Make Money Teaching What You Know – Monetize Your Expertise

• Tweet

• Tweet

I get this question a lot from readers through email: “what’s the best way to make money?”, and it always manages to bring a smile to my face while I shake my head left and right.

It’s an interesting question because there are countless ways to make money in this world, and what might be the best way for me may not be the best for you too.

There are several variables involved in succeeding at various endeavors, such as individual skill-sets, technical capabilities, aptitude to learn, personal and behavioral characteristics, and more, some that can be controlled or taught while some others that cannot.

So while I can’t tell YOU what would be the best way to make money for YOU, I CAN tell you that one area where the chances of failure are slim in my experience is to make money teaching what you know.

No you don’t need professional teaching expertise.  If you know your field, teaching expertise can easily be taught.  You may not be the best teacher either, but because you will be able to teach what you know, your subject matter knowledge will deliver value to your students.

I like to make money teaching what I know because it’s a proven, one of the most common and successful methods to make money in my experience, especially online where your audience can be anyone anywhere.  So if you haven’t considered that option yet, consider how to make money teaching what you know.

You can do very well educating others because:

• Teaching is far easier to capitalize on than executing as execution takes time to manifest
• You have been there and done that, therefore you know something that works – people will pay for your expertise and more importantly experience
• There is likely a need or demand for your skill set, knowledge, experience and expertise – this world is too big with people of all varying interests
• Teaching is highly scalable. Whether you teach 1 or 1,000 students, online or offline, teaching allows you to maximize your revenues without having to expend more effort

When I blog on entrepreneurship, personal finance, taxes, blogging and Internet marketing, I am essentially “teaching” what I know and have experienced throughout the years.  There is no reason you can’t do the same with your experience.

However, before you embark on your journey to teach what you know, ensure that you have mastered the subject you plan on teaching.  Sure you can learn a lot by reading about and studying the subject, but your students / learners will easily be able to see past that and recognize that you lack the practical experience.

I see this mistake made online a lot. Many Internet marketers are out there preaching and teaching strategies that they haven’t tried and don’t know how and whether they work to begin with. I find it quite amusing.

There are no short cuts to this process. I read somewhere that “for something to become true knowledge, it needs a mix of experience, skills, and the theoretical and practical understanding of it”. I could not have said this better. Practical experience is what matters. This is what people want; this is what they will pay for.

So start putting your ideas into practice if you have already developed your knowledge base through practical experience and begin making money teaching what you already know.  The Internet makes it much easier today than ever before to get your “stuff” out there in front of millions across the globe instantly.

Publishing an eBook is one of the quickest and most passive ways to make money teaching what you know.  Starting a niche website on your topic of expertise is another method.

Readers: Do you think it is feasible for you to make money teaching what you know? Do you know of anyone successfully doing so? Is this part of your long term plan?

17 Responses to “Make Money Teaching What You Know – Monetize Your Expertise”

1. Balu says:

   April 4, 2012 at 10:43 pm

   Teaching is one of the most easiest things, it becomes easy only when you master the art.

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     April 5, 2012 at 3:53 am

     it certainly can be, and that’s one reason many revert to it. that said, one must also master the right approach to ensure they can deliver the value they are charging for. sometimes the material itself alone doesn’t cut it entirely by itself

     Reply
2. Shekhar says:

   April 5, 2012 at 7:05 am

   Hi Sunil,

   I am a regular reader here yet posting first time. I think it will be quite feasible to make money teaching something we already know. I often came across many niche blogger who are masters of their subjects; and they make a killing while teaching /spreading their knowledge. However, as you rightly brought out, one needs complete expertize in his field to expect any monetary gains from his knowledge.

   For me, it is definitely on cards. Not right now but certainly in the future.

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     April 7, 2012 at 7:32 am

     welcome Shekhar and I am glad you commented. so what would you consider to be your expertise? how would you like your online business to unfold and what are your challenges currently?

     hope to interact with you more.

     Reply
3. sutha says:

   April 6, 2012 at 9:00 am

   Dear sunil

   if let say i want to start niche site , do you have the template that i can start with. thanks man

   sutha

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     April 7, 2012 at 7:39 am

     I have emailed you the shell files of the basic template I use before, unless you mean something else by “template”?

     Reply
4. Sid says:

   April 6, 2012 at 10:39 pm

   Teaching is a strong way to earn income. E-books, tutorials and e-learning courses that teach can give dual advantages: help share skill and experience and make money. I am trying to leverage two of my experience areas, which are writing and creating tutorials and e-learning courses. I blend these with my other experience fields to create tutorials.

   In this endeavor, I have created tutorials on how to use YouTube. I take a distinct approach in that the tutorials have step-by-step instructions as well as interactive exercises.

   Thank you for the informative and useful post.

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     April 7, 2012 at 7:40 am

     that’s a very cool endeavor Sid. I’d love to take a deeper look into what you are doing and how you are monetizing those efforts. where can I read / see more?

     Reply
5. Jerry says:

   April 7, 2012 at 9:11 am

   Hi Sunil,

   Really enjoyed listening to your interview with Pat Flynn which brought me over here. Great information you have here and it’s always interesting to hear how someone like yourself started out in IM.

   It’s great for people to hear how you didn’t just have overnight success and the fact that you didn’t even monetize your site until year after you started it.

   To many people looking to start online fall to the ‘get rich quick’ ads found all over the net and just don’t understand that’s there is nothing quick and easy about make money online or from a brick n mortar style business.

   Great site and look forward to hearing more!

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     April 8, 2012 at 6:09 am

     thank you Jerry. once of things that helped me significantly is that I had a high paying job and was able to invest in my business by delegating/hiring later on. making it happen online is certainly not for the desperate, as one can easily chase quick overnight success and end up disappointed like you said.

     glad you stopped by. looking forward to interacting with you more and please let me know how I can help you with your business

     Reply
6. Sid says:

   April 7, 2012 at 9:18 pm

   Sunil, thank you for your reply and interest. You can download a free sample of the how to use YouTube tutorial, which is in DOC and PPT format here:
   http://plrcontentcentral.com/how_to_use_youtube_tutorials_plr.htm
   I look forward to more posts from you on internet marketing. I am sure they will serve as excellent learning resources.

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     April 8, 2012 at 6:12 am

     thanks for this Sid. will definitely check it out. this year I am planning on establishing a YouTube presence. will be helpful with How To videos and tutorials / reviews

     Reply
7. Alex says:

   April 8, 2012 at 5:17 am

   Hey Sunil,

   Congrats on being featured in Pat Flynn’s blog.

   I just want to follow up to my e-mail to you from a week ago about adding Adsense to my site. I can get up to three ads, but there are just so many choices and I don’t know where to start. I’ve been using your Dubai site as a guide on what to do with the ads.

   From your experience, does the ads have to be very big and very out out place to get the click or can it it be smaller? I like the look of the ads on your Dubai site (with the small banners in the beginning and end).

   You can visit my site as http://www.medicalschoolsuccess.com if you want to take a look for yourself. Your suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

   Thanks a lot.

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     April 8, 2012 at 6:15 am

     Alex – it’s a tough question to accurately answer because it highly varies on your niche audience. but generally speaking, the larger ads on my niche sites have performed best for me. most my ads are blended in the content (they do not stick out). I would experiment with blend vs stick out, and then small vs large for your niche. ads above the fold also help especially with seo traffic, but google has a component in their algorithm (so they say at least) that penalizes too many ads above the fold.

     congratulations of taking action. the site is looking good. I am sure it is paying off?

     Reply
8. Mirek says:

   May 13, 2012 at 7:42 pm

   I think affiliate marketing is also a good source of money by at home work, but you need to be patient, things are not so easy

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     May 14, 2012 at 12:53 pm

     affiliate marketing is difficult. patience goes without saying, but what’s more important is delivering solid value consistently over time to win your reader’s trust.

     Reply
9. teachergary says:

   August 7, 2015 at 7:35 pm

   I have put together a interesting course for teaching English as a second language. Now, How to I get paid for the work in the age of the Internet.

   Reply