Despite having a successful career up to that point, Wahid still found it hard to make ends meet, and he worked to earn extra income by selling peanuts and delivering ice to be used for his wife's "Es Lilin" (popsicle) business. In 1974, he found extra employment in Jombang as a Muslim Legal Studies teacher at Pesantren Tambakberas and soon developed a good reputation. A year later, Wahid added to his workload as a teacher of Kitab al-Hikam, a classical text of sufism.