3 Strategies for Advocating for Yourself as a Gig Worker

In a lot of ways, being a gig worker is a dream career. You get to set your own hours, choose your own projects and be your own boss. But with that freedom comes a lot of responsibility and more than a little risk. After all, freelancing means that you give up a good deal of the stability and certainty that comes with a regular paycheck, benefits, and unemployment insurance. It’s a tradeoff, indeed, but one that is certainly worthwhile if you know how to protect yourself. So, what strategies should you use to ensure you’re advocating for yourself as a gig worker?

Embrace the Business Mindset

When you’re working as an independent contractor, it can be easy to lapse into a cavalier mindset about your career. This is especially true if you’re working from home and not keeping regular work hours. If you’re not taking your work seriously, how can you expect prospective customers, clients, or partners to do so?

If you want to be treated with respect, honesty, and fairness in your work, then you need to treat your freelancing as you would a traditional business. Not only will this help to transform your own approach to and perspective on your work, but it will also help you cultivate a more marketable brand. Existing and prospective customers will learn to identify you as a serious entrepreneur and to recognize your company as a legitimate business.

So what that means, from an actionable standpoint, is committing to your freelance work as you would to a traditional, full-time job. Keep regular hours so that partners and customers will know when you’re going to be available. If possible, secure a physical location for your business or else create a dedicated space with a private entrance in your home so that clients can meet with you face-to-face when needed. Likewise, maintain a separate phone line and business address. 

In addition, you should market your company across diverse media platforms (from traditional broadcast media to social media). Additionally, don’t forget to network, network, network. For instance, you might join industry organizations, trade unions, or other unions and professional organizations dedicated to supporting freelance workers. 

Everything that you do to enhance your business brand and reputation will not only make your work processes easier, more effective, and more efficient, but it will also increase the reputability of your business. That will make it far more difficult for others to try to exploit or take advantage of your independent status.

Proactively Protect Your Work

One of the greatest challenges that you may face as an independent contractor is that you don’t have the benefit of a company or corporation backing you up in times of trouble. This can be especially problematic when it comes to protecting your intellectual property.

The theft or unauthorized use of your creative content isn’t just an injustice. It’s a profound professional liability, a financial and reputational loss. This is especially true for writers, artists, graphic designers, and especially those operating in digital environments. This is why it is imperative that you know your legal rights and that you be proactive in protecting your creative content, including securing trademarks and copyrights to claim and control your original, proprietary work. 

Setting Boundaries

As freeing as working independently can be, there’s also a lot of pressure. You probably feel compelled to always be hustling, to be “always on,” to protect your business and your family’s finances. But that’s not a good idea if you want your freelancing career to survive long-term. It’s easy to take on too many projects. This includes projects that simply aren’t worth the time, the effort, or the pay.

That means that you need to be clear, strategic, and firm in setting boundaries for when, how, and under what conditions you work. For instance, you should set a “time budget”  both to help you maintain a healthy work/life balance and to ensure that you don’t take on more projects than is feasible. Having a time budget will also help you protect the quality of your work. This budget will give you clear parameters for turning down a project. You’ll know exactly what kind of projects (and how many) you can accept without compromising the quality of your work.

In addition to establishing a firm time budget, you also need to establish clear pricing schedules that are both competitive and fair to you as well as your clients. It can be difficult to turn down work, especially if you’re feeling anxious about getting gigs. 

However, once you accept a project for a pittance, it can be very difficult to break that cycle. So make sure that you establish and adhere to a fee structure that is reasonable for your customers. It should also be competitive with your rivals. Your goal is also to ensure what you’re charging is sufficient to supply you with a livable wage and just compensation for your skills and effort.

The Takeaway

Life as a gig worker can be pretty sweet. But, if you want to make freelancing a long-term career, then you need to be advocating for yourself. That means cultivating a great company brand, protecting your intellectual property rights, and setting clear boundaries in your professional life.

About the Author: Amanda Winstead is a writer from the Portland area. She has a background in communications and a passion for telling stories. Along with writing she enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and going to concerts. If you want to follow her writing journey, or even just say hi you can find her on Twitter.