SlidesMania

Paula Martinez, Founder

Uruguay

2023

How SlidesMania makes teachers' lives easier

SlidesMania started as one woman's creative outlet, but has since turned into a major resource for educators.

Sliding into success

While working a busy full-time job in administration and finances, Paula Martinez always longed to fulfill her dream of working on design. But she never imagined her dream would come true thanks to Google Slides.

"I always worked for really small companies with very low budgets, so I not only had to work in my area, but also had to tap into other roles, and one of them was design. I was usually in charge of the design of presentations, business cards and brochures, and Google Slides was the only tool within my reach," says Paula. "It became my life. I started creating designs just because, simply for fun: presentations, birthday cards and even website's mockups, I loved it"

After amassing a large collection of templates in Slides, Paula's husband suggested she post some of her templates online. Paula quickly created SlidesMania by herself in Wordpress and crossed her fingers that she'd find an audience.

Stock image of teachers helping students on computer

Reaching teachers

"The beginning was mostly tumbleweeds, but then the pandemic hit and everything changed," says Paula. "My daughter's school did not work well under the new remote learning guidelines, so I started creating templates specifically to help her teachers during the shift."

"My daughter's classmates loved the weekly planner slides template (it helped them stay on track and have all the class resources in one place), so I realized other educators and students might find the templates useful too. I started sharing them on SlidesMania and the word spread like fire on social media. Teachers from all over the world started using them and their appreciation was overwhelming."

"Everybody was using those planners and the digital notebooks. I started creating a lot of little videos to show how to use them and the website just blew up. It was so weird. I had to pinch myself constantly because I couldn't believe it was happening so suddenly."

Now SlidesMania has almost a million downloads every month. Along the way, Paula felt strongly that her content should remain free. "Most of my content is intended for teachers, and I know they already put so much money out of their pockets for supplies for their classrooms, that I didn't want to add up to their expenses."

She turned to Google AdSense to cover the site's expenses and start earning money through display ads on her site. "When you first set it up you don't believe it is that easy and expect it to be more complicated."

Another image of teachers helping students on computer.

Building a flexible lifestyle

Paula's first ad revenue was a payment for 77 euros, which she framed on her wall in her office. "Since then, ads have been SlidesMania's only source of revenue and it has dramatically grown in line with the growth of the website's visits."

Paula never imagined she could turn her passion for Slides into a business she could live off of. Eventually, Paula transitioned to working with a Google Certified Publishing Partner, Snigel, to manage her ads business for her and help her earn money. "They make everything easier," says Paula.

"I don't consider running the website ‘work.' It's my passion. And it allows me to have flexibility in my life. I can choose my hours, which helps me be a better mother, wife, and daughter."

Paula, her husband and their daughter, had been living in Spain since 2014, and all thanks to the site, in 2022 they were able to move back to their home country to be around their family. "It doesn't matter where we're based anymore, the site gives us the freedom and the flexibility to be close to our loved ones."

“Ads have been SlidesMania's only source of revenue and it has dramatically grown in line with the growth of the website's visits.”

Making an impact in the classroom

The flexible lifestyle and reliable income is nice ‒ but Paula most of all enjoys making hard-working teachers' lives a bit easier. "Going forward, I want to continue my mission of providing beautiful and, most importantly, engaging templates for teachers and students not only for presentations but also for games, lessons and activities in the classroom."

"The interactions I have with teachers are the highlight. I love that I get to talk to educators from all over the world, learn from them, understand their needs, and help them as much as I can with what I do," says Paula. "I fell in love with the education community, and I can't thank them enough for letting me be part of it."

About the Publisher

Paula is a self taught designer, mom of a brilliant daughter, and the human for 4 cats. She is the creator of SlidesMania, a site filled with templates for much more than just presentations.