It isn’t a new profession but, as I have recently begun to understand, it has found new and more global venues. Gigging is really just a euphemism for freelancing. Freelancers have been mowing our laws, doing our taxes, sitting with our children, researching or writing business reports, decorating our homes, fixing our plumbing, painting the garage, planning weddings, and even stocking pantries for decades. Gigging, a new word I believe is attributable to the popular website Craig’s List, has recently been applied to this specific brand of weekend entrepreneurs.

Other sites, such as the recent start-up Go Human.com have also contributed to the growth of professional or semi-professional giggers. This particular mode of finding and performing work for others is particularly flexible because it does not necessarily require the same kind of sustained effort other modes of more traditional freelancing or entrepreneurship.

Startup costs are almost nothing. Access to the internet and a telephone is usually all it will take to get started. Most websites do not charge for the privilege of advertising simple bookkeeping, lawn mowing, plumbing, resume writing, decorating, cake baking or generic handy-person services. Also, most gigging clients or customers understand the people they work with are not professionals, which means they have already done some planning and thought required for the project they have in mind. The customer or client often, though not always, plans on paying most of the supplies and materials costs associated with their job.

Taking a break is easy too. Canceling, deleting, or pausing an advertisement is as easy as posting it. If a gigger gets busy at their day job or wants to go out of town they will not have to worry about answering the phone.

Adam recently interviewed Carla Bronson who began gigging as a bookkeeper after her children became old enough to start kindergarten. Her client base is small with about three on-going customers and a handful more who only use her to help prepare tax returns in the spring. Here is some of what Carla said.

AN: What got you started as a gigger?
CB: I didn’t know that it was called gigging at the time but when my kids went back to school I had some more free-time but I valued being able to stay dedicated to spending time at home to support my family. I started out working for my church as a bookkeeper on a very part-time basis and then a fellow parishioner asked me if I would help him with his books at a small bakery he ran. Mostly he wanted help with weekly payroll.

AN: How did you find the rest of your clients?
CB: I posted a couple adds online to see what I could find. There were some full-time job offers from that, which I didn’t expect, and there were some offers for work not fully within the accounting field and I had to turn those away because it was not what I was looking for. I stayed focus and when tax time rolled around there were several people contacting me for help. A few of those early tax time customers have stayed with me.

AN: What are your plans for the future of your business?
CB: My intention is to stay small. I consider what I’m doing to be more of a lucrative hobby and less of a business. I have a good relationship with a full-time accountant in town that I regularly refer business to because I have enough business to supplement my family’s income without being overworked.

AN: Thanks for sharing your story with me.
Any Queercents readers who want to share about their weekend entrepreneurial experiences? Any hobbyists turned capitalists? I’m interested in the different strategies career-minded folks earn extra spending cash on the side.