The Rebranded Teacher
The Rebranded Teacher
How to Increase Productivity in Your TpT Business
Productivity isn't about doing more; it's about doing better. If you're ready to transform your Teachers Pay Teachers business and achieve remarkable results, tune into this episode of the Rebranded Teacher Podcast. I, Lauren Fulton, challenge the myth of busyness and share insights on how dedicating three to six hours a week to a single project can revolutionize your workflow. Discover the magic of entering a flow state, where distractions fade, and mental clarity reigns. I'll share my personal strategies, like batching podcast recordings, to help you maintain laser focus and optimize your resources.
Revenue growth is within your reach when you know where to focus. We'll explore how to identify the key drivers of your business success and explore how to maximize your return on time investment. The key is clear: prioritize implementation over endless learning, and set a defined, actionable plan with monthly focuses to keep you on track. Say goodbye to distractions, and join me for the TPT Profit Plan workshop, where we'll craft a tailored strategy to build the TPT business of your dreams. Let’s embark on this journey to a more purposeful and prosperous teaching entrepreneur experience together.
The TpT Profit Plan: Build The Business of Your Dreams in 2025:
https://rebrandedteacher.kartra.com/page/hun253
Welcome to the Rebranded Teacher Podcast. My name is Lauren Fulton. I'm a full-time teacher, author and seller on Teachers Pay Teachers and I help other teacher entrepreneurs grow their TPT businesses in a way that's purposeful and sustainable. So if you're looking for actionable, step-by-step ways to grow your business, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Let's talk about how to be more productive inside of your Teachers Pay Teachers business. If you are looking to increase productivity, to get more done in less time, then this video is for you.
Speaker 1:But first let's bust a myth here. Okay, the truth is you don't really want to get more done in less time. The truth is you want to get more results in less time. That's really what it is. You don't really want to get more done. You don't want to do more. You want to get better results in less time. Or you want to take the time that you have and just optimize it so that you're getting the better results. So it's really not about doing more. It's really more about doing the right thing, so that you're optimizing your time and getting a better return on your investment. And I think for business owners, that really is ultimately what we want. But when we start off by saying like I want to get more done in less time. We have this incorrect mindset that says the more I do, the better results I'm going to get, when really the truth is the more I do of what do, the better results I'm going to get, when really the truth is, the more I do of what works, the better results I'm going to get. So just want to make sure we're both on the same page here. If you're wanting to get better results in your business with the time that you have or in less time, I got you, here we go, let's go ahead and get started. First of all, you really want to start by having one chunk of time every week that's dedicated to working on your business.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of us like to work in small chunks of time and I don't say like to. I think a lot of us have to work in small chunks of time. Well, we've got an hour here or 30 minutes here or 45 minutes there, and it's very rare for us to get an extended chunk of time to work on our business. And I'm going to challenge you to change that. I'll talk about why here in just a second. But first I want you to take a look at your calendar and figure out is there a day or a time each week that I can dedicate a chunk of time? And I don't just mean an hour, I'm talking about three, four, five, six hours. A good chunk, and it can be three, I think. As few as three works and no more than six, I would say. Beyond six you're kind of setting yourself up to become unproductive, and I know a lot of people would even say after four hours you're probably not gonna be very productive.
Speaker 1:But you want a good chunk of time and the idea here is that we want enough time to be able to start and finish something. So when we work in small chunks of time, often what we're doing is we're doing a little bit here and a little bit of there, and a little bit here and a little bit there, and we feel so scattered because while we're ultimately getting the thing done, hopefully it's so spread out that we feel really unproductive because by the time I finish my work session I haven't actually got to cross the project off my list. I wanted to create a product, but it's going to take me three sit downs or more to finish that product and so giving myself one chunk of time a week gives me one time every single week where I'm able to sit down and see something through start to finish. So right now, as I'm recording this, this is Saturday. It's my chunk day. I get about six hours on Saturday and I get to chunk out and see a project through start to finish. So I'm batching out podcasts today Guess what?
Speaker 1:This is podcast number five and by the time I'm finished, I will have start to finish, completed the planning and recording of five podcasts and get them sent off to my editor, who will then finish everything else from there. So I am able to see this through start to finish, versus doing a little recording here, a little recording there, a little, and having to spread that out over the course of five days. Not only does this save me a lot of time in terms of like in my particular case, I have to have my hair done, I have to have my makeup done, gotta have my jewelry on, gotta have my outfits picked out, my lighting set up, all of that stuff. Not only does it save me from having to do that every single day for five days, it allows me to get into a flow and complete a thought.
Speaker 1:You know, having to work in small chunks of time in your business is a lot like trying to have a conversation with a toddler, where you're trying to explain a complex topic but they keep stopping you and saying, but why, but why, and then you have to go do this and you have to go do that, and you feel like you're constantly fighting just to get the complete thought out and to teach them the one simple lesson that you wanted to convey to them. Or it's like having a conversation with your spouse and continually getting interrupted by the same toddler. Right, it's a lot like that in our business. If I have to stop, start, stop, start, stop, start. Not only is it exhausting mentally, but it also really takes away from that feeling of accomplishment and it's really distracting and it takes me longer to do the thing.
Speaker 1:So I'm able to sit down on a day that I'm going to do all of my content. Look at my YouTube statistics for what is currently performing well for me. Look at my podcast statistics for which podcasts got the most listens. I'm able to look at suggestions from YouTube and make a list of my topics based on my current statistics and things that I believe my audience will resonate with and some suggestions from YouTube. I'm also able to look at this holistically in terms of like okay, I've got five weeks worth of podcasts to edit.
Speaker 1:I need to appeal to both brand new sellers and to sellers who are somewhat established on TPT. So how am I going to do that in a way where I don't have five videos that are all for brand new sellers or five videos that are all for advanced sellers and I'm not kind of spacing it out and making sure that everybody is getting something that they need right, and then I'm also able to look it out and making sure that everybody is getting something that they need right, and then I'm also able to look at what do I have coming up. Like, I have workshops coming up. You're going to hear me plug a workshop here in just a little bit inside of this video, and if I'm not thinking strategically and kind of doing all of this at the same time, it makes it harder to plan everything out and I kind of forget some things along the way, right? So I'm able to plan everything out, make the list, write down every point that's going to be inside of the podcast or inside of the YouTube video, and then I'm able to shoot it all same day. I don't forget, I don't lose my train of thought and I don't find myself like accidentally repeating the same exact information that I put in the previous video because I forgot what I filmed last time and you might be saying well, that sounds really great for your business, but what about in the TPT space? It's the exact same way on TPT.
Speaker 1:Whenever I'm creating a product, if I'm able to sit down and plan out the product line, start to finish and make a list of every single resource that needs to be in that product line and I'm planning the product line based on research I can research, I can plan out the product line and I can create the template all start to finish in one good chunk of time. And then, throughout the week when I have little small pieces of time, I can work on some of those smaller tasks. Like okay, the template is already created, so now all I need to do is go, insert more problems and create new resources based off of that template. But all of the major work has been done. So, rather than spreading that major work out across the course of a week or even several weeks, I'm able to do it all in one sitting, and then it makes it so that I'm able to work more efficiently the next time I sit down.
Speaker 1:So setting aside one dedicated chunk of time each week can allow you to get a lot more done in those small pockets of time, because you've already laid the groundwork or the foundation in that larger chunk of time. Or it can allow you to focus on some of those smaller things, knowing that on Saturday, for example, or on Friday night, or on Monday night or whenever it is on Saturday, for example, or on Friday night, or on Monday night, or whenever it is you are going to be able to have a larger chunk of time to knock off some of those bigger things on your to-do list, and so you don't feel unproductive or like you're falling behind when you're focusing on some of those smaller tasks during your smaller chunks of time during the week. So, number one if you wanna be more productive, make sure that you have a chunk of time so that you can plan your productivity Okay. Number two understand that learning is not the same as doing, and I think that I've talked. I know I've talked about this before, but this is so, so important to understand.
Speaker 1:A lot of times. We consume content, we consume information and we make plans based on what we've learned or based on what we know, but we don't actually implement those plans, and so we feel like we're being really productive because we're making all of these plans or we're learning all of these things that are going to help our business, but it's not the same as doing so. Taking 15 minutes in the evening to listen to a podcast episode or to watch a YouTube video like this one, but never actually implementing what you're learning and so like, for example, listening to this video but never actually implementing what you're learning and so like, for example, listening to this video but not actually sitting down and creating that chunk of time inside of your business is not the same as doing so. You're not going to get the same results from learning that you're going to get from doing so. Make sure that if you're consuming content, that you're consuming content that you can actually put into practice, or you're writing it down so that when you get to the point, to that point in your business, you haven't forgotten it already and you can put that into practice. So learning is not the same thing as doing so. Make sure you're doing more doing than learning Sounds simple, but it's something that we tend to do a lot. Right, because I feel like I've worked on my business if I listen to that business podcast and I have a really great idea for later on, but I actually haven't made any progress in my business until I put something into action.
Speaker 1:The next thing is you want to make sure you're doing more of what actually works. So, rather than just like adding things to your plate or trying to be more productive, make sure you're doing more of what actually is moving the needle inside of your business. So if marketing isn't moving the needle inside of my business, I'm really not looking for ways to create more reels faster, because if reels are not working for me, I need to figure that piece out before I try to create more reels faster, right? So I need to be better at what works versus doing more of what's not working, if that makes sense. So I really need to take a look at if I want to get better results in my business, if I want to optimize my time, I really need to take a look at what is currently working for me and let me double down on that thing, versus trying to do more of what's not working for me. And then, finally, you need a simple success path that you can follow for your business, something that is like your guiding light on this journey, so that you're not getting distracted and you're not just working, you're not just creating and working and sacrificing time with your friends, family and social life for no return on your investment. Right?
Speaker 1:You actually need a clear, simple plan, and if you need some help building this, we're going to be doing this together inside of an upcoming workshop. I told you guys a plug was coming. We're going to be doing this together inside of an upcoming workshop called the TPT Profit Plan. We're going to be building your 2025 business strategy. I'm taking the three main factors that are going to drive revenue in your business and we're going to be breaking those down so that you can create actionable goals and actual plan for the entire year in 2025. You're going to do that inside of this workshop, and you can't get any more affordable than $10, you guys, it's $10. So, if you want to join us for that workshop, there's going to be hundreds of us there because all of my RTA members are coming and you wanna be there too, and so if you wanna come and join us. For that. It's $10. You can find a link to that inside of the description and if you're watching this video after the workshop has happened, you can find a way to get a replay down inside of the description as well. So you definitely wanna make sure you come to that.
Speaker 1:But the whole premise of this is understanding what actually drives revenue in business, and there are really just three things that drive revenue. It's really figuring out what are the things in your business that drive revenue and how can I create a success path or a list of goals based on those revenue drivers in my business and really focusing on those things, rather than all the 5 million things that everybody tells you that you need to be doing or that worked for someone else. Really just hammering down, okay, what actually drives revenue and now how do I focus on those things and perfect those skills in order to optimize the amount of time that I have so that I'm driving as much revenue as possible, because that's really the goal is to get the results right In the amount of time that we have. So if you want to increase productivity in your business or, aka, get a greater return on your time investment, you really need to look at doing more of what works, doing less of what doesn't work. Understand that learning is not the same thing as doing, and so if you find yourself putting a lot of content in and not putting it into practice, then cut down on the content consumption, because it's really not helping you if you're not implementing it. It's only cluttering up your mind and it's keeping you from focusing on the things that are actually going to make you money.
Speaker 1:And then make sure you have a good, solid chunk of time each week that you can dedicate towards knocking off some of those bigger to-do items on your list and creating a clear plan of action for your week.
Speaker 1:And then, finally, make sure that you have a very clear, simple success path that you can follow. Make sure you have your year lined out Like what am I going to be focusing on each month of the year and what are the tasks that I'm going to complete in order to meet my overall goals for the year. That way, when you're sitting down, you know exactly what you're supposed to be focusing on that month and you're not getting sidetracked by other things, because you have a clear, simple success path and you are sticking to it. All right, if you want to learn more about that workshop, you can find a link to it down inside of the description. It's called the TPT Profit Plan Build the Business of your Dreams in 2025. You do not want to miss it, so make sure you sign up for that before it's over, and I'm going to see you guys inside that workshop, but I'm also going to see you right back here next week.