I am the biggest fan of the sharing economy. I started out as an occasional Uber rider. Eventually, I started driving for a little extra spending money, then earlier this year I went full-on carless. I now ride Uber VIP 100% of the time. AirBNB made me a real believer. The first time I used the service, I stayed in a trendy area of NYC for under $100 a night. In fact my last three vacations were in AirBNB homes. I have also started renting out my stuff that had been sitting in my closet taking up space. By now everyone knows about Uber, but I am surprised when I come across people that have not heard of some of the other peer-to-peer rental and sharing options available here in Dallas. So I decided to put together this trusty sharing economy guide for Dallas.

Popular Sharing Economy Apps

Ride Sharing

You would have to be living under a rock to have not have heard of Uber or Lyft. While sharing an Uber back from a party, a local criminal defense attorney confided in me that his DWI business has been cut in half by ride sharing services.  There are also peer-to-peer car rental sites like Turo that let you rent people’s cars for a day or more.  In fact, I made a day trip down to Baylor and rented a car for $25, a forth of the lowest price at car rental companies.

Rentals

AirBNB , which launched just eight years ago, already has over one million listings and close to $1 billion in revenue. Rentals are great because they create opportunities for mostly passive income. Dallas startup TapGoods lets you rent stuff to and from people near you. I think TapGoods is great because sometimes you can earn money on stuff sitting around without having to sell it. TapGoods also protects items up to $10,000, and they have several options for delivery and pick-up, including a delivery service that brings items to your front door. So if you are going on a camping trip, renting a tent for the weekend probably make more sense than buying one unless you go camping monthly.

Delivery Services

This is probably the most crowded segment. For just general delivery, you have Postmates and Favor. For restaurant delivery: GrubHub, DoorDash, Caviar, DoorStep, and most recently UberEats. For alcohol delivery there is Drizly, MiniBar, Klink, TopShelf, Thirstie, and Lash. Generally these range about $4 to $7 per delivery. Be careful because some try to hide their fees in the food cost. Several Favor delivery professionals have told me they average about $15 an hour, which is pretty close to Uber and Lyft.

Coworking

I have worked at a number of coworking spaces and really like the concept. Clearly I am not the only one that likes them, as they have sprung up all over the Metroplex. In fact, so many are opening this year that any attempt to list them would invariably be incomplete. However a few notables include: Dallas Entrepreneur Center, Fort Work, and GeniusDen. I have now worked at three different coworking spaces and can tell you, it is worth the $200 a month or so for the dedicated high speed internet and other amenities, networking events, and just having a dedicated work space that is not a coffee shop. You can also find coworking spaces that fit in a niche like WELD, which is for photographers and graphic artists complete with a cyclerama and other amenities for photographers.

Am I missing anything? New sharing economy concepts are cropping up all the time and if you find something, please be sure to comment below. These are all a great way to make some extra money, rent or use something for less than it would cost to buy, and just generally meet people in your area.