TPT Tips Tuesday #1 - Own Your Progress

HI Everyone. This is me, Gina, of the PerfettoWritingRoom. I take only a wee bit of responsibility for the WONDERFUL

STORIES . . .
ADVICE . . .
TIPS . . .
And Guidelines
That you are going to read about. I am an award-winning reporter, I am a published fiction writer, and I've been teaching for a long time and now create full-time on TpT. I have a blog, and all the other usual outlets, but I love making writing products.

I started a thread on the Tpt Forum. . .

The clunky title - because I am not gifted at titles - is When did you hit $1000 a month? Advice, war stories and laughter here!

This one thread started what I'd like to believe was a firestorm of helpfulness and generosity on the part of some very successful creators, and a natural feeling of excitement and inspiration on the part of many folks who are already quite successful in their own right, but who perhaps want to grow some more.
     So many of you have commented that you appreciated it, that you found it helpful. Some sellers are nearly at $1000 a month, or were happy to announce ON THE THREAD that they JUST broke $2000. Others regularly make $8000. I'd like to think everyone received something from reading, sharing and visiting.
   
                   First Some Simple Advice:
                   OWN YOUR PROGRESS!

Do You Compare? Do You Despair?
    (You might find comparing leads to despairing) 

One of the most beautiful findings from the lengthy thread was how grateful visitors were. Comments that "it is in fact possible" to work from home, to increase one's income, or simply to improve! The idea is that TpT is wonderful because we help each other, we share ideas and we support one another. Teachers are a singular and wonderful type of people. And TpT is in many respects a singularly wonderful place.

One of the most upsetting realizations from the thread is something I find I do myself: comparing. There are many comments: wonderful, blessed, comments in which a person nearly rocketed to $1000 a month (and far beyond) within months. This led some readers to gasp in relief and awe, and many readers to compare in their follow-up comments. Even I, in some weak moments thought, "Oh gosh, my store is terrible, my products are not good, is it because I sell for high school?" etc.
      While I know that I can't prevent people from self-doubt or upset in the wake of a poor month or lagging sales, especially after redoubled efforts or high expectations, I will say that it is both human and understandable to feel disappointment when we

        Try
                  Try
                            Try

And it feels that others whiz on by...

Know also that comparison will not be a part of Tpt Tips Tues.

INSTEAD TRY THIS - OWN YOUR OWN PROGRESS - ADVICE FROM TWO WOMEN

Part ONE - COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY - SCIPI
It was SCIPI, a fellow TpT materials creator who once mentioned to me (and a sincere and warm thanks to you), for mentioning once to me that COMPARISON is the THIEF OF JOY. I HOPE we all remember it. No matter WHAT, remember what you do and can accomplish, and feel blessed by your forward movements in the world.

 Show Scipi YOUR Love and Support, Visit her Store today!


Part TWO
YOU REALLY DO GROW; MAYBE YOU SHOULD KEEP TRACK!!??

It took Teach-123-Michelle about 7 months before she made over 1K a month. Before anyone breaks the rule above and starts comparing again, lets look at what Michelle advises. She says that "the first year was the hardest. It is hard to stay motivated when you don't see the sales and you are spending . . .time and effort making . .  .lessons." Doesn't that sound familiar?

One thing everyone should keep in mind is that growth and success is not about money at all unless that is all you care about. In fact, I am going to argue that if all you care about is money, you probably are in the wrong field. Some of the greatest thinkers advise that money is love, and energy - well I could go on. What we do, and I am sure you will agree, is put our hearts into our jobs, into the products we create and into those people we want to delight, educate, and help (in all of the myriad ways we know that we can).

So instead of focusing on the dollar, let's focus on real benchmarks of success that will eventually bring abundance towards us.

Success can be seen in so many ways:

• number of products in your store;
• how many, or any, repeat customers we have this month
• number of positive reviews you get on your paid or free products
• what you have done this month (did you start a blog; open a FB page, pinterest, twitter, etc.)*
• the number of likes on ANY advertising outlet you have (do any of these numbers grow?)*
• Pinterest pins or repins, OR  likes/ comments on your products
• your store likes - has it improved since last month?
• the degree to which you are participating on TpT
• the degree to which you are collaborating or leading something on TpT
• If you "built your store" this month (even a single product is great)
• your sales in units
• your sales in dollars
• your freebie downloads
• MORE and other!

*Note that two of the above can be broken down even further. Can you see how REDUCTIVE it is to be sad and hard on yourself because you didn't make more money? There are SO many ways to IMPROVE on TPT!!! Many of your improvements are slow, but result in cash growth later.

Let's go back to Teach-123, (Michelle), who said that "finally, one day I decided to do data collection with my TPT'ing. I made a chart. Each Friday, I checked my numbers (number of blog followers, weekly page views, TPT followers, Pinterest followers, number of sales, sales in dollars, etc.).  Out of all the things that I looked at, I could count on at least one area I would see growth which would motivate me to work harder.  I also picked one area to concentrate my efforts for the next week.   It was like a weekly progress report." (Italics mine).

While no one is her, (selling like her, in her grade with her materials), and let's all be clear that making a chart doesn't MEAN you too will all of sudden make lotsa lotsa money soon   - there is a very valuable lesson. Making a chart helps for many reasons. Michelle is onto something and we thank her for this suggestion. Here is one more lesson:

The lesson is that progress is constant. And there is joy, pride and motivation to be found in that. 


Visit Teach-123-Michelle! See what she has in store!

GOALS for TPT TIPS TUESDAY

• Champion Success
• Learn from others
• Be happy for those who do well
• Visit others to see what they are doing RIGHT!!!

EACH TUESDAY . . .

1. I will CURATE comments into an ARTICLE
2. Creators from TpT and the TpT thread who are featured will have their store linked back
3. All readers are welcome to discuss and comment on the topic (agree or disagree - too)

please join this blog!


VISIT US AGAIN ON TUESDAY - 
WE'll KEEP the Coffee Brewing! 

Gina - ThePerfettoWritingRoom
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