Advice to survive the “Gig Economy” or Giggers game

People nowadays are looking for alternative ways to survive especially when the pandemic hit the world and lots of companies got hugely impacted financially which led to some complete closure.  For this reason, many people got unemployed, and finding their way to survive on a daily basis became a struggle.  With over two years of pandemic and now that we reach the new normal state and companies are gradually trying to re-establish, some people now are looking for better opportunities or choosing to be freelancers which is now a huge buzz as they call “giggers”.

Giggers or “gig economy” became the famous buzzword in the last few years wherein people chose to work independently and as a freelancer than the traditional way of full-time work.  Being a gigger has some good sides as having your own schedule, getting connected to different people, being able to do what you love to do or doing things that you know you are good at, and more importantly, flexibility when it comes to job timings.  However, we all know that as the gig economy arises, the competition is getting harder and the most skilled and talented person will be vital.  Therefore, stability in freelancing is a must to survive.  Here is our advice to do so.

• Always prioritize relationships with your clients

First and foremost, freelancers are able to maintain their gigger lifestyle by keeping their good relationships with their new and existing clients.  Making sure by giving them the best service you could offer related to what they are expecting from you will make them stay or hire you again and again.  Satisfied customers are able to use their word of mouth to share your expertise with others who require the same service you offer which can grant you more connections, business, and clients for further earnings.

• Schedule management

Procrastination shouldn’t be part of your vocabulary when becoming a gigger.  Being able to manage your schedules to meet the deadlines of your clients is very much important to keep them loyal.  Being able to produce the outcome of tasks provided on time is vital to ensure that the clients are on track to your progress.  

It is advisable to keep a record of scheduled tasks to be done on a daily basis to ensure that everything is touch-based.  Also, selecting the right client to take is important too, considering the type of job they require, the deadline, the length of the job to accomplish, and the pay rate.  All of these are in into consideration to ensure that the schedule is managed in the right manner.   

• Tailor the right service for you

As a gigger, it is more advisable to have specific expertise that you know that you are very good at rather than being a jack-of-all-trades.  This will help you to lessen the competition you have in the market and will give more confidence to the clients to specifically hire you since you are offering a service that you know you can ace.  You are not an office employee who does everything anymore.  Therefore, label yourself for what you can be well-known for.

• Secure your emergency funds

We all know that the main cons of being a gigger are not having a continuous job, and there are dull days wherein no clients are in need of your service which can hugely impact your finances.  It is not an always-expected continuous monthly salary that a full-time employee has.  There may be days that you feel rich, and days that you have almost nothing.  Therefore, keeping an emergency fund is a definite must to ensure survival during dull times of not having jobs to do.  It will help you to ensure that you are able to come by until your next project.  

As we all say, everyone has a choice on which path we want to go, we just need only to ensure that we are able to understand the situation that we are going in and the ways to thrive on our chosen paths.