The post Best Side Hustles for Teachers appeared first on Millennial Money.
Teachers tend to love what they do — even if they don’t love their salaries. That’s why many teachers work a second job to make more money.
Whether you could use the extra income to help pay off your student loans or credit card debt or want to start saving for retirement, there are plenty of side hustles you can do during the school year or as a summer job.
In this post, we’ll look at some of the best side hustles for teachers… and anyone else who wants to earn extra money.
Table of contents
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What Are the Best Side Hustles for Teachers?
- 1. Take up freelance writing or editing
- 2. Become an adjunct professor
- 3. Get hired as a virtual assistant
- 4. Sell lessons on Teachers Pay Teachers
- 5. Teach summer school
- 6. Return to summer camp
- 7. Coach sports
- 8. After-school and online tutoring
- 9. Teach English as a second language
- 10. Raise money on Classful.com
- The Bottom Line
What Are the Best Side Hustles for Teachers?
Some folks are content to use survey sites like Survey Junkie to earn gift cards or a few extra bucks here and there. But in this side hustle list, we’re going to focus on lucrative side hustle ideas that make the best use of your talents.
1. Take up freelance writing or editing
If you’re a teacher with wordsmith experience, freelance writing can be a great option for making money.
Companies are always looking for help building out content on their websites or social media accounts. And highly skilled writers can charge a high premium for freelance writing
And if you’re very knowledgeable about grammar and content structure, you might find editing to be a great side hustle for you.
Freelance writing and editing are popular teacher side hustle ideas because you can often do these jobs on your own time, from anywhere. You can write or edit on the weekend, after school, or even while you’re on vacation with your family.
A great way to start finding gigs as a freelance writer or editor is through online platforms like Fiverr or Upwork.
2. Become an adjunct professor
When I was getting my master’s degree in business administration, many of my adjunct professors were full-time school teachers who worked for the college part-time.
Being an adjunct professor is even easier today, because there are options to teach as an online course instructor. These jobs tend to pay quite well, and you can still enjoy your weekends and holidays off!
Check your local community college or university to see what part-time opportunities might be available to you.
3. Get hired as a virtual assistant
If you’re great at getting other people organized (and let’s face it, that’s a large part of teaching!), becoming a virtual assistant could be the perfect side hustle for you.
Many small businesses are often looking for a virtual assistant. This usually entails doing odd jobs like answering emails and scheduling appointments.
Virtual assistants might also get hired to manage a company’s social media presence.
This is a great choice if you’re looking for a work-from-home job. However, note that you may be expected to work during normal business hours, when you may be teaching a class.
4. Sell lessons on Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Pay Teachers is a platform that lets teachers sell their original lesson plans and classroom materials to other teachers and homeschool parents.
This is a great way to make passive income. Just upload your lesson plan, activity instructions, bulletin board designs, etc. — and get paid whenever someone makes a purchase. Because you’re selling digital files, there’s no need to ship anything.
5. Teach summer school
During the summer months, why not continue doing what you love and teach summer school? Many public school systems and private schools offer classes year-round for students who need extra time in the classroom.
6. Return to summer camp
That sounds like a cheesy horror movie, right? But in reality, you can have a lot of fun working at a summer camp or other outdoor program.
Working at a YMCA summer camp, serving as a lifeguard, and leading kids into the wilderness with Outward Bound are popular summer jobs for teachers.
You could also consider becoming a local tour guide and teach visiting youngsters about what your area has to offer.
Learn More:
7. Coach sports
When I was in high school, many of the teachers taught sports throughout the year. The science teachers coached tennis and football. My English teacher also coached softball. A friend of mine’s father was a high-school administrator as well as a football coach.
8. After-school and online tutoring
There are plenty of online teaching jobs that you can look into. There are options for after-school tutoring, public and private online or offline tutoring. Just a quick Google search returns more than 471 million results for tutoring.
Often students and parents of students will seek out tutoring services for test preparation. Higher test scores can be a competitive advantage for college admissions as well as possible job opportunities. This means that parents or students may be willing to pay a premium to work on earning a higher test score.
Wealthofgeeks.com mentions 23 online tutoring services for $20 – $100+ per hour. Some tutoring jobs are English-specific, but other opportunities range from different subjects. The article suggests tutoring as a Kaplan Test Prep Instructor or using PrepNow.
Iliketodabble.com states that the average pay for tutoring is around $25 per hour but can be up to $7,500 per month.
On the other hand, you can become an online teacher with a platform such as Outschool. I know a number of teachers who use this site to make quite a lot of money doing what they love best.
But you have to hustle… the most successful online teachers are comfortable promoting themselves on social media.
9. Teach English as a second language
A lot of people are earning extra money teaching English online. A few of the online services they use are VIPKid, EF Teach Online, Qkids, and others.
If you’d rather teach English in person, some churches and other neighborhood resources offer English as a second language classes.
These may be volunteer services, however. But there also may be opportunities to offer private ESL lessons to those who want more help.
Learn More:
10. Raise money on Classful.com
Classful.com isn’t exactly a site for teachers to make extra money. It’s a fundraising site that lets you raise money to buy materials and cover other education costs.
Classful.com sends the funding directly to the teachers without imposing a waiting period like some other crowdfunding sites.
According to Adoptaclassroom.org’s June 2021 survey, on average, teachers spend $750 of their own money to buy school supplies for their students. And 30% spend $1,000 or more on school supplies each year.
By raising funds through Classful.com, you can keep more of your income in your pocket. In fact, it could end up as lucrative as any of the other side hustles mentioned in this article.
The Bottom Line
No matter which side hustle idea you decide to run with, there are plenty of ways for teachers to earn extra cash when not in the classroom. Teachers tend to have a variety of in-demand skills that clients and employers want.
When you’re not stressed out about money, you can give 110% to your students — after all, they’re why you decided to take up this profession!
The post Best Side Hustles for Teachers appeared first on Millennial Money.
