Become a Guide
Heirloom gives guides who carry living knowledge a profile, a booking system, and a community of families and adults actively looking for someone exactly like you — then pays you fairly to pass on what you know. Traditional craft, forgotten wisdom, or new ways of making. At the kitchen counter, in the garden, in your workshop. No classrooms. No screens.
Keep 85% · Set your own rate · Paid weekly
A profile, a booking system, and someone in your corner.
We handle the vetting, the scheduling, the payments, and the paperwork. You show up, pass on what you already know, and get paid. Don't see your skill listed? From bookbinding to blacksmithing to beekeeping, from oral history to small builds — if you've spent years on it, someone wants to learn it.
Four things guides tell us, in this order.
Your knowledge is needed.
Schools cut shop class. Parents are stretched thin. The thing you've spent real time mastering — sharpening a chisel, proofing a dough, pruning a tomato, dialing in a weld, keeping a story alive — is exactly what a 9-year-old wants to learn from someone who actually does it. Whether you've been at it for 5 years or 50.
Wisdom needs a place to land.
Not every kind of knowledge has a classroom. Oral history, repair rituals, natural dyeing, small builds, bread cultures — if you know something the internet can't teach, there is probably someone nearby who wants to sit beside you and learn it.
People are already looking for you.
If you teach from your home studio, your backyard, or your kitchen, most people who'd love to learn from you have no way to find you. Heirloom gives you a profile that shows up to families and adult learners in your area — you don't have to market yourself.
Teach the way you wish you'd been taught.
Most guides say the same thing after their first session: it felt like teaching a younger sibling or their own kid. You set the pace, choose the project, and decide what's worth learning first. Nothing about it looks like school.
$25–$75 an hour, paid weekly.
You set your own rate within your tier. We keep 15% to handle vetting, payments, and insurance — you keep the other 85%. Teach two evenings a week and most guides clear $300–$600 a month without leaving the neighborhood.
Of every booking goes to you
Average guide commitment
Typical monthly earnings, 2 evenings a week
Re-vetting cadence — handled by us
What we hear, in the conversations.
Heirloom is vetting founding guides now. Names and likenesses are illustrative.
“My workshop got quiet between projects. The idea that there could be a kid here every Tuesday building a birdhouse — that's why I signed up.”
“I sew out of a corner of my apartment. Heirloom let me put a kids' offering on my schedule without building a whole separate business around it.”
“I run a small forge and teach a couple of evenings a week. The kids ask better questions than most of my apprentices did.”
“I wasn't sure anyone wanted to learn cursive in 2026. Turns out a lot of parents do. That's all the proof of concept I needed.”
Five steps to your first session.
- STEP 01
Tell us about your knowledge
A short intake — your craft or skill, years of practice, city, and availability. Traditional technique, forgotten wisdom, or new ways of making are all welcome. Takes about ten minutes.
- STEP 02
Verify identity + background check
Government-issued ID, live selfie, and a nationwide criminal records check via our screening partners.
- STEP 03
Chat with us
A relaxed video call to get to know you and talk through what you carry. Nothing formal.
- STEP 04
Build your profile
A photo, a short bio, and your hourly rate. Our team reviews and approves, usually within a few days.
- STEP 05
Add insurance, then teach
Upload proof of $1M liability coverage (~$25/mo). A parent attends every session. You're paid weekly.
We handle any issues between you and families. If a session doesn't go well for any reason, contact us and we make it right — including refunding your time if warranted.
The next family is already searching for someone like you.
We're vetting our first Northwest Arkansas guides right now. Tell us about your craft and we'll be in touch within two weeks.
Are you a studio or workshop looking to list your classes? Visit heirloomlearn.com/for-studios for a faster, simpler application designed for businesses.