When I started selling on Teachers Pay Teachers in my online store, I had no idea how much it would change my life. The passive income I receive from my online store continues to amaze me, even though I am not actively working on it. In addition to the money, it showcases my abilities and helps me land positions outside of the classroom as an educational professional.
If you need help leaving the classroom, check out the Teacher Career Coach Course. This step-by-step guide has helped thousands with a transition from teaching. Save time and get support with every step of picking a new path, rewriting your resume, and answering tricky interview questions. You’ll also get access to our judgement-free community of over 5,000 current and former teachers who bounce ideas and seek advice from each other.
Start Selling on TPT: Can you really make money?
The first question everyone asks is: “can I really make money selling on Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT)?” The answer is YES. It is a great way to start up a small business and earn extra income for teachers.
I won’t sugarcoat it though, you will have to put a lot of hard work into it. After years of hard work, I now receive thousands of dollars in passive income off of my TPT store. If you are creative, motivated, and technology savvy – Teachers Pay Teachers is a fun and lucrative hobby that could potentially turn into a career.
More reasons to start selling on TPT: Building your Transition Resume
Yes I love the extra income. However, I also leveraged selling on Teachers Pay Teachers as a digital portfolio for my new position outside of the classroom. It was a great addition to my resume and I was able to even show my resources during the interview. This extra step helped me land a position as an Instructional Designer, an area I have no formal training in.
In The Teacher Career Coach Course, I walk teachers through steps to transition from the classroom into new positions. One of the biggest struggles teachers have expressed prior to entering my course is writing their new resume. I cannot express how important it is to gain some additional skills that correlate with your new career goals. This can be done with TPT.
TPT On Your Resume
Imagine on your resume being able to honestly say the following:
- Designs, implements, and publishes educational content and resources, over ( # sold ) units to date
- Performs all sales and marketing responsibilities with a focus on content branding, digital marketing, email campaigns, and copywriting.
This is just a couple of many bullets I was able to add to my resume because I started selling on Teachers Pay Teachers. This, this is what helped me get noticed when applying for high paying positions.
Building a Teachers Pay Teachers store is a great option for teachers who are looking for new positions. Educational Consultants, Trainers, Education Directors, Content Developers, Curriculum Writers, Instructional Designers – all of these resumes can be built with TPT.
Getting Started Selling on Teachers Pay Teachers
Start learning the ropes of selling on TPT with a few steps.
(1) Start with a Free Account
Firstly, a free account on TPT is a great place to start. In my opinion, you don’t need to purchase the paid seller’s account until you are serious about selling on Teachers Pay Teachers consistently. However, purchasing the seller’s account was one of the best motivators for me. Anytime I spend money on something, it helps ensure that I push myself to make it pay for itself.
It’s up to you if you want to begin with a free seller’s account or pay the annual fee as a motivator, though, it will take some time to build up your store to the point where the commission rate drop covers your annual subscription fee. There’s no rush to jump into a paid seller account if the price makes you nervous!
(2) Find Free Clip-art to Get Started
Secondly, TPT makes finding graphic resources for your new products easy and affordable as you can find amazing free clip-art from TPT artists. Clip art is the fun artwork that makes your worksheets and activities look professional! You can find a ton of this for free on TPT.
I like to stick with one or two clip artists so that my resources look uniform and branded. You’ll also need to credit them, so you won’t want to have too many artists to keep track of!
(3) PowerPoint is Key
Finally, I personally use PowerPoint to create my resources as do many TPT sellers. Of course, you might already be a familiar platform for you if you use PPT at school to create resources for your classroom. It’s an amazing tool for creating all kinds of printable and digital resources and tools for teachers.
If you’re going to make one investment into your new store, a subscription to PowerPoint is my recommendation. Although you may already have access through your school, be aware that districts don’t always look kindly upon teachers using their software for business ventures.
