My Life-Saving Online Side Hustle
It’s saved my ass a few times
I’ve just had my 4-year Cambliversary.
Huh? You may think. What’s she on about?
I’m talking about Cambly, an online platform for learning English. Students, both adults and children learn English either via chatting or structured lessons with native, or near native-level speakers.
And that’s about it. You don’t need much more except for a computer with a webcam, steady internet connection, and being over 18.
Is this legit? You might ask. It most certainly is. And luckily for me, I applied and got accepted for Cambly in January 2020, just before COVID-19 (remember that?). I say “luckily” because, after the lockdown, Cambly became saturated with tutors and people looking for online work. I got in just in time.
Suddenly we all found ourselves homebound with less money coming in. Not only did Cambly help keep my head above the water financially, but it also helped maintain my sanity.
During this period I also worked for another language company based in China. I was enclosed in my partner’s family finca. A huge property with 8 vacation rental houses, a swimming pool, chickens, vegetable garden. All for just me and him. Yes, I realize how fortunate I was.
Every morning, I would leave “our” house and go to a different house to start my classes. I was racking up about 120 classes a month without including the Cambly extras.
On Cambly, I was teaching adults. Mostly free talk. The whole world was looking for ways to make the most of their time, whether it be for self-improvement, to relieve boredom, or to avoid insanity. I found it fascinating talking to doctors, nurses, and students, from all over the world, and there was only one topic of conversation. Yep, Covid.
Get Louise Hazlewood’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Towards the middle of COVID-19, Cambly released the kids program. I guess they were making the most of the homeschooling boom. The pay was slightly better at 12$ an hour and still no teaching certificate needed!
And so I progressed to Cambly Kids.
In time, we all started returning to our normal lives, and even though I never completely gave Cambly up, I whittled it down to a couple of hours a week, max.
That is until I was forced to take sick leave from my regular job after a knee injury. That was almost a year ago.
Ok, I admit, it’s not the highest-paying job on the planet. But my travel time to get to work is roughly 10 seconds. I don’t know if you guys count the time you spend traveling to and from work as actual unpaid working hours. I know I always have. I have zero parking or petrol costs. I open my schedule when I want to work and keep it closed when I don’t or can’t. Complete flexibility.
After I had surgery on my knee 5 months ago, I took a couple of days off and then returned to my desk with my knee propped up and my ice bag.
Unfortunately, I’m awaiting a second surgery. Another 3 weeks of being housebound and quite lonely, to be frank. Cambly has kept me with some degree of sanity.
This year alone, I have talked with almost 600 students from 45 countries. Wow…who knew I could talk so much? (Little Miss Introvert).
The freedom and flexibility of a Cambly job are especially perfect for stay-at-home moms who want to score a tutoring gig that doesn’t require too much training or prep time. Digital nomads, students, or anyone else looking to make a little extra on the side, I highly recommend you check it out. Click on the link below if it sparks your interest.
I do get a little bonus if anyone applies with my link, so it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you found it helpful and possibly inspiring. Your thoughts and experiences are valuable to me, so please feel free to share them in the comments section below.
I look forward to catching up with you soon. Louise ;)
