Hey, friends! I am so glad you clicked on the blog today. I’ve been wanting to write about a day in my life as an online Teachers Pay Teachers seller for a while. It’s such a fun and crazy life right now, and I want to give you a little glimpse into how I do it all with a toddler in tow.
How did I get started? I started selling on TPT in 2022 when I took a break from the classroom (covid-teaching, anyone?). I started by listing the math activities I had made for my classroom of 1st grade students. Selling on Teachers Pay Teachers became an amazing creative outlet for me and it only took a few months to see my very first month with over $1,000 in profit. CRAZY. I learned how to research product ideas and find products I could rank for. Want to learn how to do this, too? Check out my post about my TPT seller course, Camp Create, here.
Day in the Life! Selling Online as a Stay-at-Home-Mom
I had my son in the summer of 2024. Now he’s getting ready to turn 2, and we stay BUSY! Around his first birthday, he was taking two naps a day, and I was loving the routine we were in. I would work on business things (making products, listing products, working on the blog, sending emails, etc.) during his morning nap, and I would rest and relax during his afternoon nap! Now he goes down for his only nap after lunch. Let’s talk about that new routine!
I honestly had a really hard time transitioning to his single nap and trying to balance rest and work. So here’s what a normal morning looks like for us right now:
- 7:00-8:00: Wake up and make breakfast
- 8:00-9:00: A few chores and get dressed for the day
- 9:00-10:00: Play! We’ll play with toys, go outside, read books, do a Nugget build, and other fun things!
- 10:00-11:30: Errands, more outside play, playdates, or stroller walk
- 11:30-12:30: Lunch prep, eat, clean up
- 12:30-1:00: Books and wind-down play (nothing super overstimulating at this point in the day)
- 1:00-3:30: Naptime for baby! Rest and work for mama!
When my son goes down for his nap, I’ve been trying to balance rest and work. Today I started my downtime with 30 minutes of Pilates (anyone trying out Pilates by Izzy? OUCH). Then I reheated a cup of coffee and got on my laptop to answer some emails and finish this blog post. If I have time, I’ll start working on a new product for my TPT store or I’ll update an old product. My weekly goal right now is 1 blog post, 1-2 new products, and 1 email sent out to subscribers. I’ve been able to fit all that into about 1 hour of work a day.
Afternoons are full of playing and cooking in our house! My husband comes home from work not too long after our son wakes up from his nap and his help is such a blessing! We try to use our evenings for family time, so I’m really only working on business things during naptime. I know I’ll have to work on a new schedule for these things and my son’s naptimes get shorter over time.
I have always prioritized fitting my business around my life instead of fitting my life around my business.
Have you thought about starting an online teacher business?
I can’t tell you enough about how blessed I’ve been as a teachers pay teachers seller. I wrote this blog post to show you how I’m running my online business with about an hour of time a day. And to be honest, some days I definitely don’t even hit an hour of work time.
Are you curious about selling on TPT? I actually wrote an eBook you can check out! This FREE eBook has so much information about selling on Teachers Pay Teachers. Grab it here!
Interested in checking out my teacher seller course, Camp Create? It’s only $35 for over 7 hours of tutorials, templates, clipart, fonts, planner, and more! I’ll help you get started and all set up.
