I totally hear what you are saying and having taught children from economically disadvantaged homes and marginalized minority groups for over a decade, I know what it’s like in the trenches. I mean this most respectfully, being an online teacher comes with many of the same challenges and some others that teachers in schools might not have considered or experienced.

To market your services requires at least 50% of your time, in a way over saturated market. Finding enough clients so you can eat and pay bills isn’t as easy as it may appear.

It’s not uncommon in adult education to have some clients who are going through severe anxiety, depression and massive life changes. I’ve even had several clients who presented well in the discovery call and then became very abusive, displaying tendencies towards mental illness. I’ve had clients disclose self-harm thoughts, addictions, horrible relationships. This is isn’t limited to teachers, ask any doctor, taxi cab driver, customer service agent or anyone who generally deals with the public.

And then, you have to invoice, document, upload videos, create weekly content, all the while paying increasingly higher technology costs, because the platforms know what they offer is in demand. What looks like a piece of cake from the outside is no such thing. Most who teach as an entrepreneur do so because they love to and it can take from 3–5 years of consistent offerings to finally bring a business into financial sustainability.

When anyone gets frustrated with the system they participate in, the easiest thing to do is look around and find a target for your anger. Being angry isn’t wrong, you absolutely should have more respect, better pay and less stressful working conditions.

Instead of taking your frustrations out on educator entrepreneurs (because learning should be lifelong, not just elementary, high school, college and that’s it) perhaps turn your attention to the system in which you work.

Or, you could consider that this growing trend of people investing in lifelong education means that whether you work in the university system, or at some point decide to move outside it, your skill set is in demand and desired…