By Lucy Reed
If you’re curious about the gig economy, you might be wondering if it’s viable for you. If you’re interested in short-term or freelance work, but don’t know where to start, read on. We’ve got everything you need to know about building your own business in the gig economy.
Utilize Your Passion
One appealing aspect of the gig economy is its diversity of opportunities. If you have a hobby or skill, you may find it can be harnessed and transformed into a successful business. Having a passion can be influential in gig work. Being able to make a living from writing, crafting, or any number of things, can be a powerful motivator when it comes to working. However, freelancing can require more than having passion. To have a successful business in this field, you need a core group of characteristics. Freelance work can be unpredictable, and clients’ demands aren’t easily anticipated. Given this, you will need to be able to adapt and solve problems. You will also need tenacity and you’ll need to be a risk-taker, as getting clients and growing a gig business can present many challenges.
Create Objectives
As a freelancer, objectives can help you to move forward and stay motivated. Your business may not hit the ground running, so goals can be a beneficial way to gauge your progress. You might create a plan that sets out your intentions and ambitions, either in the form of a broad vision or a step-by-step process. However, it's important to be realistic. While they can give you focus, goals can be discouraging if they are unattainable. If you set goals that are time-focused, be sure that they are small. Even if they are modest, whether that's opening a social media account or getting your first client, smaller objectives add up. You can tangibly appreciate your accomplishments, and see your business growing before your eyes.
Engage
With the advent of the gig economy, reaching out to clients and listening to their feedback, has become hugely important. When starting, it's essential to have a presence across a range of social media platforms. Use websites such as Twitter and Instagram to network and find prospective clients. These sites can be effective tools to promote your skills and show off work. Take on board both positive and negative feedback from clients. Post with purpose, but make sure that your social media is regularly updated and features popular, relate-able hashtags. By doing this, you can raise your profile and nurture a sense of involvement in your business. In the process, you can get people talking about your work and potentially attract more clients.
Establish Structure
If you decide to run your gig business from home, it's critical that you develop an environment where structure and stability thrive. Being in the gig economy can deprive you of certainties you may have been familiar with through other forms of work. Consider turning a part of your home into a workspace. This may put you in the right frame of mind and aid whatever routine and habits you adopt to bolster productivity. A workspace can be as simple as a couch or bedroom. So long as you can insulate yourself from distractions or at least manage them so that your work is not negatively disrupted, then any place can be viable.
Try to stick to set times for work, too, as it can give focus while countering any possibility of burnout and fatigue. It's crucial to be in control of your time as the demands of a client, or of multiple tasks can become overwhelming. Think about your availability -- just as you would in a 9-to-5 -- and create a systematic approach to dealing with new commissions or duties one at a time.
Now is the moment to start on the business of your choosing. With a clear focus and the right level of dedication, you can find success in the gig economy. Harness your passion and put it to work, not just to pay your bills, but also to start the next chapter of your life.
SignalHarmony™ assists Small Business Owners with Business Consulting, Start-ups, Website Development, and Internet Marketing Services. www.signalharmony.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucy Reed is a contributing writer to SignalHarmony and has been starting businesses since she was a kid, from the lemonade stand she opened in her parent’s driveway at age 10 to the dog walking business she started while in college. She created GigMine because she was inspired by the growth of the sharing economy and wanted to make it easier for entrepreneurial individuals like herself to find the gig opportunities in their areas.