The Rebranded Teacher
The Rebranded Teacher
My $1,000 March Challenge Update...
My $1,000 March challenge didn't turn out how I was expecting it to, but I still learned valuable lessons about product cross-selling and giving yourself grace during different life seasons.
• I tell you just how much extra money I made in March from my game board and task cards...
• Sending freebies to your email list with an upsell can generate additional revenue
• Release multiple products in a series simultaneously to maximize sales potential
• Recognize when to push yourself in business and when to give yourself grace
• Focus on high-impact activities during challenging life seasons rather than taking on new ventures
Teacher Seller Summit is coming up at the end of June with experts from TPT and online business spaces, including email marketing expert Liz Wilcox. Get your ticket now – there's even a free option available!
Get your ticket to the Teacher Seller’s Summit
https://laurenfulton.krtra.com/t/oTIxSLPqfhYf
Check Out My YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/c/laurenfulton
My Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/laurentschappler/
My Other YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@LaurenATsch
Free Rebranded Teacher Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/749538092194115
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:Back in February, I talked about my strategy for making an extra $1,000 in the month of March and I owe you guys an update because there was even a prize giveaway and I can't wait to give away that prize. But I'm going to go ahead and let you in on a little secret as to why it has taken me this long to give you an update. So when I recorded that episode in the month of February, what I did not know was that I was pregnant. Okay, and by the time the month of March hit let me tell you something your girl was struggling, like I'm talking struggling. There were days where I would lay down for two naps and the second nap I might not even get up Like I might be laying in the bed for two, three, four hours, like I could not get myself out of the bed. And if you're a mom, you know the pregnancy fatigue is real, especially with a four-year-old and one-year-old that you're chasing after, and so this definitely hit my plans up a little bit, kind of rocked my world when it came to implementing the plans that I had, but I'm still going to go over everything with you. Overall, all things considered, I still feel like it was pretty successful. So one of the first things that I did is, once it was mid-March, before I posted any of the new resources, I decided to just go ahead and do from mid-March to mid-April. So let me give you a little update.
Speaker 1:During that period of time I told you guys I was creating some product lines that I could cross sell. So I created some mini task card sets and then to go along with those mini task card sets were game boards that were little game board packs. Each set was a dollar. So already you got to sell a bunch of those to get to a thousand dollars and there were. So there were many game board sets and then task cards and to play with the mini game boards you just needed five math problems in order to play. Excuse me, 10 math problems, any math problems. So kind of bring your own problem type of play. But they paired really really well with the task cards, so they didn't need the task cards in order to enjoy the game boards or the game boards in order to enjoy the task cards. It was just a really great way to kind of provide cross sells between two different product lines and encourage buyers to purchase more and add more to cart.
Speaker 1:So my original plan was to create like 15 to 20 different sets of these game boards and then some task card sets, but what ended up happening? And I knew the game boards would probably be more popular than the task card sets, because the game boards could be purchased by anyone on my email list, whether they were a third grade math teacher or a calculus teacher, whereas the task cards would be very specific to a grade level and skill. So I knew that the task cards were probably not going to be as great of sellers as the board games were, and I was right. The problem was, the board games really required a lot more of me, and the task cards was something that I could just hire out, and so the task cards. There were a lot of task cards that were created, like tons of task cards. Most of them, though, were not created until at least halfway through that time period, so I think, when I launched, I only had like 10 sets of task cards and I had four board games. So one thing that did happen, though, is that I did create a fifth set of board games. That became an email opt-in, and I was able to start Facebook ads with those which I talked about, and that was pretty successful. I gained about 500 new email subscribers in a very short period of time, without a lot of money from Facebook ads, but then, also, I encouraged my email list to sign up for those free board sets as well, which encouraged them to go and make more purchases.
Speaker 1:But before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about how much money we made from the board games. We ended up with six board games. One of them was very seasonal it was Easter, so we released that right before Easter like a couple of days before Easter, so it was like a very short timeframe that it had like there was no traction from TPT search, like nothing like that. It was literally just people from my email list who purchased it, and not very many of them did. We sold $8 and 55 cents worth of the Easter board, so, like Easter was on Sunday, and I think we released it on like a Thursday and so not a lot of people purchased it because they weren't going to get to use that over and over again.
Speaker 1:However, the other five boards did reasonably well. We released the first four boards all at once and then we released the last two boards, one of them being the Easter board, pretty close to the end of that timeframe. Overall, those six products during that time span brought in about $370. Now I know that's not a ton, but we're talking about six $1 resources. So you're making between 65 cents and 80 cents on the pro plan with a $1 resource. So you have to sell quite a few of them and with these resources being brand new, also being super niche, all the traffic pretty much came from me driving the traffic there myself with my email list. So I was fairly pleased because there were only six products. I was fairly pleased with the $370 for that timeframe.
Speaker 1:Now we ended up with 34 sets of task cards, which is a lot. But again, the vast majority of those task cards were created towards the very end of that timeframe Because once we uploaded the first 10 task cards in the first, like four game boards, I'll be honest with you like I didn't do anything for a while I was so tired and they still had to go through a process of getting the work to my VA, getting them uploaded and then me going through one by one and checking the SEO, checking on all those things before finally publishing them on TPT. So most of those task cards again about 24 of them, so over two-thirds of them were not uploaded until at least two weeks before the end period, if not closer to a week, and I think some of them were even uploaded later than that. So again, really just a few of these sold decently well For those task cards which I knew would not do as well. They earned a total of $375 during that time period, which brought us to a grand total of $745 for those two product lines.
Speaker 1:Now here's my takeaway from this. First of all, this isn't the only thing that I gained during that time. I did also gain an additional 500 people from my email list. I was able to create and put out products that we can market for a really long time, so that one month is not the only time that they're going to be able to make money. They'll be able to make money all year long, with the exception of that Easter one. But I did have a lot of really good takeaways from this. Some are positive and some of them were things that I already expected to happen, already knew would happen, but just because of the way that timing was and the fact that I was not feeling well, it's just kind of the way the cookie crumbled.
Speaker 1:So one of my first takeaways was that it is very beneficial to send freebies to your email list. So I told you guys that one of the things that I was going to be doing was that I was going to be creating a new email opt-in and then, on the thank you page for that email opt-in, I was going to upsell to the paid products or cross sell. I guess you could say Really could go either way like an upsell because technically they got something for free and now you want them to buy something for a dollar. But you know, what I found was when I used that opt-in in Facebook ads, it didn't convert very well to the upsell. Wasn't shocked about that or not.
Speaker 1:A lot of people went and actually purchased the product. But when I sent that freebie to my email list and they opted in, I had them opt in which I do get that question quite a bit of like should I just send the freebie to my email list, since they're already on my email list, or should I have them opt in? I say it doesn't really matter if there's no upsell afterwards, but if there's an upsell afterwards and have them opt in. So in this case, when I sent the freebie out to my email list and then they ended up on that thank you page, I ended up selling and this is not a lot, you guys, but I sold about 35 sets of those game boards from people who were already on my email list, who opted in to get the free set of boards, and then they went ahead and purchased some more. So again, this isn't a lot. It made me a little less than $30, but it is money that I wouldn't have had otherwise. So you might as well have them opt in. And if this product had been more than a dollar, then it probably would have made me even more money. And this was not a huge shocker to me, but it was.
Speaker 1:Something worth noting is that it really does matter how many products you release at a time. So if you have a set of resources that you feel are going to be really good sellers, that buyers are going to want to purchase multiple of like, in this case these game boards. It really is in your best interest to release as many of them as you can at the same time in the beginning. So with the task cards, I don't feel like it mattered quite as much. But if I had released, say, 10 different options for the booster board game sets, I feel like I would have made so much more money because there would have been more for them to choose from. So instead of some buyers purchasing two, they might have purchased four because it was a better fit for their students and their students' interests. Or instead of the buyers who purchased like all of them all in one fell swoop, instead of them buying like all four when I released four, they may have gone ahead and purchased all 10 of them. So just giving them that option right there at the very beginning. If it's possible for you, then I think it's a really good idea a lot of the time. Now with the task cards, I don't again, I don't really feel like it mattered that much. But with those board games, while they're in the buying mood and if they're interested in buying sets, then it can be really helpful for them to just go ahead and have more options to choose from straight away in the beginning.
Speaker 1:The other thing is spend a lot of time, and this one is someone that I it just couldn't be avoided. It was just the way that things happened with what one product line needed for me versus the other product line. Could be done completely without me for the most part, but really it's important to spend time focusing on the things that are making you money. So if I had flip-flopped that and I had done I mean you saw six resources made as much, if not more, money like a little bit more money, I think than 34 resources. So those six products cost me less money to make, took a little bit more of my time, but that was only because they were more labor intensive. But if you're creating all your own products takes about as much time. So if I could create six products and make just as much money as if I created eight 34 products, this is where it really is in your best interest to follow the money, and if I had done that, I think the results would have been so much different. Again, I didn't really have the opportunity to do that because of the way that I was feeling. But if I had, it would have been so much more beneficial for me.
Speaker 1:And so don't get locked into finishing up a product line or working on something just because it's quick and it's easy for you to do. If you have a resource that makes you more money. But it may be more labor intensive, which in this case the board games are a little bit more labor intensive because with the task cards we could kind of recycle problems that we already had and just sort of like change some numbers and things like that. But with the board games not so much. They're just not quite as I'm not going to say like quite as simple, but it's like very monotonous. It's a lot of changing out clip art, it's kind of boring and it's not fine and it doesn't feel very satisfying because you just feel like you're doing the same thing over and over and over again. But if you get to choose how you're going to spend your time like whether creating that monotonous, boring, mind numbing product or maybe like extremely labor intensive product that is going to make you more money really spend time following the money.
Speaker 1:A third thing that I had to relearn is that you really need to give yourself grace during different periods of your life. So there are seasons where you are going to be unable to do all of the things that you want to do in your TPT business and, if we're being honest, that's most of life. Like most of life, we're not really able to do all the things that we want to do in our TPT business, but there are some seasons where it really is impossible to do everything that you want to do without burning yourself out, pushing yourself in ways that are not healthy, or without losing sleep or stressing yourself out, and so that's one of the things that I have to relearn pretty regularly. But at this stage in my life, I've been there, done that before, like this is my third pregnancy, which I'm really grateful for, and it's the same way every time, and so I know there is a fairly lengthy period of time from the time that I get pregnant to the time that I have a baby who is able to nap on a schedule and things like that, so that I have a more predictable and reliable work schedule. I know that's a pretty lengthy period of time, and so one of the things that I've done over the years is I've pushed myself in the in between, and this doesn't mean that I never take a rest or anything like that. It's actually the opposite.
Speaker 1:What I used to do is I would push myself during the seasons where I shouldn't be pushing myself, during the seasons when I should be resting, enjoying time with my family, enjoying time with a little one or just trying to manage kind of the hecticness of life, I would push myself during those busy life seasons to do more in my business, to take on more, to grow more and honestly I would just stress and burn myself out. And so what I've learned over the years is that if you're going through a stressful, busy, difficult season in your personal life and that doesn't mean that like having babies is like stressful or anything, I mean it is to a degree, but you know what I mean Like if you're going through a period in your personal life where the demands of your everyday life are really difficult, then that is not the time to push yourself to do more and grow more and expand your business. It's not the time. That is the time to really focus on the things that will truly move the needle. That's the time to focus on the basics. That's the time to focus on the things that you already know. It's not really the time to take on anything new. So I'm not saying, like, let your business go to pot, like that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that's the time to stay afloat, to manage your stress and to enjoy the season of life that you're in to the best of your ability, without adding to your stress and workload any more than you already have to. So if you're finding yourself in the middle of a particularly challenging and difficult school year, that is not the time to start taking on a lot of new things. That's the time to rest your body. Give your body what it needs to make it through that season. Take the naps, sleep in a little bit more, go to bed early. Whatever it is that you need to do, even if it takes away a little bit from your business, that's okay. When you do this during those more trying, taxing seasons of life, then, when you get a reprieve, you don't need the entire summer to recuperate. Then, when you get a reprieve, that's when you can push yourself and your business.
Speaker 1:So, again, what that looks like for me is during the season where I'm pregnant or I have a newborn and I have, you know, two other kids and I'm homeschooling and I'm a stay at home mom and I'm trying to just like keep my multiple businesses afloat. That is not the time for me to take on a new business endeavor. That is not the time for me to push to do as many open carts as I possibly can. Like that's not the time for me to roll out you know five new product lines. Like that's not the time for me to do that. That's the time for me to take a beat, to take a moment, take inventory of what is most important in my business what do I absolutely have to do and to do the bare minimum and rest my body.
Speaker 1:And then, when I get a reprieve in that difficult season, when I'm able to kind of come up for air, I will have the energy, the clarity of mind to go ahead and to push myself to try something new in my business, to really push myself to churn out a certain number of products or resources or to take on a project that I've kind of been putting off for a while. And so I know for me, the time that my child is napping predictably, and the next time that I get pregnant. That is go time in my business. Like I am pushing myself really, really hard and then that way, whenever I enter a season of busyness in my life, then I'm able to say, okay, you know what I've pushed myself, my business is in a good place, like I've done the hard things, I've finished that product, I've done what I needed to do. Now I can enjoy the season and I can rest and I can do the bare minimum for my business, and so that's kind of one of the things that I have to relearn each time is that, hey, you've done this before, it's going to be okay.
Speaker 1:Like you don't have to push yourself in every single season of life. You can take a break, and that may look like spending summer breaks really pushing yourself in your TPT business. I know my last year in the classroom that's what I did during the summer before and the summer after I left the classroom, but it's also what I did in the in-between times. So when this podcast airs, it's going to be Memorial day and it's Memorial day weekend. It's a three-day weekend. I might take one day to celebrate and then the other two days I had the energy and I had the stamina because I was going to bed on time during the week because I was making sure that my body got the rest that it needed. During the week, when work was stressful, when school was stressful, then I had the ability to take two out of the three days of that long weekend to really push myself in my TPT business and just take that one day to rest and enjoy myself. So lots of takeaways from this, and hopefully this helps you with your next product launch and, if nothing else, maybe it'll make you feel like you know what, if my product launch did not go as planned or life got in the way for me too, then you know what. That's okay, it happens to all of us.
Speaker 1:What we're gonna be doing over this next coming week is so many of you guys commented on the last video to guess how much money I was gonna make during that week and I be honest with you, I don't think anybody guessed as low as whatever. It was $745 or something like that I don't think anyone guessed that low. I think so many of you guys like really believed in me, which I appreciate, but I also had that feeling of like, oh, I'm going to let them down, but I know you guys are not going to be disappointed in who that silly. But we're going to go through the comments. We will find the person who is either the lowest guesser or actually just or just the closest to that number. So we're gonna have to kind of bend the rules a little bit, because I think we said closest, without going over, but in this case I'm pretty sure everyone guessed over. So the person who believed in me the least, you're gonna win. No, I'm just kidding. I mean it's true, but it's okay. So we'll spend this coming week sifting through all of those comments and the submissions that were emailed in as well, and we will contact you with your price this coming week. Thanks so much for being here this week. You guys go, don't forget.
Speaker 1:Teacher seller summit is coming up end of June. We're about a month out. I cannot believe that. In fact, I think the date that this airs is going to be May 26, which will be exactly one month from the start of teacher seller summit. So if you haven't gotten your ticket, you need to go get your ticket. What are you waiting for? Go get your ticket to TSS. There's even a free ticket option. So there is something for absolutely every budget. Make sure that you're signed up so you do not miss Teacher Seller Summit.
Speaker 1:Lots to learn from from so many experts, both in the TPT world and in the online business space. We even have email marketing expert Liz Wilcox. Can you guys believe that? She was highly requested and Brooklyn got her which, by the way, if you don't know, brooklyn is my business partner and she does so much of the recruiting for our event. She's absolutely incredible. Our lineup this year is phenomenal. We're going to also have three live workshops with yours truly during the course of that weekend, and you do not want to miss it. Thanks so much for being here, you guys. I'm going to see you right back here next.