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If you have ventured into the world of academics, you would know that not every college major will provide students with a marketable skill. Sure, learning about exponential functions or renaissance literature is not without its merits – or importance – but they are not the kind of information that is needed in a day-to-day market. For those students who choose these kind of careers, it will often prove difficult to find work after graduation. It can become so difficult, in fact, that it becomes almost a necessity for them to course through a masters or doctorate degree to increase their chances of landing a job.
There is no guarantee, though, that high levels of specialization will directly result in the job. This is why there’s a large pool of people working outside their major. While this is not necessarily a bad thing – an English major could easily adjust to a job in advertising – it can certainly lead to some fairly ridiculous scenarios. For example, the thought of a PhD graduate working in a low-skill, minimum-wage-paying job is a bit ridiculous. Still, this is a reality that too often goes unnoticed.
Use your knowledge: Take on Tutoring
While not everyone will be encumbered by taking a job outside their field, that is not true for everyone. And, though the reality of the world’s current economic state cannot be changed, options can certainly be provided for those who seek them. Especially, for those who wouldn’t mind having an extra income in their hands. See, knowledge is one of those things that can be easily exchanged. Many people have served as tutors at some point in their lives, though probably at different scales. A mother has experience helping their teenage son with math problems, just like the A+ student in college was probably asked to explain something to their struggling classmates.
Use Your Time Wisely: Do It Online
Even though everyone might have the right attitudes to teach, not everyone has enough freedom in their everyday lives to make it a reliable source of income. Finding students can be hard, as well as the commute to meet them. Students who would like to teach are tied down by their class schedules and assignments and cannot always work standard hours. With online tutoring, these concerns can be tossed to the side and the mind set towards a profit.
Working online, as we all know by now, offers a lot of freedom to those who choose to engage in it. You get to decide the time and duration of your shift, the place where you’ll be stationed and, even the topics you would like to teach. Some websites, like WizIQ, will let you host your own lectures and set up one-on-one webcam session with your students. Other websites, like Studypool, offer a more direct approach of Questions and Answers – where you will be paid for answering straightforward, specific questions. In both of these sites – and others like them – you will be in direct control of how much you earn.
Also to consider is the fact that Online Tutoring websites will rarely have restrictions on the topics allowed to be taught. Some of them will even let you host your own lectures, based on your area of expertise. Subjects like Math, Finances, Economics, Physics, Writing and Foreign Languages can become your specialization. Then again, you are free to help out in whatever way possible. You can also choose the level in which you’d like to teach – for example, you can set out to only dedicate yourself to difficult, technical matters for college students or opt to help out students in a high school level.
The best part about Online Tutoring is the demand. Knowledge, after all, is just one more commodity that can be exchanged for our convenience. If you have the information and the will to help out others, you will fit right in the community, and make a profit in the process.
Ive actually thought about making my own online class on Udemy. Just dont have the time to create a really awesome one right now but I really do like the idea of online tutoring and classes.
Alexander @ Cash Flow Diaries recently posted…Top Lessons Learned After One Year Of Blogging + Yearly Blog Income Report
Hi CFD,
To tell you the truth I never thought about making extra cash by selling my money knowledge or any other knowledge for that matter. I figure this blog can be a free resource for people to learn and follow my real life financial journey for better or worse. Never heard of Udemy either. Thank you for sharing this.
Never heard of them before. I have been thinking of tutoring CPA students during the weekend probably locally not online but a very neat idea. I will check them out.
BeSmartRich recently posted…11 most important Warren Buffett’s stock picking tips, especially 7th one.
Hi BSR,
Like you I never heard of Studypool nor Udemy as CFD mentioned above. Who knew this was a whole online sector? I guess these days there are so many more ways to earn extra cash simply because of the existence of the Internet. These resources may be a good fit for you to expand your CPA teaching reach beyond your physical locale. Thank you for commenting.
I’ve never had an interest in tutoring, but a year ago, me and a friend decided we wanted to start an investment seminar business. Neither of us are licensed to sell securities, but we still managed to navigate through all the loopholes that would allow us to legally run our business.
Then we discovered that the place we wanted to hold our seminars regularly held free investment seminars. With all the costs and obstacles that popped up daily before we even filed, that was the nail in the coffin for us.
With this stuff, it’s now possible for us to run that business. But right now, we got our hands full with a much simpler, less costly, non-finance business and are much happier with it.
Still, this article couldn’t but help make me think of our first business idea.
Sincerely,
ARB–Angry Retail Banker
ARB recently posted…Dealing With The Google Law Professors
Hi ARB,
Thanks for sharing that personal experience about offering investment seminars. Usually, those “free” seminars are there to attract a large crowd at which time some product or service is then sold to the attendees. As I commented above, I wasn’t even aware that such an online business even existed. I guess it’s nice to know that you’ll always have the option to market yourself and teach others, for money, something useful. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
Interesting idea. I might consider doing such a thing since a lot of my friends seem to come to me to ask for basic financial advice.
Kisses,
Mrs. Moneypenny
Hi MM,
This looks like a very interesting way to earn some “side hustle” money. Why give away your pearls of wisdom and experience when you can earn a little bit through a service like this? I think we often feel that our own personal experiences and knowledge does not have a dollar value attached to it but the truth is many would be willing to pay to learn from others’ real world experiences and comprehension of a particular subject. I appreciate your comment.
The problem with tutoring is it’s saturated with people teaching the same thing for little pay. You really have to get niche to teach something of value and everyone has a sister teaching “social media”. I agree with some other comments on here by teaching a video course you can get a larger audience and automate your teaching, but one-on-one is always the best, but perhaps not the best use of time for the tutor.
I’d love to try it, but need to discover what niche I could specialize in and curious to see the per hour wage I could get.
Hi WS,
The Internet is all about finding a niche and exploiting it. While it’s true that once something becomes even remotely popular you have every Tom, Dick and Harry jumping on board. Just look at how many financial web sites exist and subsequent niches, dividend investing, frugality blogs, reducing and eliminating debt blogs, etc. I guess the key is to provide some honest personal experiences that go along with whatever topic you are teaching. After all, you are the only you that exists so even within a crowded space that’s been done hundreds of times you can still inject your own personal flavor to your teachings and be unique. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
This advice is great! Tutoring is a great way to make extra money, and it can be a huge help to others who are struggling with school work! Thanks so much for sharing your ideas!
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Hi Morgan,
The reality is that there are hundreds of ways to make extra income online. Tutoring is always a nice method to earn a little extra cash while helping others. Thank you for commenting.
You have to make yourself visible locally. Publish your tutoring skills online and get good reviews from parents. Children specific websites like http://www.KidoServ.com allow you list your service for free with no cost and let parents to search tutors near their home using zipcode. Also you can search for all available jobs near you in Kidoserv.com and apply for one if that suites the requirements.
Hi GJ,
Thank you for sharing KidoServ with us. I never heard of that site before but it just goes to show that there are many places to market your skills and earn extra dollars. I guess the key is, as you mentioned, to be very visible to your local markets. After all, if they can’t find you, they can’t utilize your services. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.