Teach and Earn on Sikhami: Every Way Teachers Get Paid

Every way to earn, at a glance

Everything except courses is sold from your personal Sikhami account, the one you post from, not from your teacher profile. Courses are sold through an institute. The setup steps below are for the website.

Paid notes

In Creator studio, choose Notes and upload one PDF of up to 100 MB. Sikhami makes a cover from the first page and counts the pages. Set Amount in rupees (0 = free); while a price is set, the PDF is locked to buyers. A learner sees Buy for Rs X and Pay once, download any time, and after paying, Open PDF.

Who it suits: teachers with notes students already ask for, such as chapter summaries, formula sheets, solved papers or word lists. Visitors see only the cover, the page count and your description before they buy, so describe exactly what the notes cover and for which class or exam.

Paid clubs and paid meetups

A club is a group you run, with its own members-only chat. Its Membership lets you charge for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, each with its own price, and learners Join or Renew. It suits an ongoing group: daily doubts before an exam, a practice circle, a test-series community.

A meetup is a one-off session with a Joining fee, which learners see as Join for Rs X. Online meetups use a built-in video session for up to four people for up to an hour; in-person meetups need a venue. A paid meetup suits a small doubt class, a mock interview, a speaking session or a one-to-one review.

Study rooms with an entry fee

Study rooms are voice-only rooms you host. Choose New study room and set the Duration (30, 60, 120 or 180 minutes), Max members, Speaker slots (incl. you) and Entry fee (Rs, 0 = free). Learners pay with Enter for Rs X. Recordings of rooms hosted from the website can be replayed with Listen back, but a paid room's recording stays private to you and is not sold.

Who it suits: teachers who teach by talking, for a group revision before an exam, spoken English practice or a guided study hour where you answer questions while learners work.

A paid membership with members-only clips

In Creator studio, choose Paid membership. Name it in What it is called, describe What members get, and set prices for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. A membership does not renew automatically, so members buy again when it ends. Only clips can be members-only: when you post a clip, choose Members only, and it appears in a Members only tab on your profile. Memberships are set up on the website.

Who it suits: teachers who post short videos often, such as a solved question a day or a new music exercise each week, and want their regular viewers to pay for the extra ones.

Super Chat and going live

Super Chat lets a learner pay to send a highlighted message of up to 200 characters, which stays pinned for a time that depends on the amount. It works in post comments, clip comments, live chat and direct messages, and the money goes to the owner of the post or clip, the live host, or the other person in the chat. Super Chat is available on the website.

To go live, choose Go live, add a title and choose Start. Viewers comment, like and can send Super Chat, but there is no paid entry. A live streams straight from your device, so it suits small sessions such as a weekly doubt hour more than a big lecture. On public accounts, lives are saved as Past lives.

Courses: teach on an institute's course, or sell your own

Teach on an institute's course. Once your teacher profile is published, an institute's course owner can invite you by username. The request appears under Course requests, where you choose Accept or Decline. A teacher who accepts can edit the curriculum, answer doubts and post announcements. You get a share of the course's online sales only if the owner sets one; by default there is none. A share that is set is applied to each sale automatically.

Sell your own video course. A teacher cannot sell a course without an institute, but an institute is free. In Learning studio, choose New institute and publish it, then add a video course on the website: upload your videos, arrange them in sections, add tests and a certificate of completion, and set prices for 6 months, 1 year, 2 years or lifetime. Courses built from a YouTube playlist are always free. Our page on Sikhami's free LMS explains each step.

How payment works, and how Sikhami earns

Learners pay on the website through Razorpay, by UPI, card or net banking. In the Android app, digital items are bought through Google Play, which also takes its fee. Sikhami keeps a share of every sale; setting up and using Sikhami is free, with no subscription.

Your Earnings page shows your balance, what is available, your payouts, Where your money came from, TDS and TCS, Commission invoices and Sales. Add your bank and tax details: bank account, IFSC, an optional UPI ID, PAN, legal name, address and GST. Payouts are made after these details are checked, and each payout is approved by Sikhami's team. Sales of an institute's courses appear in that institute's Earnings tab.

Insights: see what works

Insights shows Views, Interactions, Followers and Profile visits over 7 to 90 days, and your Top content. For each post or clip you see reach, followers and non-followers, watch time, likes, comments, shares and saves. It shows counts only, never the names of viewers.

Use it before you set a price. If your clips on one chapter are saved and shared far more than the rest, that chapter is a good first paid note or meetup. Watch time tells you how long a clip can run before people leave.

How to choose which way to earn first

Most teachers do better starting with one paid thing than with five. Three questions decide which one.

What do you already have?

If you have notes, a paid PDF is the quickest start. If you have recorded lessons, a course through a free institute uses them. If you have a YouTube playlist, a free playlist course under your institute, with tests and a certificate, builds trust, and paid notes or meetups can sit beside it. If you have nothing yet but explain well, start with free clips and a weekly live doubt hour, and watch Insights.

How is your subject learnt?

Skills learnt by practice and correction, such as spoken English, music or interviews, suit small paid meetups and voice rooms where you can hear each learner. Subjects learnt by reading and solving, such as maths, science or general studies, suit notes, a club for daily doubts and, later, a course. Skills learnt by building, such as coding or Excel, suit a course with tests and a certificate.

Who pays, and how often?

School students rarely pay themselves; parents pay for something they can see, such as notes or a course with a certificate. College students and working adults pay for a result, such as a job interview or an exam. A one-time need suits a one-time payment: a note, a meetup, a course. An ongoing need, such as daily practice in the months before an exam, suits a club or a membership.

When to add a second way

Add the next one when the first has buyers who come back or ask for more. Learners who bought your notes and keep asking doubts are ready for a club or a meetup. Viewers who watch every clip are ready for a membership. A meetup that fills every time is the outline of a course. For most teachers, income from teaching online grows slowly, so set a weekly routine you can keep, such as three clips, one live doubt hour and one new paid item a month.

Whatever you choose, keep something free, such as a free note, a free room or a few free clips, so learners can trust you before they pay. Price by the time or marks an item saves a learner, and change one thing at a time so Insights can show what worked. If you also teach private batches on Google Meet or Zoom, our guides on becoming an online tutor and online teaching platforms cover fees, payments and tools outside Sikhami.

Good to know before you start

• Memberships lock only clips; posts cannot be members-only.
• Memberships are set up on the website, not in the app, and do not renew automatically.
• Super Chat is available on the website.
• There are no paid live streams. For a paid live session, use an online meetup (up to four people, up to an hour) or a voice study room with an entry fee.
• Study room recordings are not sold; a paid room's recording is private to you.
• Notes have no page preview, and there is no copy protection once a learner has bought them.
• A course is sold only through an institute, and an institute's course pays you only if its owner sets a share.