I just wanted to write a quick post to say that as of yesterday (January 15, 2020) I have officially reached the first TPT milestone of $20,000 in earnings. For me, this has been an extremely long and arduous journey.
I’ve had absolutely no overnight success. I currently have 273 products in my store and have received 1,548 ratings.
My mindset grew with my store. I got into TPT when there were a lot less barriers to entry. I threw up a couple products (with no covers) because I thought they could benefit other teachers. I was ecstatic to earn $40 in a month. I never transferred my balance to my bank. Instead, I bought myself a book or two on Amazon. I felt like I was winning.
A few years later, I finally began to take my store more seriously. I designed covers that looked like this:
As I began to level up my store, I set my sights on $550 in a month. That was the cost of my rent at the time, but before I ever reached that goal I switched my life up completely by jumping into international teaching.
Money was a big reason for that move. At my current school I make about $1k more per month, I don’t pay taxes, and I get my housing for free. I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
Now I’m in my 8th year teaching grade 7 science, so fortunately I have my classroom life down pat. This gives me time to really focus on my store. This is the first school year that I’ve made resources that weren’t directly for my own classroom.
Lately, my main goal has been to make my store a lot more comprehensive, covering all middle school science topics. I have been working hard on growing 3 new lines of products:
Here are my stats:
At this time, I’m finally earning a consistent $1,000 per month. I’m hoping to increase that to 2 or 3k and eventually quit my day job (5 year plan). Diversifying into this blog and also working on my first book has been a step of safety in the event that TPT ever fully shuts down.
Clearly I’ve maintained a very solid average of $2 per sale considering that I also crossed 10,000 units sold in the same day. And, in all honesty, units sold is the number that really matters. I’m humbled to know that my products have been used in 10,000 classrooms. TEN THOUSAND!?
Naturally, it appears that views have increased as sales increase. I think putting links to related products in all of my descriptions has really helped this. I’m honestly on the fence as far as how much I think my Pinterest efforts have really increased my sales. Regardless, though, I continue to truck along.
But first, we celebrate!
A rising tide raises all ships.
If you’re reading this and you’d like to collaborate or request advice from the little of what I do know, please feel free contact me at laneyleeteaches@gmail.com.