{{I've posted this twice, once in my journal, and once here, let me know if that's a forum faux-pas}}
I run a small farm. I've also been mulling over taking a part-time teaching position. Pros: we have no savings! Well a few thousand in a retirement account, but no emergency fund, and considering that I'm 30 and our annual income is so low, well, we need to start saving a lot faster. So a peso is a peso. Cons: the hourly rate is way way way too low.
I'm leaning (now) towards not-teaching. Ask me again in a few hours, and I'll have flip-flopped again. The hourly rate is painfully low ($83 pesos which right now translates as $5). I'm sure you're all screaming what!? Value your own time! Which is why I tend to quit. And then take it again when we need the money.
To help me think it through, I made the following spreadsheet of our annual income:
Conservative estimates (currency in pesos):
rent income 47194 13.49%
farm annual 110000 31.45%
DH annual 137600 39.34%
teaching 55000 15.72%
TOTAL 349794
OK, so it's 15% of everything, which is something! Not to laughed at! But its not great. especially considering that my time allocation would be 3 hours/day teaching for 15% of our income, and only 2.5 hours at the farm for 31% of our income. Why not maximize the farm income instead?
Here's my optimistic estimates:
rent income 47194 9.40%
farm annual 200000 39.83%
DH annual 200000 39.83%
teaching 55000 10.95%
TOTAL 502194
I'm *pretty sure* we can double the farm income for various reasons I won't get into here. I'm also *fairly* certain that DH's income will be greater since it's been good since we've started advertising, even in the off-season when many homeowners aren't home.
So, I'm thinking of forgetting the teaching, focusing on saving more money by having more free time to cook and therefore not getting tired and eating out.
And trying out elance and odesk for some writing experiments.
Another idea is giving Spanish lessons. I'm fluent in a place where many Americans wish they were. I've even started developing an e-course. The idea is that they'll read lessons, watch videos, and do homeworks (that I've developed) for two weeks, and then have a class with me. This way I can charge for a two-week mini course even though I only have to give an hour of my time. This is the kind of side-hustle I'm interested in developing. Something worth my time! If I spend 3 hours a day earning $15 dollars, I'll never have the free time to make it happen.
The thing that calls me back is that is $1125 pesos/week guaranteed. Whereas a side hustle depends on me to get out there and self-promote. For teaching, I just show up. And I do LOVE working with the kids, and developing lesson plans and teaching!