If you’ve chosen a profession in teaching, it’s probably because you truly love what you do. At the same time, you may have been looking into finding side hustles for teachers to help you earn extra cash and reach your Financial Independence goals.
And as someone whose mom and grandmother were both teachers and who’s strongly considered becoming a teacher himself within the last 12 months, I can understand the draw. There’s simply something exciting about knowing that you could be making a significant impact on a young person’s future.
But while teaching has its fair share of intangible benefits, the pay can sometimes be lacking. According to the National Education Association (NEA), the average starting salary for a teacher in 2017-2018 was $39,249. That’s actually a decrease of 2.91% over the past decade, after adjusting for inflation. So while teaching can be a joy, the bills still have to be paid. And that’s why side hustles for teachers can make such a big difference.
The best side hustles for teachers take full advantage of the skills and resources that you already have while giving you the freedom to set your own schedule. Some of the best side hustles for teachers include tutoring, online teaching, and freelance writing.
1. Tutoring
Ok, so no surprise here. Tutoring students before or after school is one of the best side hustles for teachers.
Your first option would be to tutor students from the school that you’re a teacher of. If you simply let your students and parents know that you offer tutoring, you may be able to build a full list of tutoring students quickly with minimal effort.
However, you may be able to tutor students from other schools as well. One way to find students is by joining a tutoring association like the National Tutoring Association or the National College Learning Association. Both associations offer certifications and a directory of certified tutors for parents to search from.
Another way to find students is to advertise your tutoring services online on websites like Tutor.com or Care.com. According to PayScale, the average tutor makes $17.57 an hour but can make up to $40 an hour depending on their expertise and years of experience.
Related: 6 Types Of Side Hustles You Can Start Today
2. Online Teaching
Teaching online is one of my favorite side hustles for teachers. And there are two main reasons why.
First, you can work anywhere as long as your computer is with you. That means you can work from the comfort of your couch in the evenings if you’d like. And, second, you’ll typically have the flexibility to set your own schedule.
Moderate Online Courses
With the popularity of online college courses, universities always need to hire course moderators on an adjunct basis.
In many cases, you won’t be expected to create the course. You’ll just need to correspond with students, answer their questions, and grade papers and exams.
When I was in college, several of my online courses were taught by full-time professors who managed the online courses as side hustles. If you happen to be a college professor, ask the dean of students at your school if they’re looking for moderators for any upcoming online courses.
And you can look for online course adjunct positions on job boards as well.
Teach English To Foreign Students
Teaching English online to foreign students is one of my favorite side hustles for teachers, mostly because I know that several of my friends have had great success doing this.
Most often, you will be teaching Chinese students. A few popular platforms include TeachAway, VIPKID, and DaDa. One of my friends, Kelli, has been teaching Chinese students on the VIPKID platform for a couple of years now.
So I called her up to find out what her experience has been like. Kelli explained to me that each teaching session is 25 minutes long, with five minutes allocated for filling out your student feedback form.
How Much Can You Make?
She said that pay is based on teaching experience and education. And she said that you get raises on every 6-month contract depending on parent feedback and if you haven’t had any teacher no-shows.
In her case, they started her at nine dollars per session, with a one-dollar incentive for filling out student feedback on time. Plus, she can earn a few monthly bonuses of 50 cents per session if she hits certain incentives.
Since she can do two sessions per hour, Kelli is making $20 to $22 an hour. And the best part? She’s totally free to set her own schedule.
You just tell them what your open slots are. I love the flexibility of being able to make extra income on my own schedule.
But the hardest part? The weird hours that you have to teach. Because of the time difference between the United States and China, the classes are open from 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 a.m. our time.
That can be a bit difficult to manage. But if you’re willing to stay up late or wake up early, teaching English online can be a great teacher side hustle.
3. Managing Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are a great way for certain businesses to drive online traffic their way. But many business owners are simply too busy to create the ads themselves. That’s why many owners are perfectly fine with paying some else to handle this for them.
This presents a great side hustle opportunity for you. You could literally earn an extra $1,000 to $2,000 a month running Facebook ads for businesses. And it’s not that hard to learn.
Take Bobby Hoyt, for example, who was a high school teacher and band director. He had no previous experience with digital ad services. But he was able to quickly learn the skills that it takes to turn Facebook Ad creation and management into a serious side hustle.
Mike Yanda is another great example of someone who’s killing it with Facebook Ads. While he started creating Facebook Ads as a side hustle, it ended up growing into his full-time job–a job that pays him over $30,000 a month. And now Mike and Bobby have teamed up together to create a Facebook Ads side hustle course.
These guys love Facebook ads so much they teamed up and created a Facebook Ads course so you can learn how to do it too! They built nine modules that take you through each step of setting up a Facebook ad plus landing your first client.
It’s totally feasible that you can earn an extra $1,000 to $2,000 per month. And that could go a long way towards paying down debt or reaching your savings goals.
Check out the Facebook Side Hustle Course here.
4. Doing Virtual Assistant Work
A virtual assistant is someone who provides support to businesses from a remote location. While VAs can work for any type of business, their services tend to lend themselves well to online business. Virtual assistants do everything from clerical work to more advanced tasks like web development and server management.
There are no specific educational requirements to become a virtual assistant. That’s what makes it one of the best side hustles for teachers. But since VA work tends to involve repetitive tasks, you will need to be organized and a good time manager.
Kayla Sloan started a VA side hustle to help pay off her student debt. And she ended up doing so well at it that she quit her full-time job to become a full-time virtual assistant.
Now, Kayla makes over $10k a month as a VA. She shares the secrets that she’s learned along the way in her course, 10KVA. I would highly recommend taking her course if you’re thinking about starting a VA side hustle!
5. Freelance Editing And Proofreading
I especially like this as a side hustle option if your degree is in English. There are tons of websites that are looking for people with your grammatical expertise.
If you’re looking to start a freelance proofreading and editing side hustle, you may want to advertise your services online. UpWork, Freelancer, and Fiverr are a few great places to start.
You may be able to land editing and proofreading work no matter your educational background. But if you did get your degree in English, make sure to mention that on your profile.
Related: 17 Passive Income Ideas To Fast Track Your FI Journey
6. Blogging
There are two main ways that you could build a successful blog as a teacher.
One would be to aim your blog towards other teachers, giving them teaching tips and resources. For example, Mrs. Wills’ Kindergarten is a popular website for Kindergarten teachers looking for lesson plans, activities, and classroom resources.
Another way would be to create a blog aimed at students. It could be a site that includes worksheets, videos, and tips to help them perform better in a particular subject. MathAndScience, founded by Jason Gibson, would be a great example of this type of blog.
So how do you make money with a blog as a teacher? Well, there are a few different ways. One simple way is to allow ads on your site. You won’t make a ton of money that way (unless you get huge traffic), but it’s a good place to start.
Another way would be to sell courses or packages. For example, on Mrs. Wills’ Kindergarten site, there is a wide variety of teaching bundles available for purchase. And on the MathAndScience site, students can shop from over 1,500 individuals lessons or course bundles.
7. Freelance Writing
Did you know that you could easily make over $1,000 a month by freelance writing ten hours or less per week?
How do I know? Because I started a freelance writing side hustle myself while working a full-time job. And things took off so fast that seven months later, I quit my job to become a full-time freelance writer.
One of the great things about freelance writing is that you can work whenever you want. As long as you meet your deadlines, your editors don’t care when the work happens. So if you’re willing to write early in the morning or late at night, freelance writing could be a great teacher side hustle.
How much can you make? Well, if you have no prior experience, you’ll probably need to start out making five to ten cents a word. But once you get a few paid assignments under your belt, you could easily start charging more. You could write about topics that coincide with your teaching expertise. Or perhaps you could write about a completely separate topic that happens to interest you.
To find your first clients, try creating a profile on sites like Freelancer, ProBlogger, or Contently. And once you get one or two clients under your belt, let your editors know if you have more availability. By just letting them know that you’re available, you may get more work or they may refer you to other editors who are looking for writers.
Related: Side Hustle Series: Freelance Writing
8. Start An Etsy Shop
Etsy is a great place to sell both physical and digital products. But digital products (like downloads and printables) have a major advantage.
You do the work once and you can sell them an infinite number of times.
So by selling digital items on Etsy, you can essentially create a passive income stream. As a teacher, you may be skilled at creating activity sheets, flashcards, and other resources. These kinds of items can sell really well on Etsy! Start selling on Etsy.
Related: How To Start An Etsy Shop To Build Passive Income
9. Renting Out Your Car
We’ve all heard of rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. But did you know that you can make money with your car without driving it?
For most teachers, their car just sits idle for six to eight hours every day anyway. But there are several companies out there that you can use to make your car available for rent while you’re in school teaching.
If you’re wondering how these services work or how they protect you against theft or vandalism, check out our guide to making money with your car without driving.
10. Renting Out Your Home On Airbnb
You could easily bring in $1,000 to $4,000 of extra income each month by listing your home on Airbnb or other short-term rental sites.
My parents purchased an investment property about 18 months ago which they turned into an Airbnb that my wife and I have helped manage. It’s been a great source of side income for us. But even if you don’t have an investment property, you could just rent out an available bedroom in your primary residence.
I should point out Airbnb may be a better option during the summer break. During the school year, it would be difficult to clean your home in-between stays while you’re at school most of the day. However, one way to get around this would be to block off your calendar during the weekdays and only take stays during the weekend.
Listen: How To Get Started Making Money With Airbnb With Zeona McIntyre
How Much Money Could You Make On the Side?
As a teacher, you have a key benefit that many other workers don’t. You have a consistent work schedule in which you’re off nearly every weekend, holiday, and summer.
And that gives you a lot of time to dedicate towards starting and scaling a side hustle. How much extra money could you make this year with one of these best side hustles for teachers?
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