Episode 16: Teacherpreneur Struggles: Tips for When You Miss the Mark on Your Goals

Summary: <p><em>Being a </em>teacherpreneur<em> comes with challenges. Do you ever struggle with feeling like a failure because you failed to meet the goals you set for yourself? Or, maybe your sales have dropped from this time last year? If so, you aren’t alone. Join us in our Facebook group <a href="http://www.growwithusmastermind.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.growwithusmastermind.com</a>  after checking out this podcast. It’s a great place to get support and advice when you are struggling to build your Teacher Pay Teachers businesses.</em></p> <p>We’ll be honest. We want you all to think that we are awesome sellers and that things always go our way. But, that’s just not true. We’ve had failures and flops. We have times when our sales drop. It happens to the best of us. And, we have found that it really helps us to talk to each other during these times. It’s a good reminder that we aren’t alone and it isn’t just happening to us, but it’s something that everyone experiences from time to time.</p> <p>We thought if this is something that we struggle with at times there’s a good chance you do as well. So, we are addressing it in our podcast. We don’t want you to feel alone.</p> <h2>Rough times happen to everyone</h2> <p>We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make sure that our numbers are always increasing. And, at times we experience an intense feeling of failure when that doesn’t happen. It can be frustrating because sometimes it seems like people online are saying things like, “My sales are always up. If your sales are down just run a Facebook ad.” But, that’s not always the way it works. Honestly, that USUALLY isn’t the way it works.</p> <p>Sometimes we just need to give ourselves a break. Life happens, babies are born, the holidays come along, and all sorts of other things that steal our time and attention away from our business. When the twins were born things slowed down for April. They were born in June and when the following January rolled around there was a drop in sales that really made her nervous. She had to sit down and reevaluate things.</p> <p>It’s important to remember that dips don’t always happen immediately. It can take months for changes to show. Something you are doing right now or not doing right now could be the reason your sales go up or down six months from now. That’s why it’s all about being consistent in what you are doing to keep moving forward.</p> <h2>You need to build the momentum</h2> <p>Everything in this business needs momentum. So, if sales drop you may decide to master Facebook sales as a way to increase your sales. But, if you quit after one week of trying you will not see an improvement. People do this a lot and then get frustrated that they aren’t seeing improvement. But, there just is no quick fix and advertising isn’t always the answer.</p> <p>When April experienced this dip she had to do a lot of thinking about what to do in order to bring sales back up. She focused on getting Tailwind up and back in order, making sure her Pins were getting out there, and looking at what products were doing well and which ones weren’t. She made a decision to not let it go any longer and start addressing the areas that needed attention. After a few months sales started coming back.</p> <p>I think one of the most important things to remember when we see a dip in sales is to focus on the things that we can control. This includes things like using Tailwind, posting consistently, and writing blog posts.</p> <h2>Not meeting your goals</h2> <p>Sometimes the stress comes from seeing a dip in your sales and other times it comes from not reaching a goal you set. Your business might even be growing still, just not by the numbers that you expected and planned for. This can be frustrating and even a little scary. We understand that because both April and I </p>