Are you unemployed? More to the point, are you underemployed and have extra time, but no job to fill it? A website called TaskRabbit is one of several that are hiring people to do immediate, temporary jobs for anyone. Need someone to do a chore for which you don’t have time? There might be someone who has time right now to do it:
Erika Dumaine, 24, logged onto TaskRabbit this April and saw the following plea for help: “Buy me shoes ASAP. I stepped in dog poop.” So Ms. Dumaine, now a full-time nanny, bought and delivered a requested new pair of navy blue Toms shoes from Nordstrom’s to the poster, Guillermo Rauch. (Her payment: $17.) Aura Montano, a 21-year-old nursing student, stood on the Brooklyn Bridge holding an “I heart Anie Lewis” sign one Friday evening in August so she could attract the attention of Eric Lewis’s wife and hand her flowers as she walked home from work. (She earned $19.)
Those handful of dollars per job can add up to a substantial sum:
After submitting an online application, completing a video interview and going through a Social Security number trace and a federal criminal background check, Ms. Greenham joined the San Francisco-based company’s crew of about 2,000 “TaskRabbits.” She does odd jobs via the service every day, aiming to clear at least $25 an hour. So far, she’s completed about 250 jobs and has racked up around $1,500 a month.
Like the guy who started renting out his personal possessions, we’re seeing more and more people using the Internet to create their own jobs and run microbusinesses. Isn’t that awesome?
Link -via Marginal Revolution | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user mahalie
