In loving memory of my Dad, Janusz Sinicki
I first met Adam Sinicki back in July of 2013. Adam was a subscriber of my YouTube channel ColdFusion. He reached out to me explaining how he had written apps for Android and asked me if I wanted to work on one with him. This was the start of a long-standing project that we both took great joy and excitement in. The result was an Android application called Voxis, essentially a homescreen replacement for Android. The app transformed the look of one’s phone to a modern, sleek design with the click of a button. Previously this task took hours of customization and downloading separate apps.
Adam had previously already coded an app of his own, Multiscreen Multitasking, which was very forward-looking for 2013 (this was years before floating chat-heads in Facebook or anything of that nature). Adam was great to work with, friendly, and was always keen to try out new ideas.
From the start we did most of our work remotely and, amazingly, we both worked from home. Adam from London, England, and I from Perth, Australia. Through the wonders of online collaborative technology, we were able to design, implement, release, and market the app (through my YouTube channel).
Dagogo Altraide, Founder of ColdFusion Studios, www.youtube.com/user/coldfustion
The Internet gives us the power to access the world's information in an instant, to leverage incredibly powerful tools located across the world, and to collaborate as teams distributed remotely. We can create things that would previously have been impossible for a single person, and we can communicate our ideas with millions of people at a time.
We are only just tapping into the full potential that all this offers—even as newer tools and innovations expand the possibilities even further.
The gig economy has emerged as a natural outcome of this change. With more freedom to work when and how we choose, more of us are now opting to forego conventional 9-5 jobs and to start deciding for ourselves how we want to shape our careers.
Why spend hours every week commuting into an office, only to be given a fraction of the value you have provided to the client or customer? Why feel forced to choose just one career, or to let someone else decide on your working hours and wages? Why work on projects you have no interest in?
By offering services on a “per gig” basis, we free ourselves to select the kind of work that best serves our goals. We can use this to accelerate our careers and create a star-studded portfolio, or we can use it to design a lifestyle that lets us spend more time doing the things we love—with the people we love.
And more exciting still, by doing this, we become pioneers of a brave new world.
If you are a tech professional, then you are uniquely equipped to do this, and to enjoy all the benefits that the lifestyle has to offer. That said, anyone with a little entrepreneurial spirit and familiarity with digital tools will be able to make the gig economy work for them. Programmers, security specialists, web designers, video editors, Internet marketers, writers, editors, photographers, musicians, coaches . . . all these professions are starting to find new ways of working online. And while this book is particularly tailored to tech professionals, the same tips, rules, and ideas can be applied in any industry and reach any goal.
Whether you choose to run a business full time providing services to clients on a case-by-case basis or choose to create a “side hustle,” there are amazing opportunities here for all.
And this book will provide you with all the information, tips, tools, encouragement, and motivation to get out there and make it happen. You will learn not only how to find clients willing to pay for your services, create a business and file taxes, and use the most common tools to deliver work and get paid, but also how to stay focused and productive when working without a boss, transition to this new way of working without taking unnecessary risks, and develop yourself further and grow your personal brand.
We will also explore how the gig economy is likely to change and develop with the introduction of newer technologies—and how you can prepare for those changes.
It is exceedingly likely that this type of work will become increasingly commonplace. Fewer and fewer people are now remaining in single jobs their entire lives, and many of us are becoming “digital polymaths” with multiple skills to offer. Internet speeds are getting faster, and tools are getting smarter.
But by taking this leap early on, we can reap amazing benefits right now and give ourselves important footholds in this emerging market—the “fourth industrial revolution.” Keep reading if you want to become an early adopter of this new and exciting way of life.
This book would not have been possible without the love and support of my wonderful wife, Hannah Sinicki. She is my best friend and my rock.
I’d also like tip my hat to the people who inspired me to set up my own business in the first place: my dad Janusz Sinicki, Uncle Z, and granddad Bernard Hunt. Also, Tony Stark.
I should also thank my good friend Matthew Tutt, who introduced me to the world of making money online (and who once held the number one spot on Google for that precise search term!). I likely wouldn’t have ended up in this job if it wasn’t for all his help!
A shout out to Chris “Goof” Hanlon. Because it has become a tradition, not because he has done anything particularly useful.
Plenty of other people got their acknowledgements in the last book . . .
Contents
About the Author
is a writer, programmer, and presenter living in Bicester, Oxfordshire, UK, where he spends a lot of his time on his laptop in the local coffee shops.
Adam has been working on a freelance basis as a programmer and SEO writer for the past eight years under the company name NQR Productions. He currently spends a lot of this time as a blogger and YouTube presenter at Android Authority, where he covers phone reviews as well as development content. Adam has also found success with numerous other projects, including his own Android app Multiscreen Multitasking, which had over 30,000 paid downloads across its various iterations and came as preloaded software on over 60,000 handsets in India. He also provided the code for Coldfusion’s Voxis Launcher.
This is Adam’s second book with Apress, the first being Learn Unity for Android Game Development (2017).
If you’d like to read more of Adam’s work, he also discusses tech, online business, and his other passions for fitness, psychology, and self-development over at his blog: The Bioneer ( www.thebioneer.com ) and YouTube channel ( www.youtube.com/thebioneer ). The latter now has over 50,000 subscribers. You can also find him on Instagram ( www.instagram.com/thebioneer ) and Twitter ( www.twitter.com/thebioneer ). Stop by and say hi!
When Adam’s not working, he enjoys reading comics, working out, playing video games, and relaxing at home with his wife Hannah. They are currently expecting their first baby.