September 2, 2020 Top 5 Gig Work Sites

Do you have plenty of time to spare during this pandemic? Are you looking for an online platform to augment your income in these times of struggle? Do you want to monetize your free time and practice your skills? 

If your answers to above questions are all a big YES, then side hustling or freelancing is for you. Don’t know where to find the right gig? Here are the five best gig work sites that you should be looking at.

5. Facebook/LinkedIn

Yes! Social media sites are in our top five list. Social media has evolved from simply connecting people around the world with relatives and friends to a convenient platform for marketers to target specific customers and for employers to find viable candidates.

You can find cool gigs in various ways on Facebook and LinkedIn: 

• Within your friends/connection network – be on the lookout for posts about possible gigs, or someone familiar with your skill set may message you privately with an opportunity.
• Inside a group – join groups that focus on gig/freelancing opportunities and have a vast online worker community. Additionally, join groups specific to your skills. Many employers are looking for talent inside those specific niche groups.
• Jobs section – customize your search according to the type of gig you are looking for.
• General search – you might find some golden opportunities on the public posts of people outside of your network.

Despite several ways of finding gigs, the biggest drawback of social media platforms is the unknown authenticity and credibility of the people you’re interacting with. There’s no immediate indicator of whether you’re dealing with a legitimate opportunity or not. Plus, your payment agreement may not be protected.

4. Freelancer

Freelancer has been around for more than a decade and keeps improving every year. It simply started as a marketplace for employers to post jobs to which interested candidates could apply. Now, it offers features such as:

• Exams – to highlight your ability level in specific skills.
• Showcase – get inspired by the work of others from various freelancing disciplines.
• Contests – join in a contest for a chance to win prize money when your solution is selected.

This site has been a favorite go-to place of clients who want to pay a significantly cheaper price. Most of the projects and contests post price ranges that are somewhat below the industry average based on skills and value that the output can bring. 

This is good if you’re just starting out and want to gain a little experience in the world of freelancing. Once you gain that confidence and skill, increase your worth by trying other platforms (hint: check out the number one best gig site on this list).

3. Fiverr

Don’t miss this unique marketplace for freelancers! Why is it unique? Well, this is the only freelance marketplace where you can legitimately post a gig that’s anything under the sun and get paid for doing it. The smallest amount you can price for your gig is….guess what? Five dollars ($5)!

There are actually gigs that earn a fortune for doing weird things. So how weird? As weird as:

• Renting a text friend for two days (or more)
• Bringing your ex back
• Zombify your pic or profile
• Screaming your name into a bush
• Casting love spells

It is also a very good platform to break down your service into several offers. For example, if you are a graphic artist you can offer logo and banner design, website design, landing page design, brochure design, etc. The more you can offer, the more your chances of getting a gig from this unique marketplace. Freelancers whose offers are being availed more earn more.

One thing that you’ll be limited in is pricing yourself higher than freelancers having the same or similar offerings to yours. There’s a low chance of getting a premium client as most of the pricing in the platform ranges from $5-$200.

2. Upwork

Two of the pioneers and giants of global freelancing platforms, Elance and oDesk, merged to birth Upwork. Many will argue that this is the ‘Goliath’ of freelancing, but hey! We still have the ‘David’ on top one of this list!.

I can’t blame freelancers for settling on Upwork. Its features are not only attractive for beginners, it also gives a sense of security for professional freelancers. Upwork is known for taking care of their members/freelancers by implementing several protections against fraud clients. Of course they are not one-sided, they also implement measures for the security of the clients against irresponsible freelancers.

The price range of each opportunity posted, especially for the tech people, is what makes this platform a magnet for industry experts. You can price yourself as high as $150/hr. You can work at your own pace but many clients want to track your working hours through Upwork’s time tracker.

Like the rest on this list so far, you compete with many people in the traditional way to get the opportunity. You apply, send your proposal, and pray that the client will choose you (provided that you gave a personal customized proposal and have skills perfectly matched to the job).

1. Topcoder

Now we come to the number one top site on our list. Topcoder is not your ordinary freelancing site. It bested the others on primary aspects that a gig platform can offer. You’ll never find another freelance site that offers things like these:

• Average gig duration of six  months. You are assured that for the next finite number of months, you have a full time gig. You don’t have to worry about sending multiple proposals to numerous clients every few days or weeks.
• Weekly payment of up to $2,500 USD. How would your life change if you were to receive weekly payment equivalent to at least a month’s work with other gig sites? Topcoder is a premium gig site that offers payment way above what you deserve for the work that you love to do.
• No more proposals and bidding. Every freelancer deserves to apply for a job without spending a dime on an application. You are chosen based on your skills and experience and not by how impressive your proposals are. Plus, it saves you a lot of time in applying as the process is pretty straight forward.
• Tax-free and service fee-free. This is the apple of the eye for any freelancer next to very competitive weekly payment. It might be too good to be true, but I swear with my whole life…this is really true! You don’t need to compute how much less your payment will be because what you get is what you can withdraw…no more, no less.
• Be part of leading companies and solve real business problems. On other freelancing sites, it is very rare to be hired as part of a big company. Most of the employers are individual clients themselves but with Topcoder, you are working with leading companies and actually helping them create solutions for their problems and needs. That is the beauty of Topcoder’s Gig Work, you’re holding a full time job with companies you can be proud of.

Are you excited now? Go ahead and check their available gigs. It is all remote. Ohh, and before I forgot, aside from working full time for a definite time frame (months), you also have a chance to be offered extended work for the same client should they love what you do and the quality of your output.

Topcoder is also known for competitive challenges that award juicy prizes. This is a different offering that is very great on its own. If you’re into this, I suggest you learn more from this link.