When you’re in college, people will tell you that school comes first. You’re here to learn and get educated. Shape up or ship out. Tune in or drop out. I couldn’t disagree more.
Going to university is exceptionally complicated, it isn’t for everyone, and it comes with serious financial burden. As a student, the financial and time constraints can be frustrating. The urge, for the motivated, is to work more. The reality is that there just might not be enough time in the day to hold another job – nor is that always a psychologically healthy decision.
If anything, college is about learning to prioritize what’s important and balancing work with life (check out the Tailored Freedom blog for re-defining balance). Sometimes, to make a buck and free up time, you have to get creative. That’s where Gigwalk comes in.
Gigwalk was founded on the principles of crowdsourcing work. Large companies need minions to do local work. From pictures to surveys to secret shopping experiences, Gigwalk bridges the gap. If you have an iPhone in your pocket and live in a city, you can start. With little more than an iPhone and a PayPal account, you can begin applying to Gigs and making $4-80 (depending on availability).
Unfortunately, there’s a catch: It’s not easy or intuitive. Take the most popular Gigs that are available these days by Bing Business Photography. Bing has a dream, and that is to photograph the country’s businesses – inside and out. Unlike Google, who has its own employees doing this, Bing decided to crowdsource the project and pay people $5 to $7 per storefront. Most Bing Gigs require 4 photos of the store and a Photosynth (360 degree picture of the inside). This can get hairy when you walk into an open business, spin around three or four times, and start taking pictures. Let’s just say, it’s creepy. Employees give you strange looks and patrons wonder if you’re casing the joint. But as a natural extrovert, I just go out there and socialize. I get paid to spend about 10-15 minutes at a business.
In about an hour, I made $28 in my own city. Bing approves the Gigs in a day or two and then the money magically appears in my PayPal account. Couldn’t be easier.
The real secret comes in the possibility of traveling on Gigwalk’s dime. You see, you can apply for Gigwalks anywhere they’re available in the States. Let’s say you want to take a roadtrip to Chicago, and you know where you’ll be staying. Just apply for a variety of Gigwalks in that area, complete the pictures and 360 pano, and you could just about pay for the entire trip in a couple hours. Chicago alone has thousands of dollars in Gigs!
Gigwalk in the App Store: Download here
