Technology - and COVID-19 - has created the perfect combination that has changed the way we work and where we work. Thanks to computers and the internet, working from home was beginning to trend. The pandemic forced many to remote working situations and has led to an explosion in the world of the gig economy. The word “gig” comes from the musical entertainment field where a musician or performer would be hired for an event here or an event there in the format of odd jobs. The term “gig” dates back to the 1920s when working these types of gigs, where no long-term commitment existed, became the norm for entertainers who would often travel great distances for their gigs. In today’s world, gigs are common for freelancers like me, on-demand workers, self-employed workers, and sellers.

The Pros And Cons

There is most certainly a great deal of attraction for individuals to work from home without having to fight traffic to get to the office and deal with a boss or other co-workers who drive you crazy during the day. However, as appealing as that may sound, the reality for some who look to the gig economy for employment is that it doesn’t come with some of the extras you may expect. You truly have to weigh out the differences to determine if the gig economy is perfect for you.

The Cons

I'm going to cut to the chase by first taking a look at the disadvantages of gig work just to get it over with.

1 - No Perks

Well, there are some perks, but if you are accustomed to having something like a stellar health insurance plan with dental coverage in place through your employer, that won’t be the case when you become a freelancer. Sure, you can join one of many different coverage plans aimed at the gig economy, but it won’t be the same as it will be based entirely on what you can afford.

2 - Sick Days And Vacation Times Will Now Cost You

Now that is a real bummer. But I warned you, didn’t I?

3 - Work Is Going To Be Sporadic At Times

Even with contracts in place, your weekly work schedule will never be a nine-to-five format ever again. Although that is attractive for many freelancers, for others, it’s a scary concept that translates to instability and that will impact your monthly earnings.

4 - You Cover All Your Work Costs

Remember when your work computer needed upgrading or replacing? The company you worked for took care of that for you. Once you enter the gig economy, those things disappear and now become your costs. Everything from pen and paper to computer software and printer toner will be coming out of your pocket.

The Pros

1 - You Have Greater Control Over Your Work

One of the biggest advantages to the gig economy is how much say you get with your work. I love that. You get to choose who you will work with and you get to choose what kind of work you will provide, how much you will charge for it and how long you will work per day when you will take time off, and so on.

2 - Just About Anyone Can Do It

The gig economy is not just for freelancers who either lost jobs because of COVID shutdowns or have never been able to find the right job fit. Many business professionals have opted to use the gig economy for their careers and have been very successful at it.

3 - You Get To Work With Many Different People

There is no restriction in the gig economy related to who you will work for and where they are located. Freelancers like me have clients all over the world and would never have had the ability to work with such a diverse selection of people without the internet and gig economy.

4 - It Is Easy To Get Into

There are several different freelancing websites online that are designed specifically to address the gig economy. And they are not just tools for finding work for writers, digital marketers, or medical transcriptionists. The freelancing sites online feature categories that cover all kinds of skills for workers to offer their services.

The Bottom Line

The gig economy is what has changed my life since I switched from a full-time employee/employer to a full-time freelancer. For example, in March 2021 I completed a total of 10 jobs (1 from Fiverr, all others came to me directly) which including 45 articles (33 of which were under contract). I wrote a total of 64,775 words on topics that included casinos, data loggers, RV parks, dentures, sailing accessories, humidity control, and drone services. My work came from the United States (6 jobs), Australia (3), and the United Kingdom (1). I keep saying this: if I can do it, anyone can. Maybe it is time you considered the gig economy.

As you know, I’ve been a little concerned about how COVID-19 has impacted my home-based business. While at first, I didn’t see much of a change, in recent months I have experienced a dip in orders and overall numbers compared to a year ago. Now that we are a year into the pandemic, I am starting to see a leveling out of my workflow. Don’t get me wrong, I have a steady stream of freelance work coming my way, and most weeks I am working from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM writing blogs or articles six-day-a-week. That’s been a fairly consistent factor for most of the past year and if I didn’t keep track of the orders coming in, I may not be aware of any dip at all.

The February 2021 Numbers

Last month, February 2021, I completed a total of 12 jobs. That is down slightly from the 14 jobs completed in January 2021 and December 2020. That shows me that things are starting to stabilize. Out of those 12 jobs for the month, I completed a total of 34 articles. Again, down slightly from the 38 articles I wrote in January 2021 and 36 articles in December 2020. Still, not far off the mark from either of those two months. I also wrote 70 product descriptions in February, which did not happen the previous two months. As a result, my February 2021 word count was much higher at 53,750 words than the 26,800 from January 2021 and 34,225 from December 2020.

Where The Jobs Came From

Of the dozen jobs for the month, three originated from Fiverr. I got my first job from AnyTask, another freelance platform I have a profile on. What makes this one so interesting is that the payment for the job I completed for a client there was made in cryptocurrency. That was a first for me. The cryptocurrency used on this freelance platform is ETN, or Electroneum. I also wrote a total of 21 articles as part of my contract with Digital Authority Partners. As for geographic locations, I received 8 jobs from the United States, and two each from Australia and the United Kingdom which seems to be pretty much the norm for me these days.

Another Wide Spectrum Of Topics

Doing the month of February 2021, I found myself writing about a lot of different things, as is usually the case. This time around topics included SEO, online gambling, socks and wardrobe accessories, SuperBowl history, hair salon business tips, landing pages, social media posts for an electrical company, and many more. One of the topics I have found to be most enjoyable for me to write about is related to casinos and gambling. Although I do not participate in these activities, I am finding the topic to be very interesting to research and write about for one of my regular clients. I also enjoy writing about various aspects of SEO properties.

I Was Also Sick This Month

It was strange. Early in the morning of February 16, I had a very good phone appointment with my local doctor. She told me that my ECG results from Penticton the month before showed that my heart function was now up to 30%. It was down to 10% in April 2020 and 15-20% a couple of months later. My doctor said the progress I’ve been making has been significant in the past six months. Then later that morning I started to feel nauseous. I was sick off and on for the rest of the day and my wife, Brenda eventually took me to the local ER in the evening. I spent a night in the hospital and it turns out that my sodium level was too low. An easy fix.

Ebook Sales Still Down

I have contemplated off and on over the past couple of months of writing and publishing another eBook. But when I look at my sales figures for the past month I change that plan. I have a total of seven titles online and sold a copy of one of them during February 2021. I was seeing sales figures of at least a copy a week but that was before COVID-19. I’m not sure that I can blame the coronavirus for my dip in eBook sales, so I won’t. I’m also not concerned about the numbers on that part of my writing business, either. But you never know, I may just put together something new for later this year. We’ll see how things go in the meantime.

Check Me Out Online

I write several blogs a month for myself and my many individual projects. You can check out the latest one on “How To Find Work During COVID-19 When You Are Over 50” or “Thought I Had My Finger On The Pulse Of Heart Month.” Or if you prefer to find out what I’m writing about today, you can follow me on Facebook.

I get it. Not everyone understands what it is I do. As a freelance writer, I write blogs, articles, and product descriptions for other website owners, it is not what many in my circle seem to have a very good grasp on. It’s okay. I know it is not what would be considered a traditional nine-to-five kind of gig, but it happens to be the kind of gig that fits into my life perfectly. As a result, there happen to be several cool benefits to doing what I do. Here is my list of the benefits of freelance writing.

1 - Low Overhead (Compared To Traditional Job Settings)

Sure, we converted the majority of our upstairs into a home office but I don’t have to pay rent like I would if I had an office downtown or shared a space somewhere else. That also means that the household utilities and additional living expenses are not issues my home-based freelance writing business has to be concerned about. Essentially, my costs are my computer, internet access, paper, and time. Hey, from where I’m sitting, I can’t think of many startups that can be launched so easily and cheaply.

2 - I Can Turn Down Business (If I Want To)

At first, I said “no” to no one. That was back in January 2014 and for most of the first few years, I was on this freelance writing adventure. I knew that as a newbie, I wasn’t in the proper position to be picky about the types of jobs that came my way. So I did them all. Now that I have several hundred completed writing jobs under my belt, I have gotten picky. Not too picky, mind you. But just picky enough to say no to those jobs that sound like things I don’t want to be associated with even without a byline.

3 - It Has Allowed Me To Build On My Writing Experience

Before I had launched my freelance writing career, the majority of my writing revolved around poetry, short stories, news copy, and advertising copy. Switching to writing blogs, web articles, and product descriptions was well, quite an interesting challenge. I think what I found to be the most challenging of all was the need to incorporate keywords, long-tail keywords, and hyperlinks into web content. Today, I am a lot better at that part and clearly, that has come from doing it more often.

4 - Project Diversity (It’s Not Just Blogs That I Write)

One of the most interesting things about freelance writing to me is the spectrum of topics and projects I get to work on. As a ghostwriter, my name does not appear on probably 95% of the content I have produced for others. While that has never been an issue to me, what it means is that I have articles, blogs, and product descriptions I have written that have been posted on hundreds of different websites around the world. And the topics are always changing which keeps it interesting.

5 - My Talents End Up Helping Other Web Entrepreneurs

Another cool benefit of freelance writing is that I can assist other website developers in having new content for their projects. This is where a lot of my new business comes from. I’ll provide content for one web owner who will refer me to another and that web owner will refer me to one more and so on. It’s how I’ve picked up some regular clients over the years. I know how much they appreciate the new content I provide so I have no problem working hard to help them become successful online.

6 - If You Do It Right, It Can Pay The Bills

I started freelancing in January 2014, as noted above. I became a full-time freelance writer in September 2016. Both my wife and I had “side hustles” we were dabbling in while operating a traditional storefront business. We closed that business in July 2016 and flipped our hobbies into new careers. It has been good for us. It also has provided both of us with a decent income. We were lucky that the hobbies we had fit into today’s gig economy and have a strong supply and demand ratio.

Here’s The “And More” Part - A Review Of January 2021

Well, I have to admit that January 2021 was a little busier than I thought. Following a dip in business in December 2020, I was hoping to see an increase of some kind rather than another dip. That’s the thing with this business - you never really know what to expect from one month to the next. That is also something that keeps it interesting to me. I rarely write about the same things every day with each week having some similarities but for the most part, each day is a bit of an adventure for me. And I like it.

A Look At The Numbers

For January 2021 I completed a total of 14 jobs which included 38 articles and a total word count of 26,800. Compared to previous months, my job count of 14 matched that of December 2020 and was just down slightly from November 2020 where I had 17 jobs. As for article count, January 2021 was up from 36 in December and down from 44 in November. Word count was off a bit coming in below the 34,225 of December and 31,400 of November. Overall, I basically matched the job and article totals of December so there wasn’t a drop anything like there was from November to December. Hopefully, this is a sign of things picking up. I know I did get a few jobs from clients I haven’t worked for in a while so that could mean that some web developers are getting back on track after COVID slowed everything down online.

Where The Work Came From

I didn’t realize that I didn’t see work from very many places in January 2021 until I looked at my list. I saw 9 jobs from the United States, 4 from Australia, and one from the United Kingdom. I had a total of 2 jobs that came to me from Fiverr and ended up writing a total of 21 different articles for a web content company I have been working for since mid-2019. As for what I have been writing about in the past month, the topic list continues to be a wide variety of things. In no particular order, my topic list included articles on drones, online advertising, SEO, dentures, humidifiers, online gambling, restaurant reviews, technology, socks, and healthcare. To find out what I’m writing about today, you can follow me on my Facebook Page.