Reflecting on 2021 and TpT Goal Setting for 2022 Grow with Angie and April: A Podcast for Teacherpreneurs

In this episode, Angie and April are reflecting on 2021 and setting goals for 2022. They’re going to dive into the things they want to do more and what surprising thing they’re letting go of in the new year. Join in on the conversation in the mastermind group at www.growwithusmastermind.com.



This year was a blur! It flew by. We felt like last year was one of the longest years of our lives and we’re thankful that this year was different. However, that also meant things were different in our TpT store and businesses as well. We’re sharing what business looked like in 2021 and what we’re planning for 2022.



Reflecting on 2021 in our TpT business



I don’t usually set specific monetary goals for my TpT store. I typically see a 20-30% increase in sales from year to year but because of how unique 2020 was, I really just wanted to hit the same earnings from last year.



Both April and I created a lot of new resources when everything went digital in March 2020. Teachers needed those resources. That ended up really helping with sales so we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to beat those numbers this year.



It made it really difficult to compare product to product from last year to this year, but overall, April had a 35% increase and I had a 50% increase from last year. There are a few things we attribute this to.



Hiring help



April and I have both hired people that are helping us in our TpT stores. From 2019 to this year, I experienced an 80% increase. I was doing everything on my own in 2019. April had a similar experience. From the same time period, she had a 70% increase in her business. She has added over 200 products to her store since the beginning of the pandemic and was able to do so because she has people working in her business with her.



Having help in my business allows me to focus on the things that are in my zone. I’m slow at creating new products. When I was still teaching and running my TpT store, I had to make time to do it but now that I can hire someone else to, it makes the process easier and faster. It allows me to focus on other areas and planning while hiring someone else to help implement my ideas and strategy.



This isn’t something we were able to do right away but this also allowed us to gain experience and knowledge on what sells in our stores. If we were just started out from scratch and hired help, we wouldn’t be as successful because we wouldn’t know the strategy or have the templates we’ve created over the years.



There’s only so much you’re able to do yourself and having people on your team helps.



Including more with products



We have learned over the years that sales increase when you include additional pieces with resources. When I first started my store, I would create a resource and that would be all the teachers would get when they bought it. Since then, we’ve learned that it helps to include things like teacher manuals, printables, and suggestions on how they can use the resource in their classroom. This makes life easier for them which increases our sales.



If you’re just starting out or not already doing this in your TpT store, this is a great place to start in growing your business.



Consistent marketing



I largely credit my increase in sales with my effort to market my products consistently. I started having weekly blog posts, regular social media posts and engaging my email list regularly. Years ago I thought I was doing good without blogging so didn’t think it was important, but I started to wonder if I was doing good without blogging, what could I do in sales if I was blogging.



If you can identify what products are popular and use that information in your m