5 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Teach Online

These days, more and more people are looking to teach online instead of in the classroom, mostly because they can do it from the comfort of their own home. And while teaching online isn’t right for everyone, it can be a great way to earn some extra money and keep your options open about potential career paths down the road. Here are five ridiculously easy ways to teach online if you’re considering it but have yet to dive in headfirst.

Be a tutor

Whether it’s math, English or web design, online tutoring is a growing industry—and there are huge advantages for instructors. You set your own hours and can make money in any city; you’re not tied down by commuting times or working within school hours. To get started, find out if there’s a local community college offering courses. If so, go meet with them and let them know that you want to work as an independent contractor; they’ll help introduce you to clients looking for private lessons (the school will take a cut). Most private teachers earn around $20–$30 per hour. And it won't hurt to contact private lesson companies such as New York Tutors because they do need more teachers of all kinds every year!

Create an on-demand coaching program

If you’re someone who has been doing coaching for a while, you might be able to create an on-demand program that can either serve as supplemental income or even become your full-time job. All you have to do is create a course (or find one online) and market it. You may want to check out sites like Elance and PeoplePerHour since those are two places I’ve hired coaches from, but there are many other great options. A lot of these coaches will also help you set up your course, which is another plus if you’re inexperienced with creating them yourself. I typically budget anywhere from $1,500 - $3,000 per on-demand program.

Start your own blog

Whether you’re considering teaching online as a full-time gig or simply want some supplemental income, starting your own personal site is an excellent way to get started. You can use sites like Tumblr, WordPress, and Posterous for free, which makes it hard to resist! If you think that blogging may be in your future (and even if it’s not) I highly recommend you start by reading 10 Ways to Make Money with Your Website. It covers some basic questions many new bloggers have about making money with their sites—including topics like affiliate marketing and advertising.

Write and publish your own book.

While it may seem scary, or like a whole lot of work, getting your book published can be an incredibly rewarding experience. As long as you’re willing to put in a good amount of research and writing time, there’s no reason why you can’t self-publish something and make some extra money. If you already have a book that could use updating or another is on your business roadmap, take advantage of companies like LeanPub that let you write and publish at your own pace. With hundreds of thousands of titles available on all kinds of topics, it’s never been easier for someone with knowledge to sell their expertise online. All that's left is for you to sit down and start cranking out chapters!

Sell T-shirts, hoodies, mugs with logos

This is a great way to make money on Fiverr, but it’s important that you choose a design that can work for multiple products. This way, if your design doesn’t sell, you can simply change your product and try again! You can also reach out to sites like Merch by Amazon, which will connect you with people who want their shirts printed in bulk. For example, they have a $30 promotion fee (meaning they give you $30 towards merchandise) but print only 1 shirt at a time and let sellers upload as many designs as they want. The risk of failure is lowered since your design has so many possibilities!