The Gig Economy -Make Money With Side Gigs

Have you heard of the “Gig Economy”? The word “gig” was popular in the 1960s in the US. It was used to refer to a short period of employment.

Musicians would refer to one-time performances as gigs. People with part-time jobs that only used them a few hours each week and eventually ended call those jobs side gigs.

The word is used the same way when referring to the current Gig Economy.

In the past, someone would work for a single company for 40 or 50 years and then retire. There are obvious benefits for both parties in this kind of situation. The company benefits because they have someone that they only have to train once to do a job. They are not constantly hiring and training people. The employee benefits by having stable, reliable employment. He doesn’t have to constantly pound the pavement and hit the road looking for work.

There are plenty of companies today that use this same employment model. There are also many companies large and small that prefer hiring short-term employees.

This way they don’t have to pay a pension at the end of a 30 or 40 year employment. They don’t have to provide benefits like health insurance, personal time and paid vacation days. The employee or contractor benefits by being able to pick and choose jobs whenever and wherever he can work. Thanks to the Internet and the World Wide Web, a worker doesn’t even need to leave his or her home to perform short-term gigs. A person can make a full-time living with these gigs, or keep their current job and perform online gigs in his spare time.

Some companies that hire you for a gig will use you over and over again. Other times you have to constantly pop from one gig to another to make money. Fortunately, there are websites that make finding gigs easy.

Companies pay these websites to find gig workers for them. It’s free for you to open an account with these gig finding sites. Some have you perform a series of tests so that you qualify for certain gigs. With others you can get started right away. With most of them, the more gigs you complete, the more money you’re paid per gig.

At all of the following sites, you are acting as a part-time employee taking on short, simple jobs.

-Fiverr

I talk about Fiverr a lot in this report. The upside is that you can make money so many different ways on this website. It is free to set up an account and offer samples of your work. You can do anything and everything. You can offer a wide variety of services or just one service or digital product.

The site is called Fiverr because jobs and services start at $5. The majority of jobs are $5 or $10. Most jobs can be completed very quickly. Customers rate you and the higher rated Fiverr freelancers command higher prices.

-Guru.com

If you have an expertise in just about any area then you might be able to find some gigs on guru. The site offers thousands of freelance jobs at any time. You can search for hourly jobs or fixed-price payments. Jobs can be searched by category, location and other filters. If you have any previous work you would like to share as an example of your high-quality abilities, you can add it to your profile.

One neat thing about this site that’s different than most of the others on this list is the virtual “Work Room”. Here you can schedule your tasks so you can keep organized. This is where you communicate with the folks that hire you. It’s nice to have a record of your communication with the people that you work for.

-Behance.net

This is the place you can should go if you’re a creative type of person. You can land photography and designer gigs. Illustrators and other creatives can also find work here. Just like with Fiverr and the other companies on this list, Behance.net allows you to show off your portfolio. You can filter the available part-time jobs by field, company, location and keyword.

-Gigster.com

Do you know a lot about information technology (IT)? If you are knowledgeable in this field, Gigster.com is the place for you. The focus here is on software development but there are other IT gigs available. As you can imagine because of the focus of this website, you will need to go through a screening process and application.

Gigster.com gets a percentage of your fee for any project you complete. On the positive side, your expertise in IT is well rewarded here. Compared to other sites that help you find gigs, the money you can make here is at the very high-end of the spectrum. Many jobs are extremely lucrative.

-Task Rabbit

Task Rabbit is another gig landing site. Companies and individuals looking for local help advertise here. Some of the things you can do are online, but the vast majority of part-time gigs are going to be local and offline.

You can browse chores in your local area. You might be asked to clean someone’s home or deliver groceries. Some are one-time jobs but you can also find once a week or once a month jobs. There aren’t too many jobs offered for IT professionals and creatives but if you have some spare time, you can get to work right now in your local area and make some money.

-Gigwalk

This is another local gig website. It’s easy and free to sign up. Just download the Gigwalk app and open an account. You just have to answer a few basic questions and register your best email address. You have to have a PayPal account to get paid. Once you’re set up (which only takes a few minutes) you can browse for and complete gigs in your local area.

Gigs can take as little as 5 minutes to complete, or as long as several hours. A quick check of the website reveals that you can make anywhere from $3 to $100 for each gig. Everything is done through the app. As soon as your job is finished and approved, the money is sent directly to your PayPal account.