This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, what's up? Thanks for tuning in today. Hope you've been having a wonderful week or a good start to your week, I should say. You're just wrapped up Thanksgiving weekend here in the United States. Maybe you got some shopping done as part of Black Friday.
Today is what, Cyber Monday, is that right? So many shopping opportunities out there. Of course, if you just want to keep it minimalist and not shop at all, I totally respect that as well. No Black Friday sale from us. We're all just about putting together new content for you, a new episode every single day.
This is called Side Hustle School, by the way. All right, today's episode is part of a feature we do called Your First Thousand Dollars. Now, as you might surmise from the title, it's all about how someone made their first thousand dollars. How, in fact, did they get to that point? And one thing I've learned or I've noticed over the years, once you begin to earn real money, the steps required to go to the next level, whether it's a thousand to $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, whatever it is, those steps are often easier than that first real paycheck.
And in fact, that's what you're gonna hear today. Our listener today, they are making up to $4,000 a month, originally from TaskRabbit. That would be the service which was originally designed for errand running, but now you can hire TaskRabbit for all sorts of things. I believe our caller today is doing handyman kind of projects. And the fun thing is that he is not a handyman or someone who even works with his hands for his day job.
He does computer work for his day job, but was looking for something different for the side hustle. He's been able to make it work very, very well. So without further ado, let's hear from him. His name is Lawrence. Lawrence is gonna give us this story.
I'll be back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
This is Lawrence, reporting in for my first $1,000 story. I actually made my first $1,000 through TaskRabbit, which it was cool, but my goal was always to get off somebody else's platform and to build more of my own brand. Started last year when my company went mostly remote. I was just tired of staring at the computer all day.
Wanted to do more work with my hands. I'd always liked fixing things. I spent my free time learning to fix even more things. Watched videos, I went to the local hardware store. Did stuff like taking apart my door or my light fixture, just to see how it works, you know?
And then I thought, hey, maybe I could get paid for this weird hobby. So I signed up for TaskRabbit. I did a couple easy furniture assembly jobs. I built several work desks from a box for a startup. Then I raised my rates, $60 an hour.
It seemed high to me at the time. I hadn't really factored in how much the platform takes. Once I understood that more, then that's when I realized I'd be a lot better off with my own clients. You're not really supposed to use TaskRabbit for lead generation, but from some forums I visited, it seemed pretty clear that that's what people do. So I printed business cards, gently handed them out at the end of each job.
Remember, I already had a day job. This is just fun. Now it's fun that pays me. Well, last month I earned $2,500 for my first direct-build jobs. This month, should be closer to $4,000.
Now I'm not sure I can do much more at this point, but if it continues, I'll be very happy. One thing I learned is to get as much info as possible in advance. One time I showed up to install a ceiling lamp, but the electrical work hadn't been completed. You need a licensed electrician for some things. That's not me.
So it was basically a wasted morning. It could have been avoided if I'd asked some more questions before I drove out there. I also avoid clients who are overly concerned about the cost. Now I'm frugal myself, you know, and I charge fair prices, but I don't want to get into a haggling situation. Well, looking back, I'm really glad I decided to pursue the venture.
Thanks Chris and the team for all your support. Keep hustling. - Lawrence, thanks so much for that story. I really appreciate it. I don't know that we have featured TaskRb many times on the podcast and all of our episodes.
I've used TaskRb myself just as a customer. In fact, I often hire, you know, somebody to come and do handy man, handy woman, handy person projects, 'cause I can't fix anything myself. But it's really cool how Lawrence has built this out from not just a little bit of a hobby. I guess it is still a hobby, but he's on track to do $4,000 a month from this hobby. So I don't know, I think that is pretty awesome.
Anyway, listeners, I think you're pretty awesome too. Thanks for tuning in today. We've got a new episode out every single day. New one coming out tomorrow, in fact. So I hope you will join me for that.
And also, I hope you take care of yourself during this holiday season. Just a lot of stuff in the mix. So that is more important than anything else. So I will leave you with that today. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
