I get paid to stand in line for people. Here's how I turned a tedious task into a $25-an-hour business.

• Jennifer Goff, 36, is a real-estate agent turned professional line stander in Washington, DC.
• She runs Skip The Line, which expanded into deliveries and personal-assistant work in the pandemic.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jennifer Goff, a 36-year-old professional line stander in Washington, DC. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In June 2017 I had just returned from traveling abroad on a nine-month backpacking trip. I didn't know what I wanted to do next, but I did know that I did not want to get back into real estate, my previous profession. I was applying for some jobs and getting down to the wire trying to make money and get back into the workforce.

Around this time a "Game of Thrones"-themed pop-up bar opened, and I thought, "Hey, maybe I'll try to make a little bit of money."

There was limited seating and a wait list to take a picture on the Iron Throne. I had heard of people in New York City standing in lines for others as a job and so went down there.

I was going up to people who had been waiting in line for two to three hours — with no business plan or anything — trying to convince them to hire me to stand in for them while they went for a drink or grabbed a bite.

I would tell them I could stand in their spot and switch out when I was close to the front, and in the meantime I would text them any updates.

I was having little luck and almost gave up

I was so excited when, after three hours of trying, someone decided to hire me. From then on I just kept coming back to the line as frequently as I could, since I didn't have anything else going on for me.

From there, people started leaving reviews on the bar's Yelp page and giving my contact information to people. Considering I was getting a bit of traction, I expanded to other lines for restaurants, tickets for tourist attractions, and more. I decided I wanted to take this seriously, and in August 2017 I registered Skip The Line, only two months after I started.

I have stood in lines for concerts, book signings, product releases, new iPhones, and limited-edition whiskeys and bourbons.

My team is about eight to 10 people who were initially recruited within my social circles, and then friends of the staff who work with us regularly, but we also take on more as needed. We also work with local homeless shelters, employing people looking to get back on their feet. This is a pretty easy job to work and gain confidence.

Being in Washington, DC, is a significant advantage — lines for Supreme Court hearings are very lucrative

It only allows 50 members of the public to attend the hearings, and for big cases people line up days in advance. The longest we have camped out in a line was for a Supreme Court case, for three to four days. For these kinds of lines we have a group of people who rotate so that everyone gets to take a break.

There are times when we need more than 30 people, especially for Supreme Court lines, where one person can stand in line for only one client. We try to keep it as fair as possible.

I stand in lines anywhere between eight and 20 hours per week. When I started this as a business I would do side jobs for friends, but we started getting a lot of line-standing requests, so I had to focus on it full time. In addition to just standing in the lines, the marketing and outreach, promotions, and research take up all my time.

So far I haven't spent much money on marketing. Reviews and word of mouth were critical to me initially because I didn't have a lot of money. I also send newsletters to clients to keep them updated, and I spend some money on Google Ads, which was quite helpful in getting clients. Beyond that, I also try to get the local press to spread the word.

We get anywhere between 20 and 40 clients or client groups in a month

For Supreme Court lines we charged $40 an hour per person. That was the most expensive line because it was a limited-seating event and a longer wait, and we had to plan more.

Otherwise, for one person or a pair it's $25 an hour, and if it's three to four people it's $35 an hour. Around $25 to $35 would be typical for most things. Lines for restaurants and concerts typically range between two and 10 hours, and we have a two-hour minimum.

During COVID we still got requests, but things people wanted were still shut, or restaurants were only doing takeaway. We got a lot of requests for Supreme Court lines before they announced they were not open to the public for the season, and we are turning away tourists for things that are still not open.

Business has been slow, but I am confident there is a future for it. In the meantime, we have started a delivery business and a personal-assistant business within the umbrella of Skip The Line. Our mission has been to help people save time, and these new additions allow us to keep running a profitable business.