30+ Best Side Jobs for Teachers To Thrive More In Life
So, here is the list of over 30+ worthwhile side jobs for teachers. Number 32 is one of my favourites.
1. Start a Catering Business on the Side
While this might be a less obvious choice, one of the best side jobs for teachers who have a passion for cooking, is to start a catering business.
The good thing about this side hustle is that as a teacher, you already have plenty of connections within your line of work e.g. fellow teachers, staff, students, and parents who likely need some catering services sooner or later.
Just don’t claim yourself to be the owner of this business, because… You know… Moonlighting?
Say its from your mother, your sister, or whoever you can trust. Maybe even register their names as shareholders of the corporation (depending on how trustworthy they are to you).
How to start? If you want to start this side job…
- the simplest way is to bring some food that you cook up to your meetings or gatherings;
- share some food with your neighbours and remember to tell them what you intend to do;
- print and paste some fliers around your neighbourhood.
If your food is good it will leave an impression, and people will start coming to you.
However, keep in mind some local restrictions about food handling.
2. Teach Cooking
Teach cooking is probably one of the most perfect side jobs for teachers.
You can actually practice your teaching skills by teaching the craft to other people; if you have the time and enough space in your home.
You can earn an average of $30-100 per cooking session but you’re free to decide depending on several factors like the recipe, ingredients, time consumed, your region, and etc.
Online cooking classes are a thing now since the pandemic, so your audience has widened! I recommend start with word of mouth by offering cooking classes to a small group of people.
And then, if your lessons are that good, as a result of your cooking skills and teaching experience, I’m pretty sure your students will help you spread the word. Don’t forget to ask for testimonials to be included in your website to attract online audiences.
That’s why we think this is one of the best side hustles for teachers.
You can read more on how to teach cooking classes online.
3. Be a Private Tutor
Another one of the perfect side jobs for teachers is to be a private tutor, as they are in high demand right now.
Tutoring Math, Science, and other subjects over the weekends shouldn’t be much of a problem, am I right?
If you are comfortable, you can even teach SAT or college entrance exams. The higher the level, the more money you’ll make.
You can earn anywhere between $10-50 per hour as a private tutor but the price greatly varies from one region to another as well. The best thing about this side job is that you can either tutor in person, or you can do it through the online medium.
If you’re living somewhere in the US, UK, and Europe, then you can expect to get higher rates. However, those who live in Asian countries would likely get much lower rates.
But, it also depends on the subject you are teaching, so do some research before jumping into this.
Either way, being a private tutor is a lucrative side hustle for teachers.
Tip: Search on Google “How to be a private tutor in (Country/region)”
4. Teach Extracurricular Activities
In your pastime, do you sing? Do you dance? Do you play a guitar? Are you good at badminton, tennis, soccer or whatever?
If the answer is yes, then turn that pastime into a great side hustle.
You can charge anywhere between $10-30 per hour depending on what you are teaching and what part of the world you live in.
And the best part is, you are imparting knowledge and experience on what you love to do to someone else who shares the same interest.
Nothing can be more fulfilling than that.
5. Teach English online
If you are good at English, or maybe you are an English teacher, you can make money teaching English online. It would be better if you have something to prove your proficiency in English like a TEFL or ESL certificate.
Online tutoring is one of the most efficient way to earn money because it can be done from home.
How to start?
Get a steady Internet connection, a personal computer unit, and apply to teach English in one of the many online education platforms like:
These sites will pay you to teach English online for an average of $10-20 per hour.
Tip: You can also search “teach English online” on Google.
6. Be an Adjunct Professor
For many teachers, the thought of summer break conjures up images of lazy days by the pool and endless hours of sleeping in.
However, for adjunct professors, summer break is often just another opportunity to earn some extra money.
Adjunct professors are part-time instructors who teach courses at colleges and universities. These positions are typically filled by experienced professionals who already have full-time jobs in their field.
As a result, being an adjunct professor can be a great way for teachers to earn some extra income during their summer break.
On average, adjunct professors earn around $3,000 per course.
This amount can vary depending on the school and the subject being taught.
In addition, most adjunct professors are only required to teach one or two courses per semester. This leaves them with plenty of time to enjoy their summer vacation.
For teachers who are looking summer jobs to earn some extra money, being an adjunct professor is definitely worth considering. It is one of the best side gigs for teachers, honestly.
7. Be a Summer School Teacher
Joining summer schools as a teacher can be a great way to earn some extra cash, and it can also be a lot of fun.
The hours are generally shorter than during the regular school year, and you’ll have the opportunity to work with a range of different students.
You can also usually choose your own curriculum, which can be a great way to try out new teaching methods.
A summer school teacher generally earns around $30 per hour.
While the work can be challenging, teaching at summer school is a great way to make the most of your summers. So why not give it a try? You might just find that it’s the perfect side hustle for you.
8. Be a Summer Camp Instructor
Being a summer camp instructor can be a great side hustle for a number of reasons.
First of all, it’s a great way to earn some extra money. According to Glassdoor, the average summer camp instructor earns $11 per hour.
That means that if you work 20 hours per week, you could earn an extra $220 per week, or over $1000 per month! Not too shabby for a side hustle!
But money isn’t the only reason to become a summer camp instructor. It’s also a great way to meet new people and have some fun!
You’ll get to meet other instructors, as well as the campers themselves. And who knows – you might even make some lifelong friends.
So if you’re looking for a great way to earn some extra cash and have some fun this summer, becoming a summer camp instructor is the perfect option!
9. Sell Courses Online
Aside from teaching, how would you like to earn money by creating online courses?
I’m pretty sure creating the course outline and planning the lessons come naturally to you as a teacher.
The knowledge and experience is already in you, and all you need to do is to put it out there to the world see it.
Once it is out on the internet, your knowledge will be consumed by people all over the world 24/7 without your physical presence.
That’s the beauty of selling your online course. It is a great option for you to spend your summer months.
So, impart your knowledge and skills like public speaking, sewing, cooking, etc. to the world.
How to start? Outline what you intend to teach, invest in a good lavalier microphone, plug it in a mobile phone with good camera, and you all set to record training videos.
Once you are done, you can upload your online course to online platforms like:
There are an army of people waiting to learn a skill from you.
10. Sell Your Books
Teachers go through a lot of books for their profession and its likely that most of them are now collecting dust in the corner of your home, am I right?
Well, you can sell them back and enrich other people’s minds through sites like BookScouter, Half Price Books, and Sell Back Your Book. Furthermore, sites like Decluttr, Craigslist, and Etsy also accepts used books.
You can earn anywhere from $5-100 or more per book depending on its condition and original price.
11. Sell Crafts in Garage Sales
If you have skills in painting, pottery and you do a lot of DIY crafts during your free time, then you can sell those crafts to make extra money on top of your salary.
You can open a garage sale and display your goods to neighbours and passer-by to make a quick couple of bucks from home.
12. Sell Your Crafts Online
If garage sales are not an option, then let’s use technology to your advantage. You can join online market platforms like Etsy, eBay, and Craigslist to sell your goods.
It is free to join these site and you can sell not only your crafts but also a variety of things like collectibles and used goods.
And if that’s still not a viable option, then you can use your Facebook or Twitter account to sell your goods.
13. Sell Photos Online
Love to capture amazing moments and breath-taking landscapes?
Don’t just store those images on your hard disk for self pleasure, sell them!
You can earn extra money with photography by joining Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, Alamy, and similar sites.
Most of these sites will pay you $0.20 to $0.40 every time your contributed image was downloaded.
14. Sell Lesson Plans and Educational Materials
Do you enjoy creating educational materials?
Joining platforms like Scholastic Teacher Store and Teachers Pay Teachers will help you earn extra money by selling lesson plans and other educational materials to other teachers.
From what we know, these sites accept educational materials for grades ranging from PreK to 12th grade, home schoolers, and all the way to higher education.
You can earn anywhere $1-100 for each sale depending on the material that you are selling.
15. Rent Your Car
Are there certain weeks or months when you aren’t using your car that much? Or perhaps you have another set of wheels in your garage?
Car rentals are very popular during the summer and holiday seasons when people are going on trips and vacations. You can earn anywhere between $50-500 for car rentals depending on the arrangements with your clients.
You can also apply to some firms like Wrapify that are interested to use your car as a moving advertisement billboard. You can be paid between $400 and $1,000 per month for car advertisements.
16. Be a Driving Instructor
If you don’t want other people to get behind the wheels of your vehicle, then you can join ride-sharing services similar to Lyft and Uber that is available in your region. Uber and Lyft’s average earnings in the US are between $8-12 per hour.
And if that is not an option, why not offer driving lessons? You can ask around your neighborhood if there are people who’re interested to learn how to drive. You can use your social media account to advertise your services as well.
You can earn anywhere between $20-60 per driving lesson sessions and you can also charge on an hourly basis.
17. Rent Your Home
If you have extra rooms in your home or you own other properties that you don’t use, you can register them to Airbnb and Vrbo (HomeAway) to make extra money for short term rentals.
You can earn between $200 up to a few thousand dollars as a host depending on several factors like the location of your property, the length of stay, and which region you are in.
18. Rent Your Belongings
Do you have a lot of stuff that you don’t use often? Take a look at your belongings and see which one could be of use to some people and generate an income for you.
For example, if you’d rather not sell your books, then let someone “borrow” it for some cash. Other good items to rent are bike, sporting gears, fishing gears, musical instruments, etc. You can even rent your jewelry and dress/suit.
Renting your stuffs might earn you a quick $10-50!
19. Freelance Writing
Have a passion for writing? Can you bang out a thousand words in 30 minutes?
You can become a freelance writer for educational websites like:
Or, if you want to get outside of education, you can write for blogs, ebooks, or whatever the market needs. Join sites like UpWork or TextBroker.
Freelance writers earn anywhere between $5 to $100 per article depending on the topic, your skills, and your clients.
20. Be a Babysitter or Caregiver
Are you warm-hearted, generous, and patient in nature?
If you are, then you will enjoy taking care of others who needs help.
Be a part-time babysitter or a caregiver to elderly.
You can ask around your neighborhood if there are families that needs your services or you can advertise on Facebook and other social media channels.
You can earn anywhere between $5 to $20 per hour for these services depending on which country or region you are in.
21. Be a Handyman
Watering the plants, mowing the lawn, removing weed, housekeeping, picking up dry-cleaning, or picking up children from school. Take your pick!
There’s definitely a need for these services around your neighborhood, especially if there are many elderly people who lives alone at their homes.
Don’t think about it as you are degrading yourself, but think of it as you are helping people around you with the time you have, and they pay you for your time.
Furthermore, sites like TaskRabbit connects you to people that need a hand for some errands.
22. Be a Dog Walker or a Pet Sitter
If you don’t have animal allergies and you don’t mind watching other people’s pets, there are a lot of busy people who would love to pay you just by watching their fur babies or walking their dogs.
These services typically pay anywhere between $10-50 per hour depending on your location, the number of pets you need to watch, the number of dogs you need to walk, etc.
You can even make between $250 to $375 per week per pet.
Quite an awesome side job for teachers, am I right?
23. Be a Grocery Shopper
Are you particularly fond of going to malls or supermarkets?
Similarly to #19, many busy people are willing to pay someone to do their grocery shopping.
Your task may also include restocking some prescriptions.
You can earn an average of $20-$50 per hour depending on the size of the grocery list and the distance you’ll have to travel.
Tip: Be meticulous when picking out fresh products (fruits, poultry, etc.). Your attention to detail will land bring you more recurring gigs.
24. Be an Emcee
Are you charismatic and you love talking in front of a crowd?
Then another great side job for you is to be a part-time emcee or event host.
I say great because talking in front of a crowd is a natural thing for teachers anyways, therefore, emceeing and hosting doesn’t really come as a new thing.
As an emcee, you can earn a quick $100-$500 for each event you attend.
25. Become a Tour Guide
This side job is best suited for history teachers, I’m sure you know why!
You know the history of the landscape, you are good at communicating to the crowd, and it is fun showing people around. And, you make good money on this side job too!
You can earn $50-$150 per day as a tour guide, tips not included.
26. Be a Delivery Man
If you don’t mind doing door to door deliveries after school hours, you can signup for delivery jobs within your area.
For example, food delivery services like DoorDash, GrubHub, and Uber Eats lets you join as a delivery driver using your car.
You can earn between $2-$15 per delivery depending on several factors like the estimated duration, distance, etc.
27. Freelancing
Do you have other skills aside from the things we’ve discussed so far? Then how about using them to make money from home?
Visit online marketplaces like FlexJobs, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, and TopTal to find freelance jobs that might be perfect for your skills and abilities.
Most online jobs like data entry, graphic designing, writing, and virtual assistant have no strict requirements to become eligible. In fact, applying with a degree in professional teaching puts you at a huge advantage of getting hired.
If you have interest in freelance writing, you can visit this list of freelance websites that will connect you with businesses.
You can earn an average of $5-25 per hour depending on your tasks and you get paid usually on a monthly or weekly basis.
28. Be a Voice Actor
If you are not camera shy, then you can do this. And, even if you are, you can “sell” your voice. Well, sites like Fiverr will pay you specifically for your voice and acting performance.
Your task may include sales video creation, voice-overs, audio translation, and other on-demand labors for online businesses.
You will be paid on a per-project basis and freelancers on these sites usually earn between $100-$500+ per month depending on skills and experience.
29. Be a Yoga Instructor
Have you been a yogi for a while now? Studies show that 36 million Americans are doing yoga way back in 2016 and yoga is still very popular in Australia, Thailand, India, and other countries.
How to start? Here are some suggestions for you:
- Offer yoga regular yoga classes for your colleagues in school;
- Go to your local community clubs and sign up as a Yoga instructor;
- Create an online yoga course and sell it on Udemy.
Sources say that you can earn an average of $10-60 per hour for private yoga sessions, but this highly depends on several factors like your skills, where you live, and your experience.
30. Be a Model or a Movie Extra
Do you think you have what it takes to be a model? Is acting one of your passion outside teaching?
Then, by all means, go ahead and audition to be a model or for an extra role in movies. You never know you may be famous one day where you don’t need to teach anymore. Of course, unless teaching is really something you love doing.
You may earn a few hundreds bucks to thousands of dollars with this side job.
31. Blogging
For those who have a passion for writing and might have already started freelance writing, why not take it to the next level and start your own blog?
We are not talking about blogging your daily life, we are talking about making your blog into a business.
Which means you will pick a topic or niche that people are willing to spend money on, and you will write blog posts with the intention of recommending relevant products to people.
One of the best blogging niches for teachers is the exam preparation niche.
There are lots of interest, and people are willing to buy notes prepared by teachers. If that’s you, there is a huge potential there.
The exam preparation niche is just one of the examples, there are so many other niches you can explore. The sky is really the limit when it comes to blogging.
Bloggers earn money through advertising revenue as well as affiliate revenue. The more visitors you have on your blog, the more revenue you will make.
Believe it or not, a lot of people have turned their blogs into their full-time job, making far more than what they could as a teacher. Blogging is one of the best known ways to earn a semi-passive income.
If you want to know how to start a profitable blog, check this out.
32. Be an Affiliate Marketer
The concept of affiliate marketing generally comes from the insurance industry.
Insurance agents join the insurance company and help them promote their products to the public, and agents make a commission out of every sale.
The same concept applies to affiliate marketing, but instead of insurance, you are promoting basically anything you can find online.
Like for example, if you see anything on Amazon you would like to recommend your friend, you can actually join Amazon as an affiliate, and you can make money just by recommending your friend to buy a product from Amazon.
Amazing, right?
The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you are not cornered to your circle of friends, you can reach far beyond and recommend products to people around the world through social media or websites.
It’s amazing what you can do these days, and the opportunity technology presents.
If you wish to create an affiliate marketing website, here’s an in-depth guide for you.
33. Start an eCommerce business
Ever heard of Amazon FBA, drop-shipping, or starting a Shopify store?
You could make a good income sourcing and selling interesting products that you think the general public would like.
There are 2 routes for you if you wish to start an eCommerce business:
- You can source for physical products (maybe from China), then buy them in bulk, and sell them at a marked up price to the world through:
- Amazon FBA; or
- a Shopify store.
- Find product manufacturers (maybe from Alibaba), post product pictures on eBay with marked up prices, and when there is a customer order, you’ll be the middleman to facilitate between the customer and the manufacturer. That’s called dropshipping!
Amazon FBA vs Shopify
The biggest benefit for using Amazon FBA to sell your products is that there are millions of people visiting Amazon everyday.
So, the chances of you selling your inventory is much higher.
Also, you don’t have to worry about packaging, and the logistics. Amazon will handle them for you with a fee.
On the other hand, with a Shopify store, you have to do online marketing from scratch.
And, you have to take charge of all the logistic, employees, and all the after-sales service on your own.
However, it is much easier to build a brand rather than leveraging on the Amazon brand.
Starting an eCommerce store may sound cool, but the overheads are a risk. Personally, I would recommend to start an affiliate marketing website because the monetary risk is close to zero.
34. Start a YouTube Channel
If you are comfortable recording a video of yourself, you can maybe create educational YouTube channels for kids and parents, like this principal below:
Setting up a YouTube channel is relatively easy, and there are many angles you can use to make your videos interest and engaging.
Your focus on YouTube is to get your first 1,000 subscribers in order to start earning ad revenue from Google Adsense.
After that, you can focus on getting as much video views as possible to maximize your ad revenue.
The most important thing when starting a YouTube channel is to create video that serves people.
Be it providing entertainment value or teaching a skill, as long people find value in your videos, your YouTube Channel will grow.
YouTube is one great way for teachers to earn extra cash in their spare time.
35. Publish a book or create an eBook
Publishing a book is a popular bucket list, but not many people will follow through because it is hard.
There are a lot of work associated to it, and you may not know if your book will be successful or not.
That’s why it stays in the bucket list.
However, if you have the mentor guiding you to write the best selling books, there is a high chance that you will follow through and succeed.
Publishing a book is rewarding. You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and you never know, your book may be the best seller.
Well, we are sure you know summer break is the best time for you to buckle down to write your eBook.
Summing it up
There you have it, I’ve listed over 30+ side jobs for teachers and I hope one of them will inspire you and be your second job.
My personal favourite is a combination of starting a blog and being an affiliate marketer because believe it or not, that’s how I made quite a good income online.
I used to be an office worker who never see daylight, and I hated that part of my life, and affiliate blogging was my way out of my miserable job.
Whatever reasons you are reading this, I hope you find what you are looking for.
