TPT Seller Challenge, Week 2: Dare to Dream

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm participating in the TPT Seller Challenge hosted by four awesome ladies: Third in Hollywood, Sparkling in Second, The Peppy Zesty Teacherista, and Teach Create Motivate.  I am seriously loving this challenge!

My first goal is to grow my blog and my TPT store.  I've been a seller for about 3 years.  I was super into it my first or two, but after I had my second baby, I slacked off.  My kids are 2 1/2 and 16 months, and they keep me busy, busy, busy, and tired, tired, tired!  I have so many ideas, but I just haven't been finding the time or energy to create new things.  My new year's resolution was to start blogging, so I started this little blog a few days ago.  I'm really excited to get started.  I'm nervous about committing myself to a blog, but I think I can do it.  I have a hard time with comparing myself to others.  I see all of these seriously amazing blogs and sellers, and I wish I could do what they do.  In reality, I have to make this work for my family and me. So, I'm going to focus on revamping some of my older products and marketing what I already have.  My goal is to spend about an hour a day working on my blog and TPT.  That seems reasonable, right?  I can't spend an entire evening, but I think an hour is totally doable.

My second goal is to work on our house.  We bought our house in September 2014, and I LOVE it!  My husband bought a little row home before we were married, and we had definitely outgrown it.  We still own that house and rent it out.  I am in love with our new house, because it's completely ours.  We bought it as a family, and I feel so much more ownership than I did with our other house.  That being said, it needs a lot of work.  The old owners maintained it well, but they did not update anything.  Let's just say peach, peach, peach, and mauve.  Yikes!  They were really into pastels and brassy fixtures.  Not my style, at all.  We've done some painting and other small projects, but it's expensive.  We have so many things that we'd like to do- put up a fence, replace the carpets, exchange linoleum for hard word, update the kitchen, you get the picture.  These are the big things, I also need to decorate this place.  It's still pretty bare.  My husband bans me from Target and Home Goods.  I just can't help myself in those fun places.  TPT is a way for me to make these things happen without putting a major dent in our family budget.  May's earnings are refinishing our deck, which is going to be a surprise for my husband.  My dad and I are going to refinish with he's at the Model Schools Conference in Atlanta next week.  I'm so excited to surprise him!  I think that earns me some major super-wife status.

My third goal is to build my wardrobe.  I. love. to. shop.  It is really my favorite thing to do.  I absolutely love clothes and style.  I am hoping to do a weekly teacher style post on my blog.  I am totally a shopper with a budget, but I am at the point where I want to start adding some higher quality pieces to my wardrobe.  Although I love a great bargain, I hate things that look cheap.  I want clothes and shoes that are going to last.  I love Target just as much as the next teacher, but the stuff doesn't last.  My goal is to put part of my monthly earnings toward certain items until I save enough to buy them.  On my list- Tory Burch Reva flats, Kate Spade Metro watch, and a good pair of jeans.  I think that over time, this will help me to build a wardrobe that is cohesive, high quality, mature, and stylish.  It's important to me to look nice, although most days during the summer I can be found in shorts and a t-shirt.  I hope to be able to shop and build my wardrobe without feeling guilty about it.  I always, always feel guilty when I buy something for myself.  I need to get over that. 

Anyway, those a few of my goals related to being a blogger and a seller.  Of course, I hope to a little more patient, a little skinnier, and to make delicious, nutritious meals every day that my family will actually eat, but let's get real.  I'm going with something a bit more attainable.

What about you?  What are your goals?  I can't wait to check out some of the others linked up to the Seller's Challenge!

Thanks for the lovely bloggers above for hosting such a fun challenge!  Join the party!  Link yourself up over at Third in Hollywood.
 

Thanks for popping by!
~Lauren

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Let's Get Blogging!

This little blog is just a baby, barely a few days old.  Starting a blog was actually my resolution for 2015, and here I am, just getting around to it.  I figured that I had the whole year to actually make it happen, so I'm still okay.  I wanted to get it up and running earlier, but I blame the lack of motivation to being totally sleep deprived.  My youngest is a booger of a sleeper...BUT! he's getting better.  He's down to getting up only once a night, compared to five or six times a night (!!!).  The bags under my eyes are less noticeable than they were in February or March, and I have a boatload more energy.  

Doesn't summer vacation make all things seem possible?  I feel like I have all the time in the world to make things happen. In reality, I don't.  My days are flying by.  My goal is to devote at least an hour each day to blogging and building my TPT store.   Last week, I had the opportunity to meet with an awesome group of other Pennsylvania sellers and bloggers.  It was so inspiring!  They really opened my eyes to the power of marketing and selling your brand, not just products.  I left our long lunch feeling like I was ready to dive in, but I also felt totally overwhelmed.  I really want to devote more of myself to my store and my blog, because it really will benefit my family.  It already has.  However, above all else, I am a mama and a wife, and those roles will always take precedence.  So, I may not do it all, and I may not ever be a top seller, but I want this to work for me.  It's so hard not to compare myself others, but I'm trying very hard to just stay focused on what works for my family and me.  I'm really excited to finally be blogging.  I think it's going to be awesome, and I can't wait to connect with other fabulous teachers and bloggers.  In August, Lindsey Paull is going to be giving my blog a major facelift.  I cannot wait! 

How did you get started blogging?  If you're a new blogger, what gave you the little push to start?

Thanks for popping by!
~Lauren

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Makeover Madness!

First post on the new blog!

 

Like so many other fabulous bloggers and sellers, I decided to participate in the Teachers Pay Teachers Seller Challenge being hosted by Sparkling in Second, Peppy Zesty Teacherista, Teach Create Motivate, and Third in Hollywood.  I love this, because it's motivating me to cross off some items that are already on my to-do.

This week's challenge was Makeover Madness.  I chose to makeover one of my top selling products, Reading Strategies 101: Resources for Parents.  I love this product!  I use it every year, and my colleagues use it, too.  It's a set of one page handouts that explain seven common reading strategies- Question, Inferring, Synthesizing, Making Connections, Predicting, Visualizing, and Determining Importance.  It also includes an introductory parent letter.

I always include the parent resources in my newsletter, and I have them linked on my class webpage for parents.  We all know the importance of home-school communication, and this is one way for parents to feel informed about what students are learning.  How often do we hear, "Well, this isn't the way I learned to read/multiply/write/etc.?  My resources explain the strategy, gives tips for helping with the strategy, provides questions or question stems, and includes a list of book suggestions for practicing each strategy.  I've had great feedback from my students' parents regarding these information sheets.  They are perfect for when you're introducing the strategies during the first half of the year.  I love them, and I hope you will, too!

Thanks for stopping!
~Lauren

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