In this segment, we are going to talk about the importance of engaging work for contingent professionals like yourself. For the record, engaging work should be important to everyone. However, it’s more important for contingent professionals because it provides structure, which is some they lose when they exit corporate life.
Welcome to this segment of the Subscription Maker Podcast. This is your host Zachary Alexander, Enterprise Architect at SubscriptionMaker.net. You can think of subscriptionmaker.net as your go-to resource for dealing with the freedom of a creative lifestyle and the security of recurring income.
Follow your passion is the most common piece of advice given to new entrepreneurs and contingent professionals. If the truth is told, I’ve even been guilty of giving such advice myself. However, the advice always rang hollow.
What happens if your passion is not economically viable. Suppose you are extremely passionate about reading some form of obscure foreign literature. The chances of you being successful are greatly diminished especially if the best available audience doesn’t speak that language.
What is passionate work?
You can think of passionate work as the work you do because you “think” you should. It’s generally driven by some external factor like all your friends are doing it. If you want to be part of the group, then you have to willing to or continue to do the work.
By definition, passion is the opposite of rational. So, passionate work is something that you do for no apparent rational reason. You’re not very good at it, and you have very little hope of ever getting better. One of the reason is that the work doesn’t match your talents.
What is engaging work?
You can think of engaging work as the kind of work that you can do for hours without thinking about it. It’s the kind of work that is closely aligned with your talents. You’d do even if you weren’t being paid because it feels so natural. And you feel good every time you complete a task.
At this point, we should talk about the concept of flow as it relates to talent, which you can also think of as strengths. We should also so talk about personality tests like the CliftonStrengths by Gallup. One of the challenges of finding engaging work is how to determine what your strengths are.
Contingent Professionals should always have a healthy skepticism when it comes to advice until you know what bias the advisor holds. For example, I am naturally a strategic thinker. And I give advice based on where the market is moving not necessarily what is directly in front of us. This means that there is always lag time.
In my defense, it’s generally better to plan and prepare for the future rather hope that everything will turn out alright. If you take my advice, you may be wrong. On the other hand, you may be well-situated when new opportunities start to emerge. This is a topic we’ll come back to in another segment.
Pushing for Engaging Work
There are things we know about the future. One of those things is that before too long 50 percent of the US workforce will be employed as contingent workers. The reason that we know this is because it has already happened in the UK and Australia.
The second thing that we know is that white-collar professionals will comprise the last group of people to enter the Gig Economy. The third thing we know is that companies that don’t utilize this class of worker (i.e., contingent professionals) will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
Given the three things we know, it makes sense that we in America should start pushing for engaging work as a goal. More and more professionals are going to find themselves without a seat at the corporate table. And saying to them “simply follow your passion,” ain’t going to cut for long.
There will come a time when people are going to look around to see who their real friends are. And they are not going to look too kindly on people who speak in platitudes. They are going to need to replace their current monthly paychecks with recurring income.
Contingent Professionals aren’t freelancers. They don’t like trading money for time. They like to make decisions based on their purpose. They like to think in terms of service. Not in mercenary terms.
Conclusion
Pushing for engaging work is a much better solution for people who are entering the Gig Economy. Before long, a lot of very serious people are going to find themselves without a seat the corporate table. These people need real answers to the challenges they face. 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.