When you’re desperate for a career change, either due to the unsustainable pressures at work, the ridiculous hours you’re expected to be available and willing to work or the boredom that demotivates you on a daily basis, even if you’re a well accomplished heart surgeon or well-traveled chef, you may feel like you’d do anything for a change.
Anything? Let’s talk about jobs no one else wants to do.
They pay well. They offer a change. And they offer a way to make a career change quickly. Don’t rule them out. Some of these jobs can get you to financial independence in a quick way. And if financial independence is part of your strategy designed to create space for you to have the freedom to travel or time to explore your purpose, you may want to take a serious look at them. Longing to just try something completely different? You may find one of these jobs, or an aspect of one, will create a seed of inspiration that will grow into your next career.
What are these jobs? Some people call them “dirty jobs.” Not because they are illegal or immoral. Rather, these jobs are exactly what they describe – they are done in dirty surroundings. Dirty jobs are nothing new, as Mike Rowe has discussed in his Discovery Channel series highlighting psycho monkeys, potato growers, coal muckers and coffee growers, among others.
If you’re looking for a six-figure income, here are a few options…but don’t say I didn’t warn you. You’ll definitely find them dirty.
- Don’t mind taking out the trash? In New York City, a two-man team works the 7pm to 3am graveyard shift in New York City and, together, pulls in more than $200k a year. They don’t need any specific educational degree to do this. It’s fascinating to learn this field is growing! In 2016, CNN reported that trash wages are growing faster than most others: “Nationwide, wages for trash workers have grown 18%, which is a lot faster than the 14% average for all workers since the recession ended in June 2009.”
- Love golf? Some people are diving for golf balls….and earning $100,000 a year according to ESPN. “The golf ball recovery business can be tremendously profitable. At least 200 million golf balls are lost each year in the United States, with the majority of them being found by divers who have reported annual incomes in the $50,000 to $100,000 range,” ESPN reported back in 2006. That number has increased over the last decade. Unfortunately, divers routinely report getting bitten by water moccasins and snapping turtles, and in Florida, and the ultimate impediment to collecting used golf ball is the alligator.
- Smell something fishy? You may have heard about Alaskan crabbers who can earn their living for an entire year over the span of a few short months. Pay for crabbers hinges on the daily yield and market prices. In 2017, crab boat captains earned more than $200,000 per year, and crewmen may make as much as $50,000 during a three-month working period. Often, living expenses are paid during the fishing season.
And if you live in San Francisco, or want to move there, you may be interested to know that as part of San Francisco’s budget for street cleaning, in 2018 nearly $3 million has been earmarked for so-called “Hot Spot” crews to wash down homeless camps and remove biohazards and an additional $830,000 has been earmarked to pay a small team to walk around the streets and use steam cleaners to clean up feces. The city’s poop patrollers “earn $71,760 a year, which swells to $184,678 with mandated benefits” such as health care and retirement accounts.
Interested in earning six figures…but maybe not in a dirty job? Join our membership to learn more about jobs that aren’t quite as dirty but could still make you the money you need.