How Jane Morris Uses Social Media to Grow Her Teacher Blog and Earn Up To $10k/Month

Although Jane Morris most likely would have thrived as a stand-up comedian, she took a different career path and became a teacher. 

She created an Instagram page, Teacher Misery, and started to vent and laugh about her struggles at work, and people were receptive. Her following grew, and today she reaches up to 2 million people. This led her to create her website, and she also self-published three wildly successful books.

Jane's authenticity and persistence have allowed her to grow her business, and today she’s bringing in up to $10k per month.

Find out how:

• Why she went into teaching
• Why she created her social media profiles
• How many books she's sold
• Where her income comes from
• Her main marketing strategy
• Her thoughts on SEO
• Her content creation process
• Her main resources and tools
• Her main challenge
• Her greatest accomplishment
• Her main mistake
• Her advice for other entrepreneurs

Meet Jane Morris

I grew up on Long Island, New York. I probably should have been a comedian but I was raised by a practical single mother who always told me that teaching was a great job with great benefits. 

I did stand-up comedy in college while I pursued my teaching and English degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz. After that, I moved to the D.C. metro area to start my teaching career. I taught high school English, all grades and levels.

I always had a knack for relating to teen angst more than most people could, but as soon as I started teaching I knew there was no way I could do it long-term without becoming sick or crazy, or both. 

I needed an outlet for all of the nonsense I experienced every day, so I started venting on social media. My following on Instagram grew very quickly because it became a place where teachers could feel relief that someone was telling it as it really is and connect with others who were experiencing the same misery. 

Along the way, I got my Master’s Degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University and started to write about my teaching experiences. I self-published three books: Teacher Misery, More Teacher Misery, and What It’s Really Like, and they are all bestsellers. 

I have sold around 100k books, which is virtually unheard of in the self-publishing world.

Why She Created Her Website

My ideas are completely organic and that’s what draws people in. I have always been completely authentic about how my day went, what I was feeling, what I found funny or crazy or awful, etc. 

If I sat in my car in tears at the end of the day, wondering if I could be a teacher for even one more day, I posted about it. 

The support I received and encouragement for truth-telling was huge for me. It allowed me to continue teaching for 17 years, whereas if I didn’t have the outlet and supportive community I created, I probably would have quit in my first five years like most teachers do. 

Currently, I get so many messages from teachers around the world that I always have something to post about though it’s harder to find comedy in it these days. 

How Much Money She’s Making

I have multiple income streams and most of them are only as successful as the amount of energy I pour into them per month or year. 

The more I talk about my books on social media, the more they sell. The more I focus on getting web traffic, the more money I make from that. I also have a few major ad campaigns on my social media that pay well, but I’m very picky about what I advertise for and will only take on campaigns for things I actually like myself. 

I make anywhere from $5k to $10k a month, sometimes more, from the combination of book sales, ad campaigns on social media, and the blog. 

I started the blog just 2 years ago and I get an average of 100k visits per month. I get a lot more action on my social media. On Instagram, my posts have a reach of around 2 million. 

I work on my business constantly. When my kids are at school or camp I’m writing and researching for about 6 hours. Then I’m working for a few hours after they go to bed and whenever possible on the weekends. 

I’m not doing it because I have to, but because it allows me to be creative and work through my issues in a healthy way, and I love it.

Her Top Marketing Strategy

My number 1 marketing strategy is you have to generally care about what you’re talking about, feel passionate about it, and be extremely consistent and relentless about posting, especially on social media. 

I post three times a day, in the AM, afternoon, and PM. I have consistently for 10 years. I try to post an article or two every week to the site.

Also, don’t underestimate the power of relationships with those you might see as competitors. Instead of trying to beat them, contact them and see if you can help each other grow. 

For example, I connected with another education blogger, who would post about my books and I would post links to their site or advertise some of their merch at the same time.

Her Thoughts on SEO

I’m only now starting to take SEO more seriously and I’ve hired an SEO expert with whom I have an excellent rapport. 

He gets what I’m trying to do and cares about it as well, so for both of us it isn’t just about making money, but helping teachers as well.

I think so far what I’ve done has worked, which is writing genuinely engaging content. The number one search term from which I get the most organic traffic is the name of my site, so I must be doing something right. 

A majority of my web traffic right now comes from when I post about specific articles on social media. 

Keyword Research 

The SEO person I work with gave me a big list of keywords as possible topics. If I can work one into what I’m writing about or if it sparks my interest, then I write about it. 

When I have to write about something I really don’t care about, it ends up being painful to create and isn’t great content. I have SurferAI to help me with keywords, too.

Up until now, I have been writing about whatever I’m feeling interested in or think people will like.

Jane's Content Creation Process

Having only left my career just a few months ago, I’m a little all over the place in terms of strategy and process. 

Up until now, I have just written and created whatever I felt inspired by at the moment. Now I am inspired so much and often overwhelmed by the amount of things I could be working on that I get confused. 

Usually working on whatever excites me the most in the moment leads me in the right direction. 

Her Email List

I have an email list and the way I grow it is offering good freebies. 

I give away things I could easily make money on, like full digital planners that I sell in print for $30, but I feel it is a good exchange for someone's contact information. 

I currently have around 10k people on my email list. 

Her Top Resources

I’m not a big fan of taking the advice of others as far as how you live your life or run your business. When I read articles or books about that stuff it just gives me anxiety about how I should be doing things differently or that I’m not doing enough. 

What I find the most helpful are writers and speakers who encourage you to be yourself, follow your own instincts, stop caring about what others think, and forge your own path to success by doing what you love. 

Authors in this arena would be Jen Sincero, Case Kenny, Russell Brand, and Damien Echols.

Her Go-To Tools

My favorite tools are Canva, Grammarly, and Kindle Direct Publishing.

I use Canva multiple times per day to create posts, memes, newsletter images, etc. I try not to stray too far from their template design and try to trust them in that way because I can get too creative and it ends up looking pretty amateurish. 

I have Grammarly turned on all the time, and even though I’m an English teacher, I often need suggestions that help me be more concise. 

Kindle Direct Publishing has helped me self-publish my books easily and for free.

Her Greatest Challenge

I think a challenge for me is taking on too many projects or having too many ideas and not knowing what to focus on. 

You can’t work on too many things at once and do them well and I think I tend to take on a bit too many things and overwhelm myself. 

When I first left teaching, I tried to write a new article every day, optimize them, start a podcast, start a support group that meets multiple times per week, publish two new books, work on a live show, and open an online store. 

In the morning, I would jump all around from one project to another, not really doing any solid work on anything. I’ve scrapped some of those and put others on the back burner so I can concentrate on creating strong content for my site right now.

Her Biggest Accomplishment

My most important accomplishment is growing my online following organically and creating a community of people who are genuinely there for each other through humor. 

What She Wishes She Knew When She Started

I wish I had been willing to push through the negative feelings a competitor gave me and not let them get to me. 

As a writer and creator, I don’t even like viewing anyone else as a competitor, but there is one “brand” that was adversarial from the start. They were the only ones in the “edu-influencer space” (insert eye roll) who wouldn’t play nice with everyone else. 

Instead of making partnerships, they consistently stole ideas and have climbed to the top by stepping on the faces of true creators and real classroom teachers. 

I have let this really get to me at times and, as you can see, it still bothers me a lot. And I used to let it hold me back from building out anything that they were also working on because I just didn’t want to be around it or be seen as copying them. 

I’m having to do a lot of catch-up now and it just feels silly. Karma is a thing and it’s not my business how that will be played out for others. 

Jane's Main Mistake

My biggest mistake has been not being a good bookkeeper because that stuff causes me anxiety. The irony is that the more you keep up with your financial records and taxes, the less anxiety you'll have!

Her Advice for Other Entrepreneurs

If you love what you’re doing and believe in it completely, then don’t worry about what anyone thinks or how much financial success you are having in the moment. Just keep going. 

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