The Kardashians were probably the first to make us wonder why we even bothered to go to college. How could it be that five sisters, whose biggest talent was looking good, managed to become some of the world’s most influential role models? Did they possess a secret genius that we were not aware of?
Many tried, to varying degrees of success, to follow suit, and as a result, the public was assaulted by housewives from more cities than most of us have heard of, and quite a few questionable catfights, yet we are still slightly in awe. Is it possible to make money by just getting plastic surgery and pregnant? While no one seems to have the golden touch of the Kardashians, there may be a few out of the box ways to make a few bucks.
1. Translator
Salary $132,000
Parlez vous francais? Snakker de norsk? Nihongo o hamashimasu? If so, you may have a future in the translating business. Freelance translating is pretty straightforward, you just translate texts from one language to another, and you can do it through telecommuting, otherwise known as: from your home.
Of course, it does take a little sweat. It may take a few revisions at first, but if you get the hang of it, and manage to capture the tone of the original work, you have the potential to rake in the bucks and live la vida dolce.
2. Celebrity Assistant
Salary: Up to $100,000
Some people would pay to hang out with celebrities, others get paid to do it. However, while you can expect to hang out on the red carpet, you’re not going to be walking it. In fact, you’re more likely to be juggling a cell phone, clipboard, and a few safety pins to guard against wardrobe malfunctions.
Exactly what does a celebrity assistant do? A lot, so be prepared to sacrifice family, pets, and all others, for your employer. You’ll be expected to plan events, arrange parties, and have the number of several caterers in your personal contacts list. Know thy computer well, and thy smartphone better. Remember you’ll be in charge of managing your club’s social media, personal calendar, and email account, so the more tech skills you have, the more attractive you’ll be as a prospect for employment, and brush up on your people skills, you’ll need to be sweet as honey to ease your way into the celebrity hive.
3. Voice Actor
Salary: $75,000
Homer, Marge, Lisa, Alexa; so many people working so few hours and making so much money. Who wouldn’t want this gig? You talk for a little while each day and the residuals roll in, and it’s not just about commercials and sitcoms. While all voice actors do voice actors do voiceovers, there are freelance voice-acting jobs for animation works, websites, videos, audiobooks, and more.
However, if your really gung-ho about voice acting, you may require voice training and conditioning, and it may be hard to find work, because so many offers require a specific type of voice, and altering your voice can also be challenging. So start practicing those celebrity imitations, they might pay off in a big way.
4. Statistical Analyst
Salary: $69,000
If your idea of statistics is brown hair, brown eyes, size 11, and birthdate, the job of statistical analyst may not be the one for you. However, if you’re good with quantitative data, it may just be your calling. The duties of a statistical analyst include interpreting data, designing statistical models for research, maintaining databases, and ensuring the validity of data.
It’s a broad field, but if you want to find where the real money is, you should specialize in economics, marketing, health, or engineering data. However, as you might imagine, they don’t let just anyone do the job. You’ll have to get proper training, certification, and have some type of formal college experience as well.
5. Personal Trainer
Salary: $58,219
Some people need to be paid to exercise, and some people just are. If you can manage to look hot doing some hot yoga, the job of the personal trainer may be the one for you. Of course, it does require Herculean strength, the stamina of a long-distance runner, and the patience of Job, but if someone can do it, you may be able to as well.
Of course, keep in mind that training humans is a lot harder than training dogs (see 11); dogs don’t talk back, they don’t complain, and they’re usually a lot cuter. However, if you don’t mind the human race too much there are a lot of perks to the job: you’re exercising while you work, which means you don’t have to worry about scheduling gym time, you make pretty good money, it’s a relatively relaxed schedule, and you will stay in decent shape, who knows, you might even get a gig with a celebrity! Yoga with Madonna, anyone?
6. Librarian
Salary: $57,680
If you want to sit behind a desk a few years so you can sit behind a desk and get paid for it, a librarian’s job could be the Life of Riley. Honestly, unless there’s some kind of technological engineering going on behind the library doors, there really doesn’t seem much of a challenge to this one, as long as you know how to operate the card catalog, all computerized nowadays.
So why isn’t everyone a librarian? Well, the school part may have something to do with it. You need a master’s degree in library science, which means a few extra years tacked on to college, and for most people, a librarian’s salary isn’t worth it. Besides, with so many online reading options, who knows how long the professions of librarian will continue to exist? Thus, the demand is down, the salary is down, still, it seems like a kind of relaxed job.
7.Tour Guide
Salary: $50,497
The tour guide: she’s classy, smart, well-spoken, looks great in a scrunchie, and gets to make her own schedule. If you did not answer “tour guide” when asked what you wanted to do when you grew up, it may be time to rethink your options. Tour guides get to travel, go on wine tasting tours, and, maybe best of all, choose their own schedules. Some guides love life on the road, and work more than 250 days a year, while others work seasonally or just for the summer.
What do you have to do to land a plum job like this? Certification training normally lasts for a mere 15 days; which is only two weeks of your time to get on the road to the job of your dreams. However, before you register for classes, make sure you’re up on your communication skills. People ask a lot of questions, so make sure you know where the bathroom is, at the very least.
So what do you think? Ready to give your two weeks notice? What do you think? Are these jobs too good to be true or too good to pass up? Let us know what you think. We love to hear from you.
8. Toll Collector
Salary: $40,000
Want to take cashiering to the next level? If you’ve had one year of experience working at a burger joint, and love the smell of exhaust fumes in the morning, you may be looking at a big pay raise.
According to the Cal.gov definition, a toll collection is someone, who can “assess, collect register rolls and account for money on a state-owned toll bridge, and to do other related work.” In other words, work as a cashier in a booth on the toll bridge. But what is this about “other related work?”
Well, it seems like you might encounter a little more excitement working in a toll booth as opposed to your Uncle’s supermarket. You might get faced with some pretty bad dudes on the open road, which means you’ll have to be able to handle some rough situations, and be pretty good at remembering names, faces, and license plate numbers, so if you can’t remember your own phone number, you may want to pass this one up. However, if you can follow directions, write and spell correctly, and prepare a few reports, this job could be an easy one, plus, working for the state entitles you to job protection, insurance, and a guaranteed retirement. Not bad work, if you can get it.
9. Flight Attendant
Salary: $39,000
Ok, so maybe the friendly skies aren’t as friendly as they once were, but a career as a flight attendant does have a lot of perks, starting with those mind-blowing uniforms. What Barbie-bred girl in her right mind could resist the opportunity to wear those? On top of that, at first glance, it might even seem like a Barbie doll could do the job. Simply point her arms the toward the safety exit, and she’s already made it past the first round of interviews.
But seriously, the job of a flight attendant is not always an easy one. After all, Barbie never came up against a cranky passenger, nor a barfing one, and she certainly never had to deal with crying babies or chair kickers. However, if fear of flying is not a problem, and you think you can master a pre-flight safety demonstration, the training only lasts from four to six months and can be done from almost anywhere in the world. Do the safety checks, check the overheads, secure the cabin, serve the food, and prepare for international intrigue. May the best uniform win!
10. Massage Therapist
Salary: $39,000
As long as there is stress in the world, there will always be a demand for a good massage therapist, and if you’re willing to invest a few hours (most programs require at least 500) and a few bucks, you might be able to help relieve it.
One person’s stress can be another person’s treasure, and no one knows that quite like a massage therapist, but a good massage therapist also knows that it takes a great deal of empathy to be good at the job. A massage therapist needs to give a positive experience to the client, and that requires building trust, and some pretty fancy finger work. If you’ve got the strength and the stamina, this job can be rewarding in more than one way.
11. Dog Walker
Salary: $20,135 – $51,622
We love to own them, we hate to walk them. Sure our dogs are our b.f.f.s., but let’s face it, when it comes to scooping the poop, most of us are just too pooped out. If you have the strength to reign in a few pooches, the patience to take a few breaks, and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, you may have a bright future in the dog walking business.
Remember, good customer skills are a must, so be sure to show up on time with a smile on your face, and a few doggie treats in your pocket, and you may be on your way to a very promising canine enterprise.
12. Game Tester
Salary: $20,021 – 58,890
The next time your mom/ kids/ significant other admonishes you for the amount of time you spend playing video games, just tell him or her that you are planning for the future. Yes, there is a future in playing video games, but, if you are interested in making a career out of game testing, there are a few things you may need other than a high score to qualify you.
Game testers don’t just play video games, they need to troubleshoot. That means game testers need to pay close attention to detail and know how to catch bugs. Additionally, once they catch those bugs, they’re expected to know how to target what caused them. Game players have to be able to think analytically. If they’re given documentation telling them the game is expected to accomplish a certain goal, they need to be able to write some appropriate scenarios covering different aspects of those goals, and they may even be called upon to build a system and troubleshoot hardware issues. Still interested?
It can certainly be a dream job, but with game testing, its not about whether you win or lose, its about how you play the game. Just remember, you’re trouble shooting, not shooting bad guys, and great players don’t necessarily make great game testers.
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