Ideas for Side Gigs (Update in Comments)

[kadams767]

Sept 24, 2024 23:07:17 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

Sept 24, 2024 22:44:10 GMT -5 HRH Queen Dick I said:

Only Fans.

No one wants to see this middle aged body and the bad cycling tan lines!

Feet

[jinkies]

This may not really be an ongoing thing, but since I know you are a biker-- you could consider offering a couple beginner mountain biking sessions (especially women specific, since it can be an intimidating sport).

Someone in a local bike group did this for a group of 4 of us for free, but I would have have happily paid for it.

The session was around 2 hours, and she didn't even bring her own bike. She went over very basic things like foot position, shifting, using the dropper post, proper turning, how to approach and go over obstacles, etc, and had us practice while she gave feedback. We did it at a place with trails, but the whole teaching session was just in the parking lot.

I would have loved a follow up on bike maintenance (changing tires, tubes vs tubeless, fixing chains, etc), and then maybe a very slow session on the trails.

All of that seems like things you could do, even with your limitations. The person who did mine made the offer on a local women's biking group on facebook, but you could also potentially put up something in local bike shops and see if you get any takers.

[meowmaps]

I don’t know if this is a good idea because of your recent hand surgery, but maybe possible if you do it minimally, how about photography?

I thought of it because someone in my community as recently as this month has started a photography business. One weekend in October she’s offering to take fall family pictures for $10 a family for 10-20 minute slots over the course of two hours.

[7costanza]

My sister does work with AI companies, I think training AI or entering prompts and evaluating responses. It’s very flexible and I think pays ok for a side gig, I want to say starting at $20/hour. You may be able to use dictation if typing is an issue. I can get the name of the company for you if you’re interested (I know some out there are scammy.)

[shauni27]

Sept 25, 2024 10:36:43 GMT -5 meowmaps said:

I don’t know if this is a good idea because of your recent hand surgery, but maybe possible if you do it minimally, how about photography?

I thought of it because someone in my community as recently as this month has started a photography business. One weekend in October she’s offering to take fall family pictures for $10 a family for 10-20 minute slots over the course of two hours.

this is a great idea, because I think SB actually does do some photography!

sadlebred you can offer senior photos for people and charge like $450 and it is still a hell of a deal for the families. I am seeing tons of posts on social media for senior pictures right now.

[fryjack2]

Can you cook for people? I’ve seen some people in my town post looking for someone to make a few meals a week for them. And people posting diners they will be making and selling.

[sent]

Sept 25, 2024 9:57:08 GMT -5 thebreakfastclub said:

Sept 24, 2024 21:00:26 GMT -5 sent said:

Every cash gig carries some kind of risk. 

Does that mean to not be properly insured, take a chance, and expose yourself to financial risk? Does not compute.

I'm not a lawyer. Your first grader gets off the bus at 3 pm.

You pay your neighbor $20 cash once a week to pick up your kid after school, feed them a snack, and drive them across town to soccer practice by 4 pm because you can't leave your job in time.

Other days you pay the neighbor $40 cash to stay at home for 2 hours with your first grader until you can get home.  

The neighbor is neither a licensed taxi driver nor a licensed childcare provider. 

If you don't want to take the risk, what are your options as the parent? Realistically, there are few to no good options.

[gummy]

Can you donate plasma? Around here it was paying $1k/mo if you went twice per week a couple years ago.

[thebreakfastclub]

Sept 25, 2024 12:06:14 GMT -5 sent said:

Sept 25, 2024 9:57:08 GMT -5 thebreakfastclub said:

Does that mean to not be properly insured, take a chance, and expose yourself to financial risk? Does not compute.

I'm not a lawyer. Your first grader gets off the bus at 3 pm.

You pay your neighbor $20 cash once a week to pick up your kid after school, feed them a snack, and drive them across town to soccer practice by 4 pm because you can't leave your job in time.

Other days you pay the neighbor $40 cash to stay at home for 2 hours with your first grader until you can get home.  

The neighbor is neither a licensed taxi driver nor a licensed childcare provider. 

If you don't want to take the risk, what are your options as the parent? Realistically, there are few to no good options.

But this is from the pov of the person wanting to make the extra $ as the driver.

They should properly insure themselves if they want to have a side job driving.

[sent]

Sept 25, 2024 13:14:40 GMT -5 thebreakfastclub said:

Sept 25, 2024 12:06:14 GMT -5 sent said:

I'm not a lawyer. Your first grader gets off the bus at 3 pm.

You pay your neighbor $20 cash once a week to pick up your kid after school, feed them a snack, and drive them across town to soccer practice by 4 pm because you can't leave your job in time.

Other days you pay the neighbor $40 cash to stay at home for 2 hours with your first grader until you can get home.  

The neighbor is neither a licensed taxi driver nor a licensed childcare provider. 

If you don't want to take the risk, what are your options as the parent? Realistically, there are few to no good options.

But this is from the pov of the person wanting to make the extra $ as the driver.

They should properly insure themselves if they want to have a side job driving.

Right. Does an insurance like this exist for the OP who is the casual driver that accepts some gas money for giving a neighbor a ride?

Does accepting money for a ride automatically put you into operating a taxi and the licensing and insurance that goes with it?

The liabilities and licensing were part of the problem when Uber came on the scene to "disrupt" the traditional taxi model. 

[thebreakfastclub]

Sept 25, 2024 14:01:18 GMT -5 sent said:

Sept 25, 2024 13:14:40 GMT -5 thebreakfastclub said:

But this is from the pov of the person wanting to make the extra $ as the driver.

They should properly insure themselves if they want to have a side job driving.

Right. Does an insurance like this exist for the OP who is the casual driver that accepts some gas money for giving a neighbor a ride?

Does accepting money for a ride automatically put you into operating a taxi and the licensing and insurance that goes with it?

The liabilities and licensing were part of the problem when Uber came on the scene to "disrupt" the traditional taxi model. 

I was mostly listening to the other poster with specific legal experience who chimed in that it was likely not a great idea. I have no idea and am not really interested in finding out, but you'd be a fool to stand up a homespun chauffeur business without doing due diligence with your insurance agent. You'd be obtuse to argue otherwise.

Casually giving someone a ride is obviously different than accepting money as a business.

[wanderlustmom]

Sept 25, 2024 11:16:22 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

Sept 25, 2024 10:36:43 GMT -5 meowmaps said:

I don’t know if this is a good idea because of your recent hand surgery, but maybe possible if you do it minimally, how about photography?

I thought of it because someone in my community as recently as this month has started a photography business. One weekend in October she’s offering to take fall family pictures for $10 a family for 10-20 minute slots over the course of two hours.

this is a great idea, because I think SB actually does do some photography!

sadlebred you can offer senior photos for people and charge like $450 and it is still a hell of a deal for the families. I am seeing tons of posts on social media for senior pictures right now.

that's a great idea!  our senior year photographer that our daughter fell in love with is minimum of $1,300 and we are in the Atlanta area. You could also start an LLC for IT or project management work

[livinitup]

Do you think you can administer medication to cats? Owners with cats that need pet sitting & medication have a hard time finding qualified people - and pay well when they do.

[VacayVaca]

Sept 25, 2024 9:08:18 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Sept 25, 2024 8:59:28 GMT -5 wildrice said:

How do you feel about cats and other pets? I know dogs are out, but people need other types of pet sitting too! There are also some people with yards who probably don't walk their dogs (I seem to have plenty of neighbors with mystery dogs that I've never seen being walked) so you could potentially do house sitting for them, too, if you are upfront that walking is a no-go.

I have a neighbor that basically made her backyard into a dog park. IDK if she charges for it, or if she does doggy daycare type services, or what any insurance/ liability implications are but if you have a yard and are home, you could offer daytime pet sitting in your home, in lieu of a neighbor taking their dog to daycare.

This exactly.  Our dog hates other dogs, but is fine with backyard entertainment rather than a walk.  Trying to find someone who can take a dog in their home with a fenced backyard but doesn't have their own dog is like finding a unicorn.  We pay $50 a day to board our dog at the unicorn's house, so it's relatively easy cash to make over a weekend.  

[brooklyn]

Any chance you’re good at teaching bike riding? Huge demand for that in my local groups!

[waverly]

Sept 25, 2024 10:19:18 GMT -5 jinkies said:

This may not really be an ongoing thing, but since I know you are a biker-- you could consider offering a couple beginner mountain biking sessions (especially women specific, since it can be an intimidating sport).

Someone in a local bike group did this for a group of 4 of us for free, but I would have have happily paid for it.

The session was around 2 hours, and she didn't even bring her own bike. She went over very basic things like foot position, shifting, using the dropper post, proper turning, how to approach and go over obstacles, etc, and had us practice while she gave feedback. We did it at a place with trails, but the whole teaching session was just in the parking lot.

I would have loved a follow up on bike maintenance (changing tires, tubes vs tubeless, fixing chains, etc), and then maybe a very slow session on the trails.

All of that seems like things you could do, even with your limitations. The person who did mine made the offer on a local women's biking group on facebook, but you could also potentially put up something in local bike shops and see if you get any takers.

OP may be a good candidate to be a bike instructor for a bike shop or individuals.  My kids took the class through REI.  

[sadlebred]

Sept 25, 2024 10:19:18 GMT -5 jinkies said:

This may not really be an ongoing thing, but since I know you are a biker-- you could consider offering a couple beginner mountain biking sessions (especially women specific, since it can be an intimidating sport).

Someone in a local bike group did this for a group of 4 of us for free, but I would have have happily paid for it.

The session was around 2 hours, and she didn't even bring her own bike. She went over very basic things like foot position, shifting, using the dropper post, proper turning, how to approach and go over obstacles, etc, and had us practice while she gave feedback. We did it at a place with trails, but the whole teaching session was just in the parking lot.

I would have loved a follow up on bike maintenance (changing tires, tubes vs tubeless, fixing chains, etc), and then maybe a very slow session on the trails.

All of that seems like things you could do, even with your limitations. The person who did mine made the offer on a local women's biking group on facebook, but you could also potentially put up something in local bike shops and see if you get any takers.

This is a bit risky from a not-having-insurance perspective if someone is paying for it. There are a couple of companies in my area that offer paid clinics for mountain biking and road biking. I know they have a ton of insurance. I'm not certified to work for them (some require you to audit their clinics before you can teach for them to learn their way of doing things)---it might be something to look into once my hands have healed.

My club does clinics, but we are covered under the club insurance when doing them (I hope).

[sadlebred]

Sept 25, 2024 11:23:06 GMT -5 fryjack2 said:

Can you cook for people? I’ve seen some people in my town post looking for someone to make a few meals a week for them. And people posting diners they will be making and selling.

Have you seen my posts in the weekly meal planning post. Cooking....is not my thing. Trust me, you don't want to eat my cooking. I can barely feed myself. ;D

[sadlebred]

meowmaps and shauni27 That's actually a good idea. I used to do headshots. That might be something to get back into. I think I charged $100 for several shots and one change of clothes. I'm going into my busy cycling photography season, so I'm hoping to make a bit of money. We'll see. Last season there was another photographer at about half the racing giving his photos away....he does this for a living and is one of the best photogs I know..very creative. I was lucky to get a few photos by him myself. I'm hoping photography is ok with my hands. I got a mirrorless camera & new lenses last year, and it's about half the weight of my previous SLR. That will help. I'll know after this weekend!

7costanza I'd love the company name. Please DM it to me. Thank you!

gummy I wish I could! It's $$ around here! #seeheartproblems. I'm on a medication that makes it impossible to donate.

livinitup If I can get a horse or cow to take the medicine...maybe cats, too! (I've given too many shots and other meds to both of those large species in my time.)

I'm still looking for a full time gig. I have a few things in the works, but I'm planning for the worst if there are absolutely no prospects in the next 4-6 weeks. I appreciate all of the input! I plan to read through this again after the hurricane passes and see what will work for me.

[ellipses84]

Sept 24, 2024 23:48:56 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

I think the house sitting / cat sitting is a great one and make sure to offer for other random pets like bunnies, guinea pigs, fish, etc. Some people just need someone cheap to do the bare minimum, stop by and keep them alive but other people may want you to be there 24/7, sending regular photo updates and you can offer different pricing packages to reflect that. There are various apps you can do this through.

I know you said you don’t like babysitting and that can be rough physically with younger kids, but a lot of parents need carpooling school / sports help which could be limited to certain mornings, afternoons or weekend days. Hospice is an app for that, I think. Late night/ overnight babysitting for older kids who sleep through the night and are pretty self sufficient isn’t too bad either. Some parents have jobs with schedules that cause periodic gaps where they need someone for a few hours once every couple weeks when both are working and daycare or school isn’t open, or they have to go into work before they can drop kids off.

If you can get some references or have neighbors spread the word, I think word of mouth (even via neighborhood fb groups) is the best way to get clients.

Do you have any spare space in your place, either a room for a short term rental, or storage space in your garage you could offer someone? It may not be ideal and you’d want it to be a good situation for you, but I feel like there’s always people looking for short term solutions in my HCOL area with small SF houses. Like, my in-laws are visiting for a month and we want them to stay close by in the neighborhood but we don’t have room for them does anyone have a room for rent? Or, I’m moving in with my roommates but there’s not enough room for my furniture until the other roommates move out and storage units are expensive and want a huge deposit, anyone willing to rent out their garage?

Autocorrect Typo… the kid carpool app is HopSkipDrive, not hospice 😆 Sniffspot is yard dog park app and Swimply is known for pools but can also be used for yards, etc… basically any resource you have can be “Ubered” out on some sort of app now and many apps have competition but you’ll make more offering these things to neighbors without having to pay a percentage to a middleman app. All have insurance liability questions but I think that also leaves it a little more vague when you are helping a neighbor out vs performing a service via an app.

If you feel like you can still do photography and some computer stuff, I know so many small businesses that need social media help. It’s just too much for them on top of running their core business and the owner paperwork side of things. Having someone who will pop by their coffee shop or gym and take a few photos or who will text them a reminder to take some photos and help them post something is really helpful. Their expectations are not high, they are too overwhelmed with the whole process of it. Your IT background on top of that would be amazing to a small business owner who isn’t tech savvy. Some may want to trade services for it which is fine if it’s something you want or need and you don’t want taxable income anyway, but others pay and would report you as a 1099 consultant. My friend with a marketing background who had been a SAHM took on a few clients with the intent of being part-time and has basically been full time and had to start saying no to a lot of clients within our neighborhood/ social group alone.

[sadlebred]

I've thought about the social media stuff, too....the ironic thing is I do the social media stuff for a local cycling organization. This is a serious consideration to do this.....I already have a hobby business set up that I pay taxes on and such.

[meanie]

Tax season is coming up and lots of places will be looking for extra help. You don't necessarily have to have an accounting background, but if you can do data entry you might be able to find temp work filling out K-1's or something (literally just transferring W9 info). Robert Half is a big finance recruitment agency in my area (MA).

It's really boring stuff but would fit the criteria of remote, temporary, part time, and not labor intensive.

A lot of the temp retail positions are going to want you to lift things because stock room positions are in demand around the holidays, so I would avoid that.

Good luck!

[shadyblue42]

Sept 25, 2024 10:43:00 GMT -5 7costanza said:

My sister does work with AI companies, I think training AI or entering prompts and evaluating responses. It’s very flexible and I think pays ok for a side gig, I want to say starting at $20/hour. You may be able to use dictation if typing is an issue. I can get the name of the company for you if you’re interested (I know some out there are scammy.)

I’ve been following this thread for ideas since I am also looking for some part time/side job cash. I would love the name of this company as well if you are willing to share.

[livinitup]

sadlebred With and interest in cat sitting and your experience with large animals, I would definitely check out medication management for cats. Maybe one of the vets you already work with could be a resource for teaching you to administer cat meds? It seems likely that you could get up to speed fairly quickly and then advertise yourself as a cat sitter who can administer meds. It’s needed and in short supply! And it drives up your rate.

Then ask your vet if there is a formal or informal referral list for cat sitting and medication administration where you could be added. Could be good leads. Who knows?

[7costanza]

Sept 26, 2024 8:19:03 GMT -5 shadyblue42 said:

Sept 25, 2024 10:43:00 GMT -5 7costanza said:

My sister does work with AI companies, I think training AI or entering prompts and evaluating responses. It’s very flexible and I think pays ok for a side gig, I want to say starting at $20/hour. You may be able to use dictation if typing is an issue. I can get the name of the company for you if you’re interested (I know some out there are scammy.)

I’ve been following this thread for ideas since I am also looking for some part time/side job cash. I would love the name of this company as well if you are willing to share.

sadlebred I will get the name from my sister and send it to you both tonight!

[sadlebred]

meanie Yeah, I figured holiday retail would be out. Some places also hire for remote customer service for the holidays. I'm keeping my eye out for that.

[Susie]

This time of year, errrrrybody is doing mini photo shoots to use for their holiday cards.  You do sports photography, right?  Any interest in pivoting to kids in matchy seasonal fits?

[sadlebred]

Susie It's mainly big companies that shoot HS sports around here...they are also the ones taking the photos. A while back they had an ad out for photographers, and they would provide the equipment. They were paying $12/hour. After I picked my lower jaw up off the floor, I realized I could make more at a fast food place.

[7costanza]

sadlebred and shadyblue42

She said it’s Data Annotation Tech. She also said it’s pretty slow lately so might not be a reliable option ☹️

[bee20]

It's not immediate but look into election work? Around here it's a few weeks of temp work since we have mail in ballots, but in other states you're checking people in day of. It pays union type wages vs minimum wage.

Seconding temping companies, it's what I've used in other layoff situations. You could also look at professional agencies, I'll DM you some agencies we had contracts through at my last job. Some of the workers were remote.