The Hustle High Five - Hustler News of the Week - April 13

Hello EncoreHustlers.

As promised in my last post I am posting again this week to make up for missing last week.

Before I start with the High Five I would like to give you an update on a previous post on the Job Seeker app.

So far this year I have earned over $210 in Amazon cash using the app to take photos of Help Wanted signs on local businesses.  This has been a nice little micro side hustle but this week Indeed the job search engine that created the app has updated it.  For the better, the app now has a map that shows all the locations that you have snapped photos of in the last 90 days.  The map also shows which locations are eligible for resubmission, which is a handy tool for maximizing your time spent using the app.  On the downside of the update, it appears that the Verify feature of Job Spotter has been removed.  This feature allowed you to earn extra money by verifying the veracity of other users Help Wanted submissions.  If you have any experience using the updated Job Spotter app I would appreciate hearing your comments if the changes have been an improvement.

Now for the High Five.

1)   There are many reasons for making the decision to postpone retirement.  The one most often cited is economic, but read this story that makes the case of continuing to work being a factor can also contribute to continued happiness and a longer, healthier life.  Also read this article about a study from Germany that shows that a lower pension can reduce your lifespan by as much a five years.

2)   If you do make the commitment to work past 65 a common method is a phased retirement that allows you to work fewer hours.  However, as you can see in the article, not all companies will accommodate this plan.  Also you need to read this story about Medicare and working past 65, missing applications deadlines can be costly.  Many licensed professionals such as lawyers also have to consider at what point should they give up their license when they give up their practice.  Read this piece what might be worth considering when making in this decision.

3)   Has it always been your dream to pursue your artistic interests as a second career?  If so, then read these pieces of a retired Sioux City psychotherapist whose art work has been featured in over 40 shows and the former Massachusetts state attorney who has published the first of a planned series of YA (Young Adult) novels.

4)   Another encore career path can be starting a new business.  It is not uncommon for fledging entrepreneurs to launch their business in an incubator environment.  But often these incubators are not designed for encore careers.  However Israel recognized this and has launched an incubator for people 60+.  Read all about it in this piece from NextAvenue.

5)   I would like to end with a sweet story of two sisters who retired with a cool encore career of opening a frozen yogurt store in the Chicago suburb of Elgin.

Well, that wraps up this weeks High Five.

So until next week, enjoy your hustle.

Mr.  EH

Job Spotter App - Mr EH Microhustles

If you Google or Bing "apps that pay money" it is likely you will get a hit for Job Spotter.

This app, available for free download from the Apple Store or Google Play, was developed by Indeed, one of the largest job-search and recruiting sites on the web.  The premise is that when you use your phone to take pictures of local help wanted signs Job Spotter rewards you with points that can redeemed for Amazon eGift cards.  As behoves a global recruiting company, Indeed has made Job Spotter available to the US, Canada, UK and Australia.

For the past year Mr. EH has been using the Job Spotter app to make the digital equivalent of finding loose change on the pavement and has racked up almost $600 in Amazon loot.

The app is very easy to use.  If you see a HELP WANTED or WE ARE HIRING sign on a storefront simply activate the Job Spotter app and take a photo of the hiring sign and a photo of the store front that clearly identifies the business.  Click submit for the photos, the whole process takes about 30 seconds in total, and you are done.  Within a few minutes the submission will be evaluated through the Job Spotter algorithm and you will have point credits awarded to your digital Wallet.

Each point is equivalent to one US cent ($0.01).  The amount of points awarded will range from 5 to 150, and will depend on the type of business that is doing the hiring.  The maximum amount will be paid for small, independent shops that have handmade hiring signs.  Much smaller amounts will be paid for corporate chains that have hundreds of stores across the country.  I regularly get rewards of over 100 points, with the most being 135 points for an Asian cafe in Pittsburgh.  I also get plenty of "nickels" for spotting hiring decals at Starbucks.

If you live in an urban setting with lots of retail storefronts it is easy to rack up hundreds of points in a short time.  I have made over 3000 points ($30.00) in about an hour walking along Forbes Avenue, which borders the University of Pittsburgh, since almost every fast-food joint or sport apparel store on the street was advertising for help.  I have also found that walking around a mall near Christmas or a resort town in summer is quick, easy money and it gets me a bit of exercise as well.

Job Spotter also runs a monthly competition to reward power users of the app.  The person who accumulates the most points in a month will receive a $300 bonus gift card (also $150 for second place and $50 for third).  Checking the history of completion on the app I see, for January, someone who goes by the handle of Longy win with179542 ($1795.42) points and second place went to phil1210 with 119800 points ($1190.00) which is pretty impressive for what is essentially a microhustle.

There are a few ways to hack how much you can make using Job Spotter.  You are permitted to resubmit hiring signs every 30 days, which is great when you find businesses that have perennial hiring signs.  Also the Job Spotter algorithm for recognizing hiring signs has its limits, so the app has a Verify feature that prompts you to confirm hiring signs from other submitters.  Usually these are poorly lighted signs or signs that are at oblique angles.  For each series of verifications you receive 10 points and the limit is ten verifications daily for 100 points.  Sure this only translates to a dollar but it only takes a few minutes and I usually do this while watching TV.

You can empty your digital Wallet, with no minimum limit, any time you want and within a couple of days you will receive an email with a redemption code for an Amazon eGift card.  When I disclosed to the EH family that I was using the Job Spotter I took a bit of ribbing, especially when I would look for opportunities to run errands to places where I knew there would be lots of hiring signs.  However, this changed when I announced that what I banked on our Amazon account using Job Spotter would be distributed as Christmas gifts for their Wish Lists.

I would highly recommend you to try this easy to use app to make some pocket change.   I would love to hear about your experience with Job Spotter.  It would also be great to hear about other money making apps you might be using.

Cheers!

Cool Jobs for Encore Hustlers

One of the great things about planning to be an encore hustler that we do not necessarily need to be  bound by what we did in our "real" career.  Also, not all encore hustles have to be limited to the sharing economy jobs, or "gig" jobs, that always come to mind: Lyft, Uber, TaskRabbit, PostMates, etc. Instead, we can let our imagination flitter across the possibilities that are there for the taking only if we have the courage to try them.

For example, would you jump at the chance to work on a cruise ship in exchange to free accommodations and a small salary?  The cruise industry is booming, with 13 new ocean going ships were launched in 2018 alone. Name a niche or interest and the cruise industry tries to cater to it.  Many cruise ships are virtual floating cities and they need armies of people to work these ships as photographers, nurses, shop personnel and instructors for crafts, bridge and golf. There is also my personal favorite gentlemen hosts hired to be dance and social partners for woman passengers.

If cruising is not to your liking how about being a caretaker of luxury houses on an island on the Australian Great Barrier Reef?  Check out this article about Bedarra Island that is advertising for a caretaker to maintain a cluster of seven luxury vacation homes while the owners are off island.  In exchange you will receive $450 a week and a one bedroom cabin.  The 15-hour work weeks should allow you plenty of time to enjoy the pristine beaches and tropical rainforest the island is known for.

Another great site to check out for the outdoor enthusiast is the Older and Bolder section of CoolWorks.com which goes by the motto If You Rest, You Rust! Spend a minutes pursuing scores of jobs that range from Grand Denali Lodge in Alaska, Mt. Rainier Park in Washington and the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and imagine nights spend under a dome of stars and clear mountain streams waiting for you to drop a fishing line.

One of the activities I love to indulge in when visiting new cities or historical sites is taking tours.  Well, have you considered working the other side of the microphone and being a tour guide yourself? Imagine having a captive audience that will pay to listen to you tell stories and appreciate your vast trove of trivia. It is true that many tour guides are unpaid volunteers  but there are thousands of paid positions that are just a Google search away.  For example, I did a quick search on Indeed.com and found part-time tour guide jobs at the New York Power Authority, the City of Aurora (CO) Naturalist Program, the Minnesota Historical Society and the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston.  I am sure that there are similar opportunities where you live.

Over the last few years I have met many people who have pursued cool encore careers.  It takes planning, guts and a dream, and I'm giving a thumbs up and a hurrah to:

• The Air Canada pilot who now owns a beachfront hotel in Honduras
• The steel mill scheduler who took a buyout package to join the Texas Seniors golf tour
• The Wendy's shift manager who is now a flight attendant on a regional airline in California
• The engineer who started his own wine label in the Columbia Valley in Washington state
• The university professor who runs a coffee business in Shanghai
• The procurement manager who retired to join a Search and Rescue team in Bend, Oregon

If you have encore career or are planning to take the leap I would love to know more about it.  Please contact me at Mr.EH@encorehustle.com and share your story.

Happy Hustling!