Teacher seeking guidance/mentorship

18 replies
Hello,

My wife and I are both school teachers who love our jobs very much. We both believe the education was our calling in life. With that being said, we struggle to make ends meet financially, often living paycheck to paycheck.

I am seeking guidance and/or mentorship of how to actually make money online to help supplement our teacher income and maybe one day even start being able to put some money away. We do not have kids yet, but would like to start a family sometime soon. I would like to be able to earn more money than we do right now if and when we start a family.

I have briefly done affiliate marketing on my own several years ago, but I did not have much success only making a few bucks. I did not know what I was doing, nor did I have the urgency that I have currently. I am willing to learn and work hard at whatever avenue I can to make money online, but honestly have zero guidance on where to begin or start.

(edit by moderator per forum rules)

I appreciate everyone who read and thank you for your time.
#guidance or mentorship #seeking #teacher
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  • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
    Why not try teaching online classes? Look up Udemy or Teachable you can create a course with your backgrounds. Then when you have an idea use AI to give you an idea of how to make a course you can sell.

    When it comes to Affiliate Marketing as one poster here said in the past read books on how to get started in Affiliate Marketing or watch free YouTube videos. Then when you have an idea use AI to give you an idea of how to create a course you can sell. It would help if you hashed out what way you want to go before you look for a mentor
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    • Profile picture of the author Coach10
      Thank you for the response. I have been looking into using AI as I already use it daily in my regular teaching. I will look into those programs.... Hopefully I can figure out how to use them and create something that is valuable to others! If you have any other advice, please share. I love learning and I would love to actually apply what I learn to help me make money. Thank you!
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  • Profile picture of the author Monetize
    Originally Posted by Coach10 View Post

    Hello,

    My wife and I are both school teachers who love our jobs very much. We both believe the education was our calling in life. With that being said, we struggle to make ends meet financially, often living paycheck to paycheck.

    I am seeking guidance and/or mentorship of how to actually make money online to help supplement our teacher income and maybe one day even start being able to put some money away. We do not have kids yet, but would like to start a family sometime soon. I would like to be able to earn more money than we do right now if and when we start a family.

    I have briefly done affiliate marketing on my own several years ago, but I did not have much success only making a few bucks. I did not know what I was doing, nor did I have the urgency that I have currently. I am willing to learn and work hard at whatever avenue I can to make money online, but honestly have zero guidance on where to begin or start.

    (edit by moderator per forum rules)

    I appreciate everyone who read and thank you for your time.

    Affiliate marketing is the way to go but it's important to
    know what you are doing.

    I would highly recommend that you read some books
    on this topic, there are dozens of them available at
    Amazon and other booksellers.

    You could also learn about other methods of generating
    passive income, making money online, side hustles, etc.
    by reading books, taking courses, and watching videos.
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    • Profile picture of the author Coach10
      Thank you for the response!! Do you have any specific books, courses, or videos you would recommend?
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      • Profile picture of the author Monetize
        Originally Posted by Coach10 View Post

        Thank you for the response!! Do you have any specific books, courses, or videos you would recommend?

        Since you are already familiar with affiliate marketing, it
        would be a good idea to pursue that.

        There are at least 250 ways of making money online that
        I know of, and probably many more.

        As to what you should read, I can't recommend because
        IDK what interests you. We learn better when we study
        our interests.

        Go to Amazon, find the ADVANCED BOOK SEARCH
        page, and in the title field enter:

        "affiliate marketing"

        "passive income"

        "make money online"

        "side hustles"

        "work from home"

        "home business"

        and other similar keyword phrases.

        You can sort by price, and you will find several FREE
        Kindle ebooks that you can download immediately and
        read on your phone, laptop, desktop, or eReader.

        YouTube has thousands of videos on the topics above,
        find someone engaging and you can learn that way.

        There are thousands of courses as well, take your pick.

        Most of the regulars on this forum have been MMO for
        20+ years, so it is impossible to teach you everything
        we already know in forum posts. If you read the old
        threads, there are countless business strategies on
        this forum.

        You are late in wanting to make money online, things
        have gotten very saturated over the past three years,
        so I suggest you get unstuck and figure out a way to
        generate additional income and stop living paycheck
        to paycheck.
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  • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
    What are you teachers of? (Hope not English he.he.)...

    Do teachers still have a lot of the Summer off? You specifically asked about ONLINE, and this is a place which focuses on that.

    If EDUCATION is your calling, then you just need to find someone to educate, right?

    To make money online, you need TWO things, a thing (something) to sell (offer) and someone to BUY it. The devil as has been said, is in the details.

    So, starting with what you have: your knowledge, education and teaching skills, and then setting up a GOAL, a destination and in your case, A financial goal...or HOW MUCH? DO YOU want to make and HOW FAST?

    You have been given some good advice already...and what I am about to write, for the millionth time here, is do an assessment, of what you already have. Which is knowledge, and from there, FIND the who would want that, where are they, what are they already consuming, how, and sort of piece your plan together.

    I would expect you both to have good communication skills, and the Internet is nothing but communicating...you just need to choose the who, and what, and then the when and how.

    I suspect you both might like to have some INFORMATION products working for you and once they are done, they can be a set it and forget it type business with minimum care.

    Do you care to give us more info, or have you fled the scene because your link or whatever forum violation you made...we might be able to give you more detailed how to and guidance if seriously interested. Are you?

    GordonJ

    Originally Posted by Coach10 View Post

    Hello,

    My wife and I are both school teachers who love our jobs very much. We both believe the education was our calling in life. With that being said, we struggle to make ends meet financially, often living paycheck to paycheck.

    I am seeking guidance and/or mentorship of how to actually make money online to help supplement our teacher income and maybe one day even start being able to put some money away. We do not have kids yet, but would like to start a family sometime soon. I would like to be able to earn more money than we do right now if and when we start a family.

    I have briefly done affiliate marketing on my own several years ago, but I did not have much success only making a few bucks. I did not know what I was doing, nor did I have the urgency that I have currently. I am willing to learn and work hard at whatever avenue I can to make money online, but honestly have zero guidance on where to begin or start.

    (edit by moderator per forum rules)

    I appreciate everyone who read and thank you for your time.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11806245].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Coach10
      First of all, thank you for your response. I was honestly just taking a shot in the dark with this post. I wasn't anticipating people actually wanting to help me out, and for that I'm extremely grateful. I honestly had to swallow a great deal of pride to make this post in the first place. It's just always been difficult for me to ask for help in my life. I've always had a great deal of confidence in myself that I could do anything without help.... Even if that's just my ego. Regardless, I'm putting myself out there right now and am willing to put in the work.

      No links at all or any violations to my knowledge. I'm definitely interested in trying to make money online. I would love to have a more detailed how to and guidance and would be happy to provide more info.

      In terms of providing more info, I'm a high school teacher with a bachelors degree in history. I also have my masters degree in curriculum and instruction. Even with those degrees, we are typically living paycheck to paycheck. We live in a very modest one story home, but our salary only goes so far. What I am most passionate about in my career is that I've been a high school baseball coach for 9 years. I played in college and love everything about it, but it does eat up a big part of my day. Usually with teaching and coaching, I work 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week with an occasional 6th day as well. I do however get 6 weeks off in the summer. I have also contemplated becoming a certified personal trainer but I haven't taken that step yet because I'm not sure if the opportunity cost is great enough.

      Basically, I recognize that we need another source of income, but I just don't know in what direction to head or have a detailed plan on how to accomplish my goals. I do truly appreciate any advice or help provided!
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      • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
        I've added to my signature file below, just for you, for a short while.

        But, in the first work, you will find this:
        W A R N I N G Many of you reading this are intelligent, multi-talented, multiskilled people. I'm not trying to win friends here, it is a fact, but, it could be one of the biggest obstacles in your path. I very recently worked with a guy who had all kinds of talents and was struggling. These people, and I count myself among you, may have ADD or ADHD (like me) or are just too dang smart for their own good.
        If this is you, it is going to be harder for you to pick and choose what to do. Therefore, give yourself an extra week (7 hours) to narrow it down and choose the one which will help solve your financial problems in the direction of your goals.


        I have a course on short reports you can have, once you've read those sig files...and that is ONE of the many ways to bring money from the Internet into your bank acct. The other, and this is a bit slower, but, proven...is as an affiliate. Here are a few:

        https://commission.academy/blog/best...iate-programs/
        Which you may find interesting.

        Now, my signature goes to a 3.99 a month website, although I have them at dropbox for free too, and Dropbox has sent thousands into my accounts. The point being, keep it simple and you don't have to spend anything to host your Intellectual Properties.

        And you both have a T0N of "stored value" IP, it is now about getting it out of your heads and into the marketplace, without a lot of BOG DOWN and slop and mess.

        One idea, is a course in curriculum development, which should be pretty easy for you, and again, start small...a fact sheet, a cheat sheet, a HOTSHEET, or just an infographic and use FREE to host and find some interest (Facebook groups).

        My best advice is to do AFFILIATE marketing along the lines of your already established interests and expertise (baseball, teaching) and start fast, and build quickly. Let me know once you have read the two reports below, and I'll send you the course for free of course.

        Teachers are important, and that is why you are finding so much willingness to help.

        GordonJ




        Originally Posted by Coach10 View Post

        First of all, thank you for your response. I was honestly just taking a shot in the dark with this post. I wasn't anticipating people actually wanting to help me out, and for that I'm extremely grateful. I honestly had to swallow a great deal of pride to make this post in the first place. It's just always been difficult for me to ask for help in my life. I've always had a great deal of confidence in myself that I could do anything without help.... Even if that's just my ego. Regardless, I'm putting myself out there right now and am willing to put in the work.

        No links at all or any violations to my knowledge. I'm definitely interested in trying to make money online. I would love to have a more detailed how to and guidance and would be happy to provide more info.

        In terms of providing more info, I'm a high school teacher with a bachelors degree in history. I also have my masters degree in curriculum and instruction. Even with those degrees, we are typically living paycheck to paycheck. We live in a very modest one story home, but our salary only goes so far. What I am most passionate about in my career is that I've been a high school baseball coach for 9 years. I played in college and love everything about it, but it does eat up a big part of my day. Usually with teaching and coaching, I work 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week with an occasional 6th day as well. I do however get 6 weeks off in the summer. I have also contemplated becoming a certified personal trainer but I haven't taken that step yet because I'm not sure if the opportunity cost is great enough.

        Basically, I recognize that we need another source of income, but I just don't know in what direction to head or have a detailed plan on how to accomplish my goals. I do truly appreciate any advice or help provided!
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      • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
        Originally Posted by Coach10 View Post

        In terms of providing more info, I'm a high school teacher with a bachelors degree in history. I also have my masters degree in curriculum and instruction. Even with those degrees, we are typically living paycheck to paycheck. We live in a very modest one story home, but our salary only goes so far. What I am most passionate about in my career is that I've been a high school baseball coach for 9 years. I played in college and love everything about it, but it does eat up a big part of my day. Usually with teaching and coaching, I work 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week with an occasional 6th day as well. I do however get 6 weeks off in the summer. I have also contemplated becoming a certified personal trainer but I haven't taken that step yet because I'm not sure if the opportunity cost is great enough.

        Basically, I recognize that we need another source of income, but I just don't know in what direction to head or have a detailed plan on how to accomplish my goals. I do truly appreciate any advice or help provided!
        Gordon pretty much nailed it or good at a lot of things which doesn't translate into a second income.

        Or try a lot of things and get no where.

        I could go down the online stock market trading path but l have been doing that for 6 years and probably have a handle on it, so can't really condense 6 years into a paragraph.

        And certainly cannot say do that since l am still learning, although l know someone who does an online course with YT video's who you could follow albeit for day trading only and he charges quite a lot up front but still?

        But assuming that you don't want to go that way, and you want a second income asap l would suggest Fiverr. Sure it takes time and not necessary money, (they have their own traffic) to get started but you can do almost anything there it just requires effort and time, more than anything.

        Or even better set up an account with Ebay and sell off anything you have in your attic, (you can sell clothes there for good money from what l have heard).to bring in some quick cash then try the slower Fiverr option.

        But a warning with Ebay if you get into selling to other countries then expect almost impossible to get over cheaper prices from your competitors when selling some items.

        But l would suggest Ebay first or sell stuff you don't need anymore.

        Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author Coach10
      Also, where I keep getting stuck is how would you recommend going about FINDING who would want the information we would be selling? Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jamell
    Seeing that you made money in the past you can do it in the future .

    What you need to do is come up with a strategy and indentify who you'd like to target and then market your expertise to that demographic of people .

    Sounds like you guys have a wealth of knowledge and you are passionate about teaching .

    Passion and purpose is a recipe for success .

    If I was in your shoes I'd start blog to help drive traffic to help build a community amd raise awareness about your brand .

    Networking and direct messaging people will help you get your foot in the door and establish yourself as well .
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Two things:


    First - in the black toolbar at the top of this page, hold your cursor over your forum name and then click on 'view classic' in the dropdown box. That will make discussion here much easier for you.


    Second:


    masters degree in curriculum and instruction

    Have you considered creating home school curriculum or teaching guides or lesson plans? More and more children are being home schooled and for parents it is difficult to keep up with WHAT to teach WHEN and how to stay within the state educational guidelines. Seems to me you might be perfectly positioned for creating instructional materials and perhaps a very active blog aimed at parents who home school.



    Only caveat is whether there are affiliate products you could sell in that niche or whether there is a real market for study guides and teaching guides. That would take a bit of research.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Gordon has provided good advice as usual.

    Some things I want to add...

    First, stop thinking like you.

    I can hear "We believe making money is hard!" from here.

    People want to buy things.

    Find out what they want to buy and offer it to them.

    Now, you'll probably have a venn diagram overlap of ethics there: what will you sell them? What can you stand selling them? You're probably not drug dealers. So that's out. A lot of people want drugs, but you won't sell those to them. So you have to find something else. Something within your understanding, interest, beliefs. And remember, it has to be something that they want.

    Fortunately, there are many such things. Things that they want that you can stomach or even feel enthused about selling them.

    There's a guy I know who started out here 10+ years ago, even before I did, and his break was selling toilets to building contractors (Hi, Ken!). Yup. That was his affiliate marketing program. Do you think he was passionate about it? Probably not. But I can tell ya I probably would start to get passionate about selling toilets to contractors after I sold a few and found out how it worked and that I could do it consistently.

    Some people have a mission behind what they do. Some don't. Up to you.

    There's no magic bullet. But you do need structure. Just like there's a school building where teachers, students, and administrators have to go to make sure the education process happens, there are puzzle pieces for selling online.

    First is a target market. Who will you sell to?

    Second is the offer. What will you sell them? (See above: it'll be much easier if you sell them something they've told you they want to buy).

    Making money requires two things and two things only:

    Traffic

    and

    Conversion.

    Where will you get the eyeballs from your target market? How will you get them to come to you (your sales page, your YouTube video, etc.)?

    And how will you help those eyeballs become buyers? A video sales letter? An old school web page sales letter? A booking for a phone call with a salesperson?

    What usually happens is enthusiastic newbies come in here and don't know what I just shared, or what Gordon shared, either. They pick a thing at random, don't know they're even choosing a traffic source or a conversion method, and when money doesn't arrive within 72 hours they quit.

    At best they hop to some other thing (traffic or conversion). At worst they give up and say it's all a scam. Some people I've seen spend a decade hopping from shiny object to shiny object, and staying broke the entire time. Be wary. Be wary of sales copy (the advertising) that tells you how easy, how simple, how fast making money will be.

    Instead, pick one traffic source and one conversion method and stick with them for awhile. At least 90 days. Understand how to build a feedback loop and learn and improve on those things. Then build something. And learn something. And probably make a little money.

    Long ago in the 2011 time, I found a forum. It had an Offline subforum where the brick and mortar business folks hung out.

    I went in there. I could have sold them many things. Sales training, copywriting, web design, and other things. In fact, I did sell all these things and more. But one stood out. Why? Because I spent months of evenings just talking with the members. Learning what problems they had. Demonstrating that I knew how to help them and answer their questions. Then I made ONE product and it went through the roof. I made more money in a month than in my corporate job.

    Since then the forum, audience, ownership, focus...many things have changed. I have soft spot for it so I stick around and comment occasionally. But that's how you do it. You don't guess. You investigate, build relationships, and find out what the market wants out of the things you could potentially offer it.

    And if you succeed, you'll get haters. Some other people can't stand winners. Be ready for it. They'll blame you for their failures. I'm talking family and former friends, not just weirdos and nutcases out there on the internet.

    Find one thing and stick to it so you learn something. Every time you begin again, you go back to 0,0 on the exponential growth curve.
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  • Profile picture of the author InultiAFF
    you already have a niche--education. i'd look into selling courses or education products like tablets for students. for traffic, try TikTok or Pinterest--good for beginners. freelancing on Upwork or Fiverr can help support your business while you grow.
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    • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
      Originally Posted by InultiAFF View Post

      you already have a niche--education. i'd look into selling courses or education products like tablets for students. for traffic, try TikTok or Pinterest--good for beginners. freelancing on Upwork or Fiverr can help support your business while you grow.
      Back in 1994, .edu was the largest group of new WWW users...education is a MARKET, and a very huge one. Successful selling most often involves getting deeper into the niches.

      Take history. Today, I suspect one might find an audience for THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL OR The history of the holy lands via TikTok, cause that is all some of the younger generation have time for when it comes to any history. Or something like the Naval battles of the American Civil War, very niche in a big market.

      Or Baseball, a MARKET, but Throwing a good curve ball, is a niche. Or the lost art of bunting. Education is an evergreen huge market place, but one wants to find BUYERS of stuff first and all the marketplaces reveal what people are buying.

      A curriculum expert might be too big of a market, but a FITNESS custom designed curriculum hits a smaller, yet hot, and evergreen niche today.

      So the idea of already having a market is good, but then he needs to drill down into the niches and find one already spending money which is easy to get in front of.

      A niche doesn't need to be huge, just passionate (hungry) for more and more of the same. Naval Warriors of the American Civil War is a small niche compared to the overall Civil War market, but they like to buy and buy and buy.

      Just a note.

      GordonJ
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      • Profile picture of the author Coach10
        Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post

        Back in 1994, .edu was the largest group of new WWW users...education is a MARKET, and a very huge one. Successful selling most often involves getting deeper into the niches.

        Take history. Today, I suspect one might find an audience for THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL OR The history of the holy lands via TikTok, cause that is all some of the younger generation have time for when it comes to any history. Or something like the Naval battles of the American Civil War, very niche in a big market.

        Or Baseball, a MARKET, but Throwing a good curve ball, is a niche. Or the lost art of bunting. Education is an evergreen huge market place, but one wants to find BUYERS of stuff first and all the marketplaces reveal what people are buying.

        A curriculum expert might be too big of a market, but a FITNESS custom designed curriculum hits a smaller, yet hot, and evergreen niche today.

        So the idea of already having a market is good, but then he needs to drill down into the niches and find one already spending money which is easy to get in front of.

        A niche doesn't need to be huge, just passionate (hungry) for more and more of the same. Naval Warriors of the American Civil War is a small niche compared to the overall Civil War market, but they like to buy and buy and buy.

        Just a note.

        GordonJ


        This is fantastic info. Thank you, Gordon!
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        • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
          Originally Posted by Coach10 View Post

          This is fantastic info. Thank you, Gordon!
          The deeper down the niche, the less superior copywriting is needed.

          Copywriting is extremely important to markets, or large niches, say a general supplement for example. Because it is so broad, a LOT of copy is needed. Drill down, say staying with supplements for joint pain...still a large niche in that market...so copy is still important.

          Target senior MALE golfers in FL, and you need less copy. You have gotten to a very specific niche group of prospects, the BENEFIT becomes more important than the amount of copy needed, because, they are for the most part, already buyers...looking for something new and different.

          In the Coach's wheelhouse, he has CURRICULUM development as a market, and I mentioned a niche; trainers or fitness gurus, who may want to teach but don't know how to create a curriculum for their stuff. Now a trip back in history, and hopefully, some of you will benefit from this history lesson:

          Chase Revel, an interesting (albeit infamous) figure in American Entrepreneurship, the founder of Entrepreneur Magazine, was the publisher of specialty business start-up reports. This was the early days mainstay promotion of the magazine.

          He sold reports on how to start a business in a wide variety of opportunities. The basic core of each report, known as CONFIDENTIAL Reports, all had the same basic start-up info, and then an added section specific to the subject.

          So, the Coach could have several CURRICULUM reports, all with the same basic information about how to do a curriculum, how to organize it, etc., and then HAVE A VERY SPECIFIC section for the topic; fitness, coaching baseball, how to design an online course in _______ whatever.

          So, the work done one time, the CORE, of the report is already to go, and then he could turn out specific industry specific curriculum building guides as needed, still offering a good product but with most of the work done and on the shelf. See?

          Chase Revel, a rascal, and that is being polite, had a brilliant system for getting a lot of mileage from work which was done once, his CORE of his business reports...then he would often HIRE the expertise to fill in the blanks on the specific business.

          I've used this model extensively too.

          GordonJ

          P.S. Not only is less copywriting needed as you get more specific to the buyer, there is a faster decision made too. I am of the opinion, that newbies should start with low hanging fruit (or on the ground) and not have to rely on copywriting to do the heavy lifting for them, because it is too risky, and costly until a promotion has been tested and proven. Drilling deep down into niches, even though much smaller numbers, will yield a newbie much better and quicker results too.
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    If you can master to have MULTIPLE streams of traffic that you know works for you and what ever program you are promoting, you can pretty much promote anything in any niche out there.

    There are 100's of places to market online and the hard part is to figure out what works for you and what doesn't.

    Another lesson here is that while one traffic source works really well for one affiliate or website owner, it may not work for you too.

    So testing and tracking is also KEY.

    For example, there are affiliates who only do YouTube marketing where they upload different videos and overtime, they are getting lots of FREE traffic from them.

    Not only are they getting a lot of traffic over time and consistently, they are making sales.

    Now you take another person and he or she does the same thing but as time goes by, they are not getting any traffic from Youtube and for sure they are not making any sales.
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