In recent years, concert economics has been an ever – growing ecosystem, attracting independents from all niches in search of opportunities to earn extra money.
For younger generations such as Generation Y and Generation Z, the concerts have a certain pace and a romantic feeling, offering the freedom, adventure and independence that reigned stability, structure and the benefits.
While some fully immerse themselves in this economy and rebuild their lives through short-term engagements, others simply seek to put a few extra dollars in their pockets.
Regardless of the motivations for entering the freelance world or the level of involvement, one thing remains true: the economy of the gig is growing at an exponential rate.
A 2016 Adobe report revealed that of the 1,000 office workers surveyed, a third of them said they had a second stream of income. In addition, 56% of respondents believe that everyone will have multiple jobs in the future.
As it stands now, 35% of the American workforce has already entered the independent arena, most of them through digital marketplaces like PeoplePerHour, TaskRabbit and Upwork.
Given the constant increase in attendance and dependence of the average person on these platforms and networks, it is important to understand how these markets will evolve in the months and years to come.
4 Gig economic trends to watch
Here are four profound transformations about to affect the economy of the gig.
Blockchain changes how things are done
As the economy of the gig continues to mature, traditional payment methods will become more and more obsolete. Basic payments for tasks, allowances, travel and other cash transfers must become faster and more fluid; especially when it is self-employed across international borders.
In addition, in the current state of affairs, most of the platforms used by independents (like those mentioned above) seem to be part of the sharing economy, but are in fact centralized; in the end, based on the fees charged to users.
Blockchain technology, however, has changed the way customers and freelancers do business by adopting a cooperative model.
For example, CanYa, io, a promising blockchain-based market that is already active in Australia, allows users to be paid securely for their work through digital currencies, regardless of their location. .
Through this paradigm, vendors earn digital tokens or coins for services rendered, which can then be spent on the platform, or immediately converted and transferred to a crypto wallet at no cost.
Transaction values are also kept consistent by covering the transaction against a stable portfolio. This allows transactions to be processed more smoothly and faster while removing barriers to international payments.
Because of this kind of monumental change in market and logistics interactions, a cascade of changes can then follow.
Fortune 500 Companies Add Freelancers
One of the most important changes that this change entails is the type of business that leverages independent contractors. When most people think of freelancing in the concert economy, we typically think of organizations like startups and small businesses.
As the economy of concerts continues to evolve, large corporations and Fortune 500 players begin to enter the fray.
This is beginning to materialize as monolithic companies like Samsung start turning to websites like Upwork to meet various marketing, computer, design and just about every other service needs.
According to a recent report from the Oxford Internet Institute, "… companies are adopting platform outsourcing to benefit from digital, functional and financial flexibility, but also to take advantage of the creating knowledge and innovation for freelancers with very different skills and expertise. "
The online freelance platform Upwork also noticed this transition. Stéphane Kasriel, CEO of Upwork, shed light on this subject by stating: "Until a few years ago, we saw mostly very small businesses, with perhaps as few as 100 employees. .. "Today, however, the company is considering doubling the business team because it now works with 20% of Fortune 500 companies.
As more and more large companies enter the independent arena, it will become more and more common for them to compile highly sought-after lists of experts that can be called upon at any time. without the need to keep them permanently. pay.
More and more remote freelancers emerge
As blockchain technology begins to allow short-term work and the flow of financial compensation in an unobstructed, unobstructed way, a growing number of remote freelancers will enter the gig's economy.
Digital workers have obvious advantages in not having to travel (in most cases), setting their own schedules and working from home, among other benefits.
With the technologies and platforms mentioned above, this is becoming an increasingly standardized perspective that will only become more appealing to professionals around the world.
This means that employers around the world will be increasingly empowered to select the best candidate for a task or job, regardless of location, and to manage business interactions in a transparent manner.
An increased need for networking appears
Especially in the Fortune 500 field, some jobs are better not to be advertised to the masses. These open positions will be better suited to experts with specific skills.
Due to the specialized need, these people are more likely to be found by other freelancers who have developed extensive networks – especially if the organization has little time to find a solution.
Proving this point, Lou Adler, CEO of the consulting and training company, The Adler Group, conducted a one-year survey on how people find their jobs. The results showed that "… 85 percent of critical jobs are filled through networking."
This clearly highlights the fact that connections are the lifeblood of a freelancer.
This means that online marketplaces will likely begin to incorporate more social features. If these platforms fail to integrate such offerings, LinkedIn will soon be facing much stronger competition as more and more professional social networks begin to materialize to meet the needs of networkers.
Independent and block-chain-based markets are poised to disrupt the natural order of the current organizational structure of the workforce as more and more people (and 39 businesses) are flocking to the economy of the gig.
Although this transition is clearly in its formation phase, a new ecosystem is emerging and new technologies are starting to grow in a profound way.
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