Things you CAN'T and CAN control on Teachers Pay Teachers

Things you CAN’T control on Teacher’s Pay Teachers:

How much another individual earns in a month.

The forums are always buzzing about “this was my best/worst” month ever! It can be disheartening to see that people are having a great month, when you look at your graph and are disappointed.  Keep in mind; it’s all subjective!  No two stores are exactly alike, so sales won’t be alike either!  You also don’t know what someone’s definition of a good month is!

How much time other individuals have to work on TpT!

Maybe you do TpT full time, maybe you teach full time, maybe you’re in school, maybe you have kids, maybe you don’t, maybe you put all your “free” time into your store, maybe you work on it when you feel like it.  These are all variables that YOU can’t control about others. 

The NEWSLETTER

It can be so frustrating to submit week…after week….after week.   I submitted almost weekly for 10 months straight before I got a spot in May! Then I waited about 2 months and have been resubmitting each week.  YOU can’t control what TpT picks! All you can do it keep trying!  As Dory says “just keep swimming, just keep swimming”! 

Things you CAN control!

The quality of your products!

Spend the time making something your best!  The extra day, week, or month it will take you to “perfect” it will pay off in more positive feedback and pay off in the long run.

Update as needed!

One thing I’ve learned when I reached my 1^st anniversary on TpT is that my first products did have the same quality standard that my new ones had.  I had learned SOOOO much on the forums and my craft evolved into a high quality product.  I spent many house revamping some old products.  Some of my “oldies but goodies” are still in their original form….but many are improved. Here is a before and after product that I updated!  I definitely saw more sales with the updated cover!

Old Cover

New Cover

How much time you dedicate to marketing.

Some weeks I have hours to dedicate to marketing.  Some days I’m just too tired to think about it.   What you put into marketing is up to you!

Having interested followers!

The TpT forums are full of “follower snowballs”.  My advice- STAY AWAY!  All these groups do is inflate your follower number.   While it is a confidence booster to see your numbers go up; why have followers who don’t really care about your products?  I opened my store in July 2013 and have 383 followers! I am so thankful for these folks!  I am humbled every day that there are 383 people who feel MY store is worth following!   Along those same lines; don’t put a Q & A asking someone to check out your store and follow you back.  It’s tacky!

Tracking your data!

I track my store monthly.  I write down how much I’ve earned, how many followers I have, and how much feedback.  You can control what type of data you track....and it can give you a realistic view of your store.  My graph for sales is so much fun to watch! I have added a picture of my earnings so far (of course I took off the actual numbers……what to know why? see post 1 under “things you can’t control”).  Everyone always says TpT is a roller-coaster ride and you can tell from my graph that it will have it's up and it's downs but overall I'm headed in the right direction!

Feel Proud!

Every single seller should be feel proud of their accomplishments!  Whether you have 1 product of 1,000 products – GOOD  FOR YOU!  Teachers and students are benefiting all over the WORLD from your expertise!