Holiday jobs you can start tomorrow

What? Thanksgiving already? If the holidays snuck up on you and you need a side gig to pay the bills, consider holiday hustles you can start tomorrow. These are gigs that people just like you (and me) would like someone else to do for them — right now.

“This is the season when money is flowing and people are willing to pay for help,” says Christine Schaub, author of Queen of the Side Hustle. That makes this the perfect time to ply a service-oriented side hustle, she adds.

What can you do?

Holiday hustles you can start tomorrow

If you want to come up with a full list of holiday hustles you could start tomorrow, just think about all the things you need to get done between now and Christmas, Schaub suggests.

Choose, order and address holiday cards? Hang lights? Wrap presents? Buy presents? Find someone to watch the kids for your office holiday party? Find someone to watch the dog for your trip to grandma’s house? Get someone to make the food for your holiday meal? Decorate your house? Clean your house? The list seems endless.

And, yet everyone reading this has some skill that could make doing at least one of those jobs simple, she adds. Why not market yourself as the go-to problem solver for the one item on this list that you don’t mind doing?

Social sites to get the word out

But how do you get the word out that you’re ready, willing and able to solve holiday headaches? That depends on what you want to do. With many holiday hustles, spreading the word is as easy as composing a social media post.

Both Nextdoor and Facebook are great places to announce things like: “I make holiday cookies. $20 per dozen.” Snap a photo. And, Voila, your baking business has launched!

This is also the perfect approach for people who make charcuterie trays and wrap gifts. Both sites allow users to post photos and personal messages without paying a dime for marketing. However, if you want your post to reach a larger audience, both also allow you to boost your message with advertising.

You might also use this approach to launch your light-hanging, house decorating, babysitting or dog-watching service, too. However, you can also use other online platforms to advertise these services.

Taskrabbit

If you want to clean, decorate houses, wrap packages, assemble gifts, provide personal shopping or personal assisting services, you can also advertise your availability on Taskrabbit. Taskrabbit is a highly reviewed national marketplace for all types of in-person services, from painting and appliance repair to cleaning and running errands.

Those who want to offer a service through this site, simply sign up and create a profile that talks about their experience and the services they offer. Workers set their own rates and availability. And there is no cost to publish a profile or find work here. Taskrabbit adds a fee to your rate to pay the site’s expenses.

When a client wants a particular service, they’ll plug in what they need and their location. The site returns with a listing of freelancers who could provide that service. The profile listings say what each freelancer charges, how many similar projects they’ve accepted, their customer ratings, and, sometimes, photos of their work. (Photos are a great idea for those just getting started on the platform. It gives potential customers some assurance that you do good work, when you haven’t yet built up a lot of reviews to back that up.)

Typical rates for cleaning and decorating services range from $30 to $70 per hour. Personal shoppers and assistants typically charge $20 – $50 per hour.

Rover

Want to provide dog-sitting services? Create a profile on Rover. Like Taskrabbit, Rover encourages freelance pet-sitters, dog-walkers, groomers and house-sitters to sign up and post a profile stipulating what they do and what they charge. You’re invited to post copious photos of you and the pets you’ve cared for, too. There’s no cost to get started, but site charges a commission on your earnings to pay for marketing and collecting payments from your clients.

Notably, overnight pet-sitting rates typically range from $25 to $50 per animal, per night. But Rover also allows pet sitters to publish holiday rates. So, if you want to earn extra money for watching people’s animals on Christmas day or when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, you can set your own premium prices for those high-demand dates.

Bambino and Care

Willing to watch kids while their parents attend holiday parties or go out for New Year’s Eve? You can advertise your willingness to babysit on social media sites like Facebook and Nextdoor. However, parents who want a vetted caregiver are more likely to search on sites where their babysitters are known to their friends and family — or have been background-checked by a site.

Two sites are worth mentioning for potential babysitters — Bambino and Care. Bambino charges nothing to sitters to sign up and create a profile. Sitters are expected to connect their social media accounts to give parents the ability to find sitters used by friends and friends of friends. When a parent books a sitter through this app, they pay the site a $5 sitter fee at the end of each sit.

Care is an all-purpose caregiving site, which enlists babysitters, pet-sitters, and people who work with older and disabled individuals, to sign up and post profiles. Signing up and creating a profile is free. However, if you want to communicate with potential clients, you’ll need to pay for a membership. Memberships for caregivers are relatively inexpensive — $9 a month or $24 for six months. However, clients also pay a membership fee that’s a bit steeper. So, this site isn’t your best choice if you only want occasional babysitting work. The site is best for those who want regular caregiving gigs.

Kristof is the editor of SideHusl.com, an independent website that reviews moneymaking opportunities in the gig economy.