The document provides a summary of 10 offbeat career options, including calligrapher, social dance instructor, photographer, psychic, undercover detective, industrial/organizational consultant, cartoonist, locksmith, professional gambler, and funeral director. For each career, it describes the typical duties, education or experience required, potential earnings, and pros and cons. The careers highlighted allow flexibility and independence but many can be financially challenging depending on experience and success in building a client base or business.

1. 26/7/2011
UCA TOP TEN OFFBEAT JOBS
* | Roberto Ruiz Salvatierra
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10 OFFBEAT AND EXCITING CAREERS
I’ve been meaning to come up with a practical, handy list of some of my favorite offbeat careers
for some time now. While these lists exist just about everywhere it seems, mine has a special
emphasis on avoidance of certain elements like standard work hours, confinement to one
location and restriction to one function. Many of these careers are also self-directive, meaning
that you are mostly working for yourself in the end.
There are a few categories I have included at the end of each career, which I give a ranking
from 1-5 stars (1 being low, 5 being high, obviously.)
1.Calligrapher.
Do you have a steady hand, a creative disposition, a flair with words, or all of the above? If so
than consider a career as a calligrapher. Much of this career is spent making contacts, keeping
your clients up-to-date as to your availability, and refining your craft. Also, expect to spend a lot
of time hunched over a desk working your magic with the pens. The perks of this offbeat career
are many: people will appreciate your art, you can set your own hours, work where you’d like,
and set your own pay. You’ll be doing a valuable service for weddings, parties, (especially
invitations) funerals, and many other social functions.
Calligraphers are also usually in demand. I should know. I am a Calligrapher and have been doing
it for over 10 years!

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Pay – Self-employed Calligraphers’ earnings are directly tied to the number and complexity of
projects they take on. It’s tough to earn a full-time living (but it can be done with a lot of work.)
Expect $15,000 to $40,000 per year working full time and with solid contacts. It’s difficult to
fathom a calligrapher earning more than $50,000 to about $70,000 per year. Perhaps the best
of the best make more than this, but it’s extremely uncommon.
2. Social Dance Instructor
This is a career for those who love to move,don’t mind getting close and personal with members
of the opposite sex and have great teaching abilities. It definitely takes a fair amount of time to
get good enough to become an instructor. While you don’t need to be a member of the
International DanceSport Federation, it helps to have at least 2-4 years of dancing experience,
preferably more. There are plenty of styles to choose from, such as latin, swing, ballroom or
tango.
Believe it or not, I also teach swing dance to beginners and have been dancing for 7 years!
Pay – Only the best of the best get paid well enough to “go pro.” Most dancers who teach do so
because they enjoy it. It’s a good side project though. Highly-regarded dance instructors
command up to $150 per hour for a private lesson. Usually an instructor will ask for a good deal
less than this, and most struggle to make rent if they do it full time without another stream of
income. It’s possible to open a studio and turn it into a profitable business, but this takes time.

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3. Photographer
There are actually many levels and variations within this profession. Some photographers work
for a company or magazine (more than likely, more than a few) while others are totally
freelance, selling their works as art and exhibiting their creations at various media fairs. You
need to have a lot of patience with this career. Don’t kid yourself, it’s a difficult way to make a
living, and it’s hard work. But the rewards are worth it. You can pretty much work when and how
you’d like, and you get to spend time outdoors. Also check out the world of microstock
photography. Even an amateur photographer can make a quick buck or two through sites like
featurepics and istockphoto. These sites (and others like them) provide a way to upload your
images and make money when others download them.
Pay – This varies considerably for this profession. I’ve heard a few stories of stock
photographers earning a livable income but they have thousands of photos online. Professional
photographers struggle from time to time depending on the varying demand for their work.
There is potential to make quite a bit, especially if the photographer is well established in a
certain market (such as a wedding-photographer in a mid-sized city.)

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4. Psychic
Before I launch into a description of this career, let me tell you that 41% of those who
responded to a 2005 gallup poll believe in ESP, so there clearly is a market here. Doing
astrology charts for people isn’t just a fringe phenomenon! If you are great at convincing people
that you are speaking with their dead relatives, predicting their future, or you can at least
understand Tarot cards, you have a shot at this endeavor. Obviously many psychics are frauds,
so you’ll want to work on convincing people that you really can see beyond the world in front of
us and into the 8th dimension. You need people skills, big time.
Pay – I have seen some successful psychics charge $45-$60 per session. Add this up to full-
time and you are talking $70,000-100,000 or more per year! That’s more than many entry-level
chemical engineers make. So much for science, I guess.
5. Undercover Detective
If, instead of taking advantage of people’s trust, you wish to gain their trust, consider this
career. An obvious requisite here is to have been either on the police force or worked for the
government. While it certainly is an exciting and adventurous career, it’s also potentially
dangerous. Detectives often deal with criminals, drug lords and other folks who skirt the law.
These crime-fighters have to be able to think on their feet and keep their cool. This page
describes an undercover detective’s life pretty well. This a challenging career, but will certainly
be exciting!

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Pay – Seems to be in the $60,000-$90,000 range depending on location. Obviously, the longer
and more established a detective will earn more than one that’s been doing it for a few years.
6. Industrial/Organizational Consultant
This is a growing field that few people really seem to know much about. Basically the role of an
I/O Consultant (or I/O Psychologist) is to get to the root of the problems of various workplaces
around the country (and sometimes the world
They will usually sort through the issues that the HR department is having trouble picking out
and issue a report to the owner of the company detailing where the problems are and who (if
anyone) should be fired and/or promoted. Like a Psychologist, their clients choose their
services and the I/O consultant will try and fix the problem.
Pay – An I/O Consultant who opens a successful practice in a great market can become a
millionaire fairly quickly. This is a profitable business, but, like anything that commands high
earnings, it requires hard work, a good amount of education, and being in the right place at the
right time.
7. Cartoonist
If you love to draw, have great sense of humor, and loved to goof off in class back in high school,
maybe you should consider this interesting career.

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If you think about it, there are really very few “super-comic strips” that made their authors
immortal. “Peanuts”, “Calvin and Hobbes”, “Garfield”, and “The Far Side” are some of the big
ones, but for each of those there are hundreds more that spend a short time in syndication and
are forgotten. It’s a tough career to break in to – many would be cartoonists submit and submit
endlessly to papers in magazines hoping (often in vain) to be discovered. But if they make it, it’s
a very rewarding feeling to see others laughing at their creations. Pay Level – Let’s be honest
here: only cartoonists who are published in quite a few papers and have some degree of
prominence on the market can make a real living from doing this. (Though the advent of the self-
publishing online has created some sensations like xkcd.) There is a large curve here, as the
most successful cartoonists can do very well. Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes,
actually refused to sell out and licence his characters, something that could have earned him
quite a bit more. For him, his creation as a work of art was more important.
8. Locksmith
This is a great career for someone who wants to open their own business and help people in
need. The long-term career outlook for locksmiths is fantastic. As long as there are places we
don’t want others to go, and things we want potential thieves to keep their grubby mitts from,
we’ll have need for locksmiths. It’s possible that with changing technology, there will be some
crossover between a locksmith and a computer hacker! (Ok, so that isn’t really a career!) While
becoming a locksmith requires some training, it isn’t too difficult to break into this relatively
unknown field.

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Pay – The average locksmith makes around $31,000 per year. If you open your own practice,
you will make more and can have others undo the locks for you.
9. Professional Gambler
You won’t find this career in many books. It’s exciting, illicit, and romantic as much as it is
difficult, tedious and time-consuming. Just like any other job you have to be willing to learn,
work hard, and (more than many other jobs) cut your losses.
It’s not easy to make it is a professional gambler either. Many try, most fail. However, the ones
who do succeed spend many hours online or in often unhappy casinos counting cards, counting
earnings and trying hard not to go on tilt (let losing get to them and make bad decisions.) You
have to be very emotionally strong and learn not to give anything away, especially with poker.
Oh, and you also have to track your earnings and pay taxes on everything you make!
Pay – Varies enormously. If you win a major tournament you can become a millionaire and
retire. But this doesn’t necessarily qualify you as a “professional gambler.” Usually it’s difficult
just to make ends meet and you can expect to live a very menial existence while you learn the
ropes.

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10. Funeral Director
If there ever was a career that would frighten away all but the most strong of heart, this might
be it. One common misconception is that any career involving the dead requires that one
actually physically handle the dead. In reality, a funeral director may only deal with the planning
of funerals. Of course, the higher paying positions in this career tend to involve embalming and
preparation of the body. Anyone can clean out caskets and prepare a lobby for guests. It is not a
competitive career, but one thing is for certain: unless the mortality rate dips below it’s current
standing at 100%, there will always be plenty of openings.
Pay – The average salary ranges a bit, but generally is in the $50,000-$60,000 per year range.
Notbad at all. Beatsmost office jobs.