Jen “Odd” Glantz here! I’ve been thinking a lot about how we read about people who have odd jobs, but those jobs don’t feel real until we know a person IRL who has that job.

So today, I wanted to share some real people who I know (or sort of know) who are doing unusual things. That way, you can connect with them, research them, and find a way to do something similar - if their odd job speaks to you.

PS. if you’re looking to read my other weekly newsletter, The Monday Pick-Me-Up, here’s where you can subscribe. It often features really odd jobs, ideas, and tips, that you’d love.

All My Friends Have Odd Jobs

Decorate for the Holiday Season

One of the coolest jobs for the holiday season is getting paid to decorate people’s offices, homes, or even stores. You can seriously earn a lot of money doing this because a lot of people want their space to look holiday ready but don’t have the time or the creative mind to go do it themselves.

Check out Megan. She started The Ultimate Elf and makes $$$ as a holiday decorator.

Be a Doula

A lot of my friends are having their first or second child and many of them are hiring a doula, which is a a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to their client before, during and shortly after childbirth.

This isn’t a job where you need a medical or nursing degree, since you don’t deliver the baby, but you’re there for support/guidance/advice/and so much more. But after doing training and getting certified (example here), you can start offering your services.

Meet Lou. She started her own Doula service called Mate.

Get Paid to Travel the World

If you adore traveling, you might have had the dream of becoming a travel blogger. But in order to ditch the cubicle to do that, you need to also find ways of turning travel blogging into a paid gig. The best way to do that is to incorporate multiple streams of income (affiliate, brand deals, courses, paid ads, travel tours, books and more).

Just like Nomadic Matt. He does all of the above and traveling is his full-time job.

Start a Fitness Business for…Nerds?

One of the biggest excuses I hear from people who don’t go off and start an odd job is that they feel like the “industry is too saturated”. If you feel that way and it’s holding you back, offer a service to a more niche audience.

Meet Steve. He offers fitness training, courses, books, and retreats for his audience of "nerds”. It makes it more specific than offering these services to EVERYONE! So start a business for a certain group of people instead.

Start a Chocolate Company

Want to start a food company? Make it different or better than the other options out there.

Meet David. He’s an ex-TikTok and Meta employee who started a chocolate bar company with zero sugar, no artificial flavoring, and is dairy free.

Sell Website Templates

If you’re starting a service-based business where you are the service, eventually you might find yourself super burnt out. Instead, turn that service into a product that you can sell to a wider audience, without giving up more of your time.

Meet Olga. She sells website templates for Squarespace.

Be a Hired Bridesmaid

Yes, that’s my business! I started it because I was always a bridesmaid. So I ask you this:

What are you always asked to do? What are people asking you for help with all the time? What are you so good at?

Turn it into a PAID SIDE HUSTLE.

Need help? Let me coach you 1:1 to get started.

Random Odd Jobs:

These are all people I met recently when I interviewed them for articles I wrote for Business Insider.

This guy makes $$$ teaching tennis during the summer

This woman makes $$$ traveling as a photographer

This ex-bus driver is a security guard at a high-end store

This psychologist lives on a sailboat - not an odd job, but an odd lifestyle that I love!

Share Odd Jobs

Ps. Want personalized help starting your odd job or side hustle? Grab a coaching session with me before 2022 ends.

Coaching Session With Jen

Random Stuff You Might Need

Odd finds but good finds

A course on personal branding - YOU NEED A PERSONAL BRAND!

How to make life more interesting

Books! Books! Books!

How to up-level skills to get paid more at work

Is your boss quit firing you?

Until next week,

-Jen (odd) Glantz

Jen Glantz is a whimsical entrepreneur, 3x author, podcast host, and all-around pizza-obsessed goofball. You can connect with Jen on LI or IG. If you want 1:1 coaching, this is for you, or if your business wants a badass speaker, check this out.