Starting a Business and Overcoming Obstacles with Dr. Sheldon Eakins

Today’s Guest: Dr. Sheldon Eakins, Founder of Leading Equity Centers

Sheldon L. Eakins, Ph.D. is the Founder of the Leading Equity Center and host of the Leading Equity Podcast. With over 11 years in education, he has served as a teacher, principal, and Director of Special Education.

Dr. Eakins has a passion for helping educators accomplish equitable practices in their schools. He has earned a B.S. degree in Social Science Education, an M.S. degree in Educational Leadership, and a Ph.D. in K-12 Education.

Summary

Sheldon started his business with a podcast. He didn’t have any particular destination in mind, or a thought of how this was going to become a business, he just knew he was passionate about teaching equity.

It was from this passion that a business naturally evolved. When people started reaching out to Sheldon asking for advice and input he realized that his passion could help make him extra money while helping other teachers.

He got an LLC, and was off and running.

Living in rural Idaho, Sheldon didn’t have a lot of access to travel to speak to people about his business. The airport was far, flights were expensive, and he still had to be present for his job in education. But rather than let those obstacles prevent him from doing what he wanted to do, he found a way to make it work.

After starting with a course, Sheldon was invited to participate in an online summit with Matt Miller of Ditch That Textbook, and discovered a new way to reach and help more teachers. When he participated in a second summit, with a different format, he decided to create his own virtual summit around the theme of equity.

While he decided to make the summit free, he also knew that for the amount of time and effort he was going to put in, as well as the technological expenses that go along with hosting this type of experience, he wanted there to be a financial end game for him. Because what Shelton understood is that if you’re not making money you don’t have a business, you have a hobby.

As an additional stream of Revenue Shelton also contracts with districts to provide virtual training in the form of webinars.