Being self-employed can be scary at times because you always have to think about where and how you’re going to get some work. And you don’t want any type of work – you want well-paid interesting work. For this reason, I do not generally do private lessons. I hate doig them although they are lucrative. So I turn them down and then I don’t make the money other teachers make. But hey, I get to have days off which is important.
But recently I’ve realised I need to squirrel away a bit of dough for the next chapter of my life so I have been taking on more work. To this end, I saw a school in the north of Shanghai was looking for a teacher to teach some classes of teenagers. Generally I wouldn’t take a job like this but my new idea to save money means I am having to be less fussy.
Instead of sending my CV in, I got on the metro and went up there, knocked on the door of the principal and handed it to her. The upshot was that she said Yes and after discussing terms, it then became clear that the children were 6 years old not teenagers. Shocked and scared but not wanting to look phased, I accepted.
This is the first time I have taught such young children and I can honestly say I’ve never laughed so much. And I’ve lost my voice twice in two weeks – I must try not to shout – try to find a better way to control them.
And at the same time, I’m teaching two classes of international students public speaking which is great. They even laugh at my jokes. And to go right to the other end of the education scale, I’m marking master’s dissertations for French post-graduate art and design students.
And of course, there’s the online work, the Wechat groups I teach and the Udemy courses too. But once those courses are done, they can be put aside and you can forget about them, and watch as dollar drip (not gush) into your bank account.
So I’m going from 6 year olds to master’s students. That’s the best thing about being self-employed. But I’m still living on a knife edge – still have to think about where the next dollar is going to come from and worrying about whether I can afford to take a holiday. It’s a balance – that’s life.
Overall, I would choose self-employment, for the excitement and creativity.