Have you ever thought about professional cuddling? I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. Becoming a professional cuddler may be the perfect side hustle for you. Over the last couple of years, professional cuddlers have gotten more and more attention and it is becoming a very lucrative business.

Hold Me Now

Due to the coronavirus, more people have been left feeling lonely. This has caused them to hire professionals to cuddle with because there are many benefits of cuddling besides helping loneliness. Having touch deprivation can lead to depression, anxiety, aggression, and other mental issues. Cuddling releases a chemical in your body called oxytocin that makes you feel much better, making it a perfect stress relief solution.

Just for some context, there are now tens of thousands of people you can hire to cuddle with you. What someone might have thought was crazy is now a reality. This rabbit hole is so deep that there are websites offering courses on how to cuddle. The Google Trends results show that, since 2004, the searches for “professional cuddling services” have only increased.

This uprise has gone as far as having Fox News and the Washington Post cover stories about it. Some people claim they have made $40,000 for just cuddling with people. Furthermore, websites show that you can get paid up to $80 per hour. Countless other sites have made stories about how professional cuddling is slowly turning into one of the most popular side hustles.

What Does Professional Cuddling Entail?

If the subject of cuddling interests you, then you may be asking what a professional cuddler does. A professional cuddler is just a person who cuddles with someone for money. Clients pay someone for a given amount of time, though note that all you do is cuddle, hug, and spoon—nothing more. The prices can vary from $40 to $80 an hour with countless different places where you work.

As Fox News reported, a woman made $40,000 in 12 months just from cuddling. Many cuddlers have to take a course to become one, which sometimes includes training and reading the cuddling bible called “Cuddle Sutra”.

Why Should I Become a Professional Cuddler?

As shown before, the need for professional cuddlers in today’s market is only increasing. Due to quarantine, people are lonelier than they have ever been. Social distancing has made people separate, and not having social contact has been proven to lead to many health problems.

This is where cuddling comes in. Having someone to cuddle with is a perfect way to solve this lack of social contact. Not only does cuddling provide stress relief benefits, but it can also make that person a lot happier, reduce anxiety, and help your heart. Cuddling simply provides a simple service that is both needed, but also not found anywhere else.

Being able to help people isn’t the only reason to look into this side hustle; wages and flexibility are great reasons as well. As shown by many news reports and official websites, your wage can vary from $40 to $80 an hour.

As a professional cuddler, you also have flexibility because by law you are considered an independent contractor. This simply means you work when you want to and when you have a client. The high pay, flexibility, and demand for this job in the market make this a perfect side hustle right now.

Where Do I Become One?

There are many websites where one can become a cuddler or hire one. The main sites for finding and becoming professional cuddlers are “Cuddlist“, “CuddleComfort“, and “Snuggle Buddies“. Just know that if you are hiring a cuddler that you must follow a strict safety policy.

The main places for becoming a cuddler are online and only require you to take some training. Countless websites hire and offer the service, but they all follow the same basic process. A site gets you into contact with a cuddler nearby, you pay, meet up, and then enjoy your session. This system allows there to be seamless interaction between the client and the cuddler.

The Perfect Therapy for Loneliness

At the end of the day, becoming a professional cuddler might be the perfect side hustle for you. Due to the coronavirus, people have gotten much more lonely and mental issues have become more common. This has made cuddling a perfect solution, making professional cuddling an incredibly lucrative business. With how easy it is to become a cuddler and how flexible the job is, it may be the perfect fit for you.

What do you think of professional cuddling as a side hustle? Let us know down in the comments.

This article originally published in GREY Journal.