By Andrea Hendricks

AT 26, Tyrecsa Wills is an educator, entrepreneur and future business psychologist whose work is rooted in education, creativity and practical solutions to everyday needs. As a business teacher for four years and a Business Psychology student at the University of Guyana campus, she is learning to connect theory with the realities of service, responsibility and enterprise.

Her guiding belief is straightforward: do the work and earn the results. Wills puts it: “Input equals output.” She explains, “I believe that once we put our time, effort, discipline and commitment into something, it will eventually influence what we get out of it.” That principle has encouraged her to keep learning, creating and improving, even when the work becomes challenging.

The same principle shaped Whiff & Click Creation, her home-based business in the Dazzel Housing Scheme. The countryside community lacked convenient access to printing services, and Wills saw that residents often needed documents, flyers, posters, photographs and other printed materials. She took the opportunity to provide a service in the community where she lives.

For Wills, the business is also a practical education.

“I wanted to experience entrepreneurship for myself to understand the challenges, decision-making, customer service, marketing and financial responsibilities that come with running a business,” she said. Whiff & Click Creation became both a business and a learning experience.

Each service Whiff & Click Creation offers grew from a need Wills identified around her. She introduced photography after recognising how important identification photographs had become for document verification. People applying for a passport, visa, school placement, employment or other official documentation often need the correct photographs.

Her creativity also gives her therapy and satisfaction, especially when customers receive personalised items that become milestones or memories. At the same time, she wanted to assist small business owners who were struggling financially and needed affordable advertising materials.

“I wanted to offer an option for entrepreneurs, organisations and individuals to create something that represents them,” Wills said.

Her experience as a business teacher has guided her entrepreneurial journey. The business principles she teaches provide the theoretical foundation, but running a business requires her to apply those principles every day.

“Many of the concepts I teach are things I have to apply in my own business,” she said. “Teaching has helped me understand areas such as marketing, customer needs, business objectives, entrepreneurship and decision-making. At the same time, running my business has given me real-life experiences that I can bring back into the classroom.”

That hands-on perspective can give students in the business stream a clearer understanding of how lessons operate beyond the textbook.

“Instead of simply saying, ‘This is what the textbook says,’ I can say, ‘This is what I experienced, this is what I learned, and this is how this concept works in real life,’” she said.

“So, in many ways, my classroom teaches my business, and my business teaches my classroom.”

Ongoing responsibility

Wills sees her role as an educator as both a responsibility and a privilege. Through her business, she wants to contribute to students’ growth in and out of the classroom while making the work of fellow educators easier in her community.

She hopes to provide hands-on, after-school learning that gives village students a better chance to excel, especially when no one is available at home to guide them with school projects and assignments.

“I am happy to fill that gap at their service,” she said.

The educational aspect of the business focuses on learning resources and support for the classroom. For teachers, those resources can assist with teaching practice and classroom preparation. Wills’ approach is not to find answers for students or complete their projects, but to guide them through the process.

“I help students identify the tools and resources they need, show them how to find information, explain how to approach the task, and encourage them to work through the process themselves,” she said. She believes that learning how to research and solve problems can become a life skill beyond a single assignment.

Balancing teaching, studying and operating a business brings its own pressures. Wills has experienced the challenge of communicating with customers with different personalities, expectations, and needs. Misunderstandings can arise over prices, designs, deadlines or the final product, particularly when customers have not fully explained what they want.

Scheduling helps her manage the competing demands. “I rely heavily on scheduling; I try to structure my time so that I know when I need to focus on teaching, studying, business responsibilities and personal time,” she said. “A schedule helps me move through my responsibilities more smoothly instead of trying to do everything at once.”

She also takes on work she can manage and tries to stay in control of her time. “Sometimes, managing a business means knowing what needs to be done immediately, what can wait, and when I need to take a break,” she said. “For me, the goal is not simply to stay busy. The goal is to be productive without burning myself out.”

Fulfillment all around

The rewards come from meeting a need she recognised in the market. Whether the request is for a printed document, a personalised T-shirt, an identification photograph, an educational resource or a gift bundle, providing a solution gives Wills a sense of accomplishment. “I also find it rewarding when something I create actually helps someone, especially when it comes to education,” she said.

For Wills, success is not only about making money. It is also about being able to say, “There was a need; she identified it and created something that helped to meet that need.”

Her entrepreneurial plans include expanding Whiff & Click Creation with a rental division for small business owners who are starting and need space to showcase their goods and services without breaking the bank. She also wants to create affordable rental packages for funerals, weddings, birthdays and other events, particularly for customers with limited budgets who still want a meaningful and presentable occasion. The plan is to make event planning easier and more affordable while aligning with the business’s printing section.

As World Teachers’ Day is observed, Wills has a message for educators: “Remember you are human too, and give yourself permission to rest, breathe and take a step back when the load gets heavy. Don’t let the demands of teaching make you forget to take care of yourselves.”

A valuable career

For those considering education as a career, she offers an equally direct reminder: “Choose teaching because you truly love it and not simply because it’s a job. It takes patience, heart and a genuine desire to make a difference.”

Wills’ life brings that message into focus. In the classroom, she teaches business principles; through her enterprise, she tests and refines them; and through her community work, she shows how teaching can extend beyond school walls. On World Teachers’ Day, her experience reminds us that educators are not only delivering lessons—they are helping build confidence, opportunity, and practical solutions for the communities they serve.

For Wills, the connection between teaching and service is not an idea kept in a textbook. It shows in how she approaches her students, her studies, her business, and the needs of the community around her. Her example shows that practical learning can grow when knowledge is shared generously, applied thoughtfully and guided by a genuine concern for people.

That balance also helps her understand what teachers carry and why they must care for themselves while caring for others. Wills’ work leaves a quiet reminder that an educator’s influence can continue through the confidence, resourcefulness, and sense of possibility they help others develop—one lesson, one solution, and one act of service at a time.