Setting Realistic Goals for Your TPT Business

Setting goals is important any time of the year. Goals are important not just in business, but in everything we do! We’re going to be talking about setting realistic goals for your TPT business, why setting goals for your TPT store is so important, and how you can use a special five-part formula for your business.

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Why Set Realistic Goals?

Setting goals are extremely important, but I think goals are important any time of the year. You don’t have to wait until January to start setting new goals!

One big thing you want to think about is if you can be more realistic with your goals.

I love going to Chick-fil-A. If I were to just say, I’m going to cut fast food, completely cold turkey, that would be very unrealistic, but I could possibly limit myself to maybe once a month going or twice a month. That would definitely be a little more doable!

When it comes to your TPT store, setting realistic goals is just as important if you want to continue to grow your store.

As TPT sellers, it’s just not a good strategy to start uploading a bunch of resources and add colors and product covers with no rhyme or reason of what you’re doing.

You want to have some type of strategy and plan, but more importantly, setting realistic goals can help drive the needle in your teacher business. And of course it can result in a more profitable and enjoyable experience.

Goals are important, pretty much in every aspect of your business, from product creation, to marketing, to the revenue you want to generate being purposeful in what you’re truly wanting to accomplish.

Using the SMART Formula to Set Goals

To start setting goals for yourself and for your TPT store, there’s a formula you can use.
If you’re a teacher it’s called using a SMART goal (and you might’ve done this with your students)! This is used when talking about growth mindset; students create a SMART goal for reading or math or writing.

I want to go over it and give you an example of how you can utilize it for TPT.

• Specific

Your goal needs to be very defined so that you know exactly when the goal has been met. You want to be as clear as possible and narrow it down as much as you can to gain understanding of exactly what you need to do to achieve.

This can be answering questions such as who, what, when, where and why.

• Measurable

How will you know you’re making progress towards reaching your goal along the way? You should be able to answer questions such as how much or how many, and it will help track your progress,  help you reevaluate it, and allows you to take some corrective action if necessary.

• Attainable

Before you start taking action toward meeting your goal, you must determine if there are any added steps you might need to take to prepare yourself. If you create unachievable goals, it can end up being frustrating because you won’t end up successful. You want your goals to be not too easy or too hard.

• Relevant

Your goals should be in line with what your vision is in the long term. If you set a goal that doesn’t bring you closer to reaching your long-term goal when you achieve it, you might have wasted your time and energy.

You want to think about why your goals are important and how you could benefit from it once it’s achieved. Does it take you closer to some other bigger goal that you have for yourself?

• Time Bound

You should have some type of deadline to reach your goals. This will help you move forward with making progress in order to achieve your goal.

A SMART Goal Example

Here’s an example of a SMART goal I have for my own TPT business!

My goal is that I want to reach 200 products in my TPT store. By the end of December 2022, I will do this by adding new resources and bundling existing resources to my store based on the best selling resources my ideal teacher customer wants and needs.

If you look closely, I’ve got the five parts of the formula in mind.

S: I want my TPT store to get to 200 products by adding new resources and bundling existing resources. That’s very specific!

M: It can be measured throughout the year by planning and tracking the number of resources I upload each.

A: This is an attainable goal that can be adjusted depending on the month of year. Thinking about the summer, I would probably have more time to create new products.

R: It’s relevant because I have more quality resources that are added that are similar to best-selling resources. It’s getting me closer to getting more sales in my TPT store because I’m creating items for my ideal teacher customer.

T: The deadline for the goal is the end of 2022.  I’ve got plenty of time and flexibility to reach this goal.

Creative Action Tip

I want you to determine one thing that you want to improve in your own TPT store, whether it is branding or through product creation, product listings, or marketing (just as a few suggestions). Think about one thing you want to improve this year.
Next, create a SMART goal using the five different parts (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound) to accomplish something for the year.

When you really think about what you want to improve, create that realistic SMART goal, and write it down,  you’ll be reaching those goals in no time!