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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
Learn to package your professional skill, monetize your interests, and share your teaching gifts with the world In Extra Credit! 8 Ways to Turn Your Education Expertise into Passion Projects and Extra Income, a team of accomplished educators and content creators delivers an illuminating and engaging handbook for educators who seek to bring in extra income with their professional and personal talents. In the book, you'll explore a wide variety of potential income streams, including leveraging social media platforms, creating educational resources, writing, and online courses, just to name a few! You'll also find out how educators are finding purpose and meaning in their various side hustles, making profitable and beneficial use of their many gifts. You'll discover: * Outlets for your passion for teaching that go beyond the classroom and tap into new and exciting markets * Strategies for monetizing your interests and hobbies to create impressive and diverse income streams * Exciting ways to contribute to education that aren't limited to teaching in the classroom, like merchandising, professional development workshops, and resource creation An essential read for professors, teachers, teaching assistants, and other educators, Extra Credit! will earn a place in the libraries of school administrators, former educators, and other school based professionals.
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Seitenzahl: 284
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction: What's Your Thing?
OUR JOURNEYS
READY TO JUMP IN?
Chapter 1: The Role of Social Media: The New Networking
SOCIAL MEDIA AND SUCCESS
OUR JOURNEYS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
THE PROS AND CONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
Chapter 2: Designing and Selling “Merch”
OUR JOURNEYS DESIGNING AND SELLING MERCH
SOME LOGISTICS
THE PROS AND CONS OF DESIGNING AND SELLING MERCH
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
Chapter 3: Creating and Selling Resources
SHIFTING YOUR MINDSET
OUR CREATIVE PROCESSES
CREATING RESOURCES 101: PLANNING YOUR PROCESS
CREATING RESOURCES 201: PRICING AND MARKETING YOUR CREATIONS
THE PROS AND CONS OF CREATING AND SELLING RESOURCES
DREAMING UP YOUR CREATIONS
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
Chapter 4: Online Learning: Developing Courses, Memberships, and Teaching Sessions
ONLINE COURSES
COURSE MEMBERSHIPS
LIVE AND PRERECORDED TEACHING
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
Chapter 5: Virtual Services
TUTORING OR TEACHING VIRTUAL SUMMER SCHOOL
OFFERING VIRTUAL SERVICES
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
Chapter 6: Becoming an Author
EBOOK PUBLISHING
SELF‐PUBLISHING
HYBRID PUBLISHING
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING
TRADITIONAL BOOK PUBLISHING
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
Chapter 7: Public Speaking
OUR JOURNEYS WITH PUBLIC SPEAKING
CONFERENCES
SCHOOL PD SESSIONS
MAKING YOUR OWN PLATFORM
FREE PD VIA ONLINE PLATFORMS
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
Chapter 8: Passion Projects
PASSION ALERT: ADORABLE ACCESSORIES
PASSION ALERT: TEACHER TEES
PASSION ALERT: STICKERS
PASSION ALERT: SELF‐CARE FOR EDUCATORS
PASSION ALERT: INTERIOR DESIGN
PASSION ALERT: MUSIC
PASSION ALERT: FASHION
PASSION ALERT: TEACHER BLING
PASSION ALERT: STORYTELLING AND RELATIONSHIPS
PASSION ALERT: EMPOWERING AND INSPIRING EDUCATORS
TIPS FOR GETTING STARTED
Chapter 9: Exit Ticket
UNSURE WHERE TO START?
TOO MUCH WORK FOR TOO LITTLE MONEY?
WANT TO JUMP INTO 10 IDEAS AT ONCE AND JUST CAN'T DECIDE?
DON'T HAVE THE TIME?
AFRAID TO PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE?
READY TO START RIGHT NOW?
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1a The black apron and navy‐blue T‐shirt pictured were created by u...
Figure 2.1b T‐shirt designs by Naomi.
Figure 2.2 Design your t‐shirt ideas here.
Figure 2.3 Starting dreaming up a catchy mug phrase that educators will love...
Figure 2.4 Design a tote bag that every educator needs.
Figure 2.5 These t‐shirt saying were inspired by daily teaching life.
Figure 2.6
Figure 2.7
Figure 2.8
Figure 2.9
Figure 2.10
Figure 2.11 Custom earrings created by a small business owner, Tiffany Diaz....
Figure 2.12 Personalized pens created by Tiffany Diaz.
Figure 2.13 This saying was created because there wasn’t anything like it fo...
Figure 2.14 T‐shirt designs created for an underrepresented audience.
Figure 2.15 Aprons created with simple sayings.
Figure 2.16
Figure 2.17
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Examples of product covers.
Figure 3.2 Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Figure 3.3 Example of worksheet designs.
Figure 3.4 Example of worksheet designs.
Figure 3.5 Example of worksheet designs.
Figure 3.6 Examples of worksheet credit pages.
Figure 3.7
Figure 3.8 Example of a product cover.
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Scenes from a reading course for teachers.
Figure 4.2 Reading course logo.
Figure 4.3 Virtual summer camp ad example.
Figure 4.4 Virtual summer camp ad example.
Figure 4.5 Virtual summer camp ad example.
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Virtual summer camp ad example.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Resource eBook Covers.
Figure 6.2 Resource eBook Covers.
Figure 6.3 Pages from the book, Alpert.
Figure 6.4 This book was created entirely in PowerPoint with fonts and icons...
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Carlanda Miller-the Magical Teacher.
Figure 8.2 Carlanda's earrings.
Figure 8.3 Latrice Galloway, CEO of Trendy Teacherz.
Figure 8.4 Latarice’s t‐shirt design.
Figure 8.5 Tamara Moore, owner If Pencils Could Talk.
Figure 8.6 Sarah Forst, Founder of Teacher Care Crate.
Figure 8.7 Sarah's book.
Figure 8.8 Sarah's care crate.
Figure 8.9 Brittany Wheaton, Interior Designer.
Figure 8.10 Franklin Willis, Founder fwillismusic.
Figure 8.11 April Graves, Teacher Style Influencer.
Figure 8.12 Amber’s lanyard charms.
Figure 8.13 Amber Drummond, Owner of Teacher Blingz N Tingz.
Figure 8.14 Amber's lanyard charms.
Figure 8.15 Matt's book.
Figure 8.16 Matt Halpern, Founder Matt Halpern Education.
Figure 8.17 Matt's merch.
Figure 8.18 Tiffaney Whyte, Owner De’AvionBlu.
Figure 8.19 Tiffaney's t-shirt design.
Guide
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction: What's Your Thing?
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Index
Wiley End User License Agreement
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EXTRA CREDIT!
8 Ways to Turn Your Education Expertise into Passion Projects and Extra Income
LANESHA TABB
NAOMI O'BRIEN
Copyright © 2023 by Jossey‐Bass Publishing. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Tabb, LaNesha, author. | O’Brien, Naomi, author.
Title: Extra credit! : 8 ways to turn your education expertise into passion projects and extra income / LaNesha Tabb, Naomi O’Brien.
Description: San Francisco : Jossey‐Bass, [2023] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022031459 (print) | LCCN 2022031460 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119911067 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119911081 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119911074 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Education—Vocational guidance. | Teaching—Vocational guidance. | Career development. | Internet in education.
Classification: LCC LB1775 .T23 2023 (print) | LCC LB1775 (ebook) | DDC 371.1—dc23/eng/20220803
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031459
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031460
Cover Design: Wiley
Introduction: What's Your Thing?
If you've picked up this book, then you're in some fashion an educator who is interested in bringing in some extra income for whatever reason (because that's your business) and you might be looking for some guidance on where to start. Well, over the past 10 years, we have found ourselves in a unique situation where not only have we found multiple ways to earn extra income while in and out of the classroom, but we also have grown a huge network of educators that we now call friends from all over the country (world, even) who have done the same thing in their own way! We've been amazed at some of the ways that educators have found fresh and innovative ways to share their expertise…and we hope to highlight some of those here. And here's what we love about writing this book: the primary focus (for us) isn't just about making money…but rather finding ways to use your gifts, knowledge, passions, and expertise to share with the world in a way that makes you feel fulfilled…and how that can also bring in extra money!
We are hoping that if you're the kind of educator we think you are, we can speak to you with the assumption that you have an idea or you are at least open to discovering your idea. This means that we won't continually include caveats for educators who aren't looking to share their ideas with others and make extra income.
But we have a lot to share before we dig in.
First, EDUCATORS SHOULD BE PAID MORE. Speaking as teachers who spent plenty of years struggling to confidently pay bills, save, and invest—we know that there are systemic issues at hand. We have joined and continue to join the fight to change legislation that affects funding and get the right people in power who can bring the change we need to see in public education. We know that the way many educators are compensated is outrageous considering how important it is to prepare students for their futures. We can go on about this but, honestly, one fact remains: these bills are due. Period. These bills are due, and if you've got kids, then you know that those kids have the nerve to want to participate in every (expensive) sport under the sun, and oh, yeah, student loans are a thing for many of us. It's an awful position for us to have to be in, we know. And multiple things can be true at the same time. We can be disappointed with how educators are paid and grateful for the option to be able to launch a business venture and bring in much‐needed income. We suppose it depends on you and how you want to look at it.
While we are on the topic of money, we do want to take a minute to qualify some phrases that we'll use around the idea of money. We may say things like extra cash or income, and while they have very different connotations, we mean money on varied levels. To us, extra cash incites some ideas of having money for your coffee habit or Target spree, whereas income feels like a larger, more substantial amount of money that can supplement or even replace income. We mean it all. Whatever your goals are, that's what we mean with those terms!
Also, THIS BOOK IS JUST A STARTING POINT. This book will not be an exhaustive list of every way to make some extra cash or exactly how to do so. This book is going to be full of our own stories and some examples from other people we know.
We're guessing that we are going to have two types of people reading this book. First are those of you with your shiny, new, exciting venture that is probably already brewing in the back of your mind. Are we right about that? Surely you've dreamed at some point about starting your own business. Maybe you've peeled out of the parking lot after school and thought about how proud you felt of that one lesson that you slay every year and wished you could bottle it up and share it with others. There's bound to be something like that that you've been mentally flirting with for a while, right? Okay, so that! That is what this book is for. We want to help you grow that idea that's been swimming around in your head by showing you tons of options for ways you can share your passions with the world.
And for those who may be sitting here reading this and thinking, “What are they talking about? I don't have anything like that swimming around in my head…yet,” well, we wrote this book for you too!
We will ask you a few questions, and you can jot them down in a notebook or literally right here in the book. Pretend that we are out for a coffee date and we are asking you about yourself.
What is your “thing”?
What are your coworkers constantly coming to your classroom for?
What is something that you see (a book, a lesson, a strategy) and you think to yourself, “I could totally do that better”?
So, let's take the first question: “What is your thing? Personal, professional, random. Doesn't matter. What's your thing?”
Why does this matter? Because a lot of times, your “thing” is connected to a passion. Passions, if you would like them to, can be turned into ventures that can bring in income. What if we told you that the teacher who loved pets created an entire resource for educators who were interested in having a class pet? A guide with tips and concerns to think through when deciding on which pet to have, schedules for caring for the pets, and more. This educator had the knowledge and the passion…all they did was find a way to package it up and share it!
EXAMPLES
A teacher at my old school was next‐level obsessed with pets. She had pets all over her classroom. Everyone knew that this teacher loved pets.
A school counselor at an old school of ours was known for his style. Came dressed to the nines daily. If “look good, feel good” was a person, that would be him.
A principal whom we knew absolutely loved to go all out for everything. Holidays, teacher appreciation week, you name it…it was themed, no details left unattended, and fabulous.
Similarly, consider the school counselor with style who snaps an amazing photo of his daily looks. But these aren't just selfies—that person is actually teaching others how to style looks for their body type—which might make them feel more confident. There are brands that love to work with people who have a natural knack for style, and they are willing to pay.
Finally, the principal who loves a theme. What if we told you that that passion for making people feel special became a blog that began with her sharing a few photos here and there—but turned into a platform where hundreds of people went to download fun, thematic printables that they could use in their own buildings?
Those are just a few examples of the kinds of ventures that are possible—and we can't wait to dig into more.
What are your coworkers constantly coming to your classroom for?
What is something that you see (a book, a lesson, a strategy) and you think to yourself, “I could totally do that better”?
OUR JOURNEYS
So, this is where we'd like to share an overview of our journeys. In this book, we dig deeper into a few of these ideas that we mention, but the point is that we've been able to gain financial freedom through some creative ventures.
LaNesha's Journey
I began this journey in 2011. Like so many educators, I had figured out that there were teachers who had begun sharing their classroom happenings on a blog. I had a handful of bloggers whom I followed religiously! I would teach all day, come home, and hope that Babbling Abby (aka Abby Mullins—a good friend of ours and the first teacher I ever followed) had posted something new from her classroom. Seemingly overnight, but probably more like over the next two years, teacher blogs exploded. Seriously—they were popping up everywhere. Eventually, we started to see amazing lessons being showcased, but then toward the end of the post, you would see a little button that said “Click here to purchase!” Now, understand: the things that I would see that were available for purchase were not things that I needed. No. I was given everything I needed in order to do my job. If I hadn't purchased a single thing from another educator, I would have been just fine. This was a personal purchase for something that I wanted. I make that distinction because I'm aware of the fact that many people believe that the concept of other educators selling lessons or resources is wrong and that we should all share things for free. I hear that, but for me personally, I didn't mind because the resources that I wanted weren't critical to the success of my students. I'm talking about an adorable “first day of school” activity or a fresh take on how to teach a spelling pattern. Did I absolutely have to have those things? Nope. Did I choose to buy them because I thought I would enjoy it? Yep! That's the difference for me. I firmly believe that educators shouldn't have to spend a single cent of their own money to do their job. But, listen—if you are the kind of educator that would rather swap your latte money for a printable bulletin board set created by another teacher…then that is YOUR business! I digress. Back to the blogger boom—the point is, all of a sudden we had thousands of teachers who were setting out to share their ideas on the internet…and you could also turn that into a business if you wanted to. And, I did want to! I somehow went from barely being able to format things in my word processing program to somehow learning how to alter code in my blogging website to create an adorable template for my own blog. I began sharing my daily happenings with photographs (which was a big deal back then as we were still using digital cameras and uploading the images, ha!).
So, I'm blogging away and then eventually, I created my first unit in 2011. It was my take on how to teach fractured fairy‐tales (which are picture books that have a spin on the original fairytale). I created printable activities and wrote out a step‐by‐step plan for how to implement it. I made it available online for others to purchase for $5 and I couldn't believe it when I made my first sale! It was invigorating.
As time went on, I started to see other teachers get real serious real fast. I began to feel like the market was quickly drowning in lots of the same kinds of resources. Let's take apples, for example. I loved teaching a unit around apples to my first‐grade students. We would read apple books and do apple‐themed worksheets; I would put math facts on apple cut‐outs and have the students record them on apple‐themed paper (oh, to be a young teacher again). A part of me thought, “Well, I'm creating these things for my own classroom anyway—I should just post it and maybe bring in a little extra money to help with our bills.” It was at this point that I made my first mistake. I didn't create it or post it to be purchased. Instead, I looked online and saw about a million other apple units—and they looked much better than anything I had made. I got discouraged and basically gave up. I thought, “Who needs another apple unit?” If I could go back, I would shake 2011 LaNesha and scream, “Post the apple unit, woman!” Because what I would come to learn over the next few years is that there is room for my version of something. I learned that there will be certain educators, daycare owners, stay‐at‐home parents and caregivers, and homeschool families that really appreciated my spin on a resource. Instead, I took a few years off—barely creating anything because I thought I wouldn't ever be able to be as good as these other amazing teachers. So, while I feel like I missed out on some critical years to create my version of resources that I felt were oversaturated, I do believe things happen for a reason—and eventually I found my stride.
A few years later, and as I grew in my experience, I began to notice the kinds of things that teachers in my buildings began to come to me for after school. They'd ask how I ended up with such great scores on my spelling tests or how my students were so well behaved during my lessons. I found myself coaching up my coworkers (who had asked) and began to take note of the topics that they'd ask about. That's when I had the thought that if these amazing teachers were looking for support or new ideas, maybe others were too! Even if I couldn't keep up with what I thought of as these incredible online blogger teachers—I could still help someone. And so I jumped back in. I started to compile how I was teaching spelling, reading, writing, and more. I gathered my original activities (because it's definitely not cool to repackage something that already exists and claim it as yours) and started to share free and paid versions on my blog. I would create a blog post that would give someone all of the nuts and bolts for doing the activity on their own—but if they didn't want to do all of that, they could also choose to purchase it from me. It went on like this for a while. I began to build out my library of resources and ended up with hundreds of units or activities that I shared.
Now, here is what you have to understand. This took time. A lot of time. This is why you'll see pushback in the battle that I mentioned before about whether or not educators should sell resources. If educators are sacrificing hours, sacred time away from loved ones, children, and so on to create something that will bring joy to another educator or save them time…then, yes, they will want to be compensated for that. And also, we all have the right to not purchase things. For one thing, there are tons and tons of free resources available for educators to download and use. But if one educator chooses to spend time making creative resources available to buy, then not only is that right, but also there is no rule requiring anyone to purchase it!
This is now the point in my journey where I truly began to operate in my purpose and passion. I found my niche—the thing that I felt that I could truly do better than anyone else (in my opinion). It came to me during the 2016 election season while I was teaching kindergarten. After a series of troublesome events unfolded (without getting into it, think: political soundbites being hurled around by students, parents, communities) and a very specific and problematic conversation in my kindergarten classroom, I realized that something was missing from my curriculum: social studies. That journey is fleshed out in our book Unpack Your Impact, but that was the starting point for my niche. It was at that point that I reached out to Naomi and asked if she would help me create some social studies lessons that would celebrate culture, tell untold historical accounts, and include global perspectives through topics like economics, civics, geography, and sociology. She said yes! From there, we began to think about the lessons that we wish we had when we were little. We started researching firsthand historical accounts and debunking things that are taught without question in the primary classroom (like the “first Thanksgiving”). I taught the lessons to my kindergarten students in Indianapolis, and she taught the same lessons to her first‐grade students in Denver, and we would rush home almost daily to share stories and conversations that our 5‐ and 6‐year‐olds were having. We would casually share these happenings on our social media platforms and over time, the interest grew. “You're doing THAT with kindergarteners? Your first graders understood that?” Those were the kinds of questions we started to get in our comments and direct message in‐boxes. Say what you want about social media (because we certainly have lots to say about it—both good and bad), but we found social media to be maybe 70% joy and 30% a necessary evil. Sharing on social media took us from being a couple of teachers sharing their journey to the (admittedly self‐proclaimed) go‐to teachers for real, authentic, primary social studies. We wanted to be the teachers that other educators thought of first when they wanted to shake up their social studies content. The more we shared, the more we found our “people.” We found the haters too, but they aren't hard to find. Don't focus on them. Focus on the impact that you can have on educators! We get more into social media later in this book, but social media brought eyes to our work.
We were being asked to share at conferences, professional development days, and podcasts. The moment that changed everything for me was when a teacher came up to me after I presented on our social studies journey in 2019. She said that she'd been planning to resign teaching not long after this conference we were at because she'd lost her passion for it. She was only there because her school had paid for her to go. She told me that because I shared my story, she was completely reinvigorated to get back in the classroom and make some serious changes. Y'all! That was all it took for me to know that if I can impact someone in that way, so can you. We can't take the power of inspiration for granted. Your story, your passion, your excitement for what you do can inspire others and literally change the course of someone else's life.
I'd narrowed my niche down to writing and social studies because those are the two areas that I feel the most passionate about—and those are the two areas that I've received the most feedback from other educators on how much it has helped them. I found that the more I created, the more I shared, the more opportunities would show up. That kind of energy is infectious. What I loved was that we didn't set out to get eyes on our work when we first started. Inauthenticity isn't cute…and people can totally sniff that out. We literally just wanted to share because we were so passionate about it. We shared with the same fervor that came with 35 “Likes” as we did with 1,300 “Likes.” And that's because the foundation was and is a passion. The income is a very fortunate byproduct, but it came much easier when it was attached to something we truly cared about.
We learned that you never know whose eyes might land on your work. You never know who is in the room in which you are speaking. What we do know is that if it is truly something you care about and love to share, the people who vibe with you will find their way and they will support your journey. And that is where you find me today as I currently sit to write this book. I've been given the opportunity to speak to thousands of educators all over the country, write multiple books, design my own “merch,” hold my own virtual conferences, work with companies (huge and small), and honestly when I list it out like that, I can't believe it. Before I decided to share my passions, I can assure you that I was the teacher who went to work, was terrified to ever speak in front of my staff, and had no desire to be a leader of any kind. Someone recently asked me if I ever thought that I would be doing what I'm doing and without missing a beat, I said “Absolutely not.” But I also say with certainty that I'm so, so glad that I am able to operate in my gifts. I spent such a long time convincing myself that there were no more niches, no more “corners” in the market to be had—but there were. I found something five years after I'd first started selling my resources that changed the game for me. Don't let your attitude make you miss your mission. More on having the right attitude soon but for now, remember: there is room for you and it's not too late.
Naomi's Journey
Travel with me back in time, because I want to set a scene for you. Imagine that the year is 2010. Common Core is about to be rolled out, Comic Sans is the Holy Grail of fonts, and “Teachergram” doesn't even exist yet. I was really beginning to find my stride in the classroom and quickly realized that all of the lessons I wanted to do didn't exist…yet. I found myself constantly hopping onto my computer after work to create something new or tweak something from my school curriculum to meet my students’ needs…and while the need to do this was annoying, doing it was really fun! I loved adding my students’ names to worksheets and main idea passages. I enjoyed creating centers that incorporated their interests and backgrounds. It was a creative outlet for me and it positively impacted my students and teammates. Creating resources to meet my classroom needs became a hobby of sorts that I did as needed throughout the school year.
Imagine my surprise when a fellow coworker mentioned that there was a website I could upload my resources on and make some extra money. I didn't think it'd be worth the effort or be very lucrative so I paid it no mind—didn't even bother to check out the website or anything. I remember thinking, “How much money could teachers really be making selling resources online—$5 or $10? I'm good.”
The Naomi of today is looking back at 2010 Naomi, shaking her head in disappointment and heaving deep sighs of regret. I wish I knew what I know now and had started my journey to turn my passions into profits right away. I hope that this story is beginning to motivate you not to put off your dreams of doing the same for another day.
Okay, we are time traveling again (imagine a dreamy wave sequence).
Now it's a year later and I still haven't attempted to create a single resource to sell online, but it was still happening in my classroom and for my teacher friends as needed. Luckily, that same coworker from the previous year didn't give up on me, and mentioned again how great it could be if I tried selling all of the things they always saw me creating on this popular site they'd heard about. They even shared about one teacher in particular who was making more on the site than her teaching salary plus ours combined! I finally gave it a try, and over a decade later, I am so glad I did. What started out as a side hobby to help put gas in the car quickly turned into an amount that covered monthly car payments, which then snowballed into an amount that allowed me to buy a new car a year and a half later.
I was highly motivated by the idea of what could happen if I worked hard enough to achieve it. I would come home from
