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TL;DR Section

Just need the quick updates? Gotchu.

• ​My friend Nina Clapperton just opened the doors to Profitable Part-Time Blogging!!​
  This is the ONLY blogging course/program I recommend. I recommend Jessie Festa's Travel Blog Prosperity membership if you're a travel blogger (or if you want to become one). But as far as courses? Nothing can beat the value Nina provides. She pours her whole heart and soul into it. And if you do the coaching, you can basically ask her anything at anytime using her platform. I've personally earned at least $35,000 more since learning from her. Her program is open through this Friday and after that, it won't be open again until April at the earliest (according to her last update for affiliates).
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• ​I'm speaking at Misty's Teacher Seller Growth Summit November November 6th-8th!​
  I'll be speaking on this exact topic in depth - how to choose what's next for you, and what to do about content, social media, email list building, etc. based on your personalized plan. You can choose the free option of course. But if you think you might even want to upgrade to the All-Access Pass, get that before the 28th!! It's only $37 right now vs. $77 the weekend of the event.
  ​
• ​I'm part of the Blogging is Not Dead Bundle - happening today through Saturday, October 31st.​
  I'm contributing my $37 10k TikTok Lab Course & Bundle, so definitely do this one!! ICYMI - I created a new account July 31st. I'm getting half a million views a month there ANDDD it's already lead to 450 email subscribers organically. Just passively finding me via TikTok and Substack.
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• ​New video on the Brittany Verlenich YouTube channel!​
  I compare the most popular alternatives to TeachersPayTeachers to consider what's worth your time traffic-wise.
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• ​New episode of the Social Media Magic podcast!​
  I'm really excited for you to dive in to this idea of Dark Socials. This is where we are, and it's where we're going!

Hi, Reader!

I'm sure you've heard the announcement from TeachersPayTeachers by now (if not, read their blog post here).

I swear I've gone through all of the stages of grief for this.

I'm soooo thankful that I was at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta for a travel gig with some friends when the news broke.

It was beautiful there, btw!! Highly recommend going someday if you can.

Now that I've been home for a couple of weeks, and since I've had time to think, I've spent some time thinking about what I'll personally do as a seller on TeachersPayTeachers, and what I can do to help many of you who are on there as well.

I swear I've waffled between everything!!

October 2nd?

I was ready to pull all of my resources from the platform and figure out something else. I feel like their values as a company don't align with my own anymore.

But once I had some time to cool off, financially, it makes the most sense for me to stay Exclusive (for now, anyway!!) while building up my escape hatch.

We just can't ignore the fact that TPT gets on average between 18 and 22 MILLION site visitors a month.

And not only do they have the lion's share of the traffic, they're also getting high intent traffic.

These teachers metaphorically have their credit cards in hand, ready to buy.

​I made this video walking you through where TPT is at, where I'm at, and how to hopefully help you make the decision if you haven't already.​

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Special Considerations

Almost a month later, there's still so much up in the air.

Before you commit to going Basic or Exclusive with TPT, these are some grey area questions that you'll wanna consider:

• Are you considered an "affiliate?"​
  If you're offering services as a freelancer or a virtual assistant, and you also have your own TPT store, you might need to reconsider who you're serving or the services you're offering. TPT could argue that if you have a store, and if you're making resources for other stores, then your store needs to match whatever your clients are doing.
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• Are you using AI at all?​
  Before you scroll past this, if you're even using the "Remove Background" feature in Canva? Then you're technically using AI. Using Grammarly for spelling or grammar? That's AI. It's even embedded into Google tools now (imho - incredible, btw! I've been using Google Gemini as an agent to create and update spreadsheet, pulling data from other places). They still have loads of clarification to do when it comes to their AI policy.
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  If you are using generative AI for things like product thumbnails or descriptions, you'll want to spend some time working on those covers. If for no other reason than the fact that many sellers will be happy to report you if they think it will reduce the competition (it's sadly bringing out the worst in us; I've seen teachers and sellers be so catty with each other on social media lately).
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• Do you have plans to work with schools and/or districts?​
  You can still offer PD and related services as an exclusive seller, sure. But if you plan to include educational resources in that, then you'd technically be breaking the exclusivity agreement. Things to think about for sure.
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• Are you already driving most of your traffic?​
  If most of the traffic and sales you're getting come from TPT as a platform, then of course it makes sense to stay Exclusive with them. But if you're driving most of the traffic at this point? And/or if you're running ads? Then it might make more sense to sell via a shop on another platform (Payhip, Gumroad, etc), another marketplace (Etsy, Made By Teachers, Classful, etc), or even on your own website.

More thoughts on all this in coming weeks BUT! I feel so strongly about all of this that I even made a brand new podcast, Beyond the Marketplace (currently on Spotify) and a new Instagram account to go with it. I'll be talking a LOT more about this stuff to help you.

3 episodes are already live and 7 more are in editing right now!!

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Perpetually Pivoting

Tbh, even before this news came out, I'd been having a bit of a brand identity crisis for the last year or so (for this brand specifically).

When I did an income audit a while back, and when I looked at who was actually hiring me and buying my offers, it hasn't primarily been TPT Sellers hiring me for a while now.

Which totally makes sense - how can most TPT sellers hire out a social media manager for $1,500+ a month when they're barely making $500 monthly themselves?!

So while I'm still doing some work as a freelancer for full-time coaches, consultants and creators, I really am creating more resources and ways to support my fellow sellers. 🫶🏻

And very soon, I'd like to get to the point where I have big brands paying for the coaching and support that many of ya'll need.

One thing you could do to help with that, actually!

If you haven't already, could you subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow the Social Media Magic podcast wherever you watch or listen?​

That will help a lot in the future when I'm pitching to brands.

Thanks so much!! 🙏🏻

And in case you're nosey (I know I am), this is what I'm planning and working on right now:

• I'm personally going exclusive on TPT... for now. ​
  But I'm actively working on building up all of my traffic sources and platforms to become completely independent of TPT. I have so many stores that I'm actually embarrassed to list them all
  ​
• I'm documenting what I'm doing with Math With Minis over on my Brittany Verlenich YouTube channel, along with more behind-the-scenes details and income reports on the Teacher Creator Club Substack.​
  Right now, the plan is to build it up to sell it. But if it becomes a nice little cashflow asset while also helping students and teachers get out of generational poverty?? I mean I don't know, that sounds pretty cool to me! But definitely a different strategy there compared to my other projects.
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• I've been actually creating teacher resources again and I'm loviiiiing it! ​
  My latest STEM resource, "Can a cat be a solar panel?" I'm literally chuckling the whole time to myself because it's all just so cute and fun engaging... the kinds of projects I loved doing with my kids when I was in the classroom. This is for a different store and brand that I'll be documenting the growth on over on the Beyond the Marketplace YouTube channel since I'm creating it from scratch.
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• I'm still growing that TikTok channel and Substack - which is related to a TPT store for history resources!​
  I haven't actively started driving traffic to products yet since I'm working on building up the email list. But it's super promising so far!! I actually highlight that whole journey in the 10k TikTok Lab. It's usually $37 but you can get it for free this week when you grab the Blogging Is Not Dead Bundle!​

I'm up to 8,300+ followers on that TikTok account, btw!! And I've been so pleased with the reach and opportunities that have come from there.

I'm hosting an interview soon of ivy league admissions reps (whaaaaat?!) and basically, the plan is to work with brands to create real grants and scholarships for students soooo yeah I'm pretty proud of the work I've been doing over there. 🥰
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Social Media Magic Podcast

Have you ever seen a Reel, copied the link, and texted it to a friend... or emailed a product page to yourself to buy later on your laptop?

If so, you’ve participated in Dark Social.

First coined by journalist Alexis C. Madrigal, "dark social" has nothing to do with the dark web.

It's just referring to untrackable word-of-mouth traffic. And word of mouth has alwaaaaays been the gold standard of marketing!

In the latest episode of the Social Media Magic podcast, I’m breaking down:

• Why traditional analytics miss the biggest piece of your traffic puzzle
• How low trust in public feeds is driving high-converting conversations into private DMs
• 4 practical strategies to leverage dark social (including how to structure easy-to-share URLs & create zero-click content)
• Plus, a big new update on connecting your social media properties inside Google Search Console!

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I'd love to know - do you believe in "big screen" vs "little screen" activities?

I can't believe people book flights on their phones lol

Hit REPLY and lemme know!

Talk soon,

Brittany
@brittanyverlenich