I find the opportunity to trade labor for lodging on a short term basis very compelling. This is a great way to travel without spending money, and to gain some new and interesting experiences. I’ve written about variations on lodging opportunities in the sharing economy in my review of peer to peer rental lodging, and specifically about trading labor for lodging in an interview with the founder of HelpStay. A new entrant to this sharing economy space is Gigoing, and they have a short but interesting list of opportunities around the world offering food and lodging in exchange for about 20 hours of work a week.
There’s a good article here on Gigoing from Shareable. Though the idea appears to be focused on people with specific skills they can exchange for lodging and food, and potentially build a broader consulting/work network, most of the jobs currently available on Gigoing are more generalist and don’t require specific skills, or at least nothing very specialized. Many of the current offerings look like non-profits or other volunteer organizations. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but I could see an opportunity for specialized skills in work trade too, and that’s an area of the sharing economy where I don’t see any competition for gigoing right now.
I look forward to seeing how Gigoing progresses.