542 Anna DiGilio:

What prompts a classroom teacher of 7-year-olds for 23 years … to take the leap into entrepreneurship… to build and scale a fast-growing EdTech business during a Pandemic?

MELINDA

I’m Melinda Wittstock and today on Wings of Inspired Business we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who started to moonlight with virtual lesson plans a couple of years ago … and learned she had struck gold with a thriving EdTech company featured recently in Forbes Magazine.

Anna DiGilio is founder and CEO of Guided Readers, now a fast-growing 7-figure business, as well as Grasp Your Goals, an online program for other business owners who want to scale online businesses.

I can’t wait to share Anna’s inspiring journey – and her infectious enthusiasm for what she does, all the more important now as teachers worldwide struggle with online learning during Coronavirus. First…

Thanks to her revolutionary approach to education and technology, Anna DiGilio has gone from teaching seven-year-olds for the past 23 years to being featured in Forbes Magazine for building a seven-figure education company. Anna continues to run her education company Guided Readers as its CEO and now also coaches other business owners to grasp their goals by educating and guiding them in how to grow and scale their business online.

Today we talk about how to engage kids online – more important than ever as countless parents find themselves with their kids on Zoom – their teachers challenged by the new normal during coronavirus. Plus listen to hear what it takes to grow and scale a business to 7-figures … without any business training or experience.

If you have a hobby or a skill you think might make a business, join the conversation on over on the free app Podopolo – just look for Wings, and share your thoughts.

Anna DiGilio was able to build and scale her company from the ground up through pure determination, hard work, and by devouring hundreds of books, podcasts, and online courses. Her unwavering commitment to education has allowed her to create revolutionary new programs that have changed the way teachers approach their craft and ensure their students learn to read and find a love of reading in the process.

Before she took the leap into entrepreneurship, Anna spent over two decades teaching in a suburban classroom just outside New York City. A passionate educator with a genuine love for her students, Anna saw many ways that the system could be improved. She was still a full-time teacher and a mom of young twin boys, when she began working on her first company, Simply Skilled Teaching. She spent nights and weekends perfecting the program and Simply Skilled Teaching became a highly profitable venture. Then she started her second company,

Guided Readers, Inc., leveraging Ed-tech software to give teachers the tools and curriculum resources needed to provide effective and rigorous reading instruction and provide students of all levels with engaging books to develop a lifelong love of reading. Teachers all over the world have seen amazing reading growth in their students thanks to Guided Readers.

So much to talk about today, so let’s get to it!

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Anna DiGilio.

Melinda Wittstock:        Anna, welcome to Wings.

Anna DiGilio:                     Thank you so much for having me, I’m honored to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:        I am really inspired by your journey. I mean, you were just teaching second grade a couple of years ago, and you’ve gone from that to building this EdTech company to seven figures. What was the spark that took you away from the classroom and into entrepreneurship?

Anna DiGilio:                     Yeah, well, teaching has always been a part of my life. I wanted to be a teacher since I was five years old, so it is just deep in my bloodlines. I started my company, just a little bit over eight years ago and it quickly blossomed into a real business that I didn’t even start with that in mind. It was more like maybe I can pay a bill, maybe I can help us pay some bills by doing this. And it quickly transformed into something that I never even dreamed it could be. And when my company was growing so fast and I really couldn’t handle running a full-time company and being a full-time teacher, I realized it was time that I needed to let go of my teaching career. And so, I decided to, I basically retired just about three years ago. So, I’m not officially retired, but I basically left the classroom three years ago because I just couldn’t do both. I couldn’t run a million dollar ed tech company and teach seven year olds all day.

Melinda Wittstock:        Well, it was pretty impressive that you were building this company moonlighting as you had a full-time job. I mean, I’m fascinated by the origin story of that. What was the spark and how did you actually start with all of that on your plate?

Anna DiGilio:                     Yeah, absolutely. So basically I was on Google one night, I was lesson planning and I was looking for something on Google and I came across this site called Teachers Pay Teachers. And basically it’s like an Etsy for teachers or an eBay for teachers where other teachers share their lesson plans and activities and resources to other teachers. So, they sell them to other teachers. So I was like, wow, this is unbelievable. So I was like, I can do this. I’ve been making my own materials for years and years and years, because engagement to me is one of the most important things that you could bring into a classroom because that’s what kids, how we get them invested in learning.

So I was like, oh, I have so many things I can do. So, I signed up and I listed my first product. It was this little Math activity that I’ve been doing for years. And three days later it sold and I was like, oh my goodness. Now mind you, this was a $5 sale. This wasn’t life altering. But I was like, okay, if I do this times a million where will that bring me? So as soon as I realized that, wow, I can actually make money with my expertise and my knowledge base as a teacher and share my expertise in the teaching field with other teachers, I think this could be a real business.

So basically what I did was, and I have twin boys that now at that point, they were 10, 11 years old. So I would work all day teaching second grade, I’d come home, do dinner, homework, that kind of thing. And then in the evenings, I would build my business. So I created teaching resources and lesson plans and activities, and I’d post them on the site, and it very quickly grew to a very profitable business. So about a year into this, I was making half of my teaching salary. And I was like, oh my goodness, I think I have a real business on my hands. I mean, literally I didn’t realize I had a business at that point, and I said, I think I better learn about business.

So, I went to school for education for years. So at that point, that’s all I needed to know. I jumped in, I’ve read probably, I would say two, 300 bucks over the last five years, six years I’ve taken every course you can imagine online, listened to every podcast online to learn what it took to actually build a sustainable business that could then be brought to scale. That was really the goal that I wanted and that’s how it all started. And then once I really learned how to build a business and what it takes to build a business and how bringing recurring revenue into your business is a game changer, that was when really my business exploded. We quadrupled our business. And at that point, I was making five times, five, six times my teaching salary at that point.

So that was when I said to my husband, my husband’s a firefighter, I was a teacher. I mean, just normal family living in New York. And I said, I think it’s time. I think it’s time for me to just focus on building the business now and step out of the classroom. And that was how it happened. So I created a couple of online courses for teachers, I created and I keep selling just regular digital lesson plans and resources to teachers. I still do it today, but I also created our new ed tech software, which is a reading program for school districts and teachers, and then we pivoted also into the parent market when COVID hit. And that part of our business now is just experiencing exponential growth. That’s called Guided Readers because of where we are right now in education. So that’s where I started and where we are now. And now our main focus is Guided Readers and building that and scaling it.

Melinda Wittstock:        What an inspiring story in so many ways. And of course you have perfect timing. I mean, you couldn’t have predicted the pandemic.

Anna DiGilio:                     I know, definitely.

Melinda Wittstock:        I was going to say, before I’d heard story, wow, you were doing all of this, so I’m just going to pick up there. As I heard your story, I was thinking to myself, my goodness, there are a lot of female entrepreneurs right now running six, seven, eight figure businesses and trying to homeschool. So we could all learn a thing or two from you.

Anna DiGilio:                     Yes, yeah. Granted, my boys now are 19, so both of them are in college. One is actually home and working remotely because his college is closed. But my other twin son is actually at college. So, I’m not dealing with working at home with little kids, so I want to just hug all of those parents out there having to homeschool and help their children and still work from home. It’s definitely a challenge.

Melinda Wittstock:        But how important to have all those resources, because all of us are having to become teachers when we’re not. It’s not our main thing. And so, to have those resources is, oh my goodness, game changing.

Anna DiGilio:                     Yeah, definitely.

Melinda Wittstock:        Do you think the education system is going to be changed permanently really as a result of the pandemic?

Anna DiGilio:                     I think it will be changed. To be honest, I don’t think it’s going to change a lot, but I do think parts of it will change. I think everyone is just yearning to go back to in-person teaching with their students. Teachers absolutely despise virtual and remote learning. At least the teachers that I know that are in my audience and that I work with every day, because it’s not … When you’re dealing with five, six, seven, eight, nine year old kids, you need to be there for them. You’re not just teaching them how to read and write and do Math, you’re working with their social, emotional learning as well. You’re helping them really understand how to be a good citizen, a good person, how to be a friend, how to share. There’s so much more to what happens in the classroom in a face-to-face setting than what people really think about what happens in the classroom. We’re not just there [crosstalk 00:08:05] and reading.

So, I think that, for the younger grades, I believe we will go back to typical, what typical learning is. I do think the higher grades will change a little bit. And I do believe this type of learning is now going to make school districts rethink snow days and how snow days work and how you’re just not in school. I don’t think snow days are going to exist anymore. In the Northeast when we have snow days, we just don’t have school. I believe they’re going to say, okay, hop on, you could do online learning now because they’re going to be all set up for it. So, I do think things like that will change, but in regards to our youngest learners, our kindergarteners through our third and fourth graders, I do think it will still be in person teaching.

I do think we have to focus on the digital world and the digital age and bringing that into the classrooms because it’s where we are. It’s where we are in the world right now, and they need those skills. They need to be able to navigate technology and be able to use it to learn from. So, I think it has to be integrated correctly with a healthy balance of both in-person and understanding the digital world and digital technology.

Melinda Wittstock:        Yes, because as an employer on my fifth business, I’ve always been struck by how prepared or not prepared kids graduating from college are for what actually is required in the workplace. And so, preparing kids better for that is probably a good thing, but there’s something else that I want to pick up on where you said engagement is everything. And for a teacher who’s trying to teach online and trying to get online engagement, owners have to get engagement online as well. So do you have any thoughts on that?

Anna DiGilio:                     Yeah, absolutely. This has been probably one of the most discussed topics, because I have very large Facebook groups over 20,000 teachers in it, 100, 000 teachers on my email list. I mean, this is a big topic because having a child a five, six, seven year old child sit in front of a computer screen for a few hours a day, it’s not going to keep them. I mean, if they’re playing a video game typically, typically they can sit there that long, but this has been a conversation among the teacher community on how to bring that engagement in.

And I have to be honest, I think they’re really, really trying. They’re doing different types of virtual incentives for students. I see teachers doing end of the day dance parties, bring your pets to Zoom class, funny hat day or funny hat Zoom classes. They’re trying to bring fun into something that’s really quite difficult to do. They’re doing online games, they’re doing spinner wheels and picking students from online spinner wheels that are interactive. I mean, they’re really doing whatever they can to try to up the engagement to get kids to say, oh, I’m interested in this. I want this. I’m excited about this.

And that’s something we actually tried to bring into Guided Readers when we launched Guided Readers. I wanted digital books to be engaging to students, right? And the way we brought that into our program was through our digital interactive reader where students can listen to the stories being read as the words are highlighted, students can record themselves reading the books and then listen back to their own reading as they read the book, right, as they read the book with them. So they’re to their own voice and their own reading and looking at the book in front of them. So we try to create these engagement techniques that get kids involved and actively engaged. So, it is hard. I’m not going to say it’s not hard, but teachers are really trying to make whatever they do as engaging as possible to get the kids to buy in and say, oh, this is fun. This is good, I’m excited. And I know teachers are working very hard on that.

And I agree in terms of the business world, it’s the same thing. We’re all looking for the engagement. I think you’ve got to try and just find that spark. What brings them in? And for me, the engagement that I am getting right now in terms of my business is I’m doing live webinars twice a week. So, I call them Masterclasses, but I’m doing them twice a week. And I’m trying to help teachers through this virtual landscape right now and how they can bring engagement into the classroom. What are the types of things they can do? So I’ve been going live twice a week doing live Masterclasses with my audience to help them with some of these things. So, I think you’ve got to figure out what the need is from your audience and try and fulfill that need.

Melinda Wittstock:        Absolutely. When I watch my son, who’s 14 play X-Box and I think what are the things about that that keeps him so engaged for so long, and part of it is social, because he’s speaking to all his friends, they’re connecting socially as they’re playing a game and the game is fun. So, how much of all of that can be applied to education, that gamification aspect?

Anna DiGilio:                     Yeah, and I do think it’s possible. I absolutely do. There are so many different types of online games and activities where you can really engage your students. There’s one that I know kids love, it’s called Kahoot!. And it’s a quiz game that teachers can do online virtually with their kids. They can even do Zoom breakout rooms and put groups of kids into actual breakout rooms where they’re each playing a digital game and they could even be playing against each other or as a group. So there are ways to do it. Now, again, am I saying, this is easy? No. This is not something that’s just going to come naturally to everybody.

But I do think that when we’re thinking about online learning and online education, we’ve got to bring engagement into the equation. We’ve got to bring learning into the equation, number one, but we’ve got to think about how to get them to buy in, how to bring in that engagement. And I think by doing those types of online games or online quizzes like Kahoot! is one example and breakout rooms in Zoom and having students do different types of activities will create that virtual engagement. Again, perfect, no, but I think it will help with what we’re dealing with right now.

Melinda Wittstock:        Absolutely. So, you grew this EdTech company without investment. You grew it organically to seven figures.

Anna DiGilio:                     Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:        What were some of the secrets of your success there?

Anna DiGilio:                     Well, like I said, I’ve been growing my business for the last eight years. So, I had an audience behind me already that already knew the quality of my teaching resources. They knew the quality that I uphold in my business. So I had a very trusted audience. And not only that, I think one of the biggest things is I really try to help teachers. I know what it’s like inside the classroom, I did it for 23 years. I know their struggles. I know what they’re stressing over. I know how overwhelming it can be on a day-to-day basis. So I really validate what they’re going through. And then I say, okay, this is how I try to solve this problem. This is how I try to help the situation in the classroom or make it better or make my teaching craft more engaging.

So I really do a lot of sharing online. I do Facebook Lives, I do live Masterclasses. I do Q&A’s all the time with my teachers. And I think that that know, like and trust feature is a really big part of why we’ve become so successful because they know that I’m there for them. They know that if something goes on in their classroom, they’re like, oh my goodness, I need some help. They know that they could post a question in my Facebook group and I’m on it. I’m going to answer their questions. I’m going to do whatever I can. And the other 25,000 teachers that are in there are going to also offer support. So I think creating an audience that you can literally serve every day with your knowledge and expertise, I believe is what helped us to catapult our ed tech company the way it has, because we only launched Guided Readers back in August, August 15th of 2019. So we’re just a year old and it’s exploded.

And I really believe number one, it’s because of that know, like and trust that they know they can trust me, and they know the expertise that comes along with it. They know that they’re getting it from a real teacher that did it for 23 years and not dealing with this huge corporation that’s never stepped foot into a classroom. So, I think that that’s part of it. And the other part of it is, now, especially with the way we’re scaling, Coronavirus definitely had a part in that in terms of how we’re scaling and at the level that we’re scaling because schools and districts need a digital solution and we have that and we have the digital solution for them. So I think it was one of those natural amazing things that all happened at the same time. I’m trying to find the right words. This effect of one thing needing the other, and that’s why our Guided Readers ed tech program really just exploded.

Melinda Wittstock:        Anna, I just love the enthusiasm in your voice as you’re talking and describing this, because it’s obviously a huge part of your success, because it just translates, it makes people want to, oh my goodness, how can I sign up? It’s wonderful, right?

Anna DiGilio:                     Thank you.

Melinda Wittstock:        It really is. I think a lot of women do struggle with, I guess, a self doubt or even a fear of success in terms of just stepping into it wholeheartedly and just going for it. I can see that that’s never held you back.

Anna DiGilio:                     I have to tell you, I feel like this is probably the biggest problem with women entrepreneurs or women who want to step into the entrepreneurial landscape. The fear can be crippling. And I don’t know why fear is so crippling for women. And I look at it and I say, listen, what is the worst that can happen? Okay, I fail. I have failed many times over these last eight years, I’ve made mistakes, I’ve failed. Things didn’t work out for me, but it just made me realize, okay, that’s just not the way to do it. I’ve got to try something else. And I think that when you step into that fear and I’ve read this in so many of the books, when you step into fear, that’s where incredible things can happen.

And again, you’re talking to a person that was a second grade teacher for 23 years, left my pension and said, I’m going to do this. I am going to make this successful. I am going to build an amazing EdTech company that hopefully one day maybe I’ll be acquired or whatever, but in the process, I’m going to help hundreds of thousands of teachers as much as I can because it just lights me up. So my belief is that when you step into fear, it’s where growth really, really happens for you.

Melinda Wittstock:        Yeah, you have to confront it, face it head on. If you run from it, it chases you.

Anna DiGilio:                     Yes. Yes, 100%. 100%. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve run into roadblocks, I’ve run into problems. I mean, right now I’m in the middle of a huge, huge problem with our company because we have so many users right now that I’ve got to bring on a whole brand new development team. I’ve never done that before, this is new to me. So, I’m going to step up to the plate and do what I’ve got to do to get it fixed and get it done and make sure that we’re the best of the best. And so, I’ve never done that before, right? Bring on an entire development team, but I have to because of where we are right now and the rate at which we’re scaling. So I’m fearful right now, am I going to hire the right company? Are these going to be the right people to team up with? But I feel like, you know what, if I make a mistake, I’ll figure it out. So that’s how I deal with issues when they come up in the business.

Melinda Wittstock:        Well, you raise an important point because it’s a journey; it’s not really a destination. There’s always something at every stage of a business. So, you think you’ve cracked it at say mid six figures, and then at a million, the problems are different. Going from a million to three million, the problems are different again. And then from three to 10, it’s different again. And it’s almost like the very things you learned and perfected are no longer needed, you have to learn something completely different. And yet, this is the entrepreneurial journey. It’s just like, for the people who really succeed are those who not only have the resilience and the mindset and they’re able to face their fears and all of these sorts of things, but also really can embrace and accept that there’s always going to be something, there’s always going to be change.

Anna DiGilio:                     Yes, yes. And you’re right, because we were humming along, everything was going really well, and then, boom, we’ve got these server issues and I’ve got to go get a brand new development team. So you’re right. You’re always going to run into those roadblocks and it will happen. I always read that saying, new level, new devil, they say, right? And that’s exactly what happens. When you get to this stage of growth and you’re scaling at an exponential rate, you are going to come into roadblocks and problems and issues.

And you know what, I try to just take a deep breath. I light my candle and I just, okay, we’re going to do this. So, I agree, I think we just have to step in it and say, okay, I’m going to just deal with the problem. We’re going to fix it, and we’re going to move to the next step. It’s just one foot in front of the other, you can’t look 5,000 feet ahead of you. You’ve got to deal one foot in front of the other.

Melinda Wittstock:        Mm-hmm (affirmative). A big part of scalability of course, is having really good systems in place, women being able to learn to ask for help and delegate, get out of all that perfectionism thinking we have to do it all ourselves, but also really, oh gosh, it’s very much about recurring revenue.

Anna DiGilio:                     Oh yes.

Melinda Wittstock:        So tell me a little bit about some of those lessons, those lessons of scale that you’ve learned along the way.

Anna DiGilio:                     Yeah. I would say number one, I was always in the mindset of nobody can do what I do. Nobody can do what I … Literally, that was my mindset. And when I went into my first mastermind, because I join masterminds all the time and I was in a mastermind with seven and eight, even nine figure businesses. And it was a small mastermind. And I went in with my little tiny problem when I first started with them and I was like, nobody can do what I do. And they’re like, “Yes, they can Anna. Yes they can.” And so I had this mindset that I’m the only one who can do it. And I really learned how to change my mindset and say, no, people can do what I do, I just need the right process. I need the right system. I need to figure out how to teach people, the team that I bring on to do what I do best. I need to teach them how to do that.

And very slowly but surely I did that. And the first thing I did was I brought on my assistant, who is literally my lifeline. I mean, she’s my executive assistant, and she basically runs my business now. Without her, it wouldn’t run. But, I was very scared in the beginning to do that. I did everything. I was a one man show other than this company that just was building my membership site, but they weren’t on full-time. And so once I got her on, I was like, okay, this is working out great. I gave her different jobs to do. And then basically she had so many more skill sets than I had. And I’m a creative, right? That’s in my head, I’m a total creative person and systems for me is something my brain doesn’t actually process well.

So systems were very hard for me. And I said to her, “I need your help. We need systems.” Well, let me tell you, she built out systems that are so flawless in my company that, I mean, literally I can go away for two weeks and not think about work. I mean, that’s how our company works right now. There are so many amazing systems in place because of her, because I didn’t have the ability to do that. And I said, and I knew that was one of her strengths. So I let her do it. I let her take the reins. And then from there, I mean, now we have a team. We have a team of 10 people. And like I said, now we’re bringing on a brand new development team, so, that’s going to make our team even larger. But the systems and teaching people what’s in your own head is possible. People can do, other people, team members can do what you do, even though you think that they can’t, they can.

Melinda Wittstock:        Absolutely, so true. And then also of course, you’ve built this leveraging your expertise with online courses. Now this is a massive, massive growing industry. There were a lot of courses out there though, and there’s a little bit a course fatigue because there’s so many people who never complete online courses. So they buy a whole bunch of stuff, they never do them. So what’s the secret to success in that online course space?

Anna DiGilio:                     Such a great question, because unfortunately I am a course junkie. Oh my goodness, you name the course, I have it. But, I started with two, I said to myself, I can’t follow everyone, right? Because everyone’s going to have a different process, a different procedure, a different system. So I started with two main people that I followed. And one of them taught me how to create recurring revenue in my company, and the other guru taught me how to create online courses. These were the two people that I listened to the most in my business. And I can tell you, one was Stu McLaren and one was Amy Porterfield.

Stu McLaren was my business coach for four years, and really, really taught me how to build my business and to have recurring revenue. And that was what I built my business on. And Amy Porterfield was another one that I listened to. I learned so much from her just from listening to her podcast. Podcasts are such an incredible, incredible way of learning. I listen to your podcast, I learned so much from one of the most recent podcasts you did. I loved it. And so, I think that when you go into the course world and you’re about to take a course, you’ve got to make the commitment to say, okay, this is the course I’m taking, I’m going to put it on my calendar, and I am going to absolutely commit to one hour a day or three hours a week or whatever it’s going to be.

And I have to tell you, out of all the courses I have ever purchased, and let me tell you, I’ve purchased a lot. There was only one course I didn’t ever even start. And it was honestly, I don’t even know why I bought it because it was about speaking on stages and that’s not even something I want to do. I bought it and I didn’t do it because I’m like, I don’t even want to do that. I don’t know why I bought it. But I believe you just have to make a system again for saying, how am I going to get through this and do one at a time. So those are my two main courses that I did first was learning from Stu McLaren and Amy Porterfield.

And then when I wanted to do other parts of my business, where I wanted to learn how to grow a YouTube channel, I bought a YouTube course. I’ve purchased different courses that I knew I was ready for at that time. So, that’s really what I did. And to be honest, I actually have always completed all of the courses that I took because it taught me everything I needed to know for this online landscape. But, you’re right, it’s overwhelming. So I would say, pick one person that you really trust and learn everything you can from that one person and then move on and then try someone else. That’s what I would suggest.

Melinda Wittstock:        Very, very good advice. And so, there are all kinds of ups and downs when you’re hiring, whether you’re hiring your own team or hiring outside vendors and third-party platforms. So, how has that gone for you as you’ve scaled your business between what you’ve learned about hiring and growing a team and motivating them properly, but also when you have to rely on third party folks, and it might speak to what you’re going through right now, trying to bring in an outside developer firm and that kind of thing.

Anna DiGilio:                     Yeah. I have to be honest, that’s probably one of the hardest things about business is bringing on the right team members. And bringing on the right team members is probably the most important thing you can do for your business, right? You’ve got to have the right match with personalities and you’ve got to find the right people. I am so lucky because the people on my team have been with me for years now. I mean, granted, I now have to bring on a new development team and this is an overwhelming step for me only because I was working with one developer for the last three years, and I adore him. And the only reason why we’re not going to work together anymore is because he says, “Anna, I can’t handle the scale now. This is out of my wheelhouse. You actually need a dev team to help you.” And that’s the only reason why we’re looking for a new development team is because he’s telling me, “I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t handle the scale.”

So, it’s scary, but I would just say that you’ve got to look around. I’ve already vetted four different companies for our development teams. I have four more calls with four other companies. So it takes time, it takes patience. It takes you a lot to step out of your comfort zone, because I know zero. I know zero about technology and servers and back ends and all of that stuff. I mean, that’s not my wheelhouse, but there were certain things I needed to learn in order to be able to find the right company. So for the last week, that’s what I did. I just sat with my developer, and I asked him 8,000 questions about what I needed to know. So, when I spoke to a new dev team, I would have the right questions to ask, and I would know what I was looking for.

So, again, it’s one step in front of the other, right? If you’ve got a problem, figure out the best way to go forward, teach yourself or learn what you need to learn about that part of the business, and then go forward from there. I mean, I’m lucky because my developer is going to also vet these companies that I decided that I feel comfortable with. And then he’s going to come on calls with me and just ask them some other questions that maybe I didn’t know to ask.

So again, new level new devil, but you just got to take it one step at a time, feel confident. Know that you’ll make mistakes and that’s okay. You’ll just grow from them and learn from them. So, yeah, that’s where we are right now. Onboarding is not easy, but it has to be done. In order for true growth and scale to happen in a company, you cannot be a one man show or a one woman show. You can’t, it’s impossible to scale to the levels of multi-millions or even eight figure businesses without a team behind you. It’s just impossible.

Melinda Wittstock:        So true. And I love what you’re doing. It’s so important. It’s so of our time, and this has just been a wonderful interview. Thank you so much. How can people find all your courses and leverage all your materials? All those female entrepreneurs out there like me growing their businesses as they are raising their kids and homeschooling them for God knows how long, what’s the best way to take advantage of all you offer?

Anna DiGilio:                     Sure, absolutely. So, if they’re interested in a reading program to help their children at home and parents are really focused on that or teachers that might be listening too, you could go to guidedreaders.com, that’s our reading program, and it’s incredible. It’s really what I did for the last 23 years of my life. So, guidedreaders.com is our reading program. And if you have listeners that are interested in building their business and scaling their business, I also offer coaching services as well, and that is at graspyourgoals.com, so they can check me out there as well.

Melinda Wittstock:        Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us.

Anna DiGilio:                     My pleasure. It was such an honor, and thank you so much for having me on.

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