More people working ‘gigs' to supplement income

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It used to be the people who worked "gigs" were musicians.

These days the "gig economy" refers to anyone who is self-employed and works a number of different jobs.

The Internet is making finding those jobs easier.

“When that beep happens, I accept the pickup,” said Kelly Hughes as he looks down at his phone while sitting in his 2013 Toyota Prius waiting for an Uber customer. The Uber app does all the work. All Hughes has to do is to tell the app that he’ll accept the request and pick up the customer.

The poster child of the gig economy is the ride-sharing service Uber. Hughes has been an Uber driver for about six months.

“The joke around my house is that I got to go pick up money,” he said. “See you later because I’m going to pick people up. I’m just picking up money.”

Hughes has a full-time IT job with a local company. He drives for Uber part-time on weekends. He says he can earn between $300 and $500 over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

"I can make the car payment for this car, which means I have more money in my pocket to do other things."

Hughes is like millions of other people across the nation who are using apps like Uber, Lyft, Task-Rabbit, Fiverr, GoFundMe and many others to make a living or just earn extra money.

Other "giggers" get their feet wet by using the first websites of digital freelancing, Ebay and Amazon.

"The best thing to do is start on Ebay because you'll get practice," said Greg Stanbury, who got his start selling items on Ebay in his garage.  "I was making $50,000-$60,000 a year just by myself."

Stanbury has since grown his business into a 20,000-square-foot warehouse in downtown Jacksonville. He's a wholesaler now selling plastic bags to nail clippers online. However, Stanbury warns it's easy to also lose money on auction sites if you don't do your math.

One of the biggest mistakes is miscalculating shipping costs. He says the best way to get around that is to make sure your items fit into a USPS flat rate box or envelope. That way it’s a set price to ship anywhere in the U.S.

You also have to buy your product cheap. Stanbury suggests looking at discontinued items at stores or going to wholesale websites, like Alibaba, where you can get more for less.

Researchers predict the number of on-demand jobs will double from 3.2 million today to 7.6 million by 2020. A recent Intuit survey found the average on-demand worker makes $28 an hour or about $79,000 a year.  Perhaps surprisingly, the average worker wasn’t a millennial. It was a Gen Xer with the average age being 41.

The gig economy also has its pitfalls.

"Cab drivers have blocked me in," said Hughes.

One taxi driver parked in front of him at Jacksonville Beach so he couldn’t pick up a fare. Eventually, the driver moved out of the way.

“Taxi companies have to come up to the times. We are providing a service the customers want.”

There’s also the uncertainty of a steady paycheck and no benefits like retirement and paid insurance.

Despite the drawbacks, many freelancers like the flexibility of on-demand work. Hughes says “gigging” gives him peace of mind.

“When I started doing this I realized that if anything ever happens and I were to lose my job due to layoffs or downsizing I can still pay my bills with this job,” he said.

But for now, Hughes is satisfied working part time making enough to pay his car payment.

Cox Media Group