Depending on who you ask, odd jobs consist of small and manual temporary work you can’t build a career around. The distinction between what is and isn’t an odd job is subject to change partly because such jobs are growing in popularity.
People are finding ways to transform odd jobs, especially online ones, into proper businesses or careers. It’s a great job to start as even if you don’t succeed, you will make some extra money. The best part is that it’s easy to begin as a side hustle and see where it’ll take you.
Best High-Paying Odd Jobs
1. Freelance Work
Online work won’t fall out of fashion anytime soon. It’s convenient because you can work from home, it’s profitable as there’s a lot of demand, and it’s easy to start since you can learn everything online. Traditional freelance work positions, such as freelance writing, design, and virtual assistance to earn extra income, can be considered odd jobs.
You are likely to start with manual, one-time tasks of data entry, blog writing, and ad design. Platforms like Fiverr, Indeed, and Upwork are full of such odd jobs, and you can work on and off on them as you like. Anyone can start, but to make money consistently will require skill and education.
2. Skilled Manual Labor
Those preferring to avoid online jobs at all costs will find manual labor in your local area a suitable alternative. While unskilled manual labor tasks can be considered odd jobs, they are doubtful, and they will earn you enough extra money to make them worthwhile. A much better option is to get skilled in some particular area and start a side hustle.
Various handyman services, such as plumbing, electrical, painting, flooring, or furniture assembly, can be learned to a decent level in your free time to make money on the side. Various platforms, such as TaskRabbit and Gigwalk, to name a few, make it easier to find first-class clients. All you need is skills, free time, and dedication to work.
3. Animal Care
Working with pets is a dream to many, but full-time employment, especially one that pays well, is difficult to find. Odd jobs related to animal care, on the other hand, are plentiful. The most common options are transforming your home into a pet hotel and walking dogs in your local area.
Related odd job apps like Rover and Wag can be of help as they enable users to provide pet sitting or dog walking side hustles more easily. Other odd jobs in animal care are possible but will require you to reach out to farms and ranches looking for manual labor in exchange for extra money.
4. Event Services
Many celebrations and professional events take months of preparation and careful planning. That’s why various event services – from waitpersons and DJs to professional bridesmaids, are in high demand. These odd jobs can help you make money on a sessional basis, usually during the summer or holiday season.
The best place to find such work is in social media channels or by keeping close contact with people in the industry. Most prominent of them are event planners who can get you hired for a side hustle at an event. A common career path is transforming odd jobs into careers in event planning.
5. Landscaping and Yard Work
Mowing lawns in summer, shoveling snow in winter, cleaning gutters in autumn – there’s yard work all year round. The stereotype that these odd jobs are only for teenagers is still alive, but it’s simply untrue. With some skill and hard work, you can make a name for yourself as a skilled laborer and earn cash equal to a full-time job.
Such odd work is difficult to come by at first, as there is little business on social media or on odd job apps. The best strategy is to reach out locally to your neighbors and friends for first gigs. With some success, yard odd jobs in landscaping can eventually turn out into a full-fledged landscaping business.
6. Personal Chef or Meal Prep Services
Some people lead lives that are too busy to make healthy food for themselves. Others have too complicated dietary needs to complete the meal prep themselves. No matter the reasons, if you have a knack for kitchen work, you can make money from this odd job.
Starting isn’t easy because you’ll have to earn the trust of your clients and be always punctual with your deliveries. Sometimes, meal prep jobs are closer to temporary gigs as you might be preparing food for special occasions – birthdays, weddings, conferences, or other events.
7. Pool Cleaning
Although pool cleaning could be attributed to the general category of yard work, it deserves special mention. This is a huge business in some locations, such as Florida, and can even be a decent odd job everywhere else.
Pools must be routinely cleaned with special equipment, allowing you to find lots of recurring customers. You can find some starter pool cleaning work on odd job apps, but as with most cleaning side hustles, the best business is through recommendations.
8. Hauling and Junk Removal
The service of transporting and removing unwanted items or waste is a profitable odd job. Households, especially those under renovation, generate an increasing amount of waste every year. While you don’t need special skills, and the demand for such a service isn’t a problem in urban areas, there are other challenges to overcome.
Gas and dump fees will be your main expenses, so make sure to optimize your side hustle around it. Having a fuel-efficient car and finding local waste disposal methods is key to making extra money. Also, consider acquiring the needed licenses before starting, as doing so without them might lead to fines.
9. Photography
Good photographers are paid hundreds or even thousands per session, especially in events like weddings. Starting photography as an odd job on the side, while potentially profitable, is best when you already have it as a hobby. Investing in expensive gear and editing software without decent skills just for a side hustle is too risky.
Starting out as a portrait photographer for friends or selling stock photos online is often seen as a safer start. The barrier of entry is lower, so you can improve your skills and reputation before starting to sell your services professionally. You can start by looking into platforms like Getty Images or Scoopshot.
Quick and Easy Odd Jobs
10. Microtasks
Microtasks are small, often monotonous assignments that companies want to outsource to overseas workers. It’s one of the best fits for online odd jobs, including tasks like data entry, paid surveys, website testing, and many others. These side gigs will help you earn cash quickly and easily over the short term, but you need to know where to look.
Platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk, Pawns.app, UserTesting, and many others have different opportunities to pay in cash, gift cards, crypto, or other rewards. They vary depending on your geographical location and time constraints, but in most cases, you don’t need any special qualifications, and you can set your own hours.
11. Delivery Jobs
Delivery is the first thing most people think of when they are in need of a side hustle. Platforms like Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Instacart are wildly popular and can indeed help you earn extra income in your free time. Many claim that delivering food or packages isn’t that profitable anymore because of competition, but if you play your cards right, you can make it work.
Your means of transportation is the main success factor in delivering odd jobs. Driving a bicycle is the most profitable option, but having a cheap repair and fuel-efficient car can increase delivery requests.
When you work also matters as you must choose the hours that have the most orders. Some workers even use multiple platforms to maximize their time. In the end, it all depends on your persistence.
12. Renting Out Space or Vehicles
Most people have assets that can earn money for them almost passively. Renting out a room on Airbnb or a car on Turo is one of those odd jobs that, if done right, can feel almost effortless. There are some risks involved as your property can deteriorate faster or be damaged, but with good preparation, the renting platforms will help you minimize it.
You also must consider the demand. If your real estate isn’t near a tourist spot or a beach, it might be difficult to rent it frequently, or your earnings might be seasonal. The same applies to renting out vehicles, as some cars are simply not in demand. RVs and trucks are usually the most profitable to rent.
13. Mystery Shopping
Mystery shopping is an odd job that involves visits to retail stores, restaurants, and other businesses to evaluate their services. The idea is that only an unknown shopper can give an unbiased opinion that reflects the real level of service.
Companies value such feedback greatly, so they employ mystery shoppers via various platforms, such as Field Agent or Confero. Anyone with a bit of free time can earn extra money from secret shopping.
14. Passive Income with Internet Sharing
Sharing your unused bandwidth for money is the ultimate passive odd job on the internet. You simply need to download Pawns.app, run it in the background, and get paid for each gigabyte you share. It can be done from anywhere in the world, and the only requirement is to have a device with an internet connection.
Basically, you earn money by letting other people use your IP address to bypass various online restrictions – geo-blocks, trackers, ads, corporate spying, and others. Your device acts as an intermediary as it only receives requests and forwards them back. Nothing about you or your data is shared. You only need to provide internet access.
15. Flipping Items for Profit
Buying when the price is low and selling when it’s high has been a business strategy for a long time. Flipping on a small scale in your free time is an odd job that can earn extra money. Your task is to scout online stores, thrift shops, garage sales, and everywhere else for the best prices.
Once you find something worthwhile, sell for profit elsewhere. The key to success is finding a good niche. It can be computers, clothes, cars, furniture, or anything else you can think of. You might need to add extra value. As long as you can sell for more than you bought, you’ll make money.
16. Participating in Focus Groups
Focus groups are a research method that asks a select demographic of people to answer various questions in a group discussion. The topics might vary from consumer products to social issues and politics. Participating in focus groups for money can surely be considered an odd job.
The best way to find such work is to reach out to local researchers in institutes, universities, and colleges. You can also follow them on social media, and whenever there is a study to participate, be the first one to apply.
17. House Sitting
People don’t like to keep their homes unattended – there are plants to water, lawns to mow, and property to protect from thieves. Running all these errands for homeowners while they are away is an odd job that creates some extra money on the side.
It is easier to start with good connections – ask your friends and family whether they need any help when traveling. After you get some recommendations, it might become a more consistent odd job for you. Facebook or other local social media channels are also great ways to find clients once you have a trustworthy reputation.
Niche and Unique Odd Jobs
18. Unconventional Gigs
Many odd jobs don’t fit any category and so can be called unconventional. Jobs like professional cuddlers, human billboards, bodies for hire, human statues, and similar have lots of potential. If you are brave enough to offer such services, it can be a fulfilling way to earn money.
While all these odd jobs sound fun, the difficult part is finding clients or an effective way of monetization. Using social media might help to get you some traction, but it might require skill and investments. An easier way might be to simply offer your services out in the streets.
19. Local Odd Jobs
Many odd jobs can be found when helping those in your local community. Personal shopping, for example, was really popular during the pandemic when the elderly needed help. Many other similar errands can be run in your local community to earn extra money.
Changing light bulbs, paying bills, taking care of pets, preparing for events, picking up items, transporting, and many other tasks can be considered as local odd jobs. As long as you can earn more money than doing nothing, it’s a great strategy.
20. Voiceover Work
Those who have a pleasant voice and can invest in decent recording equipment should consider voiceover odd jobs. There’s plenty of demand as various commercials, foreign TV series, anime, and books can be voiced for money. Platforms like ACX, Voices, or Spoken Realms offer voicing opportunities for thousands of voice actors.
If you are unfamiliar with such work, don’t expect to make a lot of money. A good start is by creating some free demos, a podcast, or narrating copyright-free books. After you get some experience to show, you can consider starting to sell your voiceover services for money.
21. Costume Character for Events
Dressing up as a popular character for a short time is a fun activity, even if no one is paying you for it. If you’ll make it into an odd job, it will be even better. You can start such a side hustle by purchasing or renting relatable costumes and marketing your services on social media and elsewhere.
Often, dressing up with such costumes might require more than purchasing them. Learning to walk with stilts or perform other tricks might increase your demand and, in turn, profits quite significantly. Depending on your niche, incorporating theatrical show elements can also be a good idea, especially if you are aiming at kids’ parties.
22. Beekeeping
Beekeeping may start out as a hobby, but it can turn into a profitable odd job. There’s lots of work and investments to be made – crafting bee hives, purchasing equipment, and maintaining everything is an all-year job. Selling honey, wax, and other bee products also requires effort.
Typically, it’s best to offer your products in the farmers market and sell them to friends and neighbors. If you want to earn extra cash from this odd job, you’ll need to scale your operation and create a brand. It is all worth it – a competent beekeeper can do a full-time job for it.
23. Blood and Sperm/Egg Donor
Hospitals and fertility clinics are in constant need of donations of blood and sperm or eggs. You won’t earn a stable income from such an odd job. Some states won’t allow you to be paid except with gifts at all. Still, helping out hospitals and regulated fertility services can be an easy way to make a short-term profit.
All you need is to run a decently healthy life and come to your clinic once in a while to offer your donation. Check the websites of local institutions, which will have all the information available. You’ll only need to show up once or twice a month and will earn some cash or other funds for the donation.
24. Water Slide Tester
Water slide testing is one of those odd jobs that’s hard to believe is real. All you have to do is come to a newly built water slide park or spa center and test their slides. However, it does sound a bit better than it is.
You might need some qualifications in engineering to be able to build a professional rapport. You will be paid to confirm the safety of water slides; if anything goes wrong, you might be the one to blame. If you are fine with the risks and responsibility, it’s an unconventional job that can be fun, rewarding, and profitable.
25. Professional Line Sitter
Most of the lines we wait these days are digital, but there’s still money to be made by waiting in lines for others for money. You just need to know where to look. Concerts, restaurants, product release events, discount stores, and many other places still have opportunities for line sitters to earn money.
The trick is to come early to places where you know people will be waiting in lines and take the good spots first. Then, you can reach out on social media or put up a sign stating that you might be willing to exchange your place for a price. It’s a job that’s as odd as it gets.
26. Furniture Refinishing
Unless you are only buying from IKEA, furniture is an expensive asset. Many people would rather refinish old furniture than spend money to install something new. In addition to that, the sentimental value and the design elements of the whole house make it quite rational. That’s why odd jobs in furniture refinishing are in high demand.
Skills and equipment are essential because this side hustle can only work if you are doing a job worth recommending. Another option is to include furniture refinishing in the flipping of odd jobs. You could scout for old furniture, refinish it, and sell it for profit.
27. Mobile Car Washing and Detailing
Professional car washing and detailing services often start by investing in equipment for cleaning your own vehicles. Many start such odd jobs as a practical way to pay off the gear they have bought for themselves. You’ll only need some additional work on marketing, but as with many odd jobs on this list, the best business comes from recommendations.
Compared to traditional car washes, car detailing freelancers have an edge on flexibility. The gear can be transported, and all work can be done right in the customer’s backyard. It’s more convenient for the customer, while you can keep car detailing as one of the odd jobs you complete on-demand.
How to Get Started with Odd Jobs
Finding the Right Job
It’s essential to find a job that will match your skill set, schedule, and, most importantly, passions. Every odd job is a side hustle at first. If you don’t find it enjoyable, it’s highly unlikely you’ll find the motivation to learn and work after your day job is finished. The only exception is profitability, which, to some extent, is also a necessity.
Some odd jobs, such as flipping, beekeeping, or car detailing, can get you to lose more money than you earn. It might be justifiable if it’s a hobby, but if you want to make money, you should look only into profitable options. Research the market to figure out whether there is a demand for the odd job you are willing to start.
Best Platforms
Many odd jobs, especially online ones, have platforms for finding work. If there isn’t much work on popular platforms in your location, it might be a sign that you should use social media or look for odd job opportunities locally. Here are some of the best odd job apps and platforms categorized for convenience.
- Freelance work: Fiverr, Upwork, Indeed.
- Skilled manual labor: TaskRabbit, Gigwalk, Angi.
- Pet care: Rover, Wag, Mad Paws.
- Photography: Scoopshot, Shutterstock, Getty Images
- Online side hustles: Amazon Mechanical Turk, Clickworker, Pawns.app.
- Delivery jobs: Uber Eats, DoorDash, Instacart.
- Surveys: Pawns.app, JustAnswer, Survey Junkie.
- Renting: Airbnb, Booking, Turo, Yoodlize.
- Flipping and re-selling: eBay, Amazon, Etsy, Mercari.
- Voiceover: ACX, Voices, Spoken Realms.
Tips for Success
Working an odd job is somewhat similar to running a side hustle business venture. You’ll have to research the market to set prices, promote your services, look for sales leads, get recommendations, encourage good reviews, and much more. A proactive approach to all of these challenges is essential, but it can be much simpler with odd jobs.
In the end, it’s all about providing quality service and being honest about the work you do. Many people successful at odd jobs are simply able to solve customers’ problems or deliver a good product. If your work will speak for itself, then recommendations will be your marketing strategy.
Conclusion
No matter what odd job you’ll settle for to make money, you won’t be committed for life. Feel free to try out as many as possible. The best start is with those odd jobs that are easy to get into, such as internet sharing and paid surveys. Both side hustles are perfected on the Pawns.app.
