Ever heard of the so-called “sharing economy?” Essentially, it’s the rental of various services directly over the Internet, anything from the rental of cars, beds, accommodations and additional assets. Airbnb is a prime example of a player in this sharing economy.
In fact, the sharing economy isn’t just limited to the above. It also includes renting people’s time for the performance of tasks that you don’t want to do or don’t have the opportunity to do. A prime example would be Fiverr. If it’s a service that’s for sale over the Internet, chances are high that it’s part of this bold, new sharing economy!
And guess what? It’s beginning to take over the workforce, too. Here’s how.
The Creation of a Whole Lot of Jobs
Job creation is always useful and healthy for any economy that needs to grow and for people trying to keep up with the rising cost of living. The sharing economy is alive and well thanks to numerous companies and startups that are springing up. Businesses such as Fiverr, Airbnb and Uber don’t just employ people to run their companies—they also create freelancing job opportunities for people who want to rent out or sell specific services.
While these companies may not be able to provide a system for full-time employment to freelancers, they’re increasingly allowing freelancers to earn a healthy supplement to their income on a monthly or yearly basis.
People Are Becoming Dependent on the Sharing Economy
In the business world, when your product or service is good and there’s a lot of demand for it, people tend to become dependent on it. These are your regular customers and clients for whom you’ve been yearning! The rising swell of demand has been what’s been powering the sharing economy in recent years.
When more people start to use services like these players in the sharing economy, the workforce begins to change somewhat. Instead of people looking for that nine-to-five job, they’ll become more creative in devising ways to make money and a potential, long-term income.
For instance, if someone’s bored of their job working in retail for their boss, yet he hears about a company like Fiverr, which lets people rent out their services for a fee, he may be interested in seeing how far he can take that entrepreneurial venture.
The more people use these sharing-economy services, the more freelancers and entrepreneurs will think of ways to use these systems to create healthy income streams.
Encroachment Into Traditional Industries
Just several years ago, when you wanted a place to stay for your next trip, you checked out what hotels where in the city or town to which you were headed. These days, though, when you want to stay at any place for your next trip, you probably check out Airbnb for options.
The same thing can be said for a site like Fiverr. In the past, if you needed some graphic designer to create a poster or other marketing materials for your business, you just looked at the Yellow Pages for local options. These days, though, you can use Fiverr to help you find local graphic designers in your area.
In other words, these sharing-economy services are beginning to step into the territory of traditional businesses in the hospitality and design sectors. And when those selling their services, such as graphic designers, hear how they can find leads and clients through sites like Fiverr, they may just decide to work with these sites instead of dealing with local shops and businesses to find work.
A Slow Takeover
If there’s anything the sharing economy has taught us already in its young existence, it’s that creative ways of giving people what they want in the marketplace will always turn into viable business models and startups. You can’t deny that the whole concept behind the sharing economy is very unique and relies heavily on outside-the-box thinking.
The fact that it serves the needs of millions of people around the globe by easily connecting them to very useful services they’d otherwise have a hard time finding is where the sharing economy’s power lies.
While a lot of people may still not be familiar with the sharing economy, the growing influence of companies like Fiverr and Airbnb will certainly change that. Slowly but surely, the sharing economy is leaving its permanent mark on the workforce.