You Can Earn $200K a Year on TaskRabbit. Here’s How.

Key Takeaways

- TaskRabbit is an online and mobile marketplace that connects freelance workers (called Taskers) with local consumers to complete everyday household tasks.

- Ania Smith has been TaskRabbit’s CEO for the past five years.

- Since she joined, the business has grown to about five times its original size.

A recent college graduate on a scooter, zipping between Manhattan apartments and mounting TVs, probably does not picture himself as a case study in the future of work. But TaskRabbit‘s CEO, Ania Smith, often thinks about one New York City worker who cleared more than $200,000 in his first year on the platform doing just that. Artificial intelligence can’t mount TVs, after all.

TaskRabbit is an online and mobile marketplace that connects freelance workers (called Taskers) with local consumers to complete everyday household tasks, like moving, cleaning and furniture assembly.

Before becoming TaskRabbit’s CEO in 2020, Smith worked at Walmart, Expedia, Uber and Airbnb. The last six years of her career at TaskRabbit have been devoted to optimizing the match between supply and demand of the gig marketplace.

The following conversation with Smith has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.

Ania Smith. Credit: TaskRabbit

Becoming a CEO

Early on, you sold newspaper subscriptions door to door. What did that scrappy job teach you that you still apply as a tech CEO today?

Yes, that was many years ago. I was still a child. I not only had to sell the newspapers, but then I had to deliver them. First and foremost, that teaches hard work, commitment, and resilience — traits that are really important for any leader. It also taught me how to start influencing people, how to sell, and how important that is, and to have empathy for your customer and understand their needs. Those are early lessons you carry through your career.

When did becoming a CEO become a concrete goal rather than a vague aspiration?

It was neither, ever. I never thought I could get to the level of CEO — I just wanted to have an impact. I was focused on being at high‑growth companies that were doing new and innovative things and thinking differently than the majority of the industry. That gave me lessons in becoming a better problem solver. I focused on continuing to learn, grow, and have an impact.

What’s an example where you have had an impact?

In my current role, our business is now five times the size it was when I started. That means we are providing meaningful income to thousands of Taskers. We completed over 3 million tasks last year, and we’re on track to complete close to 4 million tasks this year. That’s an incredible amount of ways we help our clients solve everyday problems in their homes, while also helping our Taskers earn a meaningful income.

How much do Taskers earn on average?

It often depends on the market. Some markets have different average hourly rates. In the U.S., it’s close to $50 per hour, but in markets like New York City, it can be close to $55 per hour.

How many Taskers does TaskRabbit have?

We have thousands of taskers globally. Our total population is well over 50,000 today. These are taskers that are billing on our platform, meaning they do some sort of job, have onboarded, or have scheduled a job.

Advice on starting a side hustle

What would you tell people who want to start a side hustle, as an authority in this space?

I would say first, sign up. Look on the platform and see the types of jobs that are available and the categories we provide services in. Understand your skill set and think about how to best market yourself. We allow you to add photos and describe your skills. Be prompt in answering when you get job requests, be reliable so you’re there when you say you will be, and set your hourly rate within the right range so people want your services. And then be good and courteous when you show up and do the job well.

How can someone maximize their earnings on TaskRabbit?

There are many ways, depending on their skill set and what they want from the platform. They can focus and become great at one category, or expand into multiple categories; they can focus on one geographic area or expand their area. They can decide whether they want to do more jobs at a lower base rate, or fewer jobs at a higher base rate depending on their skills. There are many ways to think about maximizing earnings on our platform.

Do you have an example of a Tasker who found extraordinary success on the platform?

There are many. One I often come back to is a Tasker I talked to a couple of years ago. He was a student at NYU who was just graduating and didn’t yet have a full‑time job. He had heard of TaskRabbit, figured out how to mount TVs and knew Manhattan really well. Also, he got a mini scooter so he could get around quickly. Sometimes he was able to do two TV mountings an hour, sometimes even three, and he would group jobs close to one another. He made well over