Developing portable human capital  

Specialization, especially if your expertise is in demand, may seem good enough; but in fact, it is just for a short time. A good long-term strategy in the gig economy is fostering career sustainability and life-long learning mindsets. As a gig worker, you need to build generic, multi-use core competencies such as communication, marketing, modern digital capabilities to have a solid base for performing a variety of jobs and being more qualified for a wider range of work roles. 

Although you may face more challenges to keep yourself update as you don't have the opportunities provided by a formal organization, you cannot give up. You need to pursue opportunities outside the comfort zone to learn new knowledge, practices and routines. But be aware of "imposter syndrome," the persistent feeling that you are not qualified or capable of learning new skills. You should not let this feeling ruin your self-confidence. 

Interpersonal relational behaviour  

In the gig economy, you may have fewer opportunities to work "backstage." Instead, your livelihood depends on how you can promote your abilities in front of others and build an effective brand image. You need to know how others see you in order to shape that image effectively and make your capabilities more highlighted.  

But in the gig economy, image management is even harder as you may not have clear image exemplars to construct a productive image. Moreover, you not only need to build a brand image, but you also need to constantly keep it at a high level to seek new clients. This may lead you to experience "learning-credibility stress" when you enter into a contract with a new client, situations that you need to learn about the new context, while you still need to show yourself credible. 

Not to mention that although you may find it hard to have an exemplar for your image development, you always can seek feedback either asking directly from whom you interact or monitor the cues and infer a massage (Ashford & Cummings, 1983). Feedback is important as it will help you to know about your true impact, which is a critical element in image management.