Should You Start a TPT Store?

Kirsten 0:00

Hey there teacher friend. Maybe you've been on the fence about Teachers Pay Teachers you love the resource love buying them but you think to yourself, I could never open one. What would I even sell? No one would want my resources? Or maybe you're just plain scared of starting one. Because what if it totally flops? Today's episode is all your burning questions on whether or not you should start a TPT store. I'm going to share with you my own TPT journey and 10 steps to get started. So you're gonna love this episode, if you've been on the fence for a while.

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact inside and outside of the classrooms. I'm Kiersten, a full time classroom teacher and part time business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small, too in each week, as I give you my best advice on classroom teaching, and starting and growing a teacher business. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

All right, so maybe you have been following along with this podcast and you are not a TPT seller, you are a teacher, and you have no plans to start a TPT store or maybe you've been thinking about it. Somebody's mentioned it to you. And you're not sure if you should even start when in the first place. Maybe you would love to be able to sell resources and make a little extra money in the process. But how do you even get the ball rolling and get started.

unique. I started my store in: 2013

my first sale was in March of: 2013

Here's some steps to get started, I've got 10 steps for you. So the first step would be to have an idea of what you want to sell. And you likely already have this. So think about if you've ever created something for your classroom out of frustration, because you couldn't find exactly what you were looking for. Maybe there's an activity that you do with your students that you've been using for years. Or maybe you might have a parent letter that parents always respond well to, this would be a really great starting point. So going in your desktop, or going in your computer drive just to see what resources you've created for your classroom just kind of on the fly, and seeing if it's something that you could sell. Also think about your own strengths, or what others already come to you for. And then be honest with yourself. So are your strengths in math? Are they creating posters for bulletin boards? Are you good at hand lettering, because you can use hand lettering and create your own fonts with that. So there is a market for your strengths, you just got to think about what's available. And even if there are a lot of resources similar to what you want to sell, think about how you can make it in your own twist without copying. And we'll talk about that later, because you do not want to copy, but you want to give it your own personal touch your own personal spin. So that's step one, have an idea of what you want to sell.

Step two, would be to sign up for a free account. And if you've already been on TPT, you likely already have a free account if you already have purchased things from TPT. But now it's time to be a seller instead of a buyer.

Step number three, decide on a store name, Google Search possible names, you could also would also be helpful to search in TPT. So that you can avoid being making sure you don't have the same name as somebody else or that name, they're going to let you know if the name is already taken, but just make sure that it doesn't coincide or is too similar with somebody else. Also, just to avoid being too specific, like adding a specific grade level or a specific name. If you know, maybe you're gonna get married. So think about a nice store name, make sure it's concise. And it can give a fun spin on it depending on how you want your brand to be. But make sure it's available throughout the platforms like social media, Instagram, all of that good stuff. Decide on what your store name is going to be. Do not overthink this.

Step number four would be to familiarize yourself with copyright and trademark rules. TPT has a really great resource on their website where you can read their FAQs, and make sure your ideas do not violate these specific rules. So you can go into TPT FAQs in selling and you'll be able to find that I also have a special resource for you where I will make sure that document is linked in there. So you can check out my show notes for more information on how to get that free resource that'll take you directly to that link for teachers pay teacher's on copyright and trademark rules.

Alright, step number five would be to create a simple logo. And when you're just starting off, it does not have to be super fancy, it can be super simple. My TPT logo was a background screenshot for multiple years, which I'm not even sure if I should have done that. But I didn't even have the southern teach it was just a random picture because I didn't want to show my face. Create a simple logo from PowerPoint. If you want to get it done or you are would rather somebody do it for you, you're not the best at designing things. I actually do TPT logos and banners for TPT sellers. So you can always check out that as well. If you just go on my TPT store it's on my first page you'll be able to find the custom TPT logo and banner design and I will do it for you so yours truly can help you out with that.

All right. Step six would be to create your resource using PowerPoint, no word year, many, many people have started out with Microsoft Word. But there are so much more functions and so much more things you can do in PowerPoint, believe it or not, you won't have nearly as many formatting issues in PowerPoint as if you were to do it in Word. And all you have to do if you do have it in Word is you just copy and paste it in, add text boxes, you can add borders, all that good stuff. So just make sure you if you have any resources that you want to sell that's in Word, or in another platform, make sure you convert it to PowerPoint.

Step number seven is to invest in clipart, and fonts. So I highly suggest going into TPT and finding free clipart and free fonts. So you can just type in fonts, or you know, if you have a specific resource, let's say for fall, you can type in Fall clipart. And you can specify it to be a free product. Those are some really great ways you can get some free clipart resources. But really, if you see a TPT font artist or TPT, clip artists that you really like, fine, they're free. They're free resources, download those all and utilize them until you feel it necessary to invest in it. Just make sure to read the Terms of Use, because every font artists and clip artists is different. Some allow for commercial use, which means you can use them in your resources and sell them on Teachers Pay Teachers, and others may only allow a personal classroom license. So you cannot sell the resource after unless you purchase a license from them.

All right, step number eight is to start listing your product, your first product must be free. Try listing one free and one paid product, you're going to need at least a product cover and some thumbnails to start with. So I'm a big proponent of revitalizing your product listings. But when you get started, it can be really overwhelming. But I highly recommend creating your product listings. In PowerPoint, all you need for a product cover in thumbnail is a square cover. So you just need to make sure the slide size is set to square 12 by 12 dimensions. Super easy, you can add in the title in your product cover of your resource, maybe take a picture or screenshot and add that in. And then the thumbnail could just contain some features or specific highlights of your resource and what it's all about. And you don't have to use all three thumbnail images. If especially if it's maybe just a parent letter or something like that, you can just use maybe one or two thumbnails. So don't try to get too fancy with it, just make sure you have something that's listed for your product cover so people can kind of see what it's like.

Alright, step nine would be to publish your product listing. Thinking about your title, you want to make it super straightforward. Try to avoid any cutesy titles, it just has to be exactly what the customer would be trying to search for. And then with your description, make sure you add some detail about what is in your product, why it would be helpful for those teachers, what they could get out of it, how their students might learn from it, all of those types of things. And then just making sure that you're checking the appropriate grade levels that it's for. So really target. If it's really mostly for better for third, fourth and fifth grade parents or third grade students, then you want to make sure you're just checking those specific grade levels. So making sure you are adding as much as you can as much information so that it can land on the top pages of the search results. And it's easy for other people to find you.

And then the last step, step number 10 would be to share it with others start sharing with family or teacher friends. Or if you have an Instagram or Facebook page share that you finally posted a product spread the word More times than not a lot of people will be very supportive, like oh, you just started a TPT store. That's really cool. Some family members may not even know what teachers pay teacher's says and that's, you know, that's the thing that's normal, but definitely share it. Don't try to keep it a secret, try to share it with other people that you know.

All right, here's my creative action tip for you. Would you like to have all 10 steps and extra resources and additional tips and links with each step? If so, I would love for you to grab the free Getting started with TPT guide for teachers, you can find it in the show notes, of course, as I mentioned earlier, but you can also go to the southern teach.com forward slash get started. So in addition to these 10 steps, so you don't have to write anything down, I have it laid out for you. I also have some additional links that will help you out with getting started, and hopefully make it a little easier. If you're really serious about wanting to upload a couple of resources, you do not have to start churning out products after that if you only have time to really just upload one free and when paid. That is a great start, you can always look into it later, maybe over Thanksgiving break or winter break. But definitely check out that guide. If you are really thinking about getting started. It's completely free.

Now if you're already a TPT seller, maybe you're hearing this episode, and you'd love to take another look at what you really need to do to revise and refresh your store without starting over completely from scratch. The good news is that I will be hosting a live spice up your store challenge from November 29 through December 3. So the week after Thanksgiving, we're going to start up a live spice up your store challenge. I really enjoyed doing this with a lot of TPT sellers last year over winter break. I'm doing a little bit earlier this year. But you can actually get more information and register for free at the Southern teach.com forward slash free challenge. We're going to have a pop up Facebook group with live trainings and give away prizes each day. So it'll be tons of fun. I'm really excited to really spice up this spice up your store challenge because it was really helpful. I know I heard a lot of people loved it. So I can't wait to host this on November 29. And if you're interested in registering, just go to the southern teach.com forward slash free challenge.

All right, well, that is the end of this episode. I hope you got a lot of tips out of it. Whether you're thinking about starting a TPT store or you are already in the trenches of TPT. I am so happy to be able to give you some advice. I will see you again next week. Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.