Tuesday, May 27, 2014

TPT TIPS FOR TUESDAY - How to Win as a SECONDARY SELLER!

 Shall we REVIEW? I'm Gina of the PerfettoWritingRoom, One Word, One Store, ALL Things Writing, and welcome to another edition of TpT Tips for Tuesday. Today we are doing something a little different. Let's start with a wee bit of a review for our newcomers!

How many WONDERFUL things we've already done? SO FAR WE'VE DISCUSSED:


  • Branding and Finding your Niche
  • Improving, Editing, and Remaking your Products, Covers and Titles
  • We're talking templates, baby!
  • Writing Across the Curriculum
  • Using Business and Statistic Research on TpT
  • Free Tutorials?
  • Own Your Progress and Be Yourself
  • MORE...


ALL of these articles are available on this site...just scroll down to read. AND feel free to comment! ADD your own expertise in the comments section to help others!

TODAY WE are DISCUSSING How to BE SUCCESSFUL in SECONDARY!
Sure, this includes post-secondary. Many of us sell items that are for use at the college level. . . . Coffee Break. . .For everybody!


We back? Cool.

THE PROS AND CONS 
OF HIGH SCHOOL SELLING

One of the shining stars of the $1000 forum is Tangstar Science. A high school teacher. High school teachers often say how difficult it is to do well in an elementary-dominated market. 


  • Another way to look at it is this: stop comparing yourself to elementary folks, and figure out what YOU have to do to succeed. 
  • Figure out your personal goals and try to meet them. 
  • Fewer high school sellers means MORE opportunity for you to single yourself out, create a niche and do well while the market is young

So What Do High School Sellers Have to Say?

Tangstar Science

1. About the NUMBER OF PRODUCTS THEY HAVE 
IN THEIR STORE???

"March 31st of this year (yesterday!) I just hit over $2000. . . .I am in the high school division (the smallest and toughest market) so I am super excited at where I am now. I think the biggest part of my success so far is just to keep on adding good products.  I'm at over 250 products and that really makes a difference.  In general, you need a lot more products in the high school division to be successful than in the lower grades." (Tangstar Science - 1000 club thread, TpT forum) 

PWR: This doesn't mean YOU need this many products. Generally, you will need more products than an elementary seller. Don't worry or beat yourself up. Just create at a steady pace.
      I do agree with Tangstar that your strategy must be different than the strategy of an elementary teacher if you want to make a significant income on TPT. Noteworthy too is Tangstar's recent foray into Pinterest. She says her covers aren't great, either. This merely underscores the fact that every seller's journey is unique. 

2. Percentage of Time Spent MAKING a Product 
Versus the Time Spent MARKETING?
Not surprisingly, Tangstar says "90% Making my Product. 10% Marketing."
(Tangstar Science - 1000 club thread, TpT forum). 

PWR: Is this surprising? I sure think it is, and many others would agree. Tangstar is of the "If you build it, they will come" philosophy. And she is doing very well for herself. Apparently, her take is that marketing takes TIME that would be better spent making an item that someone can buy. If they want it, they'll find you (and customers do apparently find her). I don't know if I could possibly do 90% creation and 10% marketing, which is funny because when I started, ALL I wanted to do was make things!!! It is safe to say that we high school sellers need to build our stores and need to do more creation. If we are marketing more than we are creating, we might want to rethink that proportion. 

3. ARE YOU a Successful High School Seller? What are YOUR TIPS? Share them with the Blog!!
We will feature you!!




Come back every week for inspiration and camaraderie! New articles, sellers, tips and topics. We'll keep the coffee hot!
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1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this article! You've inspired me to give my store a make-over! New product covers all across the board!

    ReplyDelete