What It's About
A South Africa au pair takes her work on the road and travels for free.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
For first time au pairs, Lerato recommends signing up with an agency. An agency is responsible for finding families and making sure the environment is safe for the au pair. They will run a background check on the family, arrange work visas, introduce you to other au pairs in the area, and place you with another family if you are unhappy.
Fun Fact
The word "au pair" is French, meaning ‘on equal terms’. The phrase originally described an arrangement between two parties paid for by the exchange of mutual services.
Notes from Chris
Episode 963
Lerato of South Africa has a side hustle that takes her around the world. This gig not only earns an income but also saves her money on food and lodging. It’s a job you may have heard of before, but perhaps haven’t considered in this way. Lerato is a part-time au pair. An au pair is defined as a young person, who goes abroad to live with a native family, often to learn a language or experience a different culture in exchange for childcare. Before traveling and becoming an au pair, Lerato trained and worked in digital marketing. In 2016, she started blogging, which led to freelance writing and web design gigs. These have been her primary income for the past three years while living in different countries. To add another piece to the puzzle, she launched a dropshipping store within the past year. Although Lerato can spend up to 60 hours a week on the blog, freelance jobs, and dropshipping, they’re all online and flexible in terms of when she puts in her hours. In other words, her “day job” fits easily around her childcare side hustle schedule. Typically, she’ll watch her host family’s kids for two hours in the morning. While the kids are at school, she does her online work. After school, she takes care of the kids again until around 7 pm. She does this four days a week, and the rest of the time is her own. Being an au pair has helped Lerato learn a lot about herself. She’s grown to handle things she didn’t think she was able, and she can now claim drivers licenses in four countries and proficiency in six languages. But what are the economics of this? Well, Lerato’s most recent au pair pay was €1,000 ($1200) per month. That might not sound like much, but remember that her food, lodging, and utilities are all free. This past April, she made €500 in overtime because the parents went to Portugal for the weekend and she watched the kids. Something unique about this side hustle is that it can be seasonal. You can take on back-to-back contracts, or pause between them as you wish. At the moment, Lerato is doing just that and taking a break from her au pair gigs. She’s decided to travel full-time for six months, gathering content for her travel blog, and taking the opportunity to visit her family back in South Africa. Maybe she’ll return to being an au pair, or maybe she’ll apply those new skills to other endeavors. With six languages and four drivers licenses, she’ll have no shortage of opportunities.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- My Life from a Bag: Learn more about Lerato's work and travels over on her blog!
- AuPairWorld: If you're interested in becoming an au pair yourself, head here
SEE ALSO:
- Mom Starts Uber Easy Side Hustle Taxiing Kids: An Aussie mom of five discovers an easy way to make cash by giving rides to her kids’ schoolmates
- Teacher Hustles to Pay Off $100,000 in Student Loans: A young teacher uses tutoring and babysitting to pay off more than $100,000 in student loan debt in just three years
- Rhode Island Mom Has Side Hustle In The Bag: A communications manager and mother of two young children manufactures an innovative solution for a common shopping problem
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Resources
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