My Story

I was in a tough spot, questioning my career and job situation after going through some major changes. We just had our first kid, and my wife and I were looking for ways to make money from home so we could have the flexibility to take care of him.

I luckily found an opportunity eventually, but only after a lot of back and forth and paying for job boards that ultimately ended up being scams. Craigslist, for example, has a lot of jobs that seem like they're work-from-home, but many of them are scams or sales-based where there's no pay guaranteed.

Then I started talking with friends who drove for Instacart and Uber, and together we figured out better ways to manage our money. As I was going through it, I put together a list, updated each day with the great opportunities from multiple legitimate job boards.

I started sharing this directory with a group of friends, and they've all come to really appreciate it. I thought that more people could benefit from it, so that's how SmarterGig was born.

On the side, I also found a bunch of one-off referral opportunities where companies paid me to try their products. It wasn't a recurring source of income, but in the first 6 months I made another $500... which for our family was quite meaningful.