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The Side Hustle You Need to Get Into Today

By Dani AshPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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As a college student doing a full time unpaid internship, money is incredibly tight. I do just about anything to make a little money right now so I don't have to touch my savings. Babysitting is, of course, a good business to be in, and I often babysit, but that isn't enough, and unless you manage to get a nanny like job, it's not very consistent. Dogs, on the other hand, you can make serious bank and it can be very consistent too.

It seems like these days people have more dogs than children. And for children, there are so many day cares and schools. There are a few things like that for dogs as well, but they tend to be really expensive and most families don't want to deal with the hassle. They'd rather pay for a reliable person to take care of their dogs in their own home. I tend to keep my charges a little lower, because I get more jobs and more loyalty that way. Even so, I've made thousands of dollars on this business alone. It's amazing. And you get to take care of dogs! How amazing is that?

You can do this in many ways, and I've tried it in a few ways. There's Wag, and there's Rover. Both of those do most of the work for you. They connect you to the people who need their dogs taken care of. All you have to do is set up a schedule and check the app every once in awhile. There's other companies where you work it more like a job. All of these tend to be contractor jobs. It works well. Although, I personally do this privately. You tend to make more money that way depending on what you want and how you do it. Since I just do it to make a little extra cash, I do not try too hard to be working too much. I also mostly use the app called Nextdoor.

The Nextdoor app is helpful in a lot of ways. This is how I get most of my dog (and babysitting) jobs. I've had loyal clients for years at this point that I've met through the Nextdoor app. The app is available for both Android and Apple. It is very easy to use and there's many other options as well. Usually, about every six months I make a post on there saying I'm available for dog sitting/walking and have references. I don't tend to put my rates in the posts and have people come to me asking what my rates are. That's because depending on the situation your rates may need to change.

Really, this is such a great side hustle. Busy with school? Working full time but needing more cash? This is the right way to go, because you can always choose when and where you work, and if you can handle it. To give you a range on how my rates work in the Denver Metro Area, here it is: $20 for a 30 minute walk, $30 for 45 minute walk, $40 for an hour, and any overnights stay tends to be $50 a night. And this is on the cheaper side! You can charge more or less depending on what's needed. I have a month long job in July coming up and I gave a slight discount per night because of what was required (about $35 a night).

Dog sitting is especially nice if you are a student because if they give you a place to stay and wifi? You can sit there with a cute doggy and do your homework. I've done it plenty of times and it feels great. Use it for a savings fund, a trip fund, or perhaps pay off your student loans a little quicker. Enjoy it, get fresh air and exercise, and make some money while doing it. Happy dog sitting!

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About the Creator

Dani Ash

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