Gigs: Why people are not settling for only the day job

By 8a.m on some weekdays, Mr Godfrey Kavuma is at a steel plant in Kampala. Whether he works the evening shift on other weekdays, the electrical engineer is required to work eight hours per day on his main job, running all electrical works at the steel plant including planning and scheduling maintenance works.

When he is not working at the plant, he is a photographer. Having associated with some journalists while at university, Mr Kavuma picked up a camera and learnt how the service works.
With eight hours at his main job, he thought he could use the rest of the day and weekends to do photography gigs.
“I had four extra hours which I decided to utilise by continuing with my gigs,’ Mr Kavuma says. But why would an engineer pursue gigs, especially in another line of work?
“I have passion for the art of photography, it gives me extra income, builds my skills, expands my network,” Mr Kavuma says.
Doing gigs alongside one’s full time job is increasingly becoming popular and if you are in the job market, you are likely to know colleagues getting temporary or short term jobs outside the main job and getting paid once their job is done. For some, the gig lasts for an hour to days.

Mr Kavuma does five to ten gigs a month, through referrals and spreading the word about his skills. The gigs now account for 30 per cent of his monthly income.

“The market is always there but it is availability that limits you. If am not shooting, then am editing pictures. Doing a full time job and gigs is a tough one because there are times when you are needed both sides especially during emergency moments,” Mr Kavuma says.

Mr Emmanuel Dei-Tumi, Human Capital International chief executive officer, is familiar with the trend. He says people are questioning whether they should devote their entire life to a permanent job. The current job market has forced people who are doing jobs they were not initially skilled in to put their primary skills to work.

“People have skills that are lying dormant. So some people do not want to resign from their jobs and decide to put the skills acquired to use,” Mr Dei-Tumi says.

He also reasons that people have read into the country’s economic situation and salaries are believed to be far from adequate. “Everything is becoming expensive. People are looking for productive ways of utilising their time and creativity to generate extra income to better their standard of living. That is why in the last ten years, in sub-Saharan Africa, middle income earners are increasing. In Uganda, more people have gone into middle income level in the last ten years as opposed to 20 years before,” Mr Dei-Tumi explains.

Gigs are offering more than just the money. Mr Kavuma says his gigs allow him to interact with people unlike his day job where interaction is with machines.

Multimedia trainer at Media Challenge Initiative, Ms Martha Begumisa works eight gigs a month as a gospel DJ (disk jockey). Ms Begumisa has always had an ear for good music but after a friend requested her to play music at her introduction ceremony in 2016, the 26-year-old realised she could actually be contracted for this kind of work.

“I realised there were no DJs in the space I was in. I learnt how to DJ from a friend. My first gig, I played directly from my phone to a player for an entire wedding,” Ms Begumisa recalls.
“I got introduced to other DJs, people got to know that I play gospel music and that I can provide a service for Christian related events.”

She now rides on her church network to get her gigs and without marketing much, referrals get her the next gig. DJ gigs now account for about 40 per cent of her monthly income.
“I work a full time job of 9a.m to 5pm that requires maximum attention. But when the gig is there, I play 3p.m to 10p.m on weekends. The things I pursue are entirely about passion. There are certain sounds I would like to hear at a Christian event so with my gigs, I am catering for a gap in this industry. But I am also on a mission to change lives. Doing these gigs alongside my main job is the best way to put passion to use,” Ms Begumisa says.

She believes most people who do gigs alongside main jobs pursue passion and do not resign because they are not certain their passion can pay the bills.
“Passion is like being drunk. so some people are eager to pursue something even if it is not after monetary considerations,” Mr Dei-Tumi says.

Entrepreneurship is catching up with developing economies just like it did in developed economies. Mr Dei-Tumi says people who only have income from salaries and are burning with interest for entrepreneurship cannot help but do gigs alongside main jobs. The same interest has given rise to the side hustle.

This is the case of Mr Charles Mugabe. He works twelve hours, validating payments in a bank while running a farm and shoe factory as side hustles. He insists everyone should care about having side income especially today.

“The salary alone is not enough and we have many responsibilities. You have to venture into other projects. I was earning a net salary of Shs900,000 in 2014 so I started doing agriculture and invested in a shoe making project to enhance my income. With this side income, I have bought land and paid for further education,” Mr Mugabe says. He has dedicated his Saturday to the farm and Sunday to the shoe project as a way of managing his side hustles and job.

Mr Kavuma has already started training and delegating work to some people to ensure he delivers on the gig. Mr Mugabe says one has to have a passionate person to work on their behalf if they are to run a gig or side hustle. The discouraging aspect about working gigs and side hustles alongside the job is that one suffers as the other thrives.

“At times, I do not go to the farm when I am working on Saturday at the bank so no value is added,” Mr Mugabe says about his banana and cassava plantation.

Tips
He has advice for people who intend to derive any kind of side income.
“It is not all about money. You have to have passion as you identify what you want to do. From there, you can identity what it will take you to achieve what you intend to do. If you do not target the right market, it could frustrate you and you turn to your full time job completely,” he says.

Dei-Tumi’s advice on gigging alongside main job
Ensure what you are doing is not in conflict with the main job because of the issue of integrity. It is not good to be paid to do a particular job and yet on the side, you are competing with your company. They must ensure they create time to do that.

It would be wrong and professionally unethical for anybody paid to perform a 9am-5pm job to utilise the company’s time to run their gig. If one is intending to do a gig on the side, they must ensure they are not doing it just for the money. They must have interest or passion otherwise when they could burn out and this will reflect on the main job.