About

Many people will and have lost contracts, gigs and money as a result of the cancelations and social distancing caused by COVID-19.

As a way to help them retain some form of income in these difficult times, I have created this web app to help people in this situation to give classes related to their professions. These may not always be the type of classes that you would do online under normal circumstances - In order to make this service affordable during a pandemic when many of the people who are interested may well also be having financial issues as well.
As well as reasonably priced classes within the skillset of an instructor, some instructors may choose to offer motivational sessions at a reduced cost, which don't include instruction, but help others with motivation, practice and retaining some form of human contact while in isolation.

Example: As well as their normal offerings for dance instruction and commissions (e.g. choreography), a dance instructor could offer services at a lower cost, such as practice sessions (where both practice together), motivational sessions (where the instructor just tells the student what to do and watches them practice, à la personal trainer, and discussion sessions, which might be like an informal interview.

If the instructor has other interests or skills, for example playing chess or speaking another language, they can also offer practice or social sessions in those areas, again at a much lower hourly rate.

This will also provide a good way to relieve the boredom of self-isolation as well as maintain and improve skills, for both instructor and consumer.

The professions that I've thought of so far that might benefit from such a system include:

Dance Instructors - offering dance instruction or commissions
Musicians - offering music instruction, commissions or private performances
Chefs - offering cooking instruction
Bartenders - offering cocktail making instruction
Photographers - offering photography instruction or commissions
Personal Trainers - offering plans, critiques and motivation

There are no doubt many more professions that can work in a similar way, and everyone has the ability to offer practice or social sessions in their areas of interest. If you are a bartender who speaks English, and you list conversational English as a service, then someone might pay you a small amount just to chat and help them learn English.

I have created this web app very quickly because I have many friends who are terrified about how their finances will be affected in the coming months. As such it is important to understand that this is aimed for connecting people within known communities - as of now there is no ranking or rating system, so if you arrange a lesson with someone entirely unknown to you, you risk paying for a lesson that is not what you were hoping for. I have created a basic Code of Conduct that all parties should follow.

Thanks to Gabriele Bartolini for the design

Thanks to Gaby Cook for the name idea "Digital Gig Collective"