About Unleash YES (Your Entrepreneurial Spirit) with Tom Schimmer & Natalie Vardabasso -- Business, Education, Mindset, Freedom
The podcast for educators ready to turn their expertise into impact, income, and freedom.
You've spent your career helping others learn — now it's time to build something of your own.
Hosted by international education experts Tom Schimmer and Natalie Vardabasso, Unleash YES helps teachers, coaches, and school leaders break free from the confines of the system and step into their power as independent K–12 consultants, speakers, and thought leaders.
Each episode blends real talk with actionable strategy to help you:
→ Clarify your niche and offer so you stop swirling and start selling.
→ Build authentic visibility through speaking, podcasting, and storytelling.
→ Shift your mindset from force to flow so you attract clients instead of chasing them.
→ Design a freedom-based lifestyle rooted in purpose, creativity, and joy.
With global experience in 25+ countries, bestselling books, and hundreds of client success stories, Tom and Nat share the proven frameworks they teach inside the Unleash YES Bootcamp — plus raw conversations about the highs, lows, and hilarious moments of entrepreneurship.
If you're an educator with a big heart, bold ideas, and zero desire to play small… this is your corner of the internet.
✨ New episodes drop every other Monday.
🛎️ Subscribe now and start building the business and life you were meant for!
58 — Why Christen Turned Down a 6-Figure Consulting Job to Build Something Bigger
Most educators dream of the day someone offers them a full-time, six-figure consulting role. Christen got that offer. And she said no.
Christen was an administrator in a special education charter school in New Jersey when she decided to take the leap into consulting. Her business recently hit a tipping point, and when an organization came calling with a full-time, six-figure position, she realized it was too small for what she's building.
In this episode, we unpack what led Christen out of her school role, what her first year in business actually looked like, where her first client came from, and how she landed on what to charge. You'll also hear the four moves she'd make again if she were starting tomorrow.
If you've ever assumed a big salary is the promised land for an education consultant, this conversation will show you just how much room there is above it.
→ Book a free Consulting Clarity Call with a member of our team to help diagnose your next step whether you're starting from scratch or have already launched a business and want to scale.
LIVE TRAINING: If you're doing PD work for free that another school would pay for, or you've already launched your consulting business but can't get the income consistent, this is for you. The K-12 Consulting Cheat Code is a $7 live training where we hand you the exact way to package your expertise into an offer schools and districts pay premium rates for. Glen signed a $2,200 contract for a 90-minute session within months of launching, and Nicola used it to finally get sales moving again after coaches who didn't understand education couldn't. It's live for a reason: we personalize the whole thing to who's actually in the room that day, and there's a replay for seven days if you can't make it. Grab your seat here!
Connect with Tom & Nat:
>> Follow Tom on Linkedin
>> Follow Nat on Linkedin
>> Follow @unleashyes on Instagram
>> email info@unleashyes.org
Connect with Christen:
>> Follow @christenjoli on Instagram
>> Listen to Parents as Co-Teachers Podcast
5 Oct 2026
57 — How Morgan is Securing Large Scale Transformation Contracts with Districts
Most educators assume the big district contracts go to the EduCelebrities you see on conference stages. Morgan Goering is proof they don't.
Morgan was a district administrator in California when she moved across the country to build a new home. Along the way, she stumbled into a full-time consulting job with an MTSS organization. Eventually she went independent, and that's when she spotted a gap the system wasn't filling. Districts need consultants with niche expertise, people who can offer solutions built for the exact change they're trying to make.
So she launched Making Champions of Change to match the right expertise with the right transformation projects.
In this episode, we get into what her work looks like now, who's paying her and what they're actually paying for, and how she built a business that lands large scale work with districts. You'll hear how the early months really went, what she learned from every no, and the three moves she'd make if she were starting again tomorrow.
If you've ever thought district level work was out of reach, this conversation might change your mind.
→ Book a free Consulting Clarity Call with a member of our team to help diagnose your next step whether you're starting from scratch or have already launched a business and want to scale.
Connect with Tom & Nat:
>> Follow Tom on Linkedin
>> Follow Nat on Linkedin
>> Follow @unleashyes on Instagram
>> email info@unleashyes.org
Connect with Making Champions of Change:
>> Follow @making_champions_of_change on Instagram
21 Sept 2026
56 — The Curse of Impact
One of the biggest myths in education is that experience automatically leads to expertise.
It doesn't. Experience is time. Expertise is intentional growth. And once you become someone who can't stop refining your craft, testing ideas, and looking for better ways to serve students, something interesting happens.
The role that once challenged you starts to feel too small. Not because you've stopped loving education. Because your capacity to contribute has outgrown the opportunities available to you.
We call this the curse of impact.
In this episode, we unpack the difference between experience and expertise, the two very different kinds of ambition in education, and why the most impact driven educators are often the hardest for schools to fully use. You'll learn why chasing better outcomes can quietly put a target on your back, why every system (even a great one) eventually hits a ceiling, and why consulting feels less like leaving education and more like expanding your influence.
We've coached over 100 educators through this exact shift. Most came to us believing they were simply burned out. Underneath the exhaustion was something deeper: they had become experts, their vision had expanded, and they were looking for a place where that growth could continue.
If your job has started to feel too small for what you're capable of, this episode will help you understand why, and what to do about it.
→ Book a free Consulting Clarity Call with a member of our team to help diagnose your next step whether you're starting from scratch or have already launched a business and want to scale.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:
LIVE TRAINING: If you're doing PD work for free that another school would pay for, or you've already launched your consulting business but can't get the income consistent, this is for you. The K-12 Consulting Cheat Code is a $7 live training where we hand you the exact way to package your expertise into an offer schools and districts pay premium rates for. Glen signed a $2,200 contract for a 90-minute session within months of launching, and Nicola used it to finally get sales moving again after coaches who didn't understand education couldn't. It's live for a reason: we personalize the whole thing to who's actually in the room that day, and there's a replay for seven days if you can't make it. Grab your seat here!
Connect with Tom & Nat:
>> Follow Tom on Linkedin
>> Follow Nat on Linkedin
>> Follow @unleashyes on Instagram
>> email info@unleashyes.org
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.9 / 5
15 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
11 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 62 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
85
Social presence
94
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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