In this episode, we are going to talk about the importance of Contingent Professionals to the health of the US Economy. And why someday in the near future you or your friends or maybe family members will become a contingent professional.
Welcome to the Subscription Maker Podcast. This is your host Zachary Alexander, Enterprise Architect at SubscriptionMaker.net. SubscriptionMaker.net is dedicated to helping you enjoy the freedom of a creative lifestyle and the security of recurring income.
A lot very serious people think that becoming a freelancer or contingent worker is the worse thing that can happen to you. They hunger for the time when all you needed for success was a college education. Damn the student debt it will be worth it in the end.
These very serious people don’t understand the benefits of contingent work or that today’s college student will be tomorrows Contingent Professional. I once asked an economic developer if he knew how many contingent workers there were in his community. He told me, no and if he did he’d tell them to get a full-time job.
What is contingent work?
The easiest way to explain contingent work is by saying that it is like freelance work. You could think of it as work for hire. For example, someone hires you to perform some task. You do that task, and they pay you.
Where it gets complicated is when the number of contingent workers starts to grow. Simply hiring a graphic designer or web admin is one thing. However, things change when you start to hire contingent workers who are important to the long-term viability of the company. This is when you start to think about contingent professionals.
Who are Contingent Professionals?
Contingent Professional are highly skilled individuals that may include people with degrees and professional certifications. They are doctors, lawyers, and business managers. You may not have heard of contingent professionals because the first-wave of contingent professionals were craftspeople and artisans.
Project-based industries like the movie industry have always relied on contingent professionals. Things are changing for the rest of the US Economy because of downsizing and the Gig Economy. Plus the fact that a lot of people want a better work-life balance.
Why are Contingent Professionals Important to the US Economy?
You can think of Contingent Professionals as the lagging edge of the Gig Economy Transformation. There will come a time in the not too distant future when 50 percent of the US workers will be engaged as contingent workers. Some think it will happen by 2028 barring any economic shocks like a recession. It could happen sooner if there are.
Countries like Great Britain and Australia have already reached workforce50/50. When those two countries crossed over into workforece50/50 territory it was contingent professionals that eventually pushed them over the line.
When it comes to companies, contingent professionals help companies to gain better control of their labor costs. They can schedule specific people to perform specific tasks and hire them only for the time they are needed.
Contrary to common sense, this is also good for contingent professionals and their careers. Contingent professionals can better manage their careers because they won’t be stuck doing busy work.
There was a time when every company wanted an enterprise architect to guide its IT strategy. However, they didn’t need them full-time. So, a lot of architects where stuck doing admin work. This caused them to lose ground to consultants and other contingent professions who were provided with an opportunity to focus on their craft.
Should contingent professionals become subscription makers?
Many experienced professionals need to replace their corporate paycheck. And I would suggest that you consider becoming a subscription maker as a way of doing it. The reason is that becoming a subscription maker means you have to think like a business owner.
The Gig Economy poses a real danger to the US Economy because it further stresses an already over-stressed safety net. Full-time employment means that certain economic tasks are borne by the company like training and marketing. The Gig Economy shifts those tasks to the Contingent workers. Becoming a subscription maker provides a necessary survival framework.
Conclusion
Contingent Professionals are highly skilled individuals who are hired on a project by project basis. The US Economy needs Contingent Professionals. And Contingent Professionals should consider becoming subscription makers in order to obtain recurring income.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Subscription Maker Podcast. This is your host Zachary Alexander. If you would like to continue this conversation join us in the Subscription Maker Podcast Group on Facebook.