Once upon a time, I was taking my 3 girls to the Science Museum. Outside the facilities was a lady who had woven palm fronds together into beautiful household décor, hats, purses, and other accessories. We stopped to admire her work.
I, being an entrepreneurial enthusiast, asked her if business was going well today. She said it wasn’t. In fact, she lamented, she had been there all day and sold just a few items. Meaning her work had earned her just a few dollars an hour.
I told her that she had a great product, but she wasn’t getting noticed by enough people. She really needed to put her items online. Start an Etsy store or something similar. Then she could showcase her products to thousands of people instead of just the few who were entering the Science Museum on this day. Plus, the people who would see her store online are much more likely to be her ideal client – parents carrying small children to a Science Museum don’t want to purchase another item that they have to hold onto all day.
Her response, “I don’t have time for that.”
In the time she spent that day outside the Science Museum making $50, she could have setup a web page or online store and been showing her great products to hundreds of potential clients. She really could 10x her money in a short period of time. But she doesn’t have the time to invest in setting up a website and online store that would dramatically change her life.
Teachers Say the Darndest Things
When I talk to teachers about starting a TpT store, something that could dramatically change their life, I hear the same story all the time. “I don’t have time for that.”
I understand that we teachers are super busy and have a million responsibilities. But we all find time to do some of the other things we enjoy!
People often argue with me on social media that they don’t have time to start a TpT store. How do these people have time to play around on social media, but not make a little extra money that could benefit themselves or their family?
Have you ever seen people who get a lot accomplished every day, yet they have the same 24 hours we do. You learn about people like Bill Gates who run multi-billion dollar organizations, while having a successful marriage, and starting a non-for-profit that’s doing untold amounts of good around the world, and he reads several books a day! How? Why can he get so much more done in the same day as me?
The truth is you do have the time; you’re just spending it elsewhere.
Go ahead, look at your screen time app on your phone. How much time did you spend on YouTube, Instagram, or on your favorite game’s app? How much TV did you watch this week? Not that these things are bad, and not that you don’t need some time to rest and relax, but the time is there. You just need to take advantage of it, instead of letting so many productive-less minutes slip away.
A Quick Illustration
Yesterday I was driving home from work (school). My drive takes me 15-20 minutes. I was thinking about a choice board I was trying to make for a class, and I remembered an activity that I had done many years ago. I realized it would make a great activity for my choice board.
I also realized that I could easily make a little handout for this activity, put it on TpT for $1, and then I could put the whole Choice Board on TpT as well.
So I pulled out my smartphone and opened my Notes app (while stopped at a Red Light). I made a little reminder in there about my idea, and put my phone away. When I got home, I ate dinner, spent time with my family, and read stories to my girls as I tucked them into bed. Once I had finished all my household and family duties, I pulled out my computer and made a worksheet for the activity I had previously thought about. It took about an hour. I then put the computer away and went to bed. A few days later, when I again had another hour of free time, I made the cover image for the activity and uploaded all of it onto TpT. I completed the description online, and viola! Done!
Now the product sits on TpT for all of time.
I found two hours of free time during my busy week, and was able to upload something on to TpT that can generate income for the rest of time. It may only sell 5 times this year, which would be $5. Which is only $2.50 an hour (not a good pay rate). But as my store grows, and more people visit my store, in future years it could make me more money. Even if it only makes me $5 a year, for the next 10 years. That’s $50! For 2 hours of work! Now that is a good pay rate!!
Not to mention that this $5 I will make this year was generated with empty time. Time that was not being used for anything else. Had I not created this resource and put it on TpT, what would I have done with those two hours? Watch TV? Read a book? Play on Instagram?
Instead, I turned this free time into revenue. It was just a little, but it has the opportunity to grow, and grow, and grow!
5 Reasons You Do Have Time To Sell on TpT
1 – What are you Doing Anyways?
In my illustration above, I found two free hours of time in my schedule for the week. What could I do with that time? I could watch TV, read a book, or play a game. But instead, I chose to do something productive. I created a product that could help other people and could make me some extra money.
2 – It’s Extra Money for your Free Time!
When I first started making money on TpT, people would often scoff at me. “Well how much time did it take?” And to be honest, at the beginning, it took a while to figure everything out and get going. I was probably only making a few dollars per hour.
But I always countered that argument with this point:
How much money did you make during your free time?
From 9pm until midnight, what did you do that benefited your bottom line?
While you were sleeping, or watching tv, I was making extra money that helped my family.
Don’t think about how much money you’re making per hour. Because in the beginning, it won’t be much. But it will snowball. Now, I make a decent rate per hour. Soon, I’ll be making a lot per hour. Because it’s a snowball. The more time I invest into this thing, the bigger it will get. And the bigger it gets, the more it will benefit me and others.
So don’t think about the amount of money per hour you’re making. Consider the fact that you’re making extra money at a time that you would not otherwise be doing so. It’s not like you’re going to get a minimum wage job and work it two or three nights a week for a few hours.
3 – Summer Jobs are Hard to Get
Consider how hard it is to get a summer job. I mean, honestly. How many businesses want to go through the work of hiring and training someone (and doing all that paperwork) only to have them work 6-8 weeks and never return. It’s not worth it for the company.
This is why summer jobs are hard to find, and if you do find one, you won’t make much.
However, during your summer, spring, and winter vacations (and any others you’re school might participate in) you can invest some time into creating products and putting them on TpT that have the potential to generate you a lot of income. Much more than you can make at a summer job.
4 – You’re Already Making Stuff for Your Class
Most teachers already make handouts, worksheets, lesson plans, PowerPoint Presentations, etc. for their class and their students. So it’s really just a matter of uploading them onto the Teachers Pay Teacher’s website. Which is not that time-consuming!
You will have to create thumbnail images, previews, and product descriptions – but these are not that difficult to do (or to learn how to do). You will also have to drive traffic to your TpT store, which is also a skill that can be learned. And if you don’t know how, I have an online course that will teach you everything you need to know to start making significant money on TpT (see link at the bottom of this page).
5 – You Have No Ceiling
I once argued with another teacher about selling his products online. “It would be so easy,” I would tell him. But like many others, he would tell me that he was too busy. After all, he did have a second job that made him an extra $400 a month. At the time, I was making about $100 a month on my TpT store, so he was clearly winning (though he was, admittedly, working WAY more hours than I was).
But, my $100 a month was passive, and his $400 was contingent upon his time. Meaning if he took a week off, got sick, or otherwise stopped working this job the money would stop coming in. Whereas my $100 will continue, even if I take time off.
Moreover, my income has no ceiling.
Assuming I continue to invest the same amount of time as I had, my TpT store will grow. As it gets grows in products and becomes more recognizable, as customers spread the word about my great stuff, and I get more followers my sales will go up.
In fact, a year later, my TpT store is making $400 a month and I have not increased my hours. He, on the other hand, had to decrease his hours and is no longer working a second job.
Conclusion
You do have the time to put some products on TpT, it’s a matter of how are you using your time.
And yes, you do need to use your time for social events, to spend with your family, and to rest and rejuvenate. But you can use some of your free time to help generate a little extra income that will be a big benefit to you.
Would you like to Start Making Money on TpT?
I have an online class that will walk you through the steps of opening a TpT store, making products, uploading them, and driving traffic to them that will start generating you money.
In one year, I have increased my income by several hundred dollars a month. You can do the same, and I will show you how.
Opening a TpT store is not challenging, but there are a lot of things you should know so that you are successful. I made quite a few mistakes and am still losing a lot of time going back and fixing them. This is costing me time and money. My income could have been much higher, much faster, if I had not made these mistakes.
Plus, many people tell me they don’t know how to start a TpT store. Or they’re not good with graphic design, or they don’t know what to sell. So I made this course for you.
You’re already a great teacher. Now let’s make some extra money off of these great resources.
We will be walking through the step by step process of how to open a store, create products, and make your first $1,000. If you would like to join me, sign up here.
I also have a free eBook that can help you begin.
