Thriving in the gig economy? What does it take? You need to be dynamic in today's workforce. Here are several tips that will help you succeed with landing more gig economy jobs and clients.
Thriving in the Gig Economy – 5 Ways to Book More Clients
The gig economy is here to stay. There’s a lot of ways to make money working as a freelancer. You can either offer rudimentary services or value-add expertise to help clients. I’ll highlight the exact ways you can scale your freelance work into a business.
I track all my gig economy income with Personal Capital. It's a great way to link up all your cash flow from side hustles while monitoring your net worth. It's completely free and if you have more than 2 side hustles, you'll need a way to track how much income you are making.
The online economy continues to grow. There are over 57 million freelancers in the U.S. alone and many more abroad.
The trajectory of the gig economy is staggering and there could be as many as 1 billion freelancers by 2035.
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Gigs are no longer jobs that are performed by bands, artists or entertainers. Gigs are full-blown businesses that allow people to live with more flexibility and freedom in their lifestyle.
Table of Contents
Gig Economy Overview
The gig economy is a micro-job driven workforce that is usually driven by an online platform to connect people or businesses with service providers.
The gig economy has exploded. There are plenty of platforms to choose from that offer micro-gigs to large scale projects.
I wrote about the various ways you can get involved in the gig economy in my making money guide.
By landing more clients you can scale your gigs, this can lead to more income and more opportunity.
Types of Gig Economy Jobs
There are a few different types of gig jobs that you should be aware of before we get into the pros and cons of landing one.
Here are several different types of gig economy jobs you should know.
- Ride Sharing
- Delivery Services
- Contractor Services (B2B)
- Contractor Services (B2C)
- Renting Your Assets
Within both contractor services, you can break that down into many different things like electrical contracting, consulting for businesses, graphic design, web design, SEO, etc.
These are some of the most legit freelance business ideas to help you think about how you can scale your gigs into full-time businesses.
See Related: Best Part-Time Jobs to Make Extra Money
Pros of Gig Economy Jobs
The reason why gig economy jobs have exploded is because of the many advantages they offer.
Here are some of the main considerations.
Be Your Own Boss
I don't know about you… But reporting to someone in an office cubicle doesn't sound like the best way to spend your life experiencing the world.
With gig jobs, you are your own boss. Overnight.
If you are considering joining the gig economy, you should strongly consider my tips for landing clients before you start.
Work When You Want, Where You Want
With gig economy jobs, you can work where you want. Most gig jobs don't have a time requirement of when you need to work.
Some jobs it makes sense to work during certain time periods to make more money, but that isn't a necessity. For example, with Uber, you will probably want to drive during peak times like sporting events, concerts, city functions, etc.
Gig economy jobs are now completely mobile. You can use these gig economy apps to find work on the go (even when you are running errands).
See Related: Top Jobs that Pay with Tips
You Start Making Money Right Away
One good thing about these gig economy jobs is that you can start making money immediately. You don't need to invest much money upfront (if at all).
With a click of a button, you can start earning money.
Cons of Gig Economy Jobs
There are some cons of gig economy jobs and I'll highlight how you can potentially get around them.
Limited Scale (In Certain Circumstances)
There are some platforms that you can scale by outsourcing talent to help you build your business. However, some platforms are very limiting.
An example is Uber or Lyft, you can't really go out and hire other drivers to work for you in your business. They will just do it on their own. People like my friend Financial Panther have been able to make some nice dough in the sharing economy.
Race to the Bottom in Pay
Pay can actually be quite low for gig economy jobs. You can spend hours hustling around town and only earn a $20-$30/hour. Or, you can spend a few hours with Uber and only earn a $100. Then, you have to get gas and your car depreciated in value from driving.
As demand for these services goes up, supply has been increasing as well. There are a few platforms where supply for gig workers is high but demand hasn't increased. When that happens, it comes out of the gig workers pay.
Choose your platform and service wisely upfront.
I'd suggest only focusing on 2-3 different gig jobs out the gate.
See Related: Postmates vs Doordash
Pay Uncertainty
With contracting and consulting work, you can hold your pay at a certain level. If you rely on delivery services or ride-sharing, you simply can't decide what price you want to charge.
Your pay can be dependant on the equilibrium of supply and demand. Use our hourly rate calculator to determine how much you need to charge to meet your annual income goals.
How to Succeed in the Gig Economy
In order to succeed in the gig economy, you need to conduct your work with a high priority of customer service. No matter the platform or medium you use to land your gig jobs, you will be highly dependant on the reviews you receive for your work.
You need to know that from day one and make that a priority. The top and the only way to succeed is to have the customer in mind first.
From there, you can focus on some tips that will help you scale your gig job to new heights.
See Related: What is Pay Per Minute Chat Software?
Ways to Land More Jobs in the Gig Economy
There are several ways that you can scale your service from independent freelancer work to a full-blown business. You can succeed as a gig worker.
I’ll provide several tips on exactly how you can do so.
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Conduct Your Work with Integrity
Integrity goes a long way in the service industry. It’s something that will leave a lasting impression on your clients. This is a core principle that will make them coming back for more work.
If you remain transparent with your clients about your work, you will succeed. Focus on making your work honorable and stay focused on the client.
This will help you make more money online. Always think about quality. With quality, you can charge more for your work and you'll likely retain more clients along the way.
See Related: Shipt vs Instacart – What is Better?
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Be Action-Oriented, Not Reactive
Let’s be honest, it’s easy to be reactive when you have the online economy sitting right at your fingertips. That’s not going to cut it thought. You need to start thinking like an entrepreneur the moment you start to get involved in the gig economy.
Promote your gigs to start landing clients that already trust you.
This will help as others evaluate the gigs that might not already know you.
See Related: Improving Workflow Efficiency
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Expand Your Team
Don’t be afraid to reinvest back into your freelance work. If you are feeling overwhelmed with work, move up the value chain by adding members to your team that can help you complete small tasks.
This will help you focus on the bigger picture and build a bigger book of business. Start with goals like making $200 per day and then work your way up from there.
See Related: Best Gig Economy Jobs Out There
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Have a Vision
With freelancing, it’s easy to maintain the same workstream just because it’s working. There are no rules that say you have to do this. In fact, you should add complementary gig offerings to your existing gigs.
For example, if you offer web site design services to clients. Why not offer on-page SEO services? Why not offer a separate off-page SEO service?
In addition, you can offer a full SEO service gig that bundles everything together at a premium price. If you are a digital design expert, you now have at least 4 different gigs that you can market for yourself.
Be forward-thinking. This will help you grow your gig sales exponentially.
See Related: Ways to Make Money with Your Bike
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Think Long-Term
Similar to your vision, remember that you are building a sustained business with your gig. Don’t think about your work as just an online job. Think of it as a newly established business that can help people around the world at any given time.
The more you interact with others about your services the better. Change your mindset to think about the long game. You aren't simply doing this for the one job you are about to land.
It's about the long-term flexibility of the income and the ability to have freedom to work at your own pace.
See Related: Ways to Make Money With Your Van
Conclusion on Thriving in the Gig Economy
If you follow the first three steps outlined above, your clients will be very satisfied with your work. There’s a good chance you can take your independent freelance work to the next level. That’s not just it.
From there, you can focus on complementary services to continue a favorable trajectory of landing and retaining clients.
At the end of the day, gig jobs are services. You are providing a service to someone else or a business, so make customer service a top priority. It will help you find more jobs and get referred to other people. Reviews are crucial with gig jobs and side hustles. Good customer service leads to good reviews.
Maybe you won't need to rely on a third-party platform to land work?
What will you do to thrive in the gig economy? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you.