Hustling to grow your side gig? Here are 4 Useful Tips

In this policy, the investment risk in the investment portfolio is borne by the policyholder.

There are approximately 15 million^*1 gig economy workers in India. The pandemic accelerated the growth of the gig economy and it is estimated that by 2030, more than 23.5 million^*2 workers will be a part of the gig economy.  For the uninitiated a ‘gig’ is a freelance or a short-term assignment taken up by individuals. This has also led to side gigs, where an individual may be freelancing apart from holding a full-time job.

If you are one of them and wish to grow your side gig, then here are 4 useful tips:

Reinvest your earnings

Just like how businesses reinvest their profit to grow, if you are running a gig, you would want to re-invest a part of your earnings to help you get more contracts. For example, if you are a photographer, you may wish to reinvest in a camera with better specifications. Similarly, if you are a software developer, you would want to keep upskilling yourself and learning the latest programming languages. You may also want to prepare for the future by investing a part of your earnings in an investment plan like HDFC Click 2 Wealth to safeguard your savings against unforeseen events.

Network with other gig owners

It is famously said that your network determines your net worth. Therefore, you may want to keep networking with other gig workers, especially those whose services could complement yours. For example, a content writer could network with different website developers. Every website requires content and therefore the content writer could get a steady stream of work from the website developers.

Pick your projects carefully

Once you have regular work coming your way, you may wish to take up projects selectively. For instance, if you have been running your gig for at least 3-4 years, you may not want to take up projects which aren’t paying you as per your experience. Similarly, there could be projects where the payout might not be high but the client could be influential who could recommend you to many others. In such cases, you might want to offer your services at a discount.

Convert your side gig into passive income

If you want your side gig to grow and offer you passive income without taking up much of your time, you would have to set up processes and hire a team to help you out. This would help you scale your side gig into a business.
Finally, if you aren’t able to scale a gig, you may wish to set up 3-4 gigs so that you have multiple income streams.

(Source:

1. https://thewire.in/economy/all-is-not-well-with-indias-gig-economy.
2.  https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/indian-gig-economy-to-have-23-5-mn-workers-by-2029-30-niti-aayog-report-122062701069_1.html)

ARN: ED/10/22/29838