My Experience in the Gig Economy
What is the Gig Economy?
The term “gig economy” has started becoming a thing and as it happens, I seem to have found myself being a gig worker.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the term, it was often used referring to musicians doing a number of performances, or “gigs”. But now it has been used more widely in other industries where rather than individuals being full-time employees, they would take on part-time / short-contract / freelance / temporary roles in organisations and in many cases working for more than one company at the same time. It would offer more variety and flexibility in working arrangements. With the rise of Uber, Airbnb, 99designs, etc, it has accelerated the growth of gig worker economy, but there is still a lot of opportunities for workers and companies to be part of it.
My Journey
So how did I end up becoming a gig worker? I started out in IT and project management and then mid-career, I discovered my passion for product development which I pivoted to. For the last 15 years, I have been working in companies in a range of industries, different sizes and different maturities (startup through to mature corporates).
That pivot came about by getting sick of working in big face-less corporates and I had the opportunity to work in Navman, a fast-paced technology and product company. While the role started out as a software project manager, it turned into re-engineering the way that Navman brought products to market. It was an opportunity of taking the useful bits of how big corporates operate, but not the cumbersome bureaucratic processes and rules that can paralyse a company.
I learnt a lot from that, successes and failures, and I then had the chance to work with NextWindow, a rapidly growing New Zealand start-up that had just been engaged by HP to bring touch-enabled computers to market, based on NextWindow’s innovative touchscreen technology. And it had a long list of other major PC makers wanting to do the same. But this was starting at the other end of the spectrum - a small, young, but fast-growing company (sometimes referred to as a ‘Scale-Up', the next stage after being a ‘Start-Up’), that had few systems and processes in place, taking what I learnt from Navman and building something that could scale with the company, as well as satisfy the levels of quality demanded by our customers.
That was my last fulltime role and I have then had the privilege to work with more than 15 companies over the last 7 years, each with their own successes and failures from which I have learned from. Check out my LinkedIn profile to see which companies I have worked with.
Why Hire Me?
So why would you hire me (or other workers in the gig economy) and how can I add value to your organisation?
A gig is something that made a lot of sense to me and gave me an opportunity to be able to offer my experience to a wider range of companies. I’d heard of the term “Virtual CFO” many years ago and it seemed a great solution for companies that are too small with limited funds to be able to hire a fulltime experienced CFO. And for the virtual CFO, being able to have a much wider impact by helping many smaller / early-stage companies, rather just being limited to one big company. So, it’s a win-win.
For me, I’ve found the niche of what I refer to as “scale-ups” bringing products to market
Startups that have found product-market fit (or need help finding it) and now need to scale rapidly
Small companies that have been around for a while, but all of a sudden have “hit gold” and have to grow very quickly in order to be able to take advantage of it - NextWindow was like this
The important fact here is that start-ups and small companies are not scalable – they need to make significant changes in the way they are structured and the way that they work. What is difficult for these companies is that in many cases, this is the first time that they have done it and have not had the experience in transitioning from a small to a scaleable company. Having someone to guide them through this can make a huge impact and avoid the many mistakes companies make when trying to scale.
So when people ask me what I do, I often reply that I do “systems and processes”, ie: the boring stuff. But it’s the boring stuff that you have got to get right in order to scale efficiently and effectively.
Pros and Cons
Ok, so let’s have a look at the pros and cons of the gig economy, both from the perspective of the gig worker, but also from the perspective of a company considering hiring a gig worker.
The Employer
Pros
Without having to pay for a full-time person, you still get access to someone with a wide range and depth of experience and expertise
The gig worker is often well-networked and can connect you with other people and companies in the ecosystem
Cons
The person won’t be in the office all of the time and you won’t necessarily get an immediate response to an issue/question. If it’s just a quick question, you can leave a message on the phone or organise a video call when a slot is available.
You need to be more flexible in arranging meetings to fit in with the other client commitments of the gig worker
The Gig Economy Worker
Pros
Better work-life balance (but you have to keep on top of it)
Flexible working arrangements with the ability to work partly from home and not having to work 9-5, Monday to Friday
Work with a wider range of interesting companies and people
Cons
You will be running your own business, which comes with admin tasks that you would have never had to worry about as a full-time employee
Setting up a company - quick and easy to open, but time-consuming and hard to close
Taxes - it’s great seeing the money coming in, but disappointing when the taxman comes to collect, especially if you go through a slow patch, which will happen!
Accounting - you’ll need an accountant and you will need to be disciplined in keeping receipts and entering them
While previously the company you were working for in a full-time role would have paid for it, you have to pay your own way for personal/career development, eg: training, conferences, etc
Even though you may be flat-out working and earning good money, when one or more gigs end, then you need to find another gig(s). You need to be always networking and selling, even if it means you spend non-billable time to do this. Otherwise, you will have quiet patches which can be stressful on you and the family if the finances are getting tight.
Working from home can be great to avoid the traffic, but it can get disruptive at home with the family members. You’ve also got to be careful when the work and home life start merging and become one
Juggling different clients and trying to fit in with their schedule. The best approach is to agree on fixed days/times each week and meetings are arranged based on those. There will still be instances where you need to move things around, but this should be the exception rather than the rule.
You need to be really organised so that you can easily switch from company to company
Wow - the cons list got long really quick! I don’t mean to scare you, but you do need to go into it with your eye’s wide open. It’s definitely not the thing for people who just want to go into a nice office, do a 9-5 day then come home and relax and spend time with the family not worrying about work (does this type of job really exist?).
Anyway, I hope you found this blog useful and it encourages you (or not) to consider being a gig worker.
And lastly, following my own rules above (always selling), if you have a company that is (or is about to) bringing products to market, you are growing rapidly and can already see the signs of growing pains and are worried about how you are going to deal with them, give me a call (021 348 353) or email (david.stokes@tech-sys.co.nz). Happy to have a chat over coffee.
Cheers, David