by Samuel Gitukui
Perhaps people got tired of the constant hassle of looking for a job. With how things were going, getting a job was one of the hardest things to do, and overqualified graduates often had to settle for less than ideal jobs just to make ends meet.
It must have been the constant adaptation of humans that brought about the gig economy, these very adaptive qualities that made us conquer every corner of the globe.
Now more and more people are choosing to work as freelancers rather than being permanently employed. It is a new way of entrepreneurship where you get to use your skills to work for multiple clients.
Freedom, having to work within your own schedule and fulfilling your own goals rather than that of someone else is what the gig economy is all about.
By the looks of it, it is here to stay and the great thing is, people are able to make more money than they would have otherwise done in full time employment.
The statistics will shed light on the prevalence of this gig economy. In the west, up to a third of the workforce are working as freelancers.
A contractor’s theme
In the older days, a contractor would have been the blue-collar job guy who came to fix your plumbing or cut down trees in your back yard. Now everyone in the gig economy is working as a contractor.
Freelancers work by finding their own clients which has in turn resulted in the formation of service aggregators. These are online sites that connect service providers with customers further fueling the gig economy.
It makes it that much easier to connect and find work and it doesn’t always benefit the service provider. Companies are finding it more efficient to hire skills instead of a static work force.
So, the concept of the gig economy, when it’s all said and done is nothing new. It’s just a remodeling of the old franchising business model.
The downside
With the aggregators, there are better lines of communication between customers and service providers. But there is a downside to this.
There are also plenty of service providers that could provide substandard work. There is after all no rigid or systematic way to judge the value of the service. That said, it also exposes the business to high quality service over and beyond what you may be able to get in your geographical region.
The upside
Every freelancer will agree that making the decision to freelance their skills was one if the best they ever made. You get to create your own schedule and since workers are less stressed and are motivated by the terms of their contract, they are far more likely to provide high quality work.
Even better is that it provides owners of skills the opportunity to scale up, make more money and live a better life.
The gig economy is a win-win situation for both service provider and customer.
Perhaps people got tired of the constant hassle of looking for a job. With how things were going, getting a job was one of the hardest things to do, and overqualified graduates often had to settle for less than ideal jobs just to make ends meet.
It must have been the constant adaptation of humans that brought about the gig economy, these very adaptive qualities that made us conquer every corner of the globe.
Now more and more people are choosing to work as freelancers rather than being permanently employed. It is a new way of entrepreneurship where you get to use your skills to work for multiple clients.
Freedom, having to work within your own schedule and fulfilling your own goals rather than that of someone else is what the gig economy is all about.
By the looks of it, it is here to stay and the great thing is, people are able to make more money than they would have otherwise done in full time employment.
The statistics will shed light on the prevalence of this gig economy. In the west, up to a third of the workforce are working as freelancers.
A contractor’s theme
In the older days, a contractor would have been the blue-collar job guy who came to fix your plumbing or cut down trees in your back yard. Now everyone in the gig economy is working as a contractor.
Freelancers work by finding their own clients which has in turn resulted in the formation of service aggregators. These are online sites that connect service providers with customers further fueling the gig economy.
It makes it that much easier to connect and find work and it doesn’t always benefit the service provider. Companies are finding it more efficient to hire skills instead of a static work force.
So, the concept of the gig economy, when it’s all said and done is nothing new. It’s just a remodeling of the old franchising business model.
The downside
With the aggregators, there are better lines of communication between customers and service providers. But there is a downside to this.
There are also plenty of service providers that could provide substandard work. There is after all no rigid or systematic way to judge the value of the service. That said, it also exposes the business to high quality service over and beyond what you may be able to get in your geographical region.
The upside
Every freelancer will agree that making the decision to freelance their skills was one if the best they ever made. You get to create your own schedule and since workers are less stressed and are motivated by the terms of their contract, they are far more likely to provide high quality work.
Even better is that it provides owners of skills the opportunity to scale up, make more money and live a better life.
The gig economy is a win-win situation for both service provider and customer.
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