, right. As I graduated, things were a little tougher. And I decided to go back for my credential to have a more solid career pathway. But that was also tough. Due to all the usual reasons, no need to name them all. But my personal reason, I guess, is that I really quickly realized that the time span of like energy put into the job was not something I felt comfortable doing for years and years and years on end. And I don't even have a family to support so to speak. So I can't imagine how to handle that stress and pressure day in day out of being on five days a week for super groups of learners in person. Yeah, it's just I could see the writing on the wall very quickly. And I wanted to have something more flexible to spend more time with my own family, like my parents and whatnot. As they get older, I want to be there for them. And I needed something more flexible than teaching to do that.

Robin Sargent  All right. So you're like, Okay, what you put in 10 years. You put 10 years and you're like, I just I can't do this anymore. I want some more flexible I want to life. And so then you started doing research once you find.

Kim Limon  Yeah, I researched a lot. I believe knowledge is power, even if that sounds cheesy, but it actually is real, like everyone teaching me that growing up was right. Because now that we have like internet and technology, we can find out all the answers that we want ourselves. It just takes a little bit of like elbow grease and googling. So big fan of that I started looking at what other teachers were doing and coming across different podcasts. And something told me that instructional design seemed like a really miraculous fit. Because I think up until that point, I didn't know that there was anything I could do with my teaching background that wasn't specifically in teaching. Like there was no bridge that was clear for me to see that I could use to cross over into corporate and so yeah, that's where I started learning about it at the end of 2021. And then when I saw that the waitlist was open for Idol in 2022. I was like, sure I'll be there.

Robin Sargent  How'd you find out about IDOL.

Kim Limon  The teacher career podcast. Teacher career coach. Yeah.

Robin Sargent  Oh, yes. Oh, well, that makes that makes total sense. And not to mention Kim, you also have a background in English Writing and Rhetoric. So that also really leans well to this feel.

Kim Limon  I'm glad to hear it. I was in between a couple of things because the pandemic it led a lot of people to work from home for the first time, so I was thankfully able to try that as well with my jobs at the time, I wasn't like furloughed or anything. So I was just working remotely. And I realized that I liked that and that I could be good at it and trusted with it, as opposed to maybe some people that were like, I want to get back in like the office or in the classroom. And I'm like, oh, gosh, like, trying to figure out if searches were happening. That was weird. Yeah, I really felt like, Oh, if I can do this now, it shouldn't only be for emergency reasons. I wanted to make it permanent. But the other things I was looking into were like boot camps for coding, which I did a little bit of like, on my own. Because it seemed at the time that that was the only like, for sure remote career. But again, thankfully, I was able to find something that's more aligned with what I already know. And isn't like learning a literal new language for the first time and having to excel at it, too.

Robin Sargent Yeah, yeah. I also have enrolled myself in those coding boot camps only to drop them later. So alright, so you joined IDOL courses Academy, January 2022. So right?

Kim Limon  Correct.

Robin Sargent  All right. So you got in in January of this year? And then tell us what you did? Like, how much time did you put in? What did you build? What do you work? What was your journey like?

Kim Limon  My journey was hard. It's not for the faint of heart. But I guess I've always been like that, giving some context. When I got my teaching credential. When I went back to school for that, I enrolled in the one year super duper program. So I was teaching in the mornings, and then going to school at night to learn how to teach the next morning for a whole year straight like student teaching, and going to get my credential.  I've been working really hard in order to have a life by sacrificing a lot of times where I didn't have a life. So I was already kind of used to the fast pace of it. And when I found out that people were getting their jobs and ID in as little as two weeks, I was like, Okay, well, then I gotta hit the ground running. Because if there's going to be more than me doing this, and everyone else is thinking the two week mark, like, I gotta keep up. And yeah, it can be done. But I took a slower pace, because I did have a full time job in the daytime. And between surges, if there was a surge, we'd work from home. So I capitalize on that and do my job, of course, but also take advantage of my time at home to like, search up things on the side, or work on something during downtime for my portfolio, you know, so I did two months of that working from home, work and then IDOL. And then when I went back in person for the third month, that's when I was like, Okay, now I kind of need to let my portfolio speak for itself. My head already revamped my resume my LinkedIn and put it up on a couple of job boards as well. So by the third month, I was just letting my portfolio website and my resume speak for me, using what I learned in idol to revamp it and like get the search engine to like me, and I think it worked because I was contacted by recruiters every day, basically. And I was able to feel their calls and emails at work. I took many bathroom breaks, because you got to do what you got to do.

Robin Sargent  I mean, especially when they're calling you for for your next job. Like yes, yes. Yes, I will meet with you in the bathroom to get out of here. Exactly. Okay. So by third month, after two months, you have your portfolio, your resume, your LinkedIn, I say that's pretty much I mean that you say slow, I wouldn't call that slow, Kim. All right, maybe slow in your in your goals. And then you have recruiters calling you. Okay, so now about do you have any clue how many calls or interviews you did?

That's interesting, where I asked them the questions like Oh, was a contract or a long term? If it is a contract, is there an extension possible? What are the benefits? Are there benefits? So yeah, it was a lot of that. And for interviews, I don't know, I've probably gone on like, under 20, just because there were so many recruiters, I eventually just forgot, I should have kept a nice little Excel spreadsheet. But because I was still working full time, and working on transitioning full time, I was kind of just like, going at it day by day I didn't want to stress out of I'm making things look pretty, you know, the whole do it messy mindset anyway.

Robin Sargent  Yeah. And I mean, obviously, it works. So you probably did a little under 20, you made templates for everything, which is brilliant, right? Because you have there's so much energy that goes into just like you said, like prepping and being ready, and you just wanted to be ready and put your energy and actually focusing on being present probably. So that is that's building. So what kind of things I bet everybody's like, well, what kind of templates did you make? So I guess you had basically like your elevator pitch, or you just had the questions? What kind of template?

Kim Limon So the template I'm referring to mainly is the discovery call template, which is funny because it is also modeled after certain recruiters that would email and have those like questions at the end that say, like, where are you from? What is your availability? So I kind of modeled it after that, because I wanted to circumvent the phone calls, mainly because seeing as I was back in the office, and that third month, I was able to take as many phone calls as possible. But after a certain point, I felt confident enough to tell the recruiters hey, I cannot take these phone calls. I want to keep my job before I transition. So how about I email you? And I'll answer your questions through email, because either way, I'd be on the computer for my job, regardless, right? It was more of a seamless way to integrate it. And yeah, I just had a couple of questions on there. Again, about like the duration. If there's room for extension, if there's benefits, what is the pay range? And yeah, I felt comfortable doing it that way. Because then I didn't have to feel like oh, man, I wish I would have taken their calls like, no, no, no, they're trying to reach out to me. And if they really want me, they will be okay with the email and some people aren't. And that's okay. Because then we wouldn't be a good fit anyways, that was a weird business relationship, if they can even work with my preferred method of communication, you know?

Robin Sargent  Yeah, yeah. And really, I mean, the truth is, like, the recruiter is they want you to qualify, right? They want to hurry up and find somebody to fill that role. And so I like your attitude, I like that you realize that they do want you, and they can, you know, basically give you what you want, or they can work with your communication style. So alright, so you are getting phone calls from recruiters or taking interviews. Now, your actual job that you landed, how was it through a recruiter? Or was it through a different type of application? How that came about?

Kim Limon  Yeah, my current job as a technical training and curriculum specialist, so I'm really happy I have two titles. Because then I could go on to either one maybe in the future. Yeah, my current job I got through a recruiter, and this recruiter was super nice. They understood that I was in a different time zone. And that I was kind of tied up with my, at the time work things in the day. So they would work with me after work before work during lunch. And yeah, they just happen to reach out about an opportunity. And they are a agency that works with placing people in these types of contracts. So I felt like they were pretty reputable. It wasn't anyone that I felt like I couldn't understand, or I wasn't really sure I'd never heard of their company before. I looked them up, and they were legit. And I recommend everyone do that, too. Because there was a time when I was getting hounded by recruiters, and a lot of them would ask for my social. Yeah.

 Robin Sargent  Without doing a background check. Like you will.

 Kim Limon  Yeah, exactly. I feel like I asked this on the community boards too. And initially, people were like, Whoa, red flag. And I was like, yeah, that's how I felt. But then others are saying no, this is actually it happens a lot. Yeah. And I was like, Okay, I guess we'll be more okay with it. But I always give them a hard time because I've been a victim of identity theft. And I always double check to make sure that like, if I'm signing up for something, it's because I really want it or because I really trust who's asking me for that information.

Robin Sargent  Yeah, well, when you actually got the job that you currently have through your recruiter, did they ask you for your social during the screening process?

Kim Limon No, I don't think they did, thankfully. But it was again another funny anecdote because they are on the east coast and I'm located in the west coast, and it's a contract through, like social services over there. So it's kinda like a government contract. I did get asked to like do a drug test, for example, even though it's all to work from home, and it sounds wild, but I got it. You know, if a hospital would probably ask you for that, then I'm sure a government agency, whether it's in person or not, will also ask for that. And like a fingerprint, like the whole nine yards.

Robin Sargent  Yeah. Okay. So tell us about it. So tell us about like, how did the interviews go? How many did you have? What was it like? You know, we went all the details.

Kim Limon  Yeah. And surprisingly, there's not that many. I actually got hired just after one interview with the person who's now my supervisor.

Robin Sargent  Talk about that.

Kim Limon Thankfully, I got contacted like, earlier in that week. So maybe it was like a Monday and I got told, okay, the interview will be on a Wednesday. So I took the interview at work. And it was a Zoom meeting interview at a weird time because of the time difference. So I had to kind of take my lunch break and say, oh, I'm taking a nap. Don't bother me. Yeah, so I had to commandeer like one of our, like our classroom, I guess, at my old job, because we didn't really have any private spaces. We had no break room. It was in a small, I'll call it an office. It wasn't an office. But it was a small area, there was nowhere for privacy. And I didn't want to take it in my car, because it's hot in Southern California. So that would have been horrible. And yeah, the interview was just a zoom. I had to sneak it in. But I got along really well with supervisor to the point where she was just asking me like, what was I comfortable with whatever I created before, I don't 100% Remember if she saw my portfolio, but I do remember sending it to her afterwards, because she was like, excited that I had one. So everyone have one. And she mentioned something really cool after I told her that like I was comfortable with storyline, because I had just created that like hackathon storyline course And I was like, Yeah, I'm comfortable with that. And I'm also comfortable with writing things based on my background and writing and she's like, Oh, you're a unicorn. And I'm like that's how I kind of knew I had it.

Robin Sargent  What do you call it? Your unicorn? Yeah. Pretty good sign. She's, she's in to you. Alright, so she's just one, one interview with a supervisor. And that was like one and done. Okay, so now, you started working with the person that's not your boss, your supervisor? I mean, did she give you any more like insights? Did she say, oh, yeah, you're like the only person I interviewed or like you were just a standout? Or did she give you any kind of after she hired you info?

Kim Limon  A little. Yeah, I think mainly, she mentioned that she liked my energy. She said that the current work process that they're going through right now. It's a lot. I mean, yeah. Understandably, everyone has a lot on their plates. And, but she mentioned specifically that, like, she wanted me to come in and like, breathe fresh air into the project and kind of bring people's spirits up a little. And I'm like, Okay, I guess I could do that. I mean, I'm just being me. So I really appreciate that. I think it was, I guess in that way, it was more of a culture fit than anything. I mean, I clearly had my background and like, all my pieces, were speaking for me and my past volunteer project experience to that I got through IDOL. So I've, I've proven that I do work well in the space with other people. But I think ultimately, my confidence and my demeanor in the interview led her to believe like, Okay, I see this person that's being a good addition, like, we need more people that have her same, like enthusiasm, I guess, for the work because enthusiasm is contagious, you know?

Robin Sargent  Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, realize that is a lot of what it all comes down to ultimately, right. You can have two people at the same level of skills, but then it comes down to like, Who do I actually want to, like, hang out with and work with? Daily? So yeah, I mean, that's not anything to be discounted at all. Okay, so you gave me a little a little insight. So what are you doing right now? I mean, I know you say you have like two roles. I can you talk anything about like, what's your day to day looks like or like the types of things that you work on? Or was it what you expected?

Kim Limon Um, no, but in a good way. Because I think when you go through the academy, you see all the different avenues that are available and the different tools that are being utilized in the space and you think, oh my gosh, I need to be good at all of these things. I need to afford all of these things and I need to use them. Often I'm going to be expected to use them often. And I think it's good to be exposed to all of that, because I think even knowing all of those things, oh, that came up in the interview, too, when I was talking about storyline and mentioning the different things I added to mine, which were all in the course, you know, I was just following what the course said, like add a trigger add this right. When I was describing that to my supervisor in the interview, she said, Oh, wow, it's cool that you know, all of that, I would say, you're pretty advanced, because maybe some other people I've interviewed don't even know what those things are that you said. And I'm like, what? So yeah, totally agree. Don't discount what you're learning, even if you feel like a novice as I did, because apparently, there are some people in the space that like, don't even know that, but we never know, because we always are the hardest critics of ourselves. So maybe we should just come into things with like a little bit more of a neutral stance and just plead our case to the best of our ability, but don't discount ourselves, because we don't even know if what we know, is advanced to some people. And we think it's just novice. But to get back to the original question. So I'm currently working a lot on facilitator guides. And that's different than when I expected because initially, I saw in a lot of job descriptions, creating learning modules. And so I was assuming I'd be doing slides of some sort, whether it be in storyline. And that's kind of what I was most familiar with in my portfolio. But a facilitator guide, once you look at it, it's like, okay, you're just kind of scripting out what the trainer well, in my case, what the trainer needs to say and do in order to teach this course. And that's pretty similar to lesson planning for subs. So it felt like an okay fit. And I do enjoy it.

Robin Sargent  That's awesome. So you guys do a lot of instructor led training, then it sounds like do you get to do the training? Are you like 100%, behind the scenes.

Kim Limon I am behind the scenes, as of now I've only been working for one full month and some change. So I've had meetings where people go over the facilitator guide or the job aids, and they kind of preview it with the training team. So I think I'd be interested in doing that too. I definitely don't mind facilitating a meeting. I think it's kind of cool. And I think people would enjoy hearing it from me, I guess not in a weird way. But like, I know, I have a distinct voice. So I think it would kind of pique people's interest of Oh, who's this person explaining things like this. But yeah, we haven't trained anyone yet. But I'm open to that in the future.

Robin Sargent Okay, so you've been working a full month. Now, I want to talk just a little bit, at least about your hackathon, because you kind of threw it in there. But I think it's worthwhile to share Kim. And so you knew that this was coming up. So tell us like why you did the hackathon. And then how you did it and what that outcome was?

Kim Limon Yeah, totally. It's super important. I know everyone who eventually listens to this, or anyone I've talked to about this, we all have different schedules. So for me, I decided to spend one day start to finish on a storyline nugget course. Because I knew I only had one day left to work from home. And I wanted to make sure that once I went back into the office, I was able to proudly have a storyline course, on my website, I didn't have to worry about coming back home from my commute and getting it together. I could have done that some people can work in little spurts, but I'm someone who likes to go all in. So I figured why not just it's one day, it's 24 hours, like, let's just get it over with us. As you know, from my past education experiences, too. I like to go all in and get it over with. So yeah, the hackathon came about from me reading what the requirements were for a certain course in the IDOL Academy, and then getting on my free trial. So that way I can make the best use of it because it is a very limited time span of like a month. And noticing that I could potentially create everything that was asked in the checklist. I could do that in a day and it doesn't take just for the nugget course not a full course I know full courses should take your time. But in order to at least from a potential candidate point of view, at least to have something on your portfolio to speak on during interviews to demonstrate that you do know how to use the tool. I think a hackathon is great because I've spoken to many mentors who mentioned like you don't have to create a whole module that is awesome. That is lovely. But If you can at least create something that demonstrates you know how to use the tool, and that something could be a micro course or a nugget, something that shows triggers, shows that you know how to use special things in Storyline than just do that. So I went with that I was like, You know what, yeah, that's true, I can show a lot of different triggers for random things. And at least they'll know that I know how to use it. That's all that matters. And then, you know, everything else that comes with creating a course like, Sure, maybe I could demonstrate that later. But storyline is something that comes up on most job descriptions, because it is a very popular tool to use, you know, so I would be doing myself a disservice, not having it on there, I would be seen as more junior than I would like to be seen. Yeah. So that's what I did. I just took a day, I had the checklist of what I needed to include on one window. And then on the other window, I made my slides in Canva, which is very user friendly. And it's very fun to engage with. So I think that also helped me stay on course, because I liked adding different graphics. And it's very easy to make something really cool in there. So that helped keep my energy going. And then from there, I uploaded the slide deck, from Canva as a PowerPoint into storyline, and just dealt with the weird transitions. But I was like, It's okay, it's not to be perfect. It's progress, not perfection right now. And that's when I started adding the triggers to certain slides that I thought were going to be knowledge checks or entering your name. And all of this wasn't even. It wasn't even like super corporate. But again, I think, based on who I am as a person, and teachers can really sell things. I decided it was better to at least have something interesting that I could speak on versus stressing out and being stuck in the oh, is this corporate in the face that I see a lot of transitioning, people get stuck in they second guess third guess fourth guess themselves and say, Oh, I don't know if this is a good topic or that it's like okay, well, now you have nothing versus doing something on astrology like I did. And at least I have something. So yeah, and then that's how I ended up with a little nugget course on astrology because it is something that I am interested in. I like the what would you say the woo woo stuff?

Robin Sargent  I like seeing the astrology and you even pick out which signs are the fire signs, and which ones are the water signs like, Oh, I got this. I think there's a lot of people that have whether it's something that they share, keep secret that they're interested in astrology.

Kim Limon  Yeah. And it's just a fun topic to get through the grueling process of creating everything from scratch. For example, I had no outline, my outline was just like bullet points, because that wasn't my goal. My goal was to create the course. And if the bullet points get you there, I know some people in the ID space that that's what they do. Some companies ask for detailed storyboards. And some they don't. They're like, oh, that's that we need more time on the course, we don't need the time backing up the course, like everyone functions differently. So for the sample, I just went with what I wanted to go with. And that's what ended up working for me. And it feels great to know I have a storyline sample on there. Because I'm able to prove yes, I can use this. I might be a little rusty now, because I haven't used it as of a couple of months. But at least I proved that I could and I know how to upload it to which is a whole nother tech issue. For some people. It's a little learning curve, for sure.

Robin Sargent  But you also know how to learn the tool. So even if you know months down the road, be like build this storyline course, you still know like, what all those things do in there. And you could easily google anything that you're missing, because you know what the names of things are, and you know how to, you know how to learn that tool now. So that'll that'll never go away.

Kim Limon  Yeah, Googling is not cheating. If people knew how much software engineers Google every day just to do their jobs like, and their engineers, you know, like, I think people need to get more comfortable knowing that they're not going to know everything and that Google will be a common tool that you also use. And it's okay to say that.

Robin Sargent I saw a tick tock one time where the guy says like what my friends think I do. And it shows him like coding and just typing away or whatever. And then one of the other cuts to is like, what I actually do, and you see I'm like going to get GitHub and copy. You can do and that's pretty much I mean, and it's not cheating, just like you said, right? Like we're instructional designers not cheating to use templates, not cheating to use Canva or the vector graphics that are already designed or any of that kind of stuff. Yeah, so that hackathon thing was brilliant. So you didn't even worry about the outline. If you're like, Alright, I'm gonna teach somebody astrology. I'll build it out as I go in the slides in Canva, download it as a PowerPoint, upload it to storyline, and then just make it work. Brilliant. I love it. I think that is something that everybody could even just take away right now, right? Like, just give yourself a day to make a hackathon, if you have to. It can be on anything. I've seen one where people do little hackathons on. You did years on astrology. I've seen them done on like gardening. I've seen him done on like food choices, like different types of meals, or how to be paleo or keto, or whatever. So those are all other topics that you could hackathon on. Right? Because they kind of fall in the same kind of genre of your course. Right?

Kim Limon  Yeah. And then the upside of choosing a topic that's not necessarily super corporate, is that it will give you maybe a little bit of something extra, like for your interview or for like an extension of your personality, like maybe somebody will be into gardening. And if you had created a gardening course, they're like, oh, yeah, I really enjoyed that gardening course, it was really cool. Like, it's gonna get more attention and be more of a conversation starters. And oh, I really enjoyed that sexual harassment training, like, okay. No one wants to talk about that.

Robin Sargent  I think I instantly got uncomfortable.

Kim Limon  I instantly don't want to talk about that.

Robin Sargent It's so cringy. But yeah, it was brilliant. When I saw that cue, I was like, wow. And so you did that before you started even doing the interviews? Okay, so you just hackathon done . So you're like, alright, I'll one day left. And working from home, I gotta get a storyline course up. So alright, so you are mostly working in a full time role where you're building a lot of instructor led training. Now, what about when you had to quit your job? Because you kind of quit in the middle of a school semester? You want to talk about that for a little bit? And kind of? I'll be my last one, though. My almost last question.

Kim Limon  I actually worked as an instructor trainer for a center that helps adults with disabilities learn the independent living skills. So we didn't really adhere to the traditional school schedule, we just go year round, which, you know, unfortunately, means I never had summer breaks or winter breaks. But I also was able to take like, days off randomly, right when talking about this, but yeah, like, it was not a specific like, district schedule. But it was kind of in a way, looking back. Now, it was my stepping stone into instructional design, because I did have the title of trainer. And I did have full autonomy to create whatever I thought was relevant to the needs of the learners. And I was able to teach them in a way that was accessible, which I try to do now. Always as much as possible, just in general, because it's not like everyone would benefit from it, you know? I was able to not have to worry about the pressure of like, oh, my gosh, the state testing is coming up. No, no, we didn't. We didn't have any tests. Actually. It was it was a very nurturing environment. And so when I started interviewing, I didn't want to tell anyone, because, you know, I always worry, and I'm sure everyone shares this about, like, potential repercussions, you know, like, I don't want them to already be offering my seat to someone when I'm still sitting on it. Because what if something didn't happen as quickly, I had no idea how quickly things could happen. So I'm not brave enough to say, oh, yeah, I quit and devoted all my time to the job search. And then, uh, no, I had one foot firmly there, and then one foot firmly out the door. And I wasn't going to jump until I had something solid. So yeah, I eventually got that offer within the end of the week that I interviewed for on Wednesday. And I had to make that decision of, oh, do I spend two more weeks commuting an hour to and an hour back? Or do I cut it off early and just deal with working double time for that week because I cut it off without any advance notice. But I ended up doing that because again, you know, I like pain. So it was a shock to my supervisor for sure. She had no idea. I was looking around. She knew I was in the academy though. I did tell her that I'm going back to school. I'm doing online school because that was the only way I would be able to watch some of the mentor sessions at work because they're all during work hours, you know? So she was a little aware, but I hadn't told her that it was because I was trying to transition. It was just kind of like I'm going to school and she's like, okay, good for you. But yeah, I did feel bad because during my exit interview, I tried to discuss with the founder. They're not my boss, but like the founder is still around and I tried to discuss with her the reasons why I wanted to leave and what would have to change to make me stay. But it was clear that the flexibility was not there. And originally, it was a great fit when I lived closer and whatnot. But I've changed and the job just couldn't change with me. So it was unfortunate. I hope they're okay. I haven't talked to them.

Robin Sargent  But so if you sat the founder, a little uncomfortable, but like it was pretty smooth as far as like, transitioning out of there.

Kim Limon No, it was thankfully.

Robin Sargent I'm not signing my contract next year. It wasn't like that kind of teaching role.

 Kim Limon No, no, no, definitely not.

Robin Sargent  Okay. So again, I mean, you did it, you didn't wait like three months, you made your, your full transition. And so everyone wants to know, Kim, what is your best and final advice for those who want to become an idol?

Kim Limon  Best? Oh, God, there's so many good things.  you just want me to rattle them off. 

Robin Sargent  36:02 Just rattle them off, whatever is, at the top of your head.

Kim Limon Oh you want me to word vomit? Okay, I could do that. I would say one of the most important things is definitely make the time I again, I sympathize with anyone who's like a head of household or they got kids, you know, and I know that teaching, especially like, I didn't have to do a full load of teaching in my last job. But it was still, you know, a full time job that I wanted to do well out in the meantime, because I didn't know how long I was gonna be there. But I would say just make, make the time like, make the effort. I hear a lot of people say that they're tired this and that, like, yeah, we're all tired. I know, trust me, I know. But you're going to be more tired in the metaphysical sense of yourself, for letting yourself get your tiredness in the way of your progress a little bit every day, maybe or take a day of the weekend to just like hack at it. And I'm sure everyone in your life will understand because you're trying to do something to improve in the future. It's a temporary struggle, you know. So I would say make time to temporary struggle, automate as much as you can put your resume on job boards, you will get hits, if it's done well, if you're gonna focus on anything, revamp your resume, revamp your LinkedIn, create your portfolio, those three can work on themselves, then you don't have to worry about Oh, I gotta I didn't apply to a job today, like, no, they will work for you and speak for you. And I've been telling a lot of people that that struggle, like I don't know where to start, just get your portfolio, LinkedIn and resume. And then people will be reaching out to you, it won't be all you to them. And then also be open, there are so many different roles to do in  ID, you could be a storyline lover, and that's what you want to do. But if you don't love that, then you can do facilitator guides, or you can be the trainer, like there's just so many avenues you can take and in so many cool companies to I'm trying to, hopefully get to my dream company soon that I did an interview with before this current company. So who knows it's going to open up a bunch of avenues for you that you didn't think would be possible with a teaching background. You can work at all kinds of corporations. So the sky's the limit guys and girls, and they them's. 

Robin Sargent  I mean, I think you're absolutely right, we and it all goes back to like, invest the time. And really, you're investing the time in yourself. And that's really what's gonna get you those results. And just like you said, invest that time in yourself in your resume, your LinkedIn, your portfolio, and then you'll attract exactly what you want. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Kim, thank you so much for coming and sharing your your story with us. I really, really appreciate it.

Kim Limon  No problem. If you know me or find me on socials reach out because I'm very friendly. I don't bite, I promise. 

Thank you so much for reading the show notes for this episode.  If you enjoyed this episode, you may like:

Work-Life Balance: Teacher versus ID

Become and IDOL 66: Success Story with Former Teacher Laura Wilczek

 https://www.idolcourses.com/blog/balance

If you are a new listener to Become an IDOL, we would love to hear from you.  Please visit our Contact Page and let us know how we can help you today!

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I'll be publishing a new episode every two weeks and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Want more tips on how to become an IDOL? Get my free guide here

We have a wonderful and friendly community of expert and novice IDOLs in the Become an IDOL Facebook Group. We would love to have you join us in the group or chat with IDOL courses on of our social media channels.  any of our social media channels.  

Join the Conversation!

We have a wonderful and friendly community of expert and novice IDOLs in the Become an IDOL Facebook Group. We would love to have you join us in the group or chat with IDOL courses on of our social media channels.  any of our social media channels.