The Emerging Topic of this Era-Gig Economy

GIG ECONOMY

Our world is going through something which has never happened before. I am talking about COVID19. Though mankind has suffered many calamities throughout its history, but because of Corona Virus not only our lives but economy is also at stake. Whenever any pandemic health situation occurs, our economy suffers and because of it almost everybody’s way of spending gets changed.

 We don’t know, for how many more days we’ll have to stay in our homes. How the businesses will affect due to this in near future, but staying at home is the only option and to work on the direction so that our businesses don’t incur huge losses during this lock-down, we have. But because of all these changes, new word Gig Economy came in to picture. It became one of the most discussed topics nowadays, obviously after corona.

So, What is Gig Economy?? Let’s Understand.

Gig Economy is a term referred to the non-traditional work arrangement where workers are independent, temporary, contract based instead of full-time employees. Gig workers are often called the freelancers, project-based workers and self-employed as well.

The gig workers are hired for individual small tasks such as writing articles, coding, editing, data entry and getting groceries and services like this and get paid. Gig economy is not something that has emerged recently, it has been developing for a long time. But, current scenario is the cause of gig economy coming into limelight these days.

How this is changing the life of Indians

 Developed Countries already has a well-established gig economy. India also has a huge market size because of its dynamic population size and working age group which makes India a potential aggressive core for Gig economy.

A report by Economictimes.com stated that 70 percent corporate have used gig workers at least once or twice in 2018. Metropolitan cities of India has large number of gig workers than smaller cities. India where unemployment is very evident and corporate jobs are filled by overqualified candidates, Gig is a new and interesting way to earn income for any age group.

Other than freelancer writers, it also includes web designers, editors, delivery boys, Cab drivers as well. These are also gig workers. But because of current situations the number of gig workers in India is further likely to raise in leap and bounds.

Does age matters? You’ll find at least one out of every tenth person working as a freelancer to earn some money these times be it as Instagram influencer, a youtuber (by the way, a young boy only the age of 8 is one of the highest paid youtuber who reviews toys in his channel).

And why not? Even if you are a Graduate fresher or even if you are just a teenager struggling to decide your carrier-path, this is the best way to explore your interest, if you have the right skill you can utilize it by working as a Gig-worker. There are also people who doesn’t want to stop working even after the retirement. Gig economy is a great option for such workaholics. It gives them advantage to work in flexible and less number of hours, to make money and have more time to enjoy their free time. Even if you are a regular employee you can also work as a gig worker for some extra income.

A big part of gig workers are youngsters from the age group of 17-35 year old. Adults from the age group of 35-54 year old consist the second largest part of gig economy. The third age group is children of different age group and people above 55 years old. So it can be said that, the age is not the barrier, all you need is the skill or subject knowledge and you should be clear what you want to deliver.

 So, you find it interested?? Do you also want show your skills?

Now let’s understand, How to begin working as a Gig- worker

 Freelancing work can be a wise choice to fill the hiatus if you are unemployed, fresher or during a job change. Companies hire freelancers for some specific reasons, often they don’t want to train a new employee because its both time and money consuming. Thus, they want someone who can get the job done following the direction of company. A freelancer can complete the same project in less payment compared to a regular skilled worker. This is another reason why Gig economy is flourishing. If you understand mechanics of how the work should be done, you just need to sharpen your skills according to the project. To start working as a gig worker you’ll need to create profiles on various platforms. I’ll also discuss about those platforms.

 But first, lets gather ideas for you to how you can begin, so just by creating profiles on freelance working website is the best way to start earning if you don’t have contacts. Once your profile is there you are all set to find the gig that suits your skill and interests. This is exactly like a regular job searching. Some mainstream platforms :- Airbnb, BookMyChotu, TaskRabbit, Upwork , fiverr, Freelancer, YouTube, are some of the best platforms for making extra money.

Airbnb is preferred by many because users can set prices for their work themselves. Users can work there as a host without incurring many extra expenses

Upwork users are mostly who have strong computer related skills, such as Graphic Designers, Web developers and App developers.

• So, if you have fine hands on computer you can try Upwork.
• Freelancer is very much similar to Upwork, and if you are good at editing videos, photo shop, Web designing etc. Freelancing is one the suitable platforms for you.
• YouTube is also a Gig and probably the most famous and favorite platform for creative people. You can create your own Youtube channel and start uploading videos to start earning. It might surprise you but some top youtubers earn more than an average American. It is not that easy as it sounds. Specially for a new comer. You should have at least 1000 subscribers and your videos must have been watched for a total of at least 4000 hours in the last year. Then only you’ll be starting earning. So, if you are planning to create your own YouTube channel. Research about the type of audience you want and start your YouTube journey.
• Fiverr is there in gig market for a long time. And if you already a gig worker then you must know that Fiverr also works as a solid client, referral system. The more you get the clients the more money you’ll make!
• Thumbtack users are professionals mostly. Many of them have a license for their working field such as plumbers and electricians, You might have heard of Urban Clap. Also, Workers set their own prices. Users are paid according to the response to the inquiries.

Some other platforms are Tapchief, BookMyChotu, Ola and many other.

Now once you got an idea about your content based on your skill and choose the platform for it, be it Youtube, Instagram or any other. You should also look upon its potential and its growth, so that the time you invest in it does not go in vain. Afterall we all want return on our investment, even its our time and skill, Am I right?

So let’s discuss Potential of gig economy in future (Part-time or full-time )

 Gig economy is often referred as the source of extra income and part time work. Which is very much true because most of the gig users are using it for the same purpose. It is the ‘secondary’ sources of income for a regular worker. Actually, the Gig economy has provided so much leverage to the workers that most of us don’t think it as a regular source of income. The notion of “ work” is glued to fixed working hours and a fixed place where we have to go for work. Gig economy breaks this notion and that is why most of us don’t think about gig economy as a regular source of income. Yes, many gig workers have left their regular jobs and work for several gig platforms and projects to earn on regular basis.

In other words Gig is being used for part time but soon we’ll we working as a full time gig workers. We are on our way towards this.

We are in lockdown now and you must be reading it sitting at your home. Our world is changing because of COVID19. We don’t know how more days we’ll have remain inside our homes. In such conditions Gig platform is preferred by both companies and workers as well. Future prediction is impossible. No one knows how the world will look like after 7 or say 10 years. But how things are going it is very much likely that Gig economy will sprout more and become one of the largest money building industry.

Conclusion

 Gig economy provide the project ownership, flexibility and convenience. As a gig worker you can work for anyone and anytime. But every coin has two faces. There are advantages of gig economy but there are some points that you should keep in mind. You’ll not have the perks that a regular employee enjoys. Unlike a regular employee you’ll not have a health insurance and other benefits as well. If you’ll not work you’ll not get paid. That’s simple. There’ll be projects and tasks only if there’s demand. No demand means no work.

So, let’s sit and think about your skill and Idea how you can work on it, decide platforms, research thoroughly, give sometime and go in the direction of the emerging platform as a good content creator, Don’t work for only few days in it, for instance, you became a blogger and you publish something very well on one topic, but next time you did not have any new idea, No, never do this, you will not get anything in return just by posting one blog. You will have to come up with new ideas every single day. So lets work on it, there are many inspirations Look Around you.

 The work timing, whom you are dealing with and even the pay rate (depending on the way of work) is decided by you. Also, it doesn’t matter whether you are a college freshman or having grandkids. If you are skilled and interested, you will have lot of work on your plate.

Not only for making extra money you can also use gig economy to explore your passion more.  So Good Luck!! 😊