Should You Join the Sharing Economy?

There are 168 hours in a week. If you get the ample amount of 8 hours of sleep nightly, that leaves you with 112 hours. Let’s assume you’re punching a clock for 40 of those. Now, the amount of time you have remaining in your week is: An extra 72 hours.

Certainly, you’ll want to spend some of that time dressing, shaving, preparing meals, cleaning up, grooming, commuting, shopping, exercising, interacting with loved ones, doing charitable acts, binge-watching your favorite program, scrolling through social media, staring out the window, and generally enjoying ‘the moment’. But what if there’s any time left over after that?

The idea that technology will become ruler to us all in some kind of dystopian bot-future is feasible enough, although perhaps it is slightly misguided. In fact, the advancement of technology should increase total productivity of all persons on planet Earth, meaning we can produce more goods and services with less overall effort. Because of that simple formula, in theory, the increased efficiency and productivity should lead to a rising standard of living across the board for everyone. Of course, that ship of ingenuity and advancement can still be steered into an iceberg, but let’s not get off-course at this very moment...

You can identify trends where you can get more done today for less time, energy, and effort than it used to take. Booking the best flight and hotel itinerary, for example, is far easier than it was before the internet and/or smartphones. Are there areas of the economy today where you can throw down and get involved, with an appropriate amount of time & energy on your part, where it just simply wouldn’t have been worth it or possible a few years back?

Here are 4 areas where, if you needed to, you could pick up some extra bucks while leveraging the possibilities of today’s technology:

1. Drive other people around with Lyft / Uber / Etc.

Become a driver for a Rideshare company. There is money to be made, and there are drunk-driving accidents to prevent. It’s honest work, although it’s not without risk -- I would recommend keeping a Taser in your driver-side door compartment.

2. Exchange with people on NextDoor / Craigslist / eBay

You might have a skill that just needs to be connected with the right opportunity. You can now connect with people in your neighborhood on NextDoor and hook up with someone on a home design project, for example, or to help out with somebody’s event. If you need items for your home, you might consider procuring something discounted or free from Craigslist. If you have items or know where to get used items that you know you could sell at market-value for more than you paid, check out how to ship them out to people on eBay and become the broker in that value equation.

3. Rent out a room in your place as a B&B / short-term rental

Most people are not comfortable with this and I get that. But let’s say you really needed the money desperately. Or, let’s say you have a garage in your backyard that you could convert into a little studio unit. Perhaps it would be worth doing the math to see if it would be worth renovating. The rise of these types of vacation / travel rentals is not just a win for the customer or guest, but also for the host, which is why they call it the sharing economy.

4. Hunt and gather people’s food for them

We have come a long way since the cave days. One of the ultimate luxuries is not having to track down and procure your own food, especially when it’s stressful to navigate a dense urban environment and you can afford the luxury. Or maybe you just don’t want to be seen publicly ordering 4 double cheeseburgers and a shake... In any case, there is a big-time opportunity in this space. It may only last a few years, before the next big disruption, but the entire restaurant industry is expanding in this arena and there is money to be made on all sides. It’s never been easier, simpler, or more flexible to provide this basic service for people.

Recently I made the decision to sacrifice some activities in my life, and invest some hours on the weekend running deliveries for Favor and enabling people’s bad food decisions. You can too:

Check Out the Favor Opportunity

I’ll see you out on Main Street,

DE