He thinks he can beat the gig economy.He was wrong

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This job didn’t come naturally—”You are forced to treat people like a product,” he said—but it’s a job he can do without a college degree. His mother allocated time between Beijing and San Francisco and started buying houses as an investment. She tried to help Fang do business by letting Fang handle one of her loans. She also urged him to borrow money to buy a place of his own. He was only 22 years old and made only $40,000 after receiving the bonus, but that was 2004. He obtained a variable-rate mortgage and purchased a $638,000 cookie-cutter house in a working-class neighborhood. His parents participated in the down payment.

Four years later, he was struggling at the bottom of employee performance goals and quit the bank before being fired. Now 26 years old, he returned to City College, this time full of enthusiasm. He devoted himself to philosophy, joined the Waltz team, and won the election of the Supreme Student Office and Student Custodian, hoping to inject momentum into his dream school Stanford and Berkeley transfer applications. On his way to power, Fang urged the community college board to strengthen their leadership, persuaded the California legislature to make Mao Zedong clothes for his high school prom, and hosted the graduation ceremony on the same stage as Nancy Pelosi. People doing things.

In 2010, he only worked part-time in a pet shop, and he was also a person who often missed the monthly payment of $2,500. His house was worthless. In 2013, he was pushed into the ranks of 10 million Americans whose houses were foreclosed during the Great Recession. He was lucky again: his parents let him move into one of their investment houses for free. Nonetheless, the hardships—his financial dilemma, college politics, side work—started to lower his grades. A familiar sense of shame appeared: “Forget your dream, you won’t realize it.” So, he said, “I’m leaving.”

During his trip to Beijing in 2013, Fang encountered more popular complications. He said his parents wanted him to live his own life-their youngest son was already married, and Fang had “X failed relationships, nothing to show,” he said. They invited a young physical therapist to dinner. He was moved by her tenderness and her university education. They kept in touch, and for months, through text messages and phone calls, he “fell in love”. They began to talk about marriage. He told her that he was bankrupt, his credit was damaged, and that he had no job. She said they would solve it. “I told myself,’She is the one.'”

In April 2014, Fang took out more than half of his 401(k) and bought a ticket to China for a wedding. His plan was for his wife to finally meet him in San Francisco. But to ensure that immigrants do not become a public burden, American citizens need assets to sponsor visa applications. Fang believes that it will take months or even a year to raise enough cash to bring his bride to California. Soon after returning to San Francisco, he was married but single and learned that his wife was pregnant. Now, there are two people guaranteeing, and his bank account is empty, this process will take longer. He needs a job that can save money and take a few months to travel to Beijing every year. What kind of work would allow this?

One day, when Fang Zheng was walking in Union Square, a car with a white beard passed by. He searched for “pink mustache” on Google. When Fang Zhouzi was addicted to the politics of the City College, the city he adopted had become a prosperous town after the economic downturn. Since Uber was founded in 2008, venture capital has poured into the so-called on-demand economy. Using freelancers to meet customer demand fluctuations, the app promises grocery deliveries, IKEA cabinet assembly, and dog walks. The propaganda of these companies to drivers: In a noisy and chaotic city, they can also become entrepreneurs.

Fang Gang needs money. He crawled into his father’s 2002 Acura TL and opened the pink app. After several hours of driving, he made $71. “I got used to this job very quickly,” Fang said, “and I got Ok quickly. Looking back, this is the problem.

3.

In the beginning, Fang was the promoter of Lyft’s marketing illusions. He happily accepted every ride for almost eight to ten hours a day. The client gave him a five-star rating: “Good guy. Very smart.” He would wait for half an hour, unpaid, for a couple to finish arguing on the sidewalk before one of them climbed in. He distributed free water bottles. He chatted amiably, dressed up as a Batman for Halloween, playing on the classical stage.

After a few months, Fang became more strategic. He divides the day into rush hours in the morning and evening to go surfing, when the rush hours push up the ticket price. From Thursday to Saturday, he sent the crowd in the bar home until just before dawn. Fang imposed a tight budget and limited a $3 Safeway burrito bowl or $1.50 hot dog and soda at Costco. He takes home $1,200 (excluding expenses) every week-enough, because he lives in rent-free, can save the money and send some to Beijing, and his wife has moved into his parents’ home. He would visit her, usually around two months at the beginning of the year and one month in the fall. The application, the passengers and his strict thrift formed a virtuous circle. I am helping people. I am making money. This will solve it.

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