Alison Goldsmith, a 58-year-old from Essex, had to take a break from her career in marketing and retail last year to care for her 94-year-old father. Due to her caregiving duties, she wasn’t able to work as much and ended up accumulating some debts. Discovering Airtasker, a platform for odd jobs, in February 2024, she signed up for a few tasks. However, she struggled to commit to work as her father needed extra care and was nearing the end of his life.
After her father passed away, Alison was left with debts and faced some daunting statistics. She mentioned, “Age Without Limits reports that one in three people get turned down for work after 50 because of their age and there are 460,000 people aged 50 to 64 who are currently out of work that would like to be in work.” Despite these challenges, she decided to dedicate more time to Airtasker in September. Within a few months, she became one of the platform’s top taskers for the year and earned £6,000. This helped her pay off some of the debts she had accumulated while caring for her dad, making her life less stressful.
Alison now relies on Airtasker as her main source of income, taking on various tasks like gardening, decluttering, event assistance, and even crafting costumes. She enjoys the flexibility that Airtasker offers, allowing her to work around her life and other commitments. As someone who has been self-employed for most of her professional career, she finds the gig economy to be similar, with the main difference being the convenience of job opportunities being presented in one place. Additionally, unlike her previous self-employed work where she had to wait for payment, Airtasker ensures that the money is in her bank account shortly after completing a task.
Reflecting on her Airtasker journey, Alison shared some advice she wished she had received earlier. She noted, “There’s no need to make so many offers! Although it’s helpful as then you’re more likely to be chosen, when I first started I thought that if I missed out on a job there might not be another opportunity but I then realised there were many tasks available and plenty of work to go round.” Overall, Alison’s experience with Airtasker has been rewarding, not only in terms of financial stability but also in the satisfaction of helping others and making their lives a little easier.
