You and I both know that in the current economy, one source of income isn’t going to be enough.

Luckily, we live in the land of opportunity, and there are many side hustles you can try to make a little extra income, such as online tutoring. 

Seeing how easy it was to start, and the potential it had, I looked into providers offering fast and reliable internet near me, created my setup, and got down to business. If you’re looking to start a side hustle, online tutoring can be worth your while. And in this article, I’ll explain why as well as how you can get started. 

Let’s get into it. 

Decent Earning Potential

Kind of the whole point, right? Well, let me tell you, online tutoring won’t disappoint you here. 

The average rate that even an entry-level tutor charges is around $18.30, according to internal data from Preply. Further down the line, this can reach up to $38.90 or more. 

However, this depends on certain factors such as the subject and the number of hours you’re teaching. For example, if you plan to teach advanced subjects like calculus or business, you can charge around $50 per hour, like many tutors already do. 

Greater Flexibility 

With online tutoring, you have the flexibility to work around your schedule, teach anyone, and from anywhere you want, instead of being restricted to a specific time, location, or clientele. 

This can allow you to easily balance this income stream with your main job and also teach students from various areas, both local and international, to further level up your income. Ideally, you might want to start off with a lower number of hours to adjust to the change. 

Once you get the hang of things, you can increase them. 

Low Barriers to Entry

As long as you have the ability to teach, a laptop, and a decent internet connection, the sky is the limit.

You can use your existing skills and knowledge of subjects to target one specific niche or more if you can handle it. Even if you plan to expand your services to other subjects, there are a lot of online courses you can use to refine your knowledge and pass it on. 

To top that, there are also a lot of online platforms to help you connect with potential students, such as Tutor.com or Wyzant, to name a few.

That about covers the main benefits of online tutoring. Now, it’s time to give you the roadmap you need to get started. 

Roadmap To Start Online Tutoring

The steps I’ve shared below made it easy for me to seamlessly break into online tutoring, as well as find clients. Let’s take a look. 

Choosing a Niche

This depends entirely on your goals. If you’re planning to provide general education, it might be a good idea to target various in-demand subjects to grow your client base and income. 

However, if you feel like you’re planning to teach more advanced subjects for higher education, you might want to target one or two that you’re a specialist in. Whichever route you opt for, your goal should be to provide deep knowledge, explain concepts in various ways, and provide personalized attention.

Optimize For Efficiency

Since you’re going to be teaching as a side hustle, you’re going to be teaching for a limited time, making it very important for you to focus on efficiency, credibility, and results. This means you need to get the following things planned: 

• Create policies early to manage expectations and optimize your time.
• Decide how many students you can easily manage at a time.
• Create a cancellation policy to ensure consistent earnings.
• Define lesson structures and tools you’ll use to avoid confusion.
• Consider liability insurance to protect yourself legally.

Sell Yourself on Online Platforms 

This is one of the most important points, as this is where potential clients will decide whether they choose your services or not. 

To make sure that they do, you need to prove your worth in all the right places. This means you need to identify the right platforms and then highlight your unique skills, qualifications, and portfolio, too, if you have one. 

Make sure that your skills are relevant to the subject you’re aiming to teach, and use verified platforms to avoid any mishaps, such as delayed payments later. 

Platforms like Tutor.com and Wyzant that I mentioned earlier are good starting points, but they’re not the only ones. Take some time to research those that might bring in both a good number and quality of clients. 

Online Tutoring – An Effective Side Hustle to Grow Financially and Personally 

By allowing you to use your interests and strengths, online tutoring offers a cost-effective, flexible, and engaging way to make an extra income. With the roadmap shared above, you can seamlessly get started with this in-demand income stream, and who knows, maybe find that it’s been your calling all along.