Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Teacher Built a 25K Side Hustle in Educational Podcasting
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about side hustles that use your professional skills directly. But this week I want to look at one that's more creative, and honestly, more fun: a middle school science teacher in Ohio who turned a podcast about classroom experiments into a twenty-five-thousand-dollar-a-year side hustle. Luna: Wait, a teacher podcasting about science experiments? That's a pretty narrow niche. How did she make that work? Lucas: That's exactly what I thought. But the narrowness is the point. She started it in early 2024, just as a way to share lesson ideas with other teachers. She wasn't thinking about money at all. She just recorded episodes in her car during lunch breaks, talking about the hands-on labs she did with her sixth graders. Luna: So she was doing it for the love of it. That's how the best ones start, right? Lucas: Exactly. And for the first six months, her audience was basically her, her mom, and maybe three other teachers from her district. But then one episode took off. It was about the classic baking soda and vinegar volcano, but she framed it around a common problem: how to do it without making a huge mess in a carpeted classroom. Luna: A very specific pain point. I can see why that would resonate. Lucas: That episode got picked up in a few teacher Facebook groups, and suddenly she had a few thousand downloads. That's when she started thinking about this as more than a hobby. She realized there were thousands of teachers looking for practical, tested ideas, and she had a whole catalog of them. Luna: So what did she do next? Did she go straight to sponsorships? Lucas: She didn't jump straight to sponsors. First, she built a simple website and started an email newsletter. Every week, she'd send out a summary of the episode plus a printable worksheet. That newsletter became her real asset, because it gave her a direct line to her listeners, not just a platform algorithm. Luna: Smart. I've heard that a lot of podcasters focus on downloads, but the email list is where the actual relationship is. Lucas: Yeah, and that's a theme we keep coming back to on the show. She also started asking her listeners what they were struggling with, and she would answer those questions in her episodes. That built a lot of loyalty. By the end of her first year, she had about two thousand subscribers on the newsletter. Luna: And then the money started coming in? Lucas: Pretty much. She had a few sponsors early on, but they were small, like a company selling lab safety goggles. That paid maybe a hundred dollars per episode. Not nothing, but not a game changer. The real shift came when she launched a paid membership tier for her worksheet library. Luna: So she's charging for the extras, not the podcast itself. That seems like a good model. Lucas: Exactly. The podcast stays free, but for five dollars a month, teachers can access a searchable library of all her lesson plans, worksheets, and video demonstrations. Now, here's a number that might surprise you. In 2025, that membership brought in around eighteen thousand dollars. Combined with the sponsorships, she hit about twenty-five grand. Luna: That's real money. But I'm guessing it wasn't easy. I mean, she's a full-time teacher. How does she find the time to produce a podcast, a newsletter, and a worksheet library? Lucas: That's the part she's most honest about. She told me she treats it like a second job, but she's really disciplined. She does all her recording in a two-hour block on Sunday afternoons. She batch-records four episodes at once. Then she edits on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, maybe forty-five minutes each. The newsletter goes out on Friday mornings, during her prep period. Luna: Batch recording is such a time-saver. I've heard that from a lot of creators. But still, that's a lot on top of grading papers and lesson planning. Lucas: No question. She told me the hardest part was the first six months, when she wasn't sure if anyone would ever listen. She almost quit twice. What kept her going was a handful of emails from teachers saying that her podcast had literally changed their Friday afternoon, because they finally had a lesson that worked. Luna: That's powerful. And it's a good reminder that side hustles don't just give you money, they give you a sense of impact. Lucas: Right. And that's actually what we want to talk about today, because a lot of people think a side hustle has to be something like freelance consulting or selling products. But sometimes the most valuable thing you have is your experience and your willingness to share it. That's what she did, and she built a real audience around it. Luna: It also helps that she's a teacher, so she's naturally good at explaining things in a clear, engaging way. That's a transferable skill. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's why we love this story. It's not about having some rare talent. It's about finding a specific problem you know how to solve and then documenting your approach. If you've got a skill or a perspective that people ask you about at work, that's a potential podcast topic. Luna: I was going to say, you could almost do this in any field. I know a nurse who started a podcast about patient advocacy, and she's doing something similar, helping other nurses communicate better with doctors. Lucas: Exactly. And we actually have an episode coming up on that exact topic. But for now, let's dig a little deeper into how she's grown this thing. Because the numbers are one thing, but the strategy is what makes it repeatable. Luna: Good. So what's the growth play? How did she go from two thousand newsletter subscribers to twenty-five thousand dollars in revenue? Lucas: She focused on two things: searchability and community. On the searchable side, she made sure every episode's title and description included keywords that teachers actually search for, like 'middle school science lab' or 'classroom management for science.' That got her episodes showing up on Google and on podcast apps. That's how she kept getting new listeners without a huge marketing push. Luna: So it's like SEO for your podcast. That makes sense. Lucas: Yeah, and a lot of podcasters ignore that. They just write a cute title and move on. But she treated each episode like a blog post that needed to be discoverable. On the community side, she started a Facebook group for science teachers who listen to the show. It's a place where they can share their own ideas and ask for advice. She's in there every day, but she doesn't dominate the conversation. She just lets it grow organically. Luna: That group probably makes people feel like they're part of something, not just passive listeners. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what gets them to become paid members. When she launched the membership, she didn't just say 'give me five dollars a month.' She said 'this helps me keep making the podcast and gives you access to all the resources.' And it worked. She has about three hundred members now, which at five dollars a month is around fifteen hundred a month, or eighteen thousand a year. Luna: It's a nice, steady revenue stream. And it's not a huge amount per person, but it adds up. Lucas: Right. And that's actually a good lesson for anyone thinking about a side hustle: you don't need a thousand customers paying a hundred dollars. You can make a meaningful income with a few hundred true fans paying a little bit each month. That's the model she's proven, and it's one that's accessible to almost anyone. Luna: I love that. And it's also a reminder that you don't need a huge audience to make money. You just need the right audience. Lucas: Exactly. So if you're listening and thinking 'I could never do that,' you're probably wrong. If you have a job where you solve problems other people don't know how to solve, you have a potential podcast. The hardest part is just hitting record and being consistent. Luna: So, before we go, do we have any final takeaways for someone who wants to start their own educational podcast or any niche podcast? Lucas: I'd say pick a very specific topic, like 'science lessons for sixth grade' not just 'education.' Then commit to a schedule you can actually keep, even if it's just once a month. And start building your email list from day one, because that's your safety net. If you do those three things, you're ahead of most people. Luna: And remember, you can always start small. A podcast doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be helpful. That's what this teacher did, and she turned it into a twenty-five-thousand-dollar side hustle. If you're looking for inspiration, that's a pretty good place to start. Lucas: And if you want to hear more stories like this, you know where to find us. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.