Speech Coach Burnout

Other than a few months of Early Intervention right after I graduated in 2000, my entire career has focused on providing accent modification and dialect coaching. 

I have an MS in Speech-Language Pathology, but immediately after graduating, I came to the terrifying realization that I didn’t like working as a Speech Pathologist, so I decided to try teaching accents and pronunciation.

It seemed like a really cool job, and it was something I could do without having to go back to school and give up my SLP training completely.

And I’m so glad that I did.  It IS a really cool job!  I love my students and the work that I do.

But just like any type of one-on-one training, you run the risk of burnout after a while.  Even though I love working with my students, it can be exhausting to constantly be doing live, private sessions. 

At one point, I was seeing an average of 30 accent training students a week!  I had to develop some strategies so that I could continue to be the energetic, outgoing teacher that all my students expect and deserve. 

So, here are my best tips for preventing Speech Coach Burnout. 

1. Automate:  Automated emails, online appointment schedulers, and pre-scheduled social media posts are all huge timesavers.  Make a list of your daily tasks and do whatever you can to automate them. 
2. Create alternate streams of income:  Offering online courses, creating practice materials for students or other teachers to purchase, and using affiliate links for products that I frequently recommend are just a few of the ways that I generate passive revenue in my business.
3. Reuse promotional content:  We all know how important it is to share valuable information to attract new students, but it feels really overwhelming to constantly be creating new content.  Most experts will tell you that it is fine to reuse promotional content every 3-6 months.  Reusing old content that has performed well in the past is also a great way to reach new audiences and attract new students who haven’t seen it before.  And reviewing good info never hurt anyone.
4. Keep a list of FAQ’s from potential students:  If you get the same question more than twice, that means it’s a good one and it’s something that other people will ask.  Save your answer in a word document so you can copy and paste when you’re asked the next time.  Even better, turn the question into a blog post or add to the FAQ section of your website.  Every time you send the link as an answer you are building your organic reach (rank in Google.)
5. Schedule 1 hour a day for correspondence:  Treat it like a paid session, and stick to it!  Do not reply to students outside of this scheduled hour (even if you really want to!).
6. Collect payment in advance and be clear about your cancellation policy:  Most students will have valid reasons to cancel, but occasionally a student will just “forget” that they had a session.  It is an awful feeling to be sitting there waiting and wondering where they are.  It’s totally up to you to excuse cancellations or missed sessions, but better to make that decision after you have been paid for your time.

 What strategies have you learned to help you prevent burnout?