Hustler

Inspiration

The gig economy is an evil place. Many people work insane hours to barely make ends meet in hopes of making a living, and many people take it for granted with how convenient it is. Call up a random person to drive you home, have another person bring you food, and then have another person bring you groceries.

While we can't directly solve how hard being a gig worker is, we wanted to at least make it a bit easier and stop having gig workers waste their time tracking their finances. Many bank apps have horrible filtering features. You search for something and may not even be able to find it if it happened too long ago. How hard could it be if you have to handle many bank accounts or cards? What about if you work multiple jobs?

What it does

Hustler is an app meant for people who have no time to waste while they are out and about hustling. With a sleek UI and easy linking to your bank account with Plaid, Hustler allows for someone to easily track how much they made without having to check their numerous bank statements.

How we built it

We used React (Vite + standard CSS) with TypeScript for our front end, allowing for very easy component use and reuse if need be. Strict typing allows us to mitigate the errors JavaScript would give us. Auth0 fit right in, allowing us to integrate a login screen by only having to use a few buttons and some routing.

Challenges we ran into

Login

Auth0 was giving us a problem nobody had ever seen before, where Error 401 would pop up every time we tried to display user info due to a POST request issue. It took us a bit, but we saw we could disable the POST relationship to Auth0 and decided to go from there after trying everything else.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're particularly proud of creating a streamlined financial tracking solution specifically designed for gig workers. Despite the technical challenges, we successfully integrated Plaid to allow users to connect their bank accounts securely. The data visualization component with D3.js gives users a clear picture of their income trends without having to manually sift through multiple bank statements. We also managed to implement user authentication through Auth0, overcoming some unexpected integration issues that required creative problem-solving.

What we learned

Throughout this project, we gained valuable experience with financial API integration using Plaid and learned how to securely handle sensitive financial data. Working with TypeScript reinforced the benefits of static typing for maintaining code quality in a collaborative environment. We also deepened our understanding of React's component architecture and state management for handling complex data flows. The Auth0 integration challenges taught us to think outside the box when troubleshooting authentication issues and highlighted the importance of thoroughly testing third-party services before full implementation.

What's next for Hustler

We plan to expand Hustler's capabilities to include: Expense categorization specifically tailored to gig workers (vehicle maintenance, fuel, equipment, etc.) Income forecast tools to help workers plan their schedules based on historical earnings Tax estimation features to help users set aside appropriate amounts for quarterly tax payments Multi-platform support with native mobile apps for iOS and Android Integration with popular gig platforms (Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, etc.) to automatically tag income sources Community features where gig workers can anonymously share earning trends by region Personalized insights and suggestions to help maximize earning potential while minimizing expenses

We believe Hustler has the potential to become an essential tool for the growing gig workforce, helping them optimize their time and maximize their earnings while reducing financial stress.