Cameron! We are *clearly* huge fans of your work, as this month you join the team as our newest Brand Ambassador! Can you talk a bit about the work you do as a certified sex educator & business coach?
Cameron Glover: Thanks so much for having me!
So the best way I can describe my work is being a “Sex Ed Business Coach” — meaning I centralize my work more firmly under the business coaching umbrella, but I specialize in working with sexuality professionals and using my background as a certified sex educator to create digital products and launch programs.
Even deeper than that, my work is centered on helping folks in the field understand how to use their skills to make the amount of money that they want to… because as early as when I started in this field (back in 2016), I’ve heard constantly from people that you can’t make a full-time income, or any amount of money that we want, doing sex education full time. You can, but it requires a shifting of how we view it today.
How did you discover that this work was what you were ultimately passionate about, and when did you decide to make this work your career?
Cameron Glover: It’s been a long journey to figuring this out. Before I was a Sex Ed Business Coach or even a sex educator, I was a freelance writer. And I was grinding, hustling, working hard for 5 years and knew that there had to be another way.
I always had a curiosity about sex, like so many people. So one night researching for a story, I ended up Googling “how to become a sex educator”. From there, I started creating a plan on getting in the field — for me, that looked like finding a certification program to complete, and start working as soon as possible in the field.
Over the course of my training, I was having a hard time figuring out what I wanted to specialize in. But I knew that in the program that I had — and in so many other programs — no one was talking about the business side of this work. How to create revenue streams, monetize your expertise, even figure out how to navigate payment processors and shadowbanning from professional services. There was this massive need, and I knew I was the perfect person to fill it.
This all really came together in July 2019, when I published my first digital product: an eBook on how to become a sexuality professional. That taught me that there was an easier way to do this work, help people, and reach my revenue goals all at once. The rest has been history.
What do you think the biggest misconception people have of your work is?
Cameron Glover: There’s a bunch I could name, but I think many people assume that sexuality professionals don’t need to have business support… which couldn’t be farther from the truth. So many sexuality professionals have marginalized identities, and navigate the world in particular ways. We have to be able to address the fact that many of us — specifically Black folks, and even specifically Black folks who are non-men — have an incredible lack of support and resources in order to get business support.
Something I hear often is that folks spend a lot of time trying to “convince” people that their work as a sex educator or coach or professional is necessary. And I get that especially as a Sex Ed Business Coach. But this isn’t about convincing people that our work is important, but recognizing that we need to show up fo the people that already see that value.
What are the biggest mistakes folks make when they’re just starting out in this field?
Cameron Glover: One of the most common questions I get tends to be about certification — what is the best program, what degrees should someone seek out?
And all of this focuses on the wrong thing. The work doesn’t start after you get certified or all of the training; you don’t become a sex educator only after you get that piece of paper. It starts when you realize that you’re already a sex educator and making the decision to move forward with that in mind.
Additionally, folks don’t operate themselves as business owners (or that they run a business period). So I always recommend having our own website with information about you, what you offer, and how people can reach out to you. Also, whether you’re new or not, you need to be building an email list. And lastly, thinking about how COVID-19 has transformed our lives, it’s important that people think about how they can create different income streams for themselves that don’t require them to physically show up to provide value and get paid.
Can you tell us about a time when you’ve felt super validate in your work as a sex educator & business coach?
Cameron Glover: Honestly, this might sound cheesy, but whenever I get to help sexuality professionals understand that their work is valuable and they deserve to be paid abundantly for it, it reminds me that this work is necessary and sacred.
A former client of mine recently reached out and told me that our work together resonated for her because essentially, I “taught her how to fish.” And that resonated so deeply [with me], because my work is not about doing work for anyone else, but allowing them to have the space to take their skills and create the kind of business that they want to have, knowing that they’re able to make it successful on their own terms.
What have you been doing lately to prioritize your pleasure?
Cameron Glover: This is such a timely question, considering the global uprisings denouncing white narcissism and anti-Blackness and also the wave of Black folks being murdered in disturbed patterns has made it hard to focus on my own pleasure.
So lately I’ve been getting back into my witchy practice: doing tarot spreads with myself to process and think through different things in my life, candle magick, intention setting. Meditating a lot more — I have a few friends who have been helping me with doing more breathwork and guided meditations more routinely. I’ve also been having firmer boundaries with myself in terms of my availability on social media and making sure I’m prioritizing my clients and people in my personal life.
I’m also making more of an effort to get into sensual touch, reconnecting myself with sensations that aren’t just pain or stress-related. And wine. Wine at the end of the day has been helping.