Let's talk side-gigs

I spent 13 consecutive years of my career as a full time teacher or tutor. Then I had a child, and now my career isn't the focus in this season of life.  Yet, I still am keen for ways to stay creative and active. I still crave intellectual stimulation. And I still want to be a financial contributor in my household. But how to do that in a world where childcare rates seem absurdly high and part-time job rates seem confusingly low? 

Quality remote jobs have thousands of applicants. Tutoring online does not bring in enough money (through all of the companies I've interviewed with/researched.) The internet is full of videos about ways to create passive income for yourself that promise figures that are, frankly, unrealistic. 

As a stay-at-home parent, I'm currently making small but consistent amounts of money through the following outlets:

• working at a local school dorm kitchen for special events (or as a sub)
• teaching exercise classes at a local YMCA
• tutoring private art lessons
• selling coloring books online (as well as art lessons) on Amazon, TeachersPayTeachers, and Etsy

One difficulty is in building up my base in all of these endeavors. For the kitchen gig, it hasn't brought any further opportunities around town. For the YMCA, it takes a while to build up a class following which would allow me to teach more classes. For tutoring, I'd love to build up my tutoring clientele, but am currently struggling to do so. I've put up flyers on all the local community boards, ran an ad in the newspaper, and put my. name on a list of tutors at the local school. And I have one student. And I was a teacher here last year! And finally, for online books and art lessons, there's just a lot of competition! Even trying to find niches, use the right keywords/SEO, and experimenting with paid advertising hasn't gotten me too far yet. Hopefully this last endeavor is a slow burn. 

While this blog post isn't especially helpful or clever, I post it to share the realities of what finding side gigs is like in the US in 2023. I will keep you all updated should I find increased success and can share the love.