Gig Work You Can Do Today

Since school started, it’s time to find money for tuition or to pay bills, and that’s where gig work shines. So, what’s available in Gig work we can do today? In other words, what’s going on with your side hustles? Let’s look!

Side hustles can bridge the gap between what you want and what you can afford, and often, the bar set to get working isn’t very high.

What is the Gig Economy

The gig economy comprises freelance work and temporary contract jobs rather than permanent jobs in the traditional economy. Gig companies combined computer apps with a willing and able workforce, along with demand, and expanded the workplace to a global environment. Investors and entrepreneurs created an off-the-shelf workforce to meet the demands of a different economy than the one everyone worked in.

The Availability of Gig Work

Let’s start by listing the major gig areas and then explore the companies:

• freelancer
• Graphic artist
• tutor
• Dog walker
• Errand runner
• Food delivery
• Car Mechanic
• Teaching languages

These aren’t all short-term work, but the gig economy made short-term work in these areas feasible. Many gig workers find this opportunity fascinating. That’s because Gig Jobs are often inventive tasks that, when combined with an Internet app, prove of value to workers who, for their reasons, did not like the traditional workplace fit.

Types of Gig Work

Everybody works, and getting your skills to match up with jobs in the gig economy is not that difficult. For this blog, let’s divide gig work into two types:

• Low to no entry bar gig jobs
• Some requirements gig jobs

All jobs have requirements, but entry requirements in the gig economy can often be nil. To compete for gig workers, many companies have lowered the bar for entry just to be competitive. This describes a merit-based job market, relying much more on ability and availability and less on networking and connections.

In addition, if the job requires significant training, workers can see a clear path generated by employers to advancement. For example, pizza delivery is more straightforward than computer programming tasks, but companies communicate the requirements of higher-paying tasks.

Low to No Entry Bar Gig Work

Some jobs require less worker input than others, and the easier the job is to do, the lower the bar is to get such a gig. The work won’t wear you out and could pay significant money. The surprise is that the gig job may pay more than your career job, even if you can’t get as many hours. The second attraction is that you can move between gig work and your main job without disruptions. Often, you investigate the leads, apply for work, complete a task, and get paid within a short time.

Gig Work with Requirements

Some gig jobs often demand the participation of professionals in many fields. For instance, an applicant may have to produce a college degree, professional certification, or employment history to get on board, the pay commiserate.

List of Gig Work Jobs(from both categories)

The following list combines both types of gig jobs, and it’s somewhat random.

Food Delivery

• Door Dash: Competitive average pay at $23.50/hr in their pay-by-delivery system. Low entry bar. Doordash offers to pay you your State’s minimum wage while you’re actively delivering, occasionally increasing that sum by 25 percent if driver supply doesn’t meet demand.
• Grub Hub: Average pay goes up to $25 but bottoms out at $12. For the last year, Grub Hub has partnered with Amazon to promote their service on Amazon Prime. You’re paid by delivery.
• PostMates: The food delivery service and its app has been acquired in a sale by Uber. It’s still operating independently, though. Drivers make $15 to 24 an hour. Pay varies by community. Some drivers take home more than $1000/week.
• Delivery.Com. Pay varies, as does the amount of work available. For instance, in New York, Drivers earn $18-$25/hour. Delivers food, alcohol, groceries, and laundry.
• Uber Eats: Pays as much as $22 an hour (on a pay-by-delivery system), but the pay differs between communities. The age of your car must not be more than 25 years old; not that hard to meet. You can deliver food on foot, on a bicycle, or in a vehicle. Uber Eats operates in 6,000 cities worldwide.
• Go Puff: Drivers make up to $20/hr. Pitched to drivers as an alternative to hauling people like Uber, Go Puff operates a convenience store inventory in a warehouse that drivers pick up and deliver. This means their pickups are pretty uniform, and drivers work in shifts. Driver’s license and insurance are required as a background check.

Ride Share

• Uber: The national average is $18.98 an hour. Drivers provide a taxi service. It varies across the different states. To get in, you need a valid driver’s license, a car that’s 15 years old or less, and a cosmetically attractive vehicle.
• Lyft: Pay varies, but full-time drivers earn $2500 to $3000+ monthly. This service requires a vehicle inspection and background check before they hire you. The car must be no older than 15 years. If the car is older than twelve, it cannot exceed 150,000 miles on the odometer.

Grocery Shopping

• Shipt: Submitting a driver’s license insurance card, photographed by you and included in your application, is a low bar entry. Target Corporation owns Shipt. While the webpage may not always seem responsive, you’ll find an email from Shipt after you check out their website. That’s where you’ll start.
• Instacart: Full-service shopping. Pay varies. Some workers make only $8.50/hr, but it has been reported that some drivers make $24/hr. Filling many orders will increase pay. Must pass a background check. Must have a car available for use. It may be tough to get hired depending on the number of applicants they have, and that varies from community to community, so go ahead and apply.

auto mechanic services

Skilled labor can make up to $60/hr. Professional Certificates, work experience, and more may be required.

• Mechanic Monkey: List your level of auto repair certification, for example, ASE certification. Mechanic Monkey takes applicants from people with DIY experience. List references and employment history.
• Home Improvement, Lawn maintenance, General Contractor: Thumbtack

And then there’s Teaching, Tutoring, Writing Term Papers, and More.

Gig work in these areas may depend on output. For instance, you may get paid by the number of pages produced in writing term papers. While entry-level work probably pays better than menial work, the top end seems to be around $50,000/year for full-time gig work.

• Teach languages, tutor, or translation work: Upwork.
• Writing Term Papers: Essay Pro
• Tech support: Hello Tech
• Freelance, writing, artwork, WordPress, etc.: Fiverr

The Gig Work World in Real Time

What’s going on today, at this moment in time, in the gig world? Much of it is determined by the perception of employers and labor unions, who see the gig economy as offering different opportunities. It may sound predictable, but many labor vs. management issues in the Gig economy today probably deserve the discussion below.

Labor Unions and Gig Workers Conflicts

Who would be surprised to hear that the gig economy suffered from worker-management strife? From the beginning, labor unions started weighing in on gig work because every worker benefits from union protections. Where do gig workers turn if they are unhappy with something management did?

The problem that union representatives face, according to commentators, is the sheer diversity of work in the gig world. How do you represent such a range of workers, from food delivery to a freelance writer turning out a white paper? But nobody doubts that gig workers need representation. Stories of appalling abuses crop up.

In the gig world, workers have suffered the same behavior from management that traditional workers have suffered:

• There’s no job security. You can get lose income in various ways.
• Gig workers find management accountability lacking. Can management defend decisions that affect gig workers?
• Gig workers get few benefits from their employers in health insurance or retirement plans, and gig workers receive no sick time, vacation time, or other compensation.

In truth, there’s little gig workers can do when they’re treated shabbily except to quit and find a different gig. Union representation would be beneficial to gig workers.

Perceptions of Employers

Employers find much to desire in gig workers because they save management time and money.

Accessibility, Convenience, and Price Competitiveness

The gig economy offers some real advantages to employers:

• Employers can choose from a diverse and skilled workforce. An employer doesn’t have to train anyone to further the project.
• They significantly save project costs by using gig workers, making gig labor costs less expensive.

As you go out into the gig world looking for employment, keep in mind the state of flux gig work is in and be able to react retroactively.

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