Work On-Demand Episode 2, Gig Stocks a Buy?, Bosses Are Wrong, and More...

Approximately 60 million independent workers in the United States represent $1.5 trillion in U.S. GDP and growing. Projections estimate that 50% of our U.S. workforce will be independent workers by 2025- 2030. The Gig Economy represents a trend that will digitally transform the future of work.

I believe that every organization in every industry needs a Gig Economy strategy. Not having one is like missing the internet trend in 1990 or the mobile revolution in 2010.

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NEW!! Work On-Demand Podcast

Available on the Web, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast

NASA embraces open collaboration - Today, we sit down with Steve Rader, who leads NASA's efforts to leverage crowd-based platforms for open innovation and bring value to NASA's programs and innovation efforts in the U.S. government. Steve is also the Founder and CEO of Crowd Resources Consulting, where he speaks and consults on innovation, crowdsourcing, and the future of work.

The Freelance Revolution

The rise of independent contractors and the globalization of knowledge work is the Industrial Revolution of our time. We can see the U.S. workforce undergoing a massive structural change everywhere we look.

The Gig Law Causing Chaos in California Strip Clubs - Teddy earned what she considers good money as a self-employed dancer working in California's strip clubs for six years. Yes, there were slow nights when wages slumped, says Teddy, who asks to use a pseudonym because not everyone in her life knows she is a sex worker. She says, on average, she never took home less than California's minimum wage (currently $15 per hour).

How the gig economy inspired a cyberpunk video game - Citizen Sleeper is a sleek, cyberpunk-style video game where you play an android with the mind of a human who has sold their flesh-and-blood body to the corporation Essen-Arp. When you start the game, you've just escaped Essen-Arp in a stolen robot frame, transported to a spaceship colony, where you don't know anyone and have only a vague memory of who you once were.

Will Gig Economy Stocks Rise from the Ashes? - Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pivot involving work from home dominated the equities sector. Now, it's all about returning to the office. Still, resistance to this narrative may bolster four gig economy stocks: Intuit , Upwork , Fiverr , and Rover.com .

U.S. Department of Labor proposes rule that could turn gig economy upside down - (The Center Square) — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed a new rule Tuesday that would overhaul how independent contractors like freelancers and drivers for ridesharing apps are classified, potentially upending the gig economy that has exploded in growth in recent years.

The Creator Economy 

The Creator Economy is like the sharing and gig economies in 2012-2015 that ushered in an explosion of creativity driven by individuals, technology platforms, and hype. All are guided by the dream of making a living by doing what you love. At over $100B+, the creator economy is just getting started.

The AI (R)evolution - this newsletter by Benjamin Dehant covered the growing trend of AI creation and creators. This issue covers the idea of sketching fashion clothes and using Ai to quickly give life to them ( see the first article in the newsletter ).

The Creator Economy—How Brands Can Better Connect With Influencers - The role of creators in brand marketing was a big topic during Advertising Week. As the booming creator economy has, advertisers are questioning how they can harness influencers to connect with consumers—significantly ahead of the all-important holiday season. 

'We kind of nailed it': How Spotter is quietly fueling the creator economy - Every social media platform has its approach to supporting influencers, from TikTok's creator fund to YouTube's advertising revenue. But there's one growing company outside these platforms quietly fueling the creator economy before creators even get big.

How Sidewalker Daily Helps Experts Like You Thrive in The Creator Economy - While it might seem like the only way to make money on social media is by dancing on TikTok or having millions of Instagram followers, you could also earn cash by creating educational content focused on your area of expertise.

How TikTok's algorithm made it a success: 'It pushes the boundaries' - It is, quite literally, the trillion-dollar question: how did TikTok go from a niche social network for lip-syncing teens to the most popular app in the western world, threatening to knock Facebook off its perch entirely, in just a few short years?

The Changing Workplace

We see unprecedented numbers of companies implementing remote work programs. How we work has forever changed and requires new skills and leadership approaches.

The global polarization of remote work - The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the rise of digitally enabled remote work with consequences for the worldwide division of labor. Remote work could connect labor markets but also increase spatial polarization. However, our understanding of the geographies of remote work could be improved. Specifically, how far could remote work connect employers and workers in different countries? Does it bring jobs to rural areas because of lower living costs, or does it concentrate in large cities? And how do skill requirements affect competition for employment and wages?

Bosses, you're wrong: Remote workers are more productive than your in-office employees - Attempts to turn back the clock to pre-pandemic norms in the workplace are a step in the wrong direction. That's according to the latest quarterly Pulse survey from Slack's think tank, Future Forum, which surveyed 10,000 global white-collar workers. Contrary to many bosses' beliefs, workers are more productive when they can work from home.

Move over WFH, hello 'work whenever': 94% of employees want to ditch the 9-to-5 for flexible schedules, new survey says - In a new Slack survey published Thursday, a staggering 94% of workers said they want flexibility in when they work — compared to 80% of respondents who said they want flexibility in where they work. Or, as Axios dubbed the trend: work-whenever.

Wellness 

We will spend one-third of our lives working, and the disruption to how we work has never moved faster. This can impact our overall wellness as we navigate the changing landscape and fight for balance.

Burned Out on Your Personal Brand - Younger workers embraced the idea of a personal brand as a way to get ahead and carve out some power and security in their careers. But posting through it has its drawbacks.

PAUL ESTES, founder of XpertLinkAI and the best-selling author of the best-selling book Gig Mindset, is an unstoppable advocate for the simple idea of ensuring that all voices are heard and that all people have access to opportunity. This passion is inspired by the quote from the late Leila Janah "Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not." Now is the time to address systemic location bias and encourage companies to reach beyond their organizational boundaries to engage the world's best minds. For 20 years, He struggled to balance his life with fast-moving leadership roles at Dell, Amazon, and Microsoft. He led a team of progressive H.R., procurement, and legal trailblazers to launch Microsoft's Gig Economy freelance program. Hiring his first virtual assistant transformed the way he lived and worked.

Paul is the former host of the Gig Mindset and Talent Economy podcasts. Each week, Paul provides insights and perspective to over 100,000 readers of his weekly LinkedIn newsletter, and he frequently shares his insights as a keynote speaker and panelist.