Social Networking Spotlight: Flipgigs
By RJ Bardsley
If you currently are or have been a teenager anytime in the last forty or fifty years, you know that your life during these years revolves around part-time work and odd jobs. From baby-sitting to tutoring to garden work, the odd job is the center of your income and to some extent your social life as a teen and college student. Traditionally, these jobs came through your parent’s network, through a school official, or maybe through an employment office in a smaller town. Strangely, not a whole lot has changed over the last thirty years in the way students and teens get odd jobs. As the rest of the world has gone social – from dating, to full time employment, to shopping, odd jobs and part time work have been stuck in the past.
That’s where Flipgigs comes in. 
Flipgigs is a new social marketplace that connects people and businesses that need part-time workers with a network of students between the ages of 14 and 25 who are willing and ready to work. I recently had the opportunity to chat with the founder, entrepreneur Jayati Sengupta. What drove her to develop the site was the experience she had with her own two teens. She was discouraged with what she saw from existing channels like Craigslist or local job boards, and she saw an opportunity and she started Flipgigs.
Sengupta might just be onto something big. When you look into the numbers, there is a pretty good market for Flipgigs. There are about 28.2 million students between the ages of 18-24 in this country and some estimates have put the student buying power at $60 billion annually. Something needs to feed that buying power… besides mom and dad’s wallets.
Here’s how it works:
Students can sign up and become a “Flipgigger” on Flipgigs.com by entering a Student Profile. Profile details include a telephone number where they can be reached (preferably a mobile phone number) and details on their skillset and what jobs they are interested in. Bad news for you tweens out there – you must be 13 years old to become a Flipgigger.
Student Services are readily searchable by anyone who visits the site. When someone views their service, they can use the Flipgigs message system to communicate with the student. The student will be notified through emails about a new response to his post. When someone decides to move forward with the student’s service, they will proceed to click “Book Now.” The system will then send contact information across to both parties so they can set a time and date for the task.
If you need a Flipgigger for an odd job or part time work, you can also post a gig on the site. Students can use the messaging system to get in touch with you and bid on your gig. If you wish to move forward with a bid you like, you can “Accept a Bid” to make that happen. After a gig is completed, students are encouraged to rate and review the person who posted the gig. This is to help other students who wish to bid on gigs posted by the same person. Flipgigs also uses this system to help maintain the integrity of the network.
So, if you’ve got an odd job or if you’re a student looking for an odd job, head over to Flipgigs.com and check it out. Let me know how you like it.
