The Best Side Hustle for Teachers – Earn an Extra $10-20K Per Year!

Educators, could you stand to have about $10,000 to $20,000 per year more than you make right now?

I ask this question because I help educators start side businesses—and sometimes full-time businesses—as academic coaches. Over the years, I’ve talked to hundreds of educators who are either ready to leave education or who want to stay in schools but are curious about what it would be like to build an academic coaching business, work with a small number of clients, and have a little extra money on hand.

Often, this starts as a side hustle. Sometimes it stays that way. Sometimes it grows into something more. But almost always, it begins with educators wanting more flexibility, more agency, and more financial breathing room.

Why So Many Educators Explore Coaching as a Side Hustle

So often we get caught up in the day-to-day grind of teaching and coaching that we forget we also need to tend to the long-term sustainability of our work. I’ve been there, friend—and in some ways, I still am.

If you’re running, or even just imagining, an academic coaching business or an executive function coaching private practice for educators, this tension can feel especially real. You want to serve students well—often neurodiverse learners—and you also know that your work won’t be sustainable if the business side never gets any attention.

What I want to do here is break down some very simple math so you can imagine what it might look like to work with just a few clients and earn additional income while you’re also holding down your job as a teacher or educator.

Nothing fancy. No hype. Just numbers.

Starting With Simple, Realistic Numbers

The first number we’re going to look at is $2,000—specifically, $2,000 per semester.

Why that number?

Because in my work supporting educators who are building private practices, I teach people how to move away from an hourly-rate model. Many educators charge $50–$75 per hour for tutoring or coaching, which often caps both income and sustainability. Hourly work can also make it harder to plan financially or protect your time and energy.

Instead, I encourage educators to experiment with a package model, offering a per-semester or per-quarter rate (depending on the school calendar). A very common starting point is a $2,000-per-semester package per family.

Some of you might read that and think, “Oh my god, that’s way too much.”
Others might think, “Oh my god, that’s not enough.”

I’ve been doing this work for about 15 years, and I return to this number because it’s one I’ve seen many families—especially those seeking support with executive function, organization, and learning skills—both able and willing to pay. There are certainly families who can pay more, but this is a grounded, realistic place to start when you’re just beginning.

Matching Your Schedule and Energy to Your Income Goals

The next number to consider is how many students you actually want to work with.

One helpful place to start is your weekly schedule. Look honestly at your time and ask yourself: When do I realistically have the capacity to coach?

Maybe you’re willing to take on a couple of hours one afternoon after your teaching job. Maybe Saturday mornings feel more doable, and you could see three students back-to-back.

As you think this through, start with your energy, not just your availability. When can you show up well? This matters if you want to avoid burnout—especially if you’re hoping to enjoy coaching and possibly grow it into a lasting academic coaching or executive function coaching practice.

For planning purposes, you can use one hour per student as a rough estimate.

So let’s say you have one afternoon where you’re willing to spend two hours coaching. That allows you to work with two students at $2,000 per semester each, for a total of $4,000 per semester.

One nice thing about a package model is that families often pay up front, which means you receive that full amount at the beginning of the semester rather than waiting week by week.

Most schools operate on two semesters per year, so we’ll double that number. That puts you at $8,000 per school year—and this doesn’t include any coaching you might choose to do over the summer. (When I was a classroom teacher, I personally needed to crash over the summer, but everyone’s situation is different.)

If you have capacity for three students instead of two, that’s $6,000 per semester, or $12,000 per year. You can keep playing with these numbers based on your schedule, interest, and energy.

Common Questions (and Where to Explore Them Further)

At this point, you might be thinking:

• “But where would I even find students?”

• “I wouldn’t feel comfortable working with students from my own district.”

• “I don’t know if families would actually say yes to this.”

These are all very common—and very reasonable—questions. I hear them all the time from educators who are exploring academic coaching or executive function coaching as a side hustle or future career path.

For now, my invitation is simply to play with the numbers, notice what feels realistic, and pay attention to what questions come up for you. You don’t need all the answers yet.

If you want to explore those questions further, including how educators ethically build coaching practices that serve neurodiverse learners and families outside their own schools, you can explore the free learning resources available in the Visitor’s Center of the Anti-Boring Learning Lab:

Visitor’s Center:
https://antiboringlearninglab.com/resources

That’s where I keep my current free resources for educators who are curious about academic coaching, executive function coaching, and building a small, values-aligned private practice.

Have fun playing with the numbers—and imagining what you might do if you had a little more financial breathing room in your life.

A version of the following article was originally published here on October 27, 2022.