Create Side-Hustle Income by Teaching What You Already Know Do you aspire to earn more than your current salary? It can be easier than you think. Share your wisdom in a course.
By Meiko Patton Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
What if you were given the opportunity to get paid for sharing with other people information you already?
Now, perhaps unlike at any other time in history, if you possess knowledge that other people would be willing to pay for, you can start making money, with little or no startup costs.
Teaching online grants you the freedom to still work a day job yet generate side-hustle income. In fact, today, it's a real possibility to even make just as much money while you're asleep as when you're awake, thanks to the power of the Internet.
You have the opportunity to teach and share what you're most passionate about to large audiences. Would you like to share what you love and be paid for doing so? One vehicle for doing so is Udemy.com, which describes itself as an "online learning marketplace" with a mission "to help anyone learn anything."
"The world is changing so quickly and gotten more complex, especially because of technology that people need to constantly learn new things," Udemy's CEO, Dennis Yang tells me in a recent interview.
"There's been a cultural shift towards sharing and just like Netflix, people want to be able control their own media," Yang adds. "Because of mobile technology, people want access to learning when they want it and where they want it."
A new instructor, he says "has the ability to impact many students' lives and students have access to experts, right at their fingertips," he says.
Related: Share What You Know and People Will Buy What You Sell
Before you cast your hat in the online teaching ring, do these three things first:
1. Claim a topic.
What area do you find fascinating? In everyday conversation, what do you talk about the most? This could be an indication of what you could teach others.
What questions are people always asking you to help them with? If individuals are always approaching you for advice, perhaps within that there's something you can teach.
What genre of books do you tend to read? Answering this might point to a subject area you might teach.
Related: Do the Side Hustle: 5 Better Ways to Earn Extra Cash
2. Solve a problem.
To teach what you already know -- or what you are willing to learn -- you require students. And to find them, you must know their needs and how to best serve them.
Asking questions is the best way to get to familiarize yourself with the needs of prospective students.
You might ask, for example, some of these questions:
What are three areas in which you're having problems at work or in life?
What are three things you really want to accomplish this year?
What frustrates you the most about your job?
What have you done to try to improve your situation? What has worked the best (or the least)?
3. Define an objective.
Remember, you want to deliver only high-quality information. To so, you must know your audience and cater to their needs. A good question to ask yourself is "Who are the people who will participate in my course and what will they be hoping to learn?"
Focus on students at a specific skill level: beginners, intermediate or advanced learners. This will not only help you target the right audience but will also ensure that your course offers the type of information that your students are seeking.
Nick Walter, who made $60,000 in 30 days by promoting his Udemy.com class on Kickstarter.com, has shared with me details of his teaching experiences. He didn't even have a regular job at the time. That just goes to show you the power of teaching what you know.
How much extra money would you like to make next year?
Do you have that number in your head? Consider how easy it can be earn extra cash just by teaching what you already know.
This year, I'm launching my ebook, 21 Ways To Achieve Wealth & Success Plus 21-Day Resource Book, that will be turned into a Udemy course later this year.
By the end of this year, you'll end up somewhere. Do you want to end up somewhere well-designed or undesigned?
The choice is yours.
Related: Why 'Gen Z' May Be More Entrepreneurial Than 'Gen Y'
