The Rebranded Teacher
The Rebranded Teacher
Why Some TPT Stores Explode (And Others Stall Out)
What if the real reason your TPT store isn’t scaling has nothing to do with effort or even product quality? We dig into the hidden growth lever most sellers miss: building a simple, coherent sales machine that turns one resource into many repeat purchases. Instead of chasing the algorithm or piling up a cold email list, we map a clear path from strategic product lines to value‑first marketing and trust that compounds.
We start by reframing growth around a product line that serves a specific teacher need across many topics. That focus lets you market timeless benefits—student engagement, easier prep, smoother routines—while always having the exact resource a buyer needs this week. From there, we walk through a practical funnel: choose one line, craft a free opt‑in that delivers a quick classroom win, and build an email sequence that alternates pure teaching with concise offers. The goal isn’t a quick spike; it’s a rhythm that earns attention, proves credibility, and makes the purchase feel like the next logical step.
You’ll hear how to replace random uploads with intentional gaps to fill, how to expand a line based on teacher requests, and how to re‑introduce the same products seasonally without sounding repetitive. We also break down the shift from short‑term sales thinking to long‑term loyalty—what to say after the first purchase, how to keep buyers coming back, and when to introduce adjacent lines that leverage existing trust. If you’ve been hovering under the $2K mark, this framework gives you a focused way to grow without burnout or guesswork.
Ready to plan your year around what actually drives sales? Join the TPT Profit Plan workshop and walk away with a step‑by‑step growth plan, live examples, and clear priorities. Subscribe, share with a seller friend, and leave a review to tell us what product line you’ll focus on first.
Sign Up for the TPT Profit Plan Workshop: https://rebrandedteacher.kartra.com/page/hun253
Watch This Episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ew1FVc3zLK4
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
If you've ever wondered why it is that some TPT sellers seem to just explode and take off in growth, while others, maybe like yourself, kind of say stagnated or never take off at all, then this episode is for you. We're gonna be talking about barriers for growth on TPT and why some sellers seem to just hurdle right over those barriers while others seem stuck behind that wall. And especially if you're the person that feels really stuck behind the wall you're at, whether that's trying to break past making$10 a month or trying to break past making$500 or$1,000 a month, then this episode is for you. Right now, we're gonna be talking about how to be the seller who just sort of hurdles over those barriers versus the seller who remains stuck behind them in a plateau. So let's talk about why some sellers seem to stagnate while others just continue to grow and grow and grow. I think the primary reason has nothing to do with motivation, work ethic, quality of resource, although those things can obviously affect the outcome for a TPT business. Those are probably not the biggest factors. Some of the hardest working people that I've ever seen, some of the most motivated sellers that I've ever seen, some of the people with the coolest, most incredible, most innovative products on the market still stall out and they kind of get a little bit bummed because they're looking at someone who has maybe like a subpar product who seems to be doing so much better than they are. And they're like, why? My resources are great. I'm creating all of these incredible materials and buyers don't seem to want. But yet it seems like this other person who's creating mediocre products is doing better than I am. Or maybe on the flip side of that, a seller could be spending a lot of time on marketing. They could be growing this incredible email list, and they're like, I have a huge email list. I have 10, 20,000 people on my email list, and still I'm not getting the sales that I would love to see. And in fact, I know somebody in my niche who's getting more sales than me and they have no email list and no audience to market to at all. So what am I doing wrong? Well, this is where I think it's really important to understand that a successful business, particularly a successful online business, runs on a successful sales funnel. It needs to have a successful sales machine. And in order to have that, you need to have a comprehensive sales strategy for your resources, for your marketing, for your business. And that should look something very simply put, like this create resources, build my audience, market to that audience, and then keep that audience coming back for more. What happens a lot of times with sellers is they get stuck on one of these things. So they get stuck creating super high quality, incredible, engaging, amazing resources, but they don't ever move to that next step, or they try to move to that next step of building an audience, but they just don't put the effort into it that they put into creating the resources. So they create those resources, they list them on TPT, but then they are beholden to the TPT search engine algorithm, to the TPT powers that be, in order to get those resources seen by their audience or by potential buyers. And that's a lot to take the success of your business and let it rest or depend solely upon the effectiveness of someone else's algorithm or something that is largely outside of your control. So we don't want to do that. Another thing that I see is a lot of people really focusing on building this audience. So they're really focusing on this step of like, yeah, I've created a few resources or I'm creating a bunch of resources, but they're really not thinking about the quality. They're not thinking about the cohesiveness, they're not thinking about long-term marketing strategies or long-term what their buyers are going to purchase. They're just creating a bunch of random resources when they feel like it, as the mood strikes them and according to maybe what they want to use in their classroom next week. And then they're really just kind of relying on if I build the audience, then they will buy. They're just assuming that if they grow an audience, that that audience will automatically want to purchase their resources. And that's not necessarily true either. And then what I see is are some people who get to this spot. And these are usually the people who get to like the thousand dollar a month plateau. And I would say that there are a lot of people who just cannot break in the$2K a month club. There are actually quite a few TPT sellers who are really just trying to get to that$2K a month and they cannot seem to get there. They create the resources, they build the audience, but then when it comes to the marketing, they don't have a comprehensive marketing strategy. Their strategy is I will tell people about my resources, they will want to go and buy it. So I have the people to tell, I have the products to tell them about. And when I tell them about these products, they are going to want to go and purchase. And unfortunately, it just doesn't usually work that way. Like, yes, you might strike a few teachers on a random Tuesday just right to where they're like, yeah, I absolutely do need that, you know, function notation activity right now. But on the whole, that's not how it's gonna work. So you really need a comprehensive marketing plan that not only makes them want to go and purchase, but keeps them coming back. And I think that this is the other piece that we miss right here. So often we're really focused on when we get to this point of marketing, we're really focusing on getting the buyer to make a purchase right now, that we're really not thinking about what is that buyer then going to do three months from now or two weeks from now. How am I gonna get them to come back? And so I'm really not thinking long term about building a relationship with this buyer. I'm really thinking short term about getting them to make a purchase from my store because I feel like if I can get them to make a purchase from my store, I've had success and you have, you've had short-term success. But if I can get them to make a purchase and then come back and make another purchase and then come back and make another purchase, then I have long-term success, which is what I really want. And that's what's gonna pull me out of that plateau. So, what we really wanna think about when you're creating resources is creating a set of resources that a particular audience, this audience right here, a particular audience is going to want to purchase multiples of. They're gonna want to come back on a regular basis and continue to purchase more of those resources. So we're not creating random resources whenever the mood hits us, we're creating very strategically. Now, what that's gonna allow us to do is it's gonna allow us to market strategically. So, for example, I have a set of partner activities in my store. I have multiple sets for multiple grade levels. These partner activities I can create when I'm marketing, I can market in a long-term way. So I can market by talking about the benefits of partnering students. I can share tips for how to partner students quickly and easily, how to effectively partner students in the classroom. I can help build credibility with my buyer by providing value to them beyond just go make this purchase right here. When I do that, I am setting myself up to be somebody that they want to purchase from long term because they have received a lot of value from me and they trust me. When I do this, I'm also increasing the odds. So I've got this set of resources over here, the set of partner activities. Rather than just saying, hey guys, I have a new factoring partner activity and just hoping that they need that factoring resource at that time. Because I have a whole library of them, I can say, hey, let's talk about the benefits of partnering. Let's talk about how partnering activities can really increase student engagement in your classroom and how it can transform your classroom. And here's where you can go to try it. I have dozens of options for them to choose from now. So they're not teaching factoring this week, no problem. They're teaching function notation, great, I've got one for that. Pythagorean Theorem, perfect, got one for that. Like they have a plethora of options to choose from so that what they need is there for them when they need it. This is going to help ensure that I'm going to make more short-term sales. Now, once I've made that short-term sale, yes, that is an immediate win, but I want to keep those customers coming back. So I want to continue to market that same product line over and over and over and over again, reminding them month over month, year over year, I have these resources in my store. And once they've tried them and they've seen how it changes their classroom, how it changes the game for them, that's going to want to keep them coming back for more. Also, when they remember who I am. So when I spend time marketing, not just thinking about I want to get them short term to purchase this one product for me. When I'm thinking about long term, I want to build a relationship with these customers so that they want to purchase for me. They feel like they're supporting me when they do that because they are, they are supporting me when they do that. And they trust me, then that's gonna keep them coming back for more. It's gonna be the thing that when I move from marketing all of those partner resources over into marketing a different product line that is going to allow them to trust me enough to go ahead and purchase that next set of resources or that next set of products for me because they trust me, because they have a relationship with me, and because I've taken the time to build that relationship. So it's really about thinking start to finish here. I want to create resources that will keep customers coming back. I want to build an audience of people who want those resources so that they'll keep coming back. I want to market to this group of people in such a way so that they trust me and they want to purchase the products that I've created and they want to purchase more from me. So really thinking long term about this funnel versus thinking about it one piece at a time. When I think about this strategy is one piece of a time at a time, what I'm really doing is I'm thinking about, okay, I want to create products. Okay, now I want to build an email list. Okay, now I want to send emails to them. Okay, now I've got to try to figure out how to get these people to come back. And when I think about it one piece at a time, I really miss out on a lot of potential sales. And there are just so many missed opportunities for connecting with my audience and for marketing more effectively and selling products more effectively when I'm only just thinking about in one category of I'm gonna create some resources. Okay, now I'm gonna focus on building my email list or growing my Instagram or my social media account. Okay, now I'm gonna focus on telling people about my product. Okay, now I'm gonna try to focus on how do I, how do I wait a second, how do I get those people to keep coming back because they're making like one random purchase and then they're not coming back to me again. So when I stop thinking about each piece as being one thing that I do or the next step that I do, and I start thinking about it as this is what I'm doing across the board, and all of these things really need to work together and harmonize together. That's when I'm going to break free from those plateaus, and my business is really going to take off. So let me give you a couple of practical steps to help you do this in your business. The first thing that I would challenge you to do is to choose one set of resources, like a product line of products in your store. And I would challenge you to really think about what are the benefits for the teachers with these resources? And how can I talk to the teachers about why they need these benefits, why this is important in their classroom, how can I make things easy and accessible to them without them having to purchase anything for me? How can I give them value without them having to make a purchase for me so that I can build a reputation with them and they are more open to receiving the information that I'm giving to them. Because a lot of times when I pair value with a sales pitch, and that's not to say that you can't do that, but a lot of times when I pair value with a sales pitch and I'm telling them, hey, here are all the benefits, go buy this, they're not as open to receiving and understanding those benefits as if I don't pair it with a sales pitch. And I just bare bones strip everything down. This is what you need to know, and this is what's gonna change your life as a teacher. When I strip it down to that, I'm building trust, I'm building credibility, and they are going to want to purchase something from me to make this easier to implement. So, kind of stripping it down to a singular message for this product line. Then I'm gonna focus on how I can give them something of value to help grow my audience. So I'm giving them something of value, whether that's a free resource, a PDF download, a workshop, something that's gonna give them the immediate results that they want with no buy-in. Literally, they have to spend no money. So I'm gonna pick one product line that I want to focus on. I'm gonna find something of value that I can give to them for free when they join my email list. And then I'm going to send them a series of emails, some sales pitches for that product line that's gonna make their life easier, and just some strictly value-driven emails, like just giving them tips, information, helpful advice that's going to help them be successful in the classroom that pairs really well with what that product line helps them with. So, again, kind of going back to the partner activities, whether that's talking about like how to quickly and easily pair your students, how to make sure that students are working effectively within a partnership, assigning roles, like however you want to do that, giving them value and information that's going to help them see the benefits of using your product easier and more effective for them. That's gonna help you sell your resource long term. So even if they don't purchase from you now, you're still building credibility and you're building a relationship with them now. So I'm gonna market those products to them and I'm also gonna provide value. And then I'm gonna focus on getting them to come back for more. So whether that's expanding that initial product line to create more resources when they ask for them, like, oh, do you have one for solving equations? Absolutely, I do in two days. Like, give me two business days and I will have that for you. You something like that, whether that's expanding that product line or going back and revisiting that product line from time to time or introducing them to a very similar product line. Like if you really enjoy these partner activities, you might also like these partner puzzles or something like that to help keep them coming back for more. So we're gonna start with an existing product line that you already have. We're gonna grow your audience by providing something of value as an email opt-in to get them to join your email list. And then we're gonna continue to market to them very strategically so that we're building that no-like and trust factor. We're building a relationship with them over a long period of time so that they will not just make one purchase from you, but they'll make multiple purchases from you. I know that this episode was a lot and it may really feel like a lot, especially if you're just getting started. So I want you to know this that you do not have to do all four steps in the very beginning. These are things that you just need to think of long term if you want to overcome that plateau. That marketing is not just telling people about your products, product creation is not just making random resources and sticking them in your store. If you want your business to meet its ultimate potential, all of these things are gonna have to work really well together and not just focus on one thing at a time. Now, I do want to be really clear because somebody's gonna send me an email. I do say very often, focus on one thing at a time so you don't feel overwhelmed. And you can still do this with this strategy. It's really about not feeling like straight out the gate, you have to create all of your resources and grow your email list and master marketing all at the same time. It's really about just making sure that as you add each piece, like as you start to grow your audience, that you're growing your audience in a way that makes sense with the products that you've created. And that as you're marketing to them, you're really thinking about long-term growth versus short-term sales and focusing on building a relationship with your audience so that they want to purchase like anything and everything from you because they know, like, and trust you. If you want to learn more about growing your business, then you're gonna wanna join us for the TPT Profit Plan. This is our signature workshop that I do every single year for TPT sellers. I help you plan out your year strategically. You're gonna walk away with a step-by-step growth plan for your year. You're gonna know what numbers you should be focusing on, what things you should be doing in your business, and what you should not be doing in your business to help you meet your growth potential in 2026. I can't even believe I'm saying 2026. If you're ready to sign up for that workshop, make sure that you check out the link down in the description down below. We had hundreds of people sign up last year. It was so much fun. We get so much done, and everyone walked away with their personalized plan to help them grow their business in 2025. And I cannot wait to do it again in 2026. So if you're ready to skyrocket your business in the coming year, you want to make sure that you are at this workshop. I'm telling you, it is one that you do not want to miss. You can find the link down in the description to sign up for that workshop right away. It will be recorded, there will be a replay, although we do have a lot of fun live, but you can sign up for that workshop right now. You do not want to miss it. As always, thank you guys so much for being here, and I'm gonna see you guys right back here next week.