Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Teacher Built a 15000 Monthly Side Hustle in Curriculum Design
Transcript
- Lucas: You know, when we talk about side hustles on this show, we usually focus on people who translate a skill from their day job into a service. But this episode, I want to zero in on someone who literally took her daily work product — the stuff she was already creating — and repackaged it for a different audience. Luna: Okay, I'm intrigued. Who are we talking about? Lucas: Her name is Jenna. She's a high school history teacher in suburban Ohio. For about eight years, she'd been building her own curriculum — project-based learning units on topics like the Industrial Revolution and the Cold War. She'd post them on Teachers Pay Teachers, made maybe a couple hundred bucks a month. Then, in late 2024, a friend who ran a small homeschool co-op asked if Jenna could design a full semester of materials specifically for her group. Luna: So not just individual lesson plans, but a whole curriculum package. Lucas: Exactly. That first contract was for $500. But it opened her eyes to a much bigger market: homeschooling families and micro-schools that need coherent, standards-aligned content but don't have the time or expertise to create it themselves. Within 18 months, she'd built that into $15,000 a month. Luna: Fifteen thousand a month from curriculum design? That's wild. But isn't the homeschooling market relatively small? Lucas: It's not as small as you'd think. According to the National Home Education Research Institute, as of 2025, there were about 3.7 million homeschooled students in the US. That's roughly 6 to 7 percent of school-age kids. And the micro-school movement — small, often parent-led learning pods — has been growing steadily since the pandemic. These families need structured materials that align with state standards, and they're willing to pay for them. Luna: So Jenna wasn't just selling standalone activities. She was creating full courses. How did she price them? Lucas: She started with a simple formula: $50 per unit for a 4-week module. That felt fair for a single teacher. But for the co-op and micro-school clients, she offered a site license — $300 per semester for unlimited use within that organization. Then she added a premium tier: if they wanted her to customize the materials to their specific state standards, that was an extra $150 per unit. Luna: So the real money was in customization. Makes sense. But here's my question — when you're a public school teacher, who owns the lesson plans you create? Is that a potential landmine? Lucas: It's a huge one, and Jenna was careful about it. She checked her district's policy. In her case, any materials she created on her own time, using her own computer and resources, were hers. But if she'd used district-issued software, or built on existing district curriculum frameworks, they could have claimed ownership. So she drew a hard line: no district laptops, no district templates, no using the school's copier for her side hustle. Luna: That's smart. And I imagine she had to be careful not to let it interfere with her teaching day. Lucas: Absolutely. She did all her side hustle work on evenings and weekends. And she was upfront with her principal — not asking permission, but just letting them know she had a side business. Some districts have policies against that, but most are fine as long as it's not a conflict of interest. Luna: So what was the turning point from a few hundred bucks to fifteen thousand? Lucas: She figured out distribution. Teachers Pay Teachers is great for passive income, but it's crowded. Jenna found her real customers in Facebook groups for homeschooling parents and micro-school founders. She'd join a group, be genuinely helpful — answer questions about teaching the Civil War or explaining the quadratic formula — and then occasionally mention that she offered full curriculum packages. She also attended a couple of homeschooling conferences. At one, she landed a contract with a network of 12 micro-schools in the Midwest. Luna: And that's where the revenue jumped. Lucas: Exactly. That one contract was worth $6,000 a month — $500 per school per semester. Then she added science and English units, so she wasn't just a history teacher. By June of this year — 2026 — she had enough recurring contracts that she decided to leave the classroom and do curriculum design full time. Luna: So she went from side hustle to main hustle. That's the dream, right? Lucas: It is. But let's not gloss over the work involved. She was effectively holding down two jobs for over a year. And the seasonality is real — most homeschool families buy curriculum in August and January. The summer months can be slow. She had to build a cash reserve to smooth that out. Luna: Right. And if you're a teacher listening, what's the first step? Is it just 'start a Teachers Pay Teachers store'? Lucas: That's one path, but I'd say start narrower. Find a specific underserved area — maybe project-based learning units for middle school science, or full-year literature guides for high school. Then test your materials with a local co-op or a single micro-school. Get feedback, iterate, and then scale to a broader audience. Jenna's first $500 contract was worth more to her than the next ten thousand, because it taught her what the market actually wanted. Luna: And what about those of us who aren't teachers but have expertise in something? Could a similar model work for, say, a corporate trainer creating modules for small businesses? Lucas: Absolutely. The core principle is the same: identify a group that needs structured learning materials, package your knowledge into a curriculum, and find the distribution channel where that group gathers. In Jenna's case, it was Facebook groups and conferences. For a corporate trainer, it might be LinkedIn or industry associations. Luna: I love that. And you know, if today's episode was useful to you — if it gave you a concrete idea or made you think differently about your own skills — that's exactly why we do this show ad-free. The way it stays that way is listener support. A small contribution at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps us keep bringing you these real, specific stories. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small gesture that makes a big difference for us. We don't run ads, we don't take sponsor money, so it's just you and us. If you've gotten value from the show, that's the place to say thanks. Luna: And honestly, even just a coffee helps. But back to Jenna — one thing I found really smart was how she diversified subjects. Most teachers think 'I teach history, so I can only sell history.' But she learned enough science and English to create units in those areas, which opened up way more clients. Lucas: Right. She didn't become an expert overnight. She partnered with a friend who taught science — a revenue share arrangement — and adapted existing open-source materials. That's another lesson: you don't have to do it all alone. Collaboration can accelerate the process. Luna: So for a teacher thinking about this, what's the minimum viable product? Like, can you start with just one unit? Lucas: Definitely. Jenna's first product was a single unit on the Industrial Revolution. She sold it to a few families, got feedback, refined it. Then she built a second unit. Then a full semester. Then a year-long course. The key is to start small and iterate. Don't try to create a complete K-12 curriculum on day one. Luna: And what about pricing? A lot of teachers undervalue their work, I think. Lucas: They do. Jenna's early pricing on Teachers Pay Teachers was too low — $5 for a unit that took her 20 hours to create. When she moved to direct contracts, she started charging what her time was worth. She calculated that even at $50 per unit, she was making about $25 an hour. With customization, it was more like $50 an hour. That's a healthy side hustle rate. Luna: So there's a real path here for educators who feel stuck in the classroom. Not that teaching isn't valuable — but there's a way to leverage that skill set on the side. Lucas: Exactly. And the best part is, it's scalable. Once you have a curriculum package, you can sell it over and over. Jenna now has passive income from her Teachers Pay Teachers store — about $2,000 a month — plus active income from custom contracts. She's building an asset. Luna: I think the big takeaway is: don't assume your day job skills only have value within that job. If you're creating something — lesson plans, training modules, even presentations — there might be a market for it outside your employer's walls. Lucas: Absolutely. And with platforms like Gumroad, Payhip, or even just direct PayPal, the barriers to entry are lower than ever. You don't need a website or a big following. You just need one great product and one customer who loves it. Luna: Alright, so for next time — should we look at someone who turned a hobby into a side hustle? Like a woodworker or a baker? Lucas: We've done a few of those, but I'd love to find a story with a twist. Maybe a person who built a side hustle around an unusual certification or license. Something that sounds niche but has surprising demand. Luna: I'll dig around. But for now, if you're a teacher, start with that one unit. Test it. See what happens. Lucas: And if you found today useful, you know where to find us. Thanks for listening.