Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicki Menary.
Hi Nicki, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started my career as a teacher in Arizona. My first year teaching was in 1st grade and I spent the next 5 years falling in love with teaching 2nd grade. One of the reasons I enjoyed teaching younger students was because I felt like I could combine my love for teaching with my passion for creativity. After a couple of years in the classroom, I found myself wanting to expand past the basic curriculum and enrich our lessons with more fun and engaging ideas. My favorite unit was our butterfly unit, where we’d work together as a class to transform our classroom walls into a butterfly habitat while watching real live caterpillars go through their life cycle.
As I started creating more in-depth lessons, I started sharing more and more on social media and found that other teachers across the country were asking to use my lesson ideas. At the same time, I was running into the struggle of trying to pay my bills on a teacher salary with a lot of added medical expenses, so it seemed like a logical next step to start selling my teacher resources online.
I found that I not only loved teaching students in my own classroom, but I also loved creating lessons and activities that would support students all over the world. I would teach my class during the day and spent about 20 extra hours a week on creating activities for The Sprinkle Topped Teacher.
In 2019, I took on a big life change and decided to move to Minnesota with my now husband. He is actually the one who encouraged me to try going full-time with The Sprinkle Topped Teacher and that’s when I started really diving into the business side of things. I spent all of my time researching how to up-level my side hustle and turn it into a real business that could better support teachers and students.
Since going full-time with The Sprinkle Topped Teacher, I’ve also started subbing in classrooms so I can stay connected to students. This past fall, I took a 12-week position in kindergarten and found that it relit my spark for creating new resources. I’m now back to Sprinkle Topped Teacher full-time and am excited to see where this journey continues to take me.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The funny thing about creating and selling teacher resources online is that many of us in this niche never really meant to become business owners. I started out by just sharing what I had created in hopes that it would save time for other teachers, and only later realized I was running a business.
As a teacher, I didn’t know the first thing about running a business and had to fail over and over again until I started getting the hang of things. I started taking any online business course I could get my hands on and trying out new marketing strategies from creating my own website to starting an email list to running my own ads on Facebook. All things I never ever imagined doing with my teaching degree.
We’ve been impressed with The Sprinkle Topped Teacher, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The name The Sprinkle Topped Teacher comes from my love of teaching and all things dessert, especially donuts. I create and sell activities, worksheets, and resources for teachers to use in their classrooms. Everything I create is designed to be low-prep for teachers so they can focus on tackling their never ending to-do lists instead of spending all of their time planning. I also strive to make sure the activities are all highly engaging for students. Most resources fall in the range of Kindergarten-5th grade.
I’m known for my love of taking the “boring” parts of teaching and making them a whole lot sillier. In my opinion, there’s nothing better than a classroom full of students who are giggling while they learn. My most popular resources are my silly handwriting worksheets, especially the ones that share gross facts about everything from boogers to panda poop – kids love gross (fun) facts!
I feel there is always room to laugh and be goofy with your students. Those moments are the ones that build the strongest connections with kids and help them view school and learning as fun ways to spend time. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the pressure to increase classroom rigor and not stray from the lesson plan, but I think these silly moments are part of what inspires kids to love school. My hope is to make these cherished moments come a little easier for teachers.
What makes you happy?
I think a big part of my happiness has to do with putting my energy into things that light me up. Even if that makes my life look different than other people in my niche.
A big part of my work time each week is devoted to connecting with teachers all over the country. I answer every single message I receive on social media because I genuinely love getting to know each of the teachers in my community. I want to know their struggles and hear their wins. Listening to their stories every day lights a fire in me to create better resources and find new ways to help support more teachers.
I also truly enjoy sharing all the different parts of me with educators on social media. If you follow me on Instagram, it won’t take long to find out I have two very goofy cats, I love to be outside and hike any chance I get, and I recently became obsessed with teaching myself how to use power tools to renovate our home. Sharing all of my passions outside of teaching has helped me connect on a deeper level with the teachers in my community.
Contact Info:
- Email: sprinkletoppedteacher@gmail.com
- Website: www.thesprinkletoppedteacher.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesprinkletoppedteacher
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesprinkletoppedteacher
- Other: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Sprinkle-Topped-Teacher
Image Credits
Kjerstin Balk (@kjerstinthea.photo)
Morgan (@morganelizabethphotos)
