Finding a job used to be as easy as going to your local produce market and asking to work there part-time or full-time while attending school, or even as a full-time gig. However, those days are long gone, and the job market is one that is competitive, cut-throat, and where one has to stand out among the competition at all times. Why the change in job prospects? Is it difficult finding a job that pays well?

Jobs in Today’s Market

For starters, the economy has much to do with job prospects in modern America. Jobs come available when businesses grow, start to bloom, have more customers, and thus need extra helping hands to come on board with the business. In the US, there are approximately 30.2 million small businesses. If there are so many small businesses, why isn’t there a ton of jobs? Well, finding a job that pays well is like searching a needle in a haystack…at least…that’s what most people want you to think. On the contrary, it doesn’t have to be difficult to find a job that you love to do, and that also pays you fairly well. Even if you just want to get a job that pays well on the side, you can look for places other than small businesses who might not hire right away for job prospects.

Getting Paid for Your Passion

If you want to find a job that you love, it can be relatively easy with a bit of research and creativity. Working a job that pays well can be done in many different settings, from small businesses to giant corporations, and even freelance work. In addition, if you’re someone who is creative and does art, finding a job can be easy for you as well. If you’re looking at ways of finding a job that pays well, here are 15 tips to get you started. From having a good resume to looking at jobs that are in need of people, this list and a little bit of research in your local area can help you get started on your career journey.

1. Make a Good Resume

No matter what field you work in, having a good resume is always a great tool to have in your back pocket. Resumes sum up work you have done for other people, and they are able to accurately reflect the timeline of your jobs. Don’t just put simple dates and job titles, however. Fill your resume with information about what your duties were, any leadership roles, and what you learned on the job in addition to having up-to-date contact information. Keeping your resume to one page is a good idea to not overwhelm future employers. Finding a job that pays well means the job will be full of competition, and employers don’t want to read through tons of information for every prospective employee!

2. Send Out Cold E-mails

If you work as a freelancer, or even have your own company doing other services, sending out cold e-mails can prove to be beneficial and help you in finding a job that pays well. The gig economy is strong, and even if you have, let’s say a fence company, you can still send out e-mails to businesses in your area that look like they might be in need of fence repair, or in need of the services you provide. Advertisements work, but sending on cold e-mails can be the best bet if you want to contact someone in an office right away. Cold e-mails stand out better than certain advertisements and can help you find your next gig.

3. Make a Website

Keeping a website is a great way to market yourself, and is growing more and more popular among those that are working on finding a job that pays well. If you’re a business professional, have a good headshot as an actor, or even work in construction, having a website is essential to promote yourself to employers and to gain contracts. You can also add articles to your website to attract more people. If you’re a kitchen remodeler, giving information to others about how to remodel kitchen cabinets not only shows your skills and knowledge, but also provides shows you’re a trustworthy remodeler. This is just one of many ideas you can incorporate in a website.

4. Have a Portfolio

Like having a website, a portfolio can also be useful, especially if you want to work as a professional writer or artist. Professional writers and artists want to showcase their work when trying finding a job that pays well. The highest paying jobs will go to those that have great artistic or even writing skills. There’s no better way to show this skill than to keep a portfolio. You can keep either a portfolio with hard-copies of articles or photographs or artwork, or design an online portfolio to highlight your skills.

5. Get a Certification

It’s great to have special skills, but having a certification can help drive the point home and get you hired on professionally. If you have worked doing roof repair in the past, getting a certification to be a roofing contractor can help propel you miles ahead. In some cases, such as with roofing contractors, you’ll need a license in the state you’re working in, to pass an exam, and show you have a couple of years of experience in the field. Once you are licensed, however, the sky’s the limit when looking for high-paying work.

6. Network

It’s important to not dismiss anyone when searching for a job, and try to network as much as possible. Networking is a great way to introduce yourself to employer prospects, and also a great way for future employers or customers to see how your personality is, and how you can fit into their company. For instance, if you have worked in the past as a Disc Jockey for a club, get in contact with other club owners, and by word of mouth soon your skills will spread. Networking is essential for anyone working today, be it contractor or with an employer.

7. Have a Great Reference List

If you’ve done stellar work in the past, make sure to keep your customers or bosses in your reference list. Having friends and family is good to show character to a future employer, but a reference list is essential to employers that want to see your past history and what you’re capable of. For instance, if you worked as an emergency plumber and were able to think quickly on your feet and solve problems, keep references for not just those whose plumbing issues you fixed, but also the owners of the plumbing company you worked for. Having special skills and references to prove those special skills goes a long way when finding a job that pays well.

8. Charge Fair Prices

No one wants to hire someone who has a history of up-charging people. Pretty soon, most customers will know that you charge more than the competition, and slowly turn away from your services. Charging fair prices, having great customer service skills, and keeping up with new technology are all helpful when finding a job that pays well. In addition, if you want to go from being a contractor to an employee, you can be sure your employer will want to contact past customers or look into your reviews. If past customers are dissatisfied, this can prove costly.

9. Consider Internships

Internships are a great way to get experience and help you in finding a job that pays well later on. Most employers want to be sure you have several years of experience working in your prospective field, and internship experience can be handy. Even if you don’t work in an internship, try and get experience wherever you can. For instance, if your family owns a shop that specializes in automotive repair, you can ask to work on cars yourself in order to learn the skills of the trade, and later on transfer these repair skills to a higher-end or higher-paying auto shop. This is just one example of how to obtain skills, even if you’re younger.

10. Finish up Your Education

Certifications and internships are great ways to get hired and help in finding a job that pays well. However, for more advanced jobs, you’ll want to get an education and finish up an Associates or Bachelor’s degree. For example, if you want to work repairing industrial air compressors, this is a highly specialized skill that will require some knowledge and a possible a bachelor’s in engineering. However, having a highly specialized skill makes you able to stand-out among the competition, and highly sought after as well.

11. Show Off your Skills

Finding a job that pays well is all about finding a job where your skills will be highly utilized and sought after. Showcase your skills in a multitude of ways, such as the aforementioned website, portfolio, and references. Or, you can also show your skills by entering a competition, for instance, which can, later on, allow you to put this on your resume and get the attention of employers.

12. Consider Sales

Selling insurance can be a lucrative career, and sales itself is a high-paying profession. Consider sales such as real-estate, selling commercial auto insurance as an insurance agent, or even sales in a retail store. Car sales people are also great at making high earning commissions. The great thing about sales is also that you don’t need much of a degree or experience. What you do need is a great personality, the ability to talk to others, and the ability to help people figure out what they want and answer their questions. If you love to work with people and are still finding a job that pays well, sales might be the answer!

13. Consider Driving

Uber and Lyft are some of the biggest gig-economy giants today and for good reason. Driving people around can earn you a pretty penny, especially if you love to drive and know your city well. However, there are also class-B licenses that allow you to work in a career such as trucking. Truckers also make a high income, earning on average about $73,000 a year when working for a private fleet. Ensure you have the proper skills to avoid trucking accidents, don’t have any disabilities that will affect your ability to stay out on the road a long while, and have a desire to explore and travel. Driving jobs could just be the best bet for you.

14. Use your Handy Skills

Not everyone has the ability to work with their hands, so using your handy skills can prove to be beneficial and land you a high-paying career. For instance, if you know how to work in carpentry, you can set up a studio at your own home and get hired to build anything from furniture to decorative instruments, and much much more. If you do decide you want to expand on your handy skills and want to work from home, rent out a warehouse that has all the features to help you store your hand-made items. A secure commercial garage door, proper ventilation for when sanding, power tools, and space to store work and tools are all essential. You might even turn this side-business into a full on enterprise.

15. Work in Building Contracting

Now, more than ever, the housing market is continuing to grow, and any job that works in building contracting, flipping houses, or remodeling is a great career field. There’s never a lack for a good contractor, foundation setter, architect, or plumber to design houses. Research areas near you that are restoring houses and have neighborhoods on the rise. If you have a passion for starting things from the ground up, restoration, or simply working with your hands, look no further than a solid, high-paying career in contracting.

There are thousands of legal ways to make money in the United States, and those opportunities aren’t limited to traditional jobs working for someone else. If you are more interested in being your own boss, you are like the owners of the 30.2 million small businesses in the US.

There is nothing more liberating than making a living without answering to those who seem to have little interest in your prolonged success and career sustainability.

There are a nearly endless number of options for the direction your career journey can take, but have you ever considered bounty hunting? The average earnings for a skilled bounty hunter is $80,000, which is pretty great for a career choice that typically requires zero higher education.

If you are interested in the requirements for bounty hunting and bounty hunter tips to help find success in the industry, continue reading through our helpful guide.

What Do Bounty Hunters Do?

Bounty hunters provide a useful service to their communities. When someone is arrested they have to come up with a certain amount of bail money to be released while awaiting trial. Often, these people use bondsmen (or bail bond services), who put up a bail bond to get the person released. In the eyes of the court, this makes the bond company responsible for the potential criminal.

In exchange for the financial aid and responsibility, bondsmen get repaid in installments with interest and fees from the jailed individual or their family.

It is a pretty stellar business model for the bondsman. However, if the person they paid bail on doesn’t show up to court, the bondsman is held responsible and their rates with their insurer can spike through the roof. This is where bounty hunters come in.

The bondsman hire these bounty hunters to track down these bail jumpers in exchange for a percentage of the bail bond amount.

These bounty hunters are similar to private investigators in that they use their tracking skills to locate the bail jumper. However, instead of using their tracking skills to acquire information and tips for an individual or the police, they actually detain and bring in the individual.

What do I Need to Become a Bounty Hunter?

The regulations surrounding the act of bounty hunting vary greatly from state to state. In fact, Oregon, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Illinois have completely outlawed the practice of bounty hunting while some states don’t even require any licensing.

One of our most important bounty hunter tips is to check for the regulations in your specific area or the areas in which you would like to practice your business. Bail bonds and bounty hunting can be highly lucrative and symbiotic positions. Research the laws in multiple prospective areas and determine where you will be in the highest demand and compensated properly.

While we can’t get into the regulations for every single location in the US, here are some basic guidelines that can’t get you started looking in the right direction.

States That Outlaw Bounty Hunting

• Oregon
• Kentucky
• Wisconsin
• Illinois
• District of Columbia
• North Carolina: bounty hunters cannot be freelance. They must work as skilled employees under a bonding agency.
• South Carolina: bounty hunters cannot be freelance. They must work as skilled employees under a bonding agency.

States That Require No Formal Licensing or Training to Be a Bounty Hunter

• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Jersey
• Wyoming

Common Requirements and Limitations to Consider

• Age Requirements: Some locations require bounty hunters be 18 while others can go as high as 25.
• Pledges and Oaths: Some states require pledges or oaths be taken similar to officers and sheriff’s deputies.
• Jurisdiction: Remember, if the person you are hunting travels out of your jurisdiction, you have no legal right to arrest them.
• Gun Permits: If your state allows you to carry a gun, you will still need proper licensing and carrying permits.
• Training: Training will be dependent on both your location and the bonding company with which you work.
• Criminal Record: Typically, you will need to have a clean federal background check.
• Citizenship: You will likely need to prove US citizenship.
• Guidelines Implemented by Local Police: Many locations require you to call the police before making any arrests.

Where to Find Work as a Bounty Hunter

The best way to pursue work as a bounty hunter is by creating strong, amicable relationships with bail bondsmen in your area. Depending on where you live, you might find there are quite a few options for bonding services, so where should you look first? One of the best bounty hunter tips is to pay attention to the clients that bondsmen seek.

There are two marketing terms that you should pay attention to: “immediate” and “emergency.” If a bonding service uses these terms on their websites or marketing material, chances are they can provide you with some great leads toward contracts. Here is why:

Emergency Bonds

When bondsmen advertise that they offer emergency bail bonds, they mean they can offer approvals and assistance quickly. Quite often, this is a search being completed by individuals that are more likely to skip bail down the line. This means there are likely more opportunities available for you to take hunting contracts through the bondsmen.

Immediate Bonds

Immediate bail bonds is another marketing term often used by bondsmen offering quick turnarounds and approvals. Just like emergency bonds, this means that the regular clientele will have a higher likelihood of creating chances for you to make some money.

What Will I Need to Be a Good Bounty Hunter?

Being a great bounty hunter involves more than gaining licensing and being good at tracking. There are physical, mental, and general equipment requirements that can greatly improve your success rate. Let’s take a look at some of the things you will need.

Physical Adeptness

Physically, you should strive to be in good shape. One of our most important bounty hunter tips is to remember that arresting criminals is dangerous and any apprehension may turn into a physical altercation. If you are unable to chase, wrestle, and restrain your target, you could be seriously injured. Self defense training is especially important for bounty hunters so you might consider taking up a mixed martial art or other similar activity.

Mental Aptitude

Generally speaking, you will not need formal education above the high school level to become a bounty hunter. However, there are some mental competencies that can make your job a whole lot easier. Observational skills and logical deduction are two talents that every great bounty hunter should have. Any list of bounty hunter tips will tell you that working out your body and mind are the best things you can do to become top in your field. Many top-performing bounty hunters attended some level of college or technical school to help hone their mental sharpness and gain valuable skills.

Equipment and Tools

The equipment required for bounty hunting is fairly similar to private investigators and other niche criminal justice jobs. To start, you will need handcuffs, a cellphone, bullet proof vest, taser, pepper spray, other legal weaponry (gun, baton, etc.), any other tools you find useful to track your targets. Depending on your choice of defense tools and other equipment, the startup cost for bounty hunting can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

One of the more expensive pieces of equipment you will need is a vehicle. These can be decked out with protective grating, GPS devices, storage and other tools, but the most important thing is the vehicle’s reliability. We recommend a vehicle like a truck or SUV that can travel over tough terrain and during inclement weather. You should also consider opting for new trucks for sale over used vehicles because you will be putting a lot of miles on your vehicle and want it to last as long as possible.

Depending on the gear your carry and your means of transportation, you may require specific additional licensing. As we mentioned in previous bounty hunter tips, be certain to look into your local regulations before making any major purchases or decisions.

Getting Your Name Out There

The most seasoned professionals will tell you one of the most important bounty hunter tips is to make sure local bondsmen know who you are. You may want to get your name out there through old school methods like word of mouth marketing , signs and flyers, or direct marketing material. While these methods are all great in some ways, you should consider hiring a marketing consultant to assess your local market for the advertising methods that will work best.

Many bounty hunters have begun marketing exclusively online. This is because digital marketing is much cheaper thanks to pay-per-click ads while still being highly effective. In fact, most modern business is researched through internet searches, so you want to utilize SEO to get your name at the top of those lists.

Though some digital marketing is beginner-friendly, the best method to master the online frontier is by utilizing internet marketing services. These companies can help you isolate your markets online usage and implement marketing campaigns that will reach the right people. This might be through social media, internet searches, webpages, or even email marketing.

Digital Bounty Hunting: Bug Bounties, Legal Hacking, and More

With the advancement of the internet and digital technologies, there has been the creation of a market for bounty hunters online. Some of these bounty hunters utilize hacking and other activities typically against internet law to locate digital criminals. Bug bounty hunters also work in the digital landscape but they don’t track people. Instead, these tech-savvy trackers look for vulnerabilities in businesses’ security systems and report them to the company’s security team.

These positions have cause some controversy regarding the need for stricter regulation. So, if you go this route, remember that you must be invited to take part in these hunting activities. You cannot legally hack a person or company without permission, even if you have good intentions.

One of the most useful bounty hunter tips we can give you is, if you are not sure what you are doing is legal, ask employment lawyers. These legal professionals can tell you if your hiring agent is asking you to participate in illegal practices and protect you during and after any whistleblowing.

Who Would Make a Good Bounty Hunter

You can follow all the bounty hunter tips here, online, and in training manuals, but those who succeed in the field have something unique about them that truly makes them a shoe-in. Good bounty hunters are more than just strong individuals with the right tools. There are some personality traits that translate well to the position.

• Interpersonal Skills: interpersonal skills are the traits a person uses to properly and effectively communicate with others. Those with these skills often come from jobs in education, customer service, or public relations.
• Patience: There is a lot of waiting that goes into bounty hunting. Being able to maintain attention on a specific location or person without distraction is vital to success. These are similar skills found in government positions, healthcare, and childcare.
• Even Temperament: You will be coming into contact with the nefarious type quite often and they aren’t known for being kind and making arrests easy. If you have a short fuse you can end up making poor decisions that will land you in legal trouble. Those coming from the armed forces or other branches of criminal justice often have this trait.
• Ingenuity: Essentially, the more clever you are, the better you will be at bounty hunting. There are no bounty hunter tips that can make up for a lack of wit and clever thinking. people from all walks of life can meet this criteria, but it tends to show itself in the form of a sharp sense of humor.
• Investigative Skills: This may seem obvious, but the best bounty hunters are also fantastic detectives. If these bail jumpers were easy to find, there wouldn’t be a lucrative career for those seeking them. If you aren’t a natural born detective, try taking some classes on criminal behavior and investigative techniques.

Final Thoughts on Bounty Hunting as a Career

Bounty hunting isn’t necessarily the right career for everyone, but to those willing to put in the work it can be fantastic. The salary range is attractive, the requirements attainable, and the work environment is exciting.

If you are interested in getting into the industry, follow our bounty hunter tips and begin your journey with research and a little soul searching. Make sure you have what it takes to get the job done, then focus on getting to know the bail bondsmen in your area.

With the right gear, proper training, and some hard work, you can find bounty hunting to be the perfect career for you.