The Rebranded Teacher
The Rebranded Teacher
I Almost Missed Out on 6 Figures...
Have you ever skipped a conference or summit because it felt draining, expensive, or simply not worth your time? I get it. As someone who identifies as introverted and antisocial, I've wrestled with the same hesitations about professional gatherings.
But here's my confession: the moments that transformed my TPT business came from reluctantly attending events I nearly skipped. Six years ago, a casual brunch conversation during my first TPT conference introduced me to email marketing—a strategy that now generates six figures annually. More recently, implementing just one tactic from an expensive mastermind meeting tripled the revenue of a membership I co-own.
These experiences taught me something profound: success doesn't require consuming every piece of content or implementing dozens of strategies. Sometimes, all it takes is one powerful idea implemented with consistency. This realization is precisely why I created Teacher Seller Summit—a virtual conference designed for teacher-entrepreneurs who want high-impact business strategies without the travel expenses, childcare complications, or overwhelm of traditional conferences.
Whether you're making $100 or $10,000 monthly on TPT, the summit offers tailored learning opportunities through free mini-masterclasses, expert Q&A panels, roundtable discussions, and over 40 professional-level sessions. With both free preview passes and affordable Pro tickets (which include six months of extended access), TSS eliminates the common barriers that keep teacher-sellers from investing in their business growth.
The top sellers in our industry didn't reach their status by continuing what they've always done. They constantly learned, adapted, and implemented new approaches—even when it felt uncomfortable. If you're not where you want to be with your TPT business, showing up for yourself by attending events like Teacher Seller Summit might be the catalyst you need. The summit begins in just 24 days, and registration closes when the event starts.
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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 it.
Speaker 1:Can I admit something to you? I don't really love conferences or summits, and I know that's going to come as a surprise to many of you guys, because y'all know that I literally host summits like Summer Math Summit for math teachers and I host Teacher Seller Summit for teacher entrepreneurs. And it's not that I don't love the idea of a summit. It's just that I'm naturally kind of antisocial and I don't naturally enjoy going to events, mixing, mingling, meeting people and after two or three sessions I get a little bored and tired. But let me tell you I still go to them and I'm going to tell you why. Six years ago, I went to my first conference. Back then it was 2019. I know for sure they didn't have virtual summits for teacher authors, but because it was pre 2020, they didn't really have a ton of virtual summits for business owners either. I mean, maybe they did and I just wasn't privy to them, but they definitely were not nearly as big as they are now. And, being antisocial, I definitely was not going to jump on a plane and go put myself in a situation where I was going to be in a room with total strangers, like that was just not happening. But I decided that I would go to the TPT conference because that particular year the TPT conference was in Austin, texas, which is like four hours from where I live, and so I was like you know what? I don't have to buy a plane ticket, I can take my car and I'm not enjoying myself, I can just drive back to the Airbnb, like I didn't even stay at the hotel, like that's how non committed I was.
Speaker 1:I went the first night to a social mixer and honestly didn't have that great of a time. Everybody else was having a great time but again, I'm antisocial and very introverted, so it's kind of hard for me to like have conversations, met some really great people. They were incredible and just as I was about to leave I decided, you know what, I'm gonna go introduce myself to someone that I knew from social media, who was also in my niche. I went over, introduced myself, we had a great conversation, knew from social media who was also in my niche. I went over, introduced myself, we had a great conversation and then I left and was like, okay, I can do this conference tomorrow, because up into that point I was like maybe I just won't even show up, maybe I'll just like come in a little late, kind of sneak into the back. You know that kind of thing. That was kind of my plan. So and it's not, honestly, it's not that I'm shy, like I'm not really shy, it zaps the energy for me. I just didn't feel like going.
Speaker 1:So I went to the conference and learned some really interesting tidbits of information, picked up some really great tips, wrote some things down in my little notebook. But I want to say it was like day two of the conference. We were sitting around in a group. A group of us decided to skip the keynote speaker and to go get some brunch. So we went, we got brunch, we're all sitting around and somebody said something. Actually it was several people who were saying something. It was a topic of conversation that was just very casual.
Speaker 1:That changed so much of my business and I had no clue that it was going to catapult my business's success long-term. They were talking about email marketing and some of them were saying, I know I should be email marketing. Some were saying, well, I started, but I don't really email on a regular basis. And then there was like one person who was like, no, I email regularly and I have a small list. But you know, I'm just I'm getting it going and I honestly thought, well, like nobody in my niche does this, so I don't need to do it either. And then when I heard them all saying, yeah, I know, I should probably do this, I was like, yeah, I should probably do it too, you know, trying to like fit in. Then I came back home and I started my email list and here we are, six years later. My email marketing earns me, I mean, six figures a year, like easily, easily six figures a year. It has been the thing that has transformed my business, all because of conversations that happened with other business owners like me.
Speaker 1:Fast forward. A little over five years later, I went to another conference. Really, this was a mastermind meeting and I'm going to tell you I also toyed with the idea of not going to this meeting because, again, it's draining, but just so happened that this mastermind meeting was going to be in Austin, texas, right Coincidence. If you're sensing a pattern here, it's that I really only go to meetings that are in Texas, that are driving distance from my home, and so I decided I was like you know what, we'll go, we'll get an Airbnb. Same type of situation literally got an Airbnb across the street so that if, at any point in time, I wanted to leave, I could just like walk across, eat my lunch by myself, recharge my introverted battery before going back.
Speaker 1:Like that's the kind of situation that it was, and I was very hesitant to go for a couple of reasons. First, I had just joined the mastermind and I was really hesitant about joining the mastermind because, I'm not going to lie, it is the most expensive investment I have ever made in my business, ever period. It was literally one of those things that you have to like consult with your spouse about and like maybe a few trusted friends to be like should I even do this? You know, I decided to do it and I thought, well, if I am spending this money, then I have to go. Right, I have to go. It's within driving distance, I have zero excuses.
Speaker 1:So, packed up the family, we all went to Austin for several days, go to this mastermind meeting and, of course, it was incredible. And it wasn't so much that the people were incredible, although they were the strategies, they were incredible. The people were incredible, although they were the strategies, they were incredible. But I walked away with this one nugget for my business, because I know a lot of times these meetings can be overwhelming. You're overloaded with so much information, everybody's giving you so many great tips about YouTube, about social media, about launching your membership and all this kind of stuff. You're getting all these incredible tips and you feel like inundated. But I picked this one thing that I was going to do, kind of similar to what I did back in 2019 when I went to the TPT conference and I picked email marketing. I'm going to implement this one strategy in my business. I picked this one strategy that I was going to implement in one of the membership that I co-own with Brooklyn McCarley the math membership. I picked this one strategy and I decided we were going to start implementing it, and I talked to Brooklyn about it. We decided we would start implementing it and within just a few months, we had tripled our business tripled.
Speaker 1:And so you might be thinking, lauren, where are you going with this? Well, here's where I'm going with this. First, if you are not business planning and sharing information with other people, with other TPT business owners, you're missing out on some really serious learning opportunities. That's number one. Number two if you are skipping conferences, summits, things like that, because they zap your energy or you'd rather spend your time elsewhere, which I get it, I'm the same way. Like, if you give me the choice between sitting down to listen to something at a summit or watch something on Amazon prime, I'm going to pick watching something on Amazon prime.
Speaker 1:95% of the time, I really have to push myself to say, no, this summit is happening, this conference is happening. Like you are going to go to it, you are going to attend and you are going to sit and you're actually going to listen. Like I have to push myself to do that because my time is limited. Number one and number two it takes a lot out of my social battery. Even if it's virtual, like it really does, it takes a lot out of my social battery. But here's the thing that I've learned is that my business would not be where it is today, no-transcript, and that's one of the big reasons why I host Teacher Seller Summit every year is because number one, if I'm co-hosting it, then I have to show up and I have to learn and I have to listen, like I have to do the thing. But, number two, I know how important those connections can be when you are talking to and when you're meeting and having business conversations with other people who are in the weeds just like you.
Speaker 1:When we designed Teacher Seller Summit, we designed it for people who are in the weeds, just like you. When we designed Teacher Seller Summit, we designed it for people who are maybe like me in 2019, where I really wanted to attend the TPT conference, but not only was it inconvenient to travel, but also it was expensive. I was able to save so much money by not having to buy plane tickets and I was able to take my husband with me, which was really great and it didn't cost me any extra. And with a virtual summit, like, you never have to leave your house. You don't have to get childcare, although you can, and I highly recommend if you can swing it or if you can have your spouse take the weekend off. Absolutely recommend that, because then you can really attend and dive into the sessions and some of the live events and give it your full attention. But you don't have to do that, you don't have to have childcare, you can attend in your spare time.
Speaker 1:We set it up so that anyone can attend from anywhere, so they can learn the business strategies that they need, and we also made it so that anyone can attend at any budget. So we have a free ticket. So if you are just wanting to learn like bite-sized pieces of information, like any little bit that you can for free, you can get a TSS preview pass for free and it's going to give you access to, I think, 19 mini masterclasses, including one that I've done myself. That is a mini masterclass over search engine optimization. We have mini masterclasses over all kinds of things from email marketing to listing your resources on TPT, to product photography and so much more all for free. We also have free meet and greets so that you can meet other sellers in your niche, mingle with them, chat with them, not only in the forums but also on live calls. You can chat with them.
Speaker 1:And then this is the kicker we have created a space that is exactly what I always wanted a conference to be, but was not really finding it. We set up expert Q&A panels so that you have experts in a multitude of subjects email marketing, diversifying your income streams, social media marketing and optimizing your TPT store. We set up live Q&A calls with experts so that you can talk to them and you can ask questions and they answer you panel style, so you get answers from not just like one or two experts, but from multiple experts, so you can get several different opinions or maybe you hear something that kind of resonates with you a little bit better or meets your need a little bit better. It's one of my favorite parts of the event and I think it's the same as Troop or so many others. We also have round table discussions so that you can sit round table, similar to how I did when I was out having brunch with other sellers in my niche. You can talk about pain points in your business, you can talk about wins that you've had, you share ideas and information and you're able to build each other up and really help push each other towards success. And those little tidbits of information, let me tell you, they are game changers for your business. So here's what I want to tell you.
Speaker 1:If you've been on the fence about going to a conference, like if you have the money, you have the funds, you have the time, you have the availability to go to the TPT conference this year in person, you should do it, but I know that that is not true for a large number of sellers. And even if it is true, you may be looking to learn even more like beyond TPT, because TPT invites speakers to come that will teach you how to be successful on TPT, but not off TPT, and that's one of the things that we focus on, too, is we help you grow a business that can be successful both on and off TPT. So if you've been thinking about attending a conference, whether virtual or in person, I want to address some of the common hesitations that you might have, and that is first, like I don't have time and I get that Like that is me, because conferences, whether in person or online, it takes time away from your family and it takes time away from other things that you may have on your to-do list. But let me tell you something you don't need to attend every single session in order to get something out of it, and I think that this is the game changer for me is that when I first started attending conferences and attending summits, or even like joining courses and memberships, like I felt like I needed to consume every single piece of content in order to make it worth the money that I was paying or the time that I was spending. But that's not true. One of the best tips that I have for attending a conference is to go to the conference or attend the summit and only consume the things that you are really truly interested in or that correlate with a current goal that you have. So just start there. So, for example, that mastermind that I'm in right now, even though it is a very hefty fee, and it pains me just a little bit to see that bill come through every month.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I've learned is that I don't have to attend everything, like I don't have to do that. I can attend things when I need to or when I have the time, and it's there when I need it. So this past week, I watched a live session that was recorded back in February and because I have access to it, I just decided you know what I need this right now. Same for TSS. Brooklyn and I my business partner we went back to a session that was given by Farrah Henley on Sticky Memberships and I had listened to like part of it at first and I didn't finish listening to it because I was like you know what, I need this, but not right here at this moment, but because we had, like extended access. We could listen whenever we had time and when we got the time then we listened to the thing and we were able to implement a lot of really good strategies from that session.
Speaker 1:You don't have to attend every session and you don't have to attend every session live. In fact, when you purchase a VIP ticket, you get access to all of the mini masterclass sessions on demand for six months and you also get access to all 40 plus pro level sessions and replays of the Q&A calls and replays of the round table discussions for the entire six months. So you have six months to listen to things at your own pace. You don't have to listen to everything. Okay, you pick the things that are the best for you and your business at the point where you're at. Again, I've found over the years that it really doesn't take much to catapult your business. You just need one really good idea, one really solid strategy that you can tweak or implement, that can change the course of your business and skyrocket your income.
Speaker 1:The second hesitation that I hear all the time is that I'm not making enough money yet to justify it. Now, this one doesn't really make sense to me and I'll be real honest with you Now. Years ago I would have said I get it, but listen, that's why you go. So if you're not making enough money to justify the cost of a ticket, which right now is like $79 for a ProPass, that's literally why you go, because you want to be able to make enough money to justify the ticket. Sometimes you got to spend money in order to make money, and I know.
Speaker 1:Then this comes the next hesitation, which is well, I can find free stuff online and I'm going to tell you something. There's a lot of really good free information online. There really is, but a lot of times, the same people who are telling you you shouldn't have to spend money to learn things in your TPT business. There's so much good free content out there, you shouldn't be paying anybody to do this. They're the same people that every time there's a change in the TPT algorithm, they freak, smooth out and they start acting like their business is about to fall into ruins, and it's no small wonder because they haven't been investing in their business and they think that they can't learn from anyone who might possibly charge them money for it.
Speaker 1:I said it If you can find really good free stuff online, like this podcast, my YouTube channel, it's all free and, quite frankly, it's really good content, but it's not high level or community driven like this is. This is completely different. I'm not going to put the same kind of content out there for free that I'm going to put out there behind a paywall. And the reason is not because I'm stingy, it's not that at all. It's just that if I'm going to share my best secrets, my best tips to my competitors, I'm going to make money off of it, and that's the truth, really, for almost anyone out there. And then, finally, the I'm not ready. Like, I'm just not ready for that yet. I'm not at that level. There's no magic ready Like. There's never going to be a point where you're going to think like this is it, I'm ready. It doesn't happen like that.
Speaker 1:You grow by showing up in your business and I know that sometimes some of these things can be a little hard to hear and maybe even harder to accept, but the truth is and this is something that I had to learn the hard way by just forcing myself to go and forcing myself to be a part is that the top people in the industry. They don't get where they are by just continuing to do what they've always done and hoping that one day it works. If you are not where you want to be in your TPT business, it doesn't have to stay that way. It doesn't. I see a lot of TPT sellers who kind of just accept the fact that, like you know what? My store? It's a crockpot store. It's going to take a really long time, or this is just how things are for me, and it doesn't have to be that way.
Speaker 1:If you're not happy with where you're at in your TPT business or you have goals beyond where you're currently at, then you're going to have to show up for your business in order to grow, and TSS is a really easy way to show up for your business and extremely low cost. If nothing, nothing else, you should at least go get the free preview pass, because it's free, but don't just get the pass and not show up. Get the pass, show up to the sessions, attend the meet and greets, listen to the calls, take notes and implement the strategies that you learn inside of your business. And I guarantee you the I'm not ready that you feel right now. If you do those three things if you show up, you actively participate and then you actively implement the strategies that you learn in your business, I guarantee you that next year the I'm not ready will no longer be in your vocabulary because you will change the course of your business. I know this because I've been there, done that, got the sticker, like I know how life-changing a summit can be for your business.
Speaker 1:So go grab your ticket through the link down in the description. Free or pro-pass doesn't matter. Grab your ticket. And because Teacher Seller Summit is happening in like 24 days, guys, that's just over three weeks away and we'll be there. So do not wait. If you have been hesitating, if you have been thinking, oh, I will get it, I'll do that later this week. I will sign up this evening after I put the kids to bed and you still haven't signed up yet.
Speaker 1:Go sign up right now. Do not sleep on this. You don't want to miss it, because once TSS is over, you cannot purchase your ticket anymore. We literally have people who will email us and say I didn't get to go. But can I like buy a ticket and just access all the recordings and like it ended a week before and we're like so sorry we can't do that. So go get your ticket right now. If you've attended a summit before or conference before, I'd love to hear your takeaways and experiences down inside the comments below. And if you plan on coming to TSS this year, comment that down below and encourage somebody else to go. Thanks so much for being here. You guys. I'm gonna see you right back here next week.