Say Goodbye to Your 9-5: Earn More Money by Gigging
Tamara has been a Production Associate at a manufacturing company for a year. She’s a single mom with two kids, and her 9-5 makes child care difficult. They are home from school at 3:00 PM, which leaves two hours of no childcare a day. Plus, school breaks and long weekends are always hard to coordinate.
Tamara tries talking to her boss about changing her schedule or leaving early, but he won’t budge. With its lack of flexibility, she can’t keep her current job, but she can’t afford to be unemployed.
Later, Tamara met up with her friend, Christian. Christian says he quit his full-time warehouse job and has AmbiMi’s temp job app. He uses AmbiMi to find gigs whenever he wants. He gets matches, applies to the ones he wants, and fills his schedule with temporary jobs weekly. He’s able to supplement his full income too.
Tamara’s heard of on-demand staffing before but isn’t sure gig work is for her. She needs to think about it and see if it’s realistic for her.
Can Gigging Replace a Full-Time Job?
If you’re looking into gigging full-time, there are a few things to consider:
Your weekly availability
Your average monthly earnings with your current job
Your estimated monthly earnings when gigging
In Tamara’s case, she is available from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM on weekdays, when the bus picks up and drops off her kids. Then, she could find childcare for an extra four hours per week to make extra cash, totalling 41.5 hours per week. So, gigging allows her to have a flexible schedule and book more hours if required.
Currently, Tamara makes $18 per hour, totalling $2880 per month.
She browses through AmbiMi’s app and sees labour gigs posted anywhere from $16-22. She looks at the requirements and estimates she can make $19 per hour, possibly more. Using those numbers, her monthly earnings would be $3154.
Not only could Tamara supplement her income, but she could also make $274 extra per month.
What Next?
Consider the variables of gigging. One of the downsides of the gig economy is less security of guaranteed hours and wages. Make sure to take that into account before making the jump. It’s important to be adaptable and understand you might have to take more shifts one week to make up for another week.
With that said, you also have a higher earning potential. Because you can schedule more hours whenever you want, you can earn as much as you need. To make the most out of gigging, read our top tips to thrive as a gig worker here.
If you’re not ready to quit your job, try side gigs first and work your way up to full-time. Side jobs allow you to dip your toe in the water and make money on the side while keeping your day job.
Tamara considers all the variables and decides that she wants to take the plunge. She downloads AmbiMi and fills up her schedule in the first week!