Careers For The “Sleep Till Noon” Crowd

A while back (way back, actually), there was a book called “Play Poker, Quit Work, and Sleep Till Noon.” Published in 1985 and far ahead of its time, the author, John Fox, drew from his experiences in the local California card rooms where it was possible to make a living playing a now-antiquated poker form called Five Card Draw.

The book may no longer be relevant for its strategy advice (apart from learning poker tells and psychology), but it does point to a type of career that more and more people are choosing to adopt in lieu of the normal nine to five. If you’re looking for a job that gives you enough freedom to “sleep till noon” and still brings enough to pay the bills, then the following options might demand some further exploration. 

Online Gaming

Updating Fox’s ideas to the 21st century, the logical extrapolation is to that of an online poker or casino player. Thought leaders like PokerStars have advanced their offerings in the past year to include not just poker, but also casino and sports betting, opening the doors wide to what was previously reserved as only an in-casino activity. Poker may be the most lucrative of the options and plenty of basic strategies can be found online that will teach you how to beat low limit games. At the same time, reaching the upper echelon of online poker will require plenty of time studying the game and watching how the pros play.

For casino and sports betting careers, a solid basis in mathematics is the foundation upon which you should build the rest of your ability. The latter is a better option as finding the right strategy for casino games like blackjack can take an intimate knowledge of how to suss out positive opportunities and then maximize them. However, there are countless examples of sports bettors that have been able to beat the game with a finely tuned strategy. Modeling results or building an architecture for making picks can take time, but you can test your system against past results without any investment. 

Freelance Developer 

If you’re looking to use your skills in a bit more stable field, then freelance development work could be the right arena. Around the world, there are an almost infinite number of interesting projects being developed and they often need a helping hand to bring their software package to the public, from complicated coding to straightforward Photoshop work. To keep up with the demand for qualified freelancers, sites like Elance and Upwork have a strong marketplace and plenty of jobs can be found there.

The upside and downside of freelance development work is that it’s often feast or famine – a ton of work that you don’t have the time to complete or a long period where finding work can be extremely difficult. In addition, payment arrangements can be a little of a crapshoot.

When owners are bootstrapping a project, they may look for ways to incentivize your work, such as giving you shares in the company instead of cash. While this could obviously mean a lower payment for a project that doesn’t pan out, it also means that you could end up on the ground floor of something really big and your shares could turn out to be worth much more than the work completed. 

Woman at work.

eSports Superstar

How about a professional video game player? There’s a market for that right? Well, yes, there is and it’s quite profitable, but like poker, it takes a ton of work to get to the highest level. Many professional League of Legends and StarCraft warriors move to South Korea to be in the center of the action, but there are also video gaming events all over the globe that can have substantial paydays for a strong finish.

So, what does it take to get there? Read any of the professional video gamer blogs (or watch their Twitch streams) and you’ll see that their commitment can run to 12+ hour days and attendance at gaming boot camps to develop their play alongside top names. If you think you can take the long hours playing games (it’s not as easy as it looks) and you’re the best Halo player among your friends, perhaps it’s time to take your video game skills to the next level and try to strike out as a pro. 

Travel Blogger 

Maybe you’ve got to this point and you’re thinking that getting a sleep till noon job is harder than you thought. It’s true that only the top few percent make it at the previously mentioned careers, but one that is increasingly seen as an opportunity for many is the world of travel blogging. Setting up and monetizing a travel blog is a snap if you’ve ever spent a minute with WordPress, but the real challenge of travel blogging is making it pay, which means plenty of marketing and social media action.

Being a travel blogger doesn’t mean you need to sell all your worldly possessions, don a backpack, and book a one-way flight to Myanmar. In fact, you can do travel blogging from your own hometown just by highlighting all of those great places you know that would be hidden secrets for anyone without the same intimate knowledge of your city. Produce great content, market it well, and you could be well on your way to a career as a travel blogger (even if doesn’t mean extensive traveling).

Times have changed dramatically since Fox’s book and the “Stuff Envelopes – Make Millions” headlines. Working at your own pace and on your own time has become more popular than ever as people realize that there are other options besides just the standard day job. While most of these careers do require some dedication to pick up the necessary skills, the benefits are immense. Being master of your own time is worth its weight in gold and many have found that their productivity actually increases when working a schedule that’s right on a personal level. Sleeping till noon may not be for everybody, but it’s a lifestyle that is being embraced by more every day.