Teacherpreneurs, Raise Your Hand
Teacherpreneurs, Raise Your Hand
170: Print-on-Demand Success: A Conversation with Krystal Griffith
What if teachers could unlock an additional stream of income that not only fuels their creativity but also boosts their financial stability? Join us as we chat with Krystal Griffith, who made the leap from special education teacher to successful print-on-demand entrepreneur. Krystal shares her journey, the inspiration behind her course, and practical insights into the world of print-on-demand. This episode is packed with actionable advice for teacherpreneurs looking to explore new and profitable avenues.
Ever wondered how SEO research can make or break your product's success on Amazon? Dive into our discussion where Krystal and I share personal stories about the highs and lows of product launches. Learn the importance of thorough SEO research and discover the software tools that can save you time and effort. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting out, you’ll gain valuable tips to maximize your product's potential and stay competitive.
Balancing family life, transitioning from fiction writing to educational resources, and leveraging content across multiple platforms—these are just a few of the topics we cover in our conversation. Krystal opens up about the challenges and rewards of diversifying income streams within the education sector. We also touch on the transformative impact of creative endeavors and the importance of community support. Listen in for a heartfelt and informative discussion that underscores the potential for personal and professional growth through creative pursuits.
Links:
3 Steps to Unlock Your Digital Course Idea Using AI
Links Mentioned in the Show:
Print on Demand Course
Welcome to Teachapreneurs. Raise your Hand. Episode 170, unlocking Print-on-Demand Profits a conversation with Crystal Griffith. I'm excited to have Crystal here today talking to us about print-on-demand, which I know is a topic that many people are interested in. I also want her to share about that so that you get a chance to learn if this is a possibility for you, because I definitely think it's a very creative alternative source of income and I'm excited about it myself. But I also want Crystal to talk a little bit about why she decided to create a course and offer it to teacherpreneurs. So hope you stick around Well.
Speaker 2:Webster's Dictionary defines the term as Um. Okay, it's not yet a word in the dictionary, but hear you me, it will be one day. In a nutshell, a teacherpreneur is both a teacher and a business person, and we're here to help you be better at both. So, without further ado, from One Tired Teacher and Trina Debery, teaching and Learning, here's your host, trina Debery. Teaching and Learning. Here's your host, trina Debery.
Speaker 1:Hey, so I am really excited about this interview today, so I know you're going to love it. We talk a lot about her course, print on demand, which is incredible, and the options of print on demand and as another alternative stream of income. We also talk about like why she created a course and like what that looks like, and so I'm excited. And then we end up like you know, we do our lightning round, so stick around for that. But then we kind of like you know, we do our lightning brown, so stick around for that. But then we kind of like go off and we're like having this conversation as and we're still on the podcast, so, um, so you get a little glimpse into that. And then I'm like, oh, we need to wrap this up. So, um, yeah, I just wanted to warn you about that, but I I had such a great time talking to Crystal. I know you're just gonna love her, but I wanted to let you know as a something that is really cool that Amy Porterfield just came out with and it is and this is, if you're thinking about creating a course yourself and you're like, you know what I've gotten success. I find that it's a repeatable success and I am really excited and I know a lot, or I've helped someone else and now I want to create a course. I want to add another source of revenue and course creation is on my radar DCA Digital Course Academy but with Amy Porterfield is coming around the bend, so I'm going to start talking about that, so you know. So, if you're looking forward to that and you want to join with me, I offer coaching, small group coaching, through the whole entire process. It is such an incredible experience with a group of people Every single year. I've had so much fun doing it so that that is coming around the corner. But in the meantime, if you're thinking, I don't even know what to create a course on.
Speaker 1:Amy has this really great guide called Three Steps to Unlock your Digital Course Idea Using AI. So you use AI to help you think of a course idea. I know you probably have a bunch of them brimming in your head, especially things that you've done well and you've done successfully and you've done repeatedly, and you're like I'm ready to share this with others. That's the beauty of Crystal. She has learned something that has been wonderful for her life, changing for her, and then she has been generous enough to share it with others, and that is a really cool thing. All right, let's get on with the show. And you can grab Amy's three steps to unlock your digital course idea using AI by going to trinadeveryteachingandlearningcom forward slash using AI. All right, let's get on with the show. So I'm so excited to have Crystal Griffith here today to talk to us about her course on print on demand. So welcome Crystal.
Speaker 3:Thank you and thanks for having me. I'm super excited to be here.
Speaker 1:I'm excited that you're here. You are currently like all the rave. So when I heard about you, it was in my mastermind and one of my mastermind members was like, oh my goodness, this is such a great idea. I just listened to the greatest session.
Speaker 1:It was at Misty Miller's conference and she's like, and she was going on and on and on and all of us were like you know, sometimes we kind of roll our eyes because you hear so many different, so many different courses. You got to try this, you got to do that. But she was like no, this is like something that we're already kind of doing, but it's like a new spin with some tweaks and things. And I'm like huh. And so it like piqued my interest. And and then I was like you know, you gotta. You know, everyone was just like, okay, we're going to do it. And then Carrie Tracy and I were like I think we're going to buy it now and then we're going to do it later. And so that was what we decided, and so we did that. And then I watched you at the teacher seller summit and I was like, oh no, I got to push up this timeframe. I'm like I was getting.
Speaker 3:I was like I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:I was so happy that I had the course, like while I was listening, I'm like I have the course and um, and I'm like, but I just got really excited. So just tell us a little bit, I'm way ahead of myself. Tell us a little bit about who you are and like how you came to this and like a little bit of your journey.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I was a special education teacher and I really wanted to find a way to stay home with my own kids, and so, in 2015, I started putting resources on TPT and it went pretty well. My husband was a full-time paramedic at the time and we definitely needed every single penny. So, while it was going well, I immediately had this like kind of panic thought of if I'm ever going to actually depend on this income, it's got to come from more than just one place. Also, I'm afraid of sales tax and having to drive traffic to my own site and all of these other pieces. So I was really looking for diversification.
Speaker 3:But I also had this really specific set of criteria that just came from knowing myself and like knowing, as a mom of three little kids, what I could and couldn't handle. And so I started writing fiction and it was going really well going really well and I realized that to be competitive in fiction, you had to publish fast and you had to be on top of SEO and you had to learn this crazy skill set, which I did not have. So I put in the work. I wrote a book a week for an entire year, which is a terrible idea.
Speaker 1:Yep, oh my gosh, don't recommend it to anyone.
Speaker 3:It was awful and great because I learned so much. And then I just had this moment where I thought, okay, what if I take this skill set of publishing using Amazon, kdp, publishing fiction and applied it to turning my teaching resources that I already have into workbooks and using the same KDP system? And what I found when I did that is this kind of beautiful wide open lane where people were doing it, but they weren't necessarily doing it, with all the research and all the SEO tools built in, and so the workbooks I was putting on there, which were doing okay on TPT, were just guy rocketing, and so I was like, okay, this is really something to pay attention to. So I kept doing that for a while and it kept going well. So I thought, oh, it's repeatable, it's not a fluke. Okay, good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is so. It's so exciting to think that there are other options. I think a lot of people, or at least for myself and I'm going backwards. I'm currently going backwards and even by the time this airs, which will be in August, hopefully I won't be still going backwards at the beginning, back to school. But I've been going backwards for a year and you know, I did have one year in my business where it dropped and that's when I had changed positions and I just and I like four years after the divorce, and I was like all this stuff going on in my life that I couldn't pay attention to what was happening on TPT, and so it kind of made sense. But then after that it was like steady growth, steady growth, up, up, up. But this last now we're going into the second year of like after the whole personalized search thing I've been going backwards and it's such a demoralizing feeling to be focused so much and working so hard and it not equating. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Oh, so, yeah, and it's scary. It's scary. It's hard to be creative when you're scared. Yes, at least for me, and so it really hinders the whole process because, like at its core, this is a creative and fun process. Teaching is right and making resources all of that. I like to try to do it from a place of creativity and if you're scared that, you're gonna like not be able to pay your bills. Yeah, it's so hard.
Speaker 1:Yes, especially when it's just you know, you're you relying on you, it's, you know it's a it's. It's a scary situation. So I have I do have multiple sources of income, thankfully, but the possibility of having something, that I get to be creative and I get to still do something that I love and and like want to do is really motivating to me. And also, you said something on at your session that I was like you said someone asked you if you had to have an email list and you're like, not really. I was like you said someone asked you if you had to have an email list and you're like, not really. And um, and then I was looking at some of the people that I know that have done this and I'm like, well, you don't have to have a preview and you, you don't have.
Speaker 1:It's like I don't know. I felt like. I felt like it was like oh, thank goodness. It was like it was the early days of TPT, when you felt like you could just create and you weren't this marketer and all this other. The zone of drudgery for me is like I'm like I don't want to work in this zone of drudgery all the time, so this feels like my zone of genius, and so that is really appealing to me. That's super exciting.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, well, I'm glad to hear that and I think that you're spot on. A lot of the things that Amazon has built in make it so easy for us. Like, even when you're running ads, you're not creating the graphic, you're not doing the targeting and you're not writing the copy.
Speaker 1:They're doing all of that for you. You said that too, and I was like, oh my goodness, because the copywriting is like one of the hardest things for me. For some reason I cannot, I don't know why, it's just hard for me. And so when you said that was another thing that I was like sold, sold, scooch this up, Like this has to be a priority.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they've asked me like oh, you know, who do you hire to do your ads? And I'm like oh, I'm not a numbers person. I you know, facebook ads are just a necessary evil to me and I do them for my email list. But I don't like them and I do these ads myself because I do them about three hours every 90 days and that's it, and it takes a while to get them there. But yeah, it's really really user-friendly and you know, of course, there's downsides to that too. Right, you have less control, you don't get to choose your preview. But it's also kind of amazing because they use all of their backend data to figure that stuff out on your behalf and from my experience, it's been really spot on.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and they're motivated to sell, so that you know that that going in, so it feels, I'm sure that feels comforting, and yeah, I just think there was something that you just said, excuse me. So you, you have this, like you have a lot less of those kinds of things that you have to worry about. Now I remember what I was going to say. All right, so, but the one thing, like one of the major skills, that is, the SEO work, like the research, has to come before, because the first thing I thought of when I heard this idea, I had this product that I created so long ago and it was this gratitude journal for kids and it was beautiful and I was like this is the best product ever. Everyone's going to love this.
Speaker 1:No one not really no one really did, and I did it with my kids and I was like I loved. We did it every day, we wrote in our gratitude journal every day and it was like a transformation in the classroom. So I was like this is so wonderful. Well, that's the first thing I thought of. I was like I could actually make my gratitude journal, you know, on Amazon. And then, when I did the research because you mentioned a software that we need to purchase, which is like oh my goodness, if we had this for TPT it is unbelievable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's not confusing?
Speaker 1:Yes, it is, it's fun. You're like, oh, I'm having fun searching on here. I sat down with another person in my mastermind who was like debating if she should join or not, and I'm like let's just play with the search tool.
Speaker 3:Oh, I love it, I love it yeah.
Speaker 1:And she's like cause, she's like I don't know if they're going to have, like it's going to have. You know what I? And I'm like let's just look at it and we did, and there was like ideas that were coming to her and she's like, oh, this is great and I'm like it is. I'm like I definitely, you know, I think you should get the course, so I think I think that is really exciting. So, but but when I was doing it, I'm like, oh, yeah, like if I made this, like it's such a, it's very, that gratitude journal for kids was a very competitive term and then there wasn't a lot of other like things and I'm like I, yeah, I'm not going to do very well if I'm, if I make this, which was, you know, that's disappointing, because I'm like, oh, my gratitude journal is never going to be all right, but at least I don't jump on the wrong, wrong track, which I have done in the past, like I have actually worked so hard on something and it's been a big block.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, we all have. We all have, and that's what I really love about it, too, is that if you have an idea, or if you're even thinking is this going to work for my age range or my niche, just look it up and find out before you spend one minute of your precious time creating it. And it feels so powerful, after years and years on TPT, of doing exactly that. You know, putting your heart and soul into something and then creating this big unit, only to find out at the end that, like, no one cares about you and you're like guys, it's really good, come on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really. No, it's a hard thing to accept. So I think this is exciting. All right, so where can people? Before you move on to some questions, I want to ask you specifically about your idea for, like, creating a course based on this. Where can people find more information? If they're like, okay, this is exciting, I'm excited. I need to know more. Where can they go? This is exciting.
Speaker 3:I'm excited. I need to know more. Where. Where can they go? I have a free Facebook group where we talk all things workbooks, and that is TPT to POD repurposing teaching resources into profitable workbooks.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And that is the best.
Speaker 1:I need the link so I can drop that in the show notes, so so people can find it. I will give you the link and I need to join that myself because I haven't, so okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, oh, I would love to have you in there. Yeah, there's about, I think, maybe 600 or so of us in there now, which is so exciting because we just started this in December.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Wow, yeah, yeah. That's so exciting. That's really exciting. I love to be a part of things like that and I love to watch exciting things for other people as well, so I love that. So we've got that group, and then is your course open. Is it evergreen?
Speaker 3:Yes, it's evergreen, so it is open all the time. It's step by step and I tried to make all of the videos 10 minutes or less, like just the facts in order. When we get to the ads there is one that's like 20, 25 minutes, but I still tried to make it as manageable as possible. So I yeah, I would love to so I, yeah, I would love to.
Speaker 1:yeah, I'll drop them with us. Yeah, I'll drop that link as well. So those are the two like the links I need from you and I'll drop them in the show notes so so people can find out more information and they can just kind of soak it up and decide if it's the right you know right thing for them. Okay, so when did you decide? I, like I know you said from the beginning that you're like I need to figure out multiple sources of income, tpt. I don't know if I'm going to be able to count on that just TPT, and if you've thought that I definitely have thought that in the past I'm like, oh nope, I'm going to be able to count on this. It's going to be, but it hasn't worked out that way or it's not working out that way at the moment. And when that happens, you're like, oh my goodness, but thankfully there have been other, there are other sources, and I decided that myself a while ago as well.
Speaker 1:And so what is the first thing like? The first thing that I did was create a course Like. That was my first like step in to a different direction and it led to so many other things that I would never have imagined. And even the podcast, this podcast, was a result of that course, because that podcasting course was actually not meant for teacherpreneurs, it was meant for teachers and it was meant to to allow teachers to like speak.
Speaker 1:I felt like I was silenced for so long in um and not being able to talk about the frustrations I had in education as well as like, so I felt silenced at school and I also felt silenced in my marriage. So I was like and I also felt silenced in my marriage. So I was like I need to be able to talk. I'm going to create a podcast. And then I'm like everyone must feel this way. They want to be able to share what's going on, and so they really are going to want a podcast.
Speaker 1:And then it like switched over to well, teacherpreneurs like why do we have to always blog? Why can't we podcast? And I was. I'm like all these people are podcasting in. This podcasting platform has grown so massively. And and then everyone was like no, I don't want to do that. I'm like I'm not even talking to you anymore. And so then I created this, this podcast, and it just it's like it led to so many relationships that I built with people and so many different things that I had never could have imagined. So I it really started, though, with creating a course. It really started with Amy Porterfield like taking DCA, and I'm like I felt like I got a marketing degree and I'm like, and everything just changed. So what was it for you that you were like okay, the first thing, the first thing you were going to do, is the is fiction writing correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's right. Before we go, I just want to tell you that thank goodness you did go that podcast route, because I have been such a fan of your podcast from the beginning and I've gained so much insight and you're such a natural at it. I think your ability to show up in a vulnerable way is crazy. Like that's your gift, like this is like you know how. When you look at some people and you're like, yes, that is what you're supposed to do in this life, I feel like, yes, your podcast is so. I feel like we're chatting every time. So you've been with me like doing dishes. You've been with me when, like, I had all three kids at home and trying to stay up late to work and I just so. Thank you for sharing that and I'm glad that it. I'm so glad that your journey took you this way, because I imagine there's like a million other people that are in my boat thinking like, boy, it was kind of an accident that she ended up here, but thank God she did, you know.
Speaker 1:Thank you, that is so sweet. I don't even know what to say to that. It's really sweet, I mean it's been.
Speaker 3:Really there've been like a couple people in the teacherpreneur space that have just like really been amazing and and kind of a light. You know, you and April Smith and and a lot of these other people who have just shown up for no reason and given, and it's made a big difference for me and, I'm sure, for many others. So I just wanted to tell you that.
Speaker 1:No, I really appreciate that. I do because, like we were talking before we started, you know when you start you feel like you're not talking to anyone. You're like I don't know if anyone's listening. Does this matter? Does this even matter? And I go, I wrestle with this every year, like you know, because I do this podcast in seasons and I'm like do I, should I keep going? Do people even care about this? So I really. No, I really appreciate that.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thank you, yeah, I think so. When I started yes, I started with fiction because I thought, well, I've always liked writing, I think I'm a good writer. I don't really know, no one's ever told me I am, but I just kind of have this feeling. And so when I started seeing income pretty quickly from that, I thought, okay, that was a lot faster than what it took me on TPT to get to that same dollar amount. I need to pay attention to this. So the pivot back.
Speaker 3:So when I think about diversifying, I'm always thinking in terms of kind of like systems and how manageable something is going to be. And I love the fiction writing, but it is a completely separate business, a completely separate email list, separate Facebook ads, separate website. And so I just thought, okay, what can I do within the umbrella of the brand I already built for Check In With Mrs G, because I had, you know, more than 100 products and I had a blog and I had, you know, just email. I had things going for it. And I thought, okay, what can I do? That's underneath that same wheelhouse, that I don't have to start from scratch. That would be more manageable.
Speaker 3:So that's kind of where that intersection happened in my mind Like, okay, can I repurpose something I already have? And now I've gotten it to where I create one file that would work for both Amazon and TPT and then, when I get to the very last day, I duplicate the file and I turn one of them into a workbook with a note to parents and reflection activities, and then the other one I turn into a TPT product with whole group activities and a lesson plan. So it only adds a day or two to my workflow, but it lets me post in both places.
Speaker 3:So that's kind of always in the back of my mind is like how is this going to be in the application, how is it going to be feasible?
Speaker 1:No, I think that's another thing that you said at the conference that I loved. I was like this makes so much sense and it doesn't make me feel like it's a whole nother thing, and so I love that aspect. And then, yeah, I just think that, that I think that why do my brain keeps stopping working. I keep forgetting what I was going to say. I need to write it down, I know. I just think that I think that's really really exciting and oh, that's what I was going to say.
Speaker 1:And when I was like in the classroom, I remember when I was making products for myself and for TPT, it was just the having that double duty thing that really motivated me, and I was like I'm going to make this the best lesson for myself, but I'm also going to make this the best lesson for others, and so so I felt more motivated by that than I did. Let's, I don't make a lot of math stuff. So when I was doing a math lesson, I'm like, eh, I'll just follow the book, because I knew I wasn't going to make it for other people. But when it was something I knew, it was like just having a multi-purpose thing just made it so much more exciting.
Speaker 3:It's like, okay, I have two chances, Like when I first did online, I have two chances to try to make this go. Yeah, I was listening yesterday. I I wasn't able to go to the round table discussion about diversifying your income and I was so bummed out because, you know, this is like what I feel the most passionate about.
Speaker 1:But I made promises to my kids that I couldn't break. I didn't do anything yesterday.
Speaker 3:So I mean.
Speaker 1:I did, but nothing that had to do with that yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So I was watching the playback. And person to person, they are going around and they're saying like, oh, I make my resources and I'm trying to put, I put them on Classful, then I put them on Made by Teacher and I'm like just like on the edge of my seat just yelling at my computer like no, put them as workbooks, you guys, there's so much money to be made Like ah like it's a different audience. It's so much bigger, you know.
Speaker 1:But I miss my chance because I wasn't live. Yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 3:That's yeah.
Speaker 1:I would have been going crazy. So I'm glad, yeah, that's funny. So yeah, no, it's okay. So then you, once you learned this skill, and then it was working for you, is that, when you were like I need to share this, like what, what prompted you to create the course?
Speaker 3:Well, I love went went that route because it's our passion, and so I've known, kind of the whole time since going full-time online business, that that's like a piece that was missing, and I think when you're a teacher it like comes out in weird ways. You know, I'm like talking to my neighbor and she's like, oh, I don't know what to do with my time and I'm like you should do TP2, you know, and she's like oh my gosh, yeah, like I really, I really love teaching.
Speaker 1:Is this a multi-level marketing scheme?
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and I'm like it comes out even when you don't want it to, and so I knew I wanted to get that back into my life. But I was really looking at again how I want to make sure I can show up and like serve people. If I'm going to commit to that, I don't want to do it and then be limited or come from a place of like stress and chaos. So I was like, okay, I can't do this until my youngest kiddo starts kindergarten. And so for me, that was in September. My son started kinder full time and I was like, okay, so I actually had this on my board for the longest time, like if this keeps working well, if it's repeatable, because that's the other thing like gosh, I want to really make sure this was going to work over and over and over again, before I just go around telling people how awesome it is.
Speaker 3:So yeah, now like 146 fiction books on Amazon and a dozen workbooks and it's all working. So I felt good for that. But I kind of put it on my calendar. I thought, okay, when my son goes to school I'm going to dive in. So he started school in September. I took DCA as soon as it opened and then I worked through the process of creating the course in DCA and met so many amazing people.
Speaker 3:That's where I met Carlin, who's been all over the conferences as well and we kind of worked together and she's been incredible and so supportive and just the community in DCA, I think, was so amazing. And so that really gave me the confidence you know, and one of the big things for DCA is like you really shouldn't launch until you have a list and I thought like okay, I have no list for this because, yeah, I have been kind of putting even TPT on the back burner to write all these books and so.
Speaker 2:I thought okay.
Speaker 3:I need to figure that out, you know. So I just started asking in Facebook groups hey, I'm making a course about this, can I share it? And I was terrified and I got so many yeses like, yeah, you want to share Great, awesome, go ahead. And. And it grew from there and when I launched, I think I had I want to do the first 10 strategy where you invite 10 people in to kind of work through the process with you.
Speaker 3:So, I just put a thing on my Facebook page that goes to no one and in the group that goes to no one, and I had 33 people and I was like oh, where did you come from? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Course validated. Yeah, oh, my goodness, it was amazing, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I kind of just from there was like okay, this is you know how sometimes you hear something and you're like I need to pay attention to that. That was like my moment of like okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is a, this is a viable option.
Speaker 3:This is a thing that people want.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, you're doing it. You're like you should be an example of, like one of Amy's star students.
Speaker 1:Oh because you seriously I, because you've done. You've done it exactly. You're like this is like a casebook example. You completely, or first of all, you were patient until you knew that you had the time and energy to put into it. You waited for your own success, you wanted to see if it was repeatable, all the things I'm like check, check, check. I can see Amy being like I'm serious because and then you like you put it out there just you know, kind of casually, and you have this many people to respond like yes, this is, this is the way that you create a course Like this is a you're a perfect example.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you it that, amy and her whole program was like mind blowing. It's like wow, yeah, it was amazing yeah.
Speaker 1:That's great. That's so great. Yeah, I love her. I love being a part of of DCA. I love, I love coaching people through it. Like that's my, like one of my favorite things that I that I've gotten to do, and it's it's like because you, I get so invested in these courses. I'm like I'm ready for these courses to come out and the people and I'm it's hard to let go of them. Like I'm like, all right, our time's up, go on, yeah.
Speaker 3:But it sent you out into the world?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so, yeah, but I to the world? Yeah, it's so, yeah, but I love no. I love that, so it it ended up being something that's, you know, helpful to other other teacherpreneurs.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh and the I would say, an unexpected like. Favorite part of this whole process is that when people show up oftentimes. Well, one, I thought it would be new TPTers, because in my mind it's so much faster to get traction.
Speaker 1:This way than it is on TPT, why?
Speaker 3:wouldn't new people show up. That's not who showed up. Who showed up is all these people that I've been like, admiring for years, and so that was terrifying, and they've been so generous and gracious with me as I like kind of learn how to do this and how to be a coach. But there's a lot of fear in the TBT community. There's a lot of anxiety and there's a lot of high highs and low lows, which I totally have so much empathy for, and I feel it too.
Speaker 3:So, seeing these people go from really a little bit resistant or a little skeptical in some cases and really data-driven, what are the numbers to like? Six weeks later, I'm getting these messages should I make a dinosaur coloring book? I think I'm going to write fiction, I'm going to do a maze book and it's so cool Like they're so excited and they're creative and it's fun and I'm like that has been such a gift to watch slash be a part of, because I feel like that's why we all came into this space to begin with.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're so right, you just nailed it. Yeah, powerhouse people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, these amazing women that are so smart, they've missed this part where they get to do their thing and be creative and do the thing and then it actually pay off. And so you have brought this. It's like bringing people back to life. I mean, I know for Erin Waters, who's in my mastermind, she, she's like I this is the first thing I've been excited about and you know, and it's like, yes, and that's, you know, when you've had people and I have dear like TPT friends that that are like have been around since the beginning, and this has been like, it's like having the rug pulled out from under you it really feels that way with sometimes with TPT, but to know that there's like another option, that is, and then for you to have like brought these people like back to life, that's very exciting. It's very exciting.
Speaker 3:It has been. So I feel like genuinely very honored to be in that room, like in that space with them, because I think like I'd be kidding myself if I didn't say, like they have like carved out this path Right, like I was not going to carve out a path for myself, I was going to stay in the classroom, I was not going to be home with my kids. You know, now my husband has gone from being a paramedic that works 12 or 14 hour shifts to working part-time for a hospital from home.
Speaker 1:Just four hours a day.
Speaker 3:So we've both gotten to just like pour into our kids, pour into our family and like it's because of those people right.
Speaker 1:Well, it's because of you too Like you have to give yourself some credit. It's because of you too. You, you, you forged a path, and so I think that, and then you've just you shared it with others, and that's that's a beautiful. You didn't just keep it to yourself, you've shared it with others, so it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, I feel so shocked shocked, to be honest, and just so excited about where this is gone in such a short time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's exciting, it's so exciting, thank you. Thank you for doing this. I want to do a lightning round, okay, is that? Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't want you to go yet for that. I mean it's silly, but it's fun Anyway, All right. So on a scale of one to 10, how good of a driver are you?
Speaker 3:Oh, like two, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:No, I'm not a great driver. I'm always, like so, shocked by people's answers. Okay, would you rather text or talk?
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm a talker.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Me too. Me too. I feel like the younger people are, the more they're like texting, definitely texting.
Speaker 3:I missed that generational cutoff. I think yeah.
Speaker 1:I definitely did so. I'm like I can remember having a phone with a cord that was like super long and I would just drag it around the house. So that's how old I am, okay, so at what age do you want to retire?
Speaker 3:I would like to retire parts of my business, but there are other parts I feel like I could do forever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love that answer actually. Um, no, I yeah. That makes me feel really hopeful because when I when I resigned, when I resigned the first time I pulled out my retirement, I took a huge gamble on myself and I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I, what have I done? But I I kept thinking, well, I could do this forever because I love it. But lately I have been feeling like, oh my gosh, I have to do this forever. And but this, what you have talked about today like, gives me a different hope. So I am excited, excited about that. All right, do you have any reoccurring dreams or nightmares?
Speaker 3:You know what? I'm not a great sleeper. It's one of the things I sacrificed for my business, and so my sleep is interrupted constantly. Even now that my kids are older, I'm working on healing that part of myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we definitely need sleep. It's really important.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you and I I've shared this before in my group in the years that I was um writing a book a week, I gained 70 pounds and I got fatty liver disease and you know, and like I mean I'm 40 now, right, so I was very young to have all these things happening, and so I really had to get myself back in a place where I could figure out balance, and I think sleep is like the last um card that I'm still trying to work through.
Speaker 1:You know you will, you definitely will. Oh, that's well, that's crazy. Um, what is your favorite day of the week?
Speaker 3:Oh, let's see, I love a Friday when the kids come home, because they know they're going to be home for two days, so we're all excited, and you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's fun. Yeah, I feel like that has changed. That has changed for me, like as life has gone on, like I used to feel that way too Friday or Saturday with my family, and then now it's like Monday. I'm like, yes, monday, because, yeah, well, I won't go into that All right. One last thing Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness, that's such a good question. Oh, when I was 18, I'm a millennial so I had this like massive pressure that I think, like most of us had, which is like you need to go to school immediately and get a degree immediately, and like take out whatever loans need to happen and also like don't deviate from that path. And so that was what I initially set out to do and I failed miserably because I was all over the place. I got my degree in San Francisco and then I moved to Las Vegas and was a wedding planner for several years and then I left from that job and went and started subbing at my mom's school where she was an administrator, and you know, I was just all over the place and at the time, every single one of those changes, I thought like oh, here you go again, Like you can't follow through, Like why can't you figure it out, you know?
Speaker 3:And now I look back and I'm like yes, yes, that good for you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yes, thank God, yeah, all those experiences and you were in the learning. You have to read the book Start. Have you read the book Start? No, actually, listen to the audio book because it's off. The author reads it and he's funny and he has like a good voice, so it's and it's fun to listen to.
Speaker 3:Okay he talks about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he talks about how we used to have this mindset of like in some and we do in us in society still, where it's like you're going in this linear path and then you're, you know, you're going to school, and then you're getting a job, and then you're, you know, having a family, then you're retiring, and then you're, you know, having a family, and then you're retiring and then you're dead.
Speaker 1:And it's like yeah, and this is your path. And and he's like no, he's like there, there are so many other paths and he talks about like the learning stage and the crop stage and the harvesting stage and like all these. It's very, it's a very good book.
Speaker 1:It will allow you to feel like it will allow you to celebrate what you just said, like all these things that I did was just different learning for me, and and like in your twenties, that's what you're supposed to do. So I think that's great. I think that's great.
Speaker 3:Thank you, and I think we have to read. It's called start he has two.
Speaker 1:He has a book called start and then he has one called finish, and I like both of them. But I'm re-listening to Start because I have a friend who's she's my best friend and her daughter is like struggling to figure out what she wants to do in college and she feels really pressured and rushed, yeah. And I'm like stop, stop pressuring her, let her figure it out. And I don't think my friend is pressuring her, but I just think she feels pressured. And so I'm like you got to listen to this book and so I started listening to it again because I'm like this is a good recommendation, right, because I haven't listened to it in so long. But I'm like I love this book. Yeah, it's so good.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's so good. Yes, I remember reading it was Elizabeth Gilbert, I can't remember if it. I think it might've been big magic Um one of her books and she talks about having this kind of dart that looked chaotic to other people and it was the first time in my life that I thought like wait a minute, am I doing a thing here? Like is this all leading to something? And you know, I pull from those experiences every time I write a book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. I think it's. Um, yeah, I just had to go through this with myself over the weekend with with my son, who is has not gone on a on a straight path, thank goodness, and like he's having. He's having a hard time right now and I'm like at first I felt like frustrated and I'm like we're spending money on school and other and then I'm like no, it doesn't have to go that way and he doesn't have to do it exactly like that. And if there's hiccups along the way, that's how it's been for him the whole time Like maybe there's a reason like that he needs to learn some more in this stage. So I like was able to calm down and like kind of let it go and think about it differently, you know, and so it's just, I don't know it's interesting from a parent perspective.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I haven't gotten to that phase yet because my oldest is nine, so I am it's an interesting.
Speaker 1:It's an interesting, yeah, yeah, because neither one of my kids went in the direction that I would have thought or would have. You know that I originally wanted for them, but they both have got. It's like I've just opened up to like I believe in them. I believe that they'll figure it out. It doesn't look like everybody else's kids and that's okay, because I think they're extraordinary human beings and they will figure it out. So I'm just going to be supportive and I'll let them. Let them.
Speaker 1:And it's but it's not easy, Like that's a hard this is like 2.0, right.
Speaker 3:It's one thing, to give yourself that grace in hindsight, another thing to give that to your kids in the moment. I mean that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:It's a hard. I'm not going to say it's easy. I have moments where I'm like, oh boy, so yeah, but they're great, so they're going to figure it out, yep. Anyway my daughter. She's 24 and my son is about to turn 20. He's I can't believe it. He's. Yeah, he's going to be 20 in August. Actually, by the time this comes out, he'll be 20.
Speaker 3:He's going to be 20 in August. Actually, by the time this comes out, he'll be 20.
Speaker 1:He'll be 20.
Speaker 3:I can't even oh gosh, it's scary to think. It probably feels like it was yesterday and it's scary to think of yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's been a very wild, crazy ride, especially with him, and it is, yeah, the emptiness thing. That's brutal. I'm going to tell you right now that thing, that's brutal. I'm going to tell you right now, that's a brutal experience, and it's like I had to increase my antidepressant because I was, like, so depressed I'm like this is terrible, like I don't know what I'm going to do, cause you like you don't.
Speaker 3:You're like my purpose. Where's my purpose? My purpose is gone, like it feels legitimately like it's never going to come. Well, it feels legitimately like it's never going to come, like it's like it really does, at least for me right now. You know, I got some, some things. So he's going to do kindergarten again and and I'm like, oh, luke's going to live with us till we're like 65. No, and you know what?
Speaker 1:That might feel hard right now, but that's probably the best decision, because we rush these kids in school and pressure them and they feel and they don't feel smart enough, good enough, like like repeating something or like getting a little bit more foundation than he doesn't go along struggling for the rest of his life. So I think, uh, yeah, I think that, as hard as it is, I just think, yeah, I think that's, I think that's good it is. I just think, yeah, I think that's good, especially when they're that little, because it's just a blip, it's like a tiny blip on their life.
Speaker 3:I'm hoping, yeah it's. You know, what else I didn't realize is like how little you know when you're parenting. You're just making it up, hoping for the best like everyone else. I mean, yeah, that's been a surprise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a journey, for sure. All right. I feel like this last part we could just keep to ourselves, but anyway, all right. So I'm just going to wrap it up and say thank you. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Trina, thank you for having me. This was awesome.
Speaker 1:And remember. Teacherpreneurs, I am proud to stand among you and, if you're feeling it, I'd love for you to rate, review and subscribe to the show so you don't miss a thing. You can also catch me on Facebook at Teacherpreneurs, raise your Hand, or on my website, trina Debery, teaching and Learning. Teacherpreneurs, raise your Hand. I'll catch you next time. Bye for now.