Maybe you want to make extra money as a teacher, but you don’t know where to start. There are truly so many awesome ideas available, and the first place to start is to figure out what aligns with you. Then, think about if you want to start a teacher business or make extra money on the side of your full time teaching career. In this blog post (and on podcast episode 196 of The Elementary Music Teacher podcast), we’ll focus on 4 easy ways to make money as a teacher.
1. Products
The first way to make extra money as a teacher is by creating products. You can make a variety of products, including worksheets, teacher resources, lesson plans, and more, and publish them to a Teachers Pay Teachers store. You can also create a course and host it on your own website, or house it somewhere like Udemy or Outschool. If you have products on TPT or you want to give ongoing support to teachers, you should consider starting a membership site.
No matter what type of product you choose to create, focus on the problem you want to solve and the audience you want to serve. Then, brainstorm ideas for the content and decide what questions your audience is asking the most.
2. Services
Offering services is a fantastic way to make extra money as a teacher. There are a lot of different services you can provide. Think about how you’re already serving other teachers in your school building? What common questions do they ask you to help them with? What do you feel like you’re good at?
You can offer teacher coaching on a variety of topics. This can be 1-on-1 or in a group setting. Yes, teachers are willing to pay for good coaching to help them in whatever area they’re struggling in.
Other services you can offer are website design, social media marketing, podcasting or video editing, or being a virtual assistant. Honestly, this just touches the surface of what services you can offer. I offer elementary music teacher and business coaching and do website design. So, you can mix and match what you offer as well!
3. Freelancing
Being a freelancer is a great way to bring in extra money. A freelancer is someone who does work for others for a predetermined time frame. For example, I’ve written guest blog posts for several different education companies and have gotten paid for them. Look at Upwork or Fiverr where one off jobs are constantly being posted. In the search bar, type in keywords like “K12 teacher”, “teacher jobs”, “blog writing”, or anything else you might want to look for.
Another great way to freelance is to do curriculum design. I worked for 3 separate companies where I helped realign their content with the National Music Standards. These job posts come up from time to time on LinkedIn or Indeed. So, check about once a week to see what freelancing opportunities are available.
4. Workshops
The last way to bring in extra money is to present at workshops. Some workshops won’t pay you, but there are some that will. Or, you can host your own! I do a mixture of presenting for others and hosting my own workshops. The ones I host are sometimes free, but they lead into a paid offering, like my Harmony membership site. For an hour workshop, you can get paid a good amount of money, especially if there are a lot of attendees.
There are online summits or conferences that ask for presenters. Some of the ones I’ve presented at are the International Music Education Conference, the F-Flat Book Summit, The Inspired Classroom Retreat, and some district level conferences.
Which of these ways do you want to consider pursuing in making extra money as a teacher? Tell me about it in the comments below or share your thoughts on social media as you share this post. I’d love for you to share this post or any of the resources on my website with a friend or colleague who you know NEEDS to see it too.
I’d love to help you get your education business off the ground and running. I offer business coaching and have already helped many teachers start or grow their side hustle. If you want to see if I’m the right fit for you, fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.
