We recently connected with Ruth Teeple and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ruth thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I always knew I wanted to teach little ones and help them learn. I became a teacher but because I was bilingual, I decided to become a bilingual teacher but keep my focus on early childhood. Before my daughter was born, I made the decision to stay home with her and one year later the world shut down. I then decided to support those parents who pulled out their kids from school, those who had no idea how to help educate their kids and those who wanted to provide more support to them and needed help. This is what led to me creating Teeple Little Shop. I always created learning activities for my students and figured it would be a great idea to share it with parents. I started creating them in English but since I taught Spanish I created some as well. My daughter started learning concepts and skills so I decided to create some to support her. This business grew as my daughter grew and as well by taking client’s requests. No kid learns the same way so I allowed parents to tell me what they were looking for and I did the work for them so they could simply focus on helping their child. I had great success when I started, I felt like it was just what parents needed while school was closed or virtual during the pandemic.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Ruth Teeple. I have been in the field of early childhood for 12 years. 8 of those have been in the classroom and 4 have been teaching, training, mentoring, running a business and a combination of all. I was a professional development trainer for 2 years as well as mentor to early childhood professionals. Currently I teach pre-k and am an adjunct instructor for a local technology center. I teach early childhood classes for day cares, preschools and any other business working with littles. My focus switched from classroom academics to child development when I completed a second degree in psychology. When I started my business I wanted to create learning activities that reflected that. Not just learn a skill but something the child could do independently and feel pride in doing so. Activities the child could have in their room or area in the home and do at their own pace. While getting orders, I also chat with parents and provide support. I enjoy working with professionals and parents and learn from them as well. I am a mom to a 3 year old and can listen as a professional and as a mom. My business is just me, my materials and I work from my basement. Your investment in your child’s education allows me to invest in my daughter’s extra curricular classes therefore I appreciate everyone who places an order.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I make learning activities for kids and when I meet my clients I mention my background in early childhood and also that I am a mom. I am not just selling a product but I make learning activities that I would love for my daughter to have. I also make these activities by hand, by myself, therefore I put all my energy into these activities. I want to make sure it would be an item I would like to receive for my daughter. When I have parents ask questions about any activity I explain some of my thoughts of what the activity teaches. I also find parents come back when they know I can customize any activity. I can also personalize at no extra cost. When they request a brand new activity I do not charge either as it becomes part of my inventory. Being flexible and able to work with people is what has helped me be successful.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I started selling on Etsy and later added some products to TpT (teachers pay teachers) . For some items I like Etsy better as people can customize and choose different colors and options. I can also price higher. TpT is not bad but some single activities would not do well so I need to post activities that have many pages and would be cheaper than Etsy to be able to compete. I also started selling on my own website but I needed to advertise myself more and Etsy and TpT already do that for me or I might appear on their search. The benefit of my website is I get all my profit and can customize to add more services and more pages to provide more support to educators and parents.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.etsy.com/shop/teeplelittleshop
• Instagram: @teeplelittleshop
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/teeplelittleshop
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ruth-teeple