I Still Haven’t Made Enough Money From My Online 2nd Jobs to Replace My Teaching Job
I have always had a second job since I started teaching; I have always wanted my second job to replace my teaching job, but I wanted my second job not to be dependent on the dollars earned per hour.
My private tutoring business was my most successful second job; however, I wanted to make passive income.
My Teachers Pay Teachers Business
I found something in July 2019 that came close to something I was looking for in a second job; I had never heard of Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) before until I saw one of their ads online from a content creator of TpT.
I checked out their website, and I signed up for free in less than a week; a week later, I paid for their premium subscription to write on TpT for a higher cut for my sales.
I wrote math worksheets and placed them on TpT, and I watched my TpT store increase in content volume. But, I didn’t make the sales I wanted.
To help sales, I purchased their $5 add time slots for a particular product. I assumed if I purchased ads, people would buy my products. That didn’t happen.
I spent $100 for my first marketing promotion with TpT, and my rate of return was $1 for the $100 advertisements.
That was my first lesson on spending on marketing without any plans; I never purchased TpT ads again. Instead, I market my TpT products on Facebook Groups.
I still average between $17 to $ 30 per month for doing almost nothing but keep my TpT products on the site. I may return to create content and invest more time in my TpT business, but I want to work on other parts of my writing business.
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
I started writing math workbooks and publishing them on Amazon in January 2021; I still promote my math workbook through social media, but I stopped creating content to concentrate on other writing gigs online.
KDP is okay; I don’t make much money, but I averaged about $50 per month for the 2021 calendar year.
Medium
The most recent writing opportunity was writing on Medium; I started my free account in June 2021, but I became a paid member in October 2021. However, I started writing every day in November 2021.
The numbers are not there yet, but if I make what I am making on Medium now, I’ll reach the $100 for the year.
There are only two goals I focus on with Medium:
1. I try to write interesting and entertaining stories about my experiences as a high school teacher or anything that comes to mind.
2. I try to write every day and be consistent with writing.
Freelance Writing
I started looking for writing gigs while learning how to write for income; so far, I was turned down twice for a writing job, but I know I just started.
Of all my side jobs, freelance writing feels like more of a trial and error approach. I feel more comfortable writing, but it feels like I’m not ready.
I am spending most of my time figuring out how to get an online writing job and writing on Medium; four months is not a lot of time to determine if it will work out.
Gumroad
I recently started on Gumroad because I saw Kristina God’s article as a place to repackage older Medium articles. I started a Gumroad account last night, and everything is new.
Takeaway
I always knew that I needed more than one online revenue stream to make money online. Medium and freelance writing has the most upside to making money online because it was the most immediate return I had with the least amount of time.
For months, I went from making pennies to making money equivalent to several book sales on KDP. I believe that is worth pursuing.
Final Thoughts
I feel a glimmer of hope with a possible writing career; the tools that helped me the most as a writer are Google docs and Canva.
The free version of Grammarly has also helped me identify spelling mistakes and identifying grammatical errors. The free version works out because thinking of other words and sentences is just as easy to do as paying to view suggestions on Grammarly.
It’s been three years since I started my TpT business, and I like the transitions I made in writing in the past three years because it gives me more opportunities to create additional revenue streams.
I write about my experiences as a high school teacher, writing, and anything that comes to mind. Sometimes I write about satire.
Don Sabado
Teacher | Author | Writer
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