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Taking on a side gig is becoming increasingly common. In the past, having a part-time job would often be the preserve of students or those with other commitments. Now though, millions of people with full-time jobs are also seeking extra income from side gigs.

Gig work is on the rise and offers the opportunity to work the hours that suit you. Around 9% of Americans operated in the gig economy during 2021, and around 22% of workers in Florida are involved in gig work. Over the pond in the UK, about 4.4 million people use gig work platforms every week.

There are a number of gig platforms that delivery drivers can use to find work. However, generally, this will involve using their own vehicles once selected. This comes with some downfalls including being responsible for paying out for repairs, maintenance, and insurance.

What Is the Gig Economy?

If you have always thought of gigs as being something musicians take part in, then you are not far off. The gig economy refers to individuals taking on one-off tasks, or gigs, and receiving payment for them as some bands do. In other words, you are not an employee, but more of a short-term contractor.

It is sometimes known as the sharing economy, but this area is slightly broader and takes in such things as renting spare rooms or selling online to raise extra cash. However, these are not usually the main sources of income. The gig economy, though, has millions of people who rely on it completely.

The Economic Anxiety Index is a way of measuring how much stress an individual suffers due to his or her financial status. It looks at savings, employment, and outgoings.

One of the biggest criticisms of the gig economy is job security or the lack of it. Around 45% of workers who use this for their sole or main incomes have a score of more than 50 in the EAI. In 2018, the average score was 30.

Nevertheless, many people have found it profitable to work in some areas of the gig economy. The average gig worker in the states makes $10,000 more a year than the median US salary.

Is It Common for Drivers to Work in the Gig Economy?

As you have read, there are several apps set up for drivers in general including specific ones for food and goods delivery. It is becoming increasingly common for companies to try to avoid the expense of employing individuals. Keeping workers as independent contractors instead of employees saves businesses billions.

Some of the biggest firms in the world are benefitting from hiring individuals for side gigs rather than putting them on the payroll. Some of those who benefitted from gig-economy work the most include Uber Eats, Lyft, and DoorDash.

However, many delivery companies hire drivers on a similar basis. In addition, this means the workers fail to receive certain benefits such as holiday pay, and vehicle insurance.

What Insurance Do These Delivery Drivers Need?

If you work as a delivery driver on a freelance basis, then you must put in place proper protection. Delivery drivers need to not only be legally able to drive, but must consider the possibility of breakdowns, and being off the road due to an accident.

Being unable to drive in the gig economy means a lack of income. If you are using this as a side gig, then you may have another income to support you. However, for many delivery drivers, this can be financially damaging.

Therefore, you may want to find cover that includes breakdowns and replacement vehicles. This, however, is not the only consideration. Insurance firm, Zego, points out that private hire insurance is needed for delivery drivers. If you are transporting goods to order from a booking system, then you are classed as a private hire driver and need appropriate insurance.

Can Private Hire Insurance Be Used by Other Drivers?

Private hire refers to any driver who only engages with prearranged bookings. For example, an Uber driver gets a booking on his or her app in advance of pick up.

Therefore, anyone who makes money from driving could use private hire insurance, but not everyone can. Taxi drivers comprise one area where there is a distinction between the two types.

As a taxi driver, you could choose to obtain a license so you can pick up passengers as you wish. Alternatively, you could work for a taxi cab company that only takes bookings. In the UK, the first choice requires public hire insurance, while the latter needs private hire cover. Different states and countries set their own rules around insurance requirements.

Although private hire covers many different hire-for-reward driving roles, it is common for insurance companies to provide tailor-made options. Uber drivers can buy specific cover, and Zego launched van courier insurance to cater to these workers, too.

What Are the Consequences of Delivering Goods with the Wrong Insurance?

The average driver only needs to take out regular car insurance. However, when you drive for work, you need to have a different policy protecting you.

Driving without insurance comes with a range of penalties. Failure to produce the necessary proof that you are insured could lead to you being fined. Or, in the worst cases, such as those involving a serious accident, you could even be jailed.

However, it is just as problematic having the wrong insurance as having none at all. It is normal to swap details and take notes after a car accident, but your insurance may be invalidated if you use the wrong insurance.

For reassurance, visiting an insurance broker in person or on his or her website should make things clearer. Ideally, choose one that specializes in private hire driving insurance.

Could Your Side Gig Lead to Bigger Things?

So, at this point, you have found employment away from your regular source of income. You are driving legally, and making money, but it could be better, right?

The unfortunate state of the economy and the cost of living have driven many to spend excessive hours working just to get by. This diminishes the quality of life and can cause health problems, too.

If you think it is time to get serious about your side gig, then delivery driving has a lot of potential for expansion. You could look into starting your own enterprise. You will need an understanding of laws, licenses, and insurance, but by now, you should be well-versed in the latter.

If your area has the potential and the demand for another local delivery service, then you could turn a side hustle into a genuine business. Moreover, you could potentially expand into other areas such as taxiing passengers. Not every area is covered by the big guns yet, and smaller cities and towns are possible locations for food delivery, courier services, and taxis.

Summary

A side gig is a viable way to make ends meet, and some find it even leads to bigger things. One of the most common ways to freelance today is to drive, especially since the rise of Uber and Lyft. Being an independent contractor has its advantages and some downsides. One is the legal requirement to have proper insurance before you can work.

Fortunately, there are specifically tailored options available for private hire drivers. Some of these even involve rewarding careful driving, which leads to lower costs. In this economy, especially with gig work, this is advantageous.

The post Delivering Goods as a Side Gig? You Need Proper Insurance appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/management/insurance/delivering-goods-side-gig-need-proper-insurance/

Home Business Magazine Online

Sports photography is a passion project or business for true fans of sports. Taking pictures that genuinely capture the excitement and essence of a sporting event requires great skill. The footage is admired by many individuals when reading about the football games or tennis matches after they take place. Therefore, everyone who wants to try their hand at the profession of a photographer should understand the importance of photo editing software.

Skylum has selected the best tips and recommendations that can help any photographer take a step towards sports shooting. Well, let’s get started!

How to Prepare for a Shoot

When newcomers begin their journey into sports photography, they are overwhelmed with enthusiasm and inspiration with which they hope to create spectacular sports photos. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Before you start taking pictures, you need to prepare thoroughly.

The first thing a beginner needs to do is master the functions of the camera! It is extremely important to know exactly what works in your equipment and how it works before you even decide to start shooting. Learn about automatic modes, focus and white balance settings, exposure control, and other key features of your camera.

Once you understand your gear, you can move on to the second stage of preparation — making contact with the competition organizers. A common rule of etiquette is to get consent to take pictures from the organizers of sporting events. In most cases, of course, you can take pictures without permission, but by getting it, you can access the most convenient and advantageous shooting locations. The bigger the sporting event, the more important it is to have good contact with the organizers for a successful photo shoot.

Finally, you should understand the rules and subtleties of the sport you are going to photograph. The better you know the game, the more effective your photos will be.

Shooting Sports Events

So, you’ve prepared for the shoot, and you feel confident and completely ready to take great pictures. The practical tips below will help you to do that.

• Keep an eye on the course (ring, track, etc.) as long as there are athletes on it — at any moment there may be an event that can give you an unforgettable shot.
• Respect the athletes, coaches, support, and maintenance staff. Their work is very important!
• Be aware of what is going on around you. Nobody wants to get hurt because their head is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• Don’t use an on-camera flash. Don’t use a built-in flash or an external flash either. It’s very distracting to people around you.

One of the most common questions that beginner photographers have is, “What camera settings should I use to shoot sports?” There are many answers to this question, so here are some settings that may work for most sporting events.

• Shutter speed: Try not to use shutter speeds slower than 1/1000 sec. When shooting in a poorly lit room, it will be difficult to maintain such a shutter speed. On a sunny day, outdoors, you can use even slower shutter speeds.
• Aperture: An open aperture is usually good for sports photography because it allows more light to reach the camera’s sensor and also helps blur the background of the image.
• ISO: Start with your camera’s base ISO and gradually change it until you get the right exposure.

Another tip: don’t get distracted while you’re shooting. No matter how tempting it may be to check the photos you’ve just taken, try not to do so, because you might miss an interesting shot.

What to Do After the Shooting

When you return home after shooting, download the photos to your computer and evaluate them. Whatever your purpose in shooting sports, you should always analyze the results of your work to gain expertise. Did all the photos come out the way you wanted? What could be improved? What techniques would you repeat and what would you give up the next time you shoot?

When you look at your photos on the monitor, you may notice details you didn’t see on the camera display. Here are a few things you should pay attention to (and ways to fix them):

• Are your photos blurry? Try using a shorter shutter speed next time.
• Did you not capture the culmination of the action? Try reacting faster and learning to anticipate the action of your subject.
• Are your photos too inexpressive? Try changing your subject’s point of view and/or angle.
• Are your subjects out of focus? Try using continuous autofocus or its equivalent in your camera.

Conclusion

Sports photography is an amazing genre that allows you to take spectacular and unique pictures with a little experience and patience. In addition to the capturing process itself, do not forget about the processing of the resulting photos. Some people consider Luminar Neo to be one of the top photo editors with handy features. We wish you success!

The post The Complete Guide to Sports Photography appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/businesses/success-tips/complete-guide-sports-photography/

Home Business Magazine Online

There is nothing better in business than a win-win situation. In the case of a B2B marketplace, it is a triple win, since you need to add the owner of the platform to the group. It took a long time for it to finally happen, but almost twenty years down the road, B2B marketplaces are finally finding the wind to push their sails towards the open sea, and everyone involved is happy about it. Here is why.

Why Do Entrepreneurs Choose to Create B2B Marketplaces in the First Place?

Not all people have great ideas for new products to bring to the market. Therefore, they look for new services that they can offer, which is what some have done by creating a B2B Marketplace in a given sector. Often, entrepreneurs who decide to choose that line of work have already been busy in that particular industry for many years. It provides them with an important advantage: knowledge. Not just of the work, but also of the people that make things happen. And so, it is easy for them to find all the products that they need, in order to build platforms that will be helpful for buyers in this industry.

Naturally, the main advantage that B2B marketplace owners benefit from, is the fact that once in place, they start collecting revenues on all transactions taking place. So, although the installation phase can be quite painful in terms of costs, once it opens its virtual doors, it starts making money right away, in an automated fashion.

Why Do Buyers Look for B2B Marketplaces?

It is quite easy to understand why buyers prefer to do their shopping on B2B marketplaces. Just like regular individuals that go on Amazon, in order to find the products that they need, these platforms simplify the work of buyers. The platforms provide buyers with a large variety of choices, in one single place. In addition, they give buyers the opportunities to analyze the various products rapidly, since the description of each is on the site, as well as the price, if acquired. Although the costs may be somewhat a little higher than if buyers negotiated each of them one by one, buyers will also benefit from the fact that these prices will be adapted all the time, automatically, saving them from long negotiation processes.

What Are the Advantages for Sellers?

All people that have worked in sales will tell you that they would rather be able to find their places on platforms and manage the information and the actual sales that take place on them, rather than having to generate new sales, on a daily basis, by themselves. On a B2B marketplace, they can generate sales constantly, simply by being there. The products will need updating in terms of pricing, every once in a while, in order to remain competitive. However, otherwise, the sellers will only have to ship the products acquired on the platform and make sure that they get to their destination safely.

The post How B2B Marketplaces Benefit All Involved appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/sales/selling-tactics/how-b2b-marketplaces-benefit-all-involved/

Reading Time: 2 mins

Thousands of ‘donate what you can’ tickets are being arranged for events across London during the cost-of-living crisis. Organised by The London Ticket Bank, this a joint initiative with Cardboard Citizens. In partnership with some of London’s leading cultural organisations, they are offering affordable tickets to those who could otherwise not engage in culture.

With events in music, dance, theatre and comedy, The London Ticket Bank’s partners to date include some of the leading cultural organisations across the capital, with more to be announced in early 2023.

• Donate
• Partner up

 

DONATE

The London Ticket Bank provides tickets at low/no cost to those who face barriers to accessing culture. It’s just one of the ways in which the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation is promoting the democratisation of culture. Donations of all sizes help to deliver this important work. Tickets for the London Ticket Bank are donated by cultural organisations but cost an estimated 78p each to administer.

£10.00 could enable 12 tickets to be made available, £20.00 could make 25 ticket available, £50.00 could make 64 tickets available and £100 could offer 128 tickets to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

 

PARTNER UP

Both mainstream charity partners and cultural organisations can partner up with The London Ticket Bank. They share access codes to pass on to the people you work with who would like to access culture across the capital. These codes can be used to book tickets through the events listings on their site.

You will also be able to pledge unsold tickets for your programmed events to those who will benefit the most. Simply let them know what you have available, and they’ll pass the opportunity on to charities. This is via a special access code. Cultural partners can also offer access to the Ticket Bank to their own outreach programmes pertaining to those impacted by the cost of living crisis.

The London Ticket Bank is not the first scheme to offer subsidised or discounted tickets for performances and events. Organisations such as the Mousetrap Foundation, Tickets for Good, FanzClub, Black Ticket Project, and The Audience Club, have developed important access points for culture across the UK.

The London Ticket Bank was developed directly in response to the cost of living crisis. It also shows understanding of how increased deprivation directly impacts participation in culture.

The Jan–Mar 22 DCMS Participation Survey showed the gap in participation between the most and the least deprived segments widening. It increased from 6.4% to 7.2% and sadly, this will continue to widen.

 

Click here to learn more and to get involved.

The post ‘Donate what you can’: Making the arts more affordable appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Original source: https://www.moneymagpie.com/make-money/donate-what-you-can-making-the-arts-more-affordable

Reading Time: 2 mins

Restaurant chain Wagamama has announced it will be providing warm and inclusive community spaces in restaurants across the country.

The restaurant chain will provide support for The Bread and Butter Thing. This will help to deliver 1 million meals worth of food to low-income families who use the charity. The charity helps households to receive a more affordable weekly shop.

Wagamama has already supplied food and bespoke recipes cards to The Bread And Butter Thing and the £25,000 Wagamama donation will pay for 41 truck journeys. Each will be able to carry 426 tonnes of food. Each tonne will equate to 2380 meals. This is a total of just over a million meals.

Wagamama will also be providing community spaces in restaurants across the country – offering free sides to families facing difficult choices between heating and eating. Team members will be volunteering to support local projects. Plus, its chefs will provide ‘wok it don’t waste it’ demos. This is where they will advise on how to cook nourishing and affordable meals.

Wagamama CEO, Thomas Heier, said:

“At wagamama we believe in the Japanese philosophy of seijaku; finding calm and tranquillity in the midst of activity. In these challenging times it is important that we all continue to nourish ourselves and our communities. Typically, every veganuary we like to surprise and delight our guests with a plant-based showstopper, but we know this veganuary is a little bit different for families across the UK, so it is a privilege this year to support local communities through our newly launched partnership with The Bread and Butter Thing.”

Mark Game, CEO of The Bread and Butter Thing said:

“We’re delighted to be entering this new partnership with wagamama. Its philosophy of nourishment chimes exactly with The Bread and Butter Thing’s work to ensure that people in low income communities can access healthy, nutritious food for their families. By providing both food and funding to support the unseen but vital logistics that go into making The Bread and Butter Thing possible, wagamama will help us deliver over 1 million meals worth of food to our members who are making really difficult decisions between heating and eating, or even keeping a roof over their heads, in the toughest financial crisis of a generation.”

The post Wagamama to provide community spaces across the country appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Original source: https://www.moneymagpie.com/make-money/wagamama-to-provide-community-spaces-across-the-country

Meta has been fined 390 million euros ($414 million) after European Union (EU) regulators found it had illegally forced users to accept personalized ads.

What happened. According to the New York Times, Meta includes language in its terms of service agreement, the very lengthy statement that users must accept before accessing services like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, which effectively means users must allow their data to be used for personalized ads or stop using Meta’s social media services altogether. Since you need to agree to the terms before using the service, users have no choice but to allow to have their data used for ads.

What happens now. Meta has three months to outline how it will comply with the ruling. The decision does not specify what the company must do, but it could result in Meta allowing users to choose whether they want their data used for such targeted promotions.

Having a large number of users opt-out of sharing their data would put Meta’s ad revenue at risk, since the judgment puts 5-7% of it at stake.

There are no such regulations in the US.

Why we care. EU advertisers could be affected, but any changes that Meta makes as a result of the ruling could affect users in the United States; many tech companies apply E.U. rules globally because that is easier to put in effect than limiting them to Europe.

Meta advertisers should be on the lookout, regardless, for any updates and changes to their targeting.

The post EU rules that Meta’s ad practices are illegal appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/eu-rules-that-metas-ad-practices-are-illegal-390955

Over half of consumers would stop buying from a company after multiple bad experiences. Is your company doing enough to drive loyalty? 

Join PwC in their live webinar as they reveal the results of PwC’s 2022 Customer Loyalty Survey, a comprehensive look at over 4000 customers, and provide insights on what keeps customers engaged.

Register today for “7 Ways to Keep Your Customers Coming Back in 2023,” presented by PwC.

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Click here to view more Search Engine Land webinars.

The post Webinar: 7 ways to keep your customers coming back in 2023 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/webinar-7-ways-to-keep-your-customers-coming-back-in-2023-390979