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Platforms, Side Hustles, Tech, with Christa Jones · Subplots of Education, Etc

• Jason: Hey, it's Jason Major. This is Subplots of Education. And I've got Christa Jones here. Christa owns Teachers with Money, and she started it, which is Teachers Pay Teachers. She will teach you how to make money on teachers pay teachers. But now she has all kinds of other content too that we will talk about. And she also edited my book, which is called Subplots Navigating Life as a School Leader, which has sold zero copies this month, Christa. Zero. Yeah, I know it's okay. Christa: that's okay. That's all right. People are busy right now. and also it's too early for holiday shopping, so just wait wait until ever all the teachers need to buy presents for their principals. Jason: This is this is yes. No, this is why you this is why you're my coach because it's the hype person that I need. Christa: That's right. Jason: Actually, I'm gonna go right into that because I'm curious. So you I wanna I want to talk about all the different platforms you're on, okay? Because you just started a podcast yourself. here's how I want to mention it. Because I am on LinkedIn and I had one of these my top performing posts like last week, okay? So I am I feel like I'm absolutely terrible at promotion, just absolutely awful at it. But here was what I tried to do. Probably five to seven profile visits every five hours. Cause I was obsessed because it was doing crazy numbers, right? Almost 30,000 persons was the most I ever had. Okay. So Christa: Yeah. Jason: I was getting like five or seven profile views every time I would check, So I changed my about page to say, hi, I see you have a lot more profile views. If you know a principal, hey Is that a s is that a strategy? Christa: Absolutely. Yeah, if you so it's Jason: Well it hasn't worked. Christa: with sales, you know this, Jason, from your background in sales, it's a numbers game. Jason: yeah, but I was a terrible salesperson, remember? Christa: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, I we could do we don't have to do this right now, but something we could do is like a live LinkedIn profile audit. I'm curious on your LinkedIn profile, Jason: no that's Christa: at the very top there should be like a link that you can you can have on there to direct people to wherever. Do you have that link available? Sometimes people say Jason: Yeah, it's in there. Christa: they don't see it. And then does it go to your book? Jason: No, it goes to my website that I made where you can then buy the book. I okay. Well, Christa: Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. So you get to choose where that's gonna go. And then for anybody listening, I already know this part, but I know that on Jason's profile, his featured section. So anyone who has a LinkedIn profile that you have coaching or workshops or a book or anything that you wanna promote, make sure you're putting links to that in your featured section, which I know Jason, you've already done that. Jason: Okay. All right. So that leads to my question. So your goal is to help people make more money as a teacher, as a side hustle, correct? Okay. So Christa: Mm-hmm. Yes. Jason: what which one of the platforms that you're on does the best job of doing that? Christa: Hmm, that's a good question. So the answer to the question is for me right now the platform that I've given the most attention to, and that is LinkedIn. I've given a lot more attention to LinkedIn than I have other platforms that I'm on. I basically spent a year posting consistently on LinkedIn, learning the platform, learning what types of posts would resonate there, who's even hanging out there. and I'm really glad that I did that. the The biggest vent benefit that I got over that year posting on LinkedIn was I feel like I kind of found my my voice of what I wanted to talk about online. My whole Teachers with Money platform was born on LinkedIn. It was born because I wrote a LinkedIn article last September. I called it Teachers with Money, the oxymoron that shouldn't be. And yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. It Jason: Did you just come up with that too? I'm always curious about where names was. You just thought about that? That because that's a really good name. Christa: you know, it was one of those I was like laying in bed in mid at midnight and I had a download from the universe and I shot out of bed and bought the domain name teacherswithmoney.com. Jason: Wow, I love that. Christa: Thank you. Yeah, so I mean, for me, LinkedIn has been my best by far place in terms of online platforms. I've connected with so many incredible people. Jason, you and I met on LinkedIn. however, I would say that, you know, for anyone who's thinking about starting posting online, think about what platform your audience is hanging out at. on LinkedIn, there are so many amazing people, people in the education space, administrators, and teachers who are looking to have a career shift primarily. I wouldn't say that classroom teachers are really hanging out on LinkedIn as much as people who are. making more money than classroom teachers. and so that is why now once I kind of I'm not gonna say I mastered LinkedIn, but I've gotten in the habit of posting there. I've figured out what works for me. So now I've shifted my focus to my Instagram. So I'm just in the last month, it's still very new, but I've been giving a lot of focus to my Instagram because I know that's where my audience really is hanging out. Jason: And you get people reaching out from there. Christa: I do. Yeah. It's still I mean, I'm still in early stages. So I still ninety at least ninety percent of my connections that I make and sales that I make are through LinkedIn. But I'm yeah, I'm definitely getting more attraction on Instagram. Jason: And I don't have Instagram at all. So is it the similar thing where they direct message you or whatever? Is that how that works? Christa: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jason: You're just talking about scale of followers way more because there's way more people perusing the content though, right? Christa: Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. Jason: My wife keeps telling me to get on Instagram. I've never had one, I'm not interested. probably eventually it will come now, I guess. Christa: Yeah, I think you could do very well there on Instagram, Jason. But the other thing to consider is if there's a platform that you like just really hate being on, then maybe you don't want to spend your time building content there. Unless, in your case, Jason, what I would recommend is you've got this podcast now. And so you're recording video. I know you're not posting the videos anywhere, but that's something that you could hold on to and delegate. If you have these 45 minute conversations, that's I don't know, you could chop that into ten different reels to put on Instagram and you wouldn't even have to do it. You could delegate that to a virtual assistant or honestly to AI at this point. They could chop it up for you and there you've got content for a couple of weeks. Jason: It's something to think about. We'll see. Christa: Yeah. Jason: But which one do you enjoy? Which platform do you enjoy the most? Like which brings you the most joy? Christa: Mm-hmm. As a user on Instagram, I learn so much on Instagram and I've been connecting more with other teacher creators in the finance space specifically, people who are doing the same type of work that I'm doing. and so that's been a real joy. but there's something nice about LinkedIn, which is I don't see as many trolls on LinkedIn. And I think there's a couple of reasons for that. One is LinkedIn is very strict about making sure that like real people are on there and you can't be anonymous. they don't want bots on LinkedIn and they also don't want like burner pages. They have I mean, for the most part, if you have a LinkedIn profile, it's because you're a real person and your face and your job title and probably your place of employment is gonna be up there next to the comment that you're leaving. And you know it's Turns out that brings out the best in people. Whereas Jason: Magine that. Christa: I know, on Instagram or other platforms where people can be more anonymous, it can kind of bring out the worst in people. Jason: That makes sense. And there's something else to say about LinkedIn. LinkedIn, there's not many, there's not many trolls on LinkedIn. There are quite a few contrarians for one. There's a lot of black Christa: Mm, mm. Jason: and white thinking, but I mean that's gonna be anywhere. But there's Christa: Yeah. Jason: also the performative stuff. Like, there's Christa: Yeah. Jason: no other platform where I will get on there and I will like audibly say out loud god, God, just please know. Christa: I think there's a bit in your book where you talk about LinkedIn and you're like, turns out everyone's a CEO and a founder and Jason: I don't know, it's so true. What's so funny? I actually when I first started posting stuff again, I had a whole post on like LinkedIn is awful. Because I was when you first told me I should get on LinkedIn, I'm like, I really? LinkedIn? I actually enjoy it because people do engage with the stuff. But yes, everyone's a CEO because all you have to do is just say you're a CEO. Christa: Exactly. Yeah. Which, you know, there's two sides to that coin though. There's one where it's like people are boosting their own egos. And then but the other side of that is you get to choose, you get to put your title to whatever you're aspiring to. So what I mean is, let's say somebody wants to be a speaker and they're just starting to apply to speak at conferences, or maybe they're just starting to book their first speaking gigs. You can put speaker on your profile and suddenly you have more credibility. And I and I think that's I'm saying that in a positive way. I think people should actually do that. I don't think that it's a lie. I think that no one's gonna book an aspiring speaker. If you put aspiring speaker, someone's gonna have to go out on a limb to hire you, right? But if you put speaker, well, there you go. Like you've already you've already proven Jason: And Christa: that you can do it. Jason: I I get that. I think that part of the challenge though, too, is like it has become so saturated that and Christa: Mm. Jason: maybe this is a personal preference for me though, too, because we've talked about this before in our coaching. But it's like when when you feel like you have to hustle after the engagements, and maybe some people enjoy that. I just do not enjoy that at all. It's like you just want to stay there and wait. And I can't imagine trying to, even if you get to put speaker on there. Just trying to find people that are going to be willing to hire you as a speaker when it's so saturated with people trying to do the same thing. Christa: Yeah, that's true. let's keep talking about this, the speaker as an example. For somebody who is wanting to book more speaking gigs, I see two main options of how you're going to get these gigs. Number one is cold calling. And by cold calling, I mean cold emailing, cold DMing. And that is for a certain personality type. And it does very well for that personality type. Jason, I think you would be comfortable with me saying on the air that that's not your personality type. You don't want to do cold calling. You don't want to pitch people. You want to have people coming to you inbound. what your option is in that case, besides word of mouth, which is very, very helpful. you know, you speak somewhere, your friend recommends you to the other place, that other place recommends you to the other place. But if you're not gonna do cold pitching, your other option is to get traffic to you. And the way that you do that is what you've been doing, which is posting regularly on LinkedIn, getting in the habit of posting regularly. Jason, you've posted at least once a week for the past more than a year now, which is incredible. Jason: Yeah, it's more than year. That's that's all you though too. That was it. That was all you. Christa: Well, a lot of people can get advice, and it's much harder to implement the advice that's given. So I'm gonna put that back at you. You did such a great job following through on that. So I think the next steps for you, there's a couple things. Number one is I think posting more than once a week would be better for you at this point. and number two is starting to optimize your comp your content. So looking through the past year, you have a lot of data now of what kind of posts. Flopped, what kind of post performed well? it was either your top performing post or one of your highest. Great. Jason: It's probably going to end up being the top performing one. Christa: Yeah. So I would take a look at that post. How can you recreate that post? Dissect that. What was the hook? Was there a number at the beginning? you were calling out a specific podcast, you were kind of making a prediction, positioning yourself as a thought leader. and I would break down like how long was the post? What did I do? Did I ask people to comment? Did I have a a space where people could reflect in the comments? What was it that made that specific post successful? And then I would try to recreate that with other topics or talk more on the same topic, but in a slightly different post format. There's a lot of different things you can do to play around, but one of the reasons why I would encourage you to post more than once a week now is Number one, just to increase your reach, right? You've got double the chance of having a top performing post. but number two, it's gonna give you even more data, right? Jason: I hear you on all that. And but there's part of it where I'm sitting there and it's like, I want to make sure I tread the line carefully to not to optimize. Like the point is Christa: Mm. Jason: I want to just put my thoughts out there and see if they resonate with people, right? And I wanna stick to that as much as possible. And I don't Christa: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jason: want to get into like the optimization game. And part of it is it being inside my own head for one, but two, a lot of the stuff, which is funny. A lot of stuff my algorithm feeds me is people talking crap about people who are out to optimize. And some of my favorite writers are people who Christa: Mm. Jason: talk about the anti optimization, like someone like Oliver Berkman, who's like, Christa: Mm-hmm. Jason: What it what is this? Right. So there I think there's a fine line to toe there too, where it's like, I want to make sure it's still authentic. It's what I really think and I'm not just chasing clicks and likes and all of that too. Christa: For sure. So there's a hierarchy to our posts. and I I would say, like, if you're posting, let's say you're posting two times a week. I would give one of those posts. let me give the example of a four times a week. If you're posting four times a week, because that'll just help me explain this better. Jason: That's a lot. Christa: you don't have to post four times a week, but let me just use that as an example. So, or we could call it four times a month. Okay. Jason: I have a good example I have a good I have a good counter to what you're gonna s I I have a perfect post example of when you're done with this, okay? Of what I'm trying to avoid, okay. Christa: Okay, let me call it four times a month then, because I think that will make you more comfortable. Okay, okay. Jason: No, four times a week is fine 'cause it it leads into my story, actually. So do that. Christa: So one of those posts, okay, so some of the posts that we're doing are for reach. We're trying to reach as many people as possible. That way they can get the help that they need from you. They can get the advice they need from you or whatever it is that you are offering, you can have a bigger impact. So I know that it's cringy to get into the optimization game. But if you think about it, you're doing it from a positive place. You are genuinely, I know you, Jason, you are genuinely trying to help other people, especially like aspiring principals or assistant principals, things like that. So the more reach that you have, the more that you can help those people. So let's say post one on Monday as an example. That is specifically for reach. You're trying to, you know, optimize you're getting a not. Not, we're not gonna call it like it's clickbaity, but you're getting like an engaging hook that's gonna stop the scroll. And then maybe your second post is going to be something that is not meant for a wide audience. And it's probably not going to reach a wide audience because you're just trying to speak to a very specific group of people, or you're just trying to share what's on your heart or share what's on your mind. So maybe that second post would be a storytelling post. then your third post of the week would be an educational post where you're breaking down something that you have learned from your time as a principal, sharing a story from your book, maybe. And then maybe the fourth post of that week is gonna be a cell where you are I know this is hard for you, Jason, but where Jason: Mm. Christa: you're actively promoting. here's a little bit from my like maybe in your case, to make it a little softer, you would be like tell sharing a bit from a chapter of your book and then saying, By the way, if you liked what you read, go check out my book. Or if you want to hear the end of the story, you could really hook them in. If you want to hear how the story ends, go check out my book. Or I know, Jason, you also exactly, Jason: Like a cliff a cliffhanger, if you will. Christa: you also do professional development workshops. So your fourth post of the week could be a professional talking about your workshop that you just did at whatever school in whatever state. Jason: Yeah. Christa: And by the way, I'm booking for next year for 2027. Hit me up here if you want to schedule a session with me. Now you could take divide that into the whole month. You can make that four posts a month instead of four posts a week. but it's okay to have what my point is, it's okay to have different posts that have different jobs. Some jobs maybe are to really reach a lot of people, and then other jobs are just to share what's on your mind or keep it, keep it real. Jason: It's it's interesting. I think putting the thing about hey, since you're here, there's this, that was like a small turn there Christa: Mm. Jason: to try to move towards there. So I I get that. It's just it's hard. Selling is hard. I saw a post on my LinkedIn and it was a guy who said, So I schedule this is me this is gonna give me a panic attack just to tell this. He said, I was able to successfully schedule my posts for the next three months. And it was this giant graphic where he said, Here's all the posts I'm gonna do. It was like four a day on Instagram and LinkedIn, and it was just this giant chart. And I'm like, my god, please just no, no. That that is just so extreme. And I'm like, You how would you even do anything else? If all you're doing is yes. Christa: Is content creation his full time job? Yeah. This is yeah. Jason: Well, I don't even know if it was or not, but I think he was trying to teach other people how to do it. He was like bragging, Christa: Mm. Jason: saying, I can show you how to do this. I'm like, I wouldn't I I wouldn't wish learning how to do that on my worst enemy. Christa: Yeah, he might be a full time content creation content creator, I mean. Jason: But then is that really even creating content anymore? Or is it just scheduling Christa: Mm. Jason: stuff to go out? Like, could you really have a message that much if you're just pouring all of that in? Do you know what I mean? Hey, it just becomes a little extreme for me there. Christa: Yeah, I hear that. A lot of folks I hear, some of the best writers and speakers online will say that your job isn't to find a hundred different things to say. Your job is to find one main thing to say a hundred different ways. And so maybe for him, maybe his whole thing is that he's trying to help people be consistent with posting on social media. I don't know, I don't know anything about this guy. but Jason: That's a c d you you have a very much a way of finding the positive and things, so I get it. Christa: Well, thank you. But I also, as I'm learning my own content creation journey, I follow a lot of people who are alike him. And so that's why I'm wondering like, well, he probably has a course that he's selling. He's probably trying to help Jason: Yeah. Christa: people maybe get over the cringe of posting or or whatever it may be. Who knows? But I can also see for certain Jason: Yeah, I could see that. So those are the types No God. Christa: type I can see for a certain personality types, even just seeing that three months of content scheduled out would just make you not want to even open LinkedIn. Jason: my gosh. my gosh, no. No, it makes me never want to. I'm like, no, is this if this is what it has to be? It's just hard, hard pass. No, Christa: Yeah. Jason: please no. So I'm curious, is that the type of advice? So if someone comes to you on a teachers pay teachers and Christa: Mm-hmm. Jason: wants their help, is this the type of advice you would give them? I'll be curious before we talk about that. I would love your perspective. Because I will get what the best version of Teachers Pay Teachers is. So let me hear that first. Because I will tell you from my perspective what the worst version of it is. okay. Christa: Yeah, yeah, I would love to hear that. So I think Teachers by Teachers at its best. It is, of course, an online marketplace where experienced teachers in the classroom can post lessons, worksheets, Google slides, whatever they have made, things that they have slaved hours over. They can post them online for a low price for sale so that other teachers can benefit from the work that they did. And meanwhile, those teachers are getting actually paid. For the labor that they put in creating these different resources. So it's a win-win, in my opinion. The teacher who created the resource actually gets paid a little bit closer to their worth once they can put put these resources online to sell. And then the teacher who is up at 9 p.m. on a Sunday and because their kid was sick all weekend and they need some help tomorrow morning, they can purchase a low-ticket, whatever it is they need, unit plan, Google slide set, whatever. So that they're set to go the next morning. Jason: Okay. Christa: What's the worst of teachers fate teachers? Jason: So I've seen the best of it. Meaning because I've seen some, and she may listen to this, but my instructional coach, Stephanie, made the most unbelievable K to two scope and sequence for phonics Christa: Mm. Jason: instruction with Orton Gillingham that blended like maybe three things. And it is amazing. Now, I a publisher should buy that. Christa: Mm, mm. Jason: Not just teachers pay teachers. Now she's done on there, but it's like, so to me, that'd be the best possible version teachers pay teachers. Okay. Just incredible stuff. But what I I use that phrase fire Chromebooks and the sun, but what I really mean by that is it's platforms like I can't I can't even think of the name of it right now. Prodigy math is what I mean by file Chromebooks Christa: yeah. Jason: and the sum, because it is just the most atrocious abomination of a program. It's not even math. So I I try to I group the whole tech thing as the worst of it. Because if Christa: Mm. Jason: we are producing the worst of it like that, I'd rather get rid of the whole thing. So when I say the worst version to teachers pay teachers, is you will it is someone who strolls in five minutes before. They're about to start teaching. And they just click a couple buttons and just get some random crap off teachers pay teachers. And it's completely disconnected from anything else you're doing. And I partially blame the era of units of study that started around 2012 for Christa: Mm. Jason: this, right? Where teachers were responsible for creating their own content and we didn't really even have curricula for teachers Christa: Yeah. Jason: to use. So I do partially blame that, but that's what I mean by teachers pay teachers. Is someone just throwing in. And just buying a bunch of disconnected stuff, that we have any idea if it even works for the kids or is teaching them anything. That's Christa: Yeah. Jason: what I mean is the worst version of it. Christa: hear that. And I I totally see that. And I I can agree with parts of what you're saying. and I'm not here to defend TPT, especially right now. They've they've changed some of the things on the back end that I'm like, yeah, yeah, Jason: yeah, I'd like we'll get into that too, yes. Christa: yeah, yeah. I'm not here to defend TPT. However, what I'm hearing is a problem, like a deeper problem within education, which is maybe these teachers are too overwhelmed, and so they're seeking out these resources. As a way to piece something together, like you said, because maybe they weren't given the tools that they needed in the classroom from the at the district level. And the Jason: I think there's absolutely part of it there. But then but but actually I could show that that's the use for you is because we need to Christa: Mm. Jason: encourage more people who are making good stuff on their own to put it on teachers pay teachers so we don't lead to situations like I said. Like Christa: Yeah. Jason: the game on what is the quality of things on teachers paid teachers should be better. And that's where they could use you actually. Christa: For sure. And I also I I'm also not one usually to put teachers on in the hot seat, but I think it's up to the teacher, right? The teacher has to choose materials that are, I know this is a buzzword, but that are rigorous and are Jason: Yeah. Christa: actually academically valuable, or maybe it's not academics, maybe they're doing community building or an SEL lesson or things like that. But I think it's up to the individual teacher to make that distinction best case scenario, the teacher should be able to tell the difference between slop and something that's actually quality that they would put in front of their students. But you know, not everyone's good at their jobs. Jason: I I would hope so, but I think that sometimes I just think about walks I've done at our schools sometimes too. And it's like it was clear the person just said, I need something to do. And even during their prep period, I need something to do. I better go grab something real quick. And just that's it. I do think Christa: Yeah, I'm Jason: systemically we have something to blame on that. Although you'll even see it when you've adopted curriculum too. Why is this random worksheets still out there. Inst use your curriculum. I don't understand. I don't understand. Christa: Mm. Jason: I think it is just so ingrained and just such a norm because of that error we're in where it was pushing units of study that it's just hard to get out of. Christa: Again, we're if we're talking about giving the teacher the independence to make choices within their own classroom, where do you draw the line with that? Maybe that teacher saw something was lacking within the curriculum. Maybe there was a scaffold that was lacking within the curriculum that was given to them. you know, it's it's easy for textbook writers or administrators to say this is where the kids should be, but the teachers who are boots on the ground are looking at kids in front of them and where they actually are. And Maybe I'm just giving some hypothetical situations, but maybe they're saying, actually, there's a gap between where this kid is and where this textbook says they are. So let me find something to bridge the gap. Jason: I hear you on that and I agree. And I would never say you have to be on this page as an administrator, because there's just ebbs and flows of the school year. And Christa: Mm. Jason: you just want to look at trends. Now, if one teacher is way behind the other two, then that might open some questions. But that's where it gets to everything is incredibly nuanced too. And but I would Christa: For sure. Jason: also say if there are identifying gaps, then we need to have a program that takes care of those gaps. Christa: Mm. Jason: That is research based and you can just fit right in. And what we've been talking about recently too reinforces the curriculum that you're already using rather Christa: Yeah. Jason: than just becoming one other thing that's a one-off. Because if the goal is for them to learn the content that you're delivering the whole class, what you do outside of that should reinforce what's already being done. But that one statement is so unbelievably complicated to figure out. It sounds Christa: Yeah. Jason: like the simplest thing, but it is not. And it is not even close. Christa: Yep. I was gonna say I actually I totally agree with you. And I think that the this this hypothetical teacher who's in this situation would love to have somebody step in and help them bridge the gap. but yeah, everyone's busy. There's Jason: and then you start thinking like, well wait, we've spent we have spent fifteen years now in the ed tech world. How has no one solved this problem? How's no one Christa: Yeah. Jason: solved the problem? I I just don't understand. And now there's all the research with ed tech programs really haven't helped much at all. Christa: Really? I don't know a lot of that side of things, so that's I'm not surprised to hear that, but mm mm. Jason: I mean, they can work, but it goes to another point I say too, which like if you put the time, energy, resources necessary into making something work, pretty much anything can work. But it's just when it becomes, hey, just do this without any training, resources, time, that the things don't work. And Christa: For sure. And then and then the by the time that everyone's figured it out, the district is ready to move on to the next curriculum. Yep. Yeah. Jason: Mm-hmm. Because you have new leadership or whatever, all that stuff for sure. So that comes that leads in so tell me about IXL taking over teachers pay teachers then. Very 'cause I know it's a big Christa: Okay. Yeah, I'll give the Jason: controversy in where your world. Christa: sure. Yeah. Well, I'll give the short version of the story. So in 2023, I think it was, IXL bought Teachers Pay Teachers. and they've made some changes along the way. Some have been quite positive. Others have been not as great, in my opinion. And then just a few weeks ago, they announced a pretty main a few pretty major changes on their platform. Especially regarding to the pay of the sellers who are on the platform. So currently there are, again, this is the short version, but there are two plans that you can be on as a seller. The basic plan, where you get to keep 55% of everything you've sold, or the premium plan, which is when you pay a almost $60 yearly membership and you get to keep 80% of your sales. Now, I'm never gonna be somebody to complain about those fees. A lot of people complain about the fees. They feel like they should be able to keep more, but From where I see it, I can understand how much it takes they're hosting a platform. There's Jason: They're hosting a platform, sure. And people go on it. Christa: exactly yes, they they they're running marketing, there's credit card fees, there's security issues, just the fact that they're hosting all of these pieces of data, like all of these files. There's a lot that goes into all of that. So I don't complain about the fees. I'm okay with it. However, TPT, and I'm gonna say it's actually from IXL is where this is coming from. They made an announcement where they're cutting the the the payout for these premium people. So instead of making 80% of my sales, I'll now make 77.5%. so it sounds like it's not that big of a reduction, but at the same time, they're also demanding that we sell exclusively on teachers pay teachers. We are not allowed to sell on our own websites anymore. We're not allowed to sell on other marketplaces like Etsy or the principal exchange or anywhere else. I really think they're overstepping in a lot of ways. They have said that if there's a resource that could be eligible, that's their word is eligible, that could be eligible to be listed on teachers pay teachers, then you must list it on teachers pay teachers. So what I mean is let's say I've got my TPT store and I sell these certain resources on TPT. And then I also want to open an Etsy store where I'm selling still digital products, but maybe for a different audience. that would not be allowed. They would shut, they would shut down my TPT store as a result of doing that. Now, Jason: Even if it has nothing to do with anything else. Christa: yes, so like an example, I've I'm seeing real life situations where there's teachers who sell like you know, third-grade math materials on TPT. And they sell Sunday school stuff on Etsy, TPT is no longer allowing them to sell their Sunday school stuff on Etsy because technically they could sell their Sunday school stuff on TPT. Now, exclusivity isn't a totally unknown thing in the online space. but the difference is that when usually when a platform is requesting or demanding exclusivity, the creators get paid more. for their work and more for that exclusivity. Jason: And they're making it less. Christa: And yes, TPT is paying us less and demanding exclusivity. And it's way more than those couple of percentage points. I mean, there are teachers and teacher business owners who stand to lose a lot, a lot, lot, lot of money because they're either going to be shutting down their memberships or they're going to be going to the basic plan and having a huge pay cut on TPT. I'm seeing real life situations where, I mean, we're talking about like Single moms, like people that are being really, really affected by this. it's really, really sad. So I've been pretty publicly voicing my opinions Jason: Yeah, you have. I've seen it. Yes. Christa: about all of this because I think it's really wrong. And and I think it's been the news has been delivered in a very unprofessional way from IXL. they hosted a meeting where we were supposed to get information on why these changes were happening. I assumed it's because they've got a cash problem and businesses down. But they wouldn't say that. They instead gave us moral lectures on not being a good team player and a lot of weird, weird stuff. I know. Exactly. Jason: Well I mean what what do you owe and what do you owe to them anyway? Like they didn't hire you as an employee. Christa: And IXL, they're buying new companies all the time. They keep expanding their portfolio. They're doing exactly what they're now scolding us for doing. It's Jason: Mm-hmm. Christa: gotten really weird. It's very, very strange. Jason: Sounds like they need a competitor to kind of yeah, to use that term, disrupt them if someone was able to do that, they could really start picking it off, I would say. Christa: There are some new marketplaces that are coming out right now as a result of all this. So it will be very interesting to see what happens over the next few months. Jason: Well, I'll root for you to keep fighting the battle. Because I I when Christa: Thank you. I appreciate that. Jason: I when I have a problem with IXL for a couple reasons. One, Christa: Mm. Jason: their math problems, you just memorize the algorithm. So I I'm I will not be sold that it's genuine learning because you're just memorizing how the skill is being taught given to you. And then you I I don't think it's transferable knowledge. One, and two, from Christa: Mm. Jason: my own personal experience, when when my kids were younger and they had to do it and they'd be almost in tears because They would miss one problem and go back to score of 50 and then have to get five more in a row right before they were done with their homework. I also didn't agree with man giving them homework for IXL that sometimes took 40 minutes to do over the course of the week. So that that's my Christa: Yes. Jason: problems with IXL too. So go against them. Go for it. Got it. Christa: Yeah, I will. You know, it's funny. My daughter is in kindergarten and the other day I was talking to my husband about all this stuff and I said, Yeah, and then IXL did blah blah blah and my daughter went, we do IXL. That's when we're on our iPads and she always complains she always complains to me about when she has to go on her iPad when they're at school. And I was like, that's That's so interesting. It's this part of your school day that you hate. She loves school, but she hates her part of the school day when she's on IXL. Jason: You know, I love hearing that too because I've had this hypothesis over a while. The kids don't really like being on the devices at school. The kids actually like, Christa: Mm. Jason: even if they won't admit it, that school's the one place where we can just put those things away and they actually have to talk to each other. So I'm Christa: Yes. Jason: not saying they don't have a time and place. I'm not saying that. But especially like it it just hurts my soul when you go in a classroom and the whole class is just independently working on a screen. Especially when it's like these monotonous exercises too. It just It hurts my soul. And it Yes. Christa: Yeah, I totally agree. So my background is as I would taught elementary school music for 10 years. Jason, you know that. But and so when I when we start talking about ed tech, I think even earlier in this inner in this episode, I was like, I I can't speak a lot on that. It's because I hardly used technology in my classroom. I was like, of all the places that they're gonna not see a screen, I want it to be in their music classroom. Now I do think Jason: Yes. Christa: I have seen some benefits. There are really great collaboration opportunities with technology. you know, th there are benefits but in yeah. Jason: There no, there's good there's good ones, right? And it's like I I just let the bad over overweigh the good. But we use the program. I can't remember what it's called. Music, what was it called? We used it last year and it was really good. The kids are mixing their own music. It's pretty awesome. I don't remember what it's called. So it does it in the music classroom, yeah. Christa: sweet. That's cool. In the music classroom? Cool. Jason: So I don't I don't remember the name of the program, but it was really cool. So yeah, there's a time and a place for things, but it's just like anything else. It's moderation. And what is the reason why you're doing this? Is this the best use of the instructional time to get across the goal that you want to do? If so, yes, use the tech platform. That's fine. But when the default just becomes get on this program, because I am not sure what else we could do right now, that's that's what I'm talking about. Especially Christa: Yeah. Jason: when the platform itself is just hot garbage. Christa: Yes, yes. Jason: so when working with all these teachers who are creating their own things and now have to be a salesperson, they have to Christa: Mm. Jason: be a marketing person, they have to be a content writer, what do you think, what have you noticed is the most transferable skill from teaching to being noticed? Christa: Hmm. There are so many, but the first that comes to mind is two that you listed, which is sales and marketing. Teachers don't a lot of us don't know this, but we are the best marketers and the best salespeople. Because if you can convince a 13-year-old to do whatever math work that you're trying to get him to do in your classroom against their will, you can convince people to do anything, Jason: Against their will, yes. Christa: right? what what's the line from Tommy Boy? You could sell a ketchup pops a ketchup popsicle to woman in white gloves. Jason: Yeah. Christa: Like Jason: I haven't seen that a long time. I do remember that line. Christa: Yeah, that's one of my favorite movies. I mean, it's incredible the things that teachers do to get their students engaged. I mean, and I remember going way back to like undergrad learning how to write a lesson plan. And we had to write the, I think they called it the anticipatory set, but it was like the hook. Jason: Yep. Christa: What's the hook to your lesson? That's literally marketing. That's literally content creation. What's the hook that can that's gonna make somebody stop scrolling? What's the hook that's gonna make somebody want to be part of your world or part of what you're doing? I think that we're so, yeah, Jason: That's such a cool connection. I love that. Christa: we're so good and turning anything, especially with younger kids at elementary school, specifically, middle school and high school a little bit, but you can turn anything to a game with little kids. You just call it a game. Maybe it's still just your math exercises that you were gonna do, but what's like one little playful thing that you can do to put a spin on it? Teachers do that all the time. We find ways to make our content interesting, we find ways to make our days more interesting and and make it not seem like such a grind for the students. yeah, sales and marketing all the way. Teachers are doing it all the time. We just don't realize it. Jason: Gonna I'm gonna connect that to something we've been talking about off and on through here, which is the tech piece. Because Christa: Mm. Jason: the reason the teacher is so good at sales and marketing, it's because the kids like them enough that they're going to listen to what they say. And it's like, Miss Jones thinks this. absolutely. I am going to get in it. I am in because she did a good job explaining why this is important. That's fantastic and that's magic you can't recreate. But what they try to do with some of these tech programs, which I think is insulting the kids, is we're just gonna gamify this thing. No, you can't. Christa: Mm. Jason: The gamifying comes from the adult in the classroom the kids want to listen to. It does not come from some tech platform because the kids are gonna go home and the tech platforms they're using at home run circles around this thing, right? So the Christa: Yeah. Jason: kids are not going to care that a cartoon dog. is getting you excited about math. So then maybe you can solve a couple math problems and, you know, throw a fake robot cat a ball. Give me a break. The magic and the gaming comes from the adult in the classroom that the kids want to hear from. Christa: You're so right. And actually that that comes back to sales too. I meant to mention this when we were talking about the structure of possible LinkedIn posts. People buy things from other people that they know, that they like, and that they trust. So it's the same with learning. Kids are going to learn something more effectively from somebody that they know and that they like and that they trust. If You don't have those things. It doesn't matter what you're saying. You could be s teaching the most interesting topic, but if the kid doesn't know like and trust the teacher, they're gonna have a harder time engaging. Jason: I'll I'll connect it to the thing you mentioned. I I I used to sell radio advertising and I went to a workshop once that they sent us to. And the guy, his name was Sean Luce, never forget it. I actually enjoyed this workshop. And I never heard anyone say it that way because Christa: Mm. Jason: you buy your own BS that it's because of your audience ratings or because of my sales package or what all that. And I heard this guy say it and go, Well, that makes sense. I am an atrocious salesperson. But some people just like me and they throw me a bone every once in a while. And it's the same thing. Christa: Mm. Yeah, it is. Jason: Except the outcome put is learning instead of just selling radio advertising and then you start all over the next month. Just no, never again. So okay. This was great. Thanks so much for chatting. I think we covered a bunch of stuff. And see Christa: Yeah, this was awesome. Jason: and I and I have to say, sometimes there's probably something that I said, we'll get to that in a second, and we didn't. So if you listen to this whole thing, I'm sorry we didn't get to those things. Maybe Christa will call them on again sometime. Christa: Yeah, I would love that. And there's also I had Jason on my podcast as well. So if you want to hear more from Okay, Jason: that's right. yeah, promote all your stuff, yes. Christa: okay, okay. Yeah. So if you want to hear more from Jason, take a look at his episode on my podcast, which is called Teachers with Money First in Class. so yeah, I run my weekly podcast. I have a free newsletter every Wednesday. I also meant to come back to this when we were talking about LinkedIn. I kind of do have two separate audiences. So I have a lot of free resources for classroom teachers. I have my TPT Launch Lab course, which is a beginner course on getting people going on TPT. I keep that priced low for teachers. but I also offer coaching for like educational leaders, edupreneurs. and that is more high touch, one-on-one. and so if you are interested in that, that is I talk more about that on my LinkedIn. I've kind of separated my audience now. I kind of on Instagram I'm trying to reach the people who are there, which is more teachers. On LinkedIn, I'm trying to reach more educational leaders, administrators, things like that. So find me on LinkedIn. will you have links in show notes, Jason? Jason: I'll figure that out. Sure, I'll do that. Give all to me. Christa: Cool. And it's okay if you don't. So my name is spelled C H R I S T A. And my last name is Jones. and then I'm on Instagram at Christa Jean Jones. That's C-H-R-I-S-T-A-J-E-A-N-J-O-N-E-S. And sign up for my newsletter. I send a newsletter every Wednesday with little money mindset pieces. It's not just for teachers, for anybody who maybe feels uncomfortable around money. I'm here to take the overwhelm out of all of that and make it more, more fun and more accessible for everybody. Jason: And you definitely do that, I could say from personal experience. As I said, that was the best investment I ever made from writing. I have a published book because of you. You edited it, got it up there. It is so worth it. If this is at all something you're interested in, I thank you. It's very always fun to talk to you. And Christa: Thank you so much, Jason. Jason: and everyone out there, thanks so much for listening. I got the so last time the thing just ended. So I have to have some kind of ending. So this is Christa: Mm, mm-hmm. Jason: the end of the episode. We appreciate you listening very much. And see you n we will hear you next time. See you next time I interrogate. This is now the close of it. Goodbye.