Happy New Year!

ByMike

Last year, I made a goal-setting video for students to help them with New Year’s Resolutions. The moral of the story was to just start.

I’ve been thinking about maybe trying to help teachers sell on Teachers pay Teachers (or start up some other online side-gigs.)

I did write a long post about how much money I make on Teachers Pay Teachers. The article came out before the pandemic started. Back then, I thought that selling resources on TpT made you a better teacher. I still think that.

You don’t become a better teacher because you’re giving back to the teaching community – although that’s important. I think selling your stuff in a side hustle helps make us better teachers because it requires perseverance, innovation, and creativity to figure out the secret to success. 

Back then, teaching wasn’t really an evolving profession. Yes, there are lots of people who constantly improve their craft. But, we all know teachers who become stagnant, create a binder of lesson plans, and then teach from that binder for the rest of their teaching career.

So, if you put yourself in a position where you’re trying to sell something you made, it’s a steep learning curve to figure out how to succeed. It’s an authentic 21st-century learning task. It’s relevant, open-ended, and there’s no one correct way to success – like life.

Then the pandemic threw the world around. Now, teaching, like everything else, is constantly changing. (Hello, Omicron.)

Lots of teachers love the profession. And, others are leaving. 

So teachers, now is a great time to start a side-hustle.

In my original post about selling online, I stumbled through the idea of levels or stages based on how much money you were making on TpT. (Kind of like levels in a video game to measure progress.)

  • Level 0: you haven’t made your first sale yet.
  • Level 1: $1-9 per month
  • Level 2: $10-99 per month
  • Level 3: $100-999 per month
  • Level 4: $1000 per month, etcetera, etcetera.

Level 0: If you’ve never sold on TpT, start now.

  • Create a free basic seller account and go through the motions of posting your first free and paid products. (TpT requires all sellers to have at least one free resource.)

Level 4 and up: If you’re making over $1000 per month, start something new

  • TpT recently allowed virtual assistant accounts which could help out with the mundane stuff of lesson production. (Like creating Easel by TpT versions of your resource.)
  • If you’re at this stage of the game, why not figure get someone to become a virtual assistant for your TpT store.

If you’re in Levels 1, 2, or 3 – stay tuned. I’m hoping to post some tips and tricks that might help increase your sales.

And, time. That’s ten minutes of writing. See you tomorrow!

Cheers,

Michael Fuchigami

Tinker

I was listening to an American Express podcast about business. At first, I thought it didn’t really apply to me. The entrepreneurs and gurus on the podcast were talking about retail environments. But, then I started wondering what was similar to my situation.

I think my goal with Educircles is to be the brand. My goal is to make the world a better place, and to do this by helping people stand up for themselves and for others. The day-to-day of my job right now is creating lesson plans and other teaching resources.

But one of the guests on the podcast was talking about how to expand. Make a list of things you’re excited about and a list of things that suck your soul. I love creating resources. The nitty-gritty creating file table of contents, checking redirection links, creating previews, and different versions of the resource… I find myself dragging my feet.

I wonder if I can find someone to do that stuff, so I can focus on creating more articles and content. It’s on my radar. Just need to figure out a way to make use of the virtual assistant feature on TpT…