The Self-employed Mindset In Today’s World
“The self employed mindset is exactly what my client is looking for”. I’m quoting an employment agent who called me yesterday to ask if I’d be interested in a job vacancy he was handling. I was a little taken aback A. because I’d forgotten I’d registered with them 5 years ago after being made redundant for the second time. B. Because his comment struck me as bizarre. Why would a gainfully and happily self-employed person enjoying the massive benefits of running an online business, be interested in being an employee again?
I sometimes have nightmares about working for an employer. These are usually centred on the hell that my last employer put me through. I appreciate that not everyone’s experience of being an employee is negative – mine wasn’t for many years either. But I was never comfortable with authority, hierarchies’, corporate ladders, and the politics that go with them. I guess I always had a self-employed mindset deep down that just needed nurturing.
Why Employers Look For The Self-employed Mindset
In fact over the years in between jobs, I have ventured into self-employment a time or two. In those days I was more interested in writing and playing songs with my band – an entrepreneurial endeavour in it’s own right. That required a means of earning that was more flexible than a 9-5. I sold everything from gourmet frozen food to oil paintings door to door to earn a crust.
It wasn’t until I started an online affiliate marketing business 5 years ago that I fully acquired the self-employed mindset. I’m probably unemployable now and in many ways that’s a good thing in this day and age.
But back to the employment agent’s odd comment: After some thought I understood. It’s a lot to do with the age we live in. We are in the digital – the Internet economy – and that’s really changing the way we do everything. It has changed the way we shop, the way we communicate and the way we do business. All this has disrupted lots of traditional business models and has changed/is changing the very nature of employment.
As automation, A.I and technology in general expands our possibilities, more and more tasks can be done without humans. We just don’t need as many employees as we once did. Those that are required now need to be productive in different ways than just fulfilling tasks. They need to be creative, entrepreneurial and adaptable. They may have to work remotely, without supervision and that requires a self-employed mindset.
The Intrapreneur
As the lines between employee/employer continue to blur the term Intrapreneur has been coined. This is the person who has the most valuable skills for the digital economy. Skills which enable them to run digital businesses or to consult for the many, many businesses who are still way behind the loop when it comes to areas like internet marketing. An intrapreneur may be part of a large corporation who provide them with finance and resources. They in turn provide innovation and entrepreneurial thinking.
10 years ago internet entrepreneurs Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek set up a platform designed to help people and businesses transition to this brave new world. Their organisations Six Figure Mentors (SFM) and Digital Experts Academy (DEA) are membership and community platforms. They provide training and mentorship on the self-employed mindset in the digital world.
SFM offers a digital marketing system, toolset and essential training on internet business models like affiliate marketing and online marketing strategies. DEA offers advanced training, one to one mentoring, online and live workshops, personal branding and high level masterminding. Both SFM and DEA offer high-income affiliate opportunities.
Learn more about them by subscribing below to their free 7 part video series.
