How Can Teachers Make Extra Money?

        By Jeremy B. Kim

Many teachers (or any professional for that matter) struggle to make ends meet. While some prefer to live below their means, others choose to create multiple streams of income. The advantage of choosing the latter is that you'll have more resources to sustain your whims, travels, and other pleasures without having to scrimp or sacrifice anything.

But while you can always take a part-time job at a brick-and-mortar store, you might want to consider online sources. Over the past few years, the Internet has given tons of earning and job opportunities for everyone, so you'll be surprised at how convenient and easy it is to find one that suits your skills.

Here are four proven ways on how teachers can make extra money online.

1. Offer your part-time teaching or tutorial services online.

The Internet has revolutionized the way we interact with one another in a way we never imagined. In the past, the main correspondence method was through the post office, but today, there's electronic mail. And thanks to free messaging applications like Skype and Yahoo! Messenger, you can offer your teaching services to anyone around the world.

One of the most common and probably the most profitable online classes offered is English online classes. As what the name tries to imply, these classes are offered to students who want to learn the English language. Others think that the market for this venture is already saturated, but in actuality, there is a wide and untapped market eager to study with you.

As a matter of fact, parents from South Asia (i.e., South Korea, Japan, and China) are willing to shell out thousands of dollars everyone to invest in their children's education. So if you are a native speaker of the English language, jump in the bandwagon and see how profitable this can be.

Aside from offering English classes, you can also offer tutorials to help students with their academic courses such as Mathematics and Science. All you have to do is to advertise your services at a reputable ESL board.

2. Be an online writer.

There are different types of online writers. Some call themselves copywriters, while some prefer content writers. Others call themselves article writers, while some call themselves bloggers, ghostbloggers, or even ebook writers.

But whatever you want to call yourself, the goal of online writing is to publish a piece of writing online -- in blogs, personal sites, article directories, and many other platforms. So if you love writing, you might want to consider this as a part-time job.

One of the advantages of being an online writer is time flexibility. You can choose your own deadline, and you can choose which topics you want to write about. So if you want minimal research and effort, you can choose to write about your expertise.

You can find great writing opportunities in sites such as oDesk, eLance, Fiverr, and GhostBlogger.

3. Be an affiliate marketer.

Affiliate marketing (or sometimes used interchangeably with internet marketing) is the process of promoting one's product in exchange for a commission. If you close a successful sale, you get a commission which is based on an advertising fee that can go as high as 75% of the product's value.

A lot of people are afraid to go into affiliate marketing because it involves sales. But the beauty of this venture is that you can promote affiliate products in different ways that do not involve "talking" and dropping those awkward sales pitches. As a matter of fact, you can use social networking sites such as Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter to promote your chosen products. You can tweet your affiliate link, you can make a review of a product you use and post it on Facebook, or you can post pictures of the product on Pinterest.

4. Create and sell digital or physical goods online.

Another option is to either create a product which you can sell online, or sell a pre-loved item that you have in your house. As you know, there are many newbie teachers who are struggling to create lessons and teaching materials, so if you want extra cash, create a material and advertise it on a site.

Or you can look around your house for an old collection that you're willing to sell on eBay. You'll be surprised to know that there are people who are willing to buy an old CD of Britney Spears on eBay.

These are surely great suggestions to earn more cash. But to get started earning online, it's important that you have the following: Paypal account, a stable Internet connection, a laptop, and tons of patience and determination.

For comprehensive training on how to teach English online and on affiliate marketing Philippines, check out icanteachenglish.com and pinoyaffiliate.com.