The gig economy is stronger than ever and growing rapidly. At the start of 2020, an estimated 57 million people work in the gig economy. By 2023, more than half of the American workforce is expected to participate in the gig economy either part-time or full-time.
While on-demand freelance work can have its drawbacks, for students, participating in the gig economy allows you to earn money on your own schedule, so you don’t have to worry about your job interfering with your schoolwork. Furthermore, the emergence of online businesses and freelance marketplaces like Upwork makes it possible for students to start working within their fields before graduation.
Here’s a look into some of the most popular platforms in the gig economy.
Ride hailing services
With 75 million riders around the world, Uber is the world’s largest ride hailing company and effectively the industry model. Its enormous customer base means that it is easy to find riders through the service. It also has the widest reach of any ridesharing company and is active not only in big cities but in suburbs and smaller towns. If your college isn’t located in a major metropolitan area, driving with Uber is probably your best option.
Uber has a minimum age requirement of 21.
Lyft is the second largest ride-sharing company in the United States, possessing about 28.8 percent of the U.S ridesharing market. While Uber has a higher market share and more riders, Lyft takes a smaller cut from the rider’s profits. Lyft has a set 25 percent fee for each ride, while Uber’s fee varies based on the length of the trip and other factors.
Lyft has a minimum age requirement of 21.
Food delivery services
Founded in San Francisco in 2011, Postmates has quickly grown into one of the largest courier services in the country, serving 3,500 cities across every state. In contrast to services like Grubhub or UberEats, Postmates is a genuine courier service, meaning that it delivers not only food but also packages, groceries, alcohol — pretty much whatever the person ordering wants. Postmates also allows for orders from restaurants that don’t otherwise do deliveries. For any orders that are not prepaid, you will pay with a “Postmates Card” — a credit card automatically loaded with enough money to pay for the order.
Postmates has a minimum age requirement of 18.
Founded in 2004, Grubhub was one of the first online food delivery services. It is currently the largest in the country., accounting for over a third of the U.S. online food delivery market. It is available in over 2,000 cities around the country. In order to drive for Grubhub, you will need to be at least 19 years old, with a minimum two years of driving experience. If you don’t have a driver’s license, you can also do bike deliveries. In contrast to Postmates and UberEats, most drivers pre-set their schedule. You can still select your own hours, but you will typically want to do so in advance by scheduling a block. Grubhub does this so that the market isn’t inundated with drivers, meaning that drivers with scheduled blocks will receive more business. If you don’t schedule blocks, you still have the ability to log in and drive, but most of the time you will be assigned fewer deliveries, particularly in particularly popular markets like Los Angeles and New York.
Grubhub has a minimum age requirement of 19.
Tapingo is effectively the Grubhub of college campuses. Started in 2012, Tapingo was initially active on only five U.S. campuses. In seven short years, it has rapidly expanded to more than 150 campuses and shows no signs of slowing down. Tapingo functions much like Grubhub and other standard delivery services. However, unlike UberEats or Postmates, you have a set schedule based around your reported availability (i.e., no clicking into the app on a whim). Tapingo is great for college students because they’re targeted specifically at campuses, which means that your deliveries are limited to a small area — no traveling 45 minutes across town for a delivery — and you’ll be serving your peers.
Tapingo has a minimum age requirement of 18.
UberEats is the world’s largest online food delivery service due to its presence in over 25 countries, including Japan, England, and Australia. It is a restaurant-only delivery service, meaning couriers won’t have to worry about delivering packages or shopping for groceries. In order to become an UberEats driver, you’ll need to be at least 19 years old with one year of driving experience. If you fit the requirements to drive for Uber’s ride hailing service, you can also perform deliveries with UberEats. While UberEats is undoubtedly already one of the most popular food delivery services in the country, it is noted for having a low payout relative to some of the competing driving services. You can expect to make about $4-$5 per order — ultimately, just about minimum wage.
UberEats has a minimum age requirement of 19.
Other delivery services
Founded in 2012, Instacart is a grocery shopping and delivery service. Customers can create grocery lists via the app, and Instacart’s fleet of shoppers will go out, purchase the items, and deliver them to their doorstep. The service is now available in most major U.S. cities as well as thousands of small towns across the country. Instacart employs two types of shoppers: Full-Service Shoppers, who shop for and deliver items, and In-Store Shoppers, who shop for orders within a store, but don’t actually deliver them. There is one major difference: Full-Service Shoppers are classified and paid as independent contractors and can choose to work as they please, whereas In-Store Shoppers are part-time employees, and have flexible, but set, schedules.
Instacart has a minimum age requirement of 18.
Dumpling is a growing alternative to Instacart, created with the intention of giving shoppers more autonomy and a greater share of their earnings. In contrast to a traditional gig economy service like Instacart, Dumpling doesn’t connect you with customers. Rather, it helps you set up your own grocery shopping business. You are responsible for building up your own customer base, but you keep 100 percent of your tips (there is a 10 percent minimum tip) and can set your own pay rate. A Dumpling business may be a little harder to get started at first, but can be a great option if you devote some time to building up a customer base.
Dumpling has a minimum age requirement of 21.
Launched in 2015, Amazon Flex has grown with the expansion of Prime one-day shipping. Flex is effectively an extension of Amazon’s standard shipping process that uses on-demand contract drivers. Flex workers sign up for schedule blocks of 3-6 hours. At the beginning of a block, drivers go to an Amazon fulfillment center, where they are assigned deliveries for their block of time. Amazon states that drivers make between $18 and $25 per hour, but drivers are responsible for all vehicle costs, including gas and tolls — in contrast, Uber covers toll expenses.
Amazon Flex has a minimum age requirement of 21.
General tasks and freelancing
Taskrabbit is a general task service that allows people to hire others for pretty much any sort of task. As a “Tasker”, you might help someone install a television, put together a furniture set, move to a new apartment, clean their houser, paint their bedroom, etc. Unlike a service like Uber where your pay rate is determined for you, as a Tasker, you can set your own rate for jobs. Effectively, you are your own small business and can charge what you see fit for each project.
Taskrabbit has a minimum age requirement of 19.
Fiverr is a platform that connects freelancers with clients. Fiverr is designed for freelancers in professional fields — graphic designers, software developers, illustrators, animators, video editors, SEO experts, etc. Fiverr allows people to list their services for whatever rate they desire, with $5 set as the minimum. Offering freelance services on Fiverr is a great option for students with technical skills that can work remotely.
Fiverr has a minimum age requirement of 13.
Like Fiverr, Upwork is a marketplace for freelance services, but it utilizes a slightly different model. On Upwork, freelancers bid on jobs to win client contracts. Clients set the scope for the project and freelancers offer competing rates. With over 1 million clients, Upwork is the largest freelance exchange in the world. Of course, that also means there is more competition, but even with entry-level experience in your field, you should be able to find work through the platform. Working on Upwork or Fiverr is great for college students, because it will allow you to actually build a work portfolio while you’re still in school.
Upwork has a minimum age requirement of 18.
Handy is an online platform for handyman services. Like Taskrabbit, you can offer help with small tasks like cleaning, mounting a television, or furniture assembly. Unlike Taskrabbit, Handy also connects clients with construction and home remodeling companies and professionals. As a result, Handy is often used by people looking for these kinds of heavy-construction jobs.
Handy has a minimum age requirement of 18.
Pet care
If you love walking dogs, Wag is a perfect side gig. The pay per walk is decent — an hour-long walk pays $18, 30-minute walks pay $12, and 20-minute walks pay $8.50. However, finding walks can be difficult and irregular, so you can’t rely on Wag to make you a consistent income — just a little bit of extra spending money here or there.
Wag has a minimum age requirement of 18.
Rover is a platform that connects dog owners with sitters and walkers willing to look after their pets. With Rover, you can choose between boarding dogs in your own home overnight, walking dogs, watching dogs at their owner’s home, hosting a doggy day care in your home, or stopping in to check on dogs. Unlike with Wag, you can set your own rate, and it pays very well for a side job — particularly if you’re willing to stay with a dog overnight. Rover also allows you to meet dogs and owners before you walk, so you can screen whether they are a good match.
Rover has a minimum age requirement of 18.
Survey sites
OneOpinion is one of a number of websites that allows you to gain rewards for taking surveys. It takes only moments to sign up for and pays out quickly. Rewards may come in the form of cash prizes or as gift certificates to companies like Amazon. While you won’t really make a wage using these programs, you can definitely make a little extra spending money, all while you’re sitting on the couch watching television.
OneOpinion has a minimum age requirement of 13. Individuals under 18 must have parental consent.
Swagbucks is one of the oldest, most well-known, and most-trusted rewards and loyalty program sites. With Swagbucks, you get points not just for surveys, but for shopping online, watching videos, searching the web, and more.
Swagbucks has a minimum age requirement of 13. Swagbucks encourages minors, 13 years of age or older, to seek their parent or guardian’s permission before registering.
Car rentals
If you’ve got a car, you can make money off of it. Turo is a car-sharing site that in many ways serves as an alternative to traditional car rental businesses. In other words, it is the AirBnB of car rentals. Renting out a car on Turo is incredibly easy. First, check that your vehicle meets their requirements. It takes only about 10 minutes to register a car, then Turo lists it on its platform and prices your rental for you with a dynamic pricing system based on market value, location, time of year, and other data. They offer three different vehicle protection packages that you can choose from: premium, standard, and basic. The insurance plan determines what your payout on rental fees will be. Payout ranges from 65 percent to 85 percent with Turo’s plans. Alternatively, you could choose to purchase your own commercial insurance, in which case you’ll receive 90 percent of the rental fees. Turo owners make $500 per month on average, which is some pretty solid passive income.
Turo has a minimum age requirement of 21.
Selling products
If you’re interested in starting a real business and finding customers online, you should look into creating a Shopify store. Shopify is a platform that makes it easy to build an online store by offering website templates, and tools to assist with payment processing, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement. Over a million companies use Shopify for their stores. Truth be told, running a store on Shopify is not easy work — it takes a lot of effort and time to start and grow a business from scratch. But if you commit to it, it can be very rewarding. This is a great path to pursue if you’re interested in any kind of craft. Many Shopify businesses start out as a hobby and gradually grow from there into full-scale businesses. This is a fairly low-risk path to take if you decide to do so. If you’re more interested in the marketing and business management side, you can also start a dropshipping business. Dropshipping is a business model in which you market and sell products that are both manufactured and shipped by a third-party. This means that you never actually have to store any inventory. You skim your profits off the top of each sale and handle the marketing and customer service side.
Shopify has a minimum age requirement of 18.
Conclusion
Tuition isn’t the only price attached to an education. While in college, students need money to put a roof over their head, food on their table and clothes on their back. While freelance gigs aren’t right for everyone, they’re ideal for a college schedule. Typically, freelance jobs allow students to set their own hours, so they don’t have to drop that class or skip that quiz to work their next shift.
