Hey again Moms and Dads! Spring has sprung and I for one am so excited about the promise of more sunshine. In my mind, Spring is the season of new beginnings. The plants are blooming. Baby animals are being born. It always puts me in the mindset for a new beginning, too. If you’ve been thinking about getting started online teaching for a while now but haven’t taken the plunge, use Spring as your external motivator!
This Spring (so in the next couple weeks) I’m going to be launching my course Parents Teach Online to the Founding Members – and that could be you! Founding Members get a ton of perks like: a low, low price, they get the first look at all the course content, they will go through the course with a small group of other founding members, and will gain access to all updates and upgrades I make as I continue to fine tune the course. If this is something you’re interested in, grab your guide to get started at onlineteacherallyson.com/getstarted. Here, you’ll get a free guide to help you make the 3 key decisions to getting started, and you will get emails about the upcoming Founding Member offer soon!
Historically, the number of online classes taken increases in the summer making Spring a great time to get your feet wet, learn the ropes, and master online teaching before the high booking rates arrive. If you’re not ready just yet, I’ll be launching Parents Teach Online again later this summer – but you won’t get the same perks. The price will be increased, the group will be larger, and you will get less one on one time with me! You have nothing to lose and so much freedom to gain! Again, grab your free guide at onlineteacherallyson.com/getstarted.
How much can I earn teaching online?
One of the most common questions I’m asked when Moms and Dads are considering online teaching is “How much money will I make?” This is SUCH a valid question, but also a pretty gray one. So, in the spirit of honesty and transparency, I’m going to get real with you about what I’ve earned, how I’ve done it, and what it can look like for you.
My first experience with online teaching was for an ESL platform. Many people want to get their start here, too, but it’s gotten tricky. The largest market for English classes was in China. At the end of 2021, China implemented new regulations that forbade their citizens from taking classes on weekends and holidays, they couldn’t be taught by foreign teachers (us), and if they could get ahold of extra classes, they had to be from a nonprofit organization.
Many of these platforms shut their doors, but some are still open – trying to find another market. I’m still involved with that first ESL platform, but it’s nothing to write home about anymore. There’s virtually no bookings. There’s tons of tech problems. There’s a ton of unhappy teachers as the company tries to find their footing in a new market. But don’t let this discourage you! There’s tons of other ways and places to offer your classes, and that’s exactly what we’re going to dive into today.
How much can I make teaching English online?
So, back to the question of, how much money can I really make doing this? Well, that’s subjective. When I was teaching ESL, I was averaging about $1000 a month. I was working every day for 2-3 hours a day. My classes were 90-100% booked. If you don’t want to work that much – that’s fine! That’s the beauty of working online. I’ve also seen teachers teach online full time, so far more than I ever did a day. It took me some time to build up to this level of classes. I hurt myself starting out by missing classes that got booked. They would book overnight, and I’d sleep through it because I wasn’t awake to set an alarm. This hurt me in the platform’s algorithm because I was showing myself as a teacher that wasn’t reliable.
Other teachers get started running, and continue to maintain that level of booking. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason as to why some are more successful right off the bat than others. If I had to take a guess, I would say their introduction videos and class descriptions are very well thought out. An introduction video is an episode for another day but in a nutshell, it’s introducing you! Your introduction video is usually pretty short. You’re introducing yourself, your experience/credentials, your teaching style, and what they can expect from classes with you. If you’re not entirely sure about the answer to those last two yourself – that’s okay! Your video can be changed as you grow and evolve as an online teacher – mine sure has!
Where can I teach online?
I keep saying platform, so let’s talk about what that means in regards to your earnings. With a platform, they typically set how much you’ll earn. Each one is different. You’ll see pay rate per minute, per class (which is usually about a half hour), and per hour. The most common is per class. In some cases, like Outschool, you set your price per class, but Outschool takes a percentage off the top for overhead fees. So, here’s that gray area again – your pay will vary greatly depending on where you want to teach and how many hours a week you want to teach.
Currently, I’m working for a small start up company that tutors students in math while they’re at school. So each student will grab their Chromebook and log into the session from their classroom, and we tutor the small group from our homes. I’m earning almost double per hour here, but I’m working fewer hours. I’m mostly restricted to traditional US school hours, and that just doesn’t work as well for our family. When it’s all said and done, I’m earning about half of what I earned per month on the ESL platform, but I work far fewer hours for that pay.
The moral of the story is…
I hope you’re starting to see a trend here. Whatever your strength, there’s likely a platform for it. It will take some research to find a placement that best fits your strength and your schedule, and if you can’t find it, well I have some good news. If you can’t find a platform that caters specifically to your strength and schedule, you do still have a couple options. If you’re wanting to stay on a platform, I would look into Outschool. Think of Outschool as a marketplace or a mall. Since Outschool is catered to children 3-18, the parent will find a class they want for their child, or that the child wants to take for fun. With Outschool, you will create your class from scratch (something I teach in Parents Teach Online, by the way). You will also set your pay per student, the times you’re wanting to teach this class, the age range you want to teach, and how many students you want per class.
This is complete flexibility all the way around – just don’t forget about Outschool’s overhead fee and taxes. I’ve seen tons of teachers earn a full time income on Outschool. It’s also important to note that Outschool doesn’t require a degree to teach on their platform. There are some subjects where they will require advanced knowledge or experience. I’ve seen this required in some Science and Social Studies classes. However, for the vast majority of classes, no advanced knowledge is required.
Teaching online independent from a platform
If you’re not a fan of the overhead fee, consider teaching completely independently from the platform. Here, your pay will be completely yours. Whatever rate you set per class, per hour, per student, etc., will go completely in your pocket. This is the biggest perk to independent teaching. However, keep in mind that you will have to find your own students and find or create your own curriculum. With independent teaching, you have complete schedule and pay freedom.
So, the bottom line is, how much money you earn is up to you. How much time are you willing to devote to marketing yourself (not always necessary, by the way), bettering yourself and your classes, and learning the ropes? It took me a good 6 months to find my footing (remember when I said I slept through multiple classes?) In those 6 months, I spent time browsing the platform and getting to know it, getting to know what classes students and parents wanted, watching Youtube videos to improve my teaching skills, and so much more. I acted like I was teaching even when I wasn’t scheduled. I sat at the computer and found something professionally productive to do. It helped my brain and body get in the right mindset and schedule. Honestly, I think I’m a better teacher for it.
Lesson planning for online classes
I know you were probably looking for a specific number you can earn per hour or per month, but that’s just not feasible with so many options out there. I wish I could give it to you, too. But, I do hope that this helped give you some clarity. If you’ve been having trouble deciding where to teach, I hope that this helped narrow it down for you. If you’re wanting to learn how to lesson plan and deliver top notch lessons – make sure you grab the free guide at onlineteacherallyson.com/getstarted to be the first to know about the Parents Teach Online Founding Members launch. You won’t want to miss it. I can’t wait to hear how you can change your family’s life. Cheering for you always.
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