Where do you do your best thinking? For me, it is always at the beaches of North Carolina with my husband and four kids. Last summer, I was looking for ways to renew my inspiration for teaching when I came across the whole Instagram teacher community and I stumbled upon Kayse Morris, from Teaching on Less. I was immediately drawn to her because she was so sweet and genuine but also because we seemed to have so much in common. I learned that she is a mom, a dog lover, taught middle school and also teaches others how to sell teaching resources online.
A few years ago when selling teaching resources online became more popular, I thought that I could do that too since I am always creating teaching resources for my middle school math students. So I started my own store at Flip 4 Math and just started posting items that I had created for my students in hopes of helping other teachers. Only until recently did I start to take this more seriously because I really enjoyed creating resources but I wanted to learn more about how to reach more teachers. At the same time, Kayse was launching a course, called Transform your Resources. She was able to leave the classroom because she had made enough money by selling her teaching resources online and now she could live the life that she wanted on her own schedule. This sounded amazing. I decided that it was fate and that I was going to take the leap of faith, enroll in Kayse’s class and learn to better sell my resources online so that I could live by my rules. Little did I know that this class would change my life and propel me down a whole new path in life that didn’t know existed. Selling teacher created resources is only the beginning.
#1 What is Your End Goal?
It is important to first start with your vision. What are your end goals? Where do you want to be in five years? 10 years? Dream big. Write it all down. Better yet, make a vision board of all of the things that you want to accomplish. How many resources for teachers do you want to create? Kayse opened up my eyes to a world that I knew nothing about. There are so many business podcasts, books and inspirational people that will help to drive your thinking. I look at my vision board everyday so that I remember my why – my family – and my what – selling teacher activities on my own schedule.
Then make an avatar who will serve as the audience that you are trying to help or solve a problem for. I know that at first I thought that this was not for me, that I have lots of activities that I have created for my classroom that I’m just going to sell. When Kayse first started talking about creating an avatar in her class, I realized how necessary it is to take time out to create my own focused client. Now, I create teaching resources that I know will solve a problem for the teacher that I am trying to serve. Taking time to set up your goals and focusing on creating activities to solve other teacher’s problems will help your business be successful so that you can check off all those goals. Keeping your goals in the forefront of your mind everyday, keeps you focused and really works!
#2 Build Your Community
I am your typical type A personality. I am an ambitious go-getter, who loves to go above and beyond. This is how I am with most things, including my job. I enjoy doing more than is expected because I set the bar for myself high and know that I can achieve it. When I signed up to join Kayse’s class, I thought that I was just going to join a course, learn some tips and tricks to make my business grow faster and when it was over in January, I would be on my way. I was totally not expecting the positive teacher community that I found. Nine of us from all over the country formed an everlasting bond. We talk everyday, about everything from business, marketing, social media, makeup and anything going on in our lives. We are a huge support system for each other. Even though we all have our own niche for selling our resources, we help to push each other as well as positively support each other every step of the way. I can honestly tell you that this is one of the best parts of learning to sell your teach resources through Kayse’s class. Everyone is willing to pitch in, answer questions and help you reach your goals. There really is room for everyone at the playground.
#3: Growing by Leaps and Bounds
In order to get your resource into the hands of other teachers you need to market it. Just because you decided to sell your teaching resource does not mean that the right buyers have found it. There are A LOT of resources out there. Once you are set to launch your teaching resource, it is important to have beautiful pictures of your resource being used and you need to sincerely post it on all social media channels. Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook are three platforms that will reach out to many teachers. Creating a blog post about your resource, showing teachers how to use it in the classroom and the amazing results that you get from the resource will help teachers to recognize that your teacher strategy is successful. Kayse’s class taught me so much that I didn’t know about the advertising and blog world that I didn’t even know existed. It is amazing how done the right way, you can reach so many of your prospective customers.
I believe that every teacher out there has so much to offer and can help out other fellow teachers with their teaching strategies. If you are unsure about creating something similar to something already out there as Kayse says to us, “Remember that no one is doing it the way that you would do it!”
P.S.
I would love it if you would also follow by Teacher Tribe friends! Check them out below:
Jackie at Teaching in Room5
Jessica at MagicofTeaching
Kayla at KinderImpressions
Kelly at ShoreMathletics
Laura at Southern Belle Teaching
Lauren at TeachingwithBeauty
Megan at Primary Bloom
Rachel at Uniquely Upper
