Saturday, July 16, 2016

Help Your Teens Find Paid Gigs In The Neighborhood

Neighborhood Road of Money

Does your teen have access to a pickup truck, a strong back, and 60 minutes to spare?

Boom. $40.

That’s what Jayne L. across town is paying to move 5 clay planters.

How would your teen know that?

Nextdoor.com. Here’s the post with the opportunity:

Hi. I have a 5 large clay planters that I would like to move from Menlo Park to Stanford. Will happily pay $40 to anyone who has a truck and a driver’s license who will move them for me. Just e-mail me via nextdoor.

Who’s Jayne L.? She’s your neighbor. Haven’t met? Just click on the profile. If she’s in your immediate neighborhood, you’ll see exactly where she lives, how long she’s lived there, and all her activity on NextDoor.com. Now you can decide whether this is a safe paid gig for your teen.

Nextdoor.com is a private social network for you and your neighbors. All neighbors have to verify their address and use their real names. It’s a great resource for teens who are looking to earn a little extra cash from neighbors offering miscellaneous paid gigs.

Your teen can also find paid neighborhood gigs on Craigslist. Just narrow the search down to your local neighborhood, select the “Gigs” category, and filter on “paid.”

Here’s where you and your teen need to be much more careful though. Unlike on Nextdoor, it can be hard to know who you’re dealing with on Craigslist. The photobooth attendant job with a known party supply company offering $20 an hour and extensive training? Looks like a winner. The “modeling” gig requesting the submission of inappropriate pictures? Um, no!

Not comfortable going the online route? There’s always the good old fashioned way: pound the local pavement. Your teen can go door to door to known neighbors and simply ask. Need some yard work done? Need someone to feed the cat while on vacation? Need the dogs walked? Need some babysitting? Your teens won’t know what’s possible without asking.

So, the next time your teens hit you up for some cash, tell them to go ask the neighbors instead.


1 comment:

  1. Bill, #getskratch couldn’t agree more! Communities are the best places for finding trusted gigs. In Dallas, Skratch is excited to offer teens the best, safest way to find gigs via their mobile device! www.skratch.co/faq A Skratch teen's experience is also tethered to their parent's supervision. Let's get acquainted! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/helping-teens-get-ahead-in-the-gig-economy/

    ReplyDelete