TpT Journey Part 3 – Expand Your Profit and Grow

This is the third of three posts in this series. If you haven’t yet read the first post, you can find it here. It is all about how I got my start on TpT (and rank in the 90th percentile of sellers) and what advice I have for new sellers. The second post discusses how to keep your TpT shop going strong once you are in the thick of it. This post is all about expansion and the importance of not becoming stagnant. 

As you may have read in the first post, I’ve been on TpT since March 2014, but have really only been applying myself since 2022. In just the past two years I have gained 35 followers, garnered 50+ reviews (most of which are 5 stars), and have listed over 30 products (60+ products since 2014), and rank in the 90th percentile of sellers based on sales. I say all of that to drive home the fact that despite all of the effort that made all of that happen, I do not have ANY emails for my customers. I have NO control over the TpT analytics or algorithms. And I have to pay a portion of each sale to TpT.

I will be the first person to recommend someone to sell on TpT. I am happy to pay $60 a year and 20% of each sale to them because they are providing an awesome service. But, they can only get you so far before you need to branch out which brings us to the purpose of this post.

Advice #1 – Have multiple revenue streams

Somewhere around the time from October 2022 through July 2023, I as well as all the other sellers on TpT were the victims of a change in TpT’s algorithm. I went from triple-digit income each month to double, even single-digit income without any warning. While I didn’t yet rely on this income for bills, other sellers do so I am sure that impacted them far more than it impacted me. What is important to note about this is that you should never have just one stream of revenue, especially when you have little control over how it is operated. Advice #1 – Have multiple revenue streams

Expand where you sell once you are established and have found your niche. This includes places like Etsy and your own website. I made my first sale on Etsy within 24 hours of listing just three products. On a side note, I do not recommend Etsy right off the bat. The product I sold was listed at $4. Etsy kept $1.84 of that, plus charged a $15 sign-up fee and a $0.20 listing fee. I make more on TpT, but that is $2.16 more in profit than I would have had without Etsy. Plus, the product images and descriptions can all be copied and pasted from TpT, so it isn’t too much more leg work. 

One added benefit of Etsy is direct communication with customers. If TpT has this feature, I’m unaware of it. I know there is a way to email, in bulk, your TpT followers, but that is just not the same. With Etsy, I can message the customer after they’ve made their purchase (I usually wait 5 to 7 days before contacting them so they’ve had time to use the product and form an opinion). This allows me a personalized opportunity to reach out to them with similar products, info about new blog posts or podcast episodes (which are coming soon), and request honest feedback. I can also include links to my newsletter, website, YouTube channel… you name it. However, I still DO NOT have this customer’s email address, Etsy owns it. Advice #2 – Own your leads

Advice #2 – Own your leads

I will have other posts that go into greater detail about how to develop your email list, but for now, know that this is a thing you should not put off to another day. Build your email list pronto!

When you have an email list, you own those leads. You can direct them wherever you want, whenever it is best for you, and you can dictate what information you share with them. If TpT were suddenly gone, I wouldn’t have ANY customers to reach out to. So how do you build an email list? Basically, it is not going to happen if you don’t sign up with a company like MailChimp or Beehiiv. I didn’t learn until recently that using a service is the foundation of starting an email list. Again, there is SO much more to say on this and I’m kind of bitter when it comes to talking about email lists… So hopefully when I write that post I’ve had some wine first.

I suggest though, that you get a service (I use Beehiiv) and get started. You just plaster the sign-up link absolutely everywhere you can – In your TpT shop profile, TpT product descriptions, TpT products, YouTube and social media profiles…. ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE. Granted I’ve only just started doing this, but that seems about as simple as it can be. Everyone tries to make it sound so complicated…. Ugh… My bitterness is bubbling to the surface lol…

Anyhoo, once you have multiple revenue streams and own your leads, you can expand what you sell. That is advice #3 – Broaden your catalog of offerings

Advice #3 – Broaden your catalog of offerings

There are products, there are services, and there is entertainment/education. Products are what you sell on TpT or Etsy. Services are more likely sold on your own website such as consulting or courses. And entertainment/education are things like webinars and podcasts that can be any number of places. All of these are ways of increasing your brand awareness. Take Kayse Morris for example – She does it ALL. I don’t know how, but she does. Maybe she drinks even more coffee than I do (which is dangerous), who knows. But she is a great example of expansion. 

Currently, I sell products on TpT and have just started to dabble with Etsy. I am having my website updated so I can sell products there as well. Not only am I branching out where I sell, but I am also broadening what I sell. Now that my TpT shop is chugging along in a mostly consistent manner, I feel confident that I can handle adding a little more to my plate (as if being a single mom and small business owner weren’t enough lol). So I am developing micro courses for teachers and starting a podcast. (In case you are interested I am eagerly looking for guests to interview on my podcast, there’s more info here.)

An added benefit of expanding to other areas means you are broadening who you reach. If I publish a course about selling on TpT, I will reach someone who probably hasn’t purchased from my shop. But, when they see the course, they’ll likely check out my shop, which might lead them to my YouTube channel and so on. Think of expansion as a self-fulfilling cycle. Each thing leads to the next. My goal is to have Whole Mindset be an evergreen, mostly autonomous, business that generates enough income for me to live comfortably. If that is going to happen, I need to put in the leg work at the beginning. That means establishing solid offerings that can survive without me constantly having to manage them. 

You can do this too. You can have a business that continually generates income even when you are on an airplane, taking a shower, making dinner, or at your child’s school play. All you have to do is start.

Let me say that again (because I too struggle with this) – All you have to do, is start. 

Write that lesson that’s been dancing around in your mind, create that super cute classroom decor you love, develop that teacher planner you wish you had when you started teaching… Whatever your passion is, let it fly. Go with it. That’s what I did, and that is what I am still doing. I absolutely LOVE writing short stories and putting them into well-organized lessons with interesting covers while my dog sleeps on my desk and I drink waaaaay too much coffee with quiet music in the background.