early morning jobs Archives

By nature, I am not an early riser. But I became one after learning that the most successful people have a common trait: waking up before dawn. There are many things you can do in the early mornings. You can do something creative, learn something new, or be more productive. I personally take advantage of the extra hours with early morning jobs to earn extra money while other people sleep. There are many early morning jobs to jump-start the day that one can choose from. Not all of them require leaving home. This blog post covers 15 early morning jobs for different kinds of people and personalities. Find one that is right for you!

15 Early Morning Jobs to Jump-Start The Day

Early morning baker

Bakeries need early morning bakers to prepare pastries and bread in time for opening hour at pastry and coffee shops. This shift usually begins a little after midnight and run until the shops open at 7:00am. It is the perfect shift for someone who likes physical work that has some creativity to it. I wrote about my personal experience as an early morning baker here. I loved this job, and I got to take home freshly baked goods at the end of my shift, too!

Dog Walker / Rover

Dog walking is a great job for those who like to be active and outdoors, bright and early. It’s also perfect for those who like animals or take care of pets. Technically, this job doubles are getting exercise in. And if you wake up five minutes earlier, you can also get a cup of coffee in, too!

I dog sit while pet parents are on holiday, which means part of the job is walking the dogs bright and early. Rover is a great app that connects dog walkers with dog sitters for FREE. The app charges a 20% fee for each booking, but you get to set your rates. If you want to see if taking care of dogs is the right thing for you, check out this post on how to make money dog-sitting with Rover.

I have also written a guide on how to start your own pet-sitting business! While it takes a few extra steps, I have found that creating a pet sitting business earns way more than going through the Rover app. We make $1-2k per month with our pet sitting business RMV Tail and Paws. You can learn how to create your own with my free guide!

Blogger

Blogging is a great early morning job for those who want a slower start to their day. Earning extra money while staying in pajamas sounds extra nice, doesn’t it? It is also a great option for the more creative person who does not mind being independent. You have full control of what, how, and when to write.

Blogging, however, is more than just writing. Creative content such as images need to be made. Statistics needs to be analyzed. And strategies need to be implemented in order to make money off of a blog. I started with learning about affiliate marketing. I highly recommend this affiliate marketing course if you wish to make money with the blog. (Yes, this is an affiliate link!)

You can also check out my extra income reports. In it, I outline how much I earn each month and where I earn the money from. So far, I have made over $5,900 by blogging from home.

Freelancer

Freelancing is essentially connecting to different employers and making extra money on the side doing different things. Writing for other blogs is a form of freelancing and can be an option for those who don’t want to deal with the business side of blogging.

Other freelancing fields include:

Accounting and Financing
Administrative
Customer Service
Computer and IT
Translations
Editing
HR & Recruiting
Education & Training

From this list, you can see that freelancing can supplement many professions. It spans many fields, and there are definitely options for everyone.

Online Survey Taker

This is yet another early morning job that you can do in your pajamas. It is also a great job for busy people in general. It’s very difficult to get an extra job when one is balancing school and work, or parenthood and work. Online surveys have the flexibility to be done anywhere, at the times that work best.

I am blown away by the bloggers who make good money taking surveys online. If you don’t mind the tedious work, you could earn up a few dollars per survey! The best way to do this is to sign up for as any survey companies as possible. While I have not tried it before, I do think it would be an easy, low-stress way to make extra cash.

Personal Assistant

Most people are over-stretched and over-whelmed these days. A personal assistant is a fulfilling job that can help alleviate someone from their work. Similar to free-lancing, being a personal assistant is a broad job position. In the early mornings, you can check emails for someone. You can organize their daily calendar. Or you can run errands before the day starts.

Fitness Instructor

Working out before work is very popular these days. Why not work out AND earn money? Being a fitness instructor would be a great option for those who want flexibility. My best friend used to teach yoga classes before and after going to her classes at the University. You can either work at a gym, studio, or at home. Some personal trainers like to help their clients at their home, especially if they own the equipment. Either way, this is a great job for those who like physical activity or working out.

Rideshare Driver

Rideshare drivers are needed to bring people on their commutes to work, school, or the airport. Early morning flights usually start at 6:00am sharp. If you are an early riser, this would be a great way to increase your savings. Just make yourself a cup of coffee before heading out the door!

Cleaner

Having a cleaning company is surprisingly lucrative business. Many offices and schools look for cleaners to come in the early morning so that the space is clean when doors open. We have cleaners clean our dental office once a week. If you don’t mind the physical work, this could be a great job! It is mostly solitary work, perfect for listening to music or a podcast!

Barista

Working at a coffee shop is a great way to start the day. Serve other people their coffees while they start their day. If you have a later start to your day job or school, why not get a quick shift in? A four hour shift could end as early as 10am. Plus, you may get perks at your coffee shop! Free coffee, anyone?

International Tutor

After-school hours in Europe equate to early morning hours in California. If you are good at teaching a certain topic, why not do some international tutoring. Many kids across the globe want to learn English as a second language. You can also tutor math or science. This is a perfect side-hustle for teachers looking to make extra cash. When I was a college student myself, I tutored high-school kids as one of my three college jobs!

Visual Designs Specialist for Retail Stores

A previous job I had entailed doing visual design for a retail store. My shifts started at 6 am, since I needed to finish the store displays before the mall opened at 10 am. I took new, incoming merchandise and displayed them according to the retail store’s guidebook. I also styled mannequins and hung displays on the walls. Posters and signage regarding current styles and sales needed to go up as well. The work was perfect for me, since I liked to be creative and work solitarily as well.

Stockist

Working as a stockist means you are unpacking deliveries at stores and placing them on the shelves. Stockists do a lot of behind-the-scenes work where we do our shopping. I worked at the same time as stockists in my previously mentioned retail job. Early morning truck deliveries mean stocking starts around 4:00am. The gals in the back of the store unboxed and unwrapped new clothing styles, and then placed them on racks for me to display on the sales floor.

Farmer

If you like to work outdoors and with your hands, farming might be a great option for you. Many farmers like to start their days bright and early, as there are plenty of things to do. I volunteer my time at a local farm and work before my day job begins. Of course, you can work at a farm and get paid. Usually, shifts start as the sun rises, which would be around 6 am.

Gardener

This might sound silly, but there are plenty of people out there who need help maintaining their front lawns, backyards, and gardens. You can easily post a Craigslist ad or Facebook ad to get a maintenance gig. Most people who work on maintaining outdoor spaces work in the early mornings, because it gets too hot. Since this job allows you to choose your own hours, why not set it up so that you mow a lawn or trim a few hedges before your work day?

There you have it. A list of my best 15 early morning job ideas that can boost your savings in no time. You can start any of these jobs NOW, without any additional degrees or training. All you have to do is be willing to wake up a little bit earlier than everyone else. If you want to read about my own personal experience with early morning jobs, here are 3 Early Morning Jobs I’ve Done to Earn Extra Money.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

As a child, I have never been an early riser. To be honest, I really loved my sleep. Stories from my childhood entailed snoring away at restaurants, my head dipping into food, or sleeping through the afternoons. It also included tantrums and melt-downs when I didn’t get my rest. I continued afternoon naps through my teen years, not that it helped me to grow taller. But all that changed when I learned that the most successful people in life woke up early. Which is why I wanted to share how I earn extra money with early morning jobs.

Early morning jobs are the best-kept money-making secret.

There are many reasons why I think early morning jobs are the secret to catapulting you to your financial goals. As I mentioned earlier, I am not naturally an early morning person. However, even though I could choose to take a late-night job, I decided that early morning ones are better. Why?

Getting up early in the morning is really a form of discipline for me. If I can make myself consistently do it, then I am training myself to conquer the difficult parts in life. This builds resilience, a trait that is necessary when the going gets tough.

Secondly, as long as I sleep enough hours, I know that my energy will be highest in the morning before my day job. I have had both early morning and late night jobs before. But when I add a day job to the equation, I am just too tired to really do night shifts anymore. So I use early day jobs to earn extra money, taking advantage of the time of day when I have high energy.

Lastly, I am motivated by checking things off my list. If feels good to start work at my day job having accomplished so much more than the average person. Early morning jobs give me that triumphant boost, which then inspires me to keep going with the rest of my day.

My 3 Noteworthy Early Morning Jobs

I have had 3 noteworthy early morning jobs that increased my savings. I LOVED all three of them, because they were jobs that I enjoyed. It is very important to choose jobs that you truly enjoy to earn extra income. Day jobs are hard enough. Usually, day jobs are our professions and careers. They aren’t always fun. However, if you choose an early morning job that you are passionate about, you may be surprised to get mind-blowing results. More importantly, you will stick with it for longer. I wanted to share with you my 3 early morning jobs in the hopes that it would give you an idea of the lifestyle entailed.

My first early morning job: Retail.

When I was going to college, I was paying for my own tuition. This led me to working three jobs at the same time, one of which was in the early mornings. My first early morning job was at a retail store when I was 18 years old. The position I held was Design Specialist. The job description included displaying incoming products. I also styled mannequins in the windows, changed out displays, and hung artwork. I maneuvered ladders on heels, and I moved shelving – all before the mall opened. My four-hour shift started at 6:00am.

I didn’t drink coffee back then, and I remember the bleary mornings when my alarm clock would rudely awake me at 5:30am. Dressing up was a challenge in the dark, especially since I was performing the task with half-shut eyes. I snuck out the door, into the freezing cold car parked in our driveway.

Once inside the store, I would get to work. In place of caffeine was adrenaline. I loved setting displays. Other than a guide book outlining the areas where new clothes would go, I had creative control. I worked solitarily, while other people unpacked products in the back. This was before airpods, where I was left drowning in my thoughts. It was physical work. The mannequins were taller than me and weighed half as much. The wall displays required use of tools and hardware. I learned how to balance on a ladder carrying fragile items and I learned how to stick a nail in the wall.

I left each early morning shift feeling accomplished, energized, and extremely happy. Sometimes, I would walk away with a bruised finger or two. Never anything worthy of dwelling. I had to rush on to get to class at the University.

(For the curious, this was on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I also worked at the retail store on weekends, fixing all that customers ruffled. After my early morning shift, I went to school, and then I tutored high-school students in the evenings. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and every other Saturday, I worked as a dental assistant. If it was finals week, I would squeeze in emergency tutoring sessions somehow. This was life in my late teens through early twenties.)

My second early morning job: Baker

Fast forward to my thirties when I decided to become a baker. I really got into sourdough, and wanted to learn more about the craft. I asked to help out a local cottage bakery who was, at the time, operating from their garage. They were slinging the best bread and pastry in OC. In February 2022, I was hired by Rye Goods as their early morning baker. It was a dream job.

The early morning bakers make sure that bread and pastry are ready for the shops when doors open. Since most cafes and bakeries open at 7:00am, the early morning baker must start their shift at 2:00 a.m. At the time, we were living in the heart of downtown next to a club that closed at the same time I was waking up. They said I was crazy to take the job, but I was also crazy about bread. My romantic experience as an early morning baker is detailed in this post.

I eventually left the bread baker position to start my own bread bakery. I still had to wake early and throw bread babies into the ovens at an early hour. Local deliveries were at 7:00am sharp, and breads needed 35 minutes in the oven. By the time I clocked in for my shift at the dental office, people were eating Avocado toast on my bread. Unfortunately, I closed the bakery when the pandemic started.

My current early morning job: Blogger

Nowadays, my early morning job is this blog space. I wake up with the cat, make a cup of coffee, and proceed to write. Sometimes I send emails. Other times, I work on creative content. It isn’t a steady pay-check, but it’s a job of my choosing and making. That makes it worth it. It feels amazing to get something out there into the world before the world wakes.

I never expected to make money with blogging. But after sharing my student debt repayment story a few times, I started to gain an audience of my own. My work today entails sharing my experiences (such as these early morning jobs) in the hopes of helping others out there in similar situations. If you like to write, this job is a great option. Blogging lets me work from home, at my own pace, and on my own time. Since writing is also a hobby, it never feels like ‘work’. Although there are days where I have to do the non-writing business side of things, too.

Of course, this is just my story. Early morning jobs work for me, but I know other people who catapult their way to financial freedom by taking on night shifts. Either way, there are many solutions to increasing one’s income. Don’t be afraid to traverse unexplored avenues of increasing your savings. I believe that nothing is negligible. With determination and hard-work, anyone can achieve their financial goals.

Photo by Íris Juana on Unsplash