Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) is an open platform created to help teachers share and sell some of their original lesson plans and other course material to other teachers around the world.
What is taught in schools these days is far different to what was taught in school when I was a child. A big part of that difference has come with the invention of the Internet and how information is created and distributed at such a fast pace.
Whilst the fundamentals might be the same, the way in which a subject is taught differs from teacher to teacher as they find smarter ways to develop systems that connect better with students.
Being able to share these findings with other teachers around the world is what the Teachers Pay Teachers platform helps to deliver while you get paid to do so at the same time.
Sign up is very quick and you can start sharing your material in a matter of minutes.
TpT is a community of millions of teachers who have come together to share and sell their work, insights and inspiration with one another.
By March 2014 the site had attracted a massive number of registered users of some 8,000,000 teachers and over 3,000,000 original teaching resources.
If you have created a lot of teaching material over the years, or if you have teacher aid ideas you want to develop, then this could be a way to get paid for your hard work.
And because your material is in digital form, it can be sold over and over again, which potentially could create a passive income for you.
If you are looking for other ways to make money then, you can also check out the step-by-step training that helps me earn over $10,000+ per month working from home.
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What is Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT)
Paul Edelman who is a public, New York City based, school teacher, founded Teachers Pay Teachers, because he saw a difference in his students learning when he incorporated other educators ideas into his teaching methods.
TeachersPayTeachers was founded in April 2006 and then acquired by Scholastic Inc. in December the same year. In March 2009 Edelman purchased the website back and once again made it a private business.
It is an online marketplace where anyone can share and sell teacher aids and resources most aimed at the professional teaching community.
If you have created teacher aids in the past that have worked well in a classroom environment then this could be a great way for you to earn some extra cash by making it available to others around the world.
The beauty of this system is that 1) the interested parties are part of the community, so it is what they are looking for and 2) you potentially get paid over and over again for the same resource, making this a passive way to potentially earn income.
TeacherPayTeacher is available worldwide and the majority of teaching materials available is in the English language, however, you can also sell aids in different languages also.
What is also great about TeachsPayTeachers is that you can scale your income if you want or just get the odd one or two sales every now and again.
To scale, all you have to do is create and sell more products. Obviously, the concept is much easier said than done, but this business model does have potential to scale into a million dollar business.
Who uses Teachers Pay Teachers?
There are primarily two groups of people who use Teacher Pay Teachers.
One group are teachers who are looking for teacher aid resources to make their students learning experience better for them, and the second, are the product creators, who think up new and innovative ways to make teacher aid products for teachers.
I guess, there is also a third group, now that I come to think of it. Since the products sold in TpT is available to everyone, another user would be parents who want to invest in their child’s education using teaching resources that may cater to their child’s individual needs.
How Do You Make Money With Teachers Pay Teachers
In it’s simplest form, you make money selling your own digital teaching resources.
As you can imagine, some products sell better than others depending on the need in the marketplace and available products to satisfy that need. So looking for gaps in the marketplace could be a strategy to create products, but in essence, I feel that the more quality products you produce over time, the more potential you create for yourself to earn an income.
From what I have seen, to maximize the sale of your products you can sell them as individual items or even bundle up top selling items, thereby creating a new resource without creating a new product.
You could also do the same for products that are not selling well, thereby making them a more attractive proposition for potential buyers.
As you can imagine, there are unlimited combinations to be had here.
Is Teachers Pay Teachers Legit?
For people who are wondering if you can make a substantial amount of money with TpT, according to TpT, their top seller is earning over $2 million dollars a year. There are over 150 people earning over $50,000 a year and thousands of other users earning over $200 each month.
If I look at the two most recent users who have gained millionaire status according to TpT, I see that both have over 400 products available.
The Moffat Girls – 584 products
Rachel Lynette – 469 products
They both have a following within the TpT community of over 80,000 followers, and both have an average user rating of 4.0
Obviously, there are other factors that contribute to the millionaire status, but one thing’s clear, its a numbers game.
So there’s certainly a lot of income potential to be had from TpT.
You are paid via Paypal on a monthly basis which is usually paid out no later than the 21st of the month.
Expenses such as advertising costs are deducted from your monthly payout.
More than 70% of teachers in the US, Canada and Australia are currently using the service.
Here are the two different membership levels available:-
Basic Seller (FREE)
This membership level allows you to earn 55% on all sales. There is a $0.30 transaction fee per resource.
You can upload as much data as you want, however there is a maximum file size limit for basic sellers of 200MB, so if your resources exceed this limit then you would be better off using the premium membership.
Premium Seller ($59.95 per year)
This membership level gives you 80% on all of your sales. There is a $0.15 transaction fee per resource totaling less than $3).
Like the FREE membership you have unlimited uploads, but the file size limit is 1GB as opposed to 200mb. You have access to upload videos and access to Premium features and marketing tools.
What I Liked about Teachers Pay Teachers
- One of the great things about TpT is that you can set your own prices. Having said that, the value one places on a product, is largely dictated by the price the TpT marketplace is willing to pay for similar products. So, in a way, the price is pretty much set by the marketplace, but you do have the choice of pricing it below market value or even above depending on your marketing strategy.
- I also like the fact that you can create as many products as you like and upload them for sale. In fact, a recent TpT millionaire has uploaded close to 500 products.
- One of the very first rules on online marketing is being able to identify a group of people who are hungry for what you have to offer. Then being able to put that offer in front of them in the most cost effective way will make you money. So I love the fact that TpT has created such an environment especially catering to teachers.
- We all know that teachers often put in a lot more time and effort than they get paid for. TpT allows them to get paid for all of the resources they have created outside the classroom.
- You don’t have to be a teacher to sell items on TpT. Some of the best teaching aids have been created by parents who, out of desperation, engineered creative learning material for their child.
What I Didn’t Like about Teachers Pay Teachers
- You don’t have to be a teacher to sell products on TpT. I know I mentioned this as being something I liked about TpT, but it is also a negative in that, just about anyone can sell products on TpT. If you’re an online marketer then it is pretty easy to connect the dots and simply copy someones material, make a few changes to the brand etc, and market the resource as your own. This will open you up to your account being terminated with TpT as a minimum or even a lawsuit. Some marketers take silly chances like this and you will find this in just about any marketplace.
Do I Recommend Teachers Pay Teachers
So do I recommend Teachers Pay Teachers as a way to make money as a side hustle o even as a full-time job? I would have to say yes, if creating teacher aids is something you could see yourself doing.
Whilst, the benefits are there in terms of a legitimate way to make money, you will obviously need training outside of TpT to develop products, market products and get more people to view the products you offer.
Initially, you can start off as a free member and start selling some material that you may have already created and see how that goes. Granted you won’t get paid the full 80% of what you could earn as a premium member, but just earning under half the full price (45%) would be a good way for you to test the waters.
Once you have proven the system works, however small the sale might be, you can then decide to upgrade your membership to premium and benefit from a higher commission and the other features available to premium members.
Frank
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