We all know what “odd” means: "Something that is different from the usual or ordinary". However, this doesn’t add onto the meaning of odd jobs: Odd Jobs in fact mean work that requires less training or skills. I didn’t know this until I checked the definition of “odd job” online. So have you tried any odd job(s)? Whether for pay or for free? Let’s just consider “odd jobs” to be an unusual or an alternate job. If that is the case, have you attempted any odd job(s)?
As a kid, I had a friend, an elderly person, who was the owner of an electronics shop. I would go to his shop and spend time on his shop discussing various topics. My father had purchased small bulbs to light up battery-run torches as he, being a doctor, needed them to investigate children. So I took these bulbs to the electronics man, and he soldered the bulb with a cell holder and a switch. Made a circuit out of it for free. I started selling these circuits which would light up on turning the switch “ON”. My total expenditure was maybe 5 INR and I would sell them for 8 - 10 INR. I easily made a few bucks and then quit it. Later, he helped me build a toy fan (The idea was mine, preparation was his!) which someone stole from my bag in school. I could have easily made money from these simple gadgets and if I had much backing and vision might have become a businessman by now. I was perhaps 8 – 10 years old when I tried these odd jobs.
Going forward, I remember that once my cousin told his story about working as a waiter, after his BTech from IIT Bombay, in a hotel to learn the nitty gritty of the underprivileged. I am sure you must be able to connect with it in today’s world since such skills help us learn the art of dealing with people. Many Indian students attempting MS/PhDs in the US also pursue part-time jobs to support their stay until they find decent full-time pay.
However, as I grew, my father ensured that I didn’t have to run for money from one corner to another, so I didn’t see much of what odd jobs looked like. Only when I went to the US for my PhD did I take gifts (20$) from people while dropping them back and forth from the city to the airport. This I did when the funding for my PhD stopped just 2 months prior to getting the PhD degree.
I don’t represent an iota of what people may be doing to earn their bread and butter. In fact, a startup can be initially termed as an odd job as you don’t have any clue about what you are doing, where you are going and why you are into it. Although if we consider the organic/original definition of “odd job” a variety of startups require advanced skillsets and thus a less skilled person may not be able to run a niche startup.
Talk about alternate careers, I am myself currently venturing into freelance science writing/editing which although requires many years of training in the domain, in turn, provides flexibility in work hours. So, anyone not willing to travel long distances for work, not interested in workplace politics, wants to be primarily boss-free, and also wants to own one’s time should definitely try freelancing. It is definitely challenging as you would end up doing odd jobs to streamline your alternate career.
I must admit it’s a long road and being successful early on is not an easy task. I have been into it for a few months now and have seen that even a gap of one week affected traffic on my business which already starting small. So yes as you have been hearing it right, startups/freelancing/oddjobs/alternativecareers provide freedom but come with their own baggage. Do pursue them if you are up for some challenge and fun time in your life.