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February 2017: As I update this post it kind of breaks my heart that my circumstances have changed in many ways but I’m leaving the post as it was written. 

Nov. 2015 Happy Saturday! First of all huge thank you to Victoria from Teach with a Smile and Cassandra from Mrs. 3rd Grade for offering the opportunity for the TPT community to say thanks! I love that the link-up is before Thanksgiving because I know I am grateful year-round! I try to show gratitude as much as I can at school and at home. I’m sure my husband might be rolling his eyes if he were to be reading this. I really do try!

A simple “thank you” just doesn’t seem like enough. I firmly believe in the “together we are better” way and giving credit where it is due. I was so anxious to write this post because I was afraid I would leave someone out. I truly could write about 10 pages thanking the Teachers Pay Teachers Community for their support. And another 100 for all my family has done for me! So let’s get rolling with the mushy stuff!

So last spring when it came time for my Premium Seller fee to renew, I thought to myself about the the choices I had. So far from April 2013-April 2014 I had minimal sales. Two roads diverged. The left path would leave me where I was, making a surprise $1-$2 here and there, with about 5 followers. The right path, every single pun intended, is the one I chose. SPOILER. I decided I would make it my goal to start putting more effort into my store and at least getting my seller’s fee investment back. I started investigating more on the site and thought, “Hey! I can do this, too! I have great ideas!” Do I balance my time perfectly? NO. Has my hard work paid off? YES! I haven’t made any milestones YET, but I feel like I am definitely on the right track and it would be selfish of me not to acknowledge the other Teacherpreneurs who have played a role in my journey. As you will see, I have the most respect for sellers who have built their business through helping others not just product promotion. That is how I am striving to build a following. I have a lot of History Nerdiness to infect others with, haha!!

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1) So one of the first things I did during my Spring Break 2015 was look for a sellers’ group on Facebook. Some people go on vacation, Others are workaholics. The first one I joined is run by Brian Wiltgen from Wise Guys TPT. I am grateful for his insight and positivity. He is a huge seller yet makes time to offer help to others and stays active in many teacher groups and seller groups. I know I can count on any posts from him to be reliable.

 

2) Through that Facebook group, I found out about #tptchat. I didn’t even know anything about Instagram or Twitter until I joined! Oh, the horror! I thought those social media platforms were for teenagers! #fool And now, I look forward to every Sunday night when I get to interact with so many stellar sellers during the weekly chat! Time sure flies when you are having fun! Seems like that hour goes by in the blink of an eye. I always come away inspired and motivated! Thank you to Erin Flanagan from Erintegration for moderating and archiving the chats! I have been able to build a great network of friends through the chat. That’s how I got to know Cassandra, who coincidentally always has great tips to share and kind words! At first, I said I will just kind of watch the chat but I think I started adding my two cents pretty quickly. Now I wouldn’t miss it!

3) I would be remiss if I did not give a shout-out to the ladies who had the brilliant idea to host the TPT Sellers’ Challenge last summer: Emily from Third inHollywood, Amber from Peppy (I always put Preppy, oops!) Zesty Teacherista, Ashley from Teach.Create.Motivate, and Jen from Sparkling in Second Grade. Through the challenge I became inspired to be a busy bee this summer and more than doubled the amount of products I have, made over all my products, and set some short term and long term goals.

4) I would like to thank Kristen Doyle from Chalk and Apples for obvious reasons. She designed my original blog during summer 2015 and is also active in groups offering technology and blogging help any time someone needs it. I pretty much said “I like green and want my blog to be unique,” and she took it and creating something I never would have been able to dream possible. This girl’s brain is wired to write not code!

5) Last summer I was pretty jealous of all of the TPT Conference attendees. Like super jealous and pouty. However, my frown turned upside down thanks to Kelli Alaina and Nikki Heiman brought us Virtual Vegas! And a new social media outlet was born. Well, it was born to me. I am so grateful that Nikki brought the people that couldn’t attend take-aways. Nikki has such a positive, calming vibe and is a very talented, powerful writer. That is when we all met Ang-ley, too!! The dynamic duo of Angie Olson and Ashley Schroeder have been inspiring the Teacherpreneur community ever since. How lucky are we to have Kelli Alaina in our midst? She is a social media guru! She doesn’t hesitate to help other sellers grow their own business. And she does it for free. I have so much respect and admiration for her! Solid gold. Everything she does.

6) Right after my blog launched (three days before school started), I was the victim of a traumatic dog attack so I feel like I had to kind of put my plans on hold while I recovered. I was too embarrassed to bug Kristen with anymore annoying questions so I made mention of something with blogging in another seller’s group I’m in. Cue Becky Mladic Morales, who went out of her way to offer to help in any way she could. She gave me some excellent advice just to pay it forward. She went out of her way to take a look at my blog to answer my questions. She didn’t have to take that time, but she did. She has even published a book on Amazon called The Global Education Toolkit for Early Learners and has a wonderful blog called Kid World Citizen. I am very grateful she took that time to help me.

7) Through the world of Periscope and the Teach Happy Community (more about that in a minute), I have gotten acquainted with Jess aka The Whimsical Teacher. She offered some really meaningful advice to me when I was devastated over missing part of the beginning of school. She also recently graciously did an audit of my store. She gave me some detailed and extremely thoughtful advice and tough love. Through her encouragement, I have made over my makeovers haha. I have given my product covers a far more pizzazzy, eye-catching look and it is paying off. Literally. I am not sure how I got lucky enough to get on her radar, but I am truly grateful.

8) The last seller I would like to thank is Michele Luck, one of TPT’s originals. She told me to stop calling her my icon and role model! I am so honored because I got to know Michele first through the Social Studies group I run on Facebook: Social Studies Salute. She always has tried-and-true, expert advice to give to members. She is so humble. She has found her success through being authentic and not selling out. She doesn’t jump on trends. I got to meet her in person recently when she came to Athens for the GCSS (GA Council for Social Studies) convention. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend due to testing (broke my heart), but I drove up there just to meet Michele. She and her husband are some of the most inspiring, kind, generous people I have ever met. She gave me some advice I will never forget. One thing she said was not to let people piggyback off of me. That made me more cognizant and aware from a business standpoint.

 

I realize I’m getting a little wordy but I have to give thanks to a few more people! It wouldn’t be right not to. Someone who I have never met in person but I consider a friend would be Sheila Jane Teaching.  I know it sounds weird but SJ has a truly magical heart and always knows just the right thing to say to help me. It is her mission to help teachers be happy. I feel truly blessed to have her and the Teach Happy Community on my side. Sometimes, it seems like nobody can relate but the THM community always has my back and offers kindness and support.

A real-life friend I would like to thank is Angela Peevy. She has been there for me through some really hard times. What I love about her is she doesn’t let me keep to myself! She always checks on me when she knows I’m upset and I always feel better after talking to her!

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It is a given I am thankful for my husband who won’t let me give up on us or myself. We have our share of drama, but that’s real life. I wear my heart on my sleeve. And it belongs to Jay Runnels. I am forever grateful to have been given an amazing mother-in-law, too! She has the patience of Mother Theresa! I am thankful and proud of my two wonderful kiddos and adorable step-son and so blessed to have been given two of the best parents on earth. I don’t take any of this for granted.

WOW. That was really long! When I really feel strongly about something, I can go on and on. I hope everyone that I have mentioned realizes just how much you all really mean to me. There are countless others that I am thankful for, too. My heart is just overflowing with gratitude in abundance as I write this. I’d say sorry this was so wordy, but I’m not. Super, super grateful.