9 Side Hustles That Are Perfect For Teachers

Teaching is often called a vocation rather than a profession, and it most definitely isn’t a job you fall into; rather, it is a choice you make and follow.

However, teaching isn’t a very well-paid profession; the average teacher’s salary as of December 2023 is $57, 671 while most teachers can expect to fall within the $48,000 and $71,000 range. And for many, this isn’t enough to compensate them for the time and effort put into what they do, not to mention enough to live off. SmartAsset found that to live in one of the country’s 25 costliest states, you need at least $68,500 to have a comfortable life, and if you are only earning the national average for teachers, then chances are you’ll be falling short of what you need to live comfortably.

So, what can you do to boost your bank balance as a teacher and help you keep doing the job you love without falling below the poverty line? These side hustle ideas are ideal for teachers to help you support your lifestyle and have a few extra dollars each month.

Sell Your Lesson Plans for Teaching Materials

To do this, you need to find a site that allows you to easily create teaching materials and lesson plans so you can sell them yourself. Some sites allow you to do this directly, or you can upload them to your own website or places like Etsy so you can market them to other educators or parents looking for additional resources.

While it might seem like you can pretty much sit back once you have created your resources, you need to ensure they are being marketed to others for increased sales, or you might find they sit there not getting any interest. This option will need a little bit of effort on your part to ensure you get sales, but once your materials and lesson plans are designed and ready for sale, there is only the marketing you need to focus on.

Tutor

Tutoring is the most obvious way for you to use your skills to help you generate an income. You can host in-person tutoring for existing students or those in your local area, or you can tutor online and reach students further in the field. There are plenty of places you can sign up online to offer your tutoring services, or you can reach out to your local neighborhood and work with parents and local communities to help people reach their educational goals.

Standardized Test Prep

There are multiple online companies that specialize in helping kids pass their SATs or ACT, for example. What they do is utilize the skills of teachers experienced in the tests to help kids prepare for the testing to achieve the best marks. This can help them get some much-needed practice so nerves don’t get the better of them and slow them in learning the right way to approach the test and what they need to learn to pass. Typically, this will be done with the standard school curriculum, so you will likely already be aware of what will be covered.

Create A Website or Blog

As an educator, you will likely have reams of knowledge that can be useful to others. You can create a website or start writing a blog to help you share this information, provide value to students and parents, and generate an income.

You can sell your own printables if you have created them from one of the above points, you can sell ad space, work with companies on sponsorship deals, or even create a portal to teach online classes in your free time for students who want to learn a bit more in-depth in your specialist area of education. There are multiple ways you can earn an income via a website or a blog while still doing what you love.

Babysit

This might not directly be related to teaching; however, to be in the profession, you need to have a natural affinity towards children, which makes you an ideal babysitter for younger kids.

You can sign up to websites online to offer your services or advertise on places like CraigsList or NextDoor to find clients in your local area. How much you will be compensated for your time depends on the clients and the time spent caring for their children in their absence; however, as this will most likely occur in the evening or over weekends, it can easily fit in around your day job.

Publish an EBook

Ebooks are big business for many consumers, and despite Gen Z are driving the trend and boosting sales of buying physical books, ebooks are still significantly in demand. You can create an ebook for free and then market it as you would anything else you were selling. Kindle Direct Publishing is one of the most well-known ways to do this, meaning all you need to do is to write the content, and you can format it for sale on Amazon, or you can choose to sell it elsewhere, such as your website.

Sell Crafts

If you are a teacher who enjoys arts and crafts or creating physical items for students to use during lessons, then you can start an Etsy shop to sell your creations. It doesn’t matter what you sell or do; you can find out if there is a market for what you create and how much you can expect to make to see if it is worth your while. For example, art teachers can sell their paintings directly or via a local retail outlet or exhibit in a gallery.

But you don’t just have to sell something related to what you teach; it can be anything and everything. You can have a sideline selling baked goods, upcycled furniture, clothing, and pet accessories for absolutely anything.

Virtual Assistant

Chances are, as a teacher, you have picked up skills and expertise in areas outside what you have trained in. From replying to emails professionally to using different types of software, lesson planning, scheduling, and so on. Why not put these skills to good use by offering your services as a virtual assistant and helping others online? Virtual assistant duties vary depending on what the person is qualified in, so you don’t need to have a specific skill set as such; just be able to offer high-quality services in what you do offer and find an audience for those looking for a VA to help them out in that area. Sites like Fiverr and People Per Hour can be great places to start.

Summer School

Teaching summer school can be the perfect compromise if you don’t want to give up your evenings or weekends but want to earn an additional income. The time you spend at summer school will likely be shorter than the average day and less intense than the school year with fewer students. If your school has a summer school program, you can sign up to teach these classes to earn extra money or look for other opportunities, such as teaching at summer camps or even out of the area if possible.

Creating an additional income stream as a teacher isn’t always easy due to the demands of your primary employment and the fact that teachers don’t stop working once they leave the classroom. These ideas are flexible enough to fit into small pockets of time as you have them and help you bring in additional funds that can help you support your lifestyle or just be able to afford nice things every once in a while.

This is a contributed post.