It has been nearly two months since I returned to the gig economy and I’m happy enough to announce that I’m alive and haven’t starved or gotten myself thrown into debtors’ prison. I have been, as they say, lucky.
I had the good sense to keep the restaurant job, which allowed me to get paid as I network and my stroke of luck included the former boss from the corporate job asking me to help out on “part-time” basis, which has given me a weekly income and enough ours to work on getting “side-gigs,” and to use whatever I’ve earned to stop being poor. In terms of the side gigs, I’ve managed to pack records for a big accounting firm and sell sunglasses.
My most recent piece of good luck came in the form of a small PR gig for a large multinational Indian company, which bought me breathing space with creditors.
So, while I have yet to “strike-it-rich,” in the gig-economy, I’ve managed to survive in an economy that is slowing. I suppose you could say that I am officially in the position to impart wisdom of sorts. What would that be?
I guess the first thing to point out is that one needs to accept that the gig economy is becoming a larger reality for an increasing number of people. In the old days (less than a decade ago), companies discovered outsourcing, where they could get the Chinese to make things and the Indians to do the boring back office stuff better and cheaper than anywhere else in the world. Then, just as outsourcing started to become politically dicey, we found “AI” made machines able to do an increasing number of tasks. Machines don’t form unions or expect lunch breaks, thus becoming a cheaper option for corporations.
So, nobody in the workforce should expect a job to be permanent. One must expect that the corporation to be on the constant look out for a cheaper human or a machine to replace you in a matter of time. As such, every employee needs to understand that this is not personal. Corporations work for their shareholders and if replacing you with someone cheaper will give their shareholders a better return, they’ll do it.
If the corporation is looking out for someone or something to replace you, it’s always best to be on the look out for something else and to develop a side hustle or an alternate source of income. Depending on a single employer till the day you die is a sure-fire way to commit financial suicide.
The second expectation is the fact that industries are constantly changing thanks to the ever-changing pace of technology. I take my core skill of “public relations” as an example. In the old days (defined as half a decade ago) it was enough to be able to put the client on TV or the newspapers. These days, that will no longer suffice. People aren’t browsing newspapers on the daily basis. They’re either reading it off their iPads or dare I say, getting it off their social media feeds. PR practitioners need to look at the new medium and reinvent the way they communicate of their clients.
So, the trick here is to learn to stay relevant in your industry and look at how your skills can be adapted to other industries. In 2014, things started to go silent in the PR market for one man shows and the big agencies found ways to extract more from their employees. I got lucky in the sense that I was able to hold onto a single client and I started a job in the liquidations industry. I had to relearn things and learn a new language (I didn’t know things like balance sheets existed before then).
I changed industry but found that I could use my core skill (PR being Public Relations with an emphasis on relations – liquidations being an industry with many stakeholder relationships that need to be managed) and learnt a few side tricks, especially when it involved insolvency and bankruptcy laws. At the time when I was ready to return to the gig economy, I’ve returned with knowledge that I never had before.
The final piece of wisdom would be to encourage people to network and keep in touch. I’ve always tried to be a somewhat likeable person and a person that people vaguely enjoyed working with. I make it a point to remember people on birthdays (which is made easier with social media reminders) and on festivals that mean something to the people I’ve worked with (which in my case is Muslim and Indian festivals).
You never know when you’re going to need a person and its always important to ensure that even in situations where you come into conflict, you do so in a civil manner.
I had the good sense to keep the restaurant job, which allowed me to get paid as I network and my stroke of luck included the former boss from the corporate job asking me to help out on “part-time” basis, which has given me a weekly income and enough ours to work on getting “side-gigs,” and to use whatever I’ve earned to stop being poor. In terms of the side gigs, I’ve managed to pack records for a big accounting firm and sell sunglasses.
My most recent piece of good luck came in the form of a small PR gig for a large multinational Indian company, which bought me breathing space with creditors.
So, while I have yet to “strike-it-rich,” in the gig-economy, I’ve managed to survive in an economy that is slowing. I suppose you could say that I am officially in the position to impart wisdom of sorts. What would that be?
I guess the first thing to point out is that one needs to accept that the gig economy is becoming a larger reality for an increasing number of people. In the old days (less than a decade ago), companies discovered outsourcing, where they could get the Chinese to make things and the Indians to do the boring back office stuff better and cheaper than anywhere else in the world. Then, just as outsourcing started to become politically dicey, we found “AI” made machines able to do an increasing number of tasks. Machines don’t form unions or expect lunch breaks, thus becoming a cheaper option for corporations.
So, nobody in the workforce should expect a job to be permanent. One must expect that the corporation to be on the constant look out for a cheaper human or a machine to replace you in a matter of time. As such, every employee needs to understand that this is not personal. Corporations work for their shareholders and if replacing you with someone cheaper will give their shareholders a better return, they’ll do it.
If the corporation is looking out for someone or something to replace you, it’s always best to be on the look out for something else and to develop a side hustle or an alternate source of income. Depending on a single employer till the day you die is a sure-fire way to commit financial suicide.
The second expectation is the fact that industries are constantly changing thanks to the ever-changing pace of technology. I take my core skill of “public relations” as an example. In the old days (defined as half a decade ago) it was enough to be able to put the client on TV or the newspapers. These days, that will no longer suffice. People aren’t browsing newspapers on the daily basis. They’re either reading it off their iPads or dare I say, getting it off their social media feeds. PR practitioners need to look at the new medium and reinvent the way they communicate of their clients.
So, the trick here is to learn to stay relevant in your industry and look at how your skills can be adapted to other industries. In 2014, things started to go silent in the PR market for one man shows and the big agencies found ways to extract more from their employees. I got lucky in the sense that I was able to hold onto a single client and I started a job in the liquidations industry. I had to relearn things and learn a new language (I didn’t know things like balance sheets existed before then).
I changed industry but found that I could use my core skill (PR being Public Relations with an emphasis on relations – liquidations being an industry with many stakeholder relationships that need to be managed) and learnt a few side tricks, especially when it involved insolvency and bankruptcy laws. At the time when I was ready to return to the gig economy, I’ve returned with knowledge that I never had before.
The final piece of wisdom would be to encourage people to network and keep in touch. I’ve always tried to be a somewhat likeable person and a person that people vaguely enjoyed working with. I make it a point to remember people on birthdays (which is made easier with social media reminders) and on festivals that mean something to the people I’ve worked with (which in my case is Muslim and Indian festivals).
You never know when you’re going to need a person and its always important to ensure that even in situations where you come into conflict, you do so in a civil manner.
My first gig was packing records for a big accounting firm. The person who gave me that job was a former colleague. My second gig came from my former logistics guy who was selling sunglasses. The PR gig came from staying in touch with the firm’s boss, whom I had known since the IIT Alumni event in 2012. I saw people when I didn’t need them, and they remembered me enough to want to give me a bone when I needed it.
Being in the modern “gig-economy” is exciting but its challenging. While the structure of jobs and the nature of work is being disrupted, one needs to remember the basics in life and to understand that you need to be open to experiences and to remember to be a decent enough person because you never know when you may need them.
1 comment
Li,
You have to take into account that when one gets older, one suffers the "working man" problem. Whether you are in the gig economy, employee or self-employed, it will be inevitable that physically you cannot carry on working like you used to. What happens then? The only solution it seems is invest in intangible knowledge when you are young. That is why many older people carry on working in the capacity as mentors or consultants. However, the brain will also degenerate over time, but it is hopefully a longer process.
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