How The Gig Economy Can Work For You
The Gig Economy is a relatively new concept. Put simply, it’s a labor market for those who choose to earn money by doing freelance work, contract work, or other temporary jobs. Though the Gig Economy has been on the rise, gig work as a whole has a long history. From musicians playing shows at different clubs to farmhands working seasonal jobs, people have found opportunities to work gigs for decades.
Gig work has been completely transformed by technology. In the past, one might have needed to advertise, cold call, or search on Craigslist to seek out gigs. Today, there are dedicated sites and apps like Gigpro you can use to find your next hospitality gig, with the convenience of employers explicitly seeking gig workers in one place.
There are many ways in which you can become a gig worker, but there are certain industries that are more popular for gig work. Companies like Uber and Lyft make rideshare and delivery jobs easy to pick up. More tech-focused sites like Fiverr or Upwork list freelance work in the professional services space. Gigpro exclusively hosts gigs for hospitality and leisure professionals in the food and beverage space.
As the Gig Economy evolves, it is only expected to grow. Statista data projects that the number of freelancers in the United States will grow from 57.3 million in 2017 to 90.1 million in 2028.
Benefits of Gig Work
Why go into gig work? There are quite a few benefits of this empowering way of working. Pay, flexibility, and opportunities are among the top advantages for gig workers.
In this work style, you have no external limits on how many shift hours you pick up and therefore, how much money you make. Feel free to take on as much, or as little, as you want. If you already work full-time at another job, you can always add in gig work to supplement your income.
Did your plans fall through and you’ve found yourself with a free day? You can easily pick up a gig and turn your free time into cash. Do you prefer to make your plans spontaneously? With gig work, there’s no need to adhere to a schedule two weeks in advance. Work-life balance becomes yours to own – you decide if you want to work this weekend or check out a new band instead.
Opportunities and connections are high on the list of benefits cited by gig workers. Gigs allow you to find new opportunities you may have not heard about before, meet new people, and network in your community. You’ll find yourself not only making professional connections, but personal ones too.
Responsibilities as a Gig Worker
What responsibilities do you have as a gig worker? For one, you’ll need to be driven and self-motivated. When you are in charge of your schedule, you have to stay on top of organizing your time and knowing how much you need to work to make the money that you need.
You’ll need to pay for your benefits and pay your taxes. Contract and freelance roles rarely come with benefits like health insurance or paid time off, so that has to be considered when looking at your overall pay. Since many gigs don’t withhold taxes, come tax season, you will pay taxes on the money you earned, so responsible spending and saving is a must for a gig worker.
Gigpro Gigs
Gigpro offers gigs specifically for professionals in the food and beverage industry. What might that look like for you? That could be using Gigpro to pick up an extra shift on a rainy day or becoming a full-time gig worker in the hospitality space.
Gigpro also offers perks. Since work is contract-based, you can add affordable insurance to your shifts and get coverage if an accident occurs on the job. Gigpro has also partnered with Everlance, a mileage-tracking app, so you can stay on top of your expenses and mileage and have these organized come tax time.
So how does one become a gig worker? It’s probably easier than you think! To sign up for Gigpro, just download the app from your phone's app store and set up an account. You’ll then set up some information with our partner, Stripe, so you can get securely paid for each gig.
After you’ve completed that, we recommend you head over to your profile on the app and update it with a summary of your experience, skills, certifications, and work preferences.
Now you’re ready to go! You’re all set to see a list of open gigs in your area. You can sort this list by date or rate. If you want to go a step further, you can also filter by the type of position (i.e. FOH, BOH, culinary, service, maintenance), select the days you want to work, set a minimum rate, or only show roles that require no experience.
Once you see a role that interests you, you can click on the listing to see more information, like the job expectations, shift time, business address, and total earnings you’d make from that shift.
It’s as easy as that. You can sign up for gigs as little or as often as you’d like. Download the Gigpro app and book your first gig today!
