I've been under employed for the last while.
I have had an idea that I'm thinking of pursuing, and you folks are my first port of call for some initial feedback.

I'm wondering if there is much of a market for the kind of corporate seminars I could offer.

Here are my highlights:
BA, honors with distinction, double major, philosophy and psychology
(while working 50-70 hours per week, on top of school, to support my new family (as per the Church's guidance)).
Two Masters degrees.
- one from LSE (where I was the only one from my cohort to be reaccepted to do a PhD, but had to decline for financial reasons.
More teaching experience than most professors get in an entire career, in two disciplines (philosophy and psychology),for 3 schools concurrently, including every evening course, summer course, and online course I could get my hands on.
Curriculum development--I developed almost all my own courses from the ground up, including developing online versions of some of my courses.
Leadership--many courses were taught by multiple instructors. I was eventually lead instructor on all courses that I team taught. Received an excellence in education leadership award.

Even though, as I say, I have more teaching experience than most profs accumulate in an entire career, I figure I still have 15-20 years before I hit retirement age. So...is there a market for the following

I'd like to put together seminars. I'm thinking one day seminars. The ones I have considered developing initially are

(i) critical thinking. Practical tools from logic, epistemology, cognitive and developmental psychology, with real life applications

(ii) ethics. Practical tools from ethics, moral theory, critical thinking skills, with real life applications.

these would not be dull academic pedantic boring simple lectures. They would be (I hope) lively, entertaining, funny, challenging, interactive... (if my course evaluations are at all indicative of my talents)

I would prepare printed material to accompany the seminars, and supply handheld clickers to take opinions and polls of the audience.

I haven't started doing any serious groundwork yet, but if I'm going to do these, I could probably have these first two ready in 2 or 3 months. I'm thinking these would by about 8 hours long. I'm single so I could travel anywhere to do these.

I'd likely do the first few for free (so long as someone covers travel expenses and puts me up) so that I could get feedback for literature/website.

So do you think there'd be a market for something like this? If there is, what kind of fees do folks charge? Have you heard of things like this in your places of work?

As I said initially, this is the first time I have mentioned this idea to anybody, so any and all feedback would be appreciated.

You may want to contact John Dehlin. =)

Success lies in the business plan.

With your educational background, why not develop training seminars directed at the education industry? I realize that school districts may not pay as well as corporate, but there is a lot of government money being funneled into educational training.

My husband's employer just spent $20,000.00 to send him to a week-long leadership course. He basically learned about his strengths and weaknesses and how to effectively build and lead teams. He worked closely with a psychologist who observed him and other classmates in team-building scenarios. He really enjoyed it, but thought the price tag was insane.

Have you thought about incorporating the word leadership into your program? Ex:Critical Thinking for Leaders.

Here's the thing. There's already a couple of companies that offer this type of training. My suggestion is that you hunt them down and apply for jobs and then pitch your ideas for classes to them. Why reinvent the wheel? Someone is already doing what you propose.

I've been to several classes offered by Skillpath, but if you Google corporate training companies, you'll find there are about a dozen reputable companies.

Now, with regard to the content of your proposed classes: Yeah, you think managers are going to sign their people up for ethics and critical thinking classes? How on earth will they be able to control people if they educate them on ethics and critical thinking? That's madness in the business world.

Even if you are not interested in working for Skillpath or some other company, at least check out their websites and look at what types of classes they offer. That's what the market will support.

Please don't take this post the wrong way; I think these are terrific ideas and should be high school classes. But I really think the corporate training world is not conducive to the sort of class you want to teach. You might be able to get an individual company to go for it, but your marketing/sales materials will have to be first rate because you'll be competing with companies like Skillpath that offer what companies want.

You might also look into the public schools in your area to see if there's an adult education program for which you could propose a course and see how it goes. I taught creative writing with an adult ed program -- they required zero credentials, only a solid class proposal/lesson plan. I have a BS in journalism, but I don't even think my degree was required.

I agree with Dogzilla. You have a great resume. But I would build it up specifically in the area of corporate training before you strike out on your own. Seek a job either with one of the established corporate training companies or in-house with a corporation.

in case there is any there is any further feedback.

My opinion on this is a little different.

If you honestly are seeking opinions on this from a free, anonymous message board that is focused on a fringe religion then you might want to rethink your whole plan.

My guess is that if you follow through, you will find yourself UNemployed and without whatever investment you put into this business.

It looks like your background is in academics. Real world companies want people with real corporate leadership experience to do these types of things. That is companies that still do this. Most don't spend the money any longer.

It is your career, do with it as you please. But I see abject and rapid failure all over your idea.

so far it's just an idea. as a semi regular poster I know there are some very smart people on this board, just wanted some quick feedback before I put more thought into it.

and I have started seeking feedback from more appropriate sources, which is so far more encouraging, but in no way decisive yet.

but I appreciate the feedback so far