How to Make Money on Teachers Pay Teachers
Every teacher on earth has heard of TpT, the Teachers Pay Teachers online marketplace. With millions of free resources provided by amazing TpT seller, there’s numerous educational resources that are original for teachers to utilize in their classrooms. You might find yourself thinking “Ok, but what about teachers who want to earn an income by selling TpT products?”
And I’m so grateful that you’ve asked since the entire show is about making money through Teachers pay Teachers…even the year 2022! !
Don’t believe that this is only for people who are looking to sell on TpT. I have a few ideas for experienced sellers for how you can increase the amount of sales you make. Therefore, we’ll discuss…
- Where do you begin?
- What kind of membership best suits you?
- How much time do you have to commit for running your Teachers Pay Teachers store to get it to work?
- What resources for teachers should you make available,
- How do you market your store,
- Strategies to boost your sales and increase traffic
One thing I’d like to be clear from the start.
Yes, earning additional money via TpT is certainly feasible, however the majority of new sellers leave because they must complete the difficult task of creating resources, and don’t expect a rapid return on their investment in time.
I’ll be honest and admit that launching a Teachers Pay Teachers shop is more involved than simply creating an attractive product.
However, don’t let your anxiety of working hard deter you from pursuing your goals because starting shops can be a fantastic side hustle that can earn an income that is passive until it becomes your full-time occupation.
If you’re willing to implement what I have shared I’ll walk you through the process of earning money from Teachers Pay Teachers. If you’re ready then let’s go!
Where to Begin as a TpT Seller
The hardest part about becoming a seller on TpT is deciding where to begin. So I decided that it could be the perfect starting point!
If you plan to sell your TpT products You must offer unique products. It could be anything that is from bulletin boards, lessons plans or clip art digital products as well as teachers toolbox labels to homework assignments. It is important to have some products in place prior to opening your store.
You must upload the free product first before you’re able to add a paid item to the database of TpT. It is essential to be aware ahead of time so you’re ready with at minimum one free product and one purchased product. Then, you are able to include as many free items (and paid items) as you’d like to include in your shop.
Tips from a veteran teacher: Consider adding additional free products in every new line of products, so buyers have a peek of what they’re likely to purchase.
Select Your Product Creation Program
You can create your products using any program on your computer that you want, but the majority of sellers utilize Microsoft PowerPoint. When Teachers Pay Teachers first started with the teacher community utilized Microsoft Word to create their materials because they weren’t aware of the flexibility PowerPoint was.
It is now the most used by sellers since it’s easy to learn and to use, unlike Photoshop and Illustrator which have difficult learning curves. If you don’t have PowerPoint or Illustrator, you could use Google Slides, but there are some limitations with this particular software which you will not encounter with PowerPoint.
It is important to choose a program you feel comfortable with and using since you will be creating all your resources within that application.
A seasoned teacher’s tip: Invest in PowerPoint (if you do not already have it) since it’s the most user-friendly and flexible program that will meet your needs.
Choose Your Membership
I’ve already said that I believe it’s better to start by creating your product before embarking on the process of setting up the doors to your personal TpT shop through TpT. TpT platform. But, you need to be aware the two kinds of memberships, or seller accounts.
There’s a free basic account for sellers (or the basic member) as well as the more expensive seller account (or premium membership).
It is evident that this is the place where many new sellers get started. This is logical since you’re looking to earn some extra money before you go back and put them back into an account.
As a seasoned seller I believe this is a smart decision for business. Even though you’ll only earn 55% of the items you can sell as a basic seller using an account that is free it is important to ramp your offerings of resources and be sure make some money prior to paying the fees for membership.
A teacher’s tip:Start with the basic membership until you’ve achieved enough to pay for the price of a premium membership.
Determine Your Time Investment
If people decide that they want to understand how to earn money from Teachers Pay Teachers, they aren’t thinking about how much time they could spend on TpT. Like all endeavors there’s an education curve that takes more time at the beginning of the line.
As you consider various ways to earn money as a teacher you must be aware that this task takes time. More than that, you have be able to evaluate your time-related expenses and consider these questions…
- What time do I have each week or day to invest in this endeavor?
- Do I want to sacrifice other obligations that I do to build my own products and services to sell?
- Do you think this is the right time to begin with something new?
Teacher tip from the past: Not every time of the year is a good one to beginning your journey on TpT. It is important to consider if now is the ideal time to start.
Knowing the program you’ll choose, the membership you’ll select and how much time you have to spend on running your company will allow you to get a huge advantage in understanding how to earn profit via Teachers Pay Teachers.
Which Teaching Resources You Should Create and Sell
After spending some time working through the basic concepts I’ve mentioned it’s time to focus on what kinds of items and services you should be selling to earn profits. The truth is that just creating something won’t propel you to high-end seller status or your first TpT milestone.
There’s a certain method of determining the things you have to create in order to determine how you can make money from Teachers Pay Teachers and that’s the subject we’ll be talking about today.
Begin with what You Know and love.
When you’re thinking about the idea of what you would like to create to launch your first product, you should begin with the information you already are aware of. Although this might seem absurd in the beginning, most people are guilty of not realizing that we have a lot of knowledge!
Let me provide you with an example.
Personally, I wouldn’t develop a product on calculus. I’ve never studied calculus I have no knowledge of the subject and, honestly, the word alone raises my blood pressure by 10 times. Therefore, there are no calculus-related products for me.
However I enjoy working with children of all ages and that’s the reason I went on to earn studies in Early Childhood Education. Since I’ve had formal training in this area, and also because it is a love my own, the majority of my products are geared towards this age category.
Starting with the age range I had already been teaching helped me narrow my choices when I thought about what I could create and sell in my online shop. Of of course, this was just the beginning as I was aware that I wanted create materials that incorporate interactive elements gaming, as well as multiple ways to use them in the classroom.
A tip from a veteran teacher If you’re thinking about what to do next, you should take the things is familiar to you and enjoy and make an item!
Find the Gaps
Have you ever been making plans for a lesson, and then trying to find a resource that isn’t available? That is you discover an item that’s similar but the worksheets don’t work for your children for instance, the PowerPoint is great however it does not go into enough depth.
Guess what?
You’ve been thinking about a new product or a possible product line!
This is the ideal opportunity to fill a space. If you’ve been looking for it, there are many teachers looking for it as well. Make use of this new information to your advantage by creating EXACTLY the kind of product you want before turning around and sell it to Teacher Pay Teachers!
A lot of sellers started their TpT journey due to this reason. They couldn’t find the product they wanted and so they made the product themselves.
It was exactly what I experienced when I designed my VIPKid resource collection. It was as if, on the VIPKID Facebook group, I noticed teachers who were in need of certain props for their classrooms. I was nodding to their requests. If only I could find what I was searching to find…
At that point I was struck by an epiphany! I was able to create the items they required. They knew exactly what I wanted and had already designed various items that I used in my class. So I took the items and other items I designed and placed them in my online shop.
It was no surprise that in short time, my VIPKID products began to sell! I then realized that there was a need for specific flashcards that could be used to help teach the different levels of students who are in VIPKID. This is why I decided to design massive flashcard packs and they’ve proven to be some of my most popular selling products!
Teacher’s tip from the past Consider what you’ve learned from your own teaching career and then create the things you need!
How to Take Your Earnings to the Next Level
In the past, I’ve provided some great suggestions on how you can earn money through Teachers Pay Teachers as a novice. However, what happens if that you’ve sold for some time, and you’re looking to grow you teaching business?
Let me offer some advice for you also, but keep in mind that if you’re looking to expand the size of your company, this is likely take you a lot more time (and funds) into your company.
The truth is that you cannot continue doing the same thing you’ve always done and expect to get different results…that’s an example of insane. We’ll examine two methods to boost your income from TpT.
Create a Blog
If you are looking for a great strategy to generate more customers to your business, create a beautiful website. Notice that I said website, not simply blogging.
If you have an online presence, you’ll can grow as a business. What may start out as a simple blog could develop into a customized website that offers additional services like courses, or even a teacher’s membership.
It’s no secret that I am a big thinker and I’d like to invite you to be part of the journey. But in the meantime, let’s bring it back to the initial blog entry. It’s true that the idea of starting a blog for teachers is the best way to gain more people to look at the TpT tools you offer.
I can hear you say, “Hold on a minute! I’m already spending a lot of my time developing products, and now you want me to create an online blog?”
The answer is…yes.
Here’s how it is done. The new teachers (or experienced teachers) encounter a challenge which is why they turn to Google to find solutions. They come across your interesting article and click on the button to go to your site. There, you provide them with helpful tips and an affiliate link to your online store in which they can purchase your product for their classroom supplies.
A blog that is well-written and informative has brought in the money for your product! The trick is to understand the importance of writing blog posts and using the search engine optimization (SEO) methods is what can take you from earning a tiny amount of money to earning an enormous amount of money. You also could be an all-time TpTer.
I’ve seen several former teachers guest on the podcast to share their story of how they went from being a working as a side hustle to becoming permanent owner of a business on the TpT platform. You can exceed the amount you earn as a teacher and start your own business but only if are willing to follow the steps I’m telling you to do.
Leverage Social Media
I use social media frequently in the podcast as it’s a great opportunity to promote the resources of TpT and also your small-scale business.
The negative is that in the last few years , every social marketing channel has become more complicated. The positive side is the fact that you have more experts who can assist you in navigating these new developments.
Let me explain.
In the days when Paul Edelman first started TpT there were a lot of teachers who were in complete obscurity about how to get located. They simply created resources , and then waiting for buyers to locate them.
With the rise of social media platforms as well as social media marketing The Teachers Pay Teachers community has been growing to a greater extent. Early sellers have begun sharing their top TpT selling tips for how to get through the difficult aspects in order to accelerate your business.
They’ve shared trade secrets and patterns they’ve observed over time which have enabled them to be full-time as teachers in their business. The same teachers who were forced to experiment with the process of trial and error in order to find the most effective way to market their products have now become experts on the best practices for Instagram along with Facebook.
Although I’m certainly not an early adopter in the TpT community I’ve been a seller since the beginning of 2016. This means I’ve had many both lows and highs. Here are some strategies that will help you make the most of the income you earn…
- Create an account on Pinterest company account. Add a brand new Pinterest account for every type (or topic) of content that you produce. Make pins that direct Pinterest viewers to your blog , where they can seek out answers and hyperlinks to your products and services on TpT. Make sure to create pins that direct users to your products on TpT.
- Learn how to create reels using Instagram. When Instagram launches an exciting new feature you should be in the best interest to know how to utilize that feature since IG exposes the content to a wider audience.
- Create a public Facebook page or a private group. There are some distinct differences between your Facebook page that is public which is associated with your store’s name and private Facebook groups. On a public page everyone can join your page, but in exclusive FB group, members must be added by answering questions or buying the product. If you’re looking to create educators with a place to feel secure asking questions and discuss ideas and ideas, then a Facebook group could be the best choice for you.
If you’re a new teacher in the school year, planning to open your own shop, or an experienced teacher who wants to increase your earnings, the TpT platform is a feasible and profitable option. But figuring out how you can earn money from Teachers Pay Teachers can be daunting if you attempt to do it all on your own.
This is the reason I’ve shared all this details with you. In reality, the further you progress into your TpT journey, the more you’ll be changing your processes. When you know what you like to create and what your customers want and want, you’ll learn ways to improve your product and more efficient.
I guarantee that if you follow the steps we have discussed in this show and implement them then you’ll be on the way to having a flourishing online store.
