KEY POINTS
- The e-learning industry is growing, worth an estimated $250 billion in 2020, according to market intelligence platform ReportLinker.
- If you’re keen to start teaching courses online, consider your hobbies or other areas of expertise.
- Teresa Greenway, Danira Cancinos, and Cate Meade have built business, in part, by teaching cooking and baking online.
E-learning, or tech-based education like courses taken online, is a growing industry. In the year 2020 alone, the global e-learning market was estimated at $250 billion, according to market intelligence platform ReportLinker, and is projected to reach $457 billion by 2026.
If you’re considering offering some online courses, you have may more options than you realize. When it comes to what it is you might focus on as an instructor, “everyone has something to teach,” Chris Haroun, who’s made more than $1 million teaching business courses online on Udemy, previously told Grow.
Some instructors, for example, are building online teaching businesses out of hobbies and passions. Here are three women who’ve made six figures, in part by teaching people how to cook and bake online.
Caramel apple maker made nearly $335,000 in 2020
The daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, Danira Cancinos, 34, got pregnant at 15 and dropped out of high school to take care of her son. By 24, she’d had two other daughters and was working at an arcade to support her family.
Cancinos couldn’t always afford to buy her kids the confections they wanted, so she started baking cupcakes for them at home and sharing the results on Facebook. Soon, friends and family were ordering batches of her cupcakes, and she began experimenting with making other baked goods. Her specialty: caramel apples.
After numerous requests to show people how she made her confections, Cancinos began teaching her baking methods via Facebook Live. Her classes range from Oreo mini cheesecake to stuffed churros to caramel apples. In 2020 alone, her classes brought in nearly $335,000.
“I never imagined being able to make this type of money,” she previously told Grow. “Creating an online business can change your life.”
Sourdough baker has made $323,000 selling courses
Teresa Greenway, 63, had been baking sourdough bread for fun and sharing her tips online since the early 2000s. Then in 2014, she took a course about building a business. Though it never occurred to her the hobby could be an income stream, when the instructor asked her, “What can you do?” Greenway said, “Well, I can make sourdough,” she previously told Grow.
There were stumbling blocks along the way. “I almost didn’t publish my first course on Udemy because we were living in a kind of garage and the surroundings were not very pretty,” she said. Greenway was still taking care of her two youngest children at the time.
She didn’t let those obstacles deter her.
Since May 2015, Greenway has uploaded 13 courses on Udemy, ranging from San Francisco sourdough baking to how to bake a panettone. Her courses have brought in $323,000 altogether, and she’s recently expanded her business to a membership site for baking enthusiasts, The Baking Network.
Chef charges $1,200-$1,500 to teach cooking on Zoom
Chef Cate Meade, a finalist on season eight of FOX show “MasterChef,” was used to bringing in $8,000 to $10,000 per month between her various gigs before the pandemic. She did meal prep for clients in her hometown of Chicago and consulted for various food companies.
But when March 2020 hit, her income plummeted. Suddenly, she was making closer to $2,000 to $2,500.
While clients were hesitant to have her come into their homes and cook, she began to re-strategize her business model. She took on small dinner parties for $100-$250 per person, and offered cooking classes over Zoom.
Among her first was teaching a team of work colleagues how to make fajita bowls. “It was really fun,” she previously told Grow. “I did it in my own kitchen and set it up and we cooked a whole meal together.” She charged $1,200-$1,500 for each class.
By December 2020, she was back to making $8,000 per month.
