ORLANDO, Fla. — When it comes to being an entrepreneur, Deanna Jump gets an A+.
As a Georgia kindergarten teacher she often shared her ideas with her fellow teachers, then one made a comment that would change her life.
"One of my teammates, Lisa, said 'Deanna we love your stuff, why isn't it on Teachers Pay Teachers?'" Jump said.
Back in 2008, it was a relatively new site. Teachers Pay Teachers is essentially an open marketplace online for teachers to buy or sell their lesson plans, ideas or resources. Currently there are around 1.6 million registered users on the site. It has materials available from Pre-K all the way up to adult education.
Jump gave it a shot and only made about $300 her first year, but her husband encouraged her to try it again for one more year. Soon after her lesson plans showed up on a prominent teaching blog.
"So she had blogged about it saying how wonderful it was and all these people started buying it," Jump said.
As sales began to pour in, it started an incredible journey and Jump is now one of the top sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers. She clears a million dollars in sales a year. With that money she has been able to put her children through college, move into a new home with her husband and help her brother that is quadriplegic.
Currently Deanna has a blog, Facebook page and Pinterest to help her market her Teachers Pay Teachers materials. Jump says the materials she and her friend Dee Dee Wills create help give teachers creative, educational lessons without taking up all of their time outside the classroom planning.
"We just wanted to create lessons that would save them time, that would be amazing lessons so if their principal walked in the room or if anyone walked in the room, they would be proud to be seen doing whatever lesson it was they were doing," Jump said.
For teachers with great ideas and materials, it is a chance to make extra money.
"I just never expected to go from living pay check to pay check and rolling quarters, to now being able to provide for my family and being able to help others in my family that need help. I just never expected this and I am so grateful everyday," Jump said with a smile.
Teachers can register on the site as either a buyer or seller and there are different levels of membership.
To find out more about Teachers Pay Teachers, visit the website here:http://www.teacherspayteachers.com
To check out Jump's blog, visit here: http://www.deannajump.com/
