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The Gig Economy Is Failing. Say Hello to the Hustle Economy.
Unemployed teachers, cooks, dancers are turning to Patreon, Twitch, and OnlyFans
“We have nothing to sell besides physical touch.” The thought jarred Amber Briggle awake some nights. It kept her from eating in the first week of the Covid-19 shutdown when she lost six pounds fretting over the sudden collapse of the business she’d built up her “entire adult life.”
For seven years, Briggle has owned a massage studio called Soma in Denton, Texas. She grew the operation from a pop-up in her house to a mini-empire with a wall of local “best of” awards. But when Texas Governor Greg Abbott closed businesses statewide on March 21, Briggle realized in an instant it could all be over. Her bills totaled more than $3,000 per month, and it wasn’t as if she could give massages from home.
“I had nothing, literally nothing,” Briggle said. “And this is my life’s work. I spent the entire first week crying. What else could I do about it?”
Then, in the second week of the shutdown, during a pro-bono consultation with a local business advisor, she was asked if she’d ever considered a Patreon. As the consultant explained, the digital-subscription platform — once home mainly to YouTubers and podcast hosts — had also become an ad hoc…
