Journey TPT

  Yesterday, I got the email that I sold my first teachers pay teachers product.  I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal - but I was so excited to know my products were going to impact more students besides my own and that someone found my work so beneficial that they were willing to PAY for something I created.  With the milestone of my first product selling, I thought it'd be great to blog about this whole journey that I've been going on with TPT. And it really has been a journey.

  Last summer I contemplated the idea of starting up a blog and opening a store on TPT. I followed so many teachers on instagram, read teacher blogs for ideas all the time, and I already made so many things for my own classroom and kiddos that I didn't think it would be that hard to really get started.  I was completely wrong.  I started in on my first product and realized the amount of work, energy, resources, and other things I hadn't thought about would need to be done. I gave up.  I put my creating on hold, didn't keep up with my blog, and continued to focus on my own classroom and kiddos.  I watched as one of my very good friends Kayla, over at Kayla In The Classroom launched her store, blog, and everything around the same time as me and she was succeeding and it was SO fun to watch - make more products, get feedback from people, and build her community. I was frustrated that I wasn't spending that much time with my store and products but I just wasn't motivated and had so much stuff I wanted to get ready as a second year teacher that building that community just wasn't important priority. What I didn't know was that creating products, selling them, and knowing they would be used in other classrooms to benefit other kids was important to me. I tried to keep up with blogging in the school year but I was so tired by the end of the day, and wanted to really spend time with my hubby and away from school.

Fast forward to January.  I finally built up courage to ask my friend about her journey and what she did to get started and posted my first FREE product into my store and thought if someone wanted it, they'd download it.  I didn't know how many people downloaded it, if anyone would really want it, or anything until I got my first comment in February - and I screamed in my car. I was that excited. Someone had looked at my posters, thought they were worth the download and EVEN left me some feedback.  I told myself I was really going to pray about this new journey - what would it mean for me this summer, how could I manage it in the school year, and was this really something I should pursue.

It took some major work on myself and my resources  but I decided I was going to do this.  I was going to do this TPT journey because it would make me a better teacher, it would help me reach my kiddos in new ways, it would push me to try different resources and to make myself BETTER.

I continued to be more consistent with my blogging and by following different linkups that other teacher bloggers have posted.  I started following more people on instagram [which you should follow me if you're not - clvanderbush!] and really started working on my products.  I bought people's clipart, read lots of forums on TPT, looked at other people's work, and knew that whatever I would make it could benefit myself and my kids but also other people and their students.  TPT and the teacher blogging world is SUCH a great community of friends that really will help you out if you need it - and they've inspired me to really be a better teacher.  I followed...
   The First Grade Parade
   Schroeders Shenanigans in 2nd
   Queen of the First Grade Jungle
   First Grade Blue Skies

And knew it would take a LONG time - if ever - to really be where they are as teachers, but they had to start somewhere too.  And after that first sale yesterday - and ANOTHER this morning, I'm invigorated to keep going.  I'm brainstorming my next thing, finding more ways to build community and market my blog, thinking of changing my blog name to something more teacher related and give it a BIG facelift.  So, to whoever "Carol Thompson" is, thank you for being my first buyer in my new journey.  Thank you for believing and liking my work enough to pay money for it.  Thank you for pushing me to keep going.