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Episode 209: STOP Being A Professional Firefighter and START Being A Professional Fire Preventer

I have a nephew named Kevin. He used to be a professional firefighter in North Carolina.

One day, Kevin was inside of a burning building when the floor collapsed. As he was falling into the basement, Kevin grabbed a floor joist and was just hanging there. Kevin then pulled up his entire body weight with one arm and was able to escape the burning building. Unfortunately, he tore up his shoulder so badly that the injury eventually ended his career as a firefighter.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for professional and volunteer firefighters. These men and women risk their lives every day to save lives and keep us safe.

Do you sometimes feel like a professional firefighter? Do you walk around the school with a small “fire extinguisher” clipped to your belt? On some days, do you feel like fighting fires is the only thing that you actually do?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, I have good news for you. On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, we are going to discuss how to STOP Being A Professional Firefighter and START Being A Professional Fire Preventer.

Thank you for listening to the podcast every week. You are making a difference in the lives of the students, teachers and parents at your school. I know that what you do is difficult, exhausting and lonely. Your hard work inspires me to keep making weekly content to try to encourage and inspire you as you serve your school.

Thanks for all you do,

Mark Minkus

Most of my clients and students use Title II funds to pay for Parent Academy, THRIVE Academy, 1-on-1 Coaching, Private School Teacher Academy and The PSL Pro Membership!

Strong teachers make strong schools.

Private School Teacher Academy is the Professional Development that your teachers and students deserve!

"I wholeheartedly encourage other private school leaders to invest in their staff by partnering with Mark. His webinars are an investment that will strengthen your school community long after the sessions are over!”

Julie, Principal, Boise, ID

I am going to help you invest in your teachers, by giving them a high-quality, low-cost series of professional development experiences:

Highly practical topics, with strategies that your teachers can apply immediately

On-demand video webinars

Guided notes, discussion questions, teacher resources

I can help you use your Title II Funds to pay for Private School Teacher Academy! 

On-Demand webinars with guided notes, discussion questions and teacher resources:

  • The 5 Keys To Having Your Best School Year Ever
  • The Differentiation Playbook: Helping Every Student Learn Without Burning Yourself Out
  • The 6 Habits Of An Outstanding Private School Teacher
  • How To Better Support Students Who Have Mental Health Struggles

Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/teacher to learn more!

If you like the podcast, please write a review and leave a rating. Your review helps to push this content out as a suggested podcast to private school leaders all over the world. The Private School Leader Podcast has been downloaded in 75 countries and all 50 states. Thank you for listening and thanks for your review!

I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!

I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week!

I am really excited to share a new resource with you that I created recently. It is called The 6 Keys To Improving Your Relationship With Your Board. The most important relationship in our private schools is the one between the Board and the Head of School and I think that there is always room for improvement. This FREE guide is a 7 page pdf where I give you specific strategies to strengthen your relationships with your board members. So go www.theprivateschoolleader.com/board to grab your free guide!

Is it just me or are the parents at our schools getting more demanding and more intense, more often? Dealing with parents is part of the job as we lead our private schools, but it can quickly lead to stress, anxiety and feeling overwhelmed. 

That’s why I created Parent Academy! Now you have a step by step framework that will help you go from feeling stressed and anxious to feeling confident and calm. Over the last 33 years, I have built successful relationships with thousands of parents and I have packaged that knowledge into an online course. 

Not only that, but after I teach you, I am going to teach your teachers these strategies as well! Parent Academy contains two, 45-minute webinars that are Teacher PD’s with a printable notebook, guided notes and discussion questions. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/parentacademy to learn more!

I want to give you a new resource that I just created a few weeks ago. It is called: The 4 Worst Things Parents Believe About Your School And How To Change Their Minds. Have you ever gotten really frustrated when parents believe things about your school that aren’t true? I think that it is really infuriating and discouraging. Unfortunately, parent perception is reality. Well, I have created a pdf guide that will talk about 4 super problematic things that parents probably believe about your school. Most importantly, I am going to teach you how to change their minds. You can grab this FREE guide at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/believe

What is your biggest problem right now? I want to hear more about your biggest problem and I want to help you solve it. 

Whether your problem is feeling guilty that your family gets what’s left of you at the end of the day, relentless parents, difficult teachers, a lack of boundaries between work and school, feeling overwhelmed, Imposter Syndrome, enrollment or teacher morale, I can help.

I would love to hear more about your biggest problem and I would love to be your coach. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1.

I am excited to share with you a new resource and I want to give this to you as a FREE GIFT to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. It is called The 7 Secrets To Improving Teacher Morale. As private school leaders, we are always looking for ways to improve teacher morale at our schools, but it is hard to know where to start. Well, now you have a step by step plan and you can grab it at theprivateschoolleader.com/morale

I am super excited about a brand new resource that I want to share with you for FREE! It is a 45 minute Masterclass called: “Winning At School Without Losing At Home”. This is a video webinar training complete with guided notes and it will do exactly what the title says. This training will help you to be successful, organized and energized at school while still taking good care of yourself AND your family! Does that sound too good to be true? Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/winning  to grab your free Masterclass training Winning At School Without Losing At Home”.

I want to say thank you for listening to the podcast by giving you a FREE GIFT. It is called The 7 Steps To Having Successful Meetings With Upset Parents. This guide is an 11 page pdf that gives you a step by step plan to have better meetings with the parents at your school. Every good coach has a game plan. Every good teacher has a lesson plan. Too many private school leaders don’t have a plan when they sit down to meet with an upset parent. Well, now you have a PLAN! You can grab this FREE GUIDE at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/meeting

I’ve created a free resource for you called “The 6 Things That Every Private School Teacher Wants From Their Leader”. This guide is a 6 page pdf that will be a game changer for you. I guarantee you that if you do these 6 things, the teachers at your school will be happy to follow you. You can pick up your free guide by going to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/guide 

I want to give you a FREE gift called 7 Strategies To Effectively Deal With Difficult Teachers. Sometimes we need some courage and confidence to deal with difficult teachers. What you need is a plan! This guide is a step-by-step plan that you can use to help one of your difficult teachers improve their performance and improve their attitude. Go to theprivateschoolleader.com/difficult to grab this free guide!

Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode209

Do you ever have “Teacher Drama” at your school? Gossip. A teacher coming to you because they can’t get along with another teacher? Well, I am excited to share with you a resource called 5 Strategies To Reduce Teacher Drama At Your School. This is a 9 page pdf that will give you strategies that will help you to actually reduce teacher drama at your school. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/drama to grab your free guide.

Please write a review of this podcast and help the algorithm push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at [email protected] Thanks!!