Gig to Hustle

Seems like our economy is in a constant state of reinvention and while I know that things change as time goes on, I remember the days when there was only one way to be employed and that was to physically leave the house. With fast internet we’ve seen that work go from outside the home to anywhere, really! You can work on the couch, in a cafe, while traveling and even of the beach. It’s limitless as long as you have the equipment and the right job that lets you do your thing where you want.

I’ve been lucky for the last 6 years to have made a decent living working from home, freelancing with Upwork. Once we left the northeast and moved south it was clear the wages wouldn’t equate to what I made before and with a family to feed we could afford to take the hit. Making the switch and committing to it was hard, but not as hard as finding my first gig. Who wants to hire someone who hasn’t had that particular experience before? Everything is based on ratings and stats, without them you’re a newbie. It took about 3 weeks until I found my first long-term project in Customer Service Management for a UK company and from there, I’ve been very thankful to have had to opportunities I’ve had, learning, growing and moving up the ladder as I went.

Now that I have an a handle or think I have a handle on the whole freelancing thing, it’s all shifting again. We’re headed from being Gig-sters to Hustlers.

While you may be thinking that hustling for the extra cash in your pocket isn’t a new thing but when most of the population switches over to it, it's no longer just a side thing. The pandemic has brought many changes with it, some showing us that where we thought we had limitations, we don’t and that we’ll almost always figure out a way around something should a change like this happen.

That’s exactly what people are doing.

Finding yourself bored at home gets old real quick so of course it’s forced us to find our creative sides again, to learn something new and occupy our time doing something productive other than day drinking and whining about the current state of things. We can either figure out a way to make ends meet or do nothing and I prefer to figure it out which is seems most people are doing.

Hustlers make money selling goods and services, usually a profession that truly love and are passionate about. They’re the ones opening stores on Shopify, selling wares on Etsy and sharing their knowledge in the form of classes and providing services.

Personally, I love it. It’s the way it should be. I never thought for one moment that going to a job we don’t like was the key to happiness but it’s how our system is set up and without money, you’ll quickly find yourself on the street. We should all be doing the thing we love to do. If you have a real love for something, chances are the end product will show it, whereas sitting at a desk pushing paper and typing away won’t really fill the accomplishment meter if you’re not into it.

I’m not sure where this new economy will take us but I hope it makes us happier than we’ve been. I hope that the change coming from this horrific pandemic will be one that we can live with and all prosper from. It anything, it’s highlighted the disadvantaged more than ever and has proven that we’re not all equal when it really comes down to it.