How a butcher rebuilt his life after a hand injury

After injuring his hand at work, Tim realised that life as a butcher was more dangerous than he imagined and he desperately needed a career change. With no immediate job prospects, Tim reached out to his friends to see if they had any leads for him. His friends were all making money doing cleaning tasks on Airtasker. Tim thought “I’ve got nothing to lose” so signed up and in his own words, believes this decision has been “life-changing”.

How has joining Airtasker impacted your life?

It has completely changed the direction of my life. I’m originally from Malaysia where I was helping my father with small jobs. When I came to Australia, I decided to become a butcher. Soon after, I had an incident at work where I cut my hand pretty badly. I thought to myself – this job is more than I bargained for! After my hand healed, I decided not to go back. Obviously I still had bills to pay but I didn’t know what I could do to make ends meet.

A few of my friends were earning money doing cleaning jobs so I tried to find one too but was failing miserably! I tried Facebook and wasn’t getting anywhere. Searching for jobs with any sort of flexibility was also extremely difficult. When I realised my friends were getting their cleaning tasks on Airtasker, I joined as well. I was amazed that I could get a steady stream of work and could always control how much I wanted to do. It really was life changing at a time when I thought I had no other options.

Tasker Snapshot

4.9 Star Rating
50 Completed Tasks
End of lease and general cleaning specialist

What has the extra income allowed you to do?

It helps me with my living expenses like rent and bills but I’m actually just saving for my future. I don’t know what the future might bring but I’d like to have reserves in case I need the money. My dream is to buy a house here in Sydney and Airtasker is helping me with that ever day.

Have you had any memorable experiences on Airtasker?

I’ve met amazing people and it’s such a great community and made me realise one job can also lead to new opportunities. I was helping a guy with a house clean and thought that was the last I’d see of him. I noticed that he was putting cleaning tasks for other properties he owned and he picked me because he knew I would do a job from his previous experience. It made me realise how important it is to always put 100% effort because you never know where your next opportunity may be.

What are some of your top cleaning tips?

With oven cleaning, spray the entire oven with first and leave it for 5-10 minutes. It’s much easier to get the grime out once you’ve left the spray on for a while
You can use baking soda for lots of things – even for oven cleaning

Tim’s Tip: After spraying the entire oven first, leave it for 5-10 minutes before you start the clean. It makes it a LOT easier to get the grime out!

What would you like to know before making an offer?

Make sure you ask the right questions to the Poster e.g. how many bedrooms and bathrooms. Also make sure you know what type of clean they’re looking for – is it an end of lease clean or a general clean – the expectations are vastly different. It’s really important to me to know exactly what type of task I’m performing and what the Poster wants. Without clarification of expectations at the start, I don’t think I’d be able to provide the level of satisfaction that the Poster needs.

Have you posted a task before?

Yes – I had a fantastic experience using the platform on the other side! It really gave me more insight as to how I should be performing my tasks to serve the need of Posters. I was in a really desperate situation where I’d locked my keys in my car and couldn’t get in. I didn’t know what to do and immediately thought maybe someone on Airtasker could help me. After posting the task, I received an offer from a locksmith nearby within 2 minutes. The guy came immediately and saved my life (at the time). It gave me so much trust in the Airtasker platform in that not only was I able to earn money but I could also use it in times of need for myself.