Do you want to make money on the side as a teacher? If YES, here are 50 best lucrative small business ideas for teachers to start at home.
There is this saying that “Teachers rewards are in heaven”. I cringe inwards each time I hear this phrase. Why should a teacher’s reward be in heaven?
The sad thing is that so many teachers actually believe this, so they settle for earning a meager income and managing their resources believing that teaching isn’t meant to be financially rewarding.
Dear Teacher, you don’t have to wait until you get to heaven before you get your reward because right here on earth is where you have to pay taxes and mortgages and put food on the table for your family.
I agree that teaching is not all that financially rewarding but teachers are also at an advantage when we it comes to so many other factors.
For instance, Teachers have more time to themselves compared to other jobs. Teachers close as early as 3pm or 4pm, leaving them enough time to pursue other personal endeavors.
There are also regular holidays such as summer holidays when schools are not in session and this leaves enough time for teachers to run businesses and make some extra income for themselves. Some of the businesses that teachers could engage in to improve on their financial status include
Best Business ideas for Teachers
People hire private tutors for their kids to help them make better grades at school. People also hire private tutors whenever they want to sit for an examination. As a teacher you could look for people who are willing to hire private tutors and offer your services to such people.
Private tutors charge as much as $50 per hour for their services depending on the type of clients they work with and the conditions of service.
To start a tutoring business, one prerequisite you must possess is passion. You must love teaching because if you don’t, you will see tutoring as a stressful and difficult task.
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Book Writing
Teachers are also in the best position to write, publish and sell their own books. You could write books on the subjects you teach or creative story books for children or on any other topic that catches your fancy.
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Creating and Selling Educational Materials
Recently, there was a story in the news about a certain teacher who built a $40 million business empire just from selling lesson plans on the internet. You could follow in her footstep and sell lesson plans, resource materials for teachers, study questions and quizzes.
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Scrap booking
You could also make money from making and selling scrap books. It’s no secret that scrapbooking is the fastest growing craft in the U.S.
In fact, the latest figures reveal that it’s now a $2.55 billion per year business – and that’s only in the U.S.! If true figures were to be told, the amount would certainly be well over $5 billion. Where is all this money going? Into supplies, workshops, classes, retreats, conventions, cruises, you name it.
And innovative entrepreneurs are capitalizing on this obsession by designing new products, opening stores, writing books, organizing events, making scrapbooks for others, teaching classes, and becoming direct sales consultants.
A lot of applications are turned down on a daily basis due to poorly written resumes. You could set up a professional resume writing business to help job applicants write winning resumes. If you have good writing skills, then I want you to know that writing articles online is not the only way you can make money.
You also don’t need to be a highly paid freelance writer for magazines or newspapers to earn a living. You can simply start a resume writing service from home and make a lot of money monthly.
A business opportunity with almost 100 million potential clients, the resume writing business can be said to be the ideal Online business.
You could also register on websites that pay people to take surveys and answer questions. These websites mostly belong to research organizations hired to help companies conduct product research. Getting paid for taking surveys is one of the coolest ways you can make money online.
Although it won’t make you rich, taking online surveys can fetch you some extra cash to take care of some monthly bills. All you need to get started with taking paid surveys is your PC and a reliable internet connection.
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Uniform making supplies
Teachers could also start uniform making and supply business. You could get contracts to make school uniforms for as many schools as possible. This is a very lucrative business for teachers. Fashion, style, and grooming continue to be a lucrative side business.
If you know how to mend clothes, then you have a growing market of budget-conscious and/or personalization-obsessed customers.
Entrepreneur says you need around two thousand dollars to start a decent business in this niche but there’s no harm in starting smaller and growing from there, as long as you can make magic with needle and thread.
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Recording and selling educational videos
Recording and selling educational videos is also a very lucrative business you can do without much stress. You can pick any subject to talk about.
For instance, when I was writing a certain professional examination, I barely had time to read and study properly for the examination, so I bought some tapes and CD’s made by our lecturers and I transferred the files to my mobile phone.
I went everywhere with it and at my spare time; I would just plug my earphones in and listen to the lectures. I was able to pass the examinations this way.
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Crafts Teacher
If you have got any artistic skills, you could get paid to teach other people some of these skills like dancing, music, baking, drawing etc.
If you enjoy making crafts, but don’t want to get into the retail business, why not teach? That’s what Makerie does. But this is no ordinary teaching – these are full-on crafting retreats.
Think about it – customers of this particular type of business get to enjoy learning more about a craft, meeting people who have similar interests – and they get to take a vacation in an interesting location all at the same time. It’s no wonder that more and more of these types of operations are getting started.
You could also think of starting a used books selling business. You could sell used books on E-bay, Amazon or any other E-commerce platform.
If you are a voracious reader like me and you have gotten a large collection of books, then one easy way to earn extra cash is to buy and sell used books.
Some people think that paper books are no longer in demand because of the internet. People can now easily download e-books for a very low price. However, there are still a lot of people who prefer to read paper books.
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E-Library
You could also start an E-library and have people pay you to access books and educational resources online. The internet has made it possible for people from different parts of the world to be registered in the same library.
Online library (e – library) is a resource centre where you can comfortably conduct a thorough research and study from the comfort of your home no matter the part of the world you live in as long as you have internet enabled device (smartphones, computers, notebooks, tablets et al).
If you are very proficient at speaking and writing any language, especially English Language, you can start teaching it to people online.
You can even have people subscribe for customized language lessons which they can receive via e-mail daily. Teaching English language online is becoming more popular.
With MSN Messenger, Skype and other webcam chatting software tools, you can help people from anywhere in the world who are having a hard time learning English Language.
Another positive fact about this business is that you can start it from home with no money. One great advantage of this profession is that you can set your own availability or number of working hours.
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Translation services
You could also start helping people convert documents into English language or any other language you are good at. If you can speak and write two or more languages whether foreign or local languages, then you can comfortably list your services online as a translator.
There are many authors of books and producers of films et al who wouldn’t mind translating their books to local dialects or other foreign languages once they can get someone to do it for them at an affordable fee.
Online tutoring companies are becoming more popular. You can either choose to start your own online tutoring company, hiring other teachers to be a part of your team or signing up as an online tutor on one of the existing online tutoring platforms.
If you can speak and write more than two international languages, then you can make money from the internet. All you need to do is to list your services online and people who need the services your offer will contact you. Just ensure that you have resource materials (softcopies that can aid your teachings).
If you are a skilled and creative writer and you have enough time at your disposal, then you can earn good income from the internet.
There are loads of websites you can secure high paying writing jobs from. Some of the sites where you can bid for freelance writing jobs are freelancer.com, upwork.com, guru.com and elance.com et al.
From these sites you can get writing jobs that can comfortable pay your bills while you are in – between jobs or still schooling. You could also become a freelance writer.
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Marking and Grading
Another business idea is to start a marking and grading outsourcing company to help schools and examination bodies’ mark and grade scripts.
You could also make money from planning and organizing camping trips for children during summer. You could also organize excursions and educational travel for students. Summer camps can also be known as, school holiday clubs, activity day camps, kids clubs or simply holiday activities.
In this article you will be given advice, tips and models for providing a quality programme for your campers and keep them coming back every school holiday. Running a Summer Camp business isn’t your typical 9-5.
Another top business opportunity for teachers is to set up a corporate training business to help corporate organizations train their staff to be able to cope with changes and new innovations in the industry.
For instance, a company could acquire new software and for staff to be able to use this software, they need to be trained. As a teacher, your strong point is in impartation of knowledge so you won’t have problems setting up such a business.
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Researching Services
Researchers help companies with product research, marketing survey and anything that has to do with gathering information that would help such companies improve on their services and gain customer satisfaction. A research business provides consulting services to people who desire to obtain data about specific topics.
The research consultant gathers information from credible sources and provides an analysis of his findings. Research consultants can also interpret the information for clients.
A research business owner or consultant is also called an information broker, and many companies hire information brokers to perform research services.
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Scholarship Consultancy
Scholarship consultancy is also a good business idea teachers can delve into. You could make money from helping students find and access scholarship opportunities and educational grants. Paying for higher education can be a confusing and expensive process.
If families need help navigating the many ways they can apply for financial aid, then they can seek the help of an educational consultant. Scholarship consultants often work under the broader job title of Financial Aid Consultant or Certified College Planner.
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Sales Reps
Everyone from pharmaceutical companies to insurance agencies see the benefit of hiring teachers. Your unique skill set includes generating excitement while educating – things that are crucial for a successful sales rep.
If you like to sell and yearn to be out on your own, the life of a manufacturer’s representative, also known as an independent sales rep or just plain rep, may be for you.
Experienced salespeople tell us being a manufacturer’s representative is the graduate level of selling, offering potentially higher earnings and freedom from company politics. The typical sales agent represents eight to 10 complementary products that don’t compete with one another.
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Virtual/Cyber School Teacher
Teaching online can be just as challenging as teaching in the classroom, but it is an option to consider. Most cyber schools have state charters making them free, public education alternatives for students in that state.
Start by doing a search for “online charter school” to find those that may be in your state. Aside from freelance writing jobs, you can offer your services on the internet as a virtual assistant.
There are several busy business people or organizations that are willing to hire and pay virtual assistants to help to handle some of their job responsibilities.
Teachers are good listeners and that comes in handy when helping people house hunt. If you enjoy working with people, enjoy the challenge of finding just the right house (think of it as finding the way to make that light bulb go off in your student’s head!), and do not mind working on weekends, consider taking real estate classes.
A real estate appraisal business can be operated from home, on a part-time basis. A perfect option if you want to keep your day job while earning extra on the side.
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Teacher at a Children’s Hospital or Prison
Many children’s hospitals and prisons hire full-time teachers to work with their respective populations. While each poses different challenges, the rewards of teaching can definitely be felt.
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Activity Directors
Nursing Homes and Retirement Communities are always looking for high-quality, people-oriented directors for their activities department. Patience, a love for learning and teaching, and an enthusiasm for life are key requirements for a successful director.
Whether you decide to go abroad and teach English or travel to your local library to do one-on-one language tutoring, you can get the satisfaction of helping others learn to communicate in English. Be sure to check out certification requirements.
There are loads of stuffs you can line online; it could be obtaining a technical skills and a diploma or it could be obtaining a Degree or an MBA et al.
If you passionate about impacting knowledge, all you need to do is to secure the required license, permits and accreditation from the government of your country and you can successfully start your own degree / diploma awarding online school.
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Academic Advisors
Colleges need academic advisors and who better than teachers to fill those roles. Online advisors, as well as in person advisors are key to student retention and success.
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Specialized Dyslexia Tutor and/or Advocate
If you want to help make the difference in the lives of students and families by helping them navigate the IEP process and advocate for their needs, becoming a specialized Dyslexia tutor or advocate can be the answer. Check out places like the Dyslexia Training Institute that offer online certification and training programs.
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Party Planning for Kids (or Adults)
Is decorating and planning creative units one of your favourite parts about teaching? If so, party planning may be right up your alley.
Planning parties for children (or adults!) can incorporate all of your organizational skills, creativity, and enthusiasm in one job.
Theme parties are especially popular, but you might want to offer science experiment parties or theatre parties depending on your areas of interest.
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Nanny
Many families would love to have a teacher as their children’s nanny. Not only would you get to work with children, but most full-time nannies get paid a decent salary and have somewhat flexible hours. If you are searching for a nice interim position, Nanning might be worth considering.
Seniors have a hard time cleaning their home, redecorating, going to the Grocery Store, and even cooking. You can earn extra income assisting seniors with these basic tasks.
And this is a field that’s only expected to grow as the Baby Boomer population continues to age. After all, life expectancy in the U.S. is now at 78. And as of 2008, 1 out of every 8 Americans is over 65.
However, that number is expected to go up rapidly now that the Baby Boomer generation is starting to hit this milestone. How much can you earn? Well, most seniors watch their spending carefully, so plan on earning around $10 to $15 per hour as a senior assistant.
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Dinner Cook
This unique idea is slightly different than catering. As a dinner cook, you go into someone else’s home once (or more) per week and cook a complete meal for them. You also do the entire cleanup.
What do they get? A night off from cooking and cleanup, and more time to spend together relaxing instead of racing around the kitchen. Bliss!
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Egg Donor
Ladies, did you know that you can earn $3,000 to $5,000 or more by donating your eggs? If you’re relatively young and in good health, this could be an option for you to add some significant income to your budget.
Keep in mind, however, that this option is fraught with physical and emotional consequences; make sure you think about egg donation carefully before moving forward.
This is also a process that, once you’re accepted into an egg donation program, usually takes 3-5 weeks, or longer. You’ll have the highest chance of success if you’re under 30, in perfect health, and have good looks and a higher IQ.
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EBooks
Packaging your skills and knowledge into a downloadable eBook that delivers value to those seeking to learn a skill, advance in their careers, or start their own businesses, makes for a strong value proposition if you target the right audience. Check out Leslie Samuel’s great guide to selling eBooks online and start building your strategy.
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Instagram Marketing
Build up a following on your Instagram account and you could quickly be approached by major brands, gear companies, and other relevant businesses that sell products or services related to the type of content you share on Instagram.
If you have hundreds of thousands of followers, you can easily charge anywhere between $500 to $5,000 per post or more. Check out this fashion Instagrammer on ThePennyHoarder, making a significant income from brand sponsorships.
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Phone Case Business
There’s a huge growing market for mobile phone accessories, and plenty of handmade sellers are raking in 6 and sometimes 7 figures from their phone case businesses.
With turnkey solutions like Case Escape readily available, you can now get ready to go kits that’ll give you everything you need to start your own phone case business.
Once you’re up and running, you can sell cases on Etsy, Amazon Handmade, and Fancy. I know one seller who clears around $60,000/yr through Etsy alone.
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Affiliate Sales and Marketing
If you already have a website that’s driving in targeted traffic, a great way to make passive income from the content you’re already creating, is through affiliate marketing.
Clickbank, Skimlinks, and Rakuten are all great affiliate marketing tools and networks that can help you make money from the content you already produce.
There are several strategies that an organization can employ to reach out to their target markets and one of them is online marketing.
If you have your own products or you choose to sell other people’s products, the internet is one of the cheapest and perhaps easiest ways of marketing goods and services.
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Etsy Selling
Have a talent for crafting or creating other handmade goods? From bracelets to phone cases, rings, furniture, and more, Etsy is one of the world’s largest independent marketplaces that’s perfect for anyone who is creative and willing to sell their handmade creations. Consider these 5 steps to starting an Etsy store, from Handmadeology.
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College Admissions Essay Writer
If writing 500 word essays on topics such as “You were just invited to speak at the White House. Write your speech,” seems like a compelling way to spend your free time, trust me – tons of parents will pay you to write or edit admissions essays for their children.
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Online News Correspondent
You don’t need to have a degree in journalism to be a reporter these days, and there are many news websites that can always use a bit of help on getting local coverage.
Some of them, such as The Examiner or HuffPost, will compensate contributors based on ad revenue generated per article written – a great incentive to provide compelling content.
Domain name trading has been around for the last couple decades, and while the slam-dunk names have long been sold off (Insure.com went for $16 Million in 2009) there’s still plenty of others that you can get your hands on for relatively cheap.
But beware: some experts doubt the long-term viability of this business so you shouldn’t quit your day job just to put all your effort into this one without some successes already in the bag.
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Freelance Proofreading and Editing
As long as there is still the written word, there will always be editors. Freelance editing and proofreading not only pays a decent hourly wage, it also gives you the chance to read about potentially interesting topics too. What’s more, freelance writing & editing can afford you a lifestyle that lets you travel the world as a digital nomad.
You can find lots of job postings from companies and individuals in need of writing, proofreading, and editing services on Upwork.
The nature of this type of business makes it easier to work from home and for clients who are thousands of kilometres away from your country.
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Copywriting for Websites
Every website owner (including myself) hires copywriters to write content for things like about pages, FAQ’s, or blog posts. Hourly wages for novice copywriters are not very high, but with experience and a great portfolio, you can start charging more than you make at your normal job.
If you can create value-driven, entertaining video content and grow your subscriber base to a few thousand subscribers, your videos can start generating pretty substantial income from all the ads being displayed on your videos.
Many YouTube users make well into the millions each year. If you are into PR and advertising, one of the ways you can make huge cash is to start a YouTube advertising agencies.
Part of what you need to do is to source for YouTube videos that are trending and help your client advertise their product or services on the videos.
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Translator
If your mastery of another language is good enough to have the grammar and spelling down, translating is a great side business to set up for yourself and can be done remotely.
If you can speak and write two or more languages whether foreign or local languages, then you can comfortably list your services online as a translator.
There are many authors of books and producers of films et al who wouldn’t mind translating their books to local dialects or other foreign languages once they can get someone to do it for them at an affordable fee.
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Stock Photographer
If you have a fondness for taking pictures of smiling families or laughing children blowing bubbles, consider selling your images to a stock photo company like Shutter Stock and iStockPhoto. You’ll get royalties every time someone licenses an image you’ve submitted.
To really be successful, build your own photography website to be able to showcase your portfolio and start getting private corporate work. There is hardly business that cannot leverage on the internet to generate more income.
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Teach DIYs
Nothing beats teaching more novice learners about your passion, hobby, or craft. Explore dozens of DIY portals (such as DIY.org, DIY Network, Instructables and Mahalo) to get ideas on how to earn a healthy side income just by showing others how to do the things you love.
You can also sift through the countless ad-supported YouTube channels that teach just about anything from guitar strumming to 3D printing.
It’s funny how much baking can relate to making money. Start bringing in some side income by kneading flour, mastering the oven, and appeasing everyone’s sweet tooth. While some experts have already turned baking into their sole “bread and butter,” you need not leave your day job just yet.
Depending on your experience, you can start by doing something simple on the side like Grandma’s nostalgic cookies before heading on to offer exquisite artisanal fare.
Public notaries primarily serve as validators of, and impartial witnesses in public legal documents, especially those related to affidavits, oaths, deeds, estates, special-powers-of-attorney, and business agreements.
Depending on the state, a full-time notary public earns an average annual salary of $36,000, and it’s a great business to do on the side as you bring in money through other ways.