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Thursday, October 22, 2015

Tips for being successful on TpT

Tips for being successful on TpT

We have been debating on what our next blog post would be. We thought we would share some tips to help any newbies on TpT, OR anyone that is thinking about opening a store. There's a lot of great blog posts out there, so feel free to add a link in the comments! We are in NO WAY experts. We don't have a huge following, and actually only have one follower on Blog Lovin'. (whoop! :) ) We really just wanted to give an extra resource to anyone out there doing research on TpT.

We will give a little background knowledge to us and our beginnings on TpT:

We have been so blessed to have opened our TpT Store about a year 1/2 ago.  We initially just wanted to try it out and see if we had any success with it. We really weren't interested in making it an actual business/supplemental income for us. As two full-time 3rd grade teachers, we really didn't think we would have time for it. We decided to not become a "Premium Seller", because we thought the $59.95 a year was SO expensive....especially if we weren't making any money ("You gotta make money to spend money!"....right?!). We uploaded a few assessments we had already made for our own classrooms, and made maybe $2-$5 a month. (You would think THAT amount would be embarrassing, but were ecstatic to actually have people BUY <---- [What?! That's amazing] our products!). As we continued to add more and more products we started to have a solid (but small) group of followers. We had our biggest payout in May of $111 (:) we know...it's not a million dollars, but we are still excited about that payout!)

Fast forward to this past summer....
Since we were out of school (yay!) we had more time to research TpT as a business (wait...we're teachers....not business people....). We saw all kinds of posts about the TpT Conference in Vegas, and we were sort of interested in what was going on. After researching, we learned that teachers were actually making a good income JUST from TpT! This is when we decided to make our TpT a 'side business' and invest a little more time and effort into it (a little is an understatement). We knew that we had something going, since we had that 'massive' (ha!) payout in the spring, so we thought we could push a little bit more. 

Here are 2 Teachers 1 Goal's Tips for starting a store on TpT: 
**not in any particular order**

1) PREMIUM SELLER
Seriously....just buy it....from the beginning! We regret not starting out as premium sellers. If you are fully invested in making TpT part of your life (it will be part of YOU)...then for the sake of your sanity purchase the premium seller account. Right after we decided to purchase that account, we earned back our money PLUS some. Honestly, this is a big one for us. Don't learn the hard way....it was painful to do the math (yeah...don't do this...) and see what $$ we missed out on!

2) DO YOUR RESEARCH
This is a big one. We literally had no idea there were so many possibilities with TpT! Get on the tpt forum and read through some threads, as some questions, and CONNECT with other TpTers (people that are experts...and make some major $$).  If you just google "how to be successful on TpT" there's tons of great resources...even on Pinterest there's some great links! 

3) GET ON SOCIAL MEDIA
We are still getting used to all the social media outlets for TpT. This is a great way to connect with other TpTers from around the world. We are currently using Facebook and Instagram as our main social media. Clearly, we are still newbies at this whole blogging thing, but we suggest starting a blog! It's just fun! :) There are some great Facebook groups that have some amazing tips for TpT (even how to create products - or troubleshooting programs!) 

4) USE POWERPOINT
Whoa....did we learn the hard way with using Word to create products. It's STILL painful when we have to open those old docs to edit them....ugh! Seriously, PowerPoint is the easiest program to work with when you're putting a lot of graphics and text boxes. Just take our word on this one...PLEASE do not use word! 

5) BE PATIENT
Again, this is a business...and if you're full invested (or want to be fully invested) then it will take time.We are still waiting to 'take off'. We feel like the "little fish" in the big pond of TpT. We see all of these awesome "Vegas-goers", and how they are basically celebrities! We are hoping we can be as successful as those TpT sellers that we look up to (during your research we are sure you will come across some of these "BIG fish"). It sounds like we only care about the $$....hey it's a BUSINESS. How many businesses open up voluntarily? We want TpT to be a supplemental income, that's our goal. Please understand, though, we love helping people and connecting with others. 

6) BE PATIENT
Yeah....we know we've already mentioned this one....it's worth repeating! :) 

I know we are ending on a weird number. Like we mentioned earlier....we aren't experts and we are still learning. PLEASE share any tips in the comments. We are still researching ourselves, and would LOVE to hear from you! 

As an appreciation to you reading our blog post, we are doing a giveaway of $5 to our store! Enter below before Wednesday 10/28 to win $5 to our TpT Store. 




a Rafflecopter giveaway

3 comments:

  1. A great article girls!!!! Like you, I'm still exploring and getting to know TpT - as a busy Mum to two boys it's a side project at this point! - but I'm enjoying growing as a creator and learning about how to create really unique and useful products! I did a series on becoming a seller on TpT a few months ago as a means of sharing what I was learning with others - I'd love to get your thoughts too!
    http://mymumtheteacher.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/copyright-tous-acknowledgements.html

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  2. Awesome! We will check it out right now! Thank you so much! :) I just wished we had researched a little more from the beginning! We very much enjoy the business side of TpT, but it's difficult and can be overwhelming!

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  3. I totally agree with all your tips! I've been selling for just a few months, but collaborating and learning from pros has really been a Godsend! Your store looks great, and I love your blog design too!

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