I'm not at all sure why these are 'surprising'. $100k/year for a dog walker is not possible in most areas unless there's a lot of dogs to walk for a lot of dog

I'm not at all sure why these are 'surprising'. $100k/year for a dog walker is not possible in most areas unless there's a lot of dogs to walk for a lot of dog owners with disposable income. That $96k figure is 'up to', and while much may be in cash, it's probably closer to 50-70% that on an annual basis. If you're doing this in an area with enough rich dog owners to sustain that business year 'round, you're living in an area where earning, say, $60k isn't going to afford you a great lifestyle. Liveable, certainly, but not wealthy. The 'not surprising' part really is the down to hustle - it should not be surprising at all that some people can hustle up paying customers for services that we'd ignore or look down on. The dog walking gig - you must really love dogs to be cleaning up dog crap for up to 8 dogs at a time, 5-7 days per week, 6-8 hours per day. I've known dog walkers and pool cleaners. Most don't make anywhere near that, because they're not good hustlers - they're not networked sufficiently, and don't know how to attract enough customers and manage a business. Someone with the skills to attract customers and properly manage 'busyness', money will flow almost in spite of whatever skills/education they may have or, more usually, not have.