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When I think about some of the most resourceful and creative people in my life, they have something in common, they are Teachers.
It’s no wonder that a teacher who was looking for collaboration with other teachers – to benefit his students – created an online marketplace to do just that.
This online marketplace, Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT), gives teachers the opportunity to make additional income. How cool is that?
What is Teachers Pay Teachers?
I’ve always been curious about TpT.
Teachers Pay Teachers is an site that give teachers a platform to their sell their lesson plans and materials to other teacher who also need those same resources. The concept is fantastic, right? One teacher gets something new to shre with thier students and another teacher makes a little money. It’s a win win!
Don’t you wish you had come up with an idea like that? I know I do!
How many times have you seen something and thought, wow why didn’t I think of that? And with today’s economy full of innvoators and disrupters it’s important to always be thinking resourcefully and creatively when it comes to your business.
Using What You Know
A creative and resourceful innovation that has grown out of TpT are teachers who are using their skill to help other teachers become successful TpT sellers.
Jennifer at Happy Teacher Mama, is a great example of an innovative and successful seller on TpT is who is using her experience selling on TpT to create an online business of her own.
A public school elementary teacher turned homeschooling mama and virtual teacher, Jennifer began selling on TpT in 2016 and didn’t have a clue where to begin. She spent a lot of time researching and looking for information on the internet trying to figure out how to get started.
Today Jennifer is not only a successful seller on TpT, but she has a blog that incudes simplifying the process for other teachers to get started and become successful on TpT.
In Jennifer’s Techers Pay Teachers 101 Series she lays out the steps to sign up with TpT, including the need for a free product first AND she helps teacher make that product. I’m not a teacher but after reading her 101 Series I was wishing I could be a TpT seller!
Jennifer’s Story
I am always curious about what motivates people to start their business and what they enjoy about it. When I asked Jennifer these questions she graciously shared her motivation.
“I know how overwhelming it can be to try to be an effective teacher. So, it is my goal on happyteachermama.com to provide tools to help simplify teaching and eliminate the overwhelm!”
“I love that I get to write about what I love and give others insight into some of the things that took me awhile to learn. I also love to create teaching resources that are both interactive and educational! I want to encourage teachers and homeschooling parents to encourage interactions during learning” explained Jennifer.
As a homeschooling Mama, Jennifer shared with me how she is also able to help other homeschooling parents.
“I realized there was a gap between “teaching” websites and “homeschooling” websites. I wanted to bridge that gap by providing teachers and homeschooling mamas the help they needed to simplify teaching” she continued.
Building a business takes a lot of time and hard work. How does Jennifer balance building her business and homeschooling her children with the rest of life’s responsibilities?
“Truthfully, I still struggle with this area” shared Jennifer. “And I don’t know if there is any right answer. However, I have come to realize that everything that doesn’t get done today will still be waiting on me tomorrow.”
I think we can all appreciate and learn something from that answer!
While we are talking about learning from someone else, I asked Jennifer what she wishes she knew when she first started and what advice she would give someone else considering starting a business. (Spoiler alert: I absolutely loved her answer!)
Jennifer’s advice to someone who wants to start a business would be “It is hard work, but it is ABSOLUTELY doable! You just have to truly understand WHY you want to start your business so that when times get hard you can reflect on that WHY!”
“It will take a long time to do this and the learning curve seems insurmountable. BUT you can do this, and you WILL do it!! Just keep going and don’t give up.”
I love this advice! There are so many get rich quick offers all over the internet. But the reality is it takes hard work, time and more hard work to have a successful business, online or otherwise.
So before we wrapped up I had to know, when did Jennifer start to feel that her business was succeeding?
“When I actually made $100 in one month, I was floored!! I was so excited and I couldn’t believe it!!”
All of Jennifer’s hard work is paying off.
She also shared with me “I am working toward making my company into a full-time income business. That is my long-term goal.”
And I have no doubt that Jennifer will continue to put in the hard work and focus on her WHY until she succeeds!
If you’d like to learn more about Jennifer, her education resources or her Teachers Pay Teachers 101 Series you can find out more at Happy Teacher Mama.
Hello and welcome, I love helping working from home moms master mom life, generate income for their families and stay connected with the outside world all from the comfort of home! Learn more about me 
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