Fun jobs

[patela6]

What fun jobs are people doing? Not volunteer work, but a job you truly enjoy and perhaps get some beer and healthcare $.

I'm about 8 to 10 years away from this...

My initial list all likely part time: work at local hardware store, gym, brewery, wine store/sommelier, park 'helper' during summer months etc

This is the kind of job you may do for a long time, or even just 3/6 months and it would be no sweat if you left anytime or got let go (seasonal is ok).

What are people having fun with, while earning some beer or dentist $??

 

[strobot]

Organic gardening. You'd be surprised the yields of fruit/veg you can get with a hydroponic setup (plus no messing around in soil!). If you get enough of a specific crop going you can join a CSA or community program and it's pretty cool! Usually someone will always give you beer (or hard cider...or harder homemade spirits).

 

[patela6]

Organic gardening. You'd be surprised the yields of fruit/veg you can get with a hydroponic setup (plus no messing around in soil!). If you get enough of a specific crop going you can join a CSA or community program and it's pretty cool! Usually someone will always give you beer (or hard cider...or harder homemade spirits).

Cheers!

 

[folivier]

I love to read and have a small business as a free lance proofreader. I only work for a few authors whose works I enjoy. I developed this over a few years by sending an author a list of corrections after reading a book. One author in particular pushed me and helped me break into doing it for pay. I'd be doing it either way but it's nice to get paid.

 

[Music Lover]

I'm in a couple bands that gig...well, we used to gig but obviously that's not viable at the current time. The money isn't a lot but it more than paid for my gear and expenses, and every year I make more than I spend.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I write and edit old-car articles for a magazine. It's fun to research automotive history, and I get paid $200 a pop for a few hours' work.

One of my go-to sources is an online library of factory auto brochures from years gone by. Maybe some other forum members would enjoy looking up the literature for a car they drove earlier in their lives. Here's the link: Classic car brochures and owners manuals - The Old Car Manual Project

 

[aja8888]

I write and edit old-car articles for a magazine. It's fun to research automotive history, and I get paid $200 a pop for a few hours' work.

One of my go-to sources is an online library of factory auto brochures from years gone by. Maybe some other forum members would enjoy looking up the literature for a car they drove earlier in their lives. Here's the link: Classic car brochures and owners manuals - The Old Car Manual Project

Very neat! Which magazine do you write for? I'd like to look at it.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Very neat! Which magazine do you write for? I'd like to look at it.

I'll PM you. I'd rather not "out" myself on the open forum.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Not FIRE'd yet... close. I'm moonlighting as a bartender at a Taphouse and as an outgoing introvert I love it as it gives me a roll to play in being interactive with others. I plan to continue and add another PT position inline with my interests (craft beer, fitness/outdoor activities, local history/tour guide) when I quit the day job and consider myself FIREd.

 

[W2R]

I have zero desire for any kind of job, "fun job" or not.

However, Frank has a "fun job" that he really likes. He does sound and lights for musical acts at bars. He is a retired engineer so he likes using his skills to design and maintain the sound and light systems and he is very good at it. Also, due to his fun job he knows and hangs out with a lot of the regular musicians and entertainers down in the French Quarter, which is fun for him.

The job doesn't pay much, and the hours have never been regular since its a gig type of job, but doing this work has been helpful to him in fending off boredom. Unfortunately due to COVID-19 restrictions his job essentially vanished (bars closed, live music banned). This month due to a loophole he worked two nights, for the first time since March, but we don't expect that to last. He only asked for half pay since the bar owners are mostly on the verge of bankruptcy.

 

[Time2]

Not FIRE'd yet... close. I'm moonlighting as a bartender at a Taphouse and as an outgoing introvert I love it as it gives me a roll to play in being interactive with others. I plan to continue and add another PT position inline with my interests (craft beer, fitness/outdoor activities, local history/tour guide) when I quit the day job and consider myself FIREd.

Kinda of a does not apply, my son is 26yrs old, has a chemistry degree, has apps out, but kinda waiting out the covid thing. He works a as a server/maintainance/plant caretaker at a beer/wine bar, restaurant, nick nack retailer. He loves it, make good tips nights, does maintance days and likes the contrasting duties.
Dad's concern, he likes what he's doing, I hope eventually gets a chemistry position!

 

[bada bing]

I'm from a commercial fishing family and have used my mega-corp vacations to participate in the family business as a side hustle for 40 years. I'll continue fishing in the summer for as long as my health holds up. My dad made it to 78 before he hung it up. It takes about 8-9 weeks of the summer and I'm free the rest of the year. I like being on the water in Alaska with my family in the summer and would probably be there even if there wasn't a little income involved.

 

[6miths]

Teaching university students. Online since March. Keeps the mind nimble and feels like giving back. They pay me a few bucks, socializing with other faculty, free access to campus facilities, don't need additional health coverage. I do some other consulting work which is stimulating but sometimes not so much fun.

 

[Bigdawg]

I officiate baseball and volleyball. I was athletic most of my life and would probably be coaching if not for the officiating. My thoughts are that very few folks want to do this type of work, there is plenty of it and it pays well. I have made up to 15K/yr while still working my 32 hr/wk reg Jay Oh Bee. Uniforms, equipemt and mileage are deductable so I don't show much of a profit. Also lots of cash games which may or may not get reported to the IRS.

The islands may be in our future. I am upgrading my scuba qual to instructor and may teach scuba in the future.

 

[aaronc879]

I can't imagine any job being fun. I also can't imagine ever working any job if I didn't need the money. That being said I also understand some people get bored easy and need something to do. I know a couple people like this. One does bartending in the Summer at a nearby lake. Best view you can get while working and he says it's fun. My 75 year old neighbor does lawn mowing and maintenence at a nearby cemetary. He gets bored easy and it gets him out of the house.

 

[6miths]

I officiate baseball and volleyball. I was athletic most of my life and would probably be coaching if not for the officiating. My thoughts are that very few folks want to do this type of work, there is plenty of it and it pays well. I have made up to 15K/yr while still working my 32 hr/wk reg Jay Oh Bee. Uniforms, equipemt and mileage are deductable so I don't show much of a profit. Also lots of cash games which may or may not get reported to the IRS.

Oh this is a great one. I officiate minor league hockey once in awhile and love it - live near the local rink so get called if one of the scheduled crew can't make it. These are 'jobs' that many of us would do for free!

 

[Finance Dave]

What fun jobs are people doing? Not volunteer work, but a job you truly enjoy and perhaps get some beer and healthcare $.

I'm about 8 to 10 years away from this...

My initial list all likely part time: work at local hardware store, gym, brewery, wine store/sommelier, park 'helper' during summer months etc

This is the kind of job you may do for a long time, or even just 3/6 months and it would be no sweat if you left anytime or got let go (seasonal is ok).

What are people having fun with, while earning some beer or dentist $??

I do handyman work. No health care, but...

1) I enjoy it

2) I can turn down jobs I don't want, such as cleaning out a septic tank lol

3) You can be your own boss

4) I can limit my hours

5) I get to buy tools and write them off as business expense

6) Get to deduct health care premiums

7) Get enough money to pay for beer and some of my car hobbies

The only downside so far is that some people are unrealistic in their expectations, so I have to learn to manage that and explain that some things either can't be done or are not a good idea.

Example: One guy wanted a ceiling fan installed, but the light fixture currently there was mounted in an "old work" box with the little plastic ears. Ceiling fans cannot be mounted on these...they are not strong enough...you need a special fan box mounted to the ceiling joist. When I quoted the job, he was shocked how expensive it was...so I had to explain that I had to go in the attic and do work. He said "don't bother, just hang it without doing that"....but I refused...so I didn't get the job lol.

 

[skipro33]

Ski instructor. The resort I work at gives away free lessons to the first 10 people in each of the levels between level 5 and 9 (10 is the highest and no one, including instructors, are 10's) The reason for the free lessons is that marketing discovered a lot of people plateau on their skills without further coaching. They then get bored and drop the sport. Think of it like riding a roller coaster; at first it's terrifying, then it's fun, then is o.k., then it's boring. So you find a more thrilling roller coaster or you quit riding. I will start out asking the group what they would like to work on and what is doable based on conditions that day; power, trees, bumps, carving, etc. Then off we go! The lesson is an hour long and we can usually get in 2 runs, sometimes 3. As a class, we cut to the front of lift lines, so there's that. Throughout the lessons I'll give tips. Like; show your palms to the downhill of the mountain, not your knuckles. This causes elbows to drop in closer to the body and keeps mass over the skis. Or I'll describe a carve as a western where the bar fight has you diving through the window. That body position has the skier weighting the new, downhill ski to initiate a new turn on terrain that is steep and somewhat intimidating where they may lean back against the mountain instead of getting perpendicular to the mountain. The leap pressure is called 'up unloading' and is very useful when you need to clear small obstacles quickly, like a bare spot or rock. And on it goes as I give them the techniques of slight changes that improve their skills. How to pressure turns with just your big toe, how to steer using your knees, how to stay in the fall line on a bump run and skiing just the tips of the ski while staying off the tails in order to do so. How to control speed and float in deep powder, how to do advanced stuff like cornice jump off a ledge and tip the skis into the fall line or how to ski the terrain parks for the big jumps or half pipe.
Since the lessons are free, they usually tip well too!
Welcome to my office! How do you like the view?

 

[Music Lover]

I can't imagine any job being fun. I also can't imagine ever working any job if I didn't need the money. That being said I also understand some people get bored easy and need something to do. I know a couple people like this. One does bartending in the Summer at a nearby lake. Best view you can get while working and he says it's fun. My 75 year old neighbor does lawn mowing and maintenence at a nearby cemetary. He gets bored easy and it gets him out of the house.

A regular job probably isn't fun. But if you can get paid for your hobby or for something you enjoy then it's not only fun, it can also pay for some of your expenses.

I love DIY but I'll never work at Home Depot. To me that's just a job and I have no interest. I also love music and sometimes get paid for performing. Technically it's a "job" but I'm not doing it for the money.

 

[Sue J]

I'm a school crossing guard. It's 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon. I get paid but no benefits, no healthcare. Pre-pandemic it was 5 days a week with lots of days off for all the school holidays, etc. Since late Sept we are back at 4 days a week which is fine.

I started doing this 14 years ago because I needed 7 Social Security quarters to ever get any SS benefit. Once I fulfilled my quarters I just kept on doing it because I just enjoy it.

I also used to be an usher at an outdoor summer concert venue, Blossom Music Center which is the summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra. The venue also has lots of other concerts thru Live Nation. Most of the big bands play there as it is just under 20,000 capacity. I worked many country, rock, pop, concerts. It was a lot of fun and a great job in the summer. I enjoyed that for a long time until I just felt like my heart wasn't in it anymore.

Both of these jobs were for the enjoyment, not for the money. Not needing to do it for the money gave me a whole different feeling about the job.

 

[Retch The Grate]

Not doing it yet, but I'm talking with some folks who get paid to DM role playing games. It's not huge money, but you are getting paid to do your hobby, so that's pretty cool. I'm thinking about offering a paid campaign and seeing how many would be fun to handle while working my actual job, the trick is figuring out where to find people who want to pay for it haha. The person who was telling me about it just got their games filled through word of mouth it sounded like.

 

[Philliefan33]

I have a summer job as a guide for a whitewater rafting company. I also occasionally work as a bicycle guide.

I enjoy both activities and have benefited from the training provided. I use the money I make (usually a few thousand a year) to buy gear or fun things. This year I bought a new bike.

 

[Plantman]

The most fun job I ever had was being a driver for Enterprise rent a car. We would move cars between regional branches, pick up new cars at dealerships and drop off cars being retired from the fleet at the resale center. Since I love to drive it was a great experience and the bunch of guys I worked with were almost all retirees and they were a blast to work with. The stories and jokes told kept us in stitches all day long.

 

[gretah]

I know a woman who owns a small cheese and wine store. She has students at the local community college, culinary dept, work there.

She gets food and wine for her frequent home dinner parties at wholesale. She and DH write off trips to France.

She makes modest profits but loves her Lifestyle Business. I've been trying to think of something similar for myself.

 

[friar1610]

A regular job probably isn't fun. But if you can get paid for your hobby or for something you enjoy then it's not only fun, it can also pay for some of your expenses.

I love DIY but I'll never work at Home Depot. To me that's just a job and I have no interest. I also love music and sometimes get paid for performing. Technically it's a "job" but I'm not doing it for the money.

When I was among the employed I met a guy who did part-time computer programming for us. (He had been an IT guy during his career). He had previously worked at Home Depot for a while because he was into DIY, tools, and helping people to figure out what products they needed to do home maintenance jobs. Seemingly, a dream part-time job for a retiree with his interests. But he had quit for for two reasons:

- standing on the concrete floors for hours on end was a killer.
- they didn't make out the work schedules far enough in advance for him to do any planning for other activities. And they expected him to be available on very short notice to fill in if another employee had an "issue". Inconsistent with the retired lifestyle.