Rajesh Singh, Gig Partner, Awign
Almost 3 years ago, I landed in a situation where my monthly income stopped all of a sudden. The financial safety of INR 25,000 which helped me rent a 1BHK apartment, take care of my mother and brought stability to my life was suddenly shaken. I used to work 12 hours a day with a BPO call center, but I lost my job in the initial months of Covid-19. Unemployment during the pandemic was extremely distressing, especially when cost of medical treatment was at an all-time high.
Finding a new job had already become difficult, the few organizations taking applications were only offering INR 15,000 a month. At this time, a friend of mine mentioned that I could earn more than my call center job that too while sitting at home. He also told me that I could work flexibility at my own hours, take up different projects and grow my skill set as well. It sounded like a scam to me at the moment, “Kuch toh issue hoga hi lekin”, I kept thinking to myself. But I took a leap of faith and registered on Awign’s platform for telecalling gigs. After completing the basic screening and training sessions, I started working on my first telemarketing project for a leading Indian edtech unicorn.
I used to devote 9-10 hours a day which led me to earn Rs 25,000 in my first month itself. With the guidance of managers at Awign, I understood that the platform provides multiple opportunities across skill levels which can be leveraged to multiple my earnings. As Covid-led movement restrictions eased, I took up my first gig in business development for a leading company in the FMCG sector. This was an on-field sales project where I was required to communicate with merchants across different areas in my city and onboard them to the client’s distributor network. This allowed me to get out of my comfort zone, interact with people (quite relevant after Covid) and earn good income. I worked on these gigs for 4-5 hours every day, according to my schedule and convenience, and later I would spend 6-7 hours working on telecalling gigs. My monthly earnings easily grew 2X to almost 50,000 within 3 months of time.
The flexibility these gigs provided me was the best advantage for me. With my mother’s health concerns, I had to spend a couple of hours with her everyday. This is something I couldn’t balance during my call center job earlier which required me to spend long hours at the office. My mother now often says, “Ab lagta hai Shashank badal sa gaya hai, bada hogaya”. The time I could spend with her everyday made a huge difference in our relationship and trust between each other.
Not just the flexibility, but the ability to start working almost immediately and juggle between multiple gigs simultaneously were a game-changer. I only have a Bachelor’s degree in Art, I couldn’t have imagined how easily I could access these opportunities and earn good money. It’s been over 2 years since I joined the platform. As of today, I have worked on 9 different projects and earned over 5+ lakhs of income. With increased earnings, I have been able to buy a new motorcycle, a new phone and a laptop as well. A few months ago, I took up an upskilling course with Awign to improve my negotiation, persuasion and other soft skills for effective communication. I see the results in my approach to conversations with different vendors during BD (business development) gigs now. I am now planning to explore other gig categories to widen my skills, earnings and grow as a professional.
I am still thankful to my friend who introduced me to Awign and the gig economy. It’s been life changing for me. I don’t think I can ever go back to the format of a traditional job set up now. I think, being your own boss by choosing your own work and schedule is truly an underrated advantage. When one platform gives you multiple opportunities, the ability to choose work across skill levels based, at your own hours and beyond the bounds of location – it really feels like your work life balance is too good to be true. Based on my experience with Awign, I can confidently say that gig work platforms are really the future of work!
