When Ahmed Raza bought his stick-shift car just a few years ago, he’d never before driven one. He figured out the basics right then and there, with the benefit of a parking lot and some patience, and eventually worked up the confidence to drive himself home. Today, he’s the CEO of Manual Driving Academy—an in-person program that is teaching a new generation of drivers how to row their own all over the country. And he’s looking for more drivers who might want to make a buck doing the same.
Like many good enthusiast stories, this one starts with a Miata. Raza’s secondhand 2012 NC2 with the power retractable hard top was all the inspiration he needed to learn how to drive a manual. And once he’d gotten the hang of it, he was eager to share his newfound enthusiasm with friends and family. Raza enjoyed the process so much that he got the itch to expand it into a business. He approached the individual who would later become his partner with a simple pitch: Let’s teach folks how to drive stick for money as a side hustle. Just like that, Manual Driving Lessons Houston was born.
The business flourished, and soon expanded to other cities in Texas. Within months, it was clear there was demand nationwide for stick-shift lessons, and the pair decided to rebrand as the Manual Driving Academy. That was in 2023; today, the academy offers lessons in 47 metro areas, with more expansion on the horizon.
That’s pretty rapid growth for just two years, and it’s only possible because the Manual Driving Academy doesn’t exist—not physically. Instead, it contracts with local instructors who provide their own vehicles. Yep, that’s the catch. In exchange, the academy provides its 200-some-odd contractors with commercial insurance coverage, so that’s one less thing to worry about when subjecting your personal car to the abuses of novice sick-shift drivers.
That’s not to say there aren’t other criteria for becoming an instructor. Most are referred by existing Academy contractors, and Raza says the pool is made up almost entirely of fellow enthusiasts. Some of his best sources of new instructors are local motorsports associations, where word of mouth spreads somewhat quickly. There’s an interview process and you can expect your driving record to be checked, but it’s all conducted remotely.
Just how much can you make as an instructor? That’s largely determined by your availability and the number of local requests, but it’s also influenced by the package chosen by the student. Courses come in three flavors, in ascending order of price: The Basics, The Standard, and The Works. The price for each is fixed, but since not all students learn at the same pace, they may not always take the prescribed amount of time to complete. Raza says instructors should expect to earn between $50 and $60 per hour, depending on how quickly students pick it up.
“The Basics” is just what it sounds like. By the end of it, students are expected to be able to get themselves around a parking lot without any additional help. The Academy suggests this should take 1-2 hours to complete, which sounds about right to us. “The Standard” includes gear shifting techniques, hill starts and parallel parking, bumping the prescribed completion time to between 1.5 and 3 hours. Spring for “The Works” and your student should walk away with a grasp of advanced clutch control, including rev-matched down-shifts. Completion time: 2 to 4 hours. The Academy suggests “The Works” for customers who want to drive a higher-output sports car, since it teaches a bit more finesse.
And what sort of students might you expect? Per Raza, they’re often a lot like his typical instructors. They’re young (between 18 and 34) and usually car enthusiasts. The Academy also sees a decent number of soon-to-be overseas travelers, along with members of the military who have recently learned they’re going to be stationed abroad, where manual transmissions tend to be more commonplace.
So, if you’ve got the manual car sitting around and taking up garage space rather than earning its keep, consider this your call to action. And even if you don’t need the cash, just think of it as a way to help keep the hobby alive, one upstart enthusiast at a time.
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Byron is a contributing writer and auto reviewer with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.