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Why Side Hustle?
What could you do with an extra $100 per month? $300? $500? $1,000? $2,500? $5,000?! Could you accelerate your path to financial independence and begin building wealth as a teacher? Check out these amazing online side hustles for teachers!
As teachers, it’s pretty clear to the majority of us that we are underpaid for our qualification, sacrifices and contributions to society. We start off with advanced degrees, certifications, and an unpaid internship (student teaching), and we start off on the bottom of the totem pole.
Relative to our location, teachers often earn less than other professionals in the private sector with comparable education and certifications. So, we often look to supplement our income, stretch our salaries, and hope we can survive the summer pay gap.
In steps, these amazing lone side hustles for teachers.
Side hustles can be a great way to start to build an income outside of teaching to help us reach our financial goals. Whether you want to retire early, buy a house, pay off debt, or just afford a few cups of coffee a week. There is a side hustle out there for you.
But as always, remember to check in with yourself. Be sure that by accepting a side hustle you aren’t stretching yourself too thin. YOU ARE TOO VALUABLE. And your health, mental health, and family life are more important than our financial goals.
However, if you are committed to online side hustling to reach your goals. Read on and share this with your teacher friends who might want some inspiration!
1) Blogging
As teachers, we are used to having to do a lot of talking and a lot of writing. Whether it’s when we are teaching and grading, or developing lesson plans and curriculum. If you enjoy writing and have something interesting to share or teach, you might be able to monetize a blog.
Blogging can be very time consuming and require a lot of upfront effort. But it has very little preventing you from getting started. Domain names can be obtained for $5-10, and hosting on BlueHost is real cheap and easy to get started with!
With very little barrier to entry and unlimited income potential, blogging can be very lucrative if you are willing to put in the time and learn.
Bloggers make money through displaying advertising, affiliate marketing, selling products and services, and through membership sites/programs.
- Get paid with affiliate marketing through ShareaSale
Blogging can take awhile to monetize, so don’t get discouraged! If you are passionate about this and want to pursue it, stay the course and you will get there. A large percentage of the new sites on the internet each year don’t survive their first year and go dormant. If you can make it past a year, you’ve got a good chance to make it!
2) Crafts/Printables on Etsy
Crafty, creative, and design focused? Then check out Etsy!
In all likelihood you’ve probably bought from Etsy before. Don’t be intimidated by the products you see there! If you are into making crafts or creating printables for home organization and such, research some similar products and jump in! With the right price point, sales copy, and marketing, you could make a nice profit off Etsy.
One of the things to keep in mind, is that a lot of Etsy’s shoppers are looking for personalized items. So, if you can add a touch of personalization to your products, you’ll stand out in many of your potential customers’ searches.
You can also create your own products at home and sell them directly to customers through a Facebook page! Check out Simply Blessed Designs NY on Facebook, they are ran by two best friends, and one of them is expecting their first child this spring! They’ve made over $500 in their first month open!
3) Tutoring
Tutoring online can be an excellent way to earn additional income while directly using your teacher skills.
If you are a science, math or ELA teacher, you likely can find plenty of students seeking out tutoring in preparation for state examinations, SAT, ACTs, or to pass advanced level courses such as AP(Advanced placement).
For other subject areas, you might find less demand but likely less competition in the market.
Online music lessons is another one that can be a very lucrative side hustle!
You can choose to use an established tutoring service and work/schedule through them. Or you can set up your own tutoring company! Both have pros and cons to them. But either way, tutoring can be a great way to make side income.
4) Ebooks
Love writing but don’t want to maintain a blog? Try your hand at self publishing via KDP. You can write up an ebook of any size and upload to KDP and sell it without having to worry about ordering copies or getting it placed in stores.
There is a lot less barrier to entry in the ebook game, but a lot more competition. Marketing, social promotion, design, and pre-order/book launch events are going to be vital to your success.
Several teachers have made the jump to publish an ebook. You never know if you’ve got a best seller until you write it and publish it. Don’t sell your ideas and talents short!
- MetalHead Money made $33.51 in November 2020 from her book “Money Hacks for Metalheads and Old Millennials“
Lots of upfront work for ebooks, but endless passive income once it’s done.
5) Online courses
In the spirit of continuing to discuss side hustles with heavy front loaded work and endless passive income of the back end, comes online courses. Online courses can be very profitable, and as a teacher you are an expert at learning and instructional design. What better way to meld your talents into a passive income source!
Like ebooks, it will require a lot of promotion and marketing to get off the ground, but if you pick the right niche and get a toehold in the market, you could find plenty of sales coming your way.
Online courses can be video based, text, a combination of both, or be real-time in nature.
Check out platforms like Teachable or Udemy. In terms of better online side hustles for teachers, this can be a perfect match for teachers with unlimited earning potential!
6) Proofreading
Everyone can use a proofreader, including me, to help them prepare their copy before publishing. With the amount of business being done online, there is an ever growing number of companies and individuals looking for proofreaders.
Proofreading isn’t rocket science, but there are definitely some skills you can polish to help you earn more and get better clients.
Proofreading, generally, doesn’t involve any rewrites of work. Just finding grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors.
- Check out Before You Go Freelance for coaching and strategies for freelancing as a writer or proofreader. Or check out Proofreadanywhere for examples of others side hustling with proofreading
According to PayScale, the average proofreader makes $18 per hour!
7) Curriculum writing/selling
Curriculum writing can be a lucrative side hustle for teachers. Particularly because it combines a task you are already skilled at and something you already have to do.
Curriculum companies like Pearson are always hiring people to write curriculum for them, especially when new standards are developed.
If you’d rather sell your own created materials and lessons, look into TeachersPayTeachers.
Just be sure to check and ensure your school doesn’t claim ownership of any intellectual property created during work hours. If they do, you’ll have to create separate materials using a separate account than the one you use at school.
I’d suggest this regardless, don’t work on TpT materials while on the clock to avoid any legal disputes.
But you CAN adapt what you make during school to later be sold on TpT.
8) YouTube videos
This side hustle can require a lot of time and skill, but once you’ve got a strong subscriber base, it can be quite lucrative. Advertising revenue, affiliate marketing and/or digital products/services work well with YouTube, just like a blog.
Google is the number one search engine in the world, and YouTube is number two. Since YouTube is owned by Google, creating on this platform with the understanding of how to rank on YouTube and of SEO can help you reach a large audience and increase your ad revenue.
If you can teach something or answer questions you would be searching on the internet for you can make it on YouTube. Not unlike a blog, there are certain skills you will need to become successful.
Video editing and production techniques/equipment can make a world of difference. Some channels are able to be successful without investing heavily into equipment or software. Some shoot using some key lights, an IPhone and a tripod.
However, better equipment can definitely help your channel get noticed.
Another important aspect of being successful on YouTube is thumbnails. Thumbnails need to catch the attention of the searcher and look high quality.
YouTube is time intensive, but if your content is evergreen, and always bringing in more viewers, you’ll continue to earn a passive income for long after you’ve hit publish!
Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com
9) Facebook Ads
A newer side hustle that is starting to explode with business and no shortage of people writing about it is creating and managing Facebook Ads for small businesses.
If you can learn some simple marketing techniques, how to design ads for Facebook, and how to drum up partnerships with small businesses in your area, you can easily make $500 per month or more!
Facebook Ads might be one of the least time consuming once you’ve found your niche market in your area and created some sample ads. The marketing of your services and closing deals with small businesses will take the most time.
Check out Bobby Hoyt’s course by the MillennialMoneyMan himself, a former teacher before his Facebook Ad business exploded! This is one of the best online side hustles for teachers! As Bobby can attest too!
10) Freelance Writing
Freelance writing can be a relativity easy way to branch out into the world of freelancing and side hustling outside of your main career as a teacher. As an educator with an advanced degree, you have the skills and qualifications to be a successful freelance writer.
As Laura from Beforeyougofreelance states, freelancing can be a great side hustle or business “that supports my family and lets me live my desired lifestyle. (Looking at you Tuesday afternoon naps and impromptu vacation days!)”
Freelancing can combine a flexible schedule (great for teachers), location independence (yes-please), and a chance to grow your opportunities and income.
Freelance writing is still work and it can take quite a bit of time to find the right opportunities. But once you have your feet underneath you, you can be more selective with your opportunities and take only those that match you needs, your value, and you passions.
It is definitely one of the most underrated online side hustles for teachers. The average freelance writer makes around $24 per hour according to Payscale.
Photo by Any Lane on Pexels.com
11) Virtual Assistant
What is a virtual assistant? Basically, you make the lives of someone else or a company easier, virtually. No traveling required. You do it right directly from the comfort of your home (or wherever your laptop connects to the internet!)
A virtual assistant doesn’t always mean you will be required to take care of traditional administrative tasks. You could be scheduling and posting Pinterest pins, Facebook posts, or writing emails for sales generation. Basically, whatever your skills and niche dictate, alongside the needs of the your employer.
Virtual assistants average around $15 per hour according to Payscale.
Photo by Polina Zimmerman on Pexels.com
12) VIPKID
In all honesty, I am not the biggest fan of this side hustle. I think there is truly better ways to earn more per hour by tutoring online. However, for some VIPKID can be an easy side hustle as its hours are often outside of the normal teaching day.
Most teachers on VIPKID make around $6-9 per class, with each class being about 25 minutes in length.
There are probably better ways to do this on your own (if you are willing to put the work into finding clients).
If you want to read more on why VIPKID might not be the best option for teachers, check out Penny from Shepicksuppennies.com and her post here.
BONUS: Streaming Video Games
I will have to write more about this side hustle at a later date, and really get into depth about my experience streaming on Twitch during the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown in NYS.
But, seriously, streaming video games on a platform like Twitch can be a great side hustle combining earning potential and a passion like video games.
Twitch and YouTube Gaming are the two biggest platforms for streaming videos games, but Facebook Gaming is also an option.
In March, I started streaming various video games on twitch and created a Twitter account that eclipsed 1,000 followers in just a month linked to that account. I reached Twitch Affiliate status in just ten days! In the last couple weeks of my streaming career, I joined a team that helped to raise over $5,000 for charitable causes! Definitely a worthwhile side hustle for those that love video games (I do!)!
Twitch allows Twitch Affiliates to show and make money from ads, subscriptions, donations, affiliate marketing and merchandise.
- Check out this great post by Partners in Fire on How to Get Affiliate in 30 Days or Less and consider joining her Discord! (Just tell Melanie I sent you!)
Over my two months of streaming, I made around $3.00 in ad revenue and $67.00 in subscriptions. I fell just short of the required $100 to get the Twitch payout before stopping for the summer months. I’d consider going back, but as a teacher its important to make sure you either stay anonymous or maintain an online presence befitting an educator (I swear too much when playing COD). It’s easier than you think to go viral for one bad take on a live stream, so be careful here, but have fun!
Conclusion
All in all, there are a lot of amazing online side hustles for teachers out there! It’s all about finding the one that helps you to reach your goals, builds off your skills, and makes your needs for time, flexibility, and income potential.
Teachers deserve more pay, but until we can win that battle, try your hand at side hustling to help you reach your financial goals!
What other side hustles have your found to be great for teachers? Let me know in the comments below!
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Check out the rest of our great content for teachers over at our For Teachers Page!
