Teachers don’t get into the profession for money. Instead, they’re passionate about making a positive impact on their students’ lives and making a difference in the world.
Still, we all have to earn a living and put food on the table, and teachers are notoriously underpaid for their critical work.
Luckily, there are many ways that teachers can earn additional income, thanks to side hustles. Below, read about more than 35 of the best side hustles for teachers in 2022.
Some of these opportunities are directly related to teaching, while others are just lucrative gigs.
Side hustles for teachers at the school
You can make extra cash without ever leaving school property. Here are a few ideas:
After-school programs
If you work at an elementary school, there’s a good chance that there’s an after-school program already on the property.
These programs almost always need extra help, and it’s a great way to earn some cash by spending another hour or two with your students.
If you like working with older kids, consider sponsoring after-school programs like clubs or lessons.
Some districts pay teachers for this additional time, while others are okay with teachers running their own programs in their classrooms.
Coaching opportunities
Most coaches are also teachers and earn money for their time and work.
You don’t need to be a varsity head coach, either. Teams always need people to work with athletes.
If you played sports, you could coach a particular position, such as softball pitcher or soccer forward. Or you could work as an assistant coach for the junior varsity or even intramural teams.
Talk to your school or district’s athletic director to learn more about coaching opportunities.
Tutoring
Use your skills as an educator and tutor for extra income.
Customers are willing to pay top dollar to work with certified teachers.
In-person
You already love working with students and helping them learn. You can get one-on-one time with kids who need extra help with in-person tutoring.
Most communities come packed with tutoring centers. Keep in mind that many of these will have their own curriculums to follow and limit your creative freedom.
Alternatively, you can offer tutoring services on websites like Care.com or advertise on message boards like Craigslist or the local paper. Don’t forget to promote yourself on social media.
Check out coffee shops, grocery stores, churches, community centers, and more places to leave a flyer with your phone number and credentials.
Online
There are even more tutoring opportunities online, with dozens of hosting websites that connect you to students ready to learn. Or, start your own online business.
Some top-rated online tutoring websites include:
Your teaching license will almost surely get you in the door, but you may need to set up an online classroom in your home.
Online tutoring is also an excellent idea if you want to branch out and teach something new.
You can become an online English tutor or teach a skill you have but don’t usually use in your classroom.
Make money from work you already do
So much of what you do can be shared to earn extra money.
Sell learning materials
You have probably spent countless hours compiling or making lesson materials for teaching your students.
Undoubtedly, some of the lesson plans and materials you have are priceless, perhaps even coveted by and shared with fellow teachers at your school.
Believe it or not, teachers outside your circle need those resources, too.
Teachers Pay Teachers is one of the most popular websites where you can post complete lessons and learning materials.
Other educators are looking for new, creative ways to teach their students and will pay for your materials.
While most items are minimally or moderately priced, you can make some serious money over time if you have quality resources to share.
Be savvy about directing traffic to your materials by posting them on Pinterest and other sites.
You can also live stream your lessons and share them on various social media platforms to generate an audience.
Open an Etsy shop
Similarly, you can post much of what you create for your classroom on Etsy.
This option is a great way to get rid of teaching materials you won’t use or share your brilliant breakthroughs with educators everywhere.
Etsy isn’t just for physical goods; many sales on Etsy are digital items that deliver in seconds.
If you have worksheets, word searches, coloring pages, or any other materials you created and own, sell them on Etsy, where other teachers and caregivers look for them.
If you’re good with digital materials, you can also create printables and graphics for teachers on different topics, from teaching the letters of the alphabet to the parts of a cell and beyond.
Side hustles for teachers: Summer gigs
You can find a fun job that allows you to enjoy the summer and earn some money.
Teach summer school
One of the most obvious ways for teachers to earn extra income is to continue to teach over summer break.
As you know, students who don’t meet academic milestones during the year must attend summer school. They prepare for the upcoming year by catching up with their classmates.
Teaching during the summer might sound loathsome, but many districts have found ways to make it more palatable.
In most cases, you don’t need to commit your entire summer. You can choose just a few weeks to work.
The hours are also usually shorter, and critically, you’ll start later in the day, so you get to sleep in. There’s also much less grading and prep.
Finally, you have the opportunity to work with students who need a caring, competent teacher the most. Spend your summer changing more lives.
Work for a summer camp
If you became a teacher because you love working with young people, then summer camp is right for you.
For camp people, working at camp isn’t work at all but a chance to be outside engaging in things they love.
There are many types of camps and ways to get involved.
You can work at a specialty camp for a sport, science, art, or another subject you’re passionate about.
Resident camps and day camps need staff to run groups, supervise and train counselors, design curricula, and teach skills. They love hiring teachers for all these things.
Lifeguard or work outside
If you like to bask in the sunlight all summer long, hit the trails in state parks, or get your hands dirty in the garden, then turn it into a job.
Many seasonal positions are available in the summer, especially for outdoor work. Lifeguarding is just one of them.
Look into working for a landscaping company or sell your expert gardening services to neighbors who admire your work.
Become an outdoor guide and put your teaching skills to good use by leading adventurous outdoor expeditions.
Service industry jobs
Additionally, restaurants and other services need extra help in the summer. This need is particularly true if you live in an area with a lot of tourism.
Some people loathe the idea of returning to waiting tables or bartending. But for others, the fast-paced, nighttime restaurant life may sound good compared to school.
Even if you’ve never done it before, working as a barista in a quiet coffee shop is a great way to enjoy the company of others if you’re extroverted.
If not, everyone needs extra help right now. Even if you just stock shelves, do it somewhere where you’ll get a fabulous employee discount.
Side hustles for teachers: Freelancing opportunities
Freelancing is great because you can control your schedule and decide when to take on more tasks.
Freelance writing
Most teachers are excellent writers since part of their job is teaching those skills to youngsters.
While some internet content is generated automatically, real people write most of it.
Websites of all kinds–from blogs and stores to doctor’s offices–need someone to write the content on their pages.
Very often, they hire an agency that contracts with freelance writers.
To become one of these freelance writers, check sites like Upwork for gigs or search for content writing and marketing companies.
In most cases, you only need to pass a writing test to start working, and you can pick up assignments whenever you have extra time.
Teach an online course
You only need a Master’s degree to teach undergraduate courses. Check with local colleges to see if they’re hiring online or in-person instructors.
You can also offer different kinds of courses online, and there are ways to upload self-guided classes as a form of passive income.
You have a great deal of knowledge about many things, including motivating and disciplining children, keeping large groups entertained, public speaking, and more.
You can put those to good use by teaching them to others and earning some cash for yourself.
Become a virtual assistant
Many teachers are task-oriented in their own lives and enjoy making lists and crossing things off.
Those people make terrific virtual assistants because they get to do those things for others while getting paid.
A virtual assistant often doesn’t need to be readily available all the time, which makes it great for teachers.
In many cases, tasks assigned to virtual assistants can be completed at any time (within deadlines) from anywhere.
Look into everything from data entry and project management to organizing and sorting messages.
Personal shopping
Services like Instacart, Target Same-Day Delivery, and others are incredibly convenient for busy people.
Personal shopping through these sites is also a good side hustle, particularly if you’re an expert on the layout of your local stores.
You can sign up with Instacart, Shipt, or other companies and pick up jobs when you’re available.
After you complete a few initial orders, most let you shop more than one order at a time, which is when you can really start generating some money.
Do your shopping–along with that of a couple of other people–and earn a significant income.
Make deliveries
You don’t always have to do the shopping to earn some of the tips. Instead, become a delivery driver.
DoorDash, UberEats, Shipt, and other companies pay drivers to pick up food and other orders and drop them off without ringing the doorbell or interacting with anyone.
They pay you a flat delivery fee, displayed when you claim the job. You also earn tips on top of that.
Like Instacart, your earning potential explodes when you can start making multiple deliveries at a time. Spend an afternoon or evening driving around and earning cash.
Monetize your hobbies
There’s no better feeling than making money doing what you love.
There’s certainly good reason to let your hobbies exist for enjoyment only, but if you don’t make it all about the money, you can keep the joy and the cash.
Photography
Most of us take dozens of photos every week; if you’re good at it, some of them might be worth money.
You don’t have to open a photography business and start doing portraits to earn money from your photos.
One of the best alternatives is to sell stock photography.
When you visit websites, the majority of images that you see aren’t unique to that site. Instead, they come from online databases of stock photography.
These databases rely on amateur photographers to upload high-quality images for subscribers to browse.
When they’re selected, you get a small royalty fee. Over time, it can add up.
DIY-ing
We already mentioned opening an Etsy shop. If you’re good at making anything–home decor, jewelry, body scrubs–you can sell it on Etsy.
But people are good at many things besides crafts, and these skills are marketable, too.
One in-demand service is home improvement. If you’ve done your own house, you know how challenging it is to remove wallpaper, measure and cut crown molding, paint, and more.
If you’re good at it, start with word-of-mouth and social media marketing to get business. Eventually, you may be able to fill your weekend from referrals (and your pockets with extra money!).
Become a personal trainer
If your fellow teachers marvel at how you find the time to make it to the gym regularly, you should be getting paid to be there.
Moreover, many of your valuable teaching skills translate to personal training. You can already break down challenging concepts and present them in various ways.
Personal trainers may work with clients or teach group exercise classes. To do either, you will need a personal training certification.
You can also do orientations for new members to show them how to work the equipment if you want something a little slower-paced.
Finally, personal training opens the door to starting your own business.
As a teacher, you’re already connected to a large community of busy people. Consider starting a workout class with your coworkers!
Thrifting and reselling
In a bygone era, we may have called this job antique dealing, but it has evolved and expanded to be something else.
There are many ways to make money in the world of reselling.
One of them is to pick up things people are giving away or selling cheaply and then resell them for more money. You have the benefit of waiting for the right price.
You can also open a store on eBay to sell collector’s items that people give away or sell inexpensively.
If you’re good at repurposing or refurbishing anything, you can make money that way. From furniture to lamps, people love things that have been salvaged.
You can resell them and your other finds on internet marketplaces, in-person flea markets, consignment shops, and more.
Start a band or give music lessons
You may not be in your 20s anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still rock!
Many people want to hire bands, but the costs are often prohibitive.
If you genuinely enjoy performing and have time to practice, find some like-minded individuals and start a band that plays lower-profile events.
Alternatively, you can advertise your services for hire if you play an instrument. Some people want a violinist at their wedding ceremony, for example.
As a teacher, your skills are also well-suited to pass on your musical talents to a few students.
Become a healer
Most teachers are passionate about helping people, which often spills over into other areas of life.
In addition, teaching takes an emotional toll, and teachers must learn how to handle it.
For many teachers, this means developing a passion for some form of healing for themselves and those closest to them.
This passion could be massage therapy, essential oils and aromatherapy, sound healing, medicinal herbology, and other areas.
If you’ve become good at using these skills in your life, then you can become certified and help others. Your fellow teachers will be a great place to start offering support.
Start a part-time business
Teachers are busy, but you can leverage your free time to build long-term financial security with a business.
Many of these ideas capitalize on something you already do and may give you more freedom to travel and enjoy your time off.
Pet care or dog walking
Teachers are trustworthy, which is one reason why people love to hire them for jobs like these. After all, to many pet owners, their animals are their babies.
Pet-sitting during school vacations and summer is an excellent way to get started in pet care. Take others’ animals into your home and love on them while you’re taking it easy.
Dog walking is excellent exercise, and lots of people want their pooches walked first thing in the morning.
Advertise in your neighborhood and see if you can make a few bucks on your morning stroll.
If you love spending time with animals, you can offer other services, especially dog grooming and baths.
You can easily find pet-sitting jobs on websites like Rover, which connect caregivers with owners.
Childcare
Like pet care, childcare is another great way for teachers to make money since they already know how to handle children well.
Babysitting gigs are an obvious choice. You can work when you want to, on your terms.
If you have kids of your own, offer carpool services to and from school or provide after-school care in your home for homework help.
Start in your neighborhood or on online care websites to find jobs.
You can choose what age group and type of job you want and fill in your availability.
House-sitting
House-sitting jobs often come along with childcare or pet care, but sometimes, people need or prefer someone present in their home for another reason.
House sitting is a great way to take a “staycation.”
You can leave your mundane household chores behind and only pack your book. Or, use it to knock out some serious lesson planning or grading in a quiet, foreign environment.
If you’re willing to do some driving, house-sitting can also be a terrific way to explore a new town or city.
Check with your employers about how much time they will allow you to be away from the home and get paid to have new experiences.
Offer tours
Whether or not you teach history, all teachers are excellent storytellers who are good at projecting their voices and engaging a crowd with enthusiasm.
Those traits are also the perfect job descriptors for a tour guide!
Find out why people visit your town or city and then see if you can situate yourself with a unique tour that takes the guesswork out for tourists.
You can run all kinds of tours. Some ideas include the following:
- Ghost tours or haunted history
- Food or beverage tours
- Nature walks
- Birdwatching tours
- Architecture walks
- Shopping tours
- Sports tours
Once you find a niche and practice your script, advertise with travel agents, local hotels, and tourism websites.
Meal Prep
Do you have a knack for preparing healthy meals for your family? If so, you can also market those skills to help other families.
If it’s something you already do, decide on your menu a few days ahead of time and send it out to friends and family.
Let them place orders and arrange pick-up or delivery. If you sell to co-workers, you can even bring it to work with you on Mondays.
Cook extra of whatever you’re making for yourself and your family for the week.
It may take extra time, but the money will be worth it. Alternatively, offer to cook major meals for holidays and special occasions.
Some people don’t enjoy the hassle of cooking a fancy Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving lunch, and your catering services could help ease the burden.
Sell your teaching expertise
Especially as you advance in your career, you’ll gain a ton of expertise that you can share.
One way to do this is to start an educational consulting business where you visit teachers, schools, and teaching teams.
You deliver observations, make recommendations for change, and assist in implementing those.
This consulting business is something you can do part-time or make a career switch. If part-time, look into mentoring struggling new teachers.
Throw kids’ parties
As teachers, we know what holds kids’ attention and what they’re really into. That’s the knowledge you need to throw some killer kids’ parties.
This business may require cash up-front, but once you have everything you need for a few different themes, your overhead is significantly reduced.
Decide on a few themes to offer, such as pirates, Minecraft, pottery painting, and mad science. Design pricing tiers with various add-ons.
Once the plans are established, it’s just the execution. You could easily make a few thousand dollars a year, devoting only one weekend a month.
Become a notary
While the life of a notary may not be thrilling, it can be lucrative, and you get to make people’s lives easier.
People need notary services for all sorts of things. Schools themselves frequently need the services of a notary.
Once your co-workers know there’s a notary in the building, they’ll skip the trip to the bank and use you instead. Your modest fees can add up.
You can also offer your services elsewhere and do quick or long-term jobs.
Cake decorating
Opening a full-fledged bakery is quite an undertaking, but if you love creating sweet confections, you can sell specialty items made to order.
Cake decorating is a craft, and it takes some time to hone.
If you want to learn, check out classes in your area or watch online tutorials to get started.
Once you have some stellar designs, post photos to get attention and let loved ones know they can pay you to make a custom cake or dessert.
Cookies are often easier and are another terrific, creative service to offer.
People love specialty cookies for baby and bridal showers, birthday parties, holidays like Halloween, and more.
Sell real estate
While you’ll need to devote a considerable number of hours to studying for the exam, once you have your real estate license, you can use it on the side.
You don’t have to become an aggressive marketer or make this your full-time job to earn extra income.
Help friends and family look for a home and represent them in the buying process, or act as the agent for someone who flips houses.
Summer is the busiest time for the real estate industry, which also suits teachers well. Take it easy during the year, and then let things pick up when it’s warm.
Side Hustles for teachers: Passive(ish) income
Some of these side hustles for teachers might take time and effort up-front, but they’re worth it.
Start a blog
Starting a blog isn’t passive initially; it takes a lot of work. But if you have savvy, evergreen content, old posts can generate income from ad revenue.
The trick to starting a lucrative blog is twofold: first, you have to find a niche for your blog’s topic.
Evaluate what you know a lot about, possibly travel, your local community, crafting, cooking, or virtually anything else.
The second trick is to learn the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) and tailor your content to drive more traffic to your site. Then, you can start advertising and get paid every time someone visits your page.
You can also include affiliate links in your blog.
Self-publish a book
Whether you like to write romance, fan fiction, how-to guides, or anything else, you can compose a book and self-publish with Amazon.
You can make money with every sale if you price your book reasonably and push your expertise.
You can also use SEO tactics to make your book rank higher in searches.
Amazon’s self-publishing services are easy to use, even if you don’t have experience with page design (as most of us don’t), and it’s free.
Rent your stuff
You may not think you have anything people want to use, but we can almost guarantee you do.
The most basic items are your home and vehicle. Many teachers rent their homes in the summer, which allows them to travel or visit family.
There are many other things you can rent, though, especially sports equipment.
Many people want to launch kayaks, ride bikes, go jet skiing, or play golf without buying the equipment themselves, and you can rent it to them on sites like Friend With A.
If you have extra storage space in your home or don’t use all of your garage space, you can rent that space for others to store extra stuff.
Camping equipment, power tools, and lawn equipment also make good rentals.
Finally, you can buy supplies to rent out if you have the cash upfront. Consider party tents, chairs, and other frequently-rented items.
Build a YouTube channel
Like a blog, you can spend some time building a YouTube channel that generates income in the long term.
YouTube opens up a lot more options for teachers. You can post some of your best lessons for parents to use with their young students at home.
If you teach middle or high school, you can also post short videos that explain a myriad of topics, from the causes of the French Revolution to why your brain needs protein to function well.
Sell what you don’t need
We all have a lot of stuff lying around the house that we don’t use, and it’s never been easier to make some money by selling it.
A garage sale is a great way to make some cash on your unused stuff, especially if some of your neighbors will host theirs on the same day.
You can also use online marketplaces to sell things. In-demand items include baby items, bicycles, kayaks, furniture, designer purses and clothing, and jewelry.
Final thoughts: Making time for a side hustle
The key to having successful side hustles for teachers is making the time. But teaching is already a time-consuming occupation.
If you choose a side hustle you genuinely enjoy, it won’t feel like work, and you’ll have more money for your time away from the classroom.
Read through the suggestions above and find the right idea for you.
Whether you want to do affiliate marketing or become a personal trainer, these are fantastic ways to earn extra cash and live more comfortably.