Characteristics of elancers

- [Voiceover] What do a graphics artist, an Uber driver, and an Airbnb host have in common? They're all workers in the new on-demand economy. Meet Becky, Josh, and Christopher Matthew. Let's listen to learn how they got started in their work, what they enjoy about it, and their greatest challenges. - [Josh] I had to get another job, but I didn't want another schedule. So my wife and I had taken Uber several times and we think, you know, we asked the drivers how they like it. They all said it was easy. And well, we have a fairly new vehicle so I signed up. My name's Josh Bautista, I live in Santa Barbara, and I drive for Uber part-time. I got two kids, a wife. My two daughters are two and four. And they drive me crazy. And I love 'em more than anything. I may be doing this for quite a while, because it's very convenient. It's pretty good money and it's easy. And I can write off stuff like new tires, and I can write different things off because I'm using my own vehicle. You could start a career just on your phone. I mean, that's all I did. I've still never talked to anybody from Uber. I got on the app and I, you know, did this. And I email customer support sometimes and they email right back. I mean, it's really easy. Anybody can do it. If you know how to drive and you don't have a criminal record, you can be an Uber driver. And I like people, and I like to talk to people, and I think people are interesting. And when you're picking up people at, you know, midnight, it gets pretty interesting. - I started my first Airbnb with just pictures off my phone. And then Airbnb was really fantastic. They came out and photographed the entire apartment. And then within a few months, I had so much success with it that I decided to put two more rentals on the market. And then at one point I had four. My name is Christopher Matthew and I run an Airbnb business here in Los Angeles, California. I like to support entrepreneurialism, but Airbnb also allows me to not only keep my rentals occupied, but I also get to develop and create new jobs. We bring in overseas dollars here to our local community. And I think it's fun. And plus, what's really great about the, the sharing economy and Airbnb is getting to meet diverse and interesting and new people. And I learn from them. So to me, having an Airbnb business was a natural extension of a desk job, for example. It takes the pain out of the process. And it certainly makes the payment a lot faster. And it allows things to be safer, more transparent, and I think, for both sides of the equation, it makes the cost more, it's more cost-effective. Because there's less effort being put in connecting people with the business, with the opportunities. Under-promise and over-deliver, I mean, I've been listening to that mantra for forever. So in my first year, I've had nothing but great experiences, made a few new friends, and learned a lot about different cultures and different people as well. - My passion is being creative in whatever way that looks like. And ideally, I would be doing freelance all the time. I love doing that. I love the variety of clients. But in reality I have bills and I need good medical insurance. And so I also work full-time at another company where I oversee a creative team. And I do that, my eight to five. And then all of my free time I'm doing freelance, because that's what I enjoy the most. My name is Becky, I live in Thousand Oaks, California, and I'm a freelance graphic designer. I think one of the biggest misconceptions that people have about me as a freelancer is that I get to create my own schedule and I'm lazy. And I get to wake up whenever I want to and work in my house in my pajamas, and that it's just an easy way of life. And I don't have to wear multiple hats, which I definitely do. I work a lot harder as a freelancer than I do in my corporate job. And I have to do the accounting and the customer relations and the administrative. And I have to collect the money. And I have to sell myself a lot more as a freelancer. And so it requires a lot more hours. But as a freelancer, there's so much more reward. I get to be as creative as I want to be. There's a lot of flexibility and I get to choose which projects I wanna work on and which ones I don't. And so as a creative person, it's a lot more fulfilling. I feel like this is what I'm created to do. And I get a lot more enjoyment out of working as a freelancer even when I'm doing all of those other things, added business side of it. It's a lot more fulfilling than working in a corporate office. (soft guitar chords)