A Pending Economic Shift

Climate change is here. The Federal Government is corrupt and politicians are out of tune with their constituents.  Corporate America cares far more about profit than well-being for their country or their employee.  Our economy is breaking and we are heading toward a major economic shift.

Why is our economy breaking?

• The fossil fuel based economy is a primary driver of climate change.
• The economic gap is the widest it has ever been in modern times.
• It is harder than ever for a citizen of the US to start their own business.
• Lawyers outnumber doctors in the US.
• The economic conditions favor stockpiling cash.
• Competition is squashed by buyouts due to stockpiled cash.
• The tech industry is automating everything, increasing unemployment and creating a society of lazy, dumb people. (We don’t want to be an idiocracy.)
• How we measure economic health is flat-out wrong.
• Everything, housing, internet, healthcare, has become a privilege.
• Poor mental health is on the rise, suicides are up
• General happiness is at an all-time low.
• Innovation and manufacturing in the US has stopped growing.
• A mad-man sits in the oval office who doesn’t know what he is doing.
• The global economy matters more than ever. Nationalism is suicide.

I don’t mean to paint a picture of doom, but we are heading for a shift in our economy.  The economy we have today can’t keep going the way it is.  We must solve the economic gap, we must make sure everyone has access to housing, to healthcare, and equal access to basic needs.

What sort of an economy do we need?  We need an economy that flips the power of money on its head.  We need the concept of worker co-ops, where businesses can be managed by employees and those employees reap the rewards of the business.  Currently we have too many 1%-ers reaping the rewards of the work of millions of employees.  That is wrong.

We also need an economy which respects our need for a health environment to survive.  We must move away from fossil fuels and long commutes to one of the renewable energy, self-sufficiency, and walk-able commutes.  We must reorganize our society to align with a healthier environment.

The economy must represent the global needs.  Nationalism must take a back seat to global well-being.  What happens in China and Japan, for instance, has consequences for those living in the US and Brazil.  The new economy must connect local communities across the globe and respect local solutions.  National and Global legislation can be detrimental to local economies.  We need an economy which favors environmental responsibility and general well-being for all above all else.

Economies do not change overnight.  Unless we are invaded or a government coup occurs, we are unlikely to wake up tomorrow into a totally new economy.  We must take one step at a time and move toward a more favorable, happy economy for all.

 

The DIY Employment Economy Is Here

We are in a new era of America’s economy and it will take your breathe away.  Jobs are a thing of the past.  Earning money is now up to you.  You must find a way to offer a service on the open market in exchange for money to survive.  Corporate America, technological innovation, and global immigration have scalped the American workforce.

The Economic Shift

With the economic decline of 2009, Wall Street and the corporate world sent the citizens of America a clear message: jobs are a privilege, not a right. No longer was the massive corporate engine driving America going to give Americans jobs for the sake of employment. Profits are number one, not national employment rates. While I was lucky to stay employed throughout the economic decline, I watched many of my friends lose their jobs, their homes, and the alleged “American Dream”. America was changed forever.

At the same time, corporations started the conversation of revising the immigration policy to make it easier for American based companies to employ “talented” foreigners. Add in the tech sector’s quest for automation and America’s unemployment situation seems irreversible. Jobs filled by human beings are being replaced by software programs. Jobs which require specialization are filled with foreigners and corporate profits are now at record labels. Either you are a have (job) or you are a have not (unemployed).

Solution

The solution? The solution is DIY employment, create your own job! With sites like Freelancer.com, PeoplePerHour, and Fivrr, access to paid projects is very good, albeit competitive. In addition, solutions like vTiger, FounderSuite, and even KickStarter enable anyone with a decent business idea to take control of their lives and create their employment/business.

How do you know what business to start? Pursue your passions. Books like the Lifestyle Entrepreneur have a great set of tools to help you identify the intersection of your passions, hobbies, and interests. For me, I love data, finding the patterns in the data and producing visualizations to communicate findings. I also love measuring businesses (I develop KPIs for executive teams). I also have a soft spot for fitness and helping people become healthier. The intersection of all of these is the quantified self and creating a business around self data. TrainingMetrix is my first company and focuses on analytics for triathletes.

You also have to decide which type of business to create and how involved you want to be. A restaurant will likely be a 24/7 “job” until it is established, profitable, and you are able to hire managers to run it for you. On the other end of the spectrum, potentially a much more hands off type of business, is a tech company where you can outsource development, customer service, and marketing. With just an hour per day, you can run a successful and profitable online tech business.

Empowering Yourself

DIY employment is not as scary as it may seem. Today, it is easier than ever to start earning money for no one but yourself. Every action you take when you create your own business is all about you. Empower yourself today, embrace the DIY employment economy and create a business to change the world, or just your part of the world.