The Rebranded Teacher
The Rebranded Teacher
Budgeting for Your TPT Business
Money makes the TPT world go round, but how much should you actually be spending on your teacher business? Whether you're just starting your TPT journey or scaling to five figures monthly, smart budgeting decisions can make or break your long-term success.
Let's start with the non-negotiables every TPT seller needs: premium seller fees ($59.95 annually), branded fonts (choose 3-5 that become your signature style), strategic clip art investments, and essential software subscriptions. These foundational elements ensure your resources stand out in the marketplace and earn the highest possible commission rates.
But beyond these basics lies the question that plagues most teacher entrepreneurs: when and how much should I reinvest in my business? The answer changes depending on your revenue level, but one principle remains constant—pay yourself first. For sellers earning $500-1000 monthly, setting aside 10-20% of revenue (after taxes and essential expenses) creates a meaningful reinvestment fund without depleting your personal income. This approach allows you to accumulate a strategic sum every six months that you can use to level up your business through batch-creating resources, running targeted ads, or purchasing time-saving tools.
As your revenue climbs to $5000+ monthly, that same percentage creates substantial reinvestment power. At this stage, tracking return on investment becomes crucial. Whether you're spending on Facebook ads or hiring virtual assistants, you need clear metrics showing exactly what you're getting back. The goal isn't just creating more products—it's ensuring those investments generate profitable returns.
Remember, growing a sustainable TPT business isn't about reinvesting everything at the expense of paying yourself. By taking a methodical, percentage-based approach to budgeting, you'll build a business that supports your financial goals while continuing to expand strategically year after year.
Ready to transform your approach to TPT business finances? Leave a review if this episode helped clarify your budgeting strategy!
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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.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the dreaded B word in your business budgeting how much money you should be spending, what you should be reinvesting into your business and what are some non-negotiables at different stages in your TPT journey. Let's get into it. If there's one thing that people don't really like to talk about, at least in public social circles, it's money. But in the TPT business world and honestly, in any business world, money is one of those topics that really needs to be discussed Because, let's face it, some of us are doing it all wrong and even if we're doing the best we can, the best way we know how, most of us still have that lingering question in the back of my mind of how much should I be reinvesting into my Teachers Pay Teachers business? How much should I be paying myself? Should I be paying myself? At what point do I start paying myself? When do I start paying somebody else All of these good questions, and that's what we're going to talk about on this episode of the podcast.
Speaker 1:So let's start off with some non-negotiables. These are things that should be in your budget, no matter what, whether you're brand new to selling on TPT you've been selling on TPT for ages and no matter what niche you're in. The first is the premium seller fee. Now, right now, this is $59.95, I believe, for the entire year, and that is going to be a recurring line item in your budget. You're going to be paying $60 a year for a premium seller account on TPT. You should be paying this from the beginning.
Speaker 1:Once upon a time, tpt had a basic seller account that was free. That is no longer the case. It's now, I believe, like $29 to start, and if you have the option between paying $29 or paying $59, I would just go ahead and pay the $59 and earn 80% commissions on your sales instead of earning way lower commission rates. You don't want any of that. So, straight out the gate, you want to make sure that you have budgeted that $60 a year to go to your premium seller fees. Now you might be asking yourself well, lauren, what happens if I don't make that $60 a year. If after a year you're still not making $60 a year, but you want to keep your TPT store open for one of these days when things might start working for you or when you might start taking things seriously and I say that not in a derogatory way, but if you spent an entire year taking your TPT store seriously and you've been seriously investing your time and resources into TPT, you should be making way more than $60 a year. Now I'm not saying you're going to be making thousands of dollars or anything like that. I'm not making any kinds of claims like that. I'm just saying that $60 should be a no-brainer for your business. Now, if you are dabbling, then I can understand that. If it's a hobby store or you're just kind of dabbling in this on the side, kind of getting your feet wet and learning the ropes, and after a year life kind of got in the way, then maybe you do want to reevaluate a little bit and just kind of take a step back until you're ready to jump back in, and that's totally fine. But if you're listening to this podcast and you're thinking about budgeting, then you're probably pretty serious. So go ahead and set that 60 bucks aside.
Speaker 1:The next thing that's a non-negotiable are fonts and clip art. Now, fonts, ideally, you're only going to have to purchase one time every five years, and the reason for this is you should not just be using random fonts inside of your resources. The fonts that you're using inside of your resources, on your covers, for your graphics, for your marketing, all of those fonts should be branded fonts. You should pick a handful of fonts and we're talking three to five tops that are used inside of your resources, marketing, et cetera, and then you don't need any more than that, which means that this is a one and done purchase. You should purchase this in the beginning and then, if you do some rebranding, later on down the road, you might purchase some new ones. But if you're at the point of rebranding your business, then you can probably afford some new fonts. Not a big deal.
Speaker 1:The other thing is clip art. Clip art is a really big deal, especially in the beginning, and I know that this one's kind of a touchy subject, because there are a lot of subject areas that think I don't need clip art. I sell to secondary history teachers, I sell world geography, I do AP stats or whatever. But trust me, you need clip art and even if it's not clip art, it might be something else that lends visual interest page board or something Because visual interest and your product having visual interest is a huge part of what's going to make your resource appealing on TPT and it's going to be one of the things that catches your buyer's eye when they're scrolling through TPT search and seeing your resource on your product cover. So if I have a visually unappealing product, it's going to be harder for it to grab somebody's attention and clip art is one of those things that can lend a visual appeal.
Speaker 1:So while the amount of clip art you may have to purchase or the amount you might have to invest in clip art might vary from niche to niche, everyone should have a clip art budget. So let's talk about that. In the beginning. It's kind of hard to know how much do I budget for clip art, how much should I be spending on some of these supplies? And the reason that's kind of tough is because things can get real pricey real fast. You know what I'm saying, and this is especially true in the elementary world, like when I started creating pre-K and kindergarten resources. Every single seasonal item has a new set multiple sets sometimes, of clip art for these worksheets, like I think we purchased five or six sets of clip art per type of worksheet. Now the thing about that is is that we're investing 40, 50, 60, $70 in clip art, because often clip art is like 10 bucks a set and, while it may not always be that much for you, even sending $10 a set on one resource can be pretty pricey.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about some ways that you can plan and strategize in the early stages of your TPT business so that you aren't spending a fortune on clip art. One of the ways would be to buy some evergreen clip art, some clip art that you can use over and over again. Now the thing about it is is that when you first start on TPT, you do need a mixture of evergreen resources. Those are resources that teachers can purchase at any time in the year, and you need some resources that teachers would purchase during specific seasonal times of the year. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but seasonal clip art Okay. The reason for this is a lot of times, one of the ways that you could stand out in the beginning is by having seasonal resources, because there are usually fewer seasonal themed resources, like, for example, if I'm trying to do three digit by two digit multiplication. That is such a saturated market. But if I do a three digit by two digit Halloween multiplication activity, buyers are more likely to find me than if I'm competing for an evergreen like resource that you could use at any time of the year. So seasonal items are usually a really great way to kind of help get your product seen and to attract initial buyers when you're first starting out on TPT.
Speaker 1:But then this comes back to the whole problem of clip art gets super expensive about having to create all of these seasonal items. So one of the things that you can think about doing and this isn't my favorite way to product create, I really do like batch product creation, where you start with one product line, you see it all the way through to the end and then you bundle everything together nice and neat and start with a new product line. But this is really great when you're on a budget. If I'm purchasing a set of clip art like, let's say, it's Halloween clip art and I'm wanting to and I'm going to spend like 20 bucks on Halloween clip art then I want to make sure that I have at least three to five different product ideas for things that I can create with that Halloween clip art Doesn't mean that I have to create them all right away, although you certainly can and you can put all three to five resources out there and then bundle those three to five resources together as like a Halloween set. You could certainly do that. But at least this is a good way to know that you're going to get some mileage out of the clip art that you're purchasing and it's not a one and done situation where you're going to use it one time and just have to hope that you make your money back.
Speaker 1:For most people investing $10 on clip art, when you have a three to five dollar item, you're going to make your money back pretty quickly. But if your item sits on the market which is really common in the beginning for TPT sellers, because oftentimes you're not quite sure what's going to land and what's not there's a lot of experience that comes into play and expertise that comes into play when it comes to creating products that you know are going to sell. And in the beginning, oftentimes brand new TPT sellers are just kind of struggling to figure out what's gonna do well and what's not, and so investing 10, 20 bucks in a piece of clip art and knowing that you might not make your money back until maybe next year. That can be really discouraging, especially if you're doing that over and over again, season by season. So creating multiple products with the same set of clip art is a great way to help ensure that maybe at least one of those products are going to land and do well on TPT and you'll make your money back. And let's talk about more seasoned sellers on TPT.
Speaker 1:I still recommend creating a clip art budget. Have a budget set for yourself, especially if you find that you're typically an overspender or an underspender. If you're an underspender on clip art, meaning that you don't normally utilize clip art in your resources and you want to challenge yourself to create resources that are a little bit more visually or aesthetically appealing, then you can always create a small budget and tell yourself you have to spend this money on clip art and you have to find a way to use it in your resources. You're still purchasing smart. You're still working toward creating higher quality products on TPT, but you're limiting yourself by saying, like you actually have to make the purchase and you have to use the clip art, or by saying this is how much you can spend and no more. Having that clip art budget can also help keep you from going on wild goose chases.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we get shiny object syndrome and all the products that we had planned that we were going to create this year. All of a sudden it's like, oh, but I'd really like to make this product over here, and while a lot of times that's a great idea, sometimes it's just us procrastinating on doing the thing that we know we really need to do. So having that budget in place that says, well, if I purchase that, I'm going to run out of money to do the other things that I really need to do, can kind of help keep things in check. Further on down the line, I wouldn't necessarily set a monthly budget for this. I would set a yearly budget for this. This is going to allow you to really make use of TPT sideways sales and to purchase larger bundles all at the same time, so that the money that you have in the clipart budget that you have can stretch a little bit further.
Speaker 1:Lastly, on, the list of non-negotiables is going to be that you need to have a budget for your software. Now, the amount of software that you have and what all tools you have in your system are just going to vary depending on where you're at in your TPT journey, but you're going to at least have to spend money on software for product creation, whether that's PowerPoint or Canva. You are going to need to pay for that and you're going to need to budget for that. Usually anywhere between 12. It's not a huge amount, but it is something that you need to make sure you're budgeting for. Now let's talk about some of the fun money, some of the things that we really do want to budget for, but we're really not sure at what point in our TPT journey we should start budgeting for them or when we should start investing money in our store.
Speaker 1:First things first. If you're on TPT, chances are you're here to make money and you're here to run a business, and I'm a really big fan of paying yourself like a really big fan of paying yourself. I'm not saying that you should take 90% of your revenue and just give it to yourself and then reinvest the 10%. That's not what I'm saying, although that might certainly work for many people. What I'm saying is that you need to make sure that you are paying yourself For very, very, very few sellers. It might work for a certain point in your TPT journey, when you're making 500 bucks a month to a thousand dollars a month, for you to take that money and reinvest it in some way by either hiring some help or whatever. But for the vast majority of sellers, you are investing your time and you need to make sure that you're getting paid for it, and it's a really slippery slope when you stop paying yourself and you start just reinvesting everything, because it's a really slippery slope when you stop paying yourself and you start just reinvesting everything, because it's not a wise way to prioritize your money and it can ultimately get you into a lot of trouble.
Speaker 1:So here's what I mean If I'm making $500 a month on TPT and I feel like I should start hiring someone out, but that's going to cost me $300 a month to get somebody to help me part-time, and that's a really low cost VA at part-time, it might seem like a really good idea until I take into consideration the fact that I've also got to pay taxes and that's going to be a huge percentage of my gross revenue. And then I've got to pay for clip art and I've got to pay for other things. Well then, very quickly, that $500 has disappeared and I could even end up in the negative, which is absolutely not what I want. So if you're making 500 to $1,000 a month and you're kind of in that range of like we're getting places, we're going places like and you're really wanting to capitalize and start to invest in ways that are gonna help you make more money, then here's something you could think about doing Take 10 to 20% of your earnings.
Speaker 1:Subtract out the things that you need for recurring expenses like cliparts, software, your TPT fees, all of those things With what's left. Start putting it in a savings account. So let's say you have $150 a month or let's even say $120 a month left. If you save that amount of money for six months, you're going to have $720 that you can play with. Now with that $720, I could decide do I want to invest it all in one thing, like maybe hiring a low cost VA to help me knock out a bunch of resources really quickly to add more products to my store? Or maybe I'm going to take that $720 and I wanna invest it to lead generating Facebook ads to grow my email list. Both are really great ideas, but now I have that money to play with and I'm not locked into a set cost every month. It's money that I already have saved up and I know like once I spend it it's gone.
Speaker 1:You could also split it up and you could spend a little bit on ads. You could spend a little bit on a software or some big clip art bundle or something that you've been wanting to purchase for a while, something that would kind of help you on a regular basis. Whatever that may be. Just kind of saving it up each month and every six months you get to do something super fun for your business and chances are, after a year of doing that and reinvesting in your business in that way, your income is going to increase beyond that $500 a month and maybe you're now you're at $1,000 a month or $5,000 a month. I mean that would be amazing to go from 500 to 5,000 in a year. That would be incredible. But at this point that 10 to 20% that I'm setting aside each month is now a much more substantial chunk of money and now maybe even I can afford to start investing on a monthly basis, like maybe I'm paying for ongoing Facebook ads, maybe I'm paying for ongoing VA support, whatever that is.
Speaker 1:Starting small with your budget can help keep you from overextending yourself while still allowing you to do some of the things that you want to do in your business. So once you reach the point where you're making $500 to $1,000 a month, that's definitely where I'd start taking that 10 to 20%, setting it aside to reinvest in your business. As you grow beyond that, you can continue to take that 10 to 20% and invest it. In the same way. If you're making $5,000 a month, then pulling 20% out is $1,000 a month and once you take out recurring expensive for like subscriptions and stuff like that you have quite a bit to play with. You could have a part-time VA and maybe you could even start running Facebook ads to paid resources in your store to help generate more revenue inside of your TPT business.
Speaker 1:Now, at this point, when you're starting to invest at this level, you really wanna start thinking about getting that return on your investment and monitoring the return on your investment. So rather than just saying, okay, I'm gonna save up money over this period of time and I'm gonna make a one-time investment for a VA to help me get these things knocked out, or I'm gonna make a one-time investment to run Facebook ads and get several hundred new leads or 1,000 or 2,000 new leads to my email list. Now we're looking at ongoing. So anytime you're looking at spending money ongoing, you really need to think about where is that money going to come back to me? You really need to think about what am I getting in return? Sometimes we're just getting time in return. So if I'm making the same amount of money but I have way more time, that's obviously a massive benefit.
Speaker 1:But if I'm looking to spend money to make money, like investing in Facebook ads, then I want to know if I spend this much money to grow my email list, this is how much I'm going to get back and how long is it gonna take me to get that money back. Does that make sense? So I really wanna make sure that I'm tracking that. Same for if I'm running ads to a paid product or a sales funnel or anything like that, I wanna make sure that I am making that money back so that I know if I invest this much, I'm gonna make this much money back and I'm not just throwing money into the wind. It's the same for if I'm investing in a VA. I'm really guilty of this one. If I'm hiring someone to make products for my store, then I wanna make sure that I still have the time and the resources to market those products appropriately so that I'm making the money back on those resources and then some I'm turning a profit.
Speaker 1:A lot of times it's really easy to just hire a VA to come in and to help you create a bunch of resources, or hire a curriculum writer to come in and create a bunch of resources for you. You need to make sure that you're being really intentional and that you're able to get your money back on those resources and that you're not just creating resources to have new products in your store while you aren't putting the effort into marketing them appropriately or making sure that they're search engine optimized and that you're getting your return on your investment before moving on to the next thing while still spending more money. A lot of these things may seem like no brainers but, depending on where you're at in your business, it can be really helpful to think about at what point do I start to hire someone or at what point do I start reinvesting in my business? How much should I reinvest in my business and I love those 10 to 20% numbers as you grow and you know concretely, if I spend this much money, I'm gonna get this much money in return, I feel like you're gonna be a lot more free to invest higher percentages of your income. Because if I know that if I invest $500 into Facebook ads and I get $700 back, you know why not invest $5,000 if I'm going to get $7,000 back. Do you see what I'm saying? So the percentages may change as you're able to calculate what that return on your investment is going to be.
Speaker 1:But at the end of the day, the number one thing is you want to make sure all of your bases are covered, that you have the funds to be able to create your products with your software, your clip art, your fonts, and you wanna make sure that you're paying yourself. And while paying yourself in the very early stages, when you're making a few dollars a month or $50 a month may not be possible you don't wanna run your business like that long-term. So always have a plan for when I get to X amount of money I'm gonna start paying myself this much. One last thing to mention, and this is gonna vary by state, by location, wherever you live and I'm not a tax expert, but you do wanna make sure that you have consulted with a tax expert and you're setting the appropriate amount of money aside for taxes each year, because you do not wanna be surprised at the end of the year. So make sure that you're setting that aside before you calculate how much you have left over for expenses and how much you have left over to pay yourself.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for being here. You guys, if you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, make sure to leave a review. I really appreciate it every single time someone leaves a review. It helps other TPT sellers find me through podcasts and it lends some credibility to the podcast. You know what I'm saying. You can also catch us on YouTube and I