Tips for Freelancers and Gig Workers Impacted by COVID-19

Tips for Freelancers and Gig Workers Impacted by COVID-19

Despite COVID-19, various areas of the freelancer and gig economy continue to thrive. Why? Well, for one, think about gig workers who work in food delivery. Studies showed that 60% of consumers ordered delivery or takeout at least once per week prior to the pandemic. Now, with longer lines at grocery stores, and more time spent indoors thanks to shelter-in-place orders, these food delivery services are in serious demand.

And that’s just one opportunity within the vast landscape of the freelancing and gig economy.

This guide is here to walk you through just that:

• What the gig economy looks like in COVID-19
• What you can do right now to stay on your feet
• How to thrive during this time

The Gig Economy in the Time of Coronavirus

Social distancing practices have shut down a great number of physical storefronts and businesses. Many traditional employees are out of work, and businesses are challenged by tough decisions. 

A silver lining is that the way in which businesses are pivoting might benefit you, the gig worker or freelancer.  

A freelancer is someone who runs their own business, selling products and services to clients and employers who need them. A gig worker is a kind of freelancer who works regularly with a given employer or provider, without being an employee. This provider streamlines the advertisement and delivery of the worker’s services, often through an online platform or app.

For example, a person who runs a small business offering tutoring services or an in-home chef is a freelancer. A person who drives for Uber or Lyft is a gig worker.

Both have been affected in different ways.

Some indoor gigs (like babysitting, house cleaning, etc.) have been disproportionately impacted.  Other freelancers (like tutors, chefs, and personal trainers) have had to get creative and take their services online. Some have just blatantly had more gig opportunities, like food couriers.

Fewer Employees, More Demand for Freelance and Gig

It’s a sobering and unfortunate fact that so many workers are losing their jobs. However, it’s also true that much of the work they were doing still needs to be done, now or in the near future, and that work is likely to fall on gig workers or freelancers.

Companies are worried about many factors both directly and indirectly related to COVID-19. A few of the most important include but are not limited to:

• Stagnated growth
• Unstable supply chains
• Diminished demand
• Efficiency and overall costs
• Online migration and transitions

These are all issues that contracting freelancers or gig workers can help with, pandemic or not. A whopping 76% of executives plan to increase their companies’ usage of freelancers moving forward. 

That corporate shift, in combination with extraordinary increases in usage of service apps (think Upwork, Instacart, etc.), means a massive influx of demand for your services.

But, it also means...

More Supply

The supply of freelancers was growing already, even before the pandemic. Now workers who were specialized as an employee have the opportunity (or the necessity) to take their skills to the freelancing market. Additionally, workers who might have just been freelancing or gig working on the side are going to be ramping up those ventures. 

Times like these call for flexibility. But they also call for experience and expertise, which, if you’re a current freelancer, gives you a leg up on the newer competition.

Even if you’re fresh to the gig economy yourself, freelancing like a vet is your key to success moving forward.

Staying Afloat During Times of Crisis

As a freelancer or gig worker, some of the best things about your work-life involve the freedom that comes with setting your own schedule, taking on projects you choose, and generally controlling your own workflow. However, being outside the conventions of traditional office work has likely introduced you to uncertainty or instability.

In times like these, knowing how to manage and handle instability becomes a superpower.

While others more accustomed to the comforts of a traditional office might be navigating an additional difficulty of adjustment in these new working conditions, the flexibility you’ve honed makes you uniquely qualified to not just get through these times, but prosper in spite of them.

Be aware, however, that as you take on work, new safety guidelines apply for social interactions. Social distancing is the norm and, wherever possible, you’ll need to practice proper hygiene. To learn more about how to slow the spread of the virus while taking on work, be sure to read through the CDC guidelines.

More of the Same

Something unique about your blueprint for persevering in these trying times is continuing, and perfecting, what you’ve been doing already. As a freelancer or gig worker, regardless of industry, you have built up at least two essential skill sets, in addition to the tools of your trade: building connections and pitching work.

Doing so will be especially beneficial in the current climate, with increased demand and supply outlined above. But these practices will also prepare you for whatever comes after the pandemic, as well.

Build Connections

Does your freelance work require you to reach out to clients? Do you benefit from a large contact list? For freelancers especially, there’s never a bad time to expand your network. But the environment COVID-19 is creating is providing a unique opportunity to drastically expand and diversify your reach.

So, in the months ahead, you need to tap into all available resources and practices to grow your contacts and network:

• Exhausting personal connections – Everyone in your (extended) family, all of your friends, and everyone connected to all these people should know about your business. The more people that vouch for you and your business, the more opportunities you’ve created. 
• Networking with professional contacts – The same goes for any person you’ve been connected with in a professional setting, no matter how directly or indirectly. This list includes but is not limited to:
  • Former and current coworkers, superiors, business partners, clients, vendors, etc.
  • Venue owners, staff, and clientele in spaces in which you’ve conducted business.
  • Connections made at conferences or other events.
  • Former classmates, colleagues, faculty, and alumni from schools you’ve attended.
  • Contacts of contacts: extended networks of all these individuals.
• Promoting and advertising, everywhere – You should look to promote your services wherever you can, whenever you can, and as much as you can. There are many places and ways you might consider, both free and paid, including but not limited to:
  • Email marketing (free)
  • Posts on social media (free)
  • Paid ads on websites (paid)
  • Newspapers and magazines (paid)
  • Direct mail (free or paid)
  • Radio, podcasts, etc. (free or paid)

For gig workers, this might be a time to look at using multiple platforms to increase your productivity. For example, if you do DIY projects for people on fiverr, you might consider looking at TaskRabbit, too.

As individuals and businesses are faced with radical changes, so too are their needs and capabilities. The biggest benefit of growing your reach is maximizing, diversifying, and optimizing your targets for pitches.

Pitch Harder than Ever

In baseball, a great pitcher is one you can rely on to get out there and pitch—really well, a whole lot, and as often as possible. That’s something freelancers and gig workers need to do, too.

You need to always be pitching, even in normal circumstances. But that’s even truer now than ever, as increasing numbers and kinds of individuals and businesses are likely to be looking for your services. You want to be the first in someone’s inbox when they need a service, and to do that, you need to pitch yourself, and often. 

Diversify your pitches as well. A great pitcher doesn’t only groove fastballs down the middle; they vary their speed, location, and technique. Likewise, you should consider:

• Pitching more frequently to clients you pitch to already
• Pitching to new clients and new kinds of clients
• Pitching bigger projects
• Pitching different projects

Those last options are tied to another thing you’re constantly doing as a freelancer or gig worker that you should continue and even ramp up in these troubling times—self-improvement.

Learning and Development

One great part of the freedom that comes with freelancing and gig working is that you never have to worry about busywork. That is, you never have to do any kinds of work that aren’t related, in some way, to advancing yourself and your business.

If you’re not producing a good or service for a client, chances are, you’re liaising with clients, or maybe working on administrative tasks like balancing your books. Or, best of all, you might be working on development, growing your business by building on existing skills or acquiring new ones.

Expand and Diversify Your Offerings

The other side of pitching as much work as possible is delivering as much work as possible. That means maximizing your productivity and efficiency, but it also means branching out and offering a wide number of quality goods and services.

Some things any freelancer or gig worker can look into building on include:

• Your existing skill sets
• Teaching, tutoring, or consulting on your skills
• Adjacent skill sets you’re inclined toward
  • If you illustrate, consider design
  • If you write, consider editing
• Turning products into services, or vice-versa
  • If you sell photos, consider becoming a session photographer
• Anything with a lower bar to entry, such as:
  • Tasks like queuing or shopping
  • Simple DIY home, auto, or technology repairs
  • Technically “un-skilled” labor (moving, driving, etc.)

How Nextdoor Can Help

One of your most reliable resources and client bases is your neighborhood. From pinning up a handmade flyer in your local coffee shop, to helping your neighbor unload a truck, to counting on getting that support in return, you know that being ingrained in your local community is one of the best and most rewarding things in your life, professionally and personally.

In this troubling time of COVID-19, though, the normal interaction of your neighborhood changes. People aren’t getting together in the same ways, in the same places, that they used to.

That’s where the neighborhood hub, Nextdoor, can help. A Nextdoor Business Page is a free way to connect with your neighbors online and set yourself up for real, meaningful engagement that’ll get you noticed and help you get your community the goods and services that it needs.

By creating a Business Page, once you have a single recommendation, you’ll start appearing in neighborhood searches. Should you be offering any promotions, working to help the community, or have a unique service to provide, with Nextdoor Business Posts and Local Deals, you can share that with your neighbors right away.

What the Future Holds for You

As long as this pandemic continues, there will be widespread struggles. But in the face of these tough challenges, we can and must persevere. The best way to shut out the stress is hard work, focusing on your community, and taking care of your overall health. 

That’s where you come in.

There’ll never be enough ink spilled about the heroics that our front-line essential workers are doing every day. As a freelancer or gig worker assisting clients in their time of need, you too are essential.

And you’ll get through this. Despite the times, there is a lot of opportunity out there for you. Seizing it is the best way you can contribute.

If you are a local business, claim your free Business Page to get started on Nextdoor. Resources on how to use Nextdoor to stay connected with your local customers during coronavirus, pertinent news affecting businesses, and more, are available in our Small Business Guide for Coronavirus Relief.