From Redundancy to $500K: How This Melbourne Dad Built a Thriving Business on Airtasker

A Melbourne dad has shared how he built a business turning over $500,000 a year after being made redundant from his corporate job. More Aussies are turning to the gig economy to supplement their income, with some even seeing the work replace their previous employment income.

Paul Lavis decided he was "done with corporate life" after he was made redundant from his sales director role in March 2024. The 45-year-old told Yahoo Finance he always wanted to make decisions and "run his own race", so he decided to give removalist work a go on Airtasker.

"It's difficult when you start out because you haven't got a profile. But a bit of perseverance and someone gives you a chance, you get your first five-star review, and then you're off," Lavis said.

Lavis already had a van from a previous event hire business he had started during the pandemic, along with trolleys and other bits and bobs of equipment, which was enough to get him started.

He initially started off doing the odd job two or three times a week, and after a few months he began building traction from his positive reviews.

"It was probably [after] about three months that I started to ramp it up, and I said to my partner at the time, it's all systems go. It really sort of kicked on from there as I started to bid on more and more jobs," he said.

Lavis's friend Paul Goldsmith soon joined the business, bringing his handyman services, and 'Better Call Paul' was born.

Dad Able to Replace Salary with Own Business

Lavis and Goldsmith now have a team of eight full-time and casual employees who work with them and mainly focus on small removals, handyman services and event "bump-ins". They've also expanded their fleet to include two vans and one truck.

The business still gets about 50 per cent of work through Airtasker, making between $15,000 and $20,000 a month through the platform.

"The business as a whole turned over about $500,000. Obviously, I've got my staff costs and my vehicle costs," Lavis said.

In terms of what Lavis is putting in his pocket, he said he was now making a similar amount to his previous corporate job, but income can go in peaks and troughs.

"That was my goal, it was to replace my salary," he said.

Aussies Turn to Gig Economy

Independent contractors grew to 1.1 million in August 2025, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, up 33,000 in a year.