During the first year of doing TPT full-time I had to learn a lot - how to plan, how to be productive, how to focus, how to spend my day, and more! In 2015, I lost & quit my job. I know you are thinking that doesn't make any sense.  Well, I was no longer going to be employed as a Special Ed Resource teacher in the district where I worked - I lost my job. They didn't hold my contract - my Special Ed Interlocal did. I was being moved to a position I did not feel qualified for nor did I want - so I quit my job. That's how that works.  For me, it was God opening the door for me to leave teaching where I was burnt out and having health problems. Teachers leave for different reasons. I didn't decide one day that I would go do TPT full-time. I was put into the position to do TPT full-time. What I learned during that first year of being full-time was that I could apply my teaching skills of planning to help me use my days - most of the time - being productive. So what does ......

It's so exciting when you sign up to sell on TPT. You start thinking about putting all of your classroom made things on there and the money you will make from people buying what you created. However, we need to take a few moments and think about what we are doing and what we are uploading to TPT. You are now selling. That means you are now a business. Which means everything you use and upload to TPT comes with some rules. ❇ ❇  THINK COMMERCIAL USE!  ❇ ❇ In this post, I want to focus on three areas software images fonts These are definitely not the only areas of selling where there are rules, but we'll start with these three. Software You can use just about any software you want to create your resources. There are many choices out there including ✢  Powerpoint ✢  Keynote ✢  Canva ✢  Photoshop ✢  InDesign ✢  Google Slides™ ✢  and many more! When it comes to using software, you do need a version that is allowed to be used for commercial use.......

Motivation comes and goes. You always want to take advantage of it when it's with you. I remember when I started my store and how motivated I was. I would teach all day, do paperwork, have a conference, and hurry home to work on some new product. I loved it, and I was so motivated! I kind of enjoy starting things. Continuing to work on them can be a whole other story. So the motivation fades. Yep, it happens as I'm sure you have all figured out by now. So what do we do about it? Here are some tips to help you when you are no longer motivated: 1) Work on something that excites you! Sometimes what we are working on just isn't "floating our boat". Put it aside and switch gears. If you need something creative, start a new product. If you need something that is repetitive, create some pins or update product images. Again remember to come back and finish what you weren't so excited to work on. You don't want to find 20 unfinished products on your computer a yea......

  Do I need to have an email list? As a TpT Seller, there are so many things that you need to do and so many things that you want to do. If you are reading posts in FB groups and listening to podcasts, it can get overwhelming. New Sellers and Email Lists If you are a new seller with just a few resources in your store, creating products should be your #1 priority. This should be a priority until you get quite a few quality products in your store and you feel like you have the hang of making products.  You could start an email list to start collecting emails. Just be aware that when you first start something there is a lot to learn. Having a lot to learn means that will take up a lot of your time. Which leads to not as much time to create products. If you are feeling like this right now, it's probably not a good time to tackle an email list. Not so New Sellers and Email Lists If you have been a seller for a bit and have the hang of making quality products, then it's time to bran......

Having a business has some downfalls. One huge downfall is making comparisons. You start comparing yourself and how you are doing compared to others. You can't help yourself! You see their social media posts. You see their blogs. You see their stores. Everything looks great. You just know they have the perfect life and the perfect business. And you start wondering what's wrong with you. The fears come to the surface. Jealousy starts seeping in. You start feeling that your products aren't good enough - that you aren't good enough. You start spending more time with your negative thoughts than spending time working in your business and being you. I've been there. I've spent plenty of time comparing myself with others. I've spent plenty of times entertaining all of the negative thoughts that have crowded my mind. It has been paralyzing at times. I've cried a lot. I've had times where I decided I wasn't good enough to do a project I wanted to do. I......

You finally had time to sit down and finish your resource. You have it uploaded to TPT and you give yourself a high five. Now you wonder how people are going to see it.  You know Pinterest is a good option for getting views on your resources. But that means you have to spend a great deal of time creating more images and pins. You just finished a cover that took you ages to do.  You start thinking about your favorite binge-watching show. It calls to you. You could spend more time and create a pin or maybe you'll just not bother this time and go watch your show.  What should you do? What if I told you designing pins for Pinterest is really not complicated and shouldn't take you a lot of time? Plus you will still have time for that favorite show! It's true! There are only 4 things you need to do when designing pins. Before we get started with the "how to", many sellers want to know why they can't pin their product covers. Well, you can do that and it works fine f......