The book by Diane Mulcahy ‘The Gig Economy: The Complete Guide to Getting Better Work, Taking More Time Off, and Financing the Life You Want’ provides an oversight of the changes in the modern employment market, and pieces of advice about how to get successful in that game.
Before quoting the main principles of the book, I need to emphasize that it is quite hard to become successful in the gig economy, as it is in any other endeavor. But even more so because the individual performance can be expected to follow a power-law curve as in any complex market, with the top performers pocketing much more than the average performer. It requires a lot of focus and effort, and many will struggle. Nevertheless, here are the principles recommended and developed in the book:
- Define Your Personal Vision of Success
- Diversify and expand your network
- Create Your Own Security net
- Connect Without Networking (decide if inbound or outbound marketing is best for you)
- Face Personal Fears by Reducing Risk
- Take Time Off between Gigs
- Be Mindful About Time – focus on what matters
- Be Financially Flexible by restructuring your financial life
- Think Access , Not Ownership
- Save for a Traditional Retirement . . . but Don’t Plan on Having One
As you can see in the above, a lot of advice is actually on changing one’s definition of success and making sure that your financial situation is flexible and resilient (or even considering living with less income on average). It is somewhat defensive at times. I tend to believe that entering the gig economy is a personal choice that needs to correspond to a flexible way of life, and that many people may be overwhelmed by the effort.
I believe we have not yet found the right social model for the gig economy. While I am convinced that in the future there will be more flexibility in the workplace and in terms of career, the economy is not yet mature to allow this to happen with the right social support network.
