5 | A Mindset Shift from Side Hustle to Real Business with Laura Hackwell

This week inspiring teacherpreneur journey is from Laura Hackwell of Miss Lulu's Special Ed. An amazing special education teacher who has grown her TPT store in order to support fellow teachers around the globe.

Laura is a special education teacher currently living in Utah with her husband and son. She helps special education teachers provide effective instruction to reach every student with her differentiated resources, and helps teachers create a classroom environment that is cohesive and welcoming with her classroom decor bundles.

We chat all about the changes Laura's business has gone through over the years as it has evolved from a side hustle to a real business by creating resources for special education classrooms as well as classroom decor.

Her story is so inspiring because it has taken many mindset shifts, growth and dedication for her to grow her business over the years.

Find Laura on Instagram @MissLuluSpecialEd

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Episode Transcript:

Intro: Hey there, I'm Jenzaia and this is Market Scale Grow. A podcast created for ambitious teacherpreneurs looking to have a bigger impact on the world, achieve freedom, flexibility, and ultimately make more money with weekly strategy sessions and inspiring stories from fellow teachers. Just like you. My goal here is to help you create a customized marketing strategy so you can grow your teacher business beyond your wildest dreams. Okay. Before we get started, I'm really excited because I created a free quiz just for you. You can head to marketscalegrow.com/quiz to find out if Facebook ads are right for you and your business. This two minute quiz has a couple of questions that you can answer to find out if Facebook ads or something else are the next marketing strategy that you should be implementing in your business. So head to marketscalegrow.com/quiz to find out today.

Jenzaia: Welcome, welcome to episode number five. Today I am talking with Laura from Miss Lulu Special Ed. She is a special education teacher who is currently living in Utah with her husband and son. Laura helps special education teachers provide effective instruction to reach every student with her differentiated resources. And she also helps teachers create a classroom environment that is cohesive and welcoming with her classroom decor bundles. I am so excited to invite Laura on the podcast. So let's dive into the conversation.

Jenzaia: Hi, Laura, how are you? Welcome to the podcast.

Laura: Thanks for having me. I am doing good. We're on spring break right now, so that's wonderful.

Jenzaia: Yes, that is super exciting. Are you doing anything?

Laura: Nope, absolutely nothing. Yeah. It's great.

Jenzaia: That is the best kind of break, especially a year like this, right?

Laura: Oh yeah, definitely.

Jenzaia: Well let's start with what you do, who you help.

Laura: Okay. I help special education teachers. That's my main niche and my goal is to just eventually just focus on special ed, but I kind of am doing two things right now. I also have classroom decor on the side and so I do classroom decor lines, and I usually release two of those every year. And so kind of who I am and in a nutshell- special ed and classroom decor. Yeah.

Jenzaia: So you want to let the classroom decor go? It's so pretty though.

Laura: I mean, I know. I enjoy the design aspect of it, but it's not, it's not my passion. It's not where I feel like I'm knowledgeable. It's just kind of fun. So...

Jenzaia: It makes sense.

Laura: Yeah.

Jenzaia: Are you currently in the classroom still teaching?

Laura: I am. I teach middle school special ed in Utah.

Jenzaia: Do you have any plans on leaving the classroom?

Laura: Maybe... Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.

Jenzaia: So how did you get started in this whole teacherpreneur journey?

Laura: So I started way back when I graduated college, I think in 2012, I opened my store and I just kind of put some random things in there and I didn't really focus a whole lot on it until I was on maternity leave in 2015. And that's when I started just putting more time and energy into my store. I think that I kind of was lucky because I started way before it was a big popularity thing or before everyone was there. And so I've kind of, I've been there through all of the old chevron pattern mixing, and then moving into the "oh, this isn't just a side gig, this is a business". So it's been quite the journey.

Jenzaia: Yeah, I was, I started in 2013, so, it was almost like a Wild, Wild West. I like to call it that.

Laura: Yeah, yeah. Nobody knew what they were doing. They just put stuff up there and it would sell and it was nice.

Jenzaia: And did you start with special education back then as well?

Laura: I did. Yep. Yep. I didn't start my classroom decor... well that's not really true. I did have a few random zebra pattern things in my store. But I didn't really focus on the classroom decor side of it until 2016.

Jenzaia: Nice. And so it's just kind of grown from there?

Laura: Yeah. It's just kind of grown from there. It's been, it's been quite the adjustment. I really tried over the last, like two to three years to think of it more as a business. And think about the marketing and think about all of the business side of things and not just doing it for fun because eventually it would be really nice if that could be my main source of income. So that's kind of where I'm at right now.

Jenzaia: So when you made that shift to it being a business, what were some of the factors that led you to make that decision?

Laura: I think it's just so different now where the market is more saturated and you have to do more marketing and then the algorithms are always changing and social media became a thing and it just made me realize that if I'm going to continue with this and continue to see the sales that I want to see that I'm going to have to put more work into the business side of it. And that was a hard mindset shift because I'm not a marketing person. I'm not a business person. So, I still kind of struggle. My focus has been email over the last few months. And personally, I hate reading emails. I hate it, but everyone's like, "you need email marketing, do email". So that's been like, "okay, I guess I'll do it, but no one wants to read these".

Jenzaia: It's hard when it's something that you yourself as a consumer don't do.

Laura: Yeah.

Jenzaia: You don't read, don't look at it, it doesn't influence you. But you know, just based on the information that's out there and the numbers and the data that it actually is valuable. It's hard to get in that mindset of, "okay, I need to do this because there are people that will benefit".

Laura: Exactly.

Jenzaia: So the ship is almost like pressed upon you, then it sounds like.

Laura: Yes. Yeah, it was. And I think it was, it really came down to my sales, honestly. My sales dropped a lot and I don't know what year, but a few years ago and I was like, "Ooh, I'm not doing anything. And if I don't start doing something, then I'm not going to see the sales that I want to see". And so, you know, I love doing, I love making special ed resources. I love helping special ed teachers, but the money is nice too. So really, you know, that's where the main motivation comes from. And so I knew that if I wanted to continue to see the sales that I wanted to see that I would have to start doing something more than I was doing.

Jenzaia: Did you take any courses or just like kind of self-learn to help you make those shifts back a couple of years ago?

Laura: Most of what I've done is through self-learning. I did join Alyssa McDonald's Teacher Hustle University. But I haven't spent a whole lot of time on it. She is amazing. She knows a lot of what she's talking about. I just haven't listened to everything. I'm one of those people, I don't like to do a lot of courses because I don't finish them. And so I've tried not to just throw money away on courses when I know I don't have the time with teaching to put in the amount of work that I need to in order to finish them and be successful with them. So I joined that one. I've done Pinning Perfect.

Jenzaia: Was that one helpful?

Laura: Well, I signed up for Pinning Perfect like way back in 2016. It was like $75 still when I joined. I think it's like $400 now. And that was back before when Pinterest was more helpful I feel like. They've changed a lot in the last couple of years. But yes, it is helpful as far as coming up with a pinning strategy. And then I've also done Cultivate for Facebook ads and I haven't finished that one yet either. Like I said, I'm not really great at finishing courses.

Jenzaia: I really learned with the courses like, which ones, what kind of style I need or else it's the same thing for me. I took one that it was very much, like many, a whole bunch of mini courses that didn't connect together. And it was kind of like, "choose your own adventure". And I did like half of one and was like, "this is not going to work for me". And thankfully that one was a monthly membership kind of version. So I was able to opt-out before spending too much money on it.

Laura: That's fine.

Jenzaia: Yeah, I'm definitely starting to get a little bit more particular about the courses that I'm taking so that I know that I'm going to actually complete it and get the value out of it.

Laura: Right, right. That's so huge.

Jenzaia: So, with the marketing, I know that you also have an Instagram account and I have to say, I love your Instagram.

Laura: Aw, thank you!

Jenzaia: Before we even had met or anything, I would always look for yours because you have that text at the bottom that describes what the picture is like. And I was like, "I love this. I wish my brain functioned in this way" because it's so cool and I love just like reading your captions. So is that a big part of your marketing strategy or?

Laura: It is a big part, as a special ed teacher and also I have a son with a disability, and so accessibility and inclusion is a big part of who I am and what I believe. And so I try to make my social media as accessible as possible. And that's probably where that comes from- the caption, closed-captioning and that kind of thing, just so that everybody who wants to see or know what I'm posting can.

Jenzaia: I want to get there one day.

Laura: Yeah.

Jenzaia: It's really important. You're right. Things need to be accessible and sometimes we think that everyone accesses things the exact same way you do, just because it's your normal. But then it's such a bigger world out there of people who access things differently for whatever reason, right?

Laura: Yeah, exactly.

Jenzaia: It's just not convenient or not possible or whatever is happening. Right? You're an inspiration is what I'm trying to say.

Laura: Thanks!

Jenzaia: So, where in your business would you say you are now, growth wise?

Laura: So I'm to the point now where, I mean, obviously I would love for the sales and everything to continue to increase. But I'm happy with where I'm at. I am at a point where I probably should hire out more than I am to get more help. But I still, I'm a control person and so that's been hard for me. That's kind of like the next stage of where I'm going, I think is that hiring out, moving towards, having somebody else help me with the marketing and that kind of thing so that I can focus still on the product creation. And I want to be able to focus more on blogging and coming up with consistent content so that I can help my ideal customer. That's kind of where I'm at right now.

Jenzaia: Do you currently blog?

Laura: I am. I'm one of those people that has had a blog forever and I've never been able to get into a good pattern with it. And so I usually am like two blog posts a year. But I'm really trying hard. I'm trying to get into the habit of like, whenever I have an idea, I just sit down and write about it, even if it's on my phone so that I constantly have this ever-going list of blog posts. And then when I have a minute to sit down and turn them into actual blog posts, I can.

Jenzaia: That's such a good idea to just get it out because I find ideas will get stuck in my head and I'm thinking about it, but I'm not at my computer right now, or I'm not whatever. But if I just were to get it out in that moment, then I would be more likely to move forward with it because I wouldn't be searching for the idea later when I needed it that day.

Laura: Yeah, exactly. So when I sit down, like what if I sit down, I'm like, "okay, I need to write a blog post", nothing will come to my brain. So, if I have this like list of ideas... So usually I just write down an idea and then I jot down a few things I'm thinking about it. Sometimes I'll sit down and I'll write out a draft of a blog post if I'm really thinking about it a lot in the moment. But that helps so that when I'm like, "okay, now it is time to write a blog post", then I just pull that up, copy and paste, and change whatever I need to and make my images, and it makes it so much easier. So I'm doing better. I've put out like five blog posts this year.

Jenzaia: It's only April! That's the once every other week!

Laura: I know! I'm pretty excited!

Jenzaia: Yay! And that will help obviously the growth of your business continuing because blog posts are forever. You will continue to reap the benefits long after you do the work.

Laura: Yeah. And I'm not a video or a podcast kind of person. So I definitely think I'll stick with blogging for the long run, unless it completely dies out. But I don't see that happening.

Jenzaia: No way, no way. People still are maybe not consuming blogs like they did back in 2008, where you'd go back to the very beginning and read every single word that the person wrote. But definitely in the "I need this information, so I'm going to search it up and find it" and still read that post that the person did and probably consume everything they did on the topic or at least a couple of their blog posts. So, no, I don't think it's going away at all. And even podcasts, you have to make show notes to make it more searchable, which is basically a blog post.

Laura: Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Jenzaia: So, you talked a little bit about marketing, but what's your biggest marketing piece of your business? Is it Pinterest?

Laura: Pinterest is definitely my number one as far as conversions and bringing sales into my store. Yes. And it always has been, besides just the searching on Teachers Pay Teachers. So yes, and I noticed a difference when I am pinning consistently versus when I'm not, I see that directly in sales. So Pinterest is my go-to and I've been so frustrated with it lately because I feel like I'm not getting anywhere, but then I go back and look at my insights and I see that, "Oh, it is actually working". It just doesn't feel like it's working anymore. I don't think you can see on Pinterest as much as you used to be able to. So yeah. Pinterest is my big one. And then I also, I really enjoy Instagram. And so I've been trying to be more consistent on Instagram and if nothing else just lead back to my blog from Instagram and get ideas out there. So, it's kind of where I want to be known. I think Pinterest is better for searching, but I like Instagram for the little mini bits of content and connect with people that are in your area.

Jenzaia: That's something too, I've noticed. It's so much more important now than I think before is those connections with people and forming relationships and being in conversations and showing people you're a real person, I think is a huge part of the, I don't want to say game, but like the whole TpT experience now. It's not just this product that I posted and hope. It's, "I'm a real person selling this thing that I want you to know that I exist in who I am."

Laura: Right. Yeah. I agree. It's kind of fun to make those connections too, and see the real people using your resources. And also I think it's important, I mean, obviously there are a lot of successful teacher authors out there that are not in the classroom anymore. But I do think it helps for buyers to see how resources are used in the classroom. And so I think that's a big part of Instagram and seeing that, "Oh, this is real and it can be used in the classroom and it can be successful." And there are ways to do that if you're not in the classroom too, but I think that's an important side of things.

Jenzaia: No, that's definitely a struggle. Because I'm off on maternity leave this year, so I'm at home. I find being out of the classroom, it can be hard to know what people are actually using and topics that are trending and where in the curriculum, like what part of the year, obviously I can keep up with holidays, but are we teaching fractions right now? Are we doing geometry? Like what exactly is happening? I find it challenging.

Laura: See that's what I love about special ed, because we do all that stuff all year round. So it's kind of nice. I don't have to be on top of the trending topics for the month or whatever, quite as much.

Jenzaia: There's a bit more spiraling happening.

Laura: Yep. Yep.

Jenzaia: So, is there any other, like big pieces of your business that you feel like were places you want to take your business? Or do you want to keep continuing where you're going and supporting special education teachers with classroom resources?

Laura: I want to continue that for sure. I eventually, I have opened recently a store on my blog for my classroom decor and so I'm kind of just working on having a second place to sell. So that's been a big focus the last little while is getting everything onto that and marketing for that side of things. It's a lot harder because you don't have the Teachers Pay Teachers search to help you out on there. So I've had to do a lot more SEO and ads and all of that, which has been fun to learn. And I think long-term, I would like to somehow come up with a subscription of some type. I have, this is like very early brainstorming way down the road, but it would be nice to have that consistent monthly income from a subscription. I don't have any desire to do courses or anything like that right now so that's not on my radar. I would like to focus on more products that are related to what I'd like to help teachers with down the road. So I'm working on a big math project right now. That's my next step.

Jenzaia: I love math.

Laura: I love math too. I'm excited.

Jenzaia: Yeah, cool. I think a subscription is a great place where you can continue doing resources for teachers. And then like you said, have a consistent monthly income. So it almost blends the two things that you want to keep doing and you need in your life. Okay. So, last three questions.

Laura: Okay.

Jenzaia: What is your favourite social media?

Laura: I'm going to have to say Instagram. And we kind of talked about us already, but just the connection side of things and I'm a visual person so I like to see pictures. I like to see people's faces. I'm not super into making reels, but I love to watch other people's reels.

Jenzaia: I get sucked into them.

Laura: No, it's bad. Yeah. I've got my husband sucked in now, too.

Jenzaia: I try to get my husband on Facebook once a week so he can see the pictures I put of our kids and that's more than he can handle. So I'm impressed that your husband is on the reel train.

Laura: Yeah. He sends me all the ones he thinks are funny on a daily basis. It's great.

Jenzaia: What is your favourite tool or software that you use for your business?

Laura: I am pretty basic. I still just love PowerPoint. PowerPoint is my go-to for anything and I feel like that's old school. I have Canva, but I still prefer making graphics and stuff in PowerPoint because I'm so used to it, like I can do it with my eyes closed.

Jenzaia: Last question. What advice do you have for someone who's just starting out?

Laura: I think my biggest advice is to just, this is cheesy, but don't give up. I see a lot of people that start and then they realize it is a lot harder than they think it's going to be, and they just kind of fizzle out and quit and so I think find support. There are so many great coaches and courses out there now that can help you. Or even just another person who's in their journey that can be there and help you and problem-solve with you. And I think that that makes a huge difference to have that friend who knows what you're doing and can help you answer questions.

Jenzaia: I think that that piece of advice is so important. I think that that's such good advice to find people and to not give up. Thank you.

Laura: Yeah, no problem.

Jenzaia: So if people would like to find you, where can they do that?

Laura: I am on Instagram. My special ed Instagram is @MissLuLuSpecialEd. And then I have my classroom decor page, which is @MissLuLuClassroomDecor. And then my website www.missluluspecialed.com.

Jenzaia: Awesome. I will make sure all that is linked in the show notes. Thanks again for coming on.

Laura: Yeah, thank you for having me. It was fun.

Outro: Thank you for listening to this week's inspiring story. If you'd like to share your story with us, then head to marketscalegrow.com/journey and complete the quick application form. Then, head to our community at marketscalegrow.com/community so you can join our group of inspiring teacherpreneurs who are working on growing and scaling their businesses, too. See you soon.