👻 $1,000 a week to wait in line

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If you’re new here, we turn $1 into thousands building these weird but simple side hustles. Welcome to Ghost Business 👻 Your (mostly) weekly email

TLDR;

• Startup cost: around $100 for a chair and basic marketing

• Charge $25–$50 per hour to wait in lines for clients

• Use TaskRabbit, Craigslist, or Spotblaze to find gigs

• Serve two markets: luxury clients (concerts, drops, restaurants) and everyday people (DMV, social services)

• $1K a week = about 25–40 hours of line-sitting or managing a small team

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People hate waiting in line, but they’ll happily pay someone else to do it. With platforms like TaskRabbit offering “Wait in Line” tasks from booking to DMV to sample sales. And apps like SpotBlaze let you earn by simply holding a spot in line for clients who want luxury reservations, concert tickets or social-service offices.

This business taps two very different markets:

• High-end clients who pay big to skip the queue at exclusive restaurants, luxury ticket drops or early-release products.

• Time-poor or mobility-limited folks who need someone to wait for them at social-services offices, DMV lines, or event sign-ups.
  You position yourself as the “premium queue cutter” or “line concierge.”

The MVP

Startup cost is essentially zero you need a smartphone, a flexible schedule, comfy shoes and maybe a portable chair or umbrella.
Steps:

• Create a listing on TaskRabbit / SpotBlaze: “Professional Line Waiter. I’ll hold your spot while you work, play or sleep.”

• Define your rate: e.g., $30/hour minimum or a flat fee of $100 for up to 4 hours for VIP lines. (TaskRabbit line waiting services start around $29/hour in NYC.)

• Target luxury lines (restaurant openings, sample sales, limited-edition product drops) AND “necessity” lines (municipal office sign ups, social-service lines, DMV).

• Equipment: water bottle, power bank, maybe a chair, good attitude.

• Example: You wait 3 hours for a client at a luxury restaurant launch, charge $90 (3 h × $30). Or you wait 2 hours at a DMV for a mobility-limited client, charge $75 flat.

• Focus on building reviews and reliability; clients will refer you.

Path to $1,000 a week

To hit $1,000/week, you’ll need multiple gigs per day or high-end clients paying premium rates. Here’s a plan:

• Charge premium markets: some line standing gigs have fetched $100+ per job in luxury segments.

• Secure 5 clients/day at an average of $60/job = $300/day × ~4 days/week = $1,200/week.

• Or mix: 2 luxury gigs ($120 each) + 4 standard gigs ($40 each) = $400/day × 3 days/week = $1,200/week.

• Hire assistants or subcontract once you have demand; you’re managing bookings rather than doing every wait.

• Build relationships with concierge services, real-estate agents, social-service offices, event promoters; they’ll send you steady line-demand.

• Upsell add-ons: “I’ll hold your spot and purchase your item/ticket for you” or “VIP exit from line when ready.”

• Keep logistics tight: use GPS, chat with the client, set expectations (weather, waiting time, any required items).

• Difficulty: 2.5/5. Low skill requirement but high schedule flexibility needed; you’ll spend hours bored but get paid while other people wait.

p.s If you found this insight into the newsletter industry valuable, imagine how helpful it could be to someone else dreaming of starting their own hustle!

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Viability:

1 [building spaceships] 🚀 to 5 [easy peasy] 😊 

Start with zero inventory. Offer a service: “I’ll wait in line for you.” Charge $30-$120 per job depending on context. Cover luxury queues and essential service lines. With 4-5 gigs/week you can hit $1K+. Comfy shoes required.

(As usual each business will have it’s own setbacks, and it’s all about the execution and consistency rather than just having the idea)

It’s a great day to be great!

Love, Mike 👋