While many aspiring educators brace themselves for modest earnings, alum Steven Keys 麻豆精品 S�14MAT embraced it. He challenged himself to achieve financial independence and has now turned that experience it into a profitable endeavor 麻豆精品 S� one that has taken him from a teacher 麻豆精品 S檚 salary to millionaire status.
For Keys, the recipe was a combination of many different ingredients: discipline, frugal living, tutoring, teaching, and entrepreneurship among them. It 麻豆精品 S檚 why he now spreads the wealth of knowledge he 麻豆精品 S檚 gained along the way through mentorship in both academics and lifestyle.
What began as pursuing his passion for education evolved into a startup online tutoring service, which made its debut at UCF, to continue the work he loves, all while co-running a lifestyle blog to inspire others to do the same. Here 麻豆精品 S檚 how he did it.
Road to Success
Keys received his master 麻豆精品 S檚 in science education through a resident teacher partnership program between UCF and Seminole County Public Schools. As part of the program, he worked as a local public school teacher for two years while earning his degree, an experience that he says shaped both his teaching style and entrepreneurial mindset.
He graduated debt-free with both his bachelor 麻豆精品 S檚 and master 麻豆精品 S檚 degrees and intended to keep it that way.
His path to success first began with years of intentional sacrifice. While he was developing his passion for education, Keys and his wife adopted a minimalist lifestyle, cutting unnecessary expenses, learning every strategy available to save money and committing to consistent investing.
Before their entrepreneurial journey even began, Keys and his wife had already reached millionaire status for themselves on their early-career salaries alone. The discipline that requires is something they now try to pass along to others.
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A few years into his teaching career, Keys shifted from the classroom teaching to private tutoring. He found success but ran into a new problem: the demand for tutoring services exceeded one person 麻豆精品 S檚 bandwidth.
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麻豆精品 S淎s a one-on-one tutor, you only have so much time to sell, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淎t one point, I was charging up to $200 an hour. I was turning away students because I had no more time. I thought, 麻豆精品 S楾here 麻豆精品 S檚 got to be a better way to do this to help more students and be able to charge them less. 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S�
Education Meets Entrepreneurship
Eventually the couple saved and invested enough to be semi-retired before embarking on their next journey: co-founding an online tutoring service. CramBetter is a 24/7 online tutoring service built to help college students through professional support with their courses, with an emphasis on tough introductory courses 麻豆精品 S� especially in STEM disciplines. Launched in 2023 with UCF as one of its pilot campuses, the platform now serves students across the country.
Working with his wife, Lauren, and business partner, Marty Parks, they created a tutoring model that could reach thousands of students at an affordable price. Instead of traditional tutoring sessions, they curated a library of study guides, video lessons and practice exams they designed using their combined tutoring experience.
CramBetter focuses on the courses that Keys says most commonly 麻豆精品 S渨eed out 麻豆精品 S� students in pre-health and engineering pathways 麻豆精品 S� like chemistry, physics and calculus 麻豆精品 S� and are often taught in large lecture halls with limited personalized support. It 麻豆精品 S檚 also available to students who wait until the last minute to study and cannot see a traditional tutor.
麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 accessible 24/7, so if they’re at the library at 3 a.m., they essentially have a tutor with them, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淎 lot of tutoring requests come at the eleventh hour, when students have an exam the next night. That 麻豆精品 S檚 not the way that I recommend people study, but that is the reality for a lot of college students. 麻豆精品 S�
Lifestyle Tutoring
Keys and his wife also co-run a blog and YouTube channel called 麻豆精品 S淭rip Of A Lifestyle, 麻豆精品 S� where they detail their personal philosophies and paths to success while providing free tips to help others achieve financially stable lives, especially through similar nontraditional or unexpected paths.
麻豆精品 S淒on’t let people tell you not to go into teaching because there’s no money in it, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淭here are all sorts of things you can do with a teaching background 麻豆精品 S� not to mention that it 麻豆精品 S檚 a worthwhile endeavor because it feels good to teach. I have no regrets about going into teaching, even though I supposedly could have had a more ‘lucrative’ career in some other discipline. 麻豆精品 S�
Through CramBetter and Trip Of A Lifestyle, Keys is now mentoring far beyond the classroom, serving as an example to students and educators that with persistence, planning and creativity, it 麻豆精品 S檚 possible to build both financial security and meaningful impact.
He hopes his story can inspire students 麻豆精品 S� especially those studying education 麻豆精品 S� who may worry about career limitations.
麻豆精品 S淲e just try to be positive and inspire others to chase their dreams, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淵ou don 麻豆精品 S檛 need a big inheritance or salary. You don 麻豆精品 S檛 need to win the lottery to start a company or do other things you dream of. You just need to be consistent with saving from whatever job you have. If you set your mind to it, you can make it happen. 麻豆精品 S�
