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One Minute Odd Job Tip

There was a time…. (Oh, don’t go bringing the Civil War into this!) Have you heard of CompuServe and Prodigy? These were online services, not exactly the internet, but heading that direction. When these services came on the scene in the 1980’s and early 90’s, I could see the handwriting on the wall. I remember telling my wife, “The day will come when a person won’t need to be in a particular place to do their job.”

At the time, that was mind-blowing because almost every way to make money at the time involved being in a particular place (usually near your home). Now though, it’s become very normal and everyday to work online, or be able to, at least, do some part of your job virtually. If we embrace this and look for opportunities, many amazing doors can open for all of us!

>>> NEXT WEEK: Let’s get Creative

Strictly Business:

You may be surprised at the sheer volume of remote jobs that are available, and the variety. Specifically, when it comes to remote, with the technology that exists today and continues to advance, if you can think of a concept, you can probably design a piece of software to perform the task.

As I write this I’m thinking, ok, we need to be reasonable, a guy can’t actually repair a car, or harvest timber or fix a road remotely — on a computer, but let’s not dismiss that out of hand. Doctors are performing surgeries remotely now, where the patient is in one country and the surgeon is in another country. So could remote auto repair or logging or road work be possible? Probably on some level, yes.

The real cutting-edge opportunity in this avenue is in developing something to solve a problem remotely. I’ll just throw that out there to think about….

Some Odd Jobs You May Never Have Considered

Number 1 — Software Developer — (S Quadrant¹, maybe the other Quadrants¹ depending on what you do)

If this is a skill you possess, or would like to learn, there’s plenty of opportunity to capitalize on it either as an employee or in any of the other 3 Quadrants¹ . To be able to work in this area as an employee or self-employed person, there are websites like Elance.com and Freelancer.com that are full of people looking for software developers.

I’ve hired people at both of these places to develop software for me.

Be aware, many of the people on these sites who are making their skills available are in India, Pakistan, or some other location where they can work for much less money than most of us (in the states) need to be successful. That doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunity there, though. There are quite a few people looking for software developers only in the U.S. for their project.

It doesn’t cost anything to sign up for these websites and explore. Maybe you’ll find something that fits your needs.

Number 2 — Voiceover Artist — (S Quadrant¹, mostly)

All of the voices you hear on commercials, cartoons, eBooks, voicemail systems, and any number of other places have to come from somewhere, and with digital recording, this can be done anywhere in the world. All you need is some decent quality recording equipment and a studio.

Oh, I know the word “studio” conjures up visions of a big room with all kinds of fancy wallcovering and such. But that was the old day! Now, with a little imagination, almost any space can become a studio with the right treatments.

I know of a former weatherman who abandoned the corporate world and bought a sailboat to travel the world. To access his voiceover studio, he opens a cabinet door and sits in a chair in front of the open cabinet, which has been transformed into a studio. If you learn some basics of acoustics and experiment a little, you’ll be surprised with what you can create!

There are any number of places to get gigs in this field. We’ve hired people several times on Fiverr.com with good results. Fiverr.com started out as a place where everything was $5, but it’s gone the way of the dollar stores. Today, there are gigs on Fiverr in any price range.

Of course Elance.com and Freelancer.com are great places to find voiceover gigs as well. We have also hired people from Voices.com. If you google “voiceover artist”, you’ll find many opportunities to choose from.

Number 3 — English as a Second Language Teacher — (S Quadrant¹, mostly). This is a “We did this” Job

English is the language used mostly in the world. Not necessarily the language spoken by the most people, no, but the most widely-used language. In a non- English-speaking land, when someone wants to learn a second language, it’s almost always English because this opens up the most possibilities for the individual. If you’re a native English speaker (American, British, Austrailian, etc.), you have the basic qualifications to teach the language.

There are some certifications you can get that may be helpful in landing some jobs. The TEFL certificate can be looked into at TEFL.org. It doesn’t cost much and is relatively easy to get. I don’t even remember if I got it or not, I know my wife did, but she’s smarter than me, so that makes sense.

We first taught English at an English school in Poland, but after some time, we transitioned over to teaching Chinese students online. It provided more money and we were able to teach at home on Zoom. This worked well for us due to the time difference between China and Poland. Since most students take the lessons after school in China, our day started at about noon Poland-time and went till about 5 in the afternoon.

It is more challenging if teaching online in China while in the U.S. because you will most likely need to start lessons at 2 in the morning or so, depending on what time zone you’re in. Maybe that’s perfect for you, though!

Finding work can be a challenge. We’ve been out of online teaching for over 2 years (since moving back to the states) so the best suggestion I have is to search Google. There are many different arrangements that can be made with schools, locally, or even just websites that connect student with teacher.

One company we had a good experience with was Talkilla.org. They are in China, but welcome native speakers if the time difference isn’t an issue for you. Compensation was given via Paypal via USD, once a month.

We have many fond memories of our Chinese students, and still are in touch with some of them.

Number 4 — Camp Host — (E Quadrant¹)

Campgrounds are always looking for camp hosts. Always! Camp hosts are the people at a campground who check campers in and attend to all of the campers’ needs.

Oftentimes, camp hosts are hired as a couple. The husband, in general, will do the maintenance, yard work and any other of the mechanical things involved in the operation of the campground, while the wife generally works the office and the phone — checking people in, etc.

Usually this is the type of job that people with a an RV will take, and part of the compensation is the campsite. We know people who go all over the country doing this. It’s a great way to spend extended periods of time in a vacation spot and get paid to do it.

Depending on the location, these positions will go from about April to October. Campgrounds are already looking for people for the 2024 season, so if this interests you, one of the best places to find these gigs is Workamper.com. This is a paid subscription, and many employers from nearly all states (not Hawaii so much!) post their needs there.

Yearly subscriptions start at $19.95 and go up to $67. We chose the middle subscription rate (“Diamond” at $47 per year) and it was perfectly adequate.

We’ve gotten most of our gigs through this site since getting back to the states. You are also able to post your resume there and employers may contact you.

This Week’s Quotes:

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.

— Anne Frank

There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that opinions are worthless because they are badly argued.

— Thomas H. Huxley

Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind.

— Bulgarian Proverb

The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.

— Frank Lloyd Wright

My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence.

— Edith Sitwell

A Book for Success — When I start to consider “outside the box” thinking and remote working, I think of the Timothy Ferriss book, The 4-Hour Work Week. That seems pretty out there — working only 4 hours per week? My suggestion, don’t take that too literally. The real value in this book is to challenge conventional norms and ponder what may be possible with a little Socratic thinking.

I love reading this book, not just because it makes me explore other possibilities, but because it is just fun. If you’re the type of person who gets yourself into trouble at times for asking “why” too much, you’ll probably relate to this book.

Snarfy Jokes —

When does a joke become a ‘dad’ joke?

When it becomes apparent.

Why did the bullet end up losing his job?

He got fired.

What kind of shorts do clouds wear?

Thunderpants

I entered ten puns in a contest to see which would win.

No pun in ten did.

How do you measure a snake?

In inches—they don’t have feet.

Some final Random Thoughts — It’s not hard to make changes in your life to affect your quality of life in a positive way, but it does take some effort and thought. From what I can see, a lot of people live their life by default. What I mean is they just follow the current, and when the river of life takes them to a swamp, they just kind of sit in that swamp and putrefy.

It’s funny, whenever people find out that we lived in Poland for a while, they almost always ask something like, “What brought you there, a job?” I always find to be so sad, because work, or the way we generate money to live our life is NOT the most important thing in life and, to my mind, is NOT the reason to move anywhere.

We’ve never let “work” dictate where we live, and on the other side of it we’ve always had what we needed, and more, to live wherever we went.

That’s the choice we’ve made and have never regretted it. It’s a different way of thinking than what’s “normal”, but the way I see it, if all the normal people jump off a bridge, I’m still not going to do it.

Till next week…

¹ CashFlow Quadrant references the Book, Cashflow Quadrants by Robert Kiosaki. In a nutshell there are 4 sources of income — “E” Employee, “S” Self Employed, “B” Business and “I” Investor. We reference these quadrants at the beginning of each of the “Jobs we talk about in Odd Job Tips Newsletter. The See more about this concept refer to this issue of this newsletter

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