Caitlyn Mink from The Itsy Bitsy Classroom is sharing her win-win teacher business story today. She shares about how customer requests help her feel connected to those she serves as a creative and also the challenges that she navigates in determining her product creation capacity.
Connect with today’s guest:
https://www.instagram.com/theitsybitsy.classroom/
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/the-itsy-bitsy-classroom
Caitlyn is the educator and artist behind The Itsy Bitsy Classroom. She began her journey as a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, working as an Early Intervention Therapist. Since then, she’s held various roles, from Preschool Curriculum Support and Kindergarten Teacher to teaching College Sign Language Courses. Now, as a stay at home Mom, she creates ASL clipart and resources and designs creative printable activities for her TPT shop! When she’s not creating, she loves spending time outdoors, reading, working on other creative projects and spending time with her husband and two boys.
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Read the transcript:
Janice Cook 0:00 Joining us today for a guest conversation is Caitlyn, the educator and artist behind The Itsy Bitsy Classroom. She began her journey as a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing, working as an early intervention therapist. Since then, she’s held various roles from preschool curriculum support and kindergarten teacher to teaching college sign language courses. Now as a stay at home mom, she creates ASL clipart and resources. She designs creative printable activities for her TPT shop. When she’s not creating she loves spending time outdoors, reading, working on other creative projects, and spending time with her husband and two boys. In today’s episode, Caitlyn shares about times when her business was a win-win, and times when it wasn’t. She’s going to talk about the pros and cons of networking and how we handle the requests of our customers, how they inform what we create, how they make our process meaningful, and how they also sometimes make it hard to live within our season and keep our capacity in check. So grab a cup of coffee. Today, we’re going to chat with Caitlyn and learn about the decisions she’s made in her business to bring things back into focus and make sure her business is always a win-win.
Janice Cook 1:19 You’re listening to Your Win-Win Teacher Business, a podcast for teacher authors who want to make a big impact in the world for teachers and students, and have fun doing it. I’m your host, Janice Cook, here with a pep talk to start your week off strong. Some seasons of running a business feel hard and sticky, but it shouldn’t feel like that all the time. Let’s make your business a win-win together.
Janice Cook 1:45 Caitlyn, it’s so exciting to chat with you today.
Caitlyn 1:48 It’s nice to be here.
Janice Cook 1:50 Caitlyn is one of the creative brains behind the TPT world that draws all the beautiful artwork that we use to make our resources engaging for students. And I’m so excited to have this conversation with Caitlyn today and get a little peek behind the curtain of her creative business. Caitlyn, I would love to hear why you started this business in the first place. How did we get here?
Caitlyn 2:14 I started my teachers pay teachers store on the tail end of 2017, beginning of 2018. I was pregnant with my first baby, headed on maternity leave soon. For some reason, I thought that would be the prime time to do this. Then I, you know, had said baby didn’t have a whole lot of time, and it kind of stayed on the back burner for a while. So it was one of those. I made a few resources I had no idea what I was doing. Went into mom life for a while, and then kind of circled back. So I started my store creating kindergarten assessments, actually, because that’s what I was needing most the last time I was in the classroom. And I did not transition to more of like a clip art focused store until 2019, 2020, ish. So it’s been a little bit of a roller coaster, but it started as kind of a maternity leave hobby project, a creative outlet, something for me to do that wasn’t just mom. And I had not planned to be a stay at home mom, but that is the journey that I went on eventually anyway. And so it’s become kind of a long term hobby. Again, it’s a creative outlet. It’s a something for me to do, aside from all the momming, yeah, and it’s evolved over the years, so I feel like I’m just kind of landing.
Janice Cook 3:26 I actually didn’t know about the kindergarten assessments era so that’s super exciting. Many people that I’ve chatted about that ended up in the stay at home mom track, like that was their goal, and, like, their North Star, and they were driving. So that’s so interesting. So you thought you were just going to be out for a little bit and then pop right back into your classroom role.
Caitlyn 3:45 Yes, I planed to only be out for about a year. But at the time, my husband was in the army, and we moved, I think, four times in my son’s first two years of life, and we kept moving. And so me jumping into a position anywhere that we moved short term didn’t make sense. And then he got out of the Army, and we moved back home, and then the pandemic happened, so that wasn’t the time to go back to work.
Janice Cook 4:08 Yeah, and that’s a whole wild, wild world in the military. But although, like, they need teachers everywhere, it’s not that easy. Like, you can’t just jump into a school year at any time. You can’t just, like, refresh your credentials for whatever they need in that state, I could see how that is very tricky.
Caitlyn 4:25 Yeah, and originally, I’m a deaf educator, so those are even harder positions to get,
Janice Cook 4:30 for sure, because it’s a specialty area.
Caitlyn 4:32 There’s usually one or two, maybe in a district that float around. And so usually when those of us find that secret spot, they never leave. So those are harder to get, and I ended up getting additional certifications as we moved around. So kindergarten was actually the last grade that I taught. I adapted well. There was a lot of adapting, but, yeah, stay at home mom was never super the plan. That’s just kind of the journey that our life took. And then we had another baby, and here we are.
Janice Cook 5:00 I love this idea that when you’re home with a baby on maternity leave, you’re obviously going to have so much free time. I think every single one of us can smile back to because, like, what am I going to do all day? I heard babies sleep all day. I’m going to need something to do during nap time. I don’t know what we were thinking. I absolutely suffered from the same. My first was a summer baby, and so, like, all my friends were out for summer vacation. I thought we were just gonna, like, live it up, right? We had so much time. And then the second time I had a kid, like I had another kid, right? You can, you can relate to that. What is all this time I think I’m gonna have? I still have this other tiny human to take care
Caitlyn 5:43 Absolutely.
Janice Cook 5:45 But I think so many of us can relate to needing something for us, because being a mom is amazing, and it’s such an honor and a privilege to have a front row seat to their development and their dreams and all of that. But whether it’s going back to work or finding something for yourself in some other way, you definitely don’t want to lose yourself in motherhood. You definitely want to have something that fills your cup too. Do you feel like having something that’s just for you at all times helps you be like a better mom?
Caitlyn 6:15 I kind of need that split focus. I mean being stay at home mom is everything to me, and I enjoy it so much more than I ever thought I would – you know, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And even when we had our second kiddo, I’m like, you know, I’m gonna stay home with him too. Not that that was the original plan before, but now there are more opportunities for me to go back to work. But I’m like, no, like, this is my place. This is where I’m supposed to be right now in this season. But yeah, I and I’m one of those people. I need a creative outlet. I need to be making things that people like that just makes me happy. Like, no matter what it is, I jump into all kinds of different creative projects, aside from TPT, and that’s just part of my personality makes me happy. And what’s really cool about it, too, is my kids see it. They see me drawing. They, you know, I pull my iPad out to start drawing something while they’re watching a cartoon, or, you know, whatever, eating lunch and and they’re like, Oh, Mommy, can I draw and can I put this into a clip art shop? And it’s, it’s also a fun thing to share with them. You know, my oldest, he’s six, and he gives me a lot of ideas. He’s like, Oh, Mom, can you make worksheets like this? Or can you draw me pictures like this? I still owe him construction clip art that will be coming. It’s on my to do list.
Janice Cook 7:20 My kids ask me for new boom card decks all the time. Can you put these in your store? I’m like, well, those don’t work with my store, but I can make those for you.
Caitlyn 7:28 Right. Right. So, yeah, I mean, I love having something that’s just for me, where I get to create things and make other people happy. A lot of it too, is just like the tie back into education. It’s, you know, the community on Instagram of TPTers – I get to talk to adults, which is nice.
Janice Cook 7:44 So important!
Caitlyn 7:45 I get to talk to other like minded adults and other people who are doing the same thing and in the same grind and in the same season. And yeah. So I mean, it provides a lot all the way around, but definitely something that I cherish as a hobby, a creative outlet, something just for me, that’s not the usual mom grind.
Janice Cook 8:02 Yeah, and I’m so glad you mentioned that your kids are always watching you too. Because if we watch TV and we’re on our phone all day, they watch that. If we pursue our own creative hobbies, they watch that. If we go to the gym like you know, they get active. If we read, they read. And so it’s such a win-win, when it’s something that fills your cup and you’re modeling for them, like, Hey, it’s okay to be a whole person and have things you like doing and make time for that. So that’s such a beautiful thing too, that you’re doing what you need, but also noticing that, like, little people are watching over your shoulder, and they’re watching good things happen.
Caitlyn 8:37 Right.
Janice Cook 8:38 My younger daughter is so fascinated by these people who draw on their iPads, and that’s like, their job. She’s like, Well, why did you pick a boring job if there’s people who do that? And it’s like, well, everybody thinks different things are fun, my friend. My kids are always fascinated by the creative careers, and I love to see it.
Caitlyn 8:56 Yes, I also have a little realist and so I don’t know. I think the last time I was drawing something for Halloween, he’s like, Mom, that’s not what a bat looks like, and they’re not purple. And I’m like, well, you know what in my imagination, this is what a bat looks like, and they’re purple, and they make funny faces, and
Janice Cook 9:12 Right? And we get to push back a little bit. We’re like, hey, hey,
Caitlyn 9:16 I get some pushback. I get critique, for sure, lots of critiquing, but it’s fun. It’s a fun thing to do with them.
Janice Cook 9:23 It’s good, though, because you’d rather hear it before it goes to production than have it like, get photo copied and in someone’s classroom, and then they’re like, what’s this? We welcome the feedback. So overall, your business has felt like a win-win. Were there any seasons that were a little bumpy and maybe didn’t quite feel like a win-win?
Caitlyn 9:42 I mean, absolutely. I think all of us, especially those of us that are the super creative brains, you know, there’s always the anxiety of, I’m creating something which is a vulnerable space, and if someone doesn’t like it, you know, like that hits hard. So I think for a lot of clip artists and creatives, that’s always something that’s you know, kind of scary. And I know for every TPTer those negative reviews can hit hard, you know. So there’s, there’s getting used to that, just putting products out there that you’re creating, no matter what it is. I think there’s ups and downs to that, just on the day to day. But I think overall, I mean, you know, I’ve been at this since 2017 here and there. And I think the biggest sticky situations I feel like, come from trying something new and not reaching out to other TPTers. Like, if you’re doing something and you feel like you’re doing it alone, you know – like when I first started, I didn’t know anybody. I just made a store was going to make these assessments because it was something that I needed. I wanted a hobby. I didn’t really have any goals. But once I got into the networking space, you know, through Instagram, and I found other TPT years like me, who were new, and we all I even started like a group chat at one point, and we would talk just all day, every day, all of our questions, all of our ideas bouncing off of each other. And I think at that time, that was probably about 2018 so I’ve probably been at it for about a year. And when I found that group of people, things felt easier, it felt better, felt less scary. I also found Lisa Markle, who I’ve adopted as a mentor from the beginning, and
Janice Cook 11:17 big fan.
Caitlyn 11:18 Yeah, even when I wasn’t doing clip art, yet I just, you know, I was always asking her questions. How do you do this? How do you draw it? How do you make it? What do you use, you know, and so I think once I came to a point where I wasn’t afraid to ask questions and ask for help and find people who were doing things that I wanted to do. It felt better. It felt easier. It felt like it had a direction.
Janice Cook 11:40 And so many people talk about this as a lonely business, but like, it doesn’t have to be. Do you feel like you knew that you needed community but didn’t know where to find it? Or do we just, like, naturally start alone and not know like, is there anyone else out there like me?
Caitlyn 11:58 Honestly, I’ve never really thought about it that way. Um, I mean, I would say me personally, I started it alone, and was like, oh, let’s just see what happens. And I never thought about people on Instagram or anything like that. I think I stumbled upon other TPTers when I was doing a VIPKID, that era of all of us that were in there.
Janice Cook 12:17 Hashtag memories
Caitlyn 12:18 Yeah and that’s actually where, that’s how I found Lisa. I think I reached out to her before I was done teaching kindergarten, and I was like, Hey, I might be interested in this after I have my baby. Like, can you tell me about it? And then I found out she did TPT, and then I found out she made clip art. And I was just like, oh my gosh, I want to be you when I grow up. You know, like, that sounds so cool.
Janice Cook 12:37 It sounds funny. But one of my favorite parts of, like, my VIPKID era was that you couldn’t teach past, like, where I lived, 9 or 10am and so it was like, The Secret Lives of 100,000 people, and what everyone did after 10am. Because either you were, like, going back into mom mode or taking over someone’s shift for childcare, or, like, your kids were not going to be home for like, four more hours. And so, like, I wasn’t going to spend my day in a Facebook group just scrolling the day away. Like, what all these people seem to have these like, secret lives and these other online things. And I think that was the most exciting part of that journey for me, was the connections, because I met Lisa in the same phase of life too, because she was like, yeah so I taught a couple classes, but now I have this whole, like, other business I’m going to work on.
Caitlyn 13:23 Yeah, and I thought that was just so cool. I mean, at that time, I didn’t have the capacity, really, for both. But at that time, you know, my husband was gone a lot in the military, and I was home with a baby, and was learning that journey on its own, by myself, no family, no friends, you know. So it was nice I could get up early in the morning, before my baby woke up and work for a couple hours. Have something to do, other people to talk to. So, yeah, I think that’s how I found Lisa. And then, you know, I kind of realized, Oh, this is like a whole community of people online who do this that I can talk to. And then I found out a lot of them were TPTers. And it just kind of transitioned from there, you know. And the older my kiddo got, and the more independent he was, the more time I had to work on it. Funny, I feel like we all kind of have a similar journey, in that way, kind of a roller coaster of things we tried and, you know, we kind of ping ponged around.
Janice Cook 14:09 Well and you meet some people and they’re like, this is what I do. And I’m like, Oh, well, I want to, never want to do that. And then you meet other people and they’re like, this is what I do. And I’m like, huh, I would like to learn more about that. Right? We don’t jump on every opportunity. And I’ve heard that there are people that just like, learn creative hobbies for fun, right? You can hop on Skillshare, learn how to draw. You don’t have to turn it into a business. I’ve heard it’s a rumor. The people I hang out with usually, like, can’t help themselves, right? We learn a new skill, and instantly we’re like, wait a second, I could monetize this hobby
Caitlyn 14:40 Exactly.
Janice Cook 14:41 Definitely run into a lot of people that are wired the same way, and that feels so validating along the journey, too. You’re like, oh, maybe these tiny people I’m spending my day with aren’t exactly like me, but it’s good to know there are people out there that are interested in similar things.
Caitlyn 14:58 That’s the other sticky situation, too. So that I would, I would point out, because I don’t know, I mean, I feel, it feels like I’ve been doing this for a long time, but on the grand scheme of things, and compared to other sellers, I still feel like a baby store. I still feel like I’m still learning, you know, I’m just now kind of honing into what I really like making and what other people like for me to make, you know. And I feel like, when you’re new and when you first find that community, finding the community is like finding the gold mine, because then you feel better about everything you’re doing. You’re more confident, you have more of a direction. But I do think that there’s like a second layer of that where you start to get this, I have to do all the things feeling and I got stuck in that. And Lisa and I talked about that a lot, and especially she and I, you know, we’re very creative brained, we’re DIY ers, we’re very I can do it myself, well, I could do that. I could learn how to do it like you said, you know, like there’s a new skill set, or someone’s telling me I need to write a blog and have a website and an email list and of this and of that. And then you tie it back to what you said before. I still have kids at home. So when you think you still have all this time to do this, I don’t have time to run a blog and an email and draw all of these things, you know. So I think those of us who are newer or younger stores, I would say most of us have been through a space where we thought we had to do all the things, and then we became overwhelmed and the pressure we put on ourselves to do all the things. And I actually took a step back about a year ago. I just put my ttpt store down and walked away. I didn’t touch it for about eight months, and it’s because I I recognized that, and I realized this was supposed to be a hobby. This was supposed to just be fun. This thing I did where I created fun things, and if people liked it, they bought it, and I kind of got spun up into this, I have to do all these things, and I was feeling like I wasn’t getting my to do list done every day. I think that’s around the time you and I met, and you’ve been kind of coaching me through how to organize tasks and what was realistic to get done and to plan and what wasn’t. And so I would say that’s a big sticky situation where the community is helpful, but you also have to be careful of all the advice and all the things that are coming out through our communities, and not get stuck in this. You have to do it all.
Janice Cook 17:10 It’s shiny. It’s overwhelming. It’s a lot.
Caitlyn 17:14 A lot. And there are so many people who do it and do it so well, and they juggle all the things, and they’re fantastic at it. I’m not one of those people. And, you know, I don’t know what decides that maybe it’s Lisa and I talk a lot about the things we like about this business, and things we don’t like, the things we enjoy doing, the things we don’t enjoy doing, and those things get put on the back burner, and just accepting the fact that that’s okay. You know, like, Instagram might not be the best place to market my clip art, but it’s the one I enjoy, so that’s the one I’ll put some effort into.
Janice Cook 17:41 And not that we recommend that everybody like, shut down their like game and put their business down for eight months. But there is a beauty in you know, when you’re too close to it and the hamster wheel’s running, you don’t know what’s working and what’s not, and where the traffic is coming from, and what efforts are fruitful and what’s just like making you exhausted. And when you actually do step away and see, like, what’s the minimum that I can do, and it still runs on autopilot. Okay, cool. So things are still selling. That’s weird. How are they still selling? Is it content I’ve made in the past that’s still showing up on my dashboard? Am I just playing the TPT search bar game? What is showing up on the dashboard? Okay, maybe I’ll make time and add one tiny thing back on my plate. But there’s so many things that we’ve tried and thrown spaghetti at the wall, and if we don’t actually ever step back and say, like, is that getting me anywhere? Then it could just be stealing time from other things. So I think there’s a beautiful clarity that comes from just shutting it all down and stepping back a little bit.
Caitlyn 18:41 Yeah, it was eye opening, and that was a time when I came back to it. I’ve been very cognizant of what I accept to put on my desk and what I don’t and what I’m willing to put effort into, especially those those parts that I don’t super love – you know, those admin tasks, those things that aren’t just like drawing all day, because that’s what’s fun – the marketing aspects, you know, like some of it I find kind of like fun to put together, and some of it I absolutely dread. And so, yeah, I mean, coming back to it, I was looking a lot more at data. I was looking at, okay, if I’m going to come back to this and I’m going to bring it back down to a hobby level that I enjoy, what is it I’m going to put my effort into, in these small pockets of time around mom life that I can. And you know, looking at that data, I was kind of surprised, you know, you said you didn’t know about me making the assessments first, one of the first ever assessments I made, and it’s a standalone product, and it’s still a best seller every month. And even for a while, it wasn’t even listed, so it was just being found in a search on TPT.
Janice Cook 18:42 And I feel like I have a good eye on your marketing, and I’ve never seen you talk about it.
Caitlyn 18:50 I don’t yeah, and now I’m, you know what? It’s, uh, it’s something maybe I should talk about because it’s selling super well. And maybe if I talked about it, that would help.
Janice Cook 19:53 Well, maybe. But also, what beautiful clarity that like this is a best seller without me talking about it. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t like talking about it. Sometimes we can just leave well enough alone. Yeah, you could double down on it. That’s an option. But it’s also okay to just let it ride sometimes.
Caitlyn 20:13 And that’s kind of what I’ve done with it. And, you know, every now and then now that I’ve kind of come back to some marketing things and putting things out there, like on Instagram and Pinterest and stuff. I’ll throw it in there and just kind of see what happens. But you know, like, the the gurus have even said, you know, you have something that sells really well, like, extend it, expand on it, make another version of it, whatever. I’ve even tried that, and it’s like crickets. So I don’t know about this one resource, you know, it’s, it’s in there, so. But looking at the data, I found that I also found what I was really passionate about coming back into creating isn’t selling as well as something I had already started creating, and in my mind, wasn’t a complete product line. So then I kind of, I kind of came back to the space feeling like I have multiple incomplete product lines. So I need to look at the ones people really like, right? And that’s what I needed to put my my effort into.
Janice Cook 21:02 It’s hard. The things that we want to make aren’t always the things that people need the most. And that’s such an inner pull. It’s like, well, I want to enjoy this, but I don’t know. I guess I could pick something that I B+ enjoy. It doesn’t have to be the the loath pile, but it doesn’t have to be like, it’s no fun to make things and have them not sell either. So we have to meet somewhere in the middle. I love how protective with your time you became. I think there’s so much wisdom every year that you run your business. I think we say things at the beginning, like, I don’t have time for that right now, but I’m gonna work on that next year. I’m gonna add that to my plate next year. And then there is, like, this confidence that comes as you run your business, where you’re just like, I don’t think I’m ever gonna do that actually. I think I’m just like, I think I’m just gonna pass on that. And I think it takes a number of years in business to stop reflex saying, like, oh yeah, I should be doing that. I’m going to do it later. And then it’s like, the stages of grief, and then you’re like, No, I know me, I will never be participating.
Caitlyn 22:03 You come to a place of acceptance that I don’t have time or effort for that right now.
Janice Cook 22:08 Yeah and so we’re talking about the dangers of, like, doing things alone and in a tunnel. And community is beautiful, but there’s like, the two shoulders that you have with your community. So we have, like, the influence of the other sellers. Every day I’m in a Facebook group, somebody talks about one new thing they did that absolutely changed their life and blew up their sales and made them so much money. And they’re in that moment you want to, like, stop and do that too. So that’s so hard to fight every single day. But then you have the words of your customers, right? And now that you have access to customers, and you’ve been in your business a while, they’re like, can you make me this? Can you make me that? And of course, you want to say yes, but your time is finite. You have to check in on the time that you have, what else you have planned, what brings you joy, and then I love that you brought in the data. Because there are times where people are like, can you make this one thing for me? I’m like, Oh, I could, but I probably have to make this other thing that lots of people want.
Caitlyn 23:05 That’s been something you learn as you go, for sure. Because, you know, in the beginning it was just like, oh, people want me to draw things, yeah, give me all the suggestion. And then I came to a place where I was like, Okay, I can’t draw all of these things. Or, like, this one thing someone asked for is so specific. You know, it would basically have to be a personalized clip art set, or whatever, which I have done a few of those here and there. And I’ve come to a place, I think, where I can balance those a little better, and I can kind of predict what people are going to ask for, you know, or like, right now I’m, I’m trying to get through all of the ASL holidays. And so when I didn’t have Thanksgiving done, when I should have had it done, you know, I had a couple emails. I had a couple messages. They’re like, Hey, you’re going to make this right? And I’m like, yeah, it’s on my desk. I promise it’s coming. You know, yeah. And so those conversations, they can be hard, but when you come to a place where you know what you have the capacity for and the things that you don’t, it’s become easier to even explain. You know, I really want to do this for you. I don’t know when I can get to it, but if you send me some ideas, shoot me an email, I’ll write it down, and I’ll get back to you. And I do that a lot. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, it’s good to form those relationships. It’s good to get those one offs done and and I also view those sometimes as like a quick win project. You know, where sometimes I take on a clip art set that’s 60, 80, over 100 images, single that’s not black and white, too.
Janice Cook 24:20 We don’t always want to be in a giant product line,
Caitlyn 24:23 right? And like those big ones, I’m a typical creative brain. I get bored and I need something else to do. So I like to bounce. I had someone ask me specifically to tweak one of my freebies the other day, and it sat on my desk on a sticky note for months, and I told them. I said, I will get to it, I just don’t know when. And that was something that I took that opportunity one day where I was just like, so tired of creating the same thing over and over again, and I needed a break.
Janice Cook 24:50 Updating freebies is so hard because you’re not going to get any ROI from that. It’s going to make one person happy, but like, you’re not going to make any money. But it became a win-win in that situation where your creative brain needed something to pivot to. Well, okay, now I can pull from my freebie update list.
Caitlyn 25:08 Right. And it was one of those things that took me, like, five minutes, and from a teacher standpoint, I understood, and that’s another kind of sticky part of TPT, is a lot of us are stay at home moms now, and we’re not in the classroom. And I haven’t been in the classroom for over six years. And so sometimes, sometimes I even will reach out to, like, some of my customers that I know that request a lot, and I’m like, Hey, I’m thinking of doing this. Like, tell me what problems you’re going to run into. Tell me how to make this the best way for you, because I don’t have a classroom to set this on a desk and watch what happens. So having those connections is definitely, it’s definitely really important, and it it makes the job a lot easier as well. So requests and suggestions, ideas, I try to pose those as like requests and suggestions and not like specific asks or needs, because I’m trying not to promise ahead of time you know what I can and can’t over commit to.
Janice Cook 25:55 And I think we get better about the language that we use when we talk to our customers too. Like saying – what are some phrases I use in customer service a lot, I say like, I’ll add that to the list of suggestions the next time this product is updated. No timeline. Or I’ll say, like, I agree that change should be made or that should be added. It’s not going to happen this school year, but it’s definitely going to happen. So they can just know, right? If they need it for this school year, they need to go look somewhere else and, like, I free them and welcome them to do that, right? So giving them some sign or clue, or it’s okay sometimes to say, like, I’m not planning on making any more changes to this resource, or I’m not planning on adding a French version, a German version, a Japanese so this, like, I’m not planning on adding any French resources to my store is a complete sentence. It’s okay to say that sometimes, once we write like a Spanish version, they’re like, Could I also I’m like – sometimes you just have to decide what your policy is. And it’s not mean to be that clear. But I never want to lead people on either, and have them think I’m making something for them that I’m not.
Caitlyn 26:59 Absolutely. I ran into that when I first started making the sign language clip art. You know, it’s American Sign Language. It’s a language that I know, that I was fluent in, that I’m a little rusty now, but I was fluent at one point. I have taught it in the past. It’s a language that I know in and out and have used on the day to day. And when I first started making that clip art, I had a wave of teachers from Australia. They were like, can you please make Australian Sign Language clip art? It’s called Auslan. And I was like, I want to, but I don’t know that language. So like the steps that already takes for me to create images of another language. You’re adding a whole nother layer to that that I have to learn the language, if I’m going to appropriately draw it.
Janice Cook 27:42 Yeah,
Caitlyn 27:43 for you. And I had so much interest in it, I finally did give in. I said, Okay, if you can get four or five of you together, and you’re going to have to help me, because I don’t want to put something out there. I don’t want to draw these images. And then you come back and say, Oh, well, that’s wrong. That’s not the way the hand moves that you know it’s facing the wrong way. Blah, blah, blah.
Janice Cook 28:00 It’s such a bigger investment of your time. It’s not like we just retype a word that’s a much tougher backtracking game to be in.
Caitlyn 28:07 Right. So I’m like, I need online dictionaries. I need resources. I got to see this language in action, because when I draw these I’m drawing a static image of movement. So I have to make that’s already challenging, like, I have to make that accurate to your language. And so we did. I had a group of teachers, and it was really fun. And there was a lot of times where they’re like, oh, that’s definitely not right. Or, you know, like in American Sign Language, there’s like, 26 signs for peanut across the country, and then where you live on how you sign the word, word peanut. And then Australian sign language, like, some of the letters are that way, some of the colors are that way. So then I was like, Okay, well, so it was very involved. And I have had a lot more. I made a basics bundle. It’s just like, your alphabet, colors, emotions and numbers. I think because I was like, I want to get you guys something, I see the need for it,
Janice Cook 28:54 yeah,
Caitlyn 28:54 but now they want me to keep going. And
Janice Cook 28:56 of course, they do.
Caitlyn 28:57 You know, animals, food, all these things. And I’m like, Guys, I haven’t even gotten to all of those, you know, that’s why, when I say I still feel like a baby store, like I’m just now really honing in on what people are asking for. And so I’m like, I gotta get that done in the language I know first, you know
Janice Cook 29:11 for sure,
Caitlyn 29:12 and then I can maybe, maybe next year, you know, I can branch out and learn a whole nother sign language, but I haven’t promised anything, so
Janice Cook 29:20 I almost wonder if the solution there is, like, more matchmaker like, where, like, you’re probably connected to a lot of other deaf educators. And if you could find someone who, like, did have some experience in that, you could almost not add someone to your team, but find someone that you’re like, you know, Lisa close with, who’s developing, like, a parallel product line. Because not that you want to train your own competition, but sometimes it does help you breathe a little bit, and then you have that permission to focus on this, because you don’t feel the guilt about that market. You just don’t have time for.
Caitlyn 29:48 Sure, yeah, and I mean, the teacher in me, the deaf educator in me, is like, Oh my gosh like, you need this so much, but I just cannot commit to that right now.
Janice Cook 29:56 And I think all of us feel – we all have that service heart as teachers. We want to solve every problem for every kid and every teacher, if we possibly can, and we couldn’t in the classroom, and we can’t in our businesses. And it’s, it’s heartbreaking to go to bed at night knowing like you didn’t solve every problem.
Caitlyn 30:12 Absolutely,
Janice Cook 30:13 I know sometimes it feels like you’re the only one who can solve the problem, and that’s that’s really tough. So having a community, it was like a pro and a con, but overall, a lot of things got easier once you had met some other humans in the space, right?
Caitlyn 30:26 Absolutely. Mm, hmm.
Janice Cook 30:27 And then what about like when you said you were making products at the beginning? Are we just, like, winging it with, like, YouTube videos? Are we on Skillshare? Are we just, like, – it’s so hard when I think about how we made those first few products, like, where did you go? Where did you go to learn how to do it at the beginning?
Caitlyn 30:44 That’s a really great question. I think the first products I ever made were assessments. And I made like a reading log, a reading like folder had like trackers, and it had like certificates and stuff in it. And I think a lot of what I did at the beginning was maybe either things that I had in my classroom that I wanted to make my own cutesie stylistic version of, or they were things that I needed and didn’t have. And I think the creative in me just I want everything to be cute all the time, so I was even kind of remaking things that I had that maybe I wanted to be better, tweaked or different,
Janice Cook 31:22 Yeah, sometimes when you have to teach that lesson tomorrow, you have to, like, stop at good enough. You’re like, Well, this has to go to the copy machine right now, it is kind of nice to have a time before, like, you repeat the lesson the next year, to be like, Ah, now I would like to get it a little cuter.
Caitlyn 31:37 Yeah, absolutely. So I think I mean, as far as where I went to learn things, at that point, I was just making, like, worksheet level things, and so I’m sure I just, I saw, you know, among the communities, what does everybody use? Use word, use, PowerPoint. There was a lot of trial and error at that time. And I think, you know, I had just come out of grad school not too long before that, where I was making a lot of my own lesson plan materials. Because Teachers Pay Teachers was a thing back then, but it wasn’t quite as big, I feel like, or
Janice Cook 32:05 My niche, I always say, didn’t have a whole lot, like I went to the search bar, I just didn’t find anything.
Caitlyn 32:10 Yeah, and I mean, in the deaf ed world, that’s that’s definitely a thing. There wasn’t a lot out there. And our jobs are so specific to each kiddo and their goals that it’s hard to kind of find those across the board resources that you can just download and use. So, yeah, I mean, I think I just did a lot of playing around in PowerPoint. Looking back some of the things I’m like, Man, I was tedious. I spent so long doing that.
Janice Cook 32:31 That’s what I was wondering. I think at the beginning, you’re so proud that you made a thing, and then there comes this moment where you see these stores have, like, 3000 products or whatever, and you’re like, I bet there’s a faster way to do this. That’s the beauty of community. It’s like, there must be a course, there must be a trick, there must be a something.
Caitlyn 32:52 When I switched to clip art, I mean, that was all Lisa. She was my mentor. I was asking her 8 million question. We’re talking, you know, on Instagram every day. She reintroduced me. You know, I did a lot of art stuff back in high school, a lot of Adobe, Illustrator, Photoshop, all those things. But it had been years, and I didn’t remember any of that. The iPads came out with the Apple pencils, and that was all brand new. So I was even jumping into different technology than like Lisa used. So she was kind of helping me navigate those things. So I did a lot of Skillshare in the beginning. When I switched to clip art, it was definitely Skillshare, YouTube, I started following a lot of illustrators on Instagram that I liked and just like watching them draw in the the programs that they used.
Janice Cook 33:35 I think clip artists do a beautiful job balancing competition and community. Because obviously, if I am searching for clip art, I could buy from you, or I could buy from Lisa, but it’s not like that. It’s like which one of you has what I need. You’re not making the same stuff. Her watercolor and her glitter style is completely different. I’ve used almost exclusively your clip art inside my boom cards. They were just like the perfect color saturation for those drag and drop types of activities, and they were so clear, and you always had in the catalog what I needed. But I’ve used her stuff for, like, presentation type stuff that I’ve done for professional development, and making killer slide decks, something where maybe it’s not printable, maybe it’s a different situation, and so it’s not competition, because, like, she’s never going to make sign language resources, and you’re probably not venturing into watercolor anytime soon, and so you don’t have to worry about, like, sharing your tips with another person. It’s just fun to talk shop with someone else who’s doing the same thing you are.
Caitlyn 34:36 Absolutely and I would say Sasha, she was a big one too, that I just I was
Janice Cook 34:41 She’s fantastic
Caitlyn 34:42 She is, and I was very nervous to, you know, pick her brain and ask her questions. And one day, I was just like, hey, I got an iPad, like, can you teach me your ways? And how do you do this? And she was so just open and supportive. And there’s been a few times where she has shared things that I’ve created on her Instagram, and I’m over here just fan girling. Like, oh my gosh Sasha likes something that I made, you know,
Janice Cook 35:03 right?
Caitlyn 35:04 So, I mean, there definitely is that in the clip art community. There’s quite a few clip artists that I’ve asked, you know, Hey, how did you make this? Or what program did you use for that – Lily, barefoot and bilingual, I talked to her a lot. Like, hey, you know you and your husband are cranking out clip art like crazy. How did you make this one? Or how are you templating this? So there is a lot of community, and I think there’s enough respect for the things that I enjoy creating and I’m good at creating. And like you said, Lisa is known for her watercolor and her glitter and her, you know, very decorative and cute clip art, and so we all balance that really well, and are perfectly fine supporting and helping each other in a way that doesn’t feel competitive well.
Janice Cook 35:44 And if someone comes to you and asks you makes a customer request that you know you’re not going to get to, it feels good not to just say no and to be like, Okay, I don’t have that. But like, I know someone who does.
Caitlyn 35:54 Absolutely. Yeah. Like, I’ve been asked a few times, are you ever going to make, you know, CVC clip art and rhyming clip art and like, I would love to, and I’m not gonna lie, I tried. I don’t have it to me. I don’t have the attention span for it. But, you know who has great CVC clip art, right? Sasha. Go to Sasha. She’s got all of it. She’s got you covered every season, you know.
Janice Cook 36:11 Right? And you can say, like, if you already use my stuff in your store this other set, like, mixes well with, like, what you’re going for, you know, you can help them solve their problem. The only way to solve their problem isn’t to make them what they asked for. Sometimes they don’t even know what they need. They’re just like, starting a conversation. And I think it’s, it’s a beautiful thing to be able to play matchmaker and send them to a solution that doesn’t add 15,000 hours of work on your plate.
Caitlyn 36:38 Absolutely. And we love, like, I love getting the emails that are kind of that way, like half thought, half baked ideas,
Janice Cook 36:44 yeah,
Caitlyn 36:45 because I’m getting to talk. You know, it’s one thing for us to bounce ideas off of each other, those of us who are creators, but to have someone who needs something, or wants something, or is dreaming up some really cool, you know, curriculum activity or whatever, and even if they come at me and don’t know what they need, just having their perspective is so valuable, because they’re the ones trying to use whatever it is we need to create for them, or whatever. So those conversations are definitely valuable. And I do. I think there’s a there’s a tone out there among clip artists of how much we love and don’t love requests and suggestions and things like that because some people like absolutely don’t want to hear it. Some people are open to it. People are open to it. And I think I’ve just reached that place where I can be honest. I’m like, Look, let’s talk. I love talking about it. I’ll tell you what I’m able to do for you and what I think I can I can make happen, and if not, I know who to pass you off to, and maybe they can make that happen.
Janice Cook 37:35 Right, and just being open to the conversation but I think that comes back to what we said before. We’ve gotten better at having those conversations. They feel a little bit better, because we don’t feel trapped and guilty and overwhelmed by them. Yeah, so in this season where you were at the beginning working all by yourself, you also mentioned that, like you didn’t have goals. But I just want to say that it’s really hard to have goals when you’re working in a vacuum, like if you don’t know what other people are doing. How, like, how would you set goals? Right? How do we know what’s possible? How do we know what other people are doing? I don’t think it’s bad. I think if we’re really look in the mirror at the beginning of our journey, none of us had goals because we we didn’t know it was possible. We were we were just throwing a dart and having fun, and that’s totally okay, too. I think there has to be something to compare to to even know what to write down for your goals.
Caitlyn 38:26 Absolutely.
Janice Cook 38:27 I remember those goal setting meetings we used to have with administrators right where you have to set some sort of measurable, SMART goals so that they can do their paperwork. And they’re like, what’s your goal this year? And you’re always like, I don’t know to like, serve my students, to stay alive, to not die. And they’re like, you can’t write that. Like, okay, that’s why I’d always say, like, Well, why don’t you give me some examples? Like, I need a Cheesecake Factory menu or something?
Caitlyn 38:49 Yeah, I would say that’s something I still struggle with. And I know you and I have had conversations in the past where I’m like, Well, I had all these goals, or I thought I was writing the right goals. And then we get to December and I’m like, well, one, where did I put that list of goals, and two, I think my goals maybe shifted four times since I wrote them. And you know how that feels like almost a bad thing. And I know you talk a lot about how, you know that’s good and normal, and you can push through that, but that’s still something that I’m trying to wrap my brain around, still feeling like a baby store, still trying to navigate exactly what I need to be creating, what people are wanting, and now I feel like I’m able to make more concrete goals if that make sense.
Janice Cook 39:23 Caitlyn and I are recording this conversation at the very end of 2024 I can share that I only set one goal for myself in 2024 because it was really important, and it had been put off and, like, fallen off the list year after year after year. And so I didn’t know if it was too big or too small or not, but I was just, I didn’t want to carry it into the next calendar year, one more stinking time. And so I broke it into, like, lots of tiny pieces so I’d actually have a shot. I actually figured out why it was stuck, and I finished it in May. And then it was like, Well, do I set a new goal? Do I have to whatever? And I was. Like, honestly, I could take a nap for the next seven months, like I was just so grateful that I got one thing done. So I think it takes time for us to figure out how big a goal sets us up for, like, fear and paralysis, and how big a goal like, feels like we’re excited to chase it.
Caitlyn 40:17 Absolutely
Janice Cook 40:18 We’ve all set goals that didn’t stand a chance right out of the gates.
Caitlyn 40:23 I am prime bite off more than I can chew goal setter. So I’ve tried to kind of ease back on goal setting and have more of a product line focus. Like I want to finish creating this. I want this to feel like it’s done. So how many more holidays or celebrations do I need to add to this line.
Janice Cook 40:41 Or I want to keep this product line the main thing for the whole year, and not get distracted and go start something else? Like, maybe I don’t finish it, maybe I don’t know how long it even takes. Maybe I don’t know how long I have, but maybe, maybe the goal is just to know that I kept it my focus, like, I kept the main thing, the main thing, I worked on what I was supposed to, whatever that means, worked on.
Caitlyn 41:06 Yeah, my husband says I suffer from the good idea fairy because, you know, and Lisa and I are talking about soul time. We’ll send each other voice messages like, Oh my gosh. What do you think of this great idea I just had? And, you know, if it’s me, she’s like, okay, but do you have time for that? Like, did you finish the last five things you wanted to do? Yeah, we have those pep talks with each other, and we’re like, Okay, put it on a brand dump list. But yeah? Like, I struggle with that too. And I know a lot of clip artists also, you know, we’re inspired to draw Halloween when it’s Halloween time.
Janice Cook 41:35 Lisa has talked to me about that a lot,
Caitlyn 41:37 Yeah but teachers need Halloween clip art to make Halloween resources in August
Janice Cook 41:42 Right in the summer, and you guys don’t want to draw spiders in August, because that’s not the vibe,
Caitlyn 41:48 No, like, right now, all I want to do is, like, put everything down and draw, like, gingerbread houses and things. But, you know, I should be working on Valentine’s Day and Saint Patrick’s Day,
Janice Cook 41:56 And that could have been some of the story with the Thanksgiving resource that was a little bit on fire for you, you know? it’s like, well, I’m not feeling the Thanksgiving vibes. Thank you very much. The vibes have not arrived.
Caitlyn 42:07 They have not
Janice Cook 42:08 and I know for me, I had to identify, like, what was stuck about that sometimes it is, like, I’m putting this on my to do list at the wrong time of year. For me, I had this, like, block that it was something I had to do myself, because it was a skill set that, like, maybe I had, but like, there was obviously a reason I wasn’t doing it, so I finally had to, like, hire part of it out for help. So I had, like, the accountability and the skin in the game, and like, someone else as a thought partner. I was like, yeah, maybe I should have been able to do it myself, but the data has proven that, like, it ain’t gonna happen,
Caitlyn 42:36 Right? Fair.
Janice Cook 42:37 So it’s either gonna be on my to do list forever, or, like, someone’s gonna have to help, and that’s okay, too. I felt all the feels about it, but sometimes you just have to realize, like, why is this stuck? Maybe I have to realize, like, I just can’t make Halloween things in August. Let me stop putting that on my to do list for August.
Caitlyn 42:52 Yeah, hard to swallow, but definitely relatable
Janice Cook 42:55 Yeah but like, also a victory once you get to know yourself a little better, a lot of these things feel less sticky
Caitlyn 43:01 Absolutely.
Janice Cook 43:02 So in terms of balancing community and figuring out the right balance of, like, professional development, you feel like once you got yourself out of your like, solitary tunnel, you started to maybe enjoy your business a little more?
Caitlyn 43:15 Absolutely. Yeah, like, once I got the hang of what I wanted to create and learning how to create it, because, like, I’ve always been a creative person, but drawing digitally is a whole different ballpark, you know. So there was definitely skill building that needed to happen. And that’s when I was reaching out, asking a lot of questions, building that community. And then it was just really fun for a while. And then I would say, that’s when I got spun up in the situation of feeling like I needed to do all the things, I had a baby and a toddler, and I was just like, all right, I need to take a step back, and I need to reconfigure where my effort goes, how it goes. I’ve done this for a couple years, look at data, figure out what’s working, what’s not working, what I enjoy making, and what I don’t and coming back into it. And yeah, I mean, it feels a lot more enjoyable now. But I do think it takes, it takes that roller coaster. It takes that kind of full circle learning. You learn the business, you make the friends, you learn how to do the things, and then you sell them for a while. Well, then you need to look at that and how’s it doing, and from like, a big picture standpoint, okay, where do we go from here? And what do you do with that?
Janice Cook 44:13 And you have to get burned a couple times to learn what not to do again. And you have to have some wins to be like, Oh, more of that. I would do that again?
Caitlyn 44:21 Absolutely,
Janice Cook 44:22 There’s definitely some bumps and bruises along the way. Do you have a planning tool that’s worked for you in terms of storing the shiny ideas and keeping them like somewhere safe, but not on the 50 yard line where they’re like, tormenting you?
Caitlyn 44:37 That’s a great question. I feel like
Janice Cook 44:39 we all of like secret notepads, different colors of paper, digital planning tools have never been opened again. There’s no right answer here. It’s not a trap.
Caitlyn 44:47 Yeah I would say I’m definitely for being transparent. I’m definitely a million sticky notes on my desk kind of person, the traditional list in me, still loves pen to paper, as far as a planner, a list, a notebook, but I do function kind of on the day to day with more digital I would say. You and I worked quite a while. I was learning your asana magic, and I think that’s what really opened me up to digital planning and like the project management tool as a whole. And I was like, wow, my brain could make sense if I sit down and I put all of these ideas in the right places where I know where to go back and find them. So that was definitely eye opening through conversations that you and I had. And I still use Asana out as a big picture planning tool. I don’t use it as much day to day, and I think that’s more or less, because when my kids got more busy, we needed a family calendar, and then I had a family calendar, a work calendar. It was too much
Janice Cook 45:46 for sure.
Caitlyn 45:46 So my family and my day to day to do list runs on, like a Google Calendar. I also have a I have, like, a notion set up now that I can do some big picture planning, and that’s the one that I’m hands on more day to day, I have a brain dump list in there. I have, like, a week layout where I can put my to do list and my my little check boxes that we all love so much, the dopamine rush of checking those things off, that’s how I function day to day, for sure.
Janice Cook 46:14 And I love Asana. It serves certain problems for me. But I’ll tell you, right above my computer right now is a clipboard with a piece of card stock that has, like, my game plan for this month. There’s always space here for a blend of pen and paper and digital. They’re good for different things. Sometimes I have to map something out to make sure it all fits in the container. But then, like, yeah, I need to check things off too. I need to, like, highlight things on that piece of card stock. I make a list of everything I have to do for the whole month, like the absolute non negotiables deliverables out the door before the month ends. And then I like to race, like I want to finish this list before the month ends,
Caitlyn 46:51 absolutely
Janice Cook 46:52 The faster I get to the end of this list. I need that whole paper to turn into checked off. I think that’s the gamification for me. So I know that, like, if that piece of paper fell off my desk, my business would be just fine. It’s like the little gamification that I need to keep going
Caitlyn 47:07 Absolutely, yeah, I think that’s where I landed. And I think it that takes learning through this too, you know, like I did the thing where I made an entire binder for the entire year and did the whole planning session, and then I quickly realized I never touched that binder again because there’s too much,
Janice Cook 47:21 yeah, and there’s so much pressure in a binder, I’m like, but what if I have to move something? What if I have to cross something out? It’s so beautiful, it’s ready for a museum.
Caitlyn 47:30 Yeah, I’ve adopted more of – you talked about this before, and this was just like, mind blowing to me – like, the good, better, best, I kind of function off of that. I plan as far as, like, dates and deadlines on a weekly basis. I don’t even go as far as a month like you do. I wish I could, but then things won’t happen when they’re supposed to. It’ll stress me out, and I’ll feel like I fail. So I go on a week to week basis, but I have that big picture planning of, like, Okay, this quarter, I’d like these clip art sets to be on my desk. Or this month, I would like to hit these clip art sets. So that’s where I use Asana, or like notion where I have my big brain dump lists, and I can pull things out and, oh yeah, I wanted to start on that or a passion project. Let’s pull this over here, and maybe I can get to that this quarter. So, yeah, I use a mix, but I still love my sticky notes.
Janice Cook 48:16 I shared an office with a colleague that was obsessed with sticky notes, and I was just always afraid – I don’t trust sticky notes, because they don’t stay sticky forever. And like you mentioned that, like, freebie, that you were kind of pushing off for like, a while. I feel like if that sticky stopped being sticky and it fell down, I vacuumed it up, I would never remember that that existed.
Caitlyn 48:37 You know, I never really thought about that, but that is definitely a potential.
Janice Cook 48:42 I know that most people don’t have that fear, but I know when I shared an office with this colleague, I would voice that to her, like, once a month, I was like, Don’t you worry that someone’s gonna walk by really fast and it’s gonna evolve your computer and it’s literally gonna vanish and never get done. And she’s like, No, Janice, I don’t worry about that at all. She’s like, maybe you need to buy stickier sticky notes. I was like, Can we tape them down too? Can we, like, add tape? And she’s like, No, it’d be faster for me just to do things. I was like, well, then please do them, because the sticky notes stress me out.
Caitlyn 49:10 Sure or like, a notebook, right? Like, I have a designated spot on my desk where I keep a pile of stamps stuck together in a very messy pile, right? Like I should not be – It’s under my planner, which should be more organized, you know, but it’s fine. Would it make more sense to put that in a notebook? Absolutely. But do I have an entire shelf full of notebooks with bookmarks and sticky notes next to me? Yes, I do.
Janice Cook 49:35 Yeah but notebooks can close, and that’s very dangerous.
Caitlyn 49:38 Sure,
Janice Cook 49:39 There are many notebooks and binders that have been closed and never opened again. And I will say that’s part of why physical tools, I think, come in, like this month, at a glance plan that I have on a clipboard, on my wall, on a hook. I’m a tab hoarder. There’s, like, multiple monitors, lots of things open. So it’s great that I sketched out my game plan in a digital planning tool, but we don’t always have like a whole monitor to give up to keep that top of mind all the time. So I think it’s totally normal to sometimes have to carve out a physical spot, like you said. This is the spot where I keep my post it pile. That’s a system, girl. I’m not here to fight back against that.
Caitlyn 50:14 It’s one of those, it’s organized chaos. But I know, like if I need to address something, or I know where that sticky note or where that notebook went, as long as nobody touches it, nobody walks, falls off my chest.
Janice Cook 50:24 Sorry if I unlocked a new fear for you
Caitlyn 50:26 That’s okay. I’ll figure it out. I’ll get some tape it. Yeah, I would say that’s definitely part of the grind and part of the business journey is learning what works for you, because it’s like we’ve all tried all the things, we’ve all bought, all the planners and all the formats, and then you land somewhere in some kind of combination that will not work for anyone else, you know, but it works for you, and it works in this season. But you know, like my kids are in two more little league things than they were over the summer now, and I’m like, Man, I might need to rethink my planning system, because now I have to keep track of wrestling and karate and this and and all the things and that all mixes in with all the TPT things.
Janice Cook 51:01 Right? And what worked for you in that previous season? Yay. Thank you for your service. That was a great system. And also, like that, life is a memory.
Caitlyn 51:11 But things calm down over Christmas, and I have more brain space, and then I’ll jump back into Asana, where I had brain dump lists and I had ideas, and I know where to go find them, and they’re organized.
Janice Cook 51:21 Yeah and I have planning systems that work in the summer, when I’m not at my desk for a long period of time, and every day feels completely different. And then we are recording this on what is the first snow day of our season, because I live in New England, and that’s that’s a different plan and game in the winter, knowing that you make appointments and you plan for certain things, and that Mother Nature gets the vote on what you wake up to that morning, like that, that may just not be your day. And so you plan differently in the summer, and the same system does not work in the winter. And I think the more times we fight square peg, round hole and try to put things in this box, we just frustrate ourselves and feel shame. Whereas realize like, there’s the beauty where you’re like, I’m so glad I found a system that did work for 60 days. Like, let’s celebrate that. And if it worked for September and October, I might try it for September and October next year, but it’s fine if it doesn’t work, like, 12 months a year. Nobody said it had to.
Caitlyn 52:17 That’s fair.
Janice Cook 52:18 And I think you do a really beautiful job of realizing, like, what brings you joy and what doesn’t, what you have time for and what you don’t, what is cool for someone else and what you have no interest in bringing into your chaos season yourself. Like, love that for you. I want no part of that.
Caitlyn 52:36 It takes learning to get there, but it definitely makes it easier, more enjoyable once you are confident in that space
Janice Cook 52:41 for sure, and I think that that’s a muscle that we flex as business owners. When you read a book, you’re like, that was a really cool story. That was terrifying. I would never want to run a business like that. Like, thank you so much for sharing that story. I adopt none of that
Caitlyn 52:56 absolutely.
Janice Cook 52:57 Yeah. So I love learning how other people’s brains work and how their businesses work. I cannot draw. I find the fascinating creative world amazing. I love listening to how creative brains work. That is not how my brain is wired, but I am grateful for all the people who share their creativity, because I know that my creative abilities would not make students excited to learn.
Caitlyn 53:19 I don’t know about that. Everybody can draw a little bit. It’s fun, it’s fascinating. And even within, you know, like, I love it when Lisa posts the videos of her like drawing and coloring, because even within the creatives, we’re fascinated by each other and what makes them tick, and how it works. And, you know, like, I’ve talked to Sasha about her process, and I’m like, Man, I if I created something in the same process you do, I do, it would not turn out that cute and that cool, you know. So it’s fascinating, even among us as well.
Janice Cook 53:48 For sure. No, it’s I always love hearing the the behind the scenes of how people are making it all happen,
Caitlyn 53:56 Which is funny, because over here, behind the scenes, like on artists, we feel like a hot mess,
Janice Cook 54:00 but I think each one of us has, like, a couple of tricks that we have found through the bumps and the bruises. And when you bring in that community and you share like, gosh, if I can make one thing easier for one other person, I’m just so grateful. Because I know the moments where one person threw me a life raft and it made such an impact. And so we’ll always keep sharing. We’ll always keep asking questions.
Caitlyn 54:26 Absolutely,
Janice Cook 54:27 Caitlyn, if other people wanted to hang out with you more and connect with you, where is the best place to find you?
Caitlyn 54:33 Instagram absolutely, it’s my favorite. Oh, once upon a time when I thought it would be cool one day to learn how to make the GIFs that we use in our stories. I found out somebody told me. They were like, Hey, did you know people are talking about that over on Tiktok? And I was like, what? And I jumped over to Tiktok and I made an account, and everybody was making videos about the GIFs that I was making. I was like, Oh my gosh. Why all the they were like, we have TPT GIFs now. Like, where did these come from? And I was like, Oh, I did that. Hey.
Janice Cook 55:00 And you’re like, you should come to Instagram. That’s where all the cool kids are hanging out. I know. I was like, come over
Caitlyn 55:03 I know. I was like, come over to Instagram and we can talk all about it, and, you know, whatever. And that was literally just, I just think GIFs are fun. And I was bored one day, and I was like, You know what? I need a creative project, and that looks like fun, so I’m gonna make some
Janice Cook 55:16 And that’s community right there, though, when you’re scrolling for something and you’re like, Oh, someone made something just for me, such a warm hug moment.
Caitlyn 55:24 And they’re so fun. Like, I’m asking people all the time, like they’re super quick to make it’s definitely a quick dopamine rush, you know. And so I’m always telling my friends our teachers, my teachers, like, if you need GIFs, if you need one that says this, if you need one that says that, you know, let me know, and I’ll put out new collections of them, because they’re just fun. But yeah, that pulled me over to Tiktok once upon a time. And I don’t think I’ve ever been back, but definitely on Instagram. I love the creative, the aestheticness of of Instagram.
Janice Cook 55:50 I love it, so I will share your handle in the show notes. Do you want to share it here too, for people who might not ever make it to the show notes?
Caitlyn 55:57 the itsy bitsy dot classroom,
Janice Cook 55:59 The itsy bitsy dot classroom, and that is where we get to hang out and have community. Instagram is my happy place, too, and I’m grateful you shared this conversation coffee chat with me today,
Caitlyn 56:12 Absolutely well thank you for having me. This is fun.
Janice Cook 56:16 Thanks for making this podcast a part of your day. Do you have a win-win, teacher business story you’d like to share? Head to cookfamilyresources.com/podcast, to find my guest application. I’ll also leave that link in the show notes for you see you in the next episode.
Here is a playlist of other win-win teacher business stories that I think you’ll enjoy:
