Episode No. 1 Summary
In this episode of the Routine Your Dream Podcast, I’m pulling back the curtain on how I built a teacher online business with wildly inconsistent effort—yet still created predictable passive income streams. If you’ve ever felt behind or too overwhelmed to be “that entrepreneur,” this episode is your permission slip to go strategic instead of going hard.
If you’ve ever looked at full-time entrepreneurs and thought, “There’s no way I could do that while teaching,” …you’re not alone.
Truth is, I’ve never had a perfectly color-coded content calendar or a 6AM CEO routine (I’ve tried many o’ times). But what I *have* had is strategic, intentional pockets of effort—and somehow, that was enough to build a business that sustained me through wedding planning, moving out of state, and living on my terms.
I’m sharing the real journey behind how I built a passive income stream on TeachersPayTeachers (aka TPT) while teaching full time—no “hustle” required, because I sure didn’t.
The Reality of Inconsistent Effort (and Why It Still Worked)
Let’s be real. For most of my teaching career, I worked on my business with what can only be described as… *laughably inconsistent energy.*
I wasn’t working 20 hours a week on my business. I wasn’t batch posting content every Sunday. There were entire *months* where I didn’t touch my store, update a product, or post to Instagram—and yet, income still came in.
Why?
Because when I *did* show up, I got strategic. I focused on activities that had long-term payoff instead of day-to-day maintenance. It wasn’t hustle. It was leverage.
How My Teacher Business Grew in Stages
At first, my goal was simple: extra gas money. Then it became upgrading my grocery cart with organic products.
Eventually, it became a consistent $1,000+/month I could come to rely on—even when I didn’t log in for 30 days straight (or more). That stability gave me the freedom to fund my wedding and honeymoon without stress.
Then my TPT store matched my husband’s salary and it allowed him to transition to pursuing his own real estate business without worrying about a consistent paycheck. And when I moved from Ohio to North Carolina, I wasn’t scrambling to take the first teaching job that came my way.
My business gave me breathing room. And it grew in *very realistic* stages:
First: $100–$200/month: Just-in-case money
Next: $500/month: Guilt-free groceries + classroom extras like my favorite little ikea couch
Then: 💸 $1,000+/month: Real lifestyle impact started (paying off student loans, traveling)
The Teacherpreneur Shift From Chaos to Strategy
Before I got intentional, my workflow was a whirlwind of:
– Chasing Instagram engagement
– Googling random things everyone else was doing like, ‘how to use Tailwind’
– Randomly updating TPT product covers and previews with no rhyme or reason
– Half-starting three marketing plans at once
Eventually, I stopped asking, “What’s the next thing I *could* do?” and started asking, “What’s the one thing that will work the hardest *for* me?”
That’s when I learned the power of focused, repeatable tasks—things that compound even when I’m not “on” because Lord knows I’m the epitome of when I’m on I’m on and when I’m off, I’m offfff.
Leveraging My Teacher Commute to Increase My TPT Sales
When I started working in a district that was 30–40 minutes from home, I turned my car into a classroom.
It’s an actual strategy called “Automobile University.”
Every day, I listened to podcasts and audiobooks on business, personal growth, and digital marketing. Over time, those commutes added up to a *massive* mindset shift. I no longer saw myself as “just a teacher dabbling in business.” I started seeing myself as a creator with authority—and that changed everything.
Bonus? You don’t have to carve out extra time. Learning happens passively. That’s the whole point. It was my secret weapon to success.
Your Next Step
You don’t need a perfect plan. You just need a place to start.
Pick one takeaway from this episode—whether it’s shifting your mindset about consistency, committing to learning during your commute, or finally organizing your tasks by ROI—and *run with it*.
Then screenshot this post or podcast episode, tag me on Instagram @routineyourdream, and tell me your favorite takeaway.
Let’s normalize building sustainable businesses at our own pace.
FAQ
Q: Can I build a passive income business if I only have a few hours a week? A: Absolutely. That’s exactly how I did it. Focus on high-impact activities that can keep working *after* you’re done working.
Q: What is “Automobile University”? A: It’s turning your commute into a classroom—listening to podcasts or audiobooks that grow your skills passively.
Q: I’m in survival mode as a teacher. Should I wait to start? A: Start with tiny, doable actions. I was able to make leaps and bounds of progress after I got out of seasons of survival mode all because of automobile university, so pop on the routine your dream pod and start planting those seeds!
📝 Read Full Transcript
Speaker A [00:00:08]:
Okay, so if we’re being really honest here, I am a half assed entrepreneur. Now, I don’t like to cuss, especially when I’m talking about business or teaching, but honestly, that’s just the way I describe myself. And I can’t even be mad at that because honestly, throughout this time as a business owner, I have only been showing up half the time. And really, I don’t even know if I can justify saying half the time, because what does half the time imply? Assuming that you work 40 hours a week, which we know we work more than that as teachers, but assuming you work 40 hours a week, half of that would be 20 hours a week. And there has never been a time where I have put in 20 hours a week and taught full time. So it really is more like me putting in the absolute bare minimum work in my business to create a lifestyle I want to live. And at first that meant being able to put in enough effort in order to get a little bit of extra gas money. And then it became being able to shop at the nice grocery stores and buy organic products.
Speaker A [00:01:16]:
And then it shifted to me being able to put in enough energy effort that I could bank on at least $1,000 per month coming in, even if I didn’t touch my business for at least 30 days, sometimes way more than that. And by touch, I mean not posting a new product, or revising a new product, or hopping on Instagram and interacting and posting there or pinning pins on Pinterest. I mean, I am so up and down in terms of the effort I put into my business that it is laughable, at least up until this point. But yet, I’ve been able to scale my business through strategic efforts to the point where I was able to fund my honeymoon and my wedding, all from the money I was generating online, and then being able to go from that to where I am now in my journey, in my entrepreneurial journey, which is being able to move out of state and not having to worry where exactly I’m going to teach. I have a preference of what grade I want. I have. I was spoiled in my last district, and I want to be able to find a district that I absolutely love without the rush of, oh my goodness, I have to find a job right now because I have bills due, I have student loans due. I can’t even describe to you how freeing that feeling is.
Speaker A [00:02:49]:
And it’s essentially why I started this podcast, because I want you to feel that same way whenever something comes up in your life. I want you to be in a position where you don’t have to make decisions for financial reasons only. And remember I said I’ve been doing this pretty half assed, like laughable. And that to me means that you can too. You do not have to be the type a, super productive, pumping out product after product, blog post after blog post. I don’t believe you have to have that super hustle mentality in order to create this kind of lifestyle where you’re generating passive income while still teaching full time. So I want to take you back to how I got to this point. Everything I started doing when I did show up for my business started becoming really strategic so that when I did show up, I got maximum amount of results.
Speaker A [00:03:59]:
Instead of dabbling into this, dabbling into that, trying to grow my instagram, trying to get tailwind figured out, oh, and then posting this amazing product. No, I got very strategic. And the one way I did that was through what I’ve heard described as automobile university. I started working in a district that was about 30 to 40 minutes away from me, and every single day I’d put on an audiobook or a podcast that was in the topics of online marketing or personal growth every single day for years. And when I would walk into Barnes and Noble bookstore, I wouldn’t just look at the latest picture books from my classroom library, but I would also browse the business section to see what the hot topics were in the entrepreneurial world. And now I am a published author who has a book in Barnes and Noble and wherever books are sold, which is crazy to me. And the purpose of this podcast for me to synthesize all my biggest takeaways that actually gave me momentum in my business and filter it through a teacherpreneur lens, someone who is in the middle of teaching full time and trying this whole whole growing your online business thing out. And what I’m going to do is give you actionable steps that you can take.
Speaker A [00:05:30]:
And I’m doing that through your very own automobile university. Automobile university is when you are driving in your car and you’re actively learning. To me, that’s like the best way because you don’t have to dedicate any extra time to this yet. You’re still going to be gaining insight in knowing ways that you can take action in your business so that when you are ready to show up, you can knock it out, girl. Okay, how does that sound? I also want to be able to create this podcast in a way that it’s like build a binder style. So after each episode, whatever little mini training I did for you, you’ll be able to download a freebie and pop it in a binder. That is all about the routine, your dream podcast. You will have sections like daily things you should do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually.
Speaker A [00:06:29]:
So that at some point you’ll have the exact action steps you should be taking in your personal life and in your business life to achieve the lifestyle that you want. So remember when I said that for me it was being able to like, at one point, it was being able to get a little bit of extra gas money? Well, when you’re listening to this podcast, there are going to be things that don’t speak to you at the stage and chapter you are in your entrepreneurial journey. And that’s okay, because maybe one day you will be. So treat my podcast like a little buffet of actionable content that you can take in your business to grow it to the point that you want to grow it. And for my awesome, type a, ready, super excited entrepreneurs out there that are listening, you’re going to be able to take my actionable content and completely blow up your business, like beyond your wildest dreams. So if that sounds like something you’re interested in, take a screenshot of this episode and share it out to your social. And remember, first you dream it, then you routine it. Thanks for listening to the routine, your dream podcast.
Speaker A [00:07:48]:
I am your host, Chanel, aka the pinspired teacher, and I look forward to seeing you back in episode two. Bye for now.
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