Guest post from Sarah
About one year ago, my husband and I began experimenting with ways to supplement our income. As a long-time MoneySavingMom.com follower, I felt that I had a pretty good handle on a number of legitimate money-making ideas and began trying them, with varying degrees of success.
However, since I work full-time as a middle school teacher and am a mother to three children under the age of six, time is at a premium. I really wanted a more passive stream of income that would allow me to spend my evening and weekend hours how I wanted to — with my family.
That’s when I discovered Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT), a website that allows teachers to sell lesson plans, worksheets, and more. Teachers earn 60% of the profit off each item they sell. If they choose to upgrade from a Basic Seller account (by paying $59.95 a year), they can earn greater profit. Teachers are paid each month through a PayPal account.
Aha! I already had boxes and computer files full of worksheets, quizzes, lesson plans, and novel units that I had created over my years of teaching. Why not turn them into passive income?
I did… and have learned a few things along the way:
1. Strive For Quality Not Quantity
This may seem obvious, but it is actually the most important tip. Make sure that your products are high quality, interesting, user-friendly, and kid-tested. Check for spelling and grammar errors. No one will want to buy a worksheet with typos on it!
2. Create Unique Content
Try to find a niche area. Do a quick search of the TPT site and see how many items come up that are similar to yours. If the market is already flooded with “Frozen” themed addition practice, this may not be a good money-maker.
I’ve personally had success with novel units. For example, I had previously created a novel packet for the book, “A Boy At War”. A search showed that there were only two other unit packets for the novel, so I tweaked mine and posted it. It has been one of my biggest sellers.
3. Choose The Right Price
Pricing can be tricky. You want to demonstrate confidence in the value of your product, but you don’t want to scare customers away. First, search for similar products to see how they are priced.
Next, put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. How much would you be willing to spend on your product?
Finally, adjust. If something isn’t selling, have a sale to see if customers will buy it at a reduced price.
4. Utilize Pinterest
Whenever you post a new product, there is a sidebar that asks if you would like to Pin it. Always say yes! This allows your product to enter a new market and attract more customers.
There are also Collaborative Pinterest Threads on TPT. You pin another seller’s items to your board, and they will do the same for you.
I have found that, with a little up-front work, Teachers Pay Teachers is a great way to utilize my talents and gain a passive source of income.
Sarah Wright teaches middle school on purpose and loves it! She is wife to Dan and mom to three children under the age of six. In her spare time she loves to read — setting a reading goal of 100 books this year. She encourages her students to set their own “ridiculously big” goals and chase after them.
We survived our very, very full week last week. And “survived” is definitely the word to use for how I felt… because some days I felt like I was just hanging on by a thread and being pulled in four different directions at once by people who really needed me right then and now.
I’m grateful that these types of weeks are much more of a rarity in our home these days than they used to be — and I’m also grateful that while this week is another full week, it should be much more manageable than last week.
Because last week was so packed, we got behind on laundry. So today’s cleaning project is to get completely caught up on laundry. I’m very hopeful that this actually happens because I’m kind of tired of digging through a big clean laundry pile to find something to wear. 
Here’s my plan for this morning:
- Bible reading/journaling — start laundry
- Blogging/Business work
- School with Silas — switch laundry/start another load
- Breakfast/Morning Time
- Chores/quick house clean up — switch laundry
- Get girls started on their independent work
- Exercise/shower
- Fold & put away all the laundry
- Ready to go — lunch made — head to work at our office space
This evening, I’ll share a post about how my morning well and give you an update (with pictures) on how my laundry project went.
Need some motivation? Check out my post on 10 Ways to Make Cleaning More Fun.
Want to join me? Leave a comment to let us know you’re participating! If you have time, tell us what your morning plan is, too.
