Helping educators create and grow brands to promote a product or idea they want to share with others to better education. Tips, tricks, and resources for educators creating content and/or launching side hustles to share their passions.
Share
Busy? Try these ideas for your side hustle.
Published 27 days ago • 4 min read
Hey Reader,
I get it—being an educator takes up a lot of time and energy, and building your side hustle can feel like one more thing to add to your already packed schedule. But here’s something I’ve learned: finding time for your business isn’t about having endless hours, it’s about making the most of the time you have.
Here are a few strategies that have helped me (and many others) carve out time for a side hustle, even with a full-time job and life responsibilities. These aren’t about adding more to your plate, but about increasing your efficiency. That whole "work smarter, not harder" concept, you know?
Block Your Time
One of the most effective ways to make progress is by setting aside dedicated time for your business. It could be an hour before your workday begins or 30 minutes after school.
Use a calendar app (like Google Calendar or TimeBloc) and block out that time as a non-negotiable appointment with yourself.
When you know exactly when you’ll work on your side hustle, it reduces the stress of figuring it out on the fly.
Set Clear, Weekly Goals
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by everything you want to accomplish, so keep your goals simple and manageable.
At the start of each week, write down 2-3 specific things you want to achieve for your business. Maybe it’s creating content, reaching out to potential clients, or setting up your website.
Breaking things down into smaller steps makes it easier to stay on track and actually get things done.
Outsource and Automate
You don’t need to do everything yourself. Automation can save you tons of time. For instance, use tools like Buffer or Later to schedule social media posts, so you can keep your presence up without being glued to your screen.
If you can afford it, outsourcing smaller tasks to freelancers or using a virtual assistant (even part-time) can free you up to focus on the parts of your business that truly need your attention.
Embrace Progress Over Perfection
As educators, we tend to want everything to be just right. But when it comes to building your side hustle, perfection can slow you down. Instead, aim for steady progress.
Done is better than perfect.
Each small step adds up, and before you know it, you’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come.
Building your side hustle isn’t about having more time—it’s about using the time you have as efficiently as possible.
Try out one of these strategies and let me know how it goes. Hit 'reply' and let me know what you're going to try!
Canva has added a bunch of new AI features to its web-based design platform, including updates for generating text and video effects and a more powerful text-to-image app.
The app's “Dream Lab” is a new image generator tool born from Canva’s acquisition of generative AI startup Leonardo.ai earlier this year.
Dream Lab is powered by Leonardo’s Phoenix model (not be be confused with Adobe’s Firefly AI) and allows users to generate images from descriptions in a variety of styles like “3D render” and “Illustration.”
🤖 Anthropic’s latest AI update can use a computer on its own
Anthropic’s latest Claude 3.5 Sonnet AI model has a new feature in public beta that can control a computer by looking at a screen, moving a cursor, clicking buttons, and typing text.
The new feature, called “computer use," is available today on the API, allowing developers to direct Claude to work on a computer like a human does.
Anthropic does caution that computer use is still experimental and can be “cumbersome and error-prone.”
📈 How Marketers Save Time and Make Data-Backed Decisions with AI Reporting [+ Expert Insights]
Traditional reporting methods are complex and time-consuming. Reporting feels like rocket science with so many moving parts.
Traditional reporting setups can be riddled with challenges for marketers.
The good news is, over the years we have gotten tools like HubSpot and others that help streamline marketing reporting.
We now also have AI to help. This article shares 5 benefits of AI reporting for marketers, including: streamlining data collection and processing, measuring ROI, breaking down data silos, highly customizable reporting, and improved data storytelling.
The EDUcreator Club+ Membership gives you access to a community of educators who create content, products, and services to help others increase their impact. The EDUcreator Club+ Membership was built to provide a space for learning, growing, and supporting each other.
Creating & building can get lonely sometimes. Don't do it alone.
What's included:
Private Community: An active community with hundreds of posts and conversations where educators come together to request feedback, collaborate on new ideas, and support each other as we all work to create and share content that provides value to others.
Exclusive Events: Join exclusive events, designed to provide you with relevant information and access to world-class content creators and creator economy experts.
Curated Content & Resources: We're curating the best tools, resources, and opportunities related to creating valuable content. Inside, you'll find community challenges, self-paced courses, discounted resources, and more, all easily accessible to you!
The EDUcreator Club Newsletter is made possible by our awesome partners. Please consider supporting them. Note: While we may receive a small affiliate fee for any purchases made via the below link, we will never recommend a product, service, or brand we do not believe in.
💡CONTENT CREATION IDEA
The 5x5 Method for Content Creation
Brainstorm five key topics or themes that are central to your brand, business, or side hustle.
These could be topics like “teaching tips,” “productivity hacks,” or “side hustle growth.”
Then, for each of those five themes, think of five specific content ideas, such as “how to streamline lesson planning” or “best apps for productivity.”
You should now have 25 new ideas.
Take these 25 ideas and use them to create new content in the formats you utilize - whether short-form video, social media posts, blogs, videos, newsletters, etc.
This is a simple method that you can use over and over again.
ENJOYING THIS NEWSLETTER?
What parts of this newsletter do you get the most value out of? (click the answer that best fits)
Helping educators create and grow brands to promote a product or idea they want to share with others to better education. Tips, tricks, and resources for educators creating content and/or launching side hustles to share their passions.
Hey Reader, If you’re serious about growing your side hustle, building an email list is one of the smartest moves you can make. It is foundational. This is why I have sent quite a few emails about building your list and email marketing in general. I believe in the power of email so much that I am writing this email - another one about growing your list. Building on social media is great, but that is borrowed land - meaning you don't own your followers, those platforms do. You own your email...
Hey Reader, Ever feel like you're stuck, but it's not because you don’t know what to do? Instead, it's because whatever you're trying to create is just not “perfect” yet? Trust me, I’ve been there. As creators and entrepreneurs (and educators, for sure), we hold ourselves to high standards, but perfectionism can slow us down, big time. The truth is, waiting for things to be perfect before you take action is only going to delay your progress. I’ve learned that progress beats perfection every...
Hey Reader, STORY IS STARTED. REVIEW AND FINALIZE. NEED EVERYTHING ELSE. If you’re serious about growing your side hustle, one of the best investments you can make is joining something like a mastermind or community. Why? Because surrounding yourself with like-minded people is a game-changer. What's a mastermind? A mastermind is a small group of people who meet regularly to support, learn from, and encourage each other in their goals. Members are typically working toward similar goals, or at...