Why Rodan and Fields

I have had several friends and family ask me WHY I joined Rodan and Fields. Well of course I wanted the products....I mean come on - who doesn't want to look better. I was amazed by the before and after pictures too. So why not just be a customer? I have had the itch to find an entrepreneurial business. I sold candles many, many, many moons ago. I still have 80% of my inventory just sitting in my basement (I really should burn and use my inventory). That business required me to house inventory to haul to parties, that I begged my friends and family to have, then I asked them to beg their friends and family to have parties for me. I was some what successful but something was missing......

I never jump or say yes to anything unless I know all the details. What really sold me on the business was not only the products, but not having to house inventory, have parties to make money, and social media. Social media is a powerful tool. Social media has helped me build my Teacher Pay Teacher store and connected me to so many wonderful teachers that I would have never connected with before and I love helping them in their classrooms. 

I am a teacher. I don't teacher for the money. I teach because the reward of seeing a child when their light bulb goes on, when they are so proud of themselves, and when they have gained knowledge is so rewarding. I love that I can help children get to these moments. This is what made me jump to Rodan and Fields. Not only do I get to enjoy the amazing products, but I get to help people. Help people change their skin, change their confidence, or change their income. Ok and maybe I was a little jealous of the sweet gifts my R and F friends were posting on Facebook! 

So that's my WHY. What's your why going to be when you join my team? Contact me for more information - I promise I will help you! 

laurakotwica.myrandf.biz

laurakotwica.myrandf.com

Graduated!!!

It's official! I am graduated! I can't believe I did it! I now hold a Bachelor of Science in Education/Elementary Teacher Education! Not only did I graduate but I set a goal to graduate with high honors. I received a 3.99 GPA and was accepted to Pi Lambda Theta Honor Society!

I am beyond proud of myself and happy to be setting a great example for my children. No matter what your age is your never to old to give up on your dreams!

I could not have done this without help though. My husband was my strongest supporter and road the education ups and downs with me. I thank him for being my biggest cheerleader and jumping in on taking care of our boys, our home, and daily duties while I was writing a paper for hours!

My family was also a huge help. My Mom and Aunt took my kids several times so I could study, head to the library or go take a state required test. My Dad cannot be left out either....I am pretty sure I would have never gotten an A in my math classes with out his engineering mind!

This last year has been intense with my requirements to graduate and student teaching as you can see in lack of post on the blog, but now that my school path has ended (for now) I move on to my teaching path. I can't wait to share that experience with all of you!

I have also been working on some new goodies for my store at Teacher Pay Teacher. I have already updated my free calendar for the next school year. Head on over to my store HERE to grab yours.

Make Your Masterpiece - TPT Challenge Week Three

This weeks challenge was to make something new in your store. I just finished up a 2 page layout calendar. I have always wanted to create one as I know there are many people who like the 2 page layout vs the 1 page layout. I have started this project many times but never finished. I am so happy to have this done and I hope it will help people organize their daily life. You can grab it in my store HERE!

Dare To Dream - TPT Challenge Week Two

This weeks challenge is to blog about our dreams for our TPT stores. Before I share my dreams I first  need to give you some background. I started my store less than a year ago. A friend of mine told me about the site and her store. She was making quite a bit of money her first few months. She told me I should start a store because all my forms that I create would be great to help teachers stay organized and all my digital scrapbooking skills would come in handy making cute stuff.  I was curious so I headed over to TPT to see what it was about.

I am currently 3 classes and 12 weeks of student teaching away from becoming a teacher and instantly fell in love with the sight. I also was a bit upset that I had not found the site sooner....it would have really helped inspire me to write some lessons and units for my classes.

I am a planner, list maker, organizer type of person. I work better when I am organized and when I have a plan. I find my time is wasted away if I don't have a to do list everyday. This mentality trickled over into my job (I work as a DUEA working with autistic children). I began creating forms that I would use in the classroom. The teacher I worked with loved the forms! I stated thinking about what my girlfriend said about me starting a store and jump right on in.

So now on to my goals for my TPT store. I will dream big but I need to start small with achievable goals. So my goals are simple, find a focus for my store, grow my client base, and increase my sales by 20% this year. Starting with these goals will help to reach bigger goals in the future! 

2015-2016 Calendar Is Ready!!

I had so many request to re-do my calendar from 2014! I am so glad so many of you love it! The new calendar starts in August 2015 and runs through 2016 (for the teachers). You can grab it HERE. Enjoy!

The Newsletter Bundle is Finally Done!!

Whew.....this was a big project for me. I created an editable newsletter template for each month of the school year for teachers to communicate with their student's parents. I kept it fairly simple as the information that goes home to parents varies from teacher to teacher. I finally have it up in the store and with a special savings if you buy the bundle instead of each individual newsletter. Head on over to the store HERE and grab it.

Teachers Pay Teachers Site - Amazing!

Wow! I am overwhelmed with how good things are going at my Teacher Pay Teacher store! Thank you, thank you to those of you who have made purchases from me. I really hope they are going to great use in your classrooms! Your purchases are motivating me to create and design more.  I am trying to create and add more products daily between juggling work, school, and family too. If there is a specific item you would like me to create please let me know.

Haven't heard about my store yet.....go take a peek. It's a work in progress but it is coming along! 

Casual Fridays @ Teachers Pay Teachers

Here are a few items I am selling at my store:

It's Official - TPT

I am now a Teachers Pay Teachers seller. I have had so many request from teacher to create organizational forms, and have been inspired by my awesome girlfriend Laura over at Crafty Bee Creations, that I decided to give it a go. I just started with a cute colorful calendar for 2014-2015. What do you think??

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I have been asked to make cute newsletters, teacher planners, calendar sets, labels, classroom jobs and the list goes on. Please send me a suggestion as I would love to create something for you. I have a lot of work to do but I am having fun and learning the ropes as I go.

Head on over to my store and take a look.

Free printable 2014-2015 Calendar

I have had so many emails to make a new calendar for 2015. Some request were from teachers to start it with the school year, others asked for one that was colorful but didn't eat up to much ink, and others asked for a fun, colorful calendar. I am still working on the fun, colorful calendar, but thought I would share the more simple one with you today. It runs from September 2014 to December 2015.
Click on the link and you can download and use what you need. Please let me know if you love it in the comments, and any suggestion for future calendars/forms you would like to see me create. 

Grab the whole calendar HERE



Printable is for personal use only. You may not reproduce, sell, or market as your own. However, feel free to share with a link back to this post. Thanks!

A Thank You to the Best Teachers!!

First let me say.....I can't believe my baby is done with Kindergarten tomorrow!! My other baby is done with second grade on Thursday and moving on up to third.......where does the time go?? I always like to give my son's teachers something at the end of the year just to say thank you for all their hard work throughout the year.

This year my kids' teacher were awesome, especially my youngest son's Kindergarten teacher. Trace went into a special extended day program because at the beginning of the year he was not recognizing his letters or numbers. After taking him for his Kindergarten eye exam we found out he was blind as a bat and could not see anything close up! This was part of his problem but we knew he would still need some catching up. I am happy to say he is reading and writing and knows all his letters, numbers, sight words and more. 360 turn around!!

I think this is becoming my signature gift to the teachers at the end of the year as I keep giving it but they are just so stinking cute!!

Teacher Appreciation Week

Well hello there!! Long time no blog post!! Gosh being back in school full time has become quite the juggling act, but I had to post about some super easy, inexpensive teacher appreciation gifts!! 

Last week was teacher appreciation week at my kids school. The PTO at our school decided to have the kids write a note and give a $ donation to purchase a gift card for the teacher. At last nights PTO meeting I got to see first hand how much the teacher loved their notes and gift cards. I, of course, wanted to give my kids teacher just a bit more. It didn't sit right with me that it is teacher appreciation "week" but we did not have something planned for each day of the week for them. So I did a quick search on my favorite sight Pinterest and came up with a few ideas. I came up with five small gifts to give to my son's teachers each day last week (it was super hard to narrow down all the awesome, creative ideas to 5). The best part was I was able to whip all this up for under $10.00 per teacher!!

Glue Sticks - I bought a 6 pack, split it 3 and 3, found this super cute tag, printed, and washi tape it together.

 Source: Sweet Rose Studios

Gum - Extra Gum, cute saying, washi tape it all together

 Source: Sweet Metel Moments

Nail Polish - nail polish (any kind), cute saying, washi tape it all together!

 

Source: Teachers Pay Teachers

Crayons - 1 box of crayons, and super cute saying. Washi it all together!

Source: I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Berry Lotion: 1 small tube or bottle of any type of lotion that has the word berry in it. I found strawberry at Bath and Body Works (I really need to stay out of that store!), super duper cute saying and you got it......washi tape it together. 

  

Source: Three Little Monkeys Studio

So I hope you have found and idea or two for your children's teachers as I think they have a pretty tough job and could use some appreciation!