Sure, I thought. Dog walker is the kind of job teenagers make a few bucks at here and there. But compare the hourly pay for taking care of pets to the hourly pay to taking care of children. It is similar (according to one source linked to below, $13-20 for 20 minutes, $17-27 for 30 minutes, and $26-37 for 60 minutes, $39-59 for overnight), and surely it is lower risk and lower effort. I am not suggesting we neglect our fine furry friends, of course. I am suggesting that the pets will be less whiny and needy and able to complain to their human “parents” that you did not cater to their every whim every second. And I am thinking that if you convince someone to let you walk their dog and they think you do a bad job, the worst they are likely to do is not hire you again.

Where there’s a market, someone will develop an app to connect buyers to sellers. And this is probably the smartest business idea of all – being the middle man. Anyway, two apps you can sign up for are Rover and Wag. So, you can potentially make some money with this, and it seems easier and lower risk to me than taking care of a child or older person, risking your life and vehicle as a delivery person, or taking in humans overnight through something like Airbnb.