Are you looking for an easy way to make some extra money? If so, you may want to consider side hustles. Side hustles can be a great way to earn some extra cash, and they can also help you gain experience in different areas. If you’re an ESL teacher, there are a number of side hustles that you may be interested in. Teaching English online is a fantastic way to make money, but there are plenty of opportunities for ESL teachers to make money on the side. Some are still somewhat in the ESL industry but others use the skills and experience you have developed as an online ESL teacher.
Writing ESL Lesson Plans
There are a lot of ESL teachers out there who are great teachers but don’t have the time or interest to develop their own lesson plans. If lesson planning and writing are your forte, there are literally thousands of teachers out there in all niches looking for your help. So perfect to earn extra cash as a side hustle.
You could sell them as packages or just per lesson. Know a lot about Star Wars? You could write lesson plans that use the movies to learn English. Got a background in real estate? Write lesson plans for teachers in that niche. The list is endless, and once they are done you can sell them numerous times.
There are many teachers who turn to websites like Teachers Pay Teachers when they’re looking for new lesson plans. If you create quality lesson plans and sell them on this site, you can earn a significant amount of money. This is a great way to share your knowledge with other educators and make some extra cash at the same time. You could also try selling them on your own website (easily created on Squarespace) or on an Instagram account.
Residual income is perfect for side hustles, and writing lesson plans is an easy way to get that income.
Proofreading and Editing
If you have experience proofreading or editing (or even if you don’t!), you could offer your services to students, business professionals, or even other ESL teachers. If you don’t have experience you could do a course on Udemy or Teachable in order to build up your skills. Once you’ve built up your skills, you can start offering your services on Fiverr or Upwork. You could also look for students who want help proofreading their essays or business professionals who need help editing their documents.
Many people are willing to pay good money for quality proofreading and editing services. This is a great way to make some extra cash on the side. It’s also a great way to improve your skills as an ESL teacher. By proofreading and editing documents, you can learn about different style guides and how to edit for different purposes.
There is a lot of demand for these services, and you can easily find work online. You could sign up with a company like ProofreadingPal or EditingServices.com. Or you could include your services in a professional profile on LinkedIn, or set up a website advertising your services.
If you have a knack for finding errors in writing, this could be a great way to make some extra money. It’s also a great way to help others improve their writing skills, you may even get work from your English students, especially if they are university students or business people. We think this is one of the best side hustles for teachers.
Creating ESL Resources
If you’re creative and have a Canva account or other graphic design software, you could start your own side hustle creating ESL resources. There are a number of ways to do this, you could create worksheets, games, or even digital products like e-books or online courses. You could sell these resources on sites like Teachers Pay Teachers or your own website or Etsy.
This is a great way to earn some extra money and share your knowledge with other teachers. It’s also a great way to develop your own teaching materials. If you create high-quality resources, you could even turn this into a full-time business. There are many people who sell Canva templates making a couple of thousand dollars a month, and like lesson plans you can create a library of resources to have residual income even when you don’t have the time to make new resources.
The possibilities are endless, and if you have a creative mind and some design skills, this could be a great way to make money on the side.
Working as a Virtual Assistant
If you’re good at administrative tasks, you could offer your services as a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants work online to do a variety of tasks, including social media, customer service, and administrative tasks. You could work for an individual or a company, and you could set your own hours.
Working as a virtual assistant is a great way to make some extra money, and it’s a flexible job that you can do from home. It’s also a great way to get experience working with different companies and learn new skills.
There are many businesses and entrepreneurs who need help with tasks like scheduling, customer service, and social media management. You could also offer your services to other ESL teachers. Many online ESL teachers need help with administrative tasks, and you could easily find work on sites like Upwork or Fiverr or even LinkedIn. Perhaps if you teach Business English you could offer your services to your students too.
Virtual assistants can make a significant amount of money, and this is a great way to get started in freelancing. If you’re good at administrating tasks, this could be a great way to make some extra money on the side. Unfortunately, unlike some of the other side hustles it doesn’t offer residual work as it is task orientated, however, it is a great way to get some extra income each month
Transcription Services
If you have good listening skills and can type quickly, you could offer transcription services. Transcriptionists listen to audio recordings and type out what they hear. This is a great way to make some extra money, and it’s a flexible job that you can do from home too. You will most likely have to do some tests to show that you can type quickly and accurately before you’re hired
There is a lot of demand for transcription services, and you can easily find work online. You could sign up with a company like Rev or Scribie, or you could set up your own website and offer your services, or you could find work on sites like Fiverr or Freelancer. You could even try approaching podcasters to create podcast transripts and notes, as this is a popular service that podcasters are willing to pay for.
If you have good listening skills and can type quickly, this is a great way to make money on the side. You could easily make a couple of hundred dollars a month doing transcription of audio recordings.
Start a Blog
If you’re good at writing or enjoy writing, you could start your own blog. Yes, you can make money from blogging! This is a great way to share your knowledge and help others, and you can make money through affiliate marketing and advertising.
Starting a blog is easy, and there are many free platforms although getting started can be done for as little as $50!
And if you know a bit about teaching ESL either online or face to face, why not share your knowledge with those who need a bit of help. Sure you won’t earn money immediately, but with a bit of time and dedication you will get to help others and create a side hustle.
Many bloggers earn enough to quit their day job, while others earn enough to pay for extras or top up their savings account. Some people wonder if it is too late to get into blogging, but it’s never too late! The internet is expanding every day, and more and more people are getting access, your audience is literally billions of people!
Social Media Management
So this is one of those ideas that is not directly associated with teaching ESL but if you know a bit about using one or two platforms to promote yourself, you may be able to earn some money from it.
Many businesses are now looking for people to help manage their social media accounts, as they don’t have the time or knowledge to do it themselves. This is a great way to make some extra money on the side and can easily be done from home
There is a lot of demand for social media managers, and as an ESL teacher your clients will be confident you will ensure their social presence has correct grammar and spelling.
You may need a little bit of training, as posting for a business is not the same as posting for your family and friends. However, no formal qualifications are required and within weeks and even if you only get one client, you could be earning $800+ a month on the side for just a few hours work.
You can pay for training, or you can read blogs, or watch some YouTube videos to get you started. Then you just need to advertise your services , and you will soon have people approaching you for help with their social media
There are lots of platforms where you can advertise your services, including Fiverr and Freelancer. You could even approach small businesses in your area to see if they need help with their social media. With a Canva account you will be able to create professional social media posts that your clients will love.
This is one of the side hustles that could earn you the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time.
Copywriting/Content Creation
If you’re an ESL teacher who loves to write, copywriting or content creation might be the best of these side hustles for you. Basically you write blogs or emails or articles or anything really for businesses who don’t have the time or skills to put together good content for their clients. Generally you would charge per word or article, and there are literally thousands of businesses out there looking for people just like you to write for them.
There are no specific qualifications required for this, although a degree in English, Journalism or Communications would be an advantage. However, if you’re a great writer with a good grasp of grammar, you could easily start offering your services to businesses. You can also do some self study and learn a bit about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) which will make your articles even more attractive to businesses as they will rank higher on Google. You could even use this training for your own blog!
There are many ways to find clients as a copywriter or content creator, you could use platforms such as Freelancer or Fiverr, or you could approach businesses directly. You may need to do a bit of research to find businesses who are in need of content creators, but once you get started the work will come flooding in.
Good copywriters can earn in excess of $10 000 a month!
Etsy
If you’re one of those people who managed to get the craft gene why not put it to good use as a side hustle?! Less craft orientated ESL teachers would love to have creative and engaging backdrops and props that are different from the norm. You could create and sell all sorts of background materials and props for ESL teachers to use, and Etsy is the place most people would be searching.
To get started on Etsy all you need to do is set up an account and start uploading your products. You will need some decent quality photos to showcase your items, and it’s also a good idea to write good descriptions so that potential customers know exactly what they are getting
You will need to set your prices carefully as you don’t want to price yourself out of the market, but you also want to make a profit. Once you’ve got your prices sorted, all you need to do is start promoting your items and wait for the orders to come flooding in!
To make the most money possible from this side hustle it’s a good idea to create items that are unique and not readily available from other sellers. This could be anything from personalised backdrops to one of a kind props. If you can tap into a niche market you will be sure to make a good profit.
Again if social media is your thing too, you can promote your products directly to other teachers.
Start a Podcast
Podcasts are becoming more and more popular, and if you’re a natural at talking then this could be the perfect side hustle for you! You could start a podcast about anything that interests you, or that you’re passionate about. It doesn’t necessarily have to be ESL related, although that would probably be the best option. If you’re keen to stay in the ESL space you could focus your podcast on:
- Helping other teachers
- Helping students
- Interviewing teachers
- Funny ESL stories
- The list is endless!
To get started you will need to invest in some good quality audio equipment, and it’s also a good idea to have a quiet space to record in so that you don’t have any background noise. Once you’ve got your recording set up sorted, all you need to do is start recording your episodes!
You could release a new episode once a week, or even once a day if you’re feeling ambitious. Once you’ve got a few episodes under your belt you can start promoting your podcast and try to get some listeners. The more popular your podcast becomes, the more money you can start to make from advertising or sponsorship deals.
Podcasts are a great way to earn some extra cash, and if you’re good at promoting them they can even become a full-time job.
Create a course
If you’re an experienced ESL teacher then you could create a course to help other teachers, or even students who want to learn English. There are many ways to do this, but the most popular method is probably through creating a Udemy course
Udemy is an online platform where you can create and sell courses on pretty much any topic you can think of. The courses are usually video based, but they can also be audio or text based.
To get started you will need to create an account and then start creating your course. You will need to come up with a catchy title and description, and you will also need to create some high-quality content. Once you’ve got all of that sorted you can start promoting your course and wait for the sales to come in!
Udemy takes a cut of every sale you make, but you can still make a decent profit if you price your course correctly. This is a great way to earn some extra cash, and like some of the other options here can create residual income.
Another option is to create your very own English language course for students who want to learn online. You can do this through a dedicated website or even through YouTube if you’d prefer.
To get started you will need to create some high-quality content, and it’s also a good idea to create a sales page to help promote your course. You could start by giving away some free content to attract students, and then once you’ve got a few students you can start charging for your courses. One of the great things about creating your own English course is that you can get more students with less work for yourself on a day to day basis.
This is a great way to earn some extra cash, and if you’re good at promoting your courses you could even make a full-time income from them.
Start a YouTube channel
YouTube is a great platform for promoting your courses, but it can also be a great way to make some extra cash on the side. If you’re good at making videos then you could start your own ESL related YouTube channel
You could focus your channel on:
- Reviewing ESL products
- Giving advice to other teachers
- Funny teaching stories
- Helping English language students
- Or anything else that interests you not related to ESL and teaching
To get started you will need to create some high-quality videos, and it’s also a good idea to create a catchy channel name and description. Once you’ve got all of that sorted you can start promoting your channel and try to get some subscribers. You earn money on YouTube in a variety of ways including:
- Advertising: You get paid every time someone watches an ad on one of your videos
- Sponsorship: You can get paid to promote products or services in your videos
- Affiliate marketing: You can earn commission on products that you promote in your videos
YouTube can be a great way to earn some extra cash, and again can be a passive income stream.
Photography
Some people have a real talent for photography and never use their skills to their benefit. There are so many ways to make money with photography and most people have access to a decent camera these days even if it is on their smartphone. You don’t need to be taking high end wedding photos to make money, many people use stock photos to make money as their side hustle.
There are a few ways you can make money with photography.
- Selling photos online: You can sell your photos on sites like Shutterstock, iStockphoto, and Getty Images. This is probably the most popular way to make money with photography.
- Create a photo course: You could create an online course teaching people how to take better photos. This is a great option if you’re good at photography and also enjoy teaching.
- Do local photography: You could do things like family photos, headshots, or even pet photography. This is a great way to get started as it requires very little investment to get started.
- Start a photo blog: You could start a blog about a specific type of photography like travel photography or pet photography. This is a great way to build an audience and then monetize your blog with advertising, sponsored posts, or affiliate marketing.
Photography can be a great way to make some extra cash, and it’s also a fun hobby to get into.
Final Thoughts
There are many different ways that ESL teachers can earn some extra cash, and some of them can even become full-time jobs. The options that we’ve listed above are just a few of the easiest methods, so be sure to do some research and see what other options are available. Remember, you can even mix and match and do several of these options at the same time! Just start one at a time so you don’t overwhelm yourself.
Whichever option you choose, just remember to focus on creating high-quality content and promoting your work in the right places. If you can do that then you’ll be well on your way to earning some extra cash!