- Teaching English online can be a great side hustle
or a source of extra income,
especially if you can get paid up to $25 an hour.
So how do you even get started?
In this video, I'm covering how to teach English online
and get paid for it.
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I'm sure you've heard of teaching English online as a source
to bring in extra income, to either pay down your debt
or maybe fuel a very fun savings goal.
So a lot of us are like, hmm,
"What qualifications do I need to teach English online?"
Well, for starters, the big misconception
is that you have to have a degree in English, and you don't.
You don't have to have a degree in English to qualify.
There are several qualifying factors that you want
to take into account, but it's easier than you think
in order to get approved to teach English online.
First things first, you need to be fluent in English.
So native speakers are preferred but, if you have fluency
in English, you are definitely qualified.
The next thing is that you should have a desire to teach.
If you've taught in a formal setting before,
this can be really helpful,
but you don't need to be a professional teacher
or have that professional teaching experience
in order to teach English online,
just a desire to teach and help those
who want to perfect the English language.
You also need to have available time on your calendar
for when you want to tutor your students.
You'll need a payment portal, especially
if you will be finding your own clients or students,
and a video conferencing service like Skype or Zoom.
So it's best to do this on a desktop or laptop
so you can share your screen.
Virtual whiteboards are definitely a part of the process,
or you can show your students a PowerPoint presentation.
You'll also want a written cancellation policy,
if you'll be seeking out your own students
instead of depending on a platform.
So there are two different ways
you can teach English online.
You can either sign up for an online-based company,
or you can run your own operation
through a blog or YouTube channel.
If you choose to work with an online company,
you will get paid an hourly wage,
and that is dependent on how the company operates.
So you'll either get a going rate, and you'll be told
this is the going rate for you teaching English with us,
or you can set your own rate.
We'll cover that through the different companies
that are available for you to teach online with.
All right, So we found 10 different companies
that teach English online, including VIPKID, Wyzant,
Tutor.com, EnglishHunt, Lingoda, Cambly,
Cafe Talk, DaDa, Education First and Go Fluent.
You'll want to do you own research here,
but in this video I want to cover some of the top players,
which is VIPKID, Wyzant and Tutor.com.
You've probably heard of VIPKID.
There's numerous reviews online that you can look at
in terms of the tutors and teachers
who have gone through VIPKID.
But what's interesting about this one
is that you can sign up and, once you're approved,
you have the provided platform, resources.
There's even a provided curriculum.
So all of your tools are already set up,
and you just hop in, and start scheduling your students
and your tutoring sessions.
Now, most of your students
are going to come from China on this platform.
So you'll have to be mindful of the time differences
when you're scheduling your tutor sessions.
And, according to the website, you can make
up to $22 per hour, so this could be a good gig for you
if you want to consider VIPKID.
The next platform is Wyzant, and Wyzant actually
provides tutors on a variety of subjects, not just English.
So, there are a ton of subjects that you could teach for it.
And the cool thing about this website that I really liked
is that it was founded by two Princeton graduates
so, I don't know, I think that's kind of cool.
And you can set your own hourly rate.
When you sign up, you will be listed
in their marketplace for students to find you,
and there's no premium feature on the marketplace.
In other words, you're not paying extra to be listed
on that marketplace, which keeps things really fair,
and I really appreciate that about Wyzant.
Similar to Wyzant, Tutor.com provides tutors
on a variety of subjects other than English.
The one thing about this platform, though,
is that they do give preference to doctorates,
PhD students, adjunct professors, teachers.
So, even if you're not in those professions
or have those pedigrees, you can still apply
and still be considered as an applicant.
You also have to be a college sophomore or higher
in order to apply to become a tutor.
One thing to note here on the English tutors,
if they have an influx of English tutors and teachers,
then you may not actually be approved
to become an English tutor.
So they limit how many English tutors
that they have available, so just keep that in mind as well.
Regardless of which company you choose,
the most that you need to get started
is a reliable Internet connection and a webcam.
So it can be really simple to start up
and get going with an online company to teach English.
If none of these sound like a good option to you,
you could opt to start your own operation
through a blog or YouTube channel.
If you choose to run your own business,
it can have its challenges, and ups and downs,
but what's really cool about this
is that you have the potential to build your own audience.
You have the potential to earn income without a cap,
so the income potential is significant.
And you can create your own products,
things like ebooks or online courses,
and you can really create your own operation out of this
and get a really significant income
if you put in the hard work in the beginning.
Now the disadvantage to running your own blog
or YouTube channel that a lot of people struggle with
in the beginning is building that initial audience.
Months can go by, sometimes up to a year,
before you actually see anything
out of building your own operation.
So you could be creating blog posts,
videos, a lot of content
and not serving a whole lot of people from the get-go.
But, if you stick with it, you could really
see some significant changes and really build
your own business teaching English online for yourself.
You also have the ability to add in affiliate incomes
through affiliate marketing
or, once you reach certain qualifications on YouTube
and your blog, you could apply for Google AdSense
and start making ad revenue
off of those videos and blog posts.
And, if you decide to start your own YouTube channel,
you'll obviously need you own camera equipment
and editing software to make that happen.
Those can be additional costs, so you'll want to make sure
that this is going to benefit you in the long run.
All right, so those are two different ways
to teach English online.
One, you can sign up for an online-based company
and get started with their own platform
or, two, you can start your own operation.
If you sign up with an online-based company,
be aware that you are subject to the company's changes
and rules, and, if you decide on the YouTube channel,
keep in mind that it does take time to build an audience.
Either way, you can see earning potential
from teaching English online.
For more resources on side income
and how to make extra money,
be sure to check out thecollegeinvestor.com.