How to Make it in the “Gig Economy”

If you constantly find yourself scrambling each month to come up with extra cash after the bills have been paid or you don’t have enough money for investing and are looking to increase your earnings, you might be considering a “side-gig”. By some estimates 1 in 4 Americans have second jobs to bring in extra income. While some of these options can bring in a fair amount of money, most do not and a recent study from Priceconomics shows that 85% of workers earn less than $500 a month from these jobs.

Here are some of the best options for earning extra cash as a freelancer

• Airbnb - Not surprisingly, short term rentals of real estate is the most profitable of all of the “App” businesses pulling in an average of $900 a month for those that participate. The median of $440 a month suggests that those earning the most skew the average up but that is encouraging when you consider there are a lot of people that only participate occasionally and with minimal effort.

• TaskRabbit - TaskRabbit gives users the ability to book handyman services for everything from yard work to minor home repairs and even putting together furniture or hanging pictures on the wall. With reported average earnings of $380 TaskRabbit comes in just above driving as a side job.

• Lyft - In the battle between the two big ride sharing services Lyft just edged out Uber as the top earner. Many drivers choose to drive for both services and Uber recently introduced the ability to add tips for rides so their numbers should improve. Despite all of the hype about driving the average for both services is about $370 a month while the median is $210 for Lyft and $155 for Uber so there are a lot of idle drivers.

• Doordash - Uber Eats wasn’t on the list but Doordash and Postmates round out the top six gigs in the study. Both services deliver food from local restaurants and Postmates also offers items from stores. Doordash providers earn an average of $229 a month while Postmates posts an average of $174. The medians are bit less than half of these amounts.

In looking at the discrepancies between the average and the median it should be fairly clear that the people working the most on these side projects have the highest earnings. It is possible to use “side-hustles” to earn money for your 401K, IRA or Mortgage down payment. For the best rates on those and many other financial programs, let Finance Source match you up with programs based on your unique financial needs.