As Rihanna said, “Work, work, work, work, work.” 💪🏼The gig economy helps freelancers find business and businesses find workers. We’ll talk about other ways it’ll help you, too.
“The gig economy is a new composition of how people are making money and structuring their employment.” – Stephanie Leffler
It’s estimated that about 36% of U.S. workers have a gig in some capacity. That could be driving for Uber or Lyft, taking on freelance coding, writing, and design, or running social media for a company.
Although some people might oppose the idea of gigs and freelance work, it actually helps many workers bring in more income. And even full-time freelancers set their own schedules while working less than 40 hours a week.
Small businesses can participate in the gig economy as well, by having freelancers “on staff” to help with special projects or even ongoing contracts.
But why not just hire full-time employees? We’ll give you a couple of reasons:
There might not be enough work
Depending on the size of your business, you may not even have enough projects to warrant hiring a full-time employee. Additionally, you may have projects that require a multitude of different skills that just one person couldn’t fulfill. At this point, it would be too costly to hire full-time, or even part-time, employees to help out around the office, so having a few freelancers works out better for your business.
The freelancer you work with has their own business
Sometimes “freelancer” is a bit of a misnomer. Many freelancers actually have their own businesses that are successful and bring in more than enough income to sustain them.
When working in the gig economy, freelancers can pick and choose which clients they work with, what projects they help out with, and what they want to do. Furthermore, you may not be able to persuade them to drop their business to come work for you.
You just don’t have the cashflow
Hiring a full-time employee is expensive. While in a perfect world, you would like to be able to pay for employee health insurance, taxes, and paid time off, it just isn’t feasible. However, it’s important to remember that working in the gig economy has its advantages and disadvantages.
If you can swing it, hire someone to help you. But if you can’t, paying a freelancer the agreed-upon rate is perfectly fine in the beginning stages of your business.
Challenge
Determine whether or not your business will benefit from having a helping hand in the form of a gig worker or freelancer. Start networking for someone with the skills you need to complete your projects.
Awesome Stuff I Read This Week
- 🏎Is the Tesla Cybertruck too expensive? Try the toy version, instead.
- 👽Alien-detecting space tech is on the horizon!
- 💻RIP to Larry Tesler, inventor of copy + paste.
Tired of Working Alone?
The gig economy is vast, but we’re right here to help. Escape Plan creates awesome websites, marketing campaigns and manages reputations for companies just like yours. Contact Us Today
Let’s grab coffee soon,
Drew Horine, Founder & Chief Creative
