WORKING 60-hour weeks, developing daily headaches and not being able to afford a holiday were just three reasons Laura Armstrong quit her teaching job.
But now, she’s doubled her salary to £100,000 a year and has time to spend with her family – and still gets the rewards of teaching.
Laura, 39, taught biology in schools for 16 years before deciding to ditch her career and make a side-hustle her full time job, and she’s much happier for it.
She first taught biology at a girl’s grammar school where she earned £26,000 a year, before being promoted to assistant head of science.
Then, three years ago, she moved to a more stressful job teaching A-level students at a sixth form college for just a £2,000 pay rise.
“Teaching all day in a school is mentally and physically demanding,” said Laura, who lives in the Wirral with her husband, also a biology teacher, and their three kids, aged 13, 10 and 4.
“I would come home every day with a headache, and then my children wanted help with homework, or my youngest would want me to read stories. I’d try my best but I didn’t have anything left to give.”
Laura would teach for six hours a day, then would spend time in the evening prepping lessons, answering emails from students and replying to messages.
“There were days when I didn’t get a chance to go to the toilet or eat because, even on breaks, you’re expected to be available to help students,” she said.
But despite working up to 12 hours a day as a teacher, Laura found herself having to take on side hustles so that her family could afford a summer holiday or the kids could have hobbies.
“We couldn’t afford to go on holiday, so my husband and I started doing exam marking and both of us would tutor students,” she said.
“Our lives were manic. Every day, we’d need one of us at home to be looking after the kids and running them to dance lessons, and the other would be tutoring.
“I felt I was missing out on my kids’ lives – I couldn’t go and watch their nativity or sports days.”
Eventually, this took its toll and Laura realised she maybe didn’t want to be a teacher any more, but she wasn’t sure what other careers she would be able to do with her skillset.
“I started feeling disheartened. I thought ‘I’ve got all these skills, I’ve worked really hard all these years, but there are no other jobs I’m qualified to do.”
But as it turned out, Laura didn’t have to stop teaching. Instead, she managed to turn her tutoring side hustle into her fulltime job – and became a social media sensation in the process.
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Best of all, she more than doubled her earnings.
Laura was scrolling online looking for potential jobs when she found an advert for a company called MyEdSpace, which was looking for teachers to do streaming tutoring sessions – and she got the job as head of biology last October.
In less than a year, she’s already doubled her salary and it’s transformed her work-life balance.
“I’m getting paid a lot more. My basic salary is £70,000 but there’s also a bonus scheme where we can potentially earn over six figures,” she said.
“MyEdSpace also gives us shares in the company, which motivates everyone to want to make it as much of a success as possible.
“And I get to spend time with my kids in the mornings and take them to school, so I feel more like a mum.
“I even went to my daughter’s sports day and took my dog to the vets, things I was never able to do before. And on the weekends, I don’t do any work. I feel like I can totally dedicate that time to them,” she said.
MyEdSpace costs students around £5 an hour, compared to around £40 for a typical private tutoring session.
Laura now has over 200,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, where people follow her videos about biology.
“When you’re a teacher, you’ve got to put on a show and be really positive and enthusiastic, so doing social media videos is a similar skill.”
As well as being lucrative, the job is enjoyable and rewarding for Laura.
“There’s none of the admin that comes with being a classroom teacher – I get a lot more time to actually focus on my subject and plan my lessons, and I feel really respected and trusted,” she said.
And her healthier bank balance has also been a game changer for her family.
“There is much less financial pressure now. My eldest two children do a lot of dance and singing lessons, and we were getting to the point where we had to say we couldn’t afford all these extracurricular clubs,” she said.
“And we’ve managed to book a really nice, all inclusive hotel this summer.”
Based on new research from Finder, an estimated 22.8 million Brits are using side hustles to top up their income.
Among those aged 18-23, 68 percent have a side hustle in 2024.
Those aged 24-42 aren’t far behind, with 65 per cent having an additional source of income.
Side hustles are less popular among older generations, with 40 percent of those aged 43-54 having one.
Whereas 23 percent of people aged 55-73 and just 7 per cent of those aged 74 and over are earning extra cash this way.
