53: How to Turn What You Already Teach into a Product That Sells on TPT

Speaker A: Hey, teacher friend. Welcome to Online Business for Teachers, the

Speaker B: podcast for educators who are tired of

Speaker A: being tired and wondering if there's more out there. Are you up late googling online jobs for teachers or how to make extra money from home? Do you dream about starting a business, working from home, or finally getting paid for the resources you've already created without adding more stress to your plate? I'm Monica Lopez, a former teacher who was burnt out, overwhelmed, and secretly searching

Speaker B: for a way out. I wanted more time with my kids,

Speaker A: the freedom to work from home, and a way to make money doing something I actually enjoyed. That's when I discovered the simplest path. Creating and selling my own teacher resources using the skills I already had. Now I help teachers like you turn your ideas into income with step by step guidance. We'll talk about finding time to grow your business and the mindset shifts that help you believe it's actually possible. So close those lesson plans and grab your favorite drink.

Speaker B: It is your turn now. Hey there, and welcome back to the Online Business for Teacher podcast. This is Monica, and if you are new here, this is a place where I help teachers like you build a business on the side with one that works around your teaching life, not against it. And today's episode is one that I feel like I've been needing to record for a while because I get this question all the time. Teachers come to me and say, okay, I have this idea for a product, but I have no idea where to even start when it comes to selling it. So I just want to say that it's way more doable than you think. Most of the time, we are overthinking our ideas, and that's what's keeping us from actually taking action. So today I'm going to walk you through the entire process, from idea to an actual sellable product on teachers pay teachers, step by step. And yes, I'm going to talk about the mindset stuff too, because that is the real reason that most teachers never get started. And we're going to talk about my friend who still has not opened her store. You probably know who you are if you're listening to the podcast. All right, so let's go ahead and get into it. So the very first thing I ask anyone who comes to me with an idea is, do you have a TPT store open already? And if the answer is yes, my very next question is, are you a basic seller or a premium seller? Because there's a big difference in how much profit you actually walk away with from every sale. And I record recorded A podcast on this one, I believe, so you can go back and listen to that. I always recommend that you start as a premium seller because it's only $60 a year. But to a lot of us, it might be. It might feel like a lot because we might be thinking, wait, what if I don't get them back? Right? And so it's kind of scary to invest even $60 into something that you don't even know if it's going to work for you or not. I get that. But those $60 is what gives you skin in the game. And when you invest in something, you are more motivated to make that money back. And that motivation is going to get you to actually upload your first product instead of letting the idea sit in your Google Drive and collecting digital dust. Okay, so here's the math. If you'd make $5 a month for an entire year, you break even. And once you start making money, I promise you, you will want to put up more products. It kind of turns into some form of addiction, but in a good way. Okay. Okay. So now let's talk about the actual product creation part. And here's the thing. It does not have to be perfect. I am going to say it again and again. Again. It does not have to be perfect. Because, guys, it's never going to be perfect. There's always thing to tweak. If you don't have time right now to make something that looks beautiful, make it anyway and get it up. A product that is 80% is infinitely better than a product that is a hundred percent in your head and 0% on TBT. Done beats perfect every single time. Take it from me, I'm a perfectionist, and I love everything to be 100 perfect. And that's just one of the things that I have had to overcome is just upload it anyway. It's gonna be okay. And if there's a mistake, somebody's gonna come to me and say, hey, this word is misspelled, or the answer key doesn't match for numbers 1, 2, and 3 or whatever it is, people will come back. And so when that happens, you fix it, and then you move on. Okay? You have to think like a business owner. And I assure you that business owners have to get over that perfectionism. It's just one of those lessons that we have to learn when we're starting out. Okay? So done is better than perfect. All right? If you do have some time to make it look good, great. Let me tell you, uh, what you need to know. Never upload a product in Microsoft Word. I don't know if anybody actually has done that or not, but if you were thinking about it, don't do it. I can't stress it enough. You want to create in Canva or PowerPoint and then export as a PDF, flatten using the product from Bare Wood Labs. It's, it's the flat pack, so you can definitely flatten it that way. But if you create in Canva, you can just. When you download it as a PDF, you can choose to flatten it there as well. So it just depends on where you're creating. Okay, so that's your product file. That's what teachers are going to download. And while you're designing your product, I, uh, want you to think about the resources that have caught your eye on TPT or things that you have bought from tpt. What made you stop scrolling? What made you click? Was it fonts? Was it colors? Was it borders? Was it clip arts? What details made, made them buy worthy? Okay? Notice those things. Not so that you can copy them, please do not copy other people's products, but so that you can understand what makes a resource look professional and appealing to other teachers. You can go back and listen to episode five where I talk about the tools that I use and how to navigate copyright so that you don't get yourself in trouble there. Okay? Also, think about the teacher who is going to buy your product. They have never seen your brain. They don't know what you were thinking when you made this product. So if your product is complicated, include directions, a simple lesson plan or objectives or something. Make it so that a sub could pick it up and run with it. Okay? You have to make it super clear as to how teachers should use it because otherwise you're going to get a bunch of questions or you might even get a bad review because they didn't want to take the time to try to figure it out. Okay, now we get to what I call the promotional materials. And I don't want that word to scare you. I'm, um, really just talking about three things. Your cover, your thumbnails, and your preview. Those are the visuals. This is what teachers see when they're scrolling through TBT and decide whether or not to click on your product. Your product needs a visual, bold, clear title. And when I say clear, I mean it needs to say exactly what the product is and words that teachers are actually looking for. Okay? Like in the search bar. And sometimes your title from your cover is going to differ from the title that you title your product in. TPT I don't want you to stress about that because what happens is throughout your TPT journey, you're going to tweak that title a bit and you may not want to go back to the COVID every single time that you tweak it. Okay? So don't stress over that. I will talk more about that in a second. On your cover, include actual visuals of, uh, what is inside. Teachers want to see what they're getting and maybe add a small line at the bottom that tells them what they are getting. Like a two week project or Google Slides included, some type of value grab. Okay. So that they know, oh cool, I get all this stuff. Don't make it too complicated. All right, now for your thumbnails. This is where you are going to go a little bit deeper because you can't fit everything in your cover. In your thumbnails, show more of that product. Show how it's going to benefit their students. Is it test prep? Is it a fun end of year activity? Is it differentiated? Tell them, show them. And then your preview is your final chance to make the sale before they even click buy. Keep it a few pages. Explain what it is, why they need it, how long it takes, how to use it. You don't need to reinvent the wheel with your words here. Use AI to help you craft the language. If you're stuck, just feed it the basics and let it give you a starting point. I have templates for covers and thumbnails in my free mini course. You can get it at yourteacherbiz.com free-mini course. I know there's a lot of dashes. I'm sorry. It walks you through exactly what to do. All right. M so now that your product looks good, now it's time to write the listing. And if you spend some time looking at other successful TPT sellers product descriptions, you're going to notice that there is a pattern. The beginning is called the snippet. This is the most important part. It's what shows up in search results before somebody clicks to read more. And this is also where you need to use the exact keywords that teachers are typing into the search bar to find a product like yours. Be strategic. Think like a buyer, not a creator. Again, you can use AI for these things. Then you use bullet points to explain what's included, how it works in the classroom, whether it's print or digital or both. You, you're just saying the same things you already said in your thumbnails and preview. Some people are just visual and some are readers. So you're just covering all your bases. And please, please, please do not give your product a cute name. I know it's tempting, but Bunny Hop grammar game is not what teachers are typing into the search bar. Mixed proficiency ESL grammar activity might be title it what teachers are searching for so they can actually find it. Again, do not copy other sellers descriptions. It's a big no and it's going to give you a bad rep. And yeah, you just don't want that. Just look at the structure, look at the pattern. Write your own stuff. In fact, use AI to write your stuff. Okay, just make sure that it doesn't sound so AI. All right, now, I told her I was going to talk to you about Mindset. And so here we are. I have a friend, she's asked me how do I turn this idea into a product. She had this idea for Alphabet vocabulary cards and I'm just using this one friend, but I actually have several friends. They come up to me and say, I have this idea. I really want to get it out there, but I don't know how. Okay, so, but I'm just going to talk about this specific one. She had an idea for, for Alphabet cards or something like that. She knew what she wanted to make. It was in her head and she got stuck on where to find clipart and how to get into canva. And then life happened. I did coach her through some things I helped her through and said, okay, click here, do this, do that, right? But long story short, I think it's been a couple years and she still doesn't have a TPT store open. And I say this with so much love because I understand her completely, because I know teachers. Our problem is almost never strategy. Our problem is almost never knowledge. We. We're smart human beings. In fact, I remember telling myself this all the time. If I am so smart, I have a bachelor's degree, I have all this experience in teaching. Why am I not making any money? And the problem is not strategy. Your problem's not knowledge. It's not what we think it is. It's mindset. We tell ourselves we'll get to it in the summer. And then the summer comes and we're exhausted. And then life gets in the way. And then September starts again, or August, and we're right back where we were. I truly believe that many teachers think that they're not capable of running a business on the side. And what we say to ourselves is things like, I already work too hard. I'm so tired when I get home, or I'm Too old to be learning something new. And those, uh, things are real, y'.

Speaker A: All.

Speaker B: I get it. I'm not dismissing them. But what is also real is that your brain is designed to go straight to what's easy and what is known and what's familiar. Starting something new is uncomfortable. And the brain does not want uncomfortable. It wants the couch and Netflix and not thinking about anything. But think about it this way. A, uh, few years ago, I read Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. And the part that really stuck with me was Begin with the end in mind. I forgot which of the seven habits that was. It may have been the seventh one. I don't remember. Um, but it makes you really think.

Speaker A: Think.

Speaker B: What do you want to do with your life? What do you want to be able to say when you look back? I'm not talking about traveling the world. I'm not talking about that kind of stuff, because, honestly, that one doesn't give you purpose. And I'm talking about purpose. What did you build in life? What did you create? How did it. How did you grow mentally and emotionally? Building this business was on my list, and I can honestly say that I have checked it off. What's on your list? Because here's the thing. If you're listening to this podcast, building a business is probably on your list, too. And I want you to give yourself permission to pursue that. Okay, now let me get practical for a little bit, because I know the question you're asking is, hey, Monica. But, uh, when did you even find the time? How do you. How do you find. Find the time as a teacher to build this business on the side, right? Like, let's just say that you're over the fact that, oh, gosh, I can't do it, but now you're trying to figure out, okay, how do I do it, Right? Like what? We all know that teachers are busy and teachers are tired, right? So here's what I did. I was still in the classroom when I started building my store. And one of the best decisions I made was, was this. Whenever I was going to create something for my students anyway, I made it a point that it was also going to go on tpt. So I made it presentable. I didn't create it in Microsoft Word. I created it in PowerPoint so that I was killing two birds with one stone. I was already doing the work. I just documented it better and made it presentable as I went. It wasn't something extra. I was doing it as I went because I always created things for My students anyway, so might as well create it in such a way that it would make it easier for me to upload to tpt. Okay. I also went to the public library on Saturday mornings. And it wasn't because I love the library already, although I do. I love the library. It's quiet and there's so many books, and I love all the whole environment. I just know it's one of the things that I love. But that's not the reason I went to the library. I went because when I'm at home, I'm distracted by my kids, by my husband, by the dishes, by the laundry, and all of the things that need my attention at home. When you remove the distractions, you get the work done. I also worked Sunday mornings before anybody was awake and. And after school on some days, not every day, because I was exhausted, just like you are. But some days, the key is to block out a couple of hours a week, put it in your calendar like an appointment, and protect that time. Go somewhere that is not your house if you can. And y', all, if you are serious about your business, you're going to have to make some choices. And I know you don't want to hear this, but I have to say it anyway. There are only so many hours in the day. That means some of the extra things that you volunteer for school, like the clubs, the committees, the extra duties, they just might have to go, at least for a season. You get to decide how to spend your time. This is just being intentional about it. All right, if you're listening to this and you're thinking, okay, Monica, I'm. I'm, um, ready. What do I do now? Here's what I want you to do. First, I want you to go to teachers, pay teachers, and I want you to open a store. And I want you to pay the premium price, $60 or it's like 59.95 or something at the time of this recording. Get some skin in the game. Second, open your Google Drive right now. Go through the activities that you have already created for your students and find the ones that worked, the ones kids actually engaged with, the ones that other teachers asked you about. Those are your first products. And then go get my free mini course@yourteacherbiz.com free mini course. It walks you through exactly how to take what you already have and turn it into a product that is ready to upload. You don't need more to time. You don't need to wait until summer. You don't need everything to be perfect. You just need to start. All right, guys, that's it for today's episode. If it was helpful, please share it with a teacher in your life who has been sitting on an idea and just needs a little push. And if you found it really, really helpful, go ahead and review and subscribe because it helps other teachers find this podcast. All right, guys, I will see you in the next episode. Now go do the thing. Bye.

Speaker A: Hey, teacher friend. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If this show is helping you dream a little bigger, would you take 30 seconds to leave a quick review? It means the world to me, and it helps more teachers find their way to this podcast. I'll meet you back here next week. Take care and keep dreaming bigger.