The Toxic, Misleading Culture of Hustling in The Gig Economy

Don’t make enough money? 
Take up a side gig and hustle at it. You’ll be able to make up your debts
Just want to make some extra income? 
Take up a side gig. You only have to do it in your spare time 
Tired of being a corporate workhorse? Want to be your own boss on your own time? 
Become a gig worker. I’ll tell you how. It’s so easy. You can go from broke to millions

This narrative highlights the selling points driven by financial media, finance gurus, and websites and apps that support the gig economy. They’re incredibly persuading. Admittedly, they’ve convinced me multiple times that I might even be able to get rich off these gigs. I get excited about all the possibilities that might ensue when I make it big. When I actually do the gig, I soon reach disappointment just as fast as I had reached excitement. Financial gurus explain I didn’t reach success because I didn’t hustle hard enough. I try again but I hustle harder and longer than I had previously. Ultimately, I reach the same disappointing results. I’ve followed this cycle multiple times and have lost more time and money than I’d like to admit.

Gigs can be a secondary or primary source of income but are characterized by “flexible, temporary, or freelance jobs.” It’s been used to describe everything from being a rideshare driver to part time real estate investing. The technology boom of the 2000s and 2010s has led to an incredible rise in the gig economy which accounted for 4.8% of the United States GDP in 2019. For scale, oil and gas accounted for 7.6% of the U.S GDP.  Technology has also produced social media and websites where people are constantly flaunting their success through these gigs. Many of these people often attribute their success to hustling through one or multiple gig opportunities. In short, hustling is a common term for using grit and grind to achieve success. It has some positive connotations but gig culture has taken it to an unhealthy extreme.

Hustling

Hustling has been made into a culture and a brand. Self help books and hustling has always existed but not to the extent which it has today. The rise of YouTube and other social media sites have allowed people to not only flaunt their wealth and success, but also sell their service with the promise that you too can achieve salvation by doing what they do. A simple YouTube search of “hustles” or “side hustles” will result in videos of how to side hustle and how to turn a side hustle into a full time job. Popular YouTubers, like Gary Vee, Graham Stephens, Biaheza, and countless others have created brands of hustling and how to hustle. These videos have amassed millions of views and thousand subscribers. Scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, you’ll see the successful lifestyle profiles of the same YouTube stars or similar people who personify the gig hustling culture. Companies advertise courses that’ll show you how you can get rich if you start hustling in the gig economy. They try to sell you courses of common gig hustles like ecommerce or day trading with the loose promise it could start being your primary source of income. You might be able to quit your job, work for yourself on your own time, and make more than you’re doing now. People and companies have made millions profiting off this message and people’s insecurities. Hustle culture and the gig economy has always existed. However, the integration of technology, especially social media, in people’s lives have made it hard to escape either of them. 

The fantasy of hustling in the gig economy has been especially alluring because people are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with jobs. It could be attributed to more self awareness or that more Millennials and Gen Zers entering the work force who seek more personal fulfillment from their jobs. They’ve entered companies where policies are rigid and creativity is often suppressed. They want more satisfaction from their jobs than just a means to provide for themself or their family. Regardless of generation, there are people tired of putting all their time and energy in a company where they’ll never truly reap the rewards of their work. The gig economy presents itself as a savior to escape this despair. There are some people who do succeed in these gigs via hustling. In addition, some people do find happiness in these side hustles knowing that it may never be their primary income. It’s a way to supplement their income while doing something they’re passionate about. However, most people participate in the gig economy because they simply want the extra money. Not for their own enjoyment.  What gigs economy gurus neglect to tell you is that gigs don’t always work out the way you hope it will. While hustling might solve your woes on straightforward gigs like being a rideshare driver or Airbnb host, it won’t solve them for more complex ones. Lack of hustle isn’t always why your blog isn’t getting traffic, drop shipping store is lacking customers or portfolio had multiple quarters of losses via dividend investing. Each of them requires an intricate knowledge of the market surrounding each gig. The barrier to entry is low but the barrier to success is incredibly high. To spotlight one of these complex gigs, blogging requires a knowledge of search engine optimization, social media marketing, writing, and many other hard skills. In addition, it requires a lot of intangible skills like an outwardly personality.

Lack of hustle isn’t always why your blog isn’t getting traffic, drop shipping store is lacking customers or portfolio had multiple quarters of losses via dividend investing. Each of them requires an intricate knowledge of the market surrounding each gig. The barrier to entry is low but the barrier to success is incredibly high.

Financial gig gurus also neglect to tell you about the time and financial investments that are required to be successful. Initially, the financial investment for gigs are low and straightforward. They’re often flaunted as a way to make easy passive income. However, there are often constant maintenance fees. In addition, If you aren’t seeing instant financial success(which you probably won’t), you might need to invest more money. If you aren’t getting enough ecommerce business from Amazon associates, then you’ll probably have to pay more for advertisements to boost your product. Even if you do succeed in your gig, you’ll have to pay taxes on your earnings. If you don’t know how to do those taxes, you’ll have to pay an accountant to do them. Undoubtedly, other problems will arise which will require you to spend even more. Ultimately, your earnings can be minimal or even put you at a loss. 

Sure, if you don’t have a lot of money or aren’t willing to spend on all these resources, you can hustle. You can do the marketing, taxes, and whatever else comes your way yourself. You can work hard and grind your way towards understanding these concepts. However, there are so many aspects to gigs that no one can be an expert in all of them. Even if you do one of the seemingly less complex gigs like being a rideshare driver, you’re putting more miles on your car. Thus, you’re making it more susceptible to damage and issues. Unless you’re a mechanic, you’re going to really hustle at learning how to get that car fixed. 

Time Investments

There are gigs where the financial risk is low and no additional concepts involved, but the time investment is incredibly high and the financial rewards are low. I’ve taken surveys and earned $10 in 4 hours. I’ve tested websites and earned about $50 in 12  hours. The tasks given in both these gigs were straightforward with no additional concepts. However, as you can see, I didn’t even make minimum wage in the hours I worked. I believe that no amount of hustle in either of those gigs could’ve allowed me to earn minimum wage. These were just a couple of these low reward, low risk, high time requirements. There are more like Amazon Mechanical Turks and cover letter writing( personally I’m a slow writer and it takes me hours to write a cover letter, especially for someone else).

In a number of gigs you’ll have to sign up and have your application approved. Furthermore, you might have market yourself as a viable candidate for the job through an interview or have an incredible profile where employers can find you. The latter is often the case on freelancer sites like Upwork. Depending on your skillset, employers might not even be able to find you because you’re thrown into a pool of other people who can do the exact same thing. Like the traditional job searching process, the application process is tedious and gigs are not guaranteed. Ultimately, this all takes an incredible amount of time.

Message to Young Generations 

The gig economy and hustle culture has had some adverse effects on younger generations. Younger and younger teenagers are able to make money which is great. However, they start hustling and reach that point of extreme hustling that is pushed by the media or their own greed. Financial success may follow and they’ll forgo college to start working in the gig economy full time. They learn they can make sufficient money if they just keep hustling in the gig economy. In addition, many gig economy gurus brag that they didn’t go to college and they’ve become rich.This is one of the reasons that less young men and women are attending college. They’ve become less likely than their parents to receive an education beyond high school. Unfortunately, our society highly values an education. Should any of their gigs fail, they may not be employable. In addition, the money that they earn hustling may be good now, but they might be able to make even more in the jobs they get after they get a degree. Those jobs can also provide the financial security, health insurance, unemployment insurance, and retirement plans that the gig economy cannot. 

Conflict of interest

A lot of people and financial media push the gig economy because it’s good content. Who doesn’t want an easy way to make extra money or work on their own time? Success might not be immediate but you can hustle to reach that success. Websites like Entrepreneur and videos from CBS list out common side gigs and potential full time ones. These are just some of the countless web pages and videos out there like that. The problem with these lists is that they present these gigs as completely risk averse opportunities. They fail to mention any sense of risk, failures or difficulties attributed to each one. In addition, some of the gigs they recommend are completely outrageous and unadvisable. 

All this good content translates to bigger paychecks. These sites or people will somehow financially benefit from your viewership. The more gig opportunities they present, the more viewers they’ll draw. Websites or YouTube videos will benefit from your traffic via ads from an article or video. In addition, a lot of them are affiliate marketers. They’ll earn some sort of commission if you sign up to become some kind of gig worker via a gig platform. Even better, they might be able to get you to sign up for their paid course.

No one is totally innocent from trying to make some money via ads, affiliate marketing or selling courses, including myself or this website. We have to earn money somehow to support our business. Additionally, there are articles and videos that give really good advice on performing in the gig economy. However, all this content is exhausting. 

Final Thoughts

I’m not trying to dissuade you from participating in the gig economy or hustle your way to success. There are a number of people who have done it and I applaud them. It’s impressive to see and read about their accomplishments. I just want you to realize that these gigs are not always as simple as they seem and hustling can only get you so far. There are almost no “get rich quick” schemes. Before you start gigging, take time to research the gig. Take great considerations and decide if it really is worth your time and money in the long term. Even if it’s a simple side gig. Be honest with yourself. Do you really think you’re cut out to do that kind of work? Are you doing it because you need the money? Or you saw or heard someone else get rich from it and now you want to too? Because, ultimately, the need to keep hustling in the gig economy, takes away from your own personal life. It takes away time from your family and friends. It adds stress to your life and becomes another thing you have to worry about.