What is the Gig Economy?
The term ‘Gig Economy’ is for the freelancers and contractual workers who work as freelancers on-demand. In some cases, they are doing multiple freelancing jobs at the same time.
The gig economy is becoming common day by day. Many people want to earn extra income through a labor market that offers a lot of freelance work, contractual jobs, and full-time jobs. It gives people a chance of self-employment to experience entrepreneurship. If you are also thinking of earning a passive income, we share the sites for the best gig economy jobs in this article.
Where To Find Gig Economy Jobs?
Here we are enlisting the best gig economy job sites:
- Fiverr: Best for Remote Jobs
- FlexJobs: Best for Remote Jobs
- Airbnb: Best for Property owners
- LinkedIn: Best for Networking
- Upwork: Best Overall
- Freelancer: Best Overall
- Amazon Flex: Best for delivery drivers
- Guru: Best for Experienced Gig Workers
- Toptal: Best for IT Professionals
- Graphite: Best for financial professional and accountants
- PeoplePerHour: Best for marketing professionals and software engineers
- 99designs: Best for designers
- Photography Jobs Online: Best for photographers
- Krop: Best for creatives and copywriters
- Cruise Ship Jobs: Best for tourists photographers
- Authentic Jobs: Best for web professionals and creatives
- DesignCrowd: Best for designers
- Simply Hired: Best Overall
- iWriter: Best for writers and creatives
- Writer access: Best for Writers and Editors
- Stilio: Best for photographers
- Enago: Best for creatives and writers
- JournalismJobs.com: Best for journalists
- Creative Pool: Best for creatives and designers
- Getty Images: Best for photographers
- AwesomeWeb: Best for designers
- Design Jobs Board: Best for designers
Fiverr:
It is one of the biggest freelance companies that offer over 100 job categories with an unlimited number of users worldwide. It is the best platform for creatives and categorizes its services as:
- Graphic design
- Digital marketing
- Writing and translation
Freelancers can offer their services in specific fields. They can create their free profile with a list of their expertise. Sellers can keep 100% of their funds, but buyers of services have to pay some percentage of their purchase, that is:
- $2 on purchases up to and including $40
- 5% on purchases above $40
Once you stabilize your name as a freelancer on the site, you can raise the charges for your services accordingly.
Flex Jobs:
It offers more than fifty job categories for freelancers, part-time, or full-time employees. It allows the workers to get remote or flexible work. The jobs this site offers are legitimate and liable.
Some of the job categories it includes are:
- Accounting and finance
- Business development
- Computer and IT
- Marketing
- Writing Jobs
- Web design
It also offers skill tests and webinars, tips, and tricks on a job search. It collaborates with multiple companies to post their jobs for hiring professionals. It offers free job-related information, but you have to buy its paid plan for a full job listing, starting from $14.95 per month.
Other services it offers are:
- Unlimited job access
- Free skills testing
- Email alerts
- Expert job search tips, resources, and offers
- Portfolio with resumes and work samples
Airbnb:
It is the best choice for the gig economy. If you are an owner of a property that is not under your current use, you can utilize it for earning some extra income for yourself. This app allows you to connect with clients who need room space, apartments, or homes for spending their vacations or emergency trips. This platform allows secure transactions between the consumer and a property owner. It ensures safe and legal dealing between the two. So, if you have an extra unused property, Airbnb is the best choice for the gig economy.
Linkedin Profinder:
It is the world’s largest professional networking site, with millions of users around the world. This platform allows many freelancers to connect with professionals to opt for more jobs. It allows the US-based freelancers to join for providing services like:
- Software development
- Designing
- Marketing
- Business consultancy
- Legal consultancy
- Accounting
- Real estate
You can simply start by uploading your profile. This site helps freelancers to connect with potential clients to get hired. Freelancers then send proposals, set terms, and finalize the project with the clients. It also offers career coaches to help you prepare for the interviews for freelancing jobs.
Upwork:
It is one of the largest freelance marketplaces. It offers a variety of work to both entry-level and experienced freelancers. It helps the freelancers to find both short-term and long-term contracts in different fields, including:
- Designing
- Development
- Accounting
- Marketing
- Ghost Writing
- Customer service
- Proofreading jobs
You need to create a profile, post a resume, build a portfolio to get started. You can view a client’s rating, history, and project details before making a bid. This site manages the invoicing, time-tracking, file-sharing, and chat between client and service provider. The platform takes a certain percentage of your earning based on the amount you earn, such as:
- 20% for the first $500 billed to a client across all contracts with them
- 10% for total billings with a client between $500.01 and $10,000
- 5% for total billings with a client that exceed $10,000
Freelancer:
This site provides some great job opportunities to freelancers. You can organize the projects by categories like:
- IT and software
- Designing
- Media and Architecture
- Sales and Marketing
- Business
- Accounting
- Human resources
- Writing and Content
You can also search for the jobs through the categories such as teaching, lectureship, drafting, general labor, etc. you can join this without paying a fee, then create a profile to present your skills and talent for clients. You can also search for jobs and bid on them. After completing your work or project, you can receive your payment through the site’s Milestone Payment System. This site also takes a certain percentage of your income depending on how much you earn, such as:
- Fixed-price projects: 10% fee or $5
- Hourly projects: Flat 10% fee
- Services: 20% fee
- Account idle for six months or more: $10 per month
- Refer an employer to the platform: No fee for all future work with that client
Amazon Flex:
It is the best gig economy platform for delivery drivers. This site hires delivery drivers for the local areas where they don’t have any advanced service or warehouses. They have to deliver goods to the customers. It offers limited jobs, but it is still a great opportunity for drivers who want to earn extra income.
Guru:
It is one of the largest platforms for gig economy jobs. It allows different companies and freelancers to connect through this platform. This site hires the best gig workers and offers paid membership for the users to get the maximum job offers by boosting the search results. It has eight different categories for professionals, which are:
- Programming and development
- Writing and translation
- Design and art
- Administration
- Sales and marketing
- Business and finance
- Engineering and architecture
- Legal
You can create a free profile to browse freelance online jobs and get recommendations based on skills. Once you find a job, submit a bid and wait for your clients to connect with you. This site’s best feature is Virtual WorkRooms that allows freelancers to collaborate and add team members to a job. This platform enables its users to:
- Use a time tracker
- Share files
- Communicate with their team
- Create agreements and invoices
- Choose payment terms
- Receive payment
Different membership plans for Guru are:
Basic Plan
Free
9% job fee
Ten bids per month
Basic+ Plan
$11.95 per month
9% job fee
50 bids per month
$1,000 search boost
Professional Plan
$21.95 per month
7% job fee
50 bids per month
Executive Plan
$49.95 per month
5% job fee
50 bids per month
Toptal:
This gig economy platform allows freelance software developers, designers, finance experts, and product managers to connect with big companies.
This company never compromises on quality work, so they select the freelancers after a proper screening process. They carry out English language and communication evaluation tests for applicants to choose the best team of freelancers. They also check the problem-solving ability and creative skills of applicants.
Toptal does not charge any fee to the freelancers.
Graphite:
It is the best freelance app for professional financial experts who want to earn an extra income through the gig economy. Many professional financials and accountants get hired through this platform by different companies and potential clients.
PeoplePerHour:
This site offers web-based projects to freelancers who are looking for some gig economy jobs. It offers work in many fields, such as:
- SEO
- Software Engineering
- Marketing
The site handles different tasks on a single dashboard, such as communication, management, and payments. You need to sign up for its paid plan to get advanced features, possible only when you complete sending proposals to fifteen clients. You can still view the job listing before signing up for the paid plan.
99designs:
It is one of the best gig economy platforms for professional designers and creatives. If you are a designer or have some creative skills, this site is perfect for earning an extra income for you besides your primary profession.
Many freelance designers and creatives can search for freelance art jobs they want and easily connect with clients on this site. It also provides resources to guide and assist designers in refining their skills; these include:
- Tips
- Tutorials
- Tool-kit
- e-book
- Interviews with professional experts
Photography Jobs Online
You pay a monthly expense to post your photographs to this site. It’s easy to upload your work and get paid on this site. It works more like a microstock than an actual employment board.
Rather than getting tasks, you shoot the kind of subject that you want to. A few thoughts of things to shoot are nearby places of interest or gatherings of individuals doing things like eating, shopping, or moving at a club. Then you need to transfer your photographs to the site.
Krop:
This gig economy platform is perfect for designers, copywriters, and photographers. You can simply create your profile to display your skills on the site to let the potential clients connect with you to hire you as their employee.
Cruise Ship Jobs
This site has open doors for you. As a cruise ship photographer, you have many photography options, including – events, portraits, or accompany tourists on trips.
Search with keywords and get your dream projects online. At the point when you see something you like, follow the instructions to complete an application.
Companies vary by the way they handle online applications. However, you may need to give details, including your professional degrees or licenses. It helps you to see more job offers than what is available on the basic free account.
Authentic Jobs:
This gig economy platform helps many freelancers to connect with creatives and web-professionals. You can browse for the companies you want to work with, which may include:
- ESPN
- Apple
- Motley fool
It is the best place for freelancers to earn some extra income ranging from $29,000 to 100,0000.
DesignCrowd:
It is the best platform for designers who are looking for gig economy jobs. You can get the task of designing logos, websites, T-shirts, business cards, or tattoos for your clients. You need to follow the deadlines for the tasks. If you want to earn some extra income, you can participate in design contests.
Simply Hired:
You can log in to this site with your account to get the latest updates on job vacancies. Different companies, LLCs, and employers post their job vacancies on this site. You can search for the job you need and then connect with the company or employer by providing your details to them.
iWriter:
iWriter is perfect for beginners who want to earn by writing articles. You just need to sign in and then take a test. After passing a test, you can start working with them. It offers a rating system, if you work as an Elite Plus writer, you can earn more money, but you earn comparatively less money if you work as a standard writer. You need to give quality work for becoming an Elite Plus writer.
Writer Access:
This site offers great opportunities to writers, graphic designers, photographers, and editors. You have to qualify for a test, and then they check your level as a writer. You will get the job depending on your level and expertise. You can keep seventy percent of the content cost with you, and the rest goes to the site.
Stilio:
Stilio hires you as a contractual photographer and then books a client for you. You then follow the contract and complete your job as per requirement. You don’t need to do any image-processing, as Stilio itself takes care of these things. You can earn a pretty good amount through this site and receive your payment on completing the job assigned to you.
Enago:
This company provides opportunities to the editors and writers in the following fields:
- Medical and Clinical Sciences
- Life Sciences
- Physical Sciences and Engineering
- Economics and Business Management
- Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
It is the best source for people who have experience in academic publishing, peer review, and editorial writing.
JournalismJobs.com:
It is a journalism job source that offers a large number of jobs from news companies for writers. Their job listings include:
- Public relations
- Television
- Radio
- Digital media magazines
- Trade publications
- Non-profit
- Academia
- Financial
- Technology
You just need to create your account, upload your profile, and subscribe to different categories.
Creative Pool:
This site is full of top-ranked companies looking for the best creative designers for their projects. They offer international standard permanent jobs to freelance designers and job seekers. Jobs for all types of designers are available on this portal. Most of the jobs are UK-based, but some are also for other big cities such as New York and San Francisco. Designers can upload their profiles to display their work and connect with the other best designers and creatives.
Getty Images:
It is amongst the first online sites for stock images and has a wide range of customers. Your portfolio and the quality of photographs matter a lot. Uniqueness is the only thing that attracts customers, so try to be unique in your work.
You can choose your photography style and genre, which is a plus point on this site. By following the current trend in photography, you can earn a fair amount.
AwesomeWeb:
This site offers various jobs for freelance graphic and web designers based on direct hiring. It is not a very big platform like Upwork or Fiverr but manually picks the portfolios to maintain the standard work quality. You can easily sign up and upload your best portfolio to qualify for the job. This site charges a monthly fee, and if you didn’t get the job, you could get your money back.
Design Jobs Board:
This site works mainly for designers based in the UK. The company posts the job listing on the site against some charges. The payment settlement is totally up to the company and designers; the portal has nothing to do with it. The site ensures the legal hiring and payment procedures.
Which gig job pays the most?
According to the statistics, the highest paying gig economy job in the United States is massage therapist, with an average hourly rate of 27.84 U.S. dollars.