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"Ride-share, etc. is out because our only reliable vehicle is leased."
You can still use a Leased vehicle for any of these gig jobs and out of these Uber Eats is probably the best since you don't have to set a schedule like Doordash makes you.
With Uber Eats you just turn on the App whenever you are ready to work and when you had enough just sign off and your day is done. Their only restriction is that you can't work more than 12 hours in a row for safety concerns.
Using my car for any commercial purposes, such as you mentioned, voids the lease. We'd lose the car if they found out, and there may be other penalties too. Plus, this adds a lot of miles and the lease mileage limit could come into play.
That's not to mention the potential insurance problems since we don't have commercial insurance or any ride-share rider. I've done Uber and Lyft in the past. Both provide insurance while someone (or food) is in your car during an active ride, but at no other times, such as going to pick up a customer or waiting for a request, and it's secondary insurance that may not have to pay if you don't have a valid primary insurance paying first. Most people are technically lying when they sign up to be Uber drivers and say they have adequate insurance, so it would probably be pretty easy for their insurer to wiggle out of.
The odds of getting into an accident bad enough where this is an issue probably are not terribly high. But the risk for the relatively low reward isn't great. Uber doesn't pay too well in my area, and once you factor in gas and the wear and tear on the car, the majority of the pay comes from their incentive programs, which are only good when you first sign up, and taking the car depreciation on the tax return. Without those, it only comes to around $5-10 / hour, which IMO is not worth the risks, even though I like the work.
Back to the original post, if one truly has earnings that high I think an easier approach is to trim or eliminate current expenses first and see where that gets you in a few months.
Personally I'd do absolutely anything rather than work more. I think we all work hard enough as it is.
Nearly all of my expertise and contacts over the last 20 years are focused around a niche software product targeted at specific clientele. It's a small world that people rarely leave, and everyone in that world is a prospective client or competitor. Most of my software, design, and analysis expertise is non-transferrable outside of that world, and my limited experience in management and transferrable skills are not enough to get $150k+ jobs on their own because people don't want to hire senior level people with no direct experience or certifications in the things they're hiring them for.
It sounds like you are in a very precarious position. While your niche skills may be difficult for the company to replace, if they did have to release you it sounds like you are unlikely to replace it with something comparable.
I think you might do best to focus on cost cutting.
Back to the original post, if one truly has earnings that high I think an easier approach is to trim or eliminate current expenses first and see where that gets you in a few months.
Personally I'd do absolutely anything rather than work more. I think we all work hard enough as it is.
Why can't people just answer the question without attacking others?
What is lacking in some people's lives that they feel the need to go out of their way to attack people on the internet who are asking innocent questions?
Why can't people just answer the question without attacking others?
What is lacking in some people's lives that they feel the need to go out of their way to attack people on the internet who are asking innocent questions?
I guess I was just sick of seeing the stream of posters saying they make 150k but cannot live or want to make more money by switching careers or want to work 2 jobs or want to quit their job because they're not 100% WFH or are bored because they are given little to do.
But you have a good point actually. Why post if you're not going to contribute? If you're skeptical, then why comment? Why argue for the sake of arguing?
I've been asking myself why I continue to post here. At least W&E.
I guess I was just sick of seeing the stream of posters saying they make 150k but cannot live or want to make more money by switching careers or want to work 2 jobs or want to quit their job because they're not 100% WFH or are bored because they are given little to do.
But you have a good point actually. Why post if you're not going to contribute? If you're skeptical, then why comment? Why argue for the sake of arguing?
I've been asking myself why I continue to post here. At least W&E.
But I do apologize.
Bilee me, I like arguing with the best of them, but I refrain from going after the innocent ... I let the trouble come to me. Lol BUT, I get it, we all have our triggers. I deleted my social media account when I found it to be too aggravating ... it's been years now and I don't miss it.
Are you handy? Maybe try Taskrabbit. You set the hourly pay. I use it when I purchase things from Ikea. It is easier to pay someone else to put the stuff together.
Why can't people just answer the question without attacking others?
Trying to be helpful by throwing out some other ideas? Doesn't make it an attack.
I'm on another work related forum and asking what I would think is a simple question (like "What's the best way to _____") usually results in an array of answers. At least there's options, and it's up to me to pick the best one for my situation. People aren't obedient robots.
If the OP wants to trade even more of his time for work that's his choice. I'd sit down and really run through the expenses, see what can be trimmed. Doesn't have to be eliminated, just trimmed. At one point in my life things were just too tight and I was going into debt. I ended up renting out a room to a tenant for a year. It was the easiest way for an instant extra $500 month and gave me time to get out of my jam.
Going past the professional services work you clearly are qualified for, see what people are desperate for on your local Nextdoor community. Around here, if I wanted to, I could keep quite busy with "rent-a-husband" type of handyman tasks. Flushing a water heater/installing a new sacrificial anode rod, servicing a tankless water heater, hooking up a new water softener, hanging a TV on a wall, replacing smoke detector batteries or the detectors themselves (they are only good for about 9 years and must be replaced), hanging art on the walls, etc, etc etc.
I've done a bit of the above for friends. Of course, their being friends, I don't charge for labor but I make them buy any supplies/materials and usually get a nice meal or bottle of wine as a thank-you.
Before you dismiss the above out of hand assuming the $$ wouldn't be material, do your homework. You'd be amazed at what some of the retirees here are willing to pay. It is all local, of course, so your location will be quite different in what is in demand.
Then there are the requests for a "mother's helper" - largely domestic services and organizational services (perhaps your wife might be able to do this).
While not a side gig per se, mrs moguldreamer was paid $$ just to select the color scheme for painting the exterior of a condo high rise here in Las Vegas. Yes, we know the condo HOA president (a plus) but the HOA was very happy with the outcome and the job was some nice cash.
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