Being a teacher is a hard, but rewarding job. Of course, the summers off are a nice benefit, but many of us could use some extra income, and these vacation weeks are an ideal time to try to round up a few extra bucks. However, it’s hard to find an employer who’s willing to pay you for just a few weeks every year.
Here are some ways you, as an educator, can make some extra money this summer without having to get a “summer job.”
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1) Answer Online Surveys
There are a multitude of websites that will pay you to answer questionnaires. Here’s a few:
- Harris Poll Online will award you points for answering 5-25 minute surveys. Points can be redeemed for Gift cards at retailers like Amazon and Starbucks
- Survey Club is an online research company that will send you surveys whenever companies are trying to learn about a certain demographic (age, gender, race, or zip code). After completing their surveys they pay you via PayPal, Amazon Gift, or check.
- Global Test Market is another online research company hired by retailers to learn the spending habits of potential customers. Its average survey takes 15 minutes and earns an average of $5. Each survey earns you points, based on survey length, which can be redeemed for gift cards at major retailers like Macy’s, Amazon, and Bloomingdale’s.
- Swag Bucks will also pay you to take surveys. Payment is in the form of gift cards from major retailers like Target, Walmart, Amazon, and Best Buy. Swag Bucks will also pay you to watch videos and shop.
- Survey Junkie will pay you to answer surveys, payment is in the form of eGift Cards or PayPal.
- Vindale Research pays you through check or PayPal.
- Amazon Mechanical Turk will pay you to do reviews, write transcripts, and surveys, write Google Descriptions, and perform other simple tasks. It’s very flexible, but pay is proportional to the task. Learn more at this website.
2) Flipping Items
There is money to be made purchasing items at garage sales and flea markets and then selling them online for a profit. Flea Market Flipper is a great resource to teach you the in’s and out’s of this endeavor as a side hustle, or as a full time income.
3) Become a Mock Jury Member
Attorneys submit cases to Online Verdict that might go to trial, who in turn submit it to only jury pools in the area of the trial. After registering on the site, you will be emailed when there is a mock trial for your review, which takes 20-60 minutes and pays $20 – $60. Payment is sent via check through the mail every 1-2 weeks.
Another website with a similar process is EJury. However, it pays $5-10 per trial and payment is through PayPal.
Click here to learn more about classroom management resources
4) Amazon FBA
Amazon has a program called “Fulfilled By Amazon.” They will store and ship your items for you when a customer purchases them, your only job is to send your items to their warehouses and list them on their website. You can send them your used items, things you purchase second hand, or even items you purchase at retail stores for a discount.
Onlinesellingexperiment.com is a website with lots of resources to help guide you through this process. I recently took one of their challenges, and purchased $20 worth of supplies at Lowes (all on clearance), put it all in one box that I shipped to Amazon, and made over $100!
5) Test Websites
That’s right, there’s money to be made by going surfing the web and commenting on the sites that you visit – as much as $30 per hour!
User Testing is a website that has you download software and then collects data on your mouse movements, clicks, and comments you speak as you view the page – plus a survey at the end.
6) Surf the Web
Qmee will actually pay you when you use search engines like Google or Bing and when you shop on websites like Amazon and Ebay. You will also have to complete surveys after your searching experience. To participate, you must download a free add-on to your web browser. The best part about Qmee is that its payment is directly to your PayPal account.
7) Review Products Online
If you can write and have opinions, then you can get paid to review products through several online companies
- Vindale Research pays you through check or PayPal.
- Amazon Mechanical Turk will pay you to do reviews, write transcripts, and surveys, write Google Descriptions, and perform other simple tasks. It’s very flexible, but pay is proportional to the task. Learn more at this website.
- Review Stream will also pay you to review a variety of products, but the site is hard to navigate and requires votes to earn money. However, you can earn up to $5 per review.
- Userlytics pays you between $5-20 per review of websites, apps, and to watch commercials while speaking your thoughts as you answer questions.
- Earn $10 for a 10-20 minute review at UserFree. Using your smartphone or computer, you will test a website by performing tasks, recording your thoughts, and answering questions.
- UserTesting also pays you $10 for each website or app review.
An excellent training to help you master your classroom management
8) Virtual Assistant
Perform tasks for other people from the comfort of your home as a virtual assistant. There are lots of tasks that people and businesses use virtual assistants for, such as making calls, organizing documents, scheduling, and answering emails. Some companies that will hire you for this type of work are:
- Fancy Hands which states that it will pay you between $3 and $7 per task completed
- Belay Solutions who also boasts of having bookkeepers and webmasters for hire. You must work at least 10 hours per week though you can work over 40 hours as well, but you are required to be available Monday through Friday during regular business hours.
- Upwork will allow you to be a virtual assistant, freelance writer, accountant, and several other positions.
- Priority VA allows you to find work in a variety of positions as well including webinar support, content creation, and even social media marketing.
9) English Proficiency Rater
Read short writings or listen to a brief speech from students in Japan, and grade their English proficiency. Edit Fast will pay you $15-25 per hour for this task. You must have a 4 year degree, be a native English speaker, and complete a 3 hour training which ends with a test that you must score well on.
10) Transcribe Audio Clips
Start making $20 per hour transcribing audio clips at TranscribeMe. Payment is through PayPal, and tops out at $2200 per month. Experience is not required, but you must pass a basic proficiency assessment.
11) Be an Online Bookkeeper
Do you have basic math and computer skills? Then you can be an online bookkeeper earning up to $60 an hour. Ben Robinson is interviewed by the Penny Hoarder to tell you how. Click here to learn more.
12) Watch T.V.
InboxDollars will pay you to watch T.V., shop online, or answer surveys. Swag Bucks will also pay you to watch videos and shop online. Finally, you can also download the Viggle App, after signing up on their website, and earn points for watching shows on subscription services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon that can be redeemed for cash or gift cards.
13) Online Tutoring
Websites like Tutor, Verbling, Math Tutor, Verbal Planet, Chegg allow you to connect with clients who are looking for an online subject or language tutor.
14) Freelance Writing
Upwork lists multiple jobs as for freelance writers. As does Problogger.com and JournalismJobs.com.
15) Selling Random Board Pieces
Penny Hoarder has an interesting article about a woman who made $250 in a few months selling random board game pieces on Ebay.
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16) Bet on Yourself Losing Weight
Healthy Wage will pay you to lose weight. There are multiple challenges on their website with winners making as much as $4,000. Diet Bet is another website that allows you to join pools and compete against others in weight loss challenges for cash prizes, payment is done through PayPal.
17) Offer Your Expert Advise
Just Answer offers experts in their field the opportunity to work from home by answering questions when clients write them in seeking expert counsel. The seek experts in a variety of skills such as animal care, cars, home improvement, and homework!
18) Sell Services Online
Fiverr is an online store where many producers sell content to customers. You can sell many different services from web design and computer graphics, to translating audio files and writing songs. RealWaysToEarnMoneyOnline.com has an article listing 40 different things you can sell online.
19) Sell Photos
Websites, bloggers, chefs, and companies are all looking for photos to use in their promotional materials Freelance photographers can sell their work to websites like Fotolia, Flickr, Dreamstime Shutterstock, and iStockphoto by Getty Images.
20) Sell Used Books
You can, of course, list used books online on Amazon and Ebay, or sell them through apps like OfferUp and LetGo. BookScouter is a website that allows you type in your book’s ISBN and get offers from over 40 book-buying sites.
21) Listen to Music
Get paid to listen to unsigned artists and bands on SlicethePie.com. The musicians submit their music to the site, and you get paid, via PayPal for listening and reviewing their work.