Side Hustle Spotlight: Nanny

Blog | October 28th, 2021

As adults, we often lose touch with our creative and fun side. However, research shows that it’s very healthy and necessary for adults to play regularly in their daily lives.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to get stuck in the daily grind, and your life can revolve around paying the bills or climbing the corporate ladder. However, you can pick up a fun side hustle where you get to work with the very experts of play themselves – children.

Nannying can be a fun and fulfilling experience where you’re free to play and be an influential part of a child’s life. You get to work with children and watch them grow without having the full responsibilities of parenting. Also, since children have earlier curfews, you can get a little work done while you’re house-sitting during bedtime.

If you like working with kids and prefer to be active and on your feet, nannying can be a great side hustle for you.

How to Get Started

One of the first things you can do is start gaining experience. Ask family and friends if you can babysit for them. There are very few parents who would turn down a preemptive babysitting offer.

It’s also a smart move to get more formal experience working with children. You can apply for volunteer positions at after-school programs or seasonal jobs at day camps.

Make sure to gather references as you work so that you can add them to your resume.

Once you have some experience, build a profile on a nannying website. Here are some popular websites that a lot of parents use:

When you build your profile, make sure to let your personality and values shine. It helps to have credentials, but parents want the best for their children and their development, so they look for certain qualities.

It can be helpful to mention things like how responsible and trustworthy you are and how creative and fun you can be. Show the parents that you acknowledge and appreciate that they are entrusting their children to you.

Training and Certification

First-aid and CPR training are the bare minimum requirements for nannying. You can easily find this training available online and in person. Make sure to enroll in a class that includes child and baby CPR.

Having a driver’s license is also very helpful because parents may want you to pick up and drop off their children at school and their extracurricular activities.

You can also pick up other nannying certifications along the way that specialize in specific areas such as nutrition, infant care, and special needs.

Associate’s degrees in early childhood development are available, but this is more applicable if you want to pursue full-time nannying.

Expected Return

On average, you can expect an hourly rate of $15. This amount will vary from city to city. As you gain experience, you can raise your rate to $25-$30. This pay raise will require dedication and building a solid reputation for yourself.

You can also boost your rates with specialized services. For example, if you have a teaching background, offer tutoring services. If you have an art degree, you can engage children in fun art activities. If you play a musical instrument, offer to teach the children to play it.

Be creative in what you can provide because parents always look for activities that their children can grow to love.