Earn an Income at Home Teaching Online – No Experience Needed

Well hello again! Welcome back to yet another episode of the Simple Tools for the Online Teacher Podcast. This episode is for all the stay at home parents out there. I want to set this up with a little story. When I graduated college, I thought I was going to be a classroom teacher for the next 10+ years. Boy was I wrong. Between some poor administrators, moving to different states, getting married, and starting a family, it just wasn’t in the cards. I loved teaching, but I didn’t love everything else that came with it. And I definitely didn’t want to miss out on any precious time with my son. So, I set out to earn an income by teaching online from my spare bedroom. 

Teaching online was exactly what I needed

When I tell you this is exactly what my heart needed, and still needs…boy, I get chills just thinking about it. I’ve been teaching online as a stay at home parent since 2019. I get to be a mom, teacher, wife, and so much more, all without experiencing the severe burnout teachers across the country are experiencing right now. 

What’s this got to do with me?

So, to the stay at home parent listening probably wondering ‘what’s this got to do with me?’ I hear you. I’ve made it my mission to help stay at home parents like yourselves earn an income by teaching online, even without the teaching certification. Do I have your attention yet? So buckle up, because in this episode I’m going to break down everything you need​​ to know to get started so you can experience the same freedom I do.

Grab the free guide and follow along with me!

Ok, let’s get to the juicy stuff shall we? Everything in today’s episode is available for you in a quick PDF download. You can grab it and follow along at onlineteacherallyson.com/getstarted. As a stay at home parent, I loved (and still do) staying home with my son. However, we weren’t in a position financially where we could afford it for the long term. I had student loans to pay, a car payment, and so on. I started looking for opportunities out there and finally ran into one where I could teach while my son was sleeping. Combining my skill sets was a dream come true. I was able to earn enough income to make my student loan payment as well as put a little extra onto other bills. Was it the same income I was used to as a classroom teacher? No. It wasn’t. But, I was also working part time, had no take home work, wasn’t stressed, and had no commute. 

Decision #1

So, let’s talk about you fellow parent. I know I’ve promised that you can do this without the teaching degree, but how? I will be offering a free hour long training on this soon, so keep an eye out for this, because it’s better than I can ever offer on a voice only podcast. Grabbing the free download at onlineteacherallyson.com/getstarted will also get you on the waitlist for the training announcement. First let’s start with what Psychologist Gay Hendricks calls your Zone of Genius. He says in his book The Big Leap “When I’m operating in my Zone of Genius, I am doing what I love to do and I’m enjoying what I have.” So, essentially, your Zone of Genius is what you love to do and what you’re good at doing. 

Let’s make one small addition

For online teaching, I like to add one more thing. Your Zone of Genius as an online teacher is what you love to do, what you’re good at doing, and what will sell. Take a minute and think about it. If you love and are good at wood working, and your preferred age range is pre schoolers, you probably aren’t going to sell a class on how to use a scroll saw to a 3 year old. What parent is going to sign their toddler up for that? However, if Ancient Roman history is your jam, and you prefer the older elementary to middle school kiddos, that’s right within the right wheelhouse. So, I want you to take a minute and brainstorm: what do you love? What are you good at doing? What do you think will sell to your ideal client? Don’t have an ideal client? Brainstorm them too. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but you should have an understanding of whether you want to market to young children, older children, teens, adults, and so on. 

Decision #2

So, now that you have your Zone of Genius and your Niche (who and what you want to teach), let’s move on to just where you’re going to teach this material. There’s tons of options out there, so it will take some research on your part to find the best fit for you. Here’s a few options to get you started.

Decision #3

ESL

If you like English and young children, you might want to check out an ESL (English as a Second Language) platform. Oftentimes, these platforms have the lessons created for you, and will do all the behind the scenes work for you. But, you won’t be in charge of how much you will be paid per class. 

Open Marketplace

If you want to create your own lessons and name your price for students aged 3-18, Outschool might be a good fit for you. Outschool is like a marketplace for online teachers. Online teachers list their class, their price, and when they’re offering the class. Parents across the globe can sign their learners up for your class. However, Outschool keeps 30% of your pay to help with overhead fees (and don’t forget about taxes as an independent contractor)

Adults

If you like the Outschool idea, but prefer to teach adults, Your Teachable Moment and Varsity Tutors. Both platforms offer classes to adults for both academics and hobbies, just like Outschool. Varsity Tutors has a slightly different business model, without much information provided in basic Google searches. 

Independent

If none of these are speaking to you, you might want to completely go out on your own. Through this avenue, you will retain all of your pay, you will be completely in charge of your clients, lesson plans, and schedule. However, you will have to market and find your own clients, as well as handle bookkeeping. 

Heads up!

Like I mentioned earlier, I will be offering a free hour long training on this complete with worksheets, visuals, and more. It should be offered in the spring, so keep an eye out for it! Also, don’t forget to grab your free downloadable PDF now at onlineteacherallyson.com/getstarted. This will outline what we’ve talked about today and will give you a starting point. It will also put you on the wait list for the announcement so you can make sure you grab your spot. 
I know there’s so much more you want to know. I know there’s so much more to cover! If you have a specific question you want answered, as always, make sure to let me know by shooting me at email at onlineteacherallyson@gmail.com, or sliding into my Instagram DMs @teacher.allyson. That’s it for today! As always, I’m so glad you’re here! Chat soon!