Reality Shows

First, a disclaimer. I currently get approximately one channel of television, and thus I am far from a reality show guru. However, I'm not a hermit and I know enough to say with confidence that like it or not, reality shows are not disappearing anytime soon. You might as well cash in on some of their lingering success, right? I mean, it's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. Where would the world be without "Real Housewives" or "I Love New York" ... okay, well, surely "My Big Redneck Wedding" (scheduled to debut January 11) will be a face lift for modern American culture ...

Anyway, the point is it doesn't take a genius to be on a reality show, or even to come up with a new reality show idea. That's not to say some shows don't take skill. Don't go auditioning for "So You Think You Can Dance?" if you've never set foot in a dance studio. But then there was "Temptation Island" ... enough said.

How To Get the Job: First check out casting calls online. http://www.realitytvcastingcall.com/ currently has posts for "Don't Forget the Lyrics", "MTV's Real World 21", and one that's titled "Know Someone Who's Never Satisfied?" (who doesn't?). Then you'll need to apply, and then (if they like your application) interview.

What You Get: Well, besides the satisfaction of making a permanent and beautiful contribution to pop culture, bascially, it depends. If you're competing for a prize and you don't win you may just get room and board (well, not even that, for "Survivor") and a smallish stipend--generally a few thousand bucks. Reality show stars make an estimated $10,000 to $25,000 per episode. Plus, as Leslie Gornstein (the Answer Bitch) points out, there may be opportunities to capitalize on your fame in other ways such as books, clothing lines, public appearances, etc.

Other Sites to Check Out:

• http://www.realitywanted.com/ (casting calls)
• http://www.stylecareer.com/realitytv_star.shtml (very informative)
• http://www.eonline.com/gossip/answer/index.jsp?uuid=04bc8448-dd40-4d35-b20f-5dd6198d924e (about how much reality show stars make)
• http://www.ehow.com/how_138329_develop-reality-show.html (if you have an idea for a new reality show)

Guadeloupe!!!

Do you like to travel? Are you good with groups of ambitious and energetic teenagers? Think about heading to Guadeloupe as a leader for VISIONS Service Adventures. (Actually, there are lots of countries you could go to with VISIONS, but I like the way it feels to say Gwa-de-LOO-pay--what a great name). Leaders keep the group members happy with each other (to the best of their abilities), and direct building, cleaning, and other community service projects. You might even get to apprentice with an artisan who weaves fishermen's salakus, wide round-brimmed hats unique to the area where you'll be staying.

The first obvious downside is that trips only go in July and August and, well, it's September now. But I just found out about this job and figured that if I tell you now maybe by the time summer rolls around next year you'll have gathered the ambition to apply and actually go.

The perks? Free housing, meals, travel, and stipend of $250+/week.

What you need: Standard first aid, CPR, and water safety is required; advanced wilderness safety certifications and carpentry/masonry skills are a plus.

Here's the site: http://www.visionsserviceadventures.com/programs/guadeloupe.htm

For other similar jobs check out www.backdoorjobs.com.

"Odd Jobs" (and me) on TV

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player06.html?071307/071307_live_jobs&Live_Desk&Odd%20Job%24&acc&US&-1&News&179&&&new

Book Update

Interest in my book has been picking up quickly! If you're around a TV tomorrow from 1-2pm, tune in to Fox news. You'll see me chatting about some of the odder jobs included in the book. In a week or so Odd Jobs should be popping up in Kinkos stores, so keep your eyes out. Also check out this article from the Baltimore Sun: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/investing/bal-bz.ym.ambrose10jul10,1,4545287.column. If you have trouble with that link it's in the Los Angeles Times, too: http://www.latimes.com/business/investing/tips/bal-bz.ym.ambrose10jul10,1,2659726.column?coll=la-utilities-investor.

Fantasy Broker

What You Do: Make people’s dreams come true. That’s right, basically be a paid fairy godmother. Whatever your client asks for—a day performing live with a circus, a skydiving adventure in the Himalayas, a jail visit with Paris Hilton—you make it happen.

What You Get: A small request, such as a picnic for two in the park with champagne and strawberries (yes, there are people who don’t have the motivation or desire to set up such a simple event themselves) might earn you a couple hundred dollars, while a more elaborate fantasy can cost clients thousands. It all depends how many hours it takes to arrange the details, plus the costs for insurance (on riskier fantasies), flights, food, celebrity appointments, or whatever is involved.

What You Need: The more connections you have, the better. You’ll need to make all sorts of arrangements relatively quickly, and knowing someone in the field (whatever the field happens to be—airlines, performers, sports) makes that much easier. It’s also helpful to have some law background, so you know if a person’s request is legal or not.

Sites to Check Out:

• http://www.trivia-library.com/a/business-in-the-us-odd-and-bizarre-jobs-fantasy-broker.htm - Another description of this job.
• http://www.wish.org/ - This is a much more charitable and less gratuitous version of the same concept. The Make-a-Wish Foundation is a non-profit, and they're really good at making dreams come true. I'm sure you could learn a thing or two from their techniques.

Odd Job of the Week

Golf Caddie

Here in the Northeast spring has finally really arrived. The trees are flowering, the grass is turning green . . . and the golfers are hauling out their clubs and hitting the courses. There are almost 27 million golfers in America according to Sports Marketing Surveys, and a lot of them pay good money so they don’t have to lug their clubs, interrupt the game to go find a cold drink, remember to bring their own sunscreen—all the things you could do for them!

What You Do: Follow a golfer around the course handing him or her appropriate clubs, a golf towel, or a drink, helping with yardages, etc.

What You Need: Knowledge of golf is certainly helpful, but how much you need to know will depend on who your client is. If you’re assisting a pro, you’ll want to be able to help him or her with shot selections, course information, and know all the rules of the game. For recreational golfers, you may only need a friendly, helpful attitude and two arms to carry some clubs.

What You Get: Tiger Woods’ caddy purportedly gets between 5% and 10% of Woods’ earnings, plus about $1,000/month salary, which would be around $750,000 last year. Caddies at a local club can expect $20-$40 per round (rounds typically last 2-3 hours if the golfer is playing alone).

Sites to Check Out:
http://www.caddychicks.com/ If you’re female and attractive sign up here to become a Caddy Chick.
http://www.golfonline.com/ This site includes all things golf-related.

It's out!

Monday night I wandered into the Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center, walked up to the information desk, and asked if they had a book by the title Odd Jobs. I felt like some sort of undercover spy, though of course I didn't really have to work at not being recognized. The glory of being a first-time published author is mostly a very private sort of glory-- the kind that sends a surge of excitement through your innards but that doesn't require shaded sunglasses or a team of body guards. It's not like I have a flock of fans chasing me with the book in one hand and a pen in the other begging for my autograph. Actually, that sounds kind of nice . . . where are you, fan club?

Anyway, I waited not so patiently as the young man clicked away at his keyboard. "It's by Gehring," I said. "G-E-H. . . I'm not sure if it's out yet or not." He was quiet (except for the clacking) for long enough that I was sure he couldn't find anything about it. Maybe he would say there was no record of the book, was I sure that was the title? Maybe Barnes & Noble had changed their mind and they weren't buying any copies after all. . .

Suddenly he wheeled around and started walking away. He stopped after a few paces, turned back, and jerked his head for me to follow. Around a shelf, down an aisle, and. . . there it was! I wanted to hug him, to grab a copy and run around the store hollering "It's out! This is my book and it's out! I spent every night for months writing this and now it's here!" Instead I just thanked him, picked it up, flipped through it, turned the stack to face outwards so they'd be more obvious (sorry B&N employees. . . this probably drives you crazy), and walked away.

So that's that. The book is out. Ask at your local bookstore to see if they have it yet. And when you find it, let me know what you think!

Odd Job of the Week

The Job of Your Dreams!

What You Do: Whatever you want! That's right. Extreme mountain climbing, researching wildlife in Antarctica, ranching in New Mexico... this is your chance to dream up something really crazy and outrageous and, perhaps, actually get to do it. "Delaying the Real World" is sponsoring a contest for folks who want to escape the nine-to-five grind. Write a detailed and exciting proposal of what adventure you'd like to embark on for a chance to win the money to do it.

What You Get: $3,500 (if you win)

Qualifications:
You must be age 21-29, and write a darn good proposal.

Site to Check Out:
http://www.delayingtherealworld.com/fellowship07/index.html

Good luck!

Tax Woes

So, for the record, the folks who say doing taxes are easy are not the same people who have five or six jobs in three or four states, some of which took out taxes, and most of which didn't. There are a lot of really good things about being a freelance, odd job type. Taxes are not one of them.

First of all, you need a table that's bigger than your whole apartment just to spread out all the forms. By the way, where did they come up with all those titles? 1099s, W-2s, C schedules or whatever they are. . . couldn't they at least name them something that relates to their purpose, like "Freelancer Form," "Normal People Form," "So Poor You're Trying to Count Your Toothpaste as a Write Off Form?" (Hey why not? Pleasant breath is essential for many jobs.)

Secondly, while everyone else is planning the trip to Hawaii they'll take as soon as they get their returns, you're filling out yet another 1099 and realizing that the rest of your pathetic savings will go to the government so they can afford to pay those people who come up with the bad names.

Anyway, my sanity saver has been http://www.taxact.com/. I won't say it makes taxes easy. But it helps. And it's cheap-- filing for federal is free and it's less than $15 to file for each state. Give it a try.

Curious?

Is there an unusual job you'd like to see profiled here? If so, let me know and I'll see what I can find out for you... it could become the next "Odd Job of the Week."

Odd Job of the Week

Private Investigator

You like to snoop. You're curious, even nosy. You're pretty sneaky, too, if you do say so yourself. Maybe you should be a P.I. You'll get paid to pry into peoples' family histories, spy on unsuspecting citizens, review their credit card bills, and perhaps find out how many speeding tickets they've received. If you live in one of the seven lucky states -- Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, and South Dakota -- there aren't even any licensing requirements. (For the other states you might need to be at least eighteen, have some experience in law enforcement, and/or pass a training course.) And, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, "Employment of private detectives and investigators is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2014."

What You Get: $25,000-$40,000/year, maybe more if you're highly experienced or embarking on a particularly difficult assignment.

Sites to Check Out

• http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos157.htm - What the U.S. Department of Labor has to say about P.I.s
• http://www.indeed.com/q-Investigator-jobs.html has P.I. job listings.

Odd Job of the Week

Greeting Card Writer

Between 7 and 8 billion greeting cards are sold every year in America. Seeing as I have probably wasted close to a solid year of my life standing in the card aisle looking for one that doesn't make me gag or choke, it amazes me to discover that about 235 greeting cards fly off the shelves every second. That's a lot of sweet/sappy/funny/clever verses to be written, and it turns out that about one-third of them are composed by freelance writers. So if you think you can produce something more touching, unique, or hilarious than most of what's out there, check out the writers' guidelines available on many greeting card Web sites.

What You Get: From $35-$150 per card (usually around $50).

Sites to Check Out:

• http://www.writerswrite.com/greetingcards/publish.htm is a list of greeting card publishers.
• http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/feb98/gak4.htm offers helpful advice and useful links.

Odd Job of the Week

Foley Artist

As a kid did you like to bang pots and pans together until your mother screamed? This could be the job for you. Foley artists are responsible for creating and recording the "everyday" background sounds in movies (i.e. snow crunching under foot, doors squeaking open, a child sneezing). To try your hand, thump two watermelons together-- no seriously, try it. What does it sound like? Like someone just got socked in the nose! Now snap a crisp piece of celery in two... hear that bone breaking? Believe it or not, the sound of sliding doors in Star Trek was made from someone pulling a piece of paper from an envelope.

What You Get: Up to $80,000/year, or $400/day

Sites to Check Out: www.filmsound.org/foley/

Odd jobs. Most of us have had one at some point in our lives. Some of us have had a lot of them. And some of us have had a lot of REALLY odd ones. I've had about thirty jobs in my twenty-three years-- some lasted an hour, others for close to an eternity. From getting old women to kiss scraps of paper (lipstick reading) to swimming with an Alzheimer's patient in an outdoor pool in a blizzard, my employment has shaped my life in some unusual ways. This blog is an opportunity for you to discover interesting ways to make money and to share your own unusual employment experiences, however weird, fabulous, frightening or mundane. Please add helpful information to my posts, offer tips to other moonlighters, commiserate with struggling freelancers, and celebrate your greatest successes. I know you have stories. Now you have an audience.