Succeed in the gig Economy

Succeed in the gig Economy

Jan 10, 2019 | Uncategorized

The gig economy refers to primarily short term or freelance work. If you’re a gigger, you’re self employed, an independent contractor not on salary.  WhatIs.com defines the gig economy as “a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements.”

An independent contractor can be a person, business or corporation.  In the U.S. typically (there are always exceptions) the distinction between a “gigger” and an employee is whether you file annual taxes with a 1099-MISC or a W-2 form.

We tend to think of freelancers as writers, entertainers, actors, producers, models, personal trainers, athletes, artists and others.  We don’t typically assume entrepreneurs, consultants, affiliates, multi-level marketers, network marketers, real estate agents, sales representatives, mortgage brokers and hundreds of others also fall into this category.

Think of this segment of the labor force like this. When a real estate agent closes a transaction, that’s it. Unless he/she has other business in the pipeline, they have to find a new gig.  There’s no more income. Most entrepreneurs need to create new business on a regular basis. They represent one of the largest segments of the gig economy.

Crushing it as a gigger doesn’t mean you need to wrestle your choice of profession to the ground. If you love what you do, it’s quite the opposite. When you’re aligned with your vocation, life flows. It’s like riding the top of a wave and letting it carry you through to its unfolding. Doors open, your timing is perfect and most things are effortless. “Laboring” is unnecessary, particularly if you approach your business with confidence and focused vision.  Those who succeed in the gig economy are well balanced like a surfer on top of a wave. They typically have the following traits.

MISSION

This is the simplest yet most overlooked requirement for succeeding at just about anything. When contemplating a new business or career, especially in the gig economy, defining your mission is the first place to start. Ask yourself why do you want to do this?  If you’re why is big enough, very little will stop you from succeeding. Making money is secondary to your intrinsic reason for wanting to succeed.

Your mission is your assignment.  It defines your objectives.  It’s no wonder that employees who lose their jobs are lost, at least initially.  They’ve mistaken their reason for doing for their reason for being.

VISION

While your mission is your purpose, your vision is your desired future. It’s the outcome you want from your efforts. It creates the road map to get you to your goal. Your vision is fueled by an undeniable passion, a reason, a purpose that’s uniquely yours. The highest achievers and most successful people are driven by it.  They operate from a place of inspiration and intuition, which can only be found by quieting the mind.  You can’t find your vision by thinking about it only be “feeling” it.

Vision provides focus and keeps one on track. Write down your mission and vision and put it where you’ll see it and be reminded of them daily. Avoid getting sidetracked on useless activities.

CREATE A TIMELY BUSINESS

Automation has made thousands of careers and trades obsolete.  This will continue to grow exponentially each year.

Whether an individual or a business, we all bank, invest and shop through a smart gadget or on a screen.  We’re in the digital economy and we transact everything from investments, buying houses to shoes to services online.

A study by Intuit predicts that “by 2020, 40 percent of American workers will be independent contractors.”  This means that nearly half of the labor force in this country could transition into the gig economy.  It’s not too early to consider an online career or at least an education, if you’re not already comfortable being digital.

It’s wonderful to be untethered to a desk, an office or a geographical location. My business goes wherever I go and I have fun with it. I carry it on my laptop. Even if I lose or break the computer, my systems are in the cloud and easily accessible from anywhere. It’s awesome to run your business lying at the beach.

If you want to succeed in the gig economy, get ahead of the wave.  Create a timely business that’s in demand and scalable.  It should have the potential to multiply growth quickly.  Multi-level organizations and business models with teams work on this premise.

Start your gig while entry level is on the rise.  If you wait until the top of the bell curve, it’s usually too late to make an impact on the market or get a significant return on your investment.

Pick a business that has no age entry barrier. Whether you’re 20 or 60, your venture should be doable. I must admit, I feel older individuals have an advantage over unseasoned entrepreneurs. Typically, due to their time “in the trenches” they have developed a bit more resilience and are not as easily discouraged when challenges come along.  They don’t take rejection or failure as hard.  So here’s a bit of advice, team or partner up with a seasoned individual! Recruiting skilled and talented people will enable your company to grow.

Some of the best companies are headed up by people over fifty.  Arkenea.com wrote an excellent article that states: “Rather than living fast and dying young, a surprising number of people are stepping into entrepreneurship in and around the period of their retirement and some post that! After all, their broad and deep knowledge, management experience, and large professional networks certainly gives them an edge at that age. With a high-quality software development company, it’s not tough to get the initial version of their ideas built out quickly.”

Consider a business where services or products are highly sought-after. Natural and holistic forms of healing as well as CBD and hemp products are in huge demand right now. Combine this with a business model that has a reputable and established company behind it, offers geometric growth, provides back office tools and attractive compensation plans, then you have a winning combination. This is a great way to build any business and have passive, residual or retirement income.

FOCUS

Focus is the unyielding determination to accomplish what you set out to do. Think of a beam of light.  The stream is powerful because it produces a focused intense energy. To live your dreams, put on blinders and be as equally intense as a laser.

Align yourself with like-minded individuals.  Join a community that supports your vision.  It will provide the energy you need, especially when you’re down. Independents tend to work alone. It’s helpful to have an objective group or individual where you can turn to for ideas. Groups also provide an opportunity to help others who may be a few steps behind you.

DISCIPLINE

Discipline is the methodology we use to accomplish our goals.  It takes repeated practice and training to make something seem easy.  It’s no different with having discipline.  I compare it to muscle memory in my Ashtanga yoga practice.  There’s a sequence to the postures that we must practice over and over again.  After a time, we don’t think about the process, we just do it automatically.

It helps to have a log outlining tasks you want to accomplish each day. It doesn’t have to be long or detailed. A bulleted list is good and it avoids over-listing.

Don’t be tough on yourself when you can’t stick to your plan. Life happens. Kids may need you. Your pet may fall ill. You may get a flat tire. Go easy. When you can’t meet what you set out to do, be happy with what you’ve accomplished.

Be clear on the difference between busyness and productivity. I know a lot of people who are overscheduled, have no time for anything and accomplish very little. It’s better to do one thing really well than ten incomplete or meaningless ones.

Here are other practices that will help you to succeed in the gig economy:

  • Define your avatar.  Who is your target market and how will you reach them?  If your audience is a millenial, you can forget using email. If your focus is on baby boomers, SnapChat or WhatsApp may not be the best platform to find them.  Match your methodoloty to your audience.
  • Successful independents do some or all of the income-generating activities I list here. Every profession is different.  In affiliate marketing, for example, placing ads, posting on social media, blogging, vlogging and making contact with your target audience daily is essential.

Getting the word out about your offering in whatever form it requires for your profession is essential. The goal is to build a list of contacts or subscribers to whom you can offer ongoing value until they decide to do business with you.  Offering value instead of trying to make a sale develops credence, trustworthiness and loyalty.

  • As an employee, your employer pays your taxes. As a gigger, it is up to you to put aside money for tax time. Don’t be caught on April 15th (in the U.S.) short of funds.  Put aside a percentage of each payment to you for taxes. 
  • I believe in investing a portion for growth and contingencies, too.
  • Improve and upgrade your business regularly.  Check links to make sure they work. Do you need to hire a web-master to update your site?  Can you use another set of hands to write better blogs or create new designs?

There are countless online services such as 99Designs.com that will make your load lighter.  Outsourcing is a smart way to delegate activities that take up too much of your time, energy and effort.  Work smarter not harder.

  • Find a mentor, someone who has tread the path ahead of you and succeeded.  Model them.  They may steer you away from unnecessary challenges or point you to answers. Don’t rely on this individual to solve your problems.  Work them out on your own. This is how you’ll learn and grow. This counselor should hold you accountable, cheer you on and be a great role model.

CALMNESS, BALANCE & FREEDOM

To succeed in any business it’s essential to remain calm, under all circumstances, especially when problems arise. To find solutions sometimes requires getting away from the problem.  Finding a new environment to clear your head can help.  As your own boss you can come and go as you please. An employee can’t walk out of the office every time a problem surfaces.

Those crushing their careers take charge of their attitudes. They perceive setbacks or attacks as growing opportunities. They use roadblocks as stepping stones to climb higher. Life never happens to them. They make it happen.

Success thinking requires equilibrium. I was raised in a one sided thinking household: good or bad, right or wrong.  It’s taken me a lifetime to erase these polar beliefs. What may be right in one situation may not be right in another. How you see a situation makes the difference between having a success or a victim mentality.

Charles Swindoll said it best. “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. … The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude … I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it.”

Today’s younger labor force prefers to work remotely.  They understand that environment is essential to good performance and that toxic workplaces hinder productivity.

Millenials also want more time freedom to do the things they love over solely making huge amounts of money. Quality of life is essential and time freedom to address family and personal needs is part of their success equation.

UNSWAYED BY OTHERS

Successful individuals remain unswayed by what other people think. They listen to their inner voice and drown others out.  They spend quiet time reflecting or “sensing” their calling. To crush it in the gig economy, hang around Master thinkers. Keep like-minded company to strengthen your convictions.

EMBRACING UNIQUENESS

Masters never compare themselves to others. They march to the beat of their own drum. They’re not concerned about social acceptance.  They’re sole mission is to accomplish their duty.

Winners at life rarely think in terms of gaining or losing. They go with the flow and always maintain a healthy attitude. They’re typically unconcerned about being vulnerable. The waves of life don’t throw them off the surfboard. They focus on their dreams. It takes mastery to do this.

Think of someone you’re drawn to.  What makes them tempting to hang around?  I venture to say it’s because they’re one of a kind. Life crushers are not afraid to be themselves even when others dismiss them as being weird or different. Their uniqueness makes them magnetic.

Unique individuals fear or reject being average.  It’s one of the reasons they’re impassioned about growing and are continuously learning. These are responsible for raising evolutionary mass consciousness and the awakening of the planet.

If you want to succeed consider modeling Masters and implementing some suggestions I’ve offered or ask me about building an online business. You may want to read this great additional article and comprehensive guide to succeed in a freelancing career. Here’s to crushing it in the gig economy!

Photo by Vladimir Kudinov on Unsplash

Succeed on Your Own Terms

Succeed on Your Own Terms

Jan 4, 2019 | Uncategorized

Have you ever said or heard someone else say: “When this happens,

I’ll be happy”

I’ll take my dream vacation”

I’ll go back to school”

I’ll spend more time at home”

I’ll loose weight”

I’ll buy my dream house”

I’ll give up smoking”

I’ll quit”

I’ll stop drinking”

Do you know that when you say “when this happens” you give away complete control of your life to something, someone or some circumstance?

Why relinquish a power that’s in your possession? Giving away control of your dreams and visions is one reason so many people are disenchanted with life, angry or suffer from depression.  Disempowerment, especially by choice, weakens our souls, bodies and minds. 

Why do people deliberately give away their power?  The answer is because we’re used to “conditional” thinking.  We’ve been programmed to experience the world in a way that says “when this, then that.”  But, just because that’s the way we were taught doesn’t mean we’re enslaved to that way of thinking forever.  In fact, as our planet “awakens” to a higher state of being, many of our long-held ideas are being challenged.  We’re becoming aware of our limitless mind.

Changing your outlook, to succeed on your own terms, is as easy as changing one thought at a time.  It doesn’t require a quantum leap. A belief is just a thought we keep thinking over and over again.  All we need to transform is to identify our limiting beliefs and change them.

I was told as a child that I couldn’t sing and I believed this all my life until recently when I took a tone-deaf test.  It turns out that I can identify tones almost perfectly. All I need is voice training.  Had I not taken the time to question something that someone told me years ago, I would have never known my potential.

Ever wonder why great masters like the Buddha or Jesus transcended suffering?  They retrained their thinking and behavior.  We all have the power to do the same.  We can all be leading edge thinkers and doers.  We just need to find vibrational harmony with our desires and create the life we want.  Here are some ways.

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD

Every person that has ever existed landed on this earth with an innate desire to do or be something.  Some are more attune to their calling than others. Those who take the time to listen and act on their intuition tend to live more fulfilling lives.

What is that for you?  What do you desire to do or be most?  What do you want to share with the rest of the world?  Voice it, share your dream put your idea out into the Universe. If you need help, ask for it. Put on blinders, earplugs and stay away from naysayers.  Receive criticism only as a stepping-stone to get you to the next level.  And, always move forward with conviction! 

Imagine our world without Jeff Besos or Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google founders), Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jack Ma or Mark Zuckerberg. While not all of us may reach their super-sized public recognition, we shouldn’t be deterred from our vocation by confusing fame for influence. There are countless unsung heroes, inventors and influencers walking beside us every day.

A kind word from a teacher to a student may change that person forever.

BE AUTHENTIC

There’s a great quote that says:  “Be yourself.  Everyone else is already taken.”  When you’re true to your nature, you’re aligned with the Universe and it has to respond to your desires.  This is not airy fairy thinking.  This is the law of attraction which has scientific merit.

Let go of pleasing others.  Don’t act or do something to satisfy someone else’s expectations.  When you live like this, you’re forever chasing people to please.  Oscar Wilde said it best, “Selfishness is not living your life as you wish to live it. Selfishness is wanting others to live their lives as you wish them to.”

Being authentic means not imposing your views on someone else.  We all develop at different times and at different rates.  If we’re to be consistent with our true selves we need to go at our own pace.  We must stop comparing ourselves to others.  This was one of the hardest lessons I learned during my digital marketing education. I was always gaging my progress with others.  When I finally let go, I was able to appreciate the value of what I had learned and apply it to live out my desires.

Authenticity is a two way street. We must let others be themselves, give them the space they need without our passing judgment or influencing their actions.  Coming from a business background, it was initially hard for me to let go and let our son become an actor.  I’ve learned that when we bury or deny our true calling, eventually it comes out anyway – hopefully in a positive way. Everyone has their own lessons to learn and their own way to achieve success.

DO WHAT YOU LOVE

Visualization helps to achieve what you want.  Start picturing how you want your life to unfold.  Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at the Institute of Neurology in London discovered that people who visualize a better future are more likely to bring that future into existence. Focus and visualize success. 

Don’t be afraid of failing. When you do fall, and we all do, remember that it’s just a lesson on how not to do something.  Setbacks are life’s way of showing you how to do something differently.  We have the choice to come back from a mistake.

BUILD A BUSINESS OF YOUR DREAMS

If you could own your own business, what would it be?  Have you written down your idea?  Do you have a business plan?  What steps are you taking to execute your vision? What has kept you from starting?

For years I wanted to be my own boss, financially successful, geographically flexible, do something purposeful and create my own destiny. The Internet has made it possible for countless people to create lifestyle businesses, that is, work around their personal needs. 

My husband and I have digital freedom.  We made a conscious decision to get ahead of the massive wave of downsized individuals and those who will be made redundant because of automation taking over traditional jobs. 

Our businesses go with our laptops and we spend time as we wish.  So long as we have a good Internet connection, we can “work” from anywhere. Thanks to countless tools available today such as apps, social media and digital marketing, anyone can create a successful e-commerce business in a fraction of the time and for a fraction of the cost than that of a traditional brick and mortar one.  If you enjoy global trading, moving goods or services around the world, you can ship just about anything instantly without the hassle or the overhead of inventory, staff or offices.

Digitization has allowed me to create my brand and develop ventures that I truly love. One way that I’m doing this is by addressing rising demand for naturopathy and herbalism by raising public awareness about the benefits of hemp-derived products such as CBD.  I also published a book, Agapanthus Rising, which challenges the reader to question traditional ways of thinking. I own a digital consultancy, Laptop Freedom Experts, which teaches individuals how to create a lifestyle business.  It wasn’t easy reaching this point.  I kissed a lot of frogs along the way but I learned invaluable lessons about building businesses and mostly about myself.

My drive is always to grow. I’m impassioned about expanding consciousness and helping others discover and live their life’s purpose. Using quantum physics and the Universal Law of Attraction, I like to share evolutionary ideas through inner awareness, mindful thinking and the raising of one’s vibrational frequency. I believe we can create a new and better dimension of mass consciousness one person at a time.

When we can combine purpose and passion with profit, we’ve reached a state of balance – which is the ultimate goal of ancient and modern-day wisdom Masters.

BE AN INFLUENCER, A VOICE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

Hopefully succeeding on your own terms entails being an influencer, ultimately a voice for positive change. Through vlogs, podcasts, apps, channels, social media, conference calling, brand awareness, digital marketing, today we have countless ways of releasing the purpose within us and raising our planet’s vibration at the same time.

If you’re an influencer, hopefully you’re spreading ideas in a way that elevates the human condition.  Some of my favorites are Jay Shetty, Prince EA, Ellen DeGeneres and Lady Gaga.  We too, on the ground level, can influence those around us, one person at a time. We never know who is watching and modeling us.  What are they seeing? Never give up your power to anyone, anything or any circumstance.

Check out some of my other articles here or visit my YouTube channel for ideas on succeeding on your own terms.