Early Morning Job Ideas?
September 11, 2014 4:33 PM   Subscribe

Trying to revive my entrepreneurial spirit with a dose of early morning action and some financial security.

Background: I am an entrepreneur and run my own business selling stuff online. My schedule is completely flexible. The income generated by said business is also quite flexible and can fluctuate depending on how well sales are going.

For a while, I also had an early morning driving job that ended around 9:00 am. That job is no longer available. I have come to realize that this job had two fringe benefits that I now terribly miss. 1: It provided a schedule to my day and sent me off on a running start in the AM. 2: It provided enough income to cover basic living expenses so that I wasn't stressed out about how the business was doing.

In summary: I was living by the seat of my pants (yes, my handle) without the fear of losing them. I'd like to get back to that place! Therefore,

My Question: I come to you, dear metaites, for job ideas that might fit this criteria:

1. Part time -- early morning (earlier, the better).
2. Reasonable pay.
3. No creative input or decision making required.

My best wishes to you all and thank you in advance,
posted by seatofmypants to Work & Money (14 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
You might look for a receiving position. They frequently start early (~3-4 am). If you've ever seen trucks hanging around commercial properties early in the morning, they're usually working with a receiver for that property to get goods in before business hours start.
posted by kitarra at 4:41 PM on September 11, 2014


Bakeries start early, so do grocery stores. Work in a deli for the morning rush. Look on line and see who is hiring.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:48 PM on September 11, 2014


I have always always wanted a job as a baker. You get up before everyone else and get to do something satisfying and physically productive and gratifying with your day before everyone else even thinks about really working. Plus you smell great.
posted by WidgetAlley at 4:54 PM on September 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


Newspaper delivery.
posted by Jacqueline at 5:09 PM on September 11, 2014 [2 favorites]


Coffee shop. I frequently had to open the doors at 5:30 or 6 when I worked at one, which meant starting work around 5 to get everything prepped for the day.
posted by belladonna at 5:32 PM on September 11, 2014


Response by poster: Love the useful suggestions so far. Ty. Specially appealing are the food business where things are busy.
posted by seatofmypants at 5:40 PM on September 11, 2014


I've known a couple of students who had early morning part-time jobs filling and frosting cupcakes at a cupcake bakery. I think they said they went in at six and were done by nine.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 5:41 PM on September 11, 2014


UPS Package Handlers typically work a short shift five days a week and often in the early morning.
posted by Jahaza at 6:07 PM on September 11, 2014


When I was working there, Starbucks had openers scheduled for 4:15 AM. Generally that shift went till noon, but if you explained your deal and became a good, swift opener, they would probably make it work to let you out by 9. Starbucks is a pretty good place to work part time, in my experience.

Retail deliveries for large stores are sometimes between 10 PM and 5AM. You may find something like that if you call around. Also look into anything 24 hours-- they will always need someone in the super early hours.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:31 PM on September 11, 2014


Staff at a gym, fringe benafits include getting a gym membership.
posted by rip at 8:15 PM on September 11, 2014


Response by poster: Thank you all again. Great ideas and already working on some of them.

After posting this question, I also googled. Up came this blog post who's author matched my own attitude toward an early morning job to the tee: my-low-paying-early-morning-exertion-requiring-job
posted by seatofmypants at 8:39 PM on September 11, 2014


Postie! I have a friend who works for the postoffice doing deliveries from something like 4am to midday, and then he has his own business on the side that he handles in the afternoon.
posted by lollusc at 11:56 PM on September 11, 2014


School bus driver?
posted by cotton dress sock at 6:17 AM on September 12, 2014


I had a distributor route for a small newspaper. Better than regular newspaper delivery. I'd start around 5am and drive around to a bunch of local Kwiki-Marts and drug stores, pick up the old papers and drop off the new. Mine was only a weekly, but I'm sure daily papers have such positions too.
posted by catatethebird at 9:56 AM on September 12, 2014


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