Ways To Make Extra Income As A Teacher

I have a lot of respect for teachers. Both of my parents are high school teachers. My Dad teaches technology and robotics. My Mom teaches music – chorus, piano, and violin. They’ve worked hard and diligently for many years, to help hundreds of valuable young people to learn amazing things, and hone their unique abilities.

Teachers have an infinitely important job. And while I think that teachers should be compensated well for their hard work, this is not always the case. Some teachers may be struggling to find employment, and are still searching for jobs or other ways to make money. Others may just be looking for ways to boost their finances.

Regardless, if you’re a teacher, you have an incredibly valuable skill that provides you some AWESOME ways to make extra income!

Here are some of the best.

Teaching English As A Second Language Online (Whenever You Want)

Having a hard time getting a teaching job? Don’t sweat it. Believe it or not, there are companies online that are looking to recruit teachers to teach English to students in places like China, South Korea, and India.

There are many companies that do this, but one of the best and most reputable is a Chinese English-education program called VIPkid.

So how does VIPkid work? Well, you can completely make your own hours from home. Send in an application, and once accepted you can start picking up teaching sessions of 1/2 an hour at a time, whenever you want.

VIPkid doesn’t even require that you have a degree, though having a degree will increase your pay. You can make a minimum of $14/hour, and up to $22, within your first year (plus, you’ll get a $1 bonus every time that you show up on time, so there’s no reason to not make AT LEAST $15/hour).

Check it out!

You might be thinking – “well this isn’t really my area of expertise”. The most important skill with VIPkid, (and with teaching any subject, in my opinion), is the skill of teaching itself. Expertise in a subject is not unimportant, but it’s the ability to connect and communicate that is truly the heart of teaching.

You may use VIPkid as a simple stop-gap to bring in some money while you’re job searching. You may just use it to bridge your summers. To keep a bigger cash flow if you’re home on maternity leave, or sick leave. But you may even find a long-term career through VIPkid, and the mentorship programs that you can advance to.

The chance to meet and teach 4 to 12 year olds in another culture is amazing! And may be just as much of a learning experience for you, as it is for the kids you’ll get to meet.

Start A Business During Your Summer Break

Having a job as a teacher is very unique. Unlike most other occupations, teaching will often involve a 3 month long summer break.

This is an extremely valuable chunk of time, that you can use to alter your financial situation like crazy!

It’s quite possible that you’ve never thought of being a business owner. But you may also not realize yet that you have a skill that can be incredibly lucrative.

And I don’t mean just because you can teach students in a classroom.

Education is a valuable thing. And there are not only millions of people seeking education, but there are ways that you can make a profitable business by TEACHING those millions of people.

Affiliate marketing is a term that people don’t often think of in relation to teaching. But that’s exactly what it is. People… and I mean millions of people… search out blogs online seeking to be educated on something.

You can create a blog through programs like Wealthy Affiliate, cheaply or even for free. Wealthy Affiliate will teach you how to get a readership to that blog. The more you teach people through the content of your blog, on any subject you have knowledge about, the more your readership will inevitably grow, as people seek information that is taught well.

Then you can promote or review relevant and helpful products to your readers. Informing them, and making potentially enormous profit through their purchases too. Over an iced tea during your summer.

There are hundreds of people, with an ability to teach (like you), that are making an extra $100,000+ per year through their blogs. Many of them are even doing it full-time (or semi-retired) now.

It’s more doable than you might think.

And you can teach anything…

There Are Endless Opportunities With Your Summer

Affiliate marketing may be the cheapest, easiest, and most teaching-centric of opportunities for your summer, but it is far from the ONLY option!

Selling physical products through an online Shopify store can make you over a million dollars annually, with the right tools, education, and drive. This can even be done with very little risk or upfront investment through methods like dropshipping.

With time, the way you invest your summer break into a business during your summers can leave you more financially free than you might have ever imagined.

And e-commerce is only one of many other flexible ways that you can make some extra cash.

Becoming licensed as an independent agent in insurance or real estate may be something you’ve never thought of doing. But it can be an incredible financial opportunity to make extra money, especially as someone with good communication skills.

You can make your own hours, and with the right strategies, a few good years of insurance or real estate sales could set you up well for years, or even life. There are ways of making single commissions in either of these fields that are higher than most annual salaries. And even with smaller sales, like home or car insurance, these sales will often pay you for life. As they pile up they become a passive cash flow that could have you retiring VERY comfortably.

You’re a communicator. That’s an asset with endless possibilities.

Tutoring

Like I said, your ability to teach is valuable in a lot more places than just a brick and mortar classroom. One of the most obvious ways is to pick up some extra gigs as a tutor.

While you may be required to offer some kind of tutoring through whatever school district you work for (whatever it takes to impress the superintendent, at least until tenure, right?), there are a lot of other ways you can get paid EXTRA for your tutoring skills.

Websites like Chegg offer you the opportunity to make $1,000+ every month through some online tutoring gigs.

Your local area may also have opportunities for you to pick up some part time hours tutoring in an area of your expertise. This may be less flexible than tutoring online, but it’s a chance for some extra cash.

The Joy Of Teaching

What you do as a teacher has the power to deeply effect lives forever. You’re a part of people’s lives at an extremely formative time, when they’re growing and learning and retaining in huge leaps and bounds.

There’s a lot of fulfillment and joy in that.

What you also have is an incredible skill set. You may not realize the power those skills have to make you a very rewarding income, But the options are awesome.

These are very basic suggestions, which require a lot more knowledge. If you have any questions about any of these opportunities, or you want to pursue any of them, please feel free to ask me anything, and I will provide you answers.

Thanks for reading!