Did you know that the number of gig workers across the globe is expected to grow ? That’s right. The gig economy is growing, and much of the growth has been .
Many who lost their jobs during the pandemic turned to gig work to supplement their income, while others ditched their day jobs entirely to be their own boss.
For business owners (and startups especially), this presents a huge opportunity. The gig economy offers a growing pool of talent from which you can hire experts in different fields to help grow your business.
On top of that, hiring a gig worker over a full-time employee has many other advantages:
- No need to pay for benefits (like health insurance, sick leave, and paid time off)
- Endless scalability (hire as many gig workers as you need)
- Flexible contracts (end and start them whenever you want)
You can find gig workers everywhere online these days on sites like Fiverr, Upwork, or even LinkedIn. A quick browse will reveal just how many different kinds of tasks you can outsource, but here are some of the most helpful for scaling your business:
Content writing
Ever since the internet, there’s been a growing demand from businesses for high-quality content. That’s because you want your website to appear as high as possible in the search results of sites like Google and Bing. And the only way you can do this is by having high-quality content.
Why not outsource your content writing to a gig worker? After all, not everyone knows how to write well, so it pays to hire someone who does.
You can hire gig workers to write website copy, blog articles, social media posts, and other digital or print marketing materials. Just make sure to first check out their writing portfolio and testimonials to see if they’ll be a good fit.
Social media management
These days, every brand needs an online presence to stay relevant, and there’s no better way to get your brand out there than through social media. Social media has near infinite reach, and it’s free to use.
That said, managing social media accounts takes a lot of time. Hire a gig worker to do it for you so you can focus on other parts of your business.
A gig worker can make sure your brand engages with your target customers across multiple channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They can also help you promote blog articles, ebooks, events, and other helpful resources.
Customer service
Customer satisfaction is important for any business. But to keep customers happy, you need to hire support agents. Instead of hiring full-time employees, why not hire gig workers? They can easily respond to common concerns, objections, and questions over the phone, email, and chat.
That way, you don’t have to worry about providing office space and equipment. Just provide adequate software like a , which will help keep agents optimally productive.
Graphic design
Need compelling graphics for your website? There are many talented artists out there in the gig economy that can whip up the perfect visuals for your marketing needs. Whether you need someone to design a flyer, social media templates, posters, or anything else, there’s probably a gig worker out there that can do it. In fact, you can find some gig workers on sites like Fiverr that charge as little as $5.
Virtual assistance
You may have menial tasks that need done that aren’t worth your time. In this case, hiring a virtual assistant is a good solution.
Virtual assistants can perform repetitive tasks like managing emails, data entry, and scheduling appointments, and they can do it remotely. There are tons of virtual assistants out there in the gig economy that are happy to work at affordable rates, especially ones from other countries.
Software development
In 2021, the global business software and services market was valued at , and it’s expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7% from 2022 to 2030. This is no surprise, given nearly all businesses use at least some type of software.
If you need software development but you don’t have a dedicated development team, it’s easy to hire a programmer from the gig economy to do the job. You can find software developers across the globe that know coding languages like Java, PHP, HTML5, and JavaScript. Define your objectives and find a qualified coder to help.
Accounting
Over time, businesses collect lots of financial records. But if you don’t keep good track of them, filing your taxes with the IRS will be difficult. So why not hire an accountant via contract? They know the tax code better than anyone else and may even be able to save you some money in the long run.
Web design
Lastly, every business needs a good website. Whether you need to redesign an existing site or create one from scratch, a web design gig worker can do the job. It’s the perfect one-off task to outsource.
The bottom line
Some jobs require a full-time employee, but you’d be surprised at how many tasks you can outsource to the gig economy for less money. See if any of the tasks above would be better outsourced by running the numbers. Then do what makes sense for your business.