Ever heard of a teacher version of Etsy?

April Smith makes a full time income from her side hustle selling digital downloads on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace for teachers to buy and sell lesson plans. She talks to us about her side hustle journey, how she got started and how she designs and markets her lesson plans.

You'll love that story.

We also chat about...

Making the decision to leave a teaching job
April's financial journey from debt to financial freedom
How she got started selling lesson plans
The types of lesson plans she sells
How she decides what to invest back into the business
Marketing and sales strategies
Juggling twins and travel

Enjoy this chat with April, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!

Show notes and links from today's episode

Website: April Smith
Podcast: Grow with Angie and April
April on Instagram
Teachers Pay Teachers
Gold City Ventures
Personal Capital
Adobe Illustrator
Canva
Article: Hacking My Engagement Ring with Moissanite

Key takeaways from our chat with April
1 - Sometimes it's better to have more money than a fancy college degree
April went to a community college for 2 years and then a state university to finish her degree. Not once has anyone asked where she spent the first two years. Her husband saved for an online masters degree and got a certification from an affordable accredited online school. J and April both agree that a degree is more of a stepping stone, and that where you get it most times doesn't really matter.
2 - Growing a side hustle to a full time income
April started selling digital products 7 years ago, when she started having ideas for lesson plans that she wanted to share with others. She started selling product based learning lesson plans which took off, and put several worksheets and plans into a bundle to sell to other teachers. After several years she started making a full time income from her side hustle, which she initially used to pay off student loan debt and now to reach financial freedom. Her success means she has much more flexibility and can spend more time with her children.
3 - Strategies to make your product stand out
Having a good copy and marketing strategy is essential to getting your product out there. April explains the importance of branding and learning about colours and copy. She keeps her design minimalist and clean, and makes sure to use the right keywords and do SEO. She puts herself in her audiences' shoes to be able to communicate effectively what her digital product does. She also uses Pinterest and Instagram, and attributes her large amount of sales to having a lot of content on social media.
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