The Gold Coast runs on side gigs. Between the holiday rentals that need a turnaround clean, the families wanting a hand with the kids, the tradies short a pair of hands for an afternoon, and the never-ending list of gutters, gardens and garage clean-outs — there's steady local work for people who want it. The hard part has never been that the work doesn't exist. It's finding it without spending your whole evening chasing leads.
This is a plain guide to picking up local side gigs on the Gold Coast and across southeast Queensland with Aura, and doing it sensibly.
What kind of work is actually around
Aura is hyper-local by design — it matches you with jobs near you, not on the other side of the country. The categories that move most on the Coast tend to be the everyday ones:
- Home and holiday-let cleaning — big around Surfers, Broadbeach and Burleigh where short-stays turn over fast.
- Gutter cleaning, pressure washing and garden tidy-ups — seasonal, and steady through the wet.
- Dog walking and pet sitting — reliable, repeat work once a household trusts you.
- Babysitting and aged care — higher-trust jobs (babysitting needs a declared Blue Card before you can bid; more below).
- Airport transfers and lifts — Coolangatta and Brisbane runs.
- Furniture assembly, removals help, rubbish removal, handyman odd jobs, tutoring, and tech help.
You don't need to do all of it. Most people pick two or three categories they're genuinely good at and let their twin watch for matches in those.
Set up your twin so the right jobs find you
Once you've got the app, the single most useful thing you can do is tell your twin what you actually want: the categories you'll take, how far you'll travel, the hours you're free, and a rough sense of your rates. The more honest you are, the better the matches.
From there your twin does the watching. Instead of you refreshing a feed, it surfaces jobs near you that fit, screens out the ones that don't, and brings you a short list. You can keep it on a tight leash (it just recommends and you reply yourself) or let it draft your bids for you to approve. Either way, you're the one who says yes.
Upload the licences you hold — why it's worth the ten minutes
Trust is the whole game in local work. Someone is letting you into their home, near their kids, or handing you their car keys. Aura lets posters see your rating and your reviews — earned on jobs you actually finished — alongside any licences you've declared.
Four categories are hard-gated: plumbing, electrical, babysitting/childcare and airport transfers won't let you bid until you declare the relevant licence — because doing that work unlicensed is illegal in Queensland. Be straight about what that gate is: you tick the licence yourself, Aura never sees the document and never checks it. Everywhere else — including aged care — there's no gate at all: you declare what you hold, the poster sees it, and they decide.
So expect a poster to ask for the real licence before they hand over keys, and have it ready. A declaration gets you in the door; the actual licence is what wins the job.
How getting paid works (read this bit)
Here's the part to be clear-eyed about:
Aura is a matching layer, not a payment service. You pay — or get paid — directly (cash, PayID, bank transfer). Aura never touches gig money.
Your twin finds the job and helps line up the terms. The actual money comes to you straight from the person who hired you — cash, PayID or bank transfer, whatever you both agree. Aura doesn't hold it, doesn't process it, and doesn't take a slice of your earnings. The in-app AURA tokens cover app actions and matching, not your pay.
What that means practically: agree the price and how you'll be paid before you start, the same way you would with any private job. And no — this isn't passive income. You earn by turning up and doing the work well. The app just gets you to the work faster.
Staying safe on the job
Common sense plus a few app habits go a long way:
- Keep the conversation in Aura. Chats are end-to-end encrypted, and keeping the thread in-app means there's a record of what was agreed.
- Check the poster's profile — their rating, their history, how much they've posted before. After a job, leave an honest review and ask for one; your reputation is what wins the next gig.
- Agree price, scope and payment method up front. "I'll do the front and back gutters for $X, paid by PayID when I'm done" beats a vague handshake.
- Trust your gut. If a job feels off — a strange location, a pushy request to take things off-platform immediately, a price that's too good — pass on it. There's always another gig.
- For first jobs with a new person, stick to daytime, tell someone where you're going, and meet in a normal, visible setting.
We cover the trust side in more depth in is it safe to hire (or work for) a neighbour?.
Start small, build a reputation, let it compound
The people who do well on Aura don't try to win everything on day one. They declare the licences they hold, take a couple of nearby jobs in a category they're strong in, do them properly, and collect good reviews. A clean record is what turns a one-off into repeat work — the regular Tuesday dog walk, the holiday-let owner who only calls you.
The Gold Coast has the demand. Your twin handles the searching and screening. Your job is to show up, do good work, and get paid for it directly. That's the whole loop — and it's a genuinely good way to turn spare hours into real local income.