The following is a guest post from Lexi Carr. Lexi Carr is a freelance writer with a passion for research, financial advice, and helping others.
The sharing economy is changing rapidly. Sharing information has become quicker and easier than ever imagined, and the tools used to do so are improving every day. The market for sharing services has expanded vastly in recent years, thanks to new apps and business models.
Staying ahead of the curb can be hard, due to the fleeting relevancy of different tools within such an ongoing evolution of technology. Luckily, here is a brief selection of the most popular and most useful tools in use at the moment.
Hospitality: AirBnB
Traditional hotels offer only one thing – a room. Nowadays, travelers are looking for a more affordable, friendly place to stay while out in the world. AirBnB is part of this change, thanks to their use of hospitality sharing.
If you’re renting one of your extra rooms, guest houses, or entire home through AirBnB, there are a number of apps you can use that make renting your space a breeze. The most vital for financial needs are Evernote and Dropbox. These apps work together to help scan all paper information and help you organize them into neat Excel sheets to keep on file. No more paper nightmares.
Transportation: Uber
It is difficult to avoid hearing about the services that Uber offers. Almost every major city has been using Uber as an alternative transportation service or those of their competitors. Since coming on strong onto the scene, Uber has made ridesharing big business and has introduced competitive prices into a monopoly that was previously controlled by taxi services.
If you’re driving for Uber, you’ll need a few items before you get started. A car with room for passengers is the most obvious, but you also need a phone. As an independent contractor, there are a number of tax deductions you can file at the end of the year.
Odd Jobs: TaskRabbit
If you simply need a bit of extra help around the house, or you have some extra free time and wish to provide a service for something you are particularly talented at – TaskRabbit makes it very easy to do. You can easily connect with people willing to pay or barter for services. To become a Tasker, you’ll need to undergo a background check, and be able to perform whatever task you sign on for with efficiency and quality.
Before you jump into taking on these odd jobs, you also have to be prepared for the work you may accept. TaskRabbit Taskers help with a variety of tasks, including cleaning, personal assistance, moving, and delivery. If you’re accepting a job that requires you to take notes and help people with their jobs, a proper filing system like GSuite or Evernote mentioned above can help enormously. And, if you’re looking to help someone out who lives far from you, or requires you to delivery items, you should be prepared with the proper transportation.
Wrapping Up
Sharing services are bringing everyone closer together. They create an economy that relies on people helping each other as well as making the market competitive enough to keep prices relatively low. Sharing services have made many day to day processes more comfortable. Explore the many companies and apps that provide all of these services and more in your area, and start saving time, money, and peace of mind today!