Dear Teacher with a Side Hustle,
I know a teacher who works at Publix after school, another who sells Scentsy, five hundred who sell Color Street Nails. I also know countless teachers who work as adjuncts at colleges and virtual schools. My husband and a host of other educators have sold their souls to the summer school gods. Bottom line, teachers are always willing to make a little extra cash. They’ll sign up to sell football tickets, work the ACT, and attend trainings on dog grooming if a stipend is involved.
To generate a supplemental income, they use their teaching talents to tutor students on the side or coach them to do just about anything- guitar, piano, Spanish lessons. Need a tutor to teach your teen to juggle this summer? I know someone.
They’ll also host a quadruple online party where patrons can order Tupperware to store their Tastefully Simple treats and Essential Oils, all while ordering Mary Kay and Monat hair care products.
Look good, feel good, eat good. It’s a catchy sales pitch for sure. The English teacher inside me tries hard to resist the temptation to teach a well versus good lesson.
Teachers are resourceful, they don’t make squat, and they have a little (emphasis on a little) time off. This trifecta of factors makes the side hustle a perfect storm of entrepreneurial hype for teachers.
With minimum wage skyrocketing to $15 an hour, most teachers are making only a shade above the minimum, but most teachers aren’t bare minimum kind of folks. They always work harder and longer than the teens they teach who are dropping fries after school at the local McDonald’s.
If any one of these business ventures takes off in a legitimate way, we’re going to need some serious fry droppers to step in to teach third grade and Calculus, and I’ll be honest, I’ve seen some of these fast-food, culinary employees up close and personal. Most of them don't bring a pencil to class, or put their names on their papers, and are permanently attached to their cellular devices.
All of this to say, if enough people get addicted to feeling good and looking good, I am deeply concerned for the state of our education system. You should be too.
As a side note, I forgot to mention Pampered Chef. My online party closes next Friday. Would you like to order a ceramic pizza stone?
-CDB