TpT Journey Part 1 – Advice for New TpT Sellers

This post is about how I got my start on TpT and what advice I have for new sellers. You can skip ahead to the second post that discusses how to keep your TpT shop going strong. The third post is all about expansion and the importance of not being stagnant. 

My TpT journey technically started in March of 2014. I didn’t realize until now that it has been ten years since I joined! Wow. SO much has happened… I want to share with you the three tips I have for becoming a successful TpTpreneur.

First, my origin story. I promise to keep it brief.

In 2014 I had just graduated from SFSU with my BA in Creative Writing. I had two toddlers at home and a husband who traveled frequently for work which made traditional full-time employment challenging. I had aspirations of going into publishing and had never thought teaching would be a good fit for me. I have always been an independent and free-spirited person who knew being in the same four walls every day, tied down by rules and conformity, would never work. 

Yet, I kept finding myself thrust into educational scenarios. First I was given summer work tutoring exchange students (I took it because I had two kids whose daycare was more than a mortgage payment). Later, I began temporarily homeschooling my daughter because she was dealing with anxiety. Then I had parents asking me to tutor their homeschooled kids. When we moved away from everything I’d ever known, and I had no job, it dawned on me that all of my experience was in education. So, I decided to get my MA in teaching.

Throughout all of that, I had a TpT shop. I never posted anything. I didn’t have the time, but more than that I didn’t believe I was worthy of selling educational resources. As I began teaching, I realized my imposter syndrome was holding me back. And that was when I decided to just give it a try. If I posted something for sale and no one bought it, then fine. But people did buy it. I made a whopping $20.50 between March 2014 and December 2018. 

In 2019, when I began my online MA in teaching, I realized I had time to actually start creating resources for TpT because I was home full-time and the kids were in middle school. So I did. I averaged about $5 a month. Then Covid came along and completely upended the digital curriculum industry. That is when I decided I should try becoming a premium TpT member. (I absolutely recommend you do that too.)

Beginning in 2020, I had monthly sales consistently over $20, often reaching $50. While that may not seem like much, that is at least a 150% increase (I think – I’m NOT a math person) in sales. But I finished student teaching and began teaching full time, so I couldn’t keep creating resources as a first-year teacher, with a 90-minute commute each way, while my father was states away in the final stages of his life and needed me to fly out to him frequently, and was without a car because my (now ex)husband crashed mine… It was a VERY rough first year, to say the least. TpT wasn’t even on a back burner, it fell off the stove completely.

However, and this is what really lit a fire under me, I kept making sales… even though I had done literally nothing for months. 

For example – 

May 2020: I earned $3.75

• I had two or three VERY basic products that had been on there for probably years.

May 2021: I earned $66.31

• I added a handful of products that I put some effort into.

May 2022: I earned $163.31

• I hadn’t added or changed anything.
• This is a huge increase in sales and profit!

May 2023: I earned $105.17

• TpT altered their algorithm and deeply impacted sellers like me who didn’t have other avenues for sales or a reputation built up yet. More on this in the second post of this series. 
• But still, a good amount of sales

Seeing that $163.31 pop up in my PayPal account in May of 2022 really solidified my goal of being a successful TpTpreneur. And that wasn’t even the best month I’ve had. I know a lot of sellers are pulling in thousands each month, but before that happened, they were like me; excited about earning a hundred dollars. My best month to date is tied between September and October of 2023, each month earned $247.79 and $247.65 respectively. My sales are now consistently in the triple digits each month and my shop is ranked in the 91st percentile.

Advice #1 – Consistency

So I would say my journey really began in 2022 when I started incorporating TpT into my daily schedule. And that is piece of advice number one – CONSISTENCY

• Consistency is critical because it keeps you searchable. I’m not an algorithm guru and have no idea how TpT works in that regard, but I do know that since I have started listing products regularly I have seen my sales get more consistent too. 

Advice #2 – Products

• Like consistency, the more products you have, the more you will appear in TpT searches. Interestingly, I think this helps you appear on Google searches more as well. 
• The majority of my products are reading comprehension short stories (like this one). I name and tag them similarly yet there is one that sells far more than the others and I am still trying to figure out why. Yes, it has reviews, but I don’t think that is it. Either way, every time I list new products I see an uptick in sales.
• Something I wish I had done sooner is to cross-list products within listings. That sounds confusing… Basically, just add a blurb at the bottom of your product descriptions that says something like, “For similar products, check out…” then list with links a handful of your other items that are similar to that one. There is a REALLY cool way to track the effectiveness of these links that I will talk more about in the next post.

Advice #3 – Quality

• I may be listing this last, but it is just as (if not more) important than everything else. The quality of your products is crucial. But, if anyone is going to know how great your products are, they need to see quality listings. That means having detailed images and descriptions so teachers know what they are buying.
• A student of mine mentioned Canva casually in passing and changed my TpT game tenfold. I don’t think I would have the quality of products I have right now if it weren’t for Canva. The pro membership is well worth the cost. 
• Understandably, the more products you have listed, that share equal quality in their initial appearance, the more likely a teacher will be willing to take a chance on your products. 

In closing, as you begin (or continue) your TpTpreneur journey, remember that everyone starts at zero in this game. Those who make headlines are the ones who truly devote their time and effort (and a little money) toward their goals. Consistently list new products that present with a consistent quality and you WILL see sales increase. 

In the next post of this series, I will discuss how to keep things going once you get started.