There aren't many games shops around here and the ones there are are primarily like Magic the Gathering and Settler's of Catan type stuff, Chess is only a small part of them.
I just wish I could be a full time chess coach. I may not be high rated but I'm only charging $8 per hour and surely I can teach beginners about chess and they can benefit from my coaching.
you can do a lot better than $8/hr!
Be creative, start coaching online to get experience and always be improving (in chess and of course coaching!)
hope this helps
Thanks for the encouragement. The thing is I don't have a masters title so I may have to charge even less than $8, maybe $5 per hour. I don't mind though. I just wish I could get some students so then I could just play games with my students all day and give them advice as my job.
Dolphin27, it's nearly impossible to get a titled coach for less then $20 an hour, many charge $80, $30-$80 for a titled coach. As for non-titled if your over 2000 otb there should be no problem in charging $15/hour.
How old are you? (Is "making a living" something you need to do to feed your kids tomorrow, or something you have a few years to think about?)
I'm guessing you're young, because $8/hr is below minimum wage in several states, and if you've ever tried to make a living as an independent contractor (e.g. coach) with no benefits, you would know you need to set your hourly wage a *lot* higher than that. (You *aint* going to be working 9 to 5 as a chess coach. If you're *really* good at filling your schedule you can get some afternoons with kids, a few evenings with adults, and maybe some online work at other hours, but getting to 40 hours will be nearly impossible. However, if you work with groups, say 10 kids paying $10/hr each, you can get by on a lot fewer hours, even if you hire an assistant.)
Do you get along well with groups of kids? Think you could prepare a few hours' worth of fun activities and exercises in advance? Do you know how to sell participation to their parents? ("Self-discipline. Sportsmanship. Self-esteem. Camaraderie. ...") Have you got a location where you could set up a few tables? Know anybody who works with schools or after-school programs?
And while I'm asking questions, how do you get a 1900+ rating if your "best win" was 1700ish?
How hard would it be for someone who is non-master level to get a career in chess?
I would really like to make my living in something chess related. Maybe I could coach beginners for $8 an hour or something?
Has anyone here ever tried to make their living in chess? How did it work out?