Here’s a great income-earning tip from Alisha:
I have made some extra money by teaching couponing classes at my community center. It requires no money up front and is a great way to share something that I am passionate about.
My community center pays $20/hour that I teach and will provide copies of any handouts I submit to them for free. They provide the classroom and projector for free, as well.
They also reimburse non-paper materials by having students pay instructors directly for the cost. For instance, I provide each of my students with a couponing binder, and the students pay me the cost of the binder, dividers, and baseball card inserts.
While there is no upfront cost, teaching does require some planning. I spent 2 hours laying out a lesson plan for a 2 hour course and another 2 hours putting together handouts for students to take home. I had never put together a lesson plan before, but the community center was very helpful and reviewed every detail of my class.
If you don’t have the time to plan a course, look into tutoring at the community center. Many people are interested in tutoring in Excel, Photoshop, and various blogging platforms. Tutoring requires no upfront cost and minimal planning. -Alisha
photo from Big Stock
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{ 11 comments... read them below or add one }
What a neat idea Alisha. What I particularly like about this is that you get to maximize one of your passions. And get paid!
I’m curious, what was your class on?
A few logistical questions:
- How do they promote the class? How do you get proper enrollment?
- Where they able to provide you with examples of student handouts from other classes?
- What topics are usually taught in community centers?
- How many people should you expect to sign up? Do they allow you to get emails from the students in case you are trying to build a business around the topic of your class?
Hi JP,
My class is an introduction to couponing.
To answer your questions:
- The community center takes care of promoting the class by mailing town residents a course listing every season. If a course has less than 5 students, it is dropped. This policy varies based on the community center where you teach.
- I did not get any sample handouts. I was the first person to teach about coupons so I was starting from scratch to a certain extent.
- Topics vary based on where you live. In my town the community center offers mainly language classes, business-related workshops, art classes, fitness classes, and cooking classes. Other ones I have seen are basic auto repair and carpentry.
- Class size really depends on the type of course you are teaching. With the couponing class I expect between 5-20 students. Email policy will depend on the community center. I would contact the one nearest you to get a better idea of their policies.
I hope that helps!
Thanks Alisha!
Great idea Alisha! I do college essay coaching with college-bound kids. Recently, I decided to approach local libraries to see if they would be interested in a College Essay Excellence workshop. They were! And so I put together a curriculum and conducted the workshop at two locations this fall. Yes, it took the initial investment of time to put together a workshop, power point, and a few handouts. But now I’m all set for next year and hope to schedule 10 workshops. I get paid through the libraries and they offer the workshop as a public service.
What a great idea! I will have to look into teaching at libraries as well.
My friend used to teach piano to kids at the community center. I never thought of trying to teach a class myself. I have taught a class at my church but this would be another great opportunity.
I don’t charge when I speak, but there are always blessings from it!
Am I tallying this correctly – 6 hours of your time (including teaching the class) for $20 ? I understand that you can re-use the lesson plan for the next class you teach (and save that time) but $3/hour is not much income + travel time. I realize it’s not all about money and it’s great to share your passion, but I’m wondering if it’s much of a money-maker (for you) the way it is structured.
correction – $40 for 6 hours of time = about $6.60/hour but still not much income for all of that work + travel time.
Hi Lori,
You’re correct, it’s not much of a moneymaker for me. I’m just starting with the course and expect to need less prep time in the future, but tutoring is really the biggest bang for your buck.
What a great idea to add to this list. My husband is a jeweler/silversmith and has taught community classes. I am shop teacher and have also taught community classes. I am not sure why the classes listed in the replies have paid so low. When we have done it, we have gotten paid from $22/hour to $45/hour.