30x30| #27: Dog Chauffeur and Pool Boy
This might actually be stranger than my funeral job
While running the food truck, I got to know a lot of people in the community. One of these people was a lovely older woman who lived down the road and would stop in for coffee from time to time.
We got to chatting one day and she mentioned she was a property manager for some large estates in the area. She asked if I knew anyone looking for work as she needed help with various tasks.
I told her that, as it so happened, I was actually looking for some work in the new year given that I was transitioning away from the food truck. The work she needed help with was well paid, interesting, and most importantly, flexible. I was able to still work on my other projects and occasionally pick up work from her.
The tasks I helped out with ranged quite a bit. From replacing lightbulbs, learning how to run fountain pump systems, cleaning pools, and oh yeah, even driving dogs from New Hampshire to Florida.
A really nice family here in New Hampshire who spent winters in Florida needed to get their dogs down there but couldn’t manage the drive themselves anymore. So I stepped in and transported the dogs back and forth several times.
It’s wild what you can do for work – I never would have thought about this as a job but it happened to find me.
As for the other tasks, I would spend early mornings out cleaning and testing pools on large estates, stopping by other clients’ homes to fix or move various things. The clients were nice and it was fun to have the variety in the work.
Abundance
This role not only taught me a bunch of practical skills for life (with the home improvement projects), but also taught me that there are so many opportunities out there to make money. I’d so much rather drive dogs to Florida than sit at a cubicle. I’d rather spend summer early mornings methodically vacuuming a beautiful pool than commuting to the city for work.
The weird odd jobs I’ve done wouldn’t appeal to everyone but I love how diverse and interesting the work I’ve been able to be paid for in my life has been. I think it’s important to remember, we just get this one go around in life. As Mary Oliver puts it, it’s important to ask"How will you spend your one wild and precious life?”